BRITISH COLUMBIA = Federal vote echo of B.C. budget fight, says Kashtan “As politics in British Columbia go,” Communist Party general secre- tary Bill Kashtan said in Vancouver Apr. 7, “so will go politics across the country.” Kashtan was speaking to delegates at the party’s B.C. provincial conven- tion where he warned that the battle by the labor and democratic move- ment against Bennett’s Socreds was part of a larger battle against right- wing politics across the country — a battle that would likely be fought out in the arena of the federal election. “The monopoly offensive has been mounted across the country,” he said, “and if it has been sharpest in this province, it is because the economic crisis is sharpest here.” And it is important to remember, he said, that the campaign against the Socreds’ attack and the federal elec- tion campaign “are really one struggle. “Bennett, if he is successful, will feed reaction all across the country. On the other hand, a neo-conservative government in Ottawa would feed Bennettism,” he emphasized. In his address to the convention, Kashtan also noted the danger to the New Democratic Party posed by a major shift of Liberal voters to the Tories in key areas of NDP strength, particularly in the West. “There is a real danger of the NDP getting all but wiped out,” Kashtan said. For that reason, the much public- ized comments by Canadian Labor Congress president Dennis McDer- mott that a Tory government would be “marginally better” than a Liberal government, were “stupid and short- sighted”, he emphasized. McDermott intended by his com- ments to suggest that if the Liberals were out of the way, the resulting polarization would leave voters with two defined alternatives, right and left. “But in trying to eliminate the Lib- erals, that approach could eliminate the NDP,” Kashtan warned, emphas- izing that it was playing into the hands of monopoly which has long had the objective of eliminating third parties and returning to the old-line two party system. The CP leader told delegates that the party would have two objectives in the upcoming federal election — to seek to prevent the election of a neo- conservative majority, to Parliament and to strive for the election of a “large, progressive bioc” including Communists. Whenever it comes, Kashtan said, the election will have a- “special stamp” on it because of the depth of the economic crisis. “The press talks of recovery — but there is less and less sign of it,” he said. “In fact, there are growing signs of further collapse and indications that capitalism is finding it more and more difficult to get out of the crisis.” At the same time, the danger of nuclear war has not abated because of the deployment of first strike missiles in Europe, he said. He called the election “one of most crucial we have faced.” 10 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, APRIL 18, 1984 ‘Unite labor and its allies, build CP,’ delegates urge Delegates to the 25th convention of the Communist Party wound up their three-day meeting Apr. 8, pledging to “work for the unity of the labor-democratic alliance in the fightback” and to pick up the campaign “around the program to take B.C. out of the economic crisis.” Several of the delegates termed the con- vention “the most spirited” they had attended. Much of that had to with the composi- tion. Of the 75 delegates, the overwhelming majority were activists in various organiza- tions including Solidarity coalitions, trade unions and peace groups. In addition, most were young and 44 per cent were women, many of them partici- pants in the numerous organizations which have made the women’s movement a prom- inent part of the campaign against the Socreds’ “restraint” program. But it was the unprecedented political events of the preceding eight months which, more than anything, set the tone for the convention. The main report adopted by delegates — outlined in part in an earlier Tribune story — termed the emergence of the Solidarity movement “a development of historic importance. “Operation Solidarity and the Solidarity Coalition,” it noted, “generated a level of mass political action of the working class and its democratic allies never before achieved in the province’s history.” Outlining the events that led up to the Kelowna agreement accord of Nov. 13 and the suspension of the public sector strike, the report emphasized that the agreement “marked the end of one stage of the struggle — but the fightback is not over.” Throughout the convention, delegates focused on the need for the party to work with trade unionists, New Democrats, members of women’s, tenants, human rights groups and others in “building Solid- arity II. “The need for the Solidarity movement has not ended,” the report declared. “From the beginning of the fightback the left and the party took key initiatives to develop the struggle. They are called up again in the new situation, to play a key role in giving leader- ship at every level to promote the united struggle against the continuing Socred offensive. In this new stage it is necessary to combat those right tendencies found in some circles, that ‘Solidarity has run its course,’ that we should phase down ‘con- frontation’ and revert back to a ‘no struggle’ policy and enter into tri-partite arrange- ments with the government, and to see the only solution in a provincial election four years hence. At the same time we need to fight leftist tendencies which want the movement to take actions which are not realistic or would divide the movement at this time; tendencies to downgrade the achievement of the fightback; or which would make the main struggle against those reformist leaders in the movement who seek to limit the struggle. We should recognize that while criticism must be made of those reformist leaders and their policies, the main enemy remains the Socred-Employers Council-Fraser Institute alliance which is imposing the right wing program on B.C.” The experiences of 1983, the report emphasized, “bear out the projection in the party’s program — that the path to pro- gressive change in Canada requires the ’ buiding of a labor-democratic, anti- monopoly alliance under the leadership of the working class.” Delegates also put renewed emphasis on the peace movement urging “escalation of ’ the fight for peace. . .with the broadest unity around the demand to end the arms race and prevent nuclear holocaust.” Together with that escalation, the report — Ridings name candidate Calling the defeat of the Progressive Conservatives a “top priority,” provincial Communist Party leader Maurice Rush has announced his candidacy for the federal riding of Vancouver Centre. The riding is currently held by PC member Pat Carney, who holds the finance critic’s portfolio and who was prominent along with Fraser Institute director Michael Walker at a recent PC Women’s Caucus meeting. Rush, recently nominated to contest the riding, said Carney’s appearance at the meeting demonstrates the close link among the federal Tories, the Fraser Institute and the provincial Social Credit government. “The election of Pat Carney and her party to federal office will mean that right- wing policies similar to those pursued by the Socred government will be imposed on all Canadians,” Rush warned. “That would be a disaster for Canada,” he said. < Rush, a World War II veteran and former editor of the Pacific Tribune, is joined by several other CP candidates in B.C., including recently nominated members Mark Mosher and Ray Viaud. Woodworker Mosher, with a history of trade union activism and more than 10 years experience serving the community as trustee on the Alberni School Board, is run- ning in Nanaimo-Alberni. Port Alberni and area, as well as most of Vancouver Island, has been ‘‘devastated” by the resource sell-out policies of the pro- vincial Socreds and other big-business par- ties in power, said Mosher. “Mulroney’s Tories, if elected, would make that situation even worse — that’s why it’s important to make sure that neither the Tories or the Liberals achieve a majority in Parliament this election, and that a pro- gressive bloc that includes Communists is elected,” he said. Bookstore worker Ray Viaud is carrying the party’s banner in Surrey-Delta-White Rock. A leading member of the Young Com- munist League, Viaud, who is also assistant manager of the People’s Co-op Bookstore in Vancouver, calls for jobs and other poli- cies “‘that will put Canadian young people back to work.” MAURICE RUSH MARK MOSHER RAY VIAUD noted, should go increased support for solidarity movements with newly liberated countries and increased efforts to “expose the huge cost of the arms race” and to challenge ‘“‘the false, two-superpower theory.” The convention considered several amendments to the report submitted by party clubs, several of which were adopted in principle and will be reflected in the final edited report. Much of the convention discussion on the final day centred on an organization report submitted by organizational secre- tary Fred Wilson. Like the political resolu- tion, it underscored the need for “‘a larger Communist Party.” A critical report which pointed to short- comings in club organization, in work among women and the infrequency of Communist Party public meetings in many areas, it emphasized, nevertheless, that Communists had “come forward to give leadership to the unemployed move- ment. . .and the Solidarity coalitions”, mak- ing the party “‘a respected force.” The report paid particular attention to what it called “industrial concentration” — strengthening the party’s ties with workers and trade union activists in industry. It also set its sight on a 10 per cent increase in party membership and urge members and clubs to set plans to achiev’ “a significant increase in readership” for thé Tribune. In the final session delegates elected 4 new 35-member provincial comittee, 25 pe! cent of whom were members new to thé leadership. 3 Also on the final day, the conventio® unanimously endorsed provincial leadet Maurice Rush — honored the night before for 50 years in the Communist Party — fot another term as leader. In summing up, Rush told delegates that the convention had singled out five points © emphasis: to press for a renewed Solidarity fightback; to nominate some 10 candidates in the upcoming federal election and t0 work with other groups to try to block thé election of a right-wing majority govern- ment; to build the party membership, paf- ticularly in the wood industry; to expand circulation of the Tribune; and to re-— emphasize its work for peace and inter- national solidarity.