Letters/Canada

~ Stand on-China m

In my view, the Communist Party of

Canada’s central committee statement on .

events in China (“Attack on Chinese stu-
dents deplored,” June 12) fell short of the
mark. By bending over backwards to be fair
to the leadership of the Chinese party, the
Statement raises more questions than it
answers about the Canadian party’s atti-
tude to socialism and democracy.

The statement declares that the Canadian
Party, while not judging “the legitimacy or
otherwise” of the views of the students,
believes that “socialism and the socialist
State must be able to deal with such differ-
€nces without resort to armed force against
the people.” The statement “deplores” the
Massacre but seems unwilling to condemn it
outright, saying that it does not appear the
Students posed “a threat to state security
that would warrant military intervention of
this kind.” (My emphasis.)

Canadian workers are right to ask, “If
this is socialism, who needs it?” Socialists of
various tendencies, including members of
Communist parties in Eastern Europe, are
hard at work cultivating the idea that social-
1sm without full democracy and the highest
Standards of morality and ethics is not
Socialism at all. By this yardstick, the mas-
Sacre at Tiananmen Square is completely
Contrary to the ideals of socialism and
should be condemned as such.

The Canadian party statement warns
that the situation is complex and sees the
dark hand of the “international big business
media” at work “to exploit this tragedy to
undermine the international prestige of
Socialism and destabilize socialist China.”

No doubt the situation is complex, but
there can be no misunderstanding the fact
that the bullets of the People’s Liberation
Army did more damage to the prestige of
Socialism that day than all of the media’s
efforts. If intemational imperialism is anx-
10us to “destabilize socialist China,” as the
Statement Claims, why was Henry Kissinger
denouncing any move to sanctions within
hours of the massacre?

In the coming re-assessment of China

Tanks in Tiananmen Square.
and the impact of the pro-democracy
movement, some tough questions need to
be asked again. Is China socialist? Isn’t it
time that the Canadian left confronted the
continuing elements of Stalinism in that
country, so obvious in the aftermath of the
massacre? This major feature of Chinese
political life, which was the root of the Sino-
Soviet split, was ignored by many elements
of the Canadian left during the 1970s just as
it was ignored by American investors keen
to exploit the modernization drive.

Another good question would be, “Is
China capitalist?” In the May 14 issue of
Moscow News, Lu Congmin, a professor at
the central committee party school of the
Communist Party of China, writes that
“modern industrialized capitalism has
entered a stage of transfer over to social-
ism.” In modern capitalism, he claims, we
see “nothing élse than a beginning of a
planned economy.

“The new distribution of incomes done
by the government, as well as the develop-

isses mark

ment of the system of social security, help to
reduce the differences between the rich and
the poor, the workers and the farmers, the
town and the countryside, and help the
spread of culture and education. When we
say that modern capitalism carries in it
some elements of socialism, we think of
industrialized countries.”

British, Canadian and American workers
will be hard-pressed to recognize their coun-
tries in Lu Congmin’s analysis. If he’s right,
perhaps B.C. workers should support
Social Credit to get some more of those
“elements of socialism.”

The Canadian left has a tough enough
task defining what it means by socialism
and how it proposes to get there without
linking the whole issue to a “socialist
China” in which protesters are mowed
down with machine guns and more capital-
ism speeds the arrival of socialism.

Geoff Meggs,
Vancouver

International ban on force needed

May I, though the columns of your
Paper, express the impression I get of the
Significance of the recent and current events
in China as revealed in the Vancouver
Media?

To me, taken together, they point up the
lesson China rings out loud and clear: elim-
inate now the use and the threat of the use of
force and violence from public life, national
and international.

Owhere can human dignity and social
Progress be upheld while guns, tanks,
bombs and their like are brought into play,
Or held in reserve in the wings by contending
Se posing governments and other inter-

_ What we all need is an end to military
dictatorship everywhere. This alone can
8lVe us promise that neither at Kent State

Carmanah cut:

greed, not jobs

I am outraged to see my union
S0ing to bed with a forest company.

€ Carmanah Valley issue is not
about jobs, it’s about capitalist greed.

Ore jobs are lost due to poor forest
Management than will be gained by
logging Canada’s largest trees. This
Issue has shown Jack Munro, presi-
dent of IWA Canada, for the closet
Tight winger I have always believed
him to be.

William Rogers,
IWA Local 1-363

university in the U.S. or in China — or
anywhere else in the world — will students
and unarmed forces of democracy be frus-
trated by armed force.

At present, unfortunately, due to the per-
sistent investment in armaments and pro-
motion of world trade in armaments
(regardless of the differences in political sys-
tems), all major governments and other
interests participate in the business of mut-
ual profiteering from the sale of armaments.
Consequently, the peaceful efforts to
expand democracy are everywhere at risk.

Have we not had enough of this? Can we

not rather get on with implementing INF,
moving ahead with START, building
confidence-creating measures, closing down
the armaments trade, and pledging non-
resort to military means in settling differen-
ces?

Are we so lacking in imagination and
goodwill as to be incapable of conceiving a
world without war? Can we see no alterna-
tive uses for our money, brains and creative
ingenuity? Surely, we are not that bankrupt.

Beatrice Ferneyhough,
Vancouver

Not a peaceful protest

As an old time supporter and reader of
the Tribune, I have been waiting for some-

one to give us a true report on China. For I =

believe that we haven’t received the real
facts.

To me it is amusing to see everyone talk-
ing about the students fighting for demo-
cracy. Just what do they mean by
“democracy?” Is it the American, Canadian
or British type? Who are we to tell the
Chinese about being democratic? How have
we treated our Native Indian, French Can-
adians, East Indians, Chinese, Japanese or
any minorityin Canada.

My feelings about what is going on in
China, having heard all news and read
many reports, is that what started out as an
innocent protest from students, who by the
way get free education in China, was taken
over by outside interests who hoped to over-
throw the Chinese government which had

to step in and stop what was happening.

Some students were throwing “Molotov
cocktails” and setting fires — this doesn’t
seem at all peaceful to me. I saw the pictures
on the American news.

We have been bombarded with this

. “democratic” baloney and it is high time we

became fully aware of what happens to any

country that dares to become socialist. I can

just see what would happen to us in Canada

if we dared to elect an NDP government for
instance.

So for goodness sake, wake up and do
some thinking and quit acting like a bunch
of sheep believing everything that the Amer-
ican news reports tell us. I hope to see a
report in the Tribune with the truth. Thank
you.

Jeanne D. Teather,
Burnaby

Peltier’s

Supporters
seeking

finances

The recent dismissal by the Supreme
Court of Canada of an application to
have Native activist Leonard Peltier
returned to Canada because his
extradition to the U.S. was based on
fraudulent evidence does not mean
the end of his struggle for freedom but
a new beginning, according to the
Leonard Peltier Defence Committee
(LPCDC).

“It is wrong to say the recent appeal
decision was a last-ditch attempt,”
Anne Fitterer, spokesperson for the
LPCDC, told the Tribune.

“Tt was really a legal effort to test
the waters in the hopes we would have
a positive outcome. Unfortunately
that is not the case, but now the cam-
paign to achieve Peltier’s freedom and
justice becomes intensified and diver-
sified.”

Peltier, an American Indian Move-
ment (AIM) activist, was arrested in
Hinton, Alta. after fleeing the U.S.
following a much-publicized shoot-
out on the Pine Ridge Indian Reserva-
tion in South Dakota.

He was extradited to the U.S. on
the basis of an affidavit obtained by -
the FBI from Myrtle Poor Bear, who
claimed Peltier was present at the
scene of the shootings in which two
FBI agents were killed.

Peltier has resided in a U.S. prison
since his extradition, even though it
has been revealed the FBI deliberately
withheld an earlier affidavit from
Poor Bear in which she admitted she
was not present. Poor Bear had a his-
tory of mental instability and it was
later revealed that her statements were
coerced.

AIM had been the target of an FBI
campaign to infiltrate and eliminate
its leadership. There were dozens of
assassinations and unexplained deaths
of Indian activists on the Pine Ridge
Reservation and across the country
prior to the FBI raid.

Peltier’s Canadian supporters are
now embarking on an intensive lob-
bying campaign with Canadian MPs
to educate them on the case and will
be sending thousands of petitions and
letters that have been coming in from
around the world demanding Peltier’s
return to Canada to federal Justice
Minister Doug Lewis.

“The Canadian campaign repres-
ents possibly Peltier’s final hope,” Fit-
terer said. “But any legal action is only
as good as the people behind
it — only the people’s support will
culminate in his freedom.”

Liberal MP Warren Allmand has
prepared a Private Members’ bill, M-
418, calling for Peltier’s return to
Canada. The Canadian Defence
Committee is asking concerned Can-
adians to send letters to: Doug Lewis,
Minister of Justice-Attorney General .
of Canada, House of Commons,
Ottawa, Ont., K1A 0A6 calling for
Peltier’s return and a full investigation
of his fraudulent extradition. Copies
should also be sent to Allmand (same
address). No postage is required.

The Leonard Peltier Canadian
Defence Committee is desperate for
funding to cover legal and promo-
tional expenses. Donations may be
sent to 43 Chandler Drive, Scarbo-
rough, Ont. MIG 1Z1.

Pacific Tribune, July 10, 1989 « 5