TORONTO — “This is one of the
finest conventions our Party has
ever held,” re-elected general
secretary and leader of the Com-
munist Party of Canada, William
Kashtan, told the 23rd Convention
of the Party in his closing remarks.

Held Oct. 9-10-11, the conven-
tion marked a new high point in the
Communist Party’s rich history of
struggle. The enthusiasm, debate,
and rich input by the delegates
from across Canada and the unity
of purpose clearly expressed the
Spirit of the meeting.

The convention heard the key-

note address by the general sec- -

retary titled “For a Democratic Al-
ternative to the Crisis Policies of
Monopoly” in which he spoke of
the past three months of intensive
debate throughout the Party on
the main policy statement before
the delegates.

Kashtan described the present
period as a “Turning point for
Canada” pointing out that the
Crisis of monopoly capitalism is
deepening. “The crisis Canada
faces is economic, social, politi-
cal, structural, constitutional and
moral.” .

The report detailed the crisis —
economic stagnation, high infla-
tion, growing unemployment. It at-
tacked the government so-called
anti-inflation program which aims
to increase corporation profits at
the expense of the living stan-
dards and jobs of working Cana-
dians. “Clearly,” it charged, “as
long as this program continues,
the prospects are for a deteriora-
tion of conditions and a sharpen-

ing of contradictions between the
majority of people and monopoly.

Kashtan spoke of the tremend-
ous fight-back developing across
the country to limit monopoly
power and extend democracy and
a large section of the keynote
speech was devoted to the CLC’s
Day of Protest and the political im-
plications for the labor movement.
and the country.

The international scene, the
fight for peace, the crisis of Con-
federation all found extensive
coverage in the keynote address,
details of which can be found on
these pages.

Communist Party, Young Com-
munist League and press growth
were also central to the report.
“We have set our sights on build-
ing a mass Party”, Kashtan said.
“A strong Party is necessary to
achieve unity ... that is why to
build the Party is in fact to build the
force which works for unity day in
and day out.” :

He quoted from the Party Pro-
gram — “The more effectively the
Communist Party works for the un-
ited front and strengthens its in-
dependent political activity, prop-
agating its Marxist-Leninist pro-
gram and policies, the more it will
encourage and strengthen the left
wing in the NDP and the struggle
for genuine socialist policies.”

The rich discussion around the
Unity Program later in the conven-
tion showed the Communist Par-
ty’s determination to carry this out
in action everywhere.

e
The convention honored sev-

eral veteran Communists who
were in attendance — Helen Bur-
pee, Alice Buck, Tom Hill, Max
Dolgoy, Howard Lowrie, Harvey
Murphy, Peter Prokop, William
Kashtan — for their years of de-
voted service to the Party. Special
mention was made of Toronto
communist and peace fighter Al-
phonse Maigis who has collected
7,000 signatures to the Stockholm
Peace Appeal. :

Tribute was also paid to the
memory of John Boychuk, a found-
ing member of the Party who died
last month, and to those who have
passed away since the 22nd Con-
vention three years ago.

2

. The convention welcomed th-
ose fraternal guests from the
Communist Party of the United
States, the People’s Progressive
Party of Guyana and the African
National Congress of South Africa
who addressed them in person. It
also warmly welcomed the many
messages received from Com-
munist and Workers’ Parties
around the world — many of whom
were invited to attend and were
refused entry by the Trudeau gov-
ernment.

The sense of international sol-

' idarity and strength of the world

Communist movement was felt
throughout the sessions as
greetings were received with a
standing ovation.

Seven hundred people filled the
hall Saturday evening for a ban-
quet and dance, highlight of which

&

William Kashtan delivering the keynote address. ::

were the songs by George Hewi-
son and a terrific group from
British Columbia, “Bargain at Half
the Price”. Delegates were so im-
pressed with the cultural perfor-
mance the convention passed a
special resolution which said in
part, ‘‘the cultural performance...
was a significant political con-
tribution to our convention which
vividly demonstrated the impor-
tance and possibilities of a demo-
cratic cultural alternative in
Canada.”

e
In his summary, William Kash-
tan emphasized four main points,
or specific features of the three
days:

“The convention”, he said, .

“clearly showed the unity of the
Party — the need to fight with one
voice. The power of Marxism-
Leninism permeated our work and
made it possible to unite our ef-

forts on major issues — this is a

source of our strength and our
victories.

“There was a high expression of
militancy and realism,” he de-
clared. “We know we still have a
rough road ahead, but the policies
we have advanced will help us
surmount all obstacles.

“The spontaneous reaction to
the messages of fraternal parties
showed our Party’s recognition of
proletarian internationalism, the
strength of the world forces for
peace and socialism. .

“There is a new spirit in our Par:
ty,” Kashtan concluded. ‘‘Be-
cause of the upsurge in the
working-class movement, of the
kind we haven’t seen for years, it
emphasizes the Party’s role in un-
iting the working class. This new
upsurge means we can anticipate
an upsurge in building our Party.

The convention elected a new
Central Committee of 59
members... 3

For peace and

Canada can play an important
role in the fight to prevent a new
world war, and make political
détente between the world social-
ist system and imperialism ir-
reversible through military
détente, ‘‘particularly ifit pursues
an independent foreign policy’’,
Kashtan said.

He also noted the larger foreign
affairs role being played by
Canada in the current period as
expressed most recently in the
visit by former External Affairs
Minister McEachen to the Asian
bloc countries and by Canada’s
support for the admission of the
Republic of Vietnam to the
United Nations.

“‘Underneath this activity,”
the general secretary noted, ‘‘is
an effort to gain new markets for
’ Canada in the developing coun-
tries, and to fill the vacuum left
open as a result of U.S. imperial-
ism’s retreat from Southeast Asia
while at the same time acting as
the agent for the U.S.

A more positive direction that
an expansion of Canada’s foreign
policy role could take, Kashtan
suggested, would be for the gov-
ernment to “‘stop hiding” the final

act of the Helsinki Conference .

from the Canadian people by dis-
seminating it through the univer-
sities and generally throught the

educational system. He called on
the government to stop using ‘“‘the
discredited threat of ‘Soviet ag-
gression’ as a cover for increasing
its arms programs and integrating
Canada more tightly into
NATO.”’

Kashtan warned: ‘‘This is a
dangerous game, which can only
go against the real interests of
Canada and her security, under-
mine her sovereignty and. inde-
pendence. :

“Imperialism and real inde-
pendence cannot long co-exist in
the same country,’’ Kashtan said.
*‘One or other must give way.”’

The main ingredients of what
would constitute. an independent
Canadian foreign policy designed
to strengthen world peace, na-

‘tional security and independence

would include, he said:

e Canadian government sup-
port for détente, disarmament,
and extended trade with socialist
countries, including support for a
UN-sponsored. World Disarma-
ment Conference. . Sc

e aid to third world and de-
veloping countries with no strings
attached.

e a total boycott of South Africa
and Rhodesia until the peoples of
southern Africa are free of apar-
theid, arid enjoy majority rule.
Canada should also support the

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 22, 1976—Page 6

detente

right of Namibia to independence.

e support for a just and stable
peace in the Middle East based on
the withdrawal of Israeli troops
from all occupied territories; rec-
ognition of the national rights of
the Palestinians to a state of their
own; and the right to existence of
all states and peoples including the
State of Israel.

e Canada should demand the
release of all political prisoners in
Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argen-
tina, and all capitalist countries,
including the release of Luis Cor-
valan, general secretary of the

. Communist Party of Chile.

e Canada should call for the
dissolution of NORAD, and with-
draw from NATO.

Noting that close to one million
signatures had been collected to
date in Canada for the Stockholm
Appeal calling for world dis-

armament and the convening of a .

UN-sponsored World Disarma-
ment Conference, Kashtan de-
clared “‘‘the Canadian people
want a world free from the danger
of nuclear war.

“This is the challenge today’’,
Kashtan said, ‘‘stop. the arms

_Tacé, reduce’arms, win a lasting

peace in the world by taking away
the economic factors that breed

_Wars.””.

Guests refused entry

The convention charged the
Trudeau Liberal government
with a flagrant breach of the terms
of the Canada-USSR Agreement
as well as the provisions of the

Helsinki Treaty to which the pre- "

sent government was a signatory.
The Trudeau government dis-
honored its signature on these ag-
reements when it outrightly re-
fused to extend visas to fraternal
delegates from the Communist
Parties of all socialist countries
who were invited as fraternal de-
legates to the convention.
Delegates heartily booed this

“anti-democratic action and de-
‘manded that the government im-
‘mediately reverse its policy.

The action of the Canadian

government was in particularly
sharp contradiction to Trudeau’s
oft-repeated statements regarding
“open’’ communications. bet-
ween. peoples of all countries.

On the one hand, the Canadian
government finds it expedient,

‘the convention noted, to extend

permanent invitations to the likes
of Vietnamese war criminal Gen-
eral Quang, but on the other, re-
fuses to allow representatives of
political parties which lead one-
third of mankind from spending a
few days in our country.

The delegates viewed
Trudeau’s actions as cold war
hangovers which have shamed all
Canadians.