onthly journal,

A T TIME of writing, at the
end of November 1966, we
| are just on the eve of the
opening of the first session. of
he Quebec Legislature, six
onths since the election of the
Union Nationale government of
Daniel Johnson.
So far the Johnson regime has
been distinguished by a certain
) prudence in applying reaction-
ary measures quite unlike the
resolute and ruthless manner of
‘his political mentor, Maurice
“’ Duplessis.
; He secured injunctions against
* the hospital workers (as Lesage
“ demanded) but did not invoke
" them to arrest the strikers who
continued to picket. When the
| public pressure became very.
heavy for the government to
intervene, he did so in this
strike, in that of the textile
workers, the professional engi-
neers and in the Dominion Ayers
strike
settlements.
_ The Minister of Labor, Mau-
rice Bellemare, has threatened
to amend the Labor Code so as
to bar “public employees” from
using the strike weapon. If he
does bring in such reactionary
legislation it will open up a new
chapter in the struggle for in-
dustrial democracy in Quebec,
again directed against state in-
tervention on behalf of the

the
that Johnson revealed the true
purpose of his “nationalistic”
stance. He didn’t agree to any
federal-provincial medicare pro-
gram, standing on_ provincial
self-determination. Other provin-
cial premiers were more honest,
as had been Mr. Lesage before,
‘when he postponed medicare in
_ Quebec. The insurance compa-
nies didn’t like the medicare
_ plan and wanted a chance to
propose major modifications
that would increase their role
and their profits in such a plan.
Mr. Johnson covered the big
U.S. and Canadian insurance
monopolies in a Quebec fleur-
de-lys, with a flourish 4 la Du-
plessis. But the net result is that
we in Quebec will have to wait
_for government medicare while
thousands cannot get proper
medical treatment because of
the prohibitive price.

It is clear now that despite its
enforced prudence due to the
great possibility of an early elec-
tion, the Union Nationale re-
mains an instrument of the Big
Bourgeoisie and the reactionary
landlord and clerical interests.

The Quebec Liberals, even in
defeat, have not decided to re-

employers.
Furthermore, it was _ in
discussion on medicare

in Lachute to achieve’

‘The Next Steps,” written

capture the crusading spirit that
marked their first two years in
office.

On the contrary they have

’ decided to continue with policies

that marked the later years of
their power. It should be noted
that each one of the policies of
the Union Nationale noted above
is‘in direct line of continuation
with the policies of the Liberal
Party in its second term of
office. For it was in this term
that Mr. Lesage introduced
Claude Wagner to the cabinet,
eventually as Minister of Jus-
tice, to re-introduce the police
state in Quebec. This was done
coldly, with the purpose of as-
suring foreign capital from the
U.S., Britain and elsewhere that
the government of Quebec would
stand for no “nonsense” from

patriotic and. popular forces that .

were resisting the sell-out of our
patrimony.

‘This party of the Big Bour-
geoisie too has made it abun-
dantly clear that it has no inten-
tion of serving as a vehicle for
the popular masses to achieve
national and social emancipation
from the political and economic
dictatorship of their masters.
(The “Quiet Revolution” was
quietly buried) ;

That was all right, even ne-
cessary, to clear the road for
the progress of state monopoly
capitalism after the deadening
years of Duplessis-clerical reac-
tion. But the too-enthusiastic
response of the masses was dis-
couraging foreign monopoly in-
vestment and frightening the
native bourgeoisie.

The separatist parties of the
nationalist petite bourgeoisie
made their political debut dur-
ing the election campaign: the
Rassemblement pour 1|’Indépen-
dance Nationale, who made their
appeal to the. political “left”;
and the Ralliement Nationale,
who made their appeal to the
political “right”.

The latter, under their new
leader, federal Member of Par-
liament Giles Grégoire (former
Créditiste), have offered to re-
unite with the R.I.N. so as to
make a common front of all the
separatists.

The R.I.N., on the other hand,
while not closing the door to
eventual unity with the R.N.,
has decided that to win’ seats
it must win some basis of sup-
port from the working class. Its
analysis of the elections showed
that while it had professional

-and student support in the mid-

dle class sections of cities like
Montreal (e.g., in Outremont),
working class support was very
scarce indeed. Unity with the

“neutral”

R.N. would scarcely improve
this situation. On the contrary.

Hence their post-election Con-
gress expressed a great deal of
sympathy with the workers in
their struggles, and the R.I.N.
even organized a demonstration
in support of the Lachute Do-
minion Ayers strikers which
undoubtedly helped cause the
Union Nationale government,
also concerned about workers’
votes in its present precarious
position, to step in and settle
the strike. .

But Mr. Bourgault, president
of the R.I.N., and the Congress
of the Party made it very clear
that they could in.no way be
classified as even a “social-de-
mocratic” party. They were for
mixed enterprise all right, but

‘they specified that it was mixed

public and private capitalist pro-
duction.

The aim of the R.I.N., as of
the R.N., is the replacement of
Anglo-Canadian capital as much
as possible by French-Canadian
capital as the junior partners of
the big U.S. and other foreign
monopolies that dominate Que-
bec. Mr. Bourgault made it abun-
dantly clear during the last
elections that they would oppose
nationalization of the U.S. mo-
nopolies that pillage our natural
resources.

Hence the working people
would make a serious error if
they tried to make the parties
of the nationalist petite bour-

-geoisie their vehicle for nation-

al and social emancipation.
_It..makes_ no. sense for the
working people to fail to create
their own political force. When
workers go into negotiations

state. This is a terrible tragedy.

The Quebec Federation of La-
bor at its last Congress did adopt
a resolution looking with favor
on the establishment of a mass
party of the working people
“when the circumstances war-
rant it’. Let it be said that the

‘circumstances certainly warrant-

ed it before the last provincial
elections. The results would
have been very different if a
really mass working people’s

_ party or coalition of popular
‘groups

had been effectively
campaigning. The Socialist’ Par-
ty and Communist Party of
Quebec both presented a few
candidates—altogether nine, in
the absence of a mass party of
the working people. The Com-
munist Party in the same pam-
phlet published in October 1964
predicted: “In that case, the
alternative to the bourgeois par-
ties which could be offered by
the various small socialist
groups would be very feeble—
not a decisive factor in the com-
position of the next govern-
ment.”* The prediction was un-
fortunately too accurate.

If the organization of such a
mass party or coalition was war-
ranted before the last elections,
the results of these elections
together with the likely early
calling of a new election, would
render it criminal at this time
to neglect this important, really
historic, task which the working
people of Quebec must accomp-
lish.

Could not the Quebec Feder-
ation of Labor or even some of
its larger affiliates sponsor a
great conference—inviting both

_ trade union centres, local labor

By SAM WALSH

Leader of the Communist Party of Quebec

with the employers, do they
choose as their negotiators rep-
resentatives of the bosses? They
are critical enough of their own
representatives if they don't
stand up to the bosses! Then
why choose representatives of
the bosses to represent you in
the Legislative Assembly? Do
you really think they become
once elected? They
know what class gives them
their instructions. Some of them
come right from the ranks of
the bourgeoisie themselves.
Some are their lawyers, writers
and doctors. A few are turncoat
labor leaders of the type of Mar-
chand and Gérard Pelletier in the
federal parliament.

This is the glaring gap | in the
policy of the C.N.T.U. In his
very interesting “Moral report”
to the 1966 Convention of the
C.N.T.U., Marcel Pepin exposes
thoroughly the undemocratic,
dictatorial nature of industry
and the economy as a whole. He
even proposes some economic
remedies which are worth con-
sideration, and which need the
intervention of the state. He
points out at least one way in
which the big financial interests
control the state, by controlling
its credit. But never once does
he even broach the idea of work-
ing people uniting to. control the

councils, all‘unions affiliated and
unaffiliated, the Socialist Party,
the Communist Party, the Que-

_bec wing of the New Democrat-

ic Party and other left - wing
groups? There a broad common
minimum program could be
worked out which corresponds
to the level of political consci-
ousness of the working Class.

Such a common minimum pro-
gram could consist of four major
points:

1. Introduction of democracy
into our economy by Curbing
and where necessary nationaliz-
ing the monopolies, especially
the foreign-controlled monopo-
lies that dominate our life, and
ensuring labor participation in
the decisions affecting produc-
tion, financing and jobs.

2. Vast extension of political
democracy by electing a major-
ity of labor and progressive
candidates to the Legislative
Assembly. Halting the drift to
a police-state.

3. Proclamation of self-deter-
mination of the French Canadian
nation by the Legislative Assem-
bly of Quebec. Expression of
sincere willingness to work out
with English Canada a new
Constitution which would enor-
mously strengthen the unity of
the two Canadian nations, be-

The next steps in Quebec

F In the Quebec elections last June, the Union Nationole was
lected with 56 seats as against 50 for the Liberals and 2 Indepen-
dents, but.with a lower percentage of the popular vote than the
Liberals. The two separatist parties received 8.8 percent of the popu-
Jor vote. The Socialist Party ran five candidates and the Communist
Porty ran four. Votes were low for all these candidates. The New
Democratic Party does not run candidates in the Quebec elections,
os they have a purely federal party in Quebec.

Since the election Quebec has been seething with activity. Mili-
font strike struggles, farmers on marches and in demonstrations,
‘students in battle with the government for free tuition.

- This rising pitch of the struggles of the people together with the
possibility of another early election has led the Communist Party of
Quebec to delve into the question of the development of a mass
party of the working people. An article, ‘
ey Samuel Walsh, chairman of the Communist Party of Quebec,
ocussing on this issue, has been published in the French Canadian
Combat. The Canadian Tribune is publishing, in
“ tronslation, a section of this article in order to assist in deepening
understanding of Quebec throughout Canada.

cause it would be based on
equality.

4. Make the voice of French
Canada powerful for world peace
and universal total disarmament,
demanding the dismantling of
all the nuclear bases on Quebec
soil. An independent foreign
policy of peace and particularly
of peaceful coexistence with the
socialist countries.

It is obvious that not all parts
of the labor movement will
agree with all these points. Some
will put forward other points
for agreement. The main thing
is to hammer out a minimum
program on which all will agree
and to ,which all will remain
loyal, although every group must
have the right in their own name
to go further on one or other
or all of these points of agree-
ment. Without such a minimum
agreement labor - will deprive
itself of a mass party which can
be effective. Those who insist
on a maximum common pro-
gram — for socialism — only do
damage to the labor movement
by their sectarianism, and play
into the hands of Big Business.

When agreement is reached at
such a conference or series of
conferences, it will be necessary
to invite the Union of Catholic
Farmers and the students’ uni-
ons as well as the democratic
nationalists and separatists and
all other democratic public bo-
dies to join with labor in a great
national and democratic front,
uniting the workers and demo-
cratic petite bourgeoisie of city
and country to dislodge the rep-
resentatives of Big Business
from their two-party control of.
the Legislative Assembly.

It is clear that it would be
folly for any party of the Left
or even a grouping of all the
parties of the Left to try to sub-
stitute themselves for such a
national and democratic front.

The Communist Party of Que-
bec believes, as do socialists in
other parties, that the basis will
be laid for the final solution of
the problems of the exploitation
of workers and farmers by the
monopolists, of one nation by
another, of unemployment, war
and by the introduction of the
socialist system, the common
ownership of the means of pro-
duction.

But we believe that the work-
ing people will come to the -
conclusion not merely as a re-
sult of our propaganda and the
example of successes in the
countries that have already
adopted this system — but pri-
marily as a result of their expe-
riences in political, economic
and social struggles around such
a minimum program as outlined
here.

The first shoots of unity of
the Left achieved must be nour-
ished, indeed fought for, not in
order to try to replace or be-
come a national and democratic
front, but in order to concert
our efforts to convince the work-

ing people of the necessity for
them to create such an indepen-
dent political force.

There is not a single day to
lose. The forces of reaction are
regrouping for the next big poli-
tical battles. This time, every-
thing must be done to see that
the working people march into
those battles under their own
banners.