Enthustasin

contidence

ark parley

One hundred and thirty-eight
delegates, representing commun-
ities from Vancouver Island to
Nova Scotia, joined by observers
from Ontario and Quebec, pack-
ed the main banquet hall of the
Lord Simcoe Hotel in Toronto
over the Easter week-end to
thrash out the policy line and
elect a new leadership to guide
the Canadian Communist Party
for the next two years.

The feelings ran high and the
debate was hot, and in spite of
the 14 hours discussion time for
the main resolution, 36 speakers
remained hung up on the list
when the resolution was adopt-
ed,

There were workers from the
big industrial complexes in Ont-
ario, Quebec and British Colum-
bia; trade union officials from
scores of unions across the coun-
try; miners from Northern Ontar-
io; lumber and sawmill workers
from B.C., farmers, office and
factory workers from the Prairie
Provinces, schoolteachers from
all provinces, housewives, uni-
versity students, professors and
journalists. There were represen-
tatives from Canada’s ethnic
communities: Greeks, Ukrain-
ians, Italians, Bulgarians, Finns,
Jews and others.

It was a slice of Canada.
There were young people, middle
aged people and old timers. The
average age of the delegates was
47.

This was a unity convention.
Delegates had come with one
major thing on their minds. They
wanted a united leadership to
carry out the main policy resolu-
tion upon which there was al-
most complete unity. In the final
vote only two delegates voted
against the resolution and five
abstained and in spite of the
fact that it required an overall
majority of the votes of the dele-
gates to elect the new Central
Committee all its members but
one for Manitoba were elected
on the first ballot.

The Central Committee unani-
mously reelected William Kash-
tan as leader and general secre-
tary and the decision was receiv-
ed by a Standing ovation at the
convention.

It was also a hard. working
convention. The delegates began
their sessions at 9:30 A.M. and
with the exception of Saturday
night when there was a sumptu-
ous banquet at the hotel, the
sessions carried on till 9:30 P.M.

It had to be this way because
of the heavy work load adopted
by the delegates when they
O.K.’d the agenda.

A host of important resolu-
tions were approved and amend-
ed. These resolutions represented
the public position of the Party

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—APRIL 11, 1969—Page 6»

on a wide range of important
Canadian questions.

e@ The Convention greeted the

Easter Vietnam demonstrations
and called for a complete and
unconditional withdrawal of all
United States troops from the
country.

e Asked emergency action for
Prairie Wheat Farmers declaring
a moratorium on farm debts; a
new program to secure wheat
markets especially in the Social-
ist countries; a federal fund to
finance wheat exports; trade re-
lations with all countries under
which we could purchase goods
from them; payment by govern-
ment for grain storage in the

By WILLIAM ALLAN

George Meyers, national labor
secretary of the U.S. Communist
Party, addressed the 20th con-
vention of the Canadian Com-
munist Party and said that both
parties have a common foe—
American imperialism — that is
exploiting, oppressing, the work-
ing people of both countries.

He said the U.S. Communist
Party is joining with millions of
Americans to halt the aggression
of American imperialism in the
affairs of the peoples of many
lands and especially the racist
war against the people of Viet-
nam. The struggle of 22 million
black Americans for emancipa-
tion, an end to. discrimination,
said Meyers, is in the centre of
the work of the American Com-
munists. He said, “we are fight-
ing American imperialism in its
own lair, and your struggles here
against the same enemy, helps
us in the U.S.”

He then dealt with the rising
tide of struggles in the U.S., the
sharpening of the class struggle,
flowing from rising exploitation,
soaring cost of living, speedup
of the workers, police attacks
against the. black liberation
movement, 35 million Americans
living in poverty and a similar
number on the fringes of pov-

ibe

meantime and a _ guaranteed
minimum price for wheat to
farmers of $2.75 for the first
2,000 bushels and the balance
pegged at $1.95144 cents per
bushel.

@ A demand that full union
rights be restored to Jim Bridge-
wood and an appeal to Canadian
unionists and citizens who cher-
ish democracy and sovereignty
to pick up the struggle for the
restoration of his rights in line
with the Canadian Labor Con-
gress Code of Ethical Practices.

e@ Expressed its alarm at the
growing monopolization of the
press, radio and T.V. The delib-
erate use by the government of
postal rate increases to drive the
trade-union press out of business
and further extend foreign con-
trol over all communication
media, Demanded a roll back of
rates for small publications and
letters to the former rate.

@ Strongly protested the arbi-
trary and unexplained refusal by
the Canadian Immigration De-
partment to grant entry visas to
fraternal delegates to the con-
vention from Communist and
Workers Parties of the Socialist
countries.

_ @ Agreed to begin preparation

immediately for the celebration
of the 50th Anniversary of the
Canadian Communist Party in
1971.

e Instructed the incoming
Central Committee to lay plans

erty, while the great corpora-
tions chalk up record profits,

He scored the fallacy of the
“affluent” society that U.S. im-
perialism boasts exists, pointing
to the aforementioned poverty
Statistics; and how close to 50
percent of a worker’s wages go
for taxes, 30 percent for housing
costs, and what little is left is
eaten up in just surviving.

Along with oppressive work-
ing conditions, denial of rights,
the massive bloc of unsettled
grievances in the shups because
of the locking up of the griev-
ance procedure, great restless-
ness, expressing itself in rank
and file movements, such as the
black caucus’ of workers, has
forced many of the U.S. union
leaders into actions for fear of
being driven out of office.

He cited as one example the
recent presidential and officers
elections in the United Steel
Workers in the U.S., where I. W.
Abel, who expected to win by a
85 percent majority, saw his op-
ponent, an unknown union attor-
ney, Emil Narick, chalk up 41
percent of the vote.

He sketched for the delegates
to the CPC convention | the
change in composition of the
U.S. working class, the great in-
flux of young workers (in auto,

for the entire party to take ap-
propriate steps to mark the
100th Anniversary of the birth
of Lenin in 1970, and to use the
occasion to advance the know-
ledge and appreciation of his
revolutionary teachings amongst
the Canadian people.

The Convention also heard an
inspiring address by Tim Buck
on the teachings of Lenin.

e@ Pledged support to obtain
the release of all political pris-
oners of the military dictatorship
in Greece, and for the removal
of the threat to the life of Greg-
ory Farakus and others.

Fraternal greetings came
to the convention from commun-
ist parties around the world:
From the Soviet Union, France,
Vietnam, Great Britain, Korea,
Yugoslavia, Hungary, Sweden,
Cyprus, New Zealand, Bulgaria,
Switzerland, Italy, Australia,
South Africa, Czechoslovakia, Is-
rael, German Democratic Repub-
lic Poland, Guyana, Mongolia,
Denmark and Rumania.

The convention heard stirring
addresses from Senator Carlos
Contreras Labarca from Chile,
George Meyers of the U.S.A. and
from Tony Ambateilos on behalf
of the Communist Party of
Greece.

Present at the convention were
twelve registered delegates from
the Parti Communist du Quebec
who are members of the Cana-
dian Communist Party by virtue
of their membership in the Que-

bec Party. This unique relation.
ship in Canadian political life,
truly representative of the rights
of the French Canadian nation,
laid its imprint on the conven.
tion. Delegates from the farms,
factories, offices and universities
of Quebec spiced the convention
with accounts of the relentless
battles of all sections of the
French Canadian community for
national independence, the strug.
gles of the workers against
Anglo American monopoly, the
fight of students and intellect.
uals for national democracy, and
not least of all actions of the
Communists in Quebec whose
policies stand at the head of the
battle for independence and
against monopoly and imperial-
ism.

This convention was a stirring
answer to those who had declar-
ed the Communist Party dead,
The delegates, the resolutions,
the spirit, the discussion were all
full of life, enthusiasm and con-
fidence. Confidence that armed
with a policy directed to the
Canadian working class and
through them to the entire
Canadian democratic commun-
ity, led by a united leadership,
the Communist Party was burs-
ting with the ability and the
energy to surge forward into its
place at the helm of the strug-
gles of the Canadian people,
and lead them forward towards
a socialist Canada.

‘American imperialism
common foe —Meyers

over one million UAW members
have joined the union since
1964, with 40 percent of them
under 30, and about 60 percent
of that 40 percent are black.
Similar changes are taking place
in steel, transportation and other
industries), At one time, he said,
some claimed these young work-
ers would be alienated against
organized labor, but instead to-
day, they are acting as a cata-
lyst, moving the union’s rank
and file into militant action on
conditions, against discrimina-
tion, for unlocking the grievance
procedures, and its being done
at the point of production where
top U.S. union leaders seldom
get to. :

This radicalization and strug-
gle developing amongst the
American workers, has seen the
U.S. Communist Party develop a
total policy of industrial concen-
tration and relate the work of
the party, mainly to these rising
new struggles of the working
class. He said one of the most
important aspects of this strug-
gle is the fight against racism, a
divisive tactic of U.S. imperial-
ism which seeks to split the
workers’ ranks, by poisoning the
minds of white workers with
white chauvinism. He said the
U.S. Communist Party has taken
the struggle aginst this cancer-
ous poison of white chauvinism
directly to the white workers, in
order to implement black-white
unity against monopoly and its
agents.

Closest attention was paid to.

Meyers report on his recent visit

Daily World.

to West Virginia and his relating
the gripping story of the political
strike of 44,000 miners until the
State Legislature passed a black
lung law. He drew a great round
of applause for the miners when
he told of a minister praying
thus, “Dear God, show our gov-
ernor how fast he can sign this
law.” The miners had refused to
work until the law was signed.

Meyers called for a joint strug-
gle in Canada and the U.S. to
win full citizenship in both U.S.
and Canadian labor movements,
for Communists, citing the case
of Jim Bridgewood, who was re-
moved from a union office in the
UAW in Oakville, local 707,
when he ran for federal office
on the Communist ticket. Mey-
ers said the U.S. and Canadian
workers should demand that the
anti-Communist section of the
UAW constitution, used to re
move Bridgewood, be washed
out, as it has no place in demo
cratic union organizations. He
closed by saying, “the working
class in both our countries is 0”
the ascendency, this is the time
for revolutionary optimism, noW i
indeed, is a good time to be
alive.” He received a standing
ovation.

He was part of a three man
delegation from the U.S. Com
munist Party, the others beins
Claude Lightfoot, national chait
man of the Black Liberation
Commission, CPUSA, and chait-
man of the party delegation |

delegation ‘here, and william

Allan, correspondent of the —

ss