A call for united action to at back monopoly’s attack

In letters to the New Democratic Party, the Canadian Labor Congress, the National Farmers’ Union, and the Confederation of National Trade Unions, the Communist Party of Canada has call for united resistence to the alarming recessionary trend.

Dear friends,

Despite talk to the contrary, the drift to de- pression continues in Canada. Production is de- clining; inflation is rising. Officially acknowledged unemployment rose to 6.75) of the labor force in January, that is 817,000 .unemployed, and may well reach one million or more within the next few months unless a drastic change of policy is achieved.

Yet the Government continues to argue that conditions in Canada are not as bad as in other capitalist countries. This may be so for the pre- sent, but it is not likely to continue that way a's the economic crisis deepens in the USA, Western Europe and Japan.

In any case, this claim is cold comfort for the unemployed and for the victims of the inflationary price spiral. For them the depression has arrived.

Needless to say, the deepening economic crisis which -is reflected in rising unemployment and spiralling inflation will not be coped with either through false optimism, or by attacks on the jobs, living standards and trade union rights of work- ing people. These will aggravate the crisis rather than alleviate it.

Radically new policies are required to cope with the present economic crisis. It is clear by now that patch-work policies will not work any- more. Neither will policies geared to ensure maxi- mum profits for the corporations.. The ‘concept that what is good for the corporations is good for Canada has been proven demonstrably harm-

' ful and’ disastrous.

- We need a_new set of policies which can pro- tect the working people from the effects of crisis while-at the same time coming to°grips with the causes of the crisis.

© The multi-national corporations.and mono- _poly in Canada must be’ curbed.

© The so-called free market must not be al- lowed to run wild. It has to be placed under democratic control and regulation; including public ownership, starting with energy and natural resources and industries related to it; industry must be built where resources are found and an investment policy pursued aim- ed at overcoming disparities, inéquality and lack of equal opportunity.

@ New economic and trade policies must be embarked upon based on peaceful co-existence and detente to extricate Canada from the crisis- and _ inflation-ridden U.S. economy, create new opportunities for jobs and at the same time strengthen Canada’s independence. Canada must establish new trading partners not only in Western Europe but in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union as well.

@ Socio-economic policies should be pursued whose aim is the achievement of full employ- ment, rising standards and stable prices for the working people of our country.

We enclose a recently issued statement which is being distributed throughout the country by the. Communist Party of Canada. In this state- ment_you will find more details of such a pro- gram which we ask you ‘to ‘consider.

No single Party, trade union, farm, local or

community organization can by itself develop an

~ effective fight-back against the crisis policies of -monopoly. : ;

This is why we propose united action around

an, agreed common program by all working-class, __

trade union and democrati¢ movements. ~

.. United: economic .action..is,.needed to beat back the monopoly and government's offensives::' on wages, standards and trade union rights.

United political action is needed to press for legislative measured federally, provincially and on a municipal basis, as well as to change the balance of power in provincial parliaments and federally in the interests of the majority — the working. people of Canada.

More immediate, country-wide action is need- ed ‘to win a new budget geared to full employ- ment and rising standards including reduced taxes, increased pensions, dnd family allowances,

No single party, trade union, farm, local or community organization can, by itself, develop an effective fight-back against the crisis policies of mono- poly...

United economic action is needed .. .

a vast housing program and adequate incomes for the unemployed for the entire period of un- employment. .

With prospects of one million or more unem- ployed in the immediate period ahead, emer- gency measures are needed.

We urge the Canadian Labor Congress to take the initiative on an all Canadian: scale and in each province, town and city, to help bring into being “Committees of Concern” which would develop various forms of public pressure on all levels.of government. for such objectives.

Monopoly and the multi-national: corporations

.must not be allowed to place the burden of their

crisis on the backs of the working people.

Hoping for a positive response from your or- - ganization.

Fraternally yours, . Je Communist Party’ of Canada: 0: Central Executive Committee,

epperoW. Kashtan, General Secretary:

BY NORMAN FREED |

~one can accumulate the wealth created by the work-

It’s the system...

We received a letter from a worker, who is a mem- _ ber of the Communist Party of Canada. He tells us that during a break he and a.group of workers got into a discussion about layoffs, the decline in produc- tion, about recession and depression, about rising Prices, fantastic profits, about inflation and wages and Other things that bother working men and women. €y kept up the discussion for several days. : In the course of the discussion one of the workers

| asked this question: In reading your paper the Cana-

ian Tribune I have come across statements which Claimed that most of our troubles come from the Capitalist system. I think I agree with this, but I am Not sure I know how this works out in everyday life. During the discussion somebody asked the question: I have read in your paper, either in an editorial, or M an article, I forget now which, that most of the _ oubles come from “the main contradiction within Capitalism.” We argued about this and thought per- 48s you would explain this further in one of your Columns, t This is of course an important question. Before we _ ty to answer it I want to congratulate you and the 8roup of workers for entering into the discussion Which you describe in your letter. : * - * * : Here is a brief explanation. Marx, Engels and Lenin, of passed all others in the discovery and elaboration its the nature of the main contradiction within capital- inp ociety. On the basis of a deep study of the work- oe Of capitalism they came to the conclusion that Sai main contradiction is between social production ref Private, or individual appropriation. It is often i erred to as a contradiction between “social produc- °n and’ relations of production. : oy fore we go any further we should first explain S at is meant by the term “social production”? Scial production is the process in which men and of we" work for the purpose of creating the means ar Production, machines, tools, transportation etc. and ticles for personal use. All articies necessary for -© existence and development of society. € process of social production constitutes a pur-

Marxism-Leninism and today's world

poseful activity of people in which they act cn nature

and transform it to conform to their own needs. It is a continuous, you could say that it is a perpetual and natural condition of human life.

We know from our cwn experience that in condi- tions of mass production and division of labor it is not possible to identify either who produced a given article, or to identify the person for whom it was produced, Articles are produced for the market for society. Some might say, what about articles “made to order?” This still exists, but it is not the main feature of present day production. Production there- fore bears a social character.

* * *

We should now explain what is meant by the term “relations of production.” Relations of production are formed between people in the process of social pro- duction, exchange and distribution of wealth. Men and women cannot produce without uniting, somehow for joint activities and mutual exchange of the products of their activities. :

The key question here is ownership. If ownership of the means of production are social, collective, as they are in the socialist countries there is harmony, production is social and the relations of production are social. If the relations of production are private, individual, as they are under capitalism, there is an ever-growing contradiction between social production and private appropriation. If we think about it we cannot but come to the conclusion that this is the basic cause of our troubles. r

* 2

We have indicated that the purpose of social pro-

duction is to satisfy the various needs of the people. Under conditions where relations of production are

social, socially owned, this purpose is realized. As pro- ductivity of labor and production grows so does the standard of living. These conditions exist in the social- ist countries, no individual can privately appropriate the products of social production. In other words, no

ing men and women for private gain. That is why they have no. economic crisis, no unemployment, no inflation. In the long run the people in socialist coun-

_ tries realize the fruits of their productive labor.

This of course is-not the case under capitalism. Just the opposite is the result of social production. As productivity of labor grows and with it the ever in- creasing growth of wealth those who produce the wealth’ receive a relatively declining share and in certain cases an absolute declining share, while the private owners appropriate an ever-increasing share of the wealth. It is almost universally acknowledged that ‘the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer,” =<":

When we are referring to the private owners we are not talking about the “‘little fellows,” we are re- ferring to the “big fellows,” the monopolies and the multi-national corporations. .They appropriate the greatest share of the wealth produced, not only at the expense of workers and working farmers, but even at the expense of the “little capitalists.” We can see the truth of this in government statistics and in the pages of the daily newspapers and in the mass media. In most instances this is distorted and the big corpora- tions are represented as “necessary and useful citi- zens,” without whom production could not take place.

The facts are that these corporation heads play no role in the process of production. They don’t even clip their coupons. They. are social parasites. Production is run by people who have been hired because of their ‘special training and know how.

As can be seen the question asked is of vital im- portance to the majority of the people in cur. country as it affects our daily lives. Yes, it is the basic cause for periodic economic crisis, for the twin evils, unem- ployment and _jinflation, the decline in our standard of living and all the other troubles working men and women face. But it also indicates the path to the fundamental solution, to bring into harmony social production with social relations. To achieve this re- quires the abolition of private appropriation. About — this in a subsequent’column. —

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 1975—Page 5