QUÉBEC SOLIDAIRE WILL MEET SOON

vol. 4, no. 1, January 2011

Si vous désirez lire en français: http://www.laviereelle.blogspot.com/

The 6th Congress of Québec solidaire will take place in Montréal, March 25-26-27, 2011. Up to now, discussions will center on Economy, Environment and Labour; delegates will deal as well with tactical agreements foreseeing the coming Québec Elections.

Obviously, there is no room for debates on the place of Québec in the Canadian confederation; the party being –mistakenly- “sovereignist”, e.g. separatist. Most of the voters, choosing this solution to the national problem, will probably prefer the most experienced party on this issue: the Parti Québécois (PQ). While, the overwhelming majority of French Canadians workers are standing for: defense of French language and Québec culture with the control over economy.

As for tactical agreements, it would certainly be erroneous to get along with Parti québécois. It seems that for the Left, the enemy would be the Jean Charest Liberal Party (PLQ). The trade union movement, to mention the Confederation of National Trade Union (CNTU) and the Centre of Québec Trade Unions (CSQ) have decided to attack the government labeled as the Right. Nothing is less sure in the eyes of millions of French-Canadians keen to maintain economical stability; that is in practice the purchasing power, to counter-balance soaring prices: energy, transport, food…
(Photo Michel Faust: MNA Amir Khadir - Québec solidaire and La Vie Réelle Editor Daniel Paquet)

The Economy

The Guardian, published by the Communist Party of Australia (October 13, 2010), explained that “US military spending, direct and indirect, consumes anything from 38 to 50 percent of tax revenues. It has been growing at a rate of around nine percent per annum annually since 2000.”
Already some trade-unionists proposed a return to social-democracy for the Province of Québec, not to underscore the wish of the CNTU.

To the Communist Party of Greece (KKE): “The bourgeois forces which defend capitalism claim that the crisis was caused by “management” policies, the lack of control over the financial system, the overspending of the bourgeois state, the lack of transparency in the exercise of economic policies. The forces of social democracy (our italics, Ed.) and opportunism operate within this ‘administrative’ logic and limit their criticism to neo-liberalism, seeking the solution through the development of the system itself, the regulation of the market. They foster illusions concerning capitalism ‘with a human face’ in order to deceive the workers.”

The sad evidence is the statement of the US trade-union movement after the November 2010 elections in USA, while they back completely, without any criticisms, the Barack Obama Democratic Party: “The two biggest spending groups behind the barrage of attack ads and mailings against Democrats were both founded by Rove and former George W. Bush White House insider Ed Gillespie –American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS. Combined reports NBC, they spent $38 million.” (AFL-CIO NOW BLOG, 2011-01-09).

Tactical Agreements

It is worthy to remind what Karl Marx wrote about similar accords (between petty-bourgeois party – Parti québécois, and worker’s party, Québec solidaire): “The relation of the revolutionary workers’ party to the petty-bourgeois democrats is this: it marches together with them against the faction which it aims at overthrowing, it opposes them in everything by which they seek to consolidate their position in their own interests. […] Far from desiring to transform the whole of society for the revolutionary proletarians, the democratic petty bourgeoisie strive for a change in social conditions by means of which the existing society will be made as tolerable and comfortable as possible for them.” (Marx-Engels, Collected Works, vol.10, International Publishers, New York, p. 280).

As for the ‘national question’, e.g. the relations between the French Canadians and the English-speaking Canadians, everything is possible, including a new and lasting unity on the basis of political equality and an independent voice for the working people of Québec on issues such as the economic development, energy, immigration… The workers are surely ready for this. Canadians are facing a strong enemy: US imperialism, considering Canada as a source of natural resources (forest, mines, water, oil sands, electricity…) for their industries.

The author of these lines have an experience of over 35 years in the Canadian communist movement and can confirm that amongst workers and progressive youth, this matter of unity, solidarity and respect has always be defended by English-speaking members; it is not a surprise that today some comrades, in British Columbia for instance, send their children to total immersion schooling in French language. The Young Communist League of Canada also attaches a very large importance to the bi-national character of our so vast and beautiful country; the record of the Communists is clear and honest and they should raise it at the coming Québec solidaire Congress.
(Photo Internet: Tim Buck, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Canada, 1929-1962, a staunch fighter for French-Canadians rights).

Naturally, Canadian political parties shall build relations with this young but promising party, Québec solidaire, -of the working people- on an equal footing, a nation to nation relationship. By the way, such an effort has been made in the 1970s between the Québec National Association of Students (ANEQ) and the National Union of Students (NUS)-English-speaking Canada and… it just worked out.

danieleugpaquet@yahoo.ca

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