NEW YORK IN BAGHDAD

danieleugpaquet@yahoo.ca

We will remember!

vol. 5, no. 2, January 13th, 2012

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

Please let us listen to this poignant song of the Australian-born pop singer Tina ARENA, Je m'appelle Baghdad:

http://youtu.be/51XyiFTocKk

This article is dedicated to those marvelous US comrades from Los Angeles, Détroit, St.Paul’s, Washington D.C., New York… who fought during all their lives for peace, progress and socialism in United States of America and elsewhere around the world. We always refer to them as the “old comrades”. It is not to stigmatize them due to their venerable age, rather than a commitment to follow their footsteps. We love them and they inspire us. Their spirit is already part of our traditions and, actually, the leitmotiv of our daily struggles; in a way or in another, they set up the landmarks of the Occupy Wall Street movement all over North America. Thank you so much comrades! (Photo Internet: OWS in Montréal-Canada, "Is it a revolt?! No, Majesty, it is a revolution, - 1789)

So, there will be presidential elections in USA, in 2012. We could vote for the Republicans: a comeback to the Reagan’s years, Bush’s years; tantamount to new wars, to more unemployment and a deeper crisis, while the wealth of the nation (“the money”) will go further in the pockets of the well-to-do. It is not acceptable. Would we support the fringe group called the “Tea Party”? This is the “people’s” variant longing for drastic setbacks in all the progressive values adopted by the US people since WWII. We cannot live with that. By the way, to dwell about the Rightists (Republicans and Tea Party), there is a joke that goes like that: “Do you know that since his retreat from Presidency, George W. Bush became half-crazy?” Answer: “Oh yes, he feels better…”

What’s left then? Well, let the Democratic Party knows that we are mad at them and that they MUST fulfill their 2008 promises. We don’t expect more, but we don’t expect less; and we will take the street… Basically, the next “step” could be in the streets. We guess that President Obama is smart enough to understand our voices. So, here is another joke; President Barack Obama was asked: “About your intelligence, is it the fruit of a seasoned experience or… in-born?” Answer: “Yes!”

Meanwhile, it is alleged that the Far Right is looking for foreign spies. Already, they keep an eye on the Cuban Five who have been in jail for 13 years on unqualified accusations as spying USA military facilities. It has not even been asserted, including by prominent US military members of the General Staff. But the FBI is supposedly on the lead, since they discovered that some Communist Party members are aware of a very dangerous trend within the US society: CUBISM. It seems that it is “a style of art characterized by the abstraction of natural forms into fragmented geometric shapes!!!” Is it contagious?
(Reproduction Internet: Les Demoiselles d'Avignon; Pablo Picasso dans sa période cubiste)

So many people around the world would be relieved if President Obama releases them. He has actually all the power to do that, including convincing backward elements of US population that we are now living in the XXIst century.

Nathalie CARDONE sings us a very inspiring song (Hasta Siempre) about the relations between Cuba and USA, two nations who committed themselves in people’s revolutions against imperialism:

http://youtu.be/PEj7jnR--Dg

L'Humanité in English: http://www.humaniteinenglish.com/

-30-

STALIN AND HIS ERA

danieleugpaquet@yahoo.ca


vol. 5, no. 1, January 3rd, 2012


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

“The Khrushchev School of Falsification:”

“The fiftieth anniversary of Nikita s. Khrushchev’s ‘Secret Speech, delivered on February 25, 1956, elicited predictable comment. An article in the London (UK) Telegraph called it ‘the 20th century’s most influential speech'. (Furr, Grover, Khrushchev Lied, Erythros Press and Media, Kettering - Ohio, 2011, p. 2)

So, I suspected that today, in the light of the many documents from formerly secret Soviet archives now available, serious research might discoverer that even more of Khrushchev’s ‘revelations’ about Stalin were false. In fact, I made a far different discovery. Not one specific statement of ‘revelation’ that Khrushchev made about either Stalin or Beria turned out to be true. The entire ‘Secret Speech’ is made up of fabrications. (Ibidem, p. 3)

The most influential speech of the 20th century – if not of all time – a complete fraud? The notion was too monstrous. Who would want to come to grips with the revision of Soviet, Comintern, and even world history that the logic of such a conclusion would demand? It would be infinitely easier for everyone to believe that I had ‘cooked the books,’ shaded the truth – that I was falsifying things, just as I was accusing Khrushchev of doing. Then my work could be safely ignored, and the problem would ‘go away.’ Especially since I am known to have sympathy towards the world wide communist movement of which Stalin was the recognized leader. When a researcher comes to conclusions that suspiciously appear to support his own preconceived ideas, it is only prudent to suspect him of some lack of objectivity, if not worse.” (Ibidem, p. 4)

“In December 1922, in a letter to the Party Congress, Vladimir Il’ich wrote: ‘After taking over the position of Secretary General, Comrade Stalin accumulated in his hands immeasurable power and I am not certain whether he will be always able to use this power with the required care.’

He also said:

“Stalin is excessively rude, and this defect, which can be freely tolerated in our midst and in contacts among us Communists, becomes a defect which cannot be tolerated in one holding the position of the Secretary General. Because of this, I propose that the comrades consider the method by which Stalin would be removed from this position and by which another man would be selected for it, a man who, above all, would differ from Stalin in only one quality, namely greater tolerance, greater loyalty, greater kindness and more considerate attitude toward the comrades, a less capricious temper, etc.” (Ibidem, pp. 237-238)

On December 19, 1927, Stalin declared to the CC Plenum:

“Comrades! For three years I have been asking the CC to free me from the obligations of General Secretary of the CC. Each time the Plenum has refused me. I admit that until recently conditions did exist such that the Party had need of me in this post as a person more or less severe, one who acted as a certain kind of antidote to the dangers posed by the Opposition. I admit that this necessity existed, despite comrade Lenin’s well-known letter, to keep me at the post of General Secretary. But those conditions exist no longer. They have vanished, since the Opposition is now smashed. It seems that the Opposition has never before suffered such a defeat since they have not only been smashed, but have been expelled from the Party. It follows that now no bases exist any longer that could be considered correct when the Plenum refused to honor my request and free me of the duties of General Secretary. Meanwhile you have comrade Lenin’s directive which we are obliged to consider and which, in my opinion, it is necessary to put into effect. I admit that the Party was compelled to disregard this directive until recently, compelled by well-known conditions of inter-Party development. But I repeat that these conditions have now vanished and it is time, in my view to take comrade Lenin’s directive to the leadership. Therefore I request the Plenum to free me of the post of General Secretary of the CC. I assure you, comrades that the Party can only gain from doing this.” (Ibidem, p. 251)

A few years before, the young workers and peasants Republic had witnessed the Socialist Revolution.

“If I were asked what was the greatest, the most memorable moment of my life, I would answer without any hesitation: it was when Soviet power was proclaimed.
Nothing could compare to the pride and joy that filled us as we heard pronounced from the tribune of the Second Congress of Soviets at Smolny the simple and impressive words of the historic resolution: “All power has passed to the Soviets of Workers’ Soldiers and Peasants Deputies!’
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was unforgettable at that moment! It was amazing and unforgettable, this inspired concentration of Vladimir Ilyich as he stood on the platform of the presidium of the first Soviet legislative assembly as the Bolsheviks, in the first few hours after taking power, began socialist construction, the construction of a new world.” (Kollontaï, Alexandra, Lenin at Smolny, Selected Articles and Speeches, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1984)

During World War 2, soldiers of the Red Army when they had the opportunity, used to meet, especially to celebrate New Year, and would toast to Stalin:

“La première santé, selon la coutume des hommes soviétiques, fut portée au camarade Staline; on lui souhaita une santé florissante dans l’année nouvelle et une longue vie. Puis on but à la victoire…” (Polévoï, Boris, Nous autres Soviétiques, Un rêve réalisé, Édition électronique réalisée par Vincent Gouysse à partir de l'ouvrage publié en 1949 aux Éditions en langues étrangères de Moscou, p. 152)



Soviet people were then defending their motherland and the achievements of the socialist revolution against Nazi Germany.
(Photo Internet: April 1945, the Red Army in Berlin; complete victory over Nazi Germany which costed 20 millions Soviet lives)

“In 1917 the chain of the imperialist world front proved to be weaker in Russia than in the other countries. It was there that the chain broke and provided an outlet for the proletarian revolution. Why? Because in Russia a great popular revolution was unfolding and at is head marched the revolutionary proletariat, which had such an important ally as the vast mass of the peasantry, which was oppressed and exploited by the landlords. Because of the revolution there was opposed by such a hideous representative of imperialism as tsarism, which lacked all moral prestige and was deservedly hated by the whole population. The chain proved to be weaker in Russia, although Russia was less developed in a capitalist sense that, say, France or Germany, Britain or America.” (Stalin, J.V., The Foundations of Leninism, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1975, p. 27)

History teaches us that we must base ourselves on concrete facts. We cannot write it according to the tastes and fashions of the day. Yes, Joseph Stalin is not popular among the populations of the Western World. For most of these people he is a barbarian butcher. Such is not the appreciation for the older generations of the Russian people who benefited from the realizations of the Soviet power. This explains why –and television coverage shows it – the peoples of former Soviet Union are not ashamed to demonstrate with banners proclaiming their faith in Stalin.

Meanwhile, workers around the world are invited to join Communist parties, even if they don’t acknowledge the contribution of Stalin for world peace and advancements in the area of culture, economy and social progress in general.
Soviet people realized even the differences in the economic regime after the death of Joseph Stalin; such is also the case for the friends of Soviet Union in Europe, for instance by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE):

“… we regard, as mistaken the political choice, that held sway after the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of Soviet Union (CPSU,-Ed) and especially after 1965, regarding utilization of mechanisms and laws of the market for correction of mistakes and overcoming of shortcomings in the central planning (e.g. enterprise profits, establishment of enterprises’ self-management, etc.)”
(Papariga, Aleka, The importance of the critical assessment of the socialist construction in the 20th century for the strengthening of the labor movement and for an effective counter-attack, International Communist Review, # 2, Athens, 2010-2011, p. 30)

Please enjoy Charles Aznavour, Vechnaya Lioubov: http://youtu.be/Sy4t3DIRT2U

La Vie Réelle in English: http://wwwlavienglish.blogspot.com/

-30-

."EUROCOMMUNISM", A BRAND OF OPPORTUNISM

danieleugpaquet@yahoo.ca

vol. 4, no. 6, November 12th, 2011

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

“… Between Marx and Engels on the one hand, and Lenin, on the other, there lies a whole period of domination of opportunism… This was the period of the relatively peaceful development of capitalism, the pre-war period, so to speak, when the catastrophic contradictions of imperialism had not yet became so glaringly evident, when workers’ economic

(Photo KKE: Greek people recalling their "no" to fascist Italy and current "no" to EU diktates)

strikes and trade unions were developing more or less ‘normally,’ when election campaigns and parliamentary groups yielded ‘dizzying’ successes, when legal forms of struggle were lauded to the skies, and when it was thought that capitalism would be ‘killed’ by legal means – in short, when the parties of the Second International were living in clover and had no inclination to think seriously about revolution, about the dictatorship of the proletariat, about the revolutionary education of the masses.

Instead of an integral revolutionary theory, there were contradictory theoretical postulates and fragments of theory, which were divorced from the actual revolutionary struggle of the masses and had been turned into threadbare dogmas. For the sake of appearances, Marx’s theory was mentioned, of course, but only to rob it of its living, revolutionary spirit. (J.V. Stalin, Foundations of Leninism, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1975, p. 1975, pp. 11-12).

However, the Leninist theory or revolution proved that:

“the front of capital will be pierced where the chain of imperialism is weakest, for the proletarian revolution is the result of the breaking of the chain of the world imperialist front at its weakest link; and it may turn out that the country which has started the revolution, which has made a breach in the front of capital, is less developed in a capitalist sense than other, more developed, countries, which have, however, remained within the framework of capitalism.” (Ibidem, pp. 26-27)

After WW 2,

“ The confrontation between imperialism and the socialist camp was the genuine expression of class struggle at international scale. (Raul Martinez Turrero, From “Eurocommunism” to present opportunism), International Communist Review, Issue # 2, September 2011, p. 83)

The imperialist ideological think-tanks assisted and widely circulated Eurocommunist conceptions that they contemptuously called “orthodox” or “pro-Soviet”. Eurocommunism, represented mainly by the parties of Italy, France and Spain, is named after the capitalist news agencies, who with this name, referred to organizations that shared the defense of a number of points of view:

-Opposition to the existence of an organized international communist movement, defending the thesis of so-called “polycentrism” in face of the experience of the Communist International (Komintern) and the Information Office of the Communist and Workers' Parties (Kominform).

-The replacement of the category of “proletarian internationalism”, which they identified with the unconditional defense of the Soviet Union and the political line of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and with that of “internationalist solidarity” or “new internationalism”.

-The constant and open criticism to the USSR and the socialist countries from the standpoint of human rights and individual freedoms in their bourgeois concept.

- The revision and destruction of the “party of a new type” coined by Lenin, denying in one degree or another the revolutionary tasks of the communist party at the same time, denying also the revolutionary principles in what refers to organization and functioning.

Eurocommunism affected communist and workers' parties from different positions, some of them in power and, like other opportunistic currents throughout history, Eurocommunism had a clear international orientation, despite having as a thesis being a phenomenon attending to the national particularities and conditions. In this regard, Enrico Berlinguer, former General Secretary of PCI (Italian Communist Party, - Ed), said:

‘We obviously are not those who forged this term, but the very fact that it circulates so widely shows how the countries of Western Europe deeply aspire to see the affirmation and progress of new type solutions in the transformation of society in a socialist sense.’

The then General Secretary of the PCE (Communist Party of Spain, -Ed), Santiago Carrillo, added:

“... There is no such a thing as Eurocommunism, since some non-European communist parties, as the Japanese Communist Party, cannot be included under that label”.

Despite the inconsistencies and falsifications that have characterized the life of Carrillo, who months after denying the existence of “Eurocommunism”, published a book entitled "Eurocommunism and State"; he was right on one thing: the phenomenon was not limited to Western Europe. (Ibidem, p. 84)

But today in 2011, many years later, more and more European communist parties hold different views (based on the legacy of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin), such as the KKE (Communist Party of Greece, -Ed), whose General Secretary of its Central Committee, Aleka Papariga, made the following bold statement to the media, in connection with the deep confrontation between Labour and Capital in Greece:

“We must not waste even a day. Before the government even regroups, before it takes its first steps, it must find the people opposed to it. There are specific immediate problems e.g. for the heavy taxes to be abolished, immediate problems which are related to taxation, the ‘solidarity’ tax, school committees which have no money, student accommodation which will close tomorrow, there is no money for the universities, nowhere, to fund them.
(Photo WFTU: PAME Demonstration in Athens/Greece, October 2011)

Consequently, the problems are immediate and there must be struggles everywhere. Immediate and at the same time, of course, intensified demands to lead to the great people’s counterattack, because everything is fiscal. Do you know what fiscal means? It means cessation of funding for education, health, everything.”

The Greek working class and its allies don’t give an inch.

At its VI National Congress, 28-30 October 2011 (in Rimini), the Party of the Italian Communists (PdCI) adopted a document “for the reconstruction of the Communist Party”, where it stresses that:

“In the European context the experience of recent years has demolished the argument that in this part of the world a Communist revolutionary force, rejecting any reference to social-democracy and being compliant one, is inevitably destined to decline and marginalization. It shows, instead, that the opposite thesis is true, that the political-ideological party profile should always be accompanied with its ability in social setting, primarily in the workplaces and among young people. It is what AKEL of Cyprus, Greek KKE and Portuguese CP results show us, despite their differences; in recent years, they were able to reach some of the best election results throughout their history, that are also the product of their presence in society...” (p. 31)

L'Humanité in English: http://www.humaniteinenglish.com/

-30-

IMPERIALISM, RUTHLESS AND VIOLENT

Not to mention the sitution in Libya

vol. 4, no. 5, September 26th, 2011

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

The Communist Party of Ireland, through its newspaper Socialist Voice, says it best:
“With the collapse of profits, US capitalism turned to the tried and true method of intensified exploitation. Millions were cast off from their jobs, leaving the same work to be done by far fewer employees. Consequently, over the last two years labour productivity soared at unprecedented rates. With little game-changing investment in labour-saving technologies, this amounted to equally unprecedented exploitation: sweated labour. A weakened and compliant labour movement gave little resistance.”
"[On the other hand] …many realtors expressed concerns that after being laid off, the Shipyard workers would face foreclosure. Without access to the good jobs at Avondale, people who would have bought homes would instead be forced to take lower-paying jobs, cutting off access to homeownership. There is also the possibility of foreclosure for many of the workers at Avondale who would lose their middle-class income, and possibly the ability to pay off their mortgage…” This is expressed by the national union, (American Federation of Labour/Congress of Industrial Organizations, AFL-CIO), though a rather petty-bourgeois concern than a decisive issue for the working class who now demand jobs’ creation and expect President Obama to put this on his real agenda.
(Photo Internet: US Auto Workers on the assembly line).

Accordingly to Gyula Thürner, General Secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party:

“We are facing a deep crisis that capitalism will not be able to solve; revolution as an option cannot be excluded. For the communist leader, two mistakes of some communist parties remain, e.g. to negate the experience of socialist countries, and to speak in a superficial manner about Stalin and the [worker’s] dictatorship; they consequently adopt revisionist policies, abandon or negate internationalism, limiting their objectives to their own nation. […] The Hungarian communist leader explains also that fascism is a tool in the hands of capitalist forces. […] If the crisis is aggravating and the communist movement is progressing, then Capital will resort to fascism.”

Soviet Union cannot play temporarily a decisive role in supporting the working class around the world and promoting rights and social progress for the labour movement as reported in the latest issue of International Communist Review (Herwig Lerouge, Parti du Travail de Belgique):
“… Le mouvement syndical belge/The Belgian Trade-Union Movement, no. 5, May 25, 1936, saluted the accession of the USSR to the International Labour Conference of 1931. It considered that “to succeed in voting a convention aimed at introducing the 40-hour working week in all countries, Russia could constitute a very favourable factor. Social legislation in its entirety, its very concept, was influenced at international level by the presence of the USSR and its social legislation.

Right up to the eighties, West-German trade-union leaders, among them the almost legendary president of IG-Metall, Otto Brenner, knew from experience that ‘during negotiations with the bosses, an invisible but perceptible partner was always present at the table, the socialist GDR (German Democratic Republic-East Germany). (http://www.prignitzer.de/nachrichten/mecklenburg-vorpommern/artikeldetail/article/111/der-anfang-vom-ende-der-ddr.html)

The Western European bourgeoisie is today more prolix:

“In the Netherlands, the NRC-Handelblad published the following revealing headline on the occasion of the adoption, in the nineties, of a much more restrictive law on sickness and disability: “With Stalin alive, or possibly, Brezhnev, our new legislation would not have been adopted”.

Herwig Lerouge ends his article by stating that: “The twentieth century will have been the century of the dress-rehearsal for the world socialist revolution.”

Very often Communist Parties, such as the Communist Party of Canada refer as to mistakes the course of events that took place in Soviet Union, which undermined socialism from within. Mikhail V. Popov, Professor of Economics and Law in capitalist Russia wrote in the International Communist Review an insight about “reforms” that took place in USSR:

“After the XX and XXII Congresses of the Communist Party of Soviet Union –the turning points which ensured the domination of opportunism and the revisionism in the politics and economics of the USSR – the economic reforms of 1965 replaced the principle of working for society to satisfy the needs of all its members by the principle of reaching maximum profit by certain enterprises. Thereby the economic basis of socialism started to be corroded and undermined. In many respects all this is the reason why the scale of active resistance to the liquidation of the workers’ power was so inadequate.” We deal with sheer betrayal! (Photo Internet: Call of the Communist Party of Greece to European Workers, in 2010).

Finally, here is how Joseph Stalin considered the situation before the Great October 1917 Revolution:

“The new period is one of open class collisions, of revolutionary action by the proletariat, of proletarian revolution, a period when forces are being directly mustered for the overthrow of imperialism and the seizure of power by the proletariat. […] Hence the necessity for a new party, a militant party, a revolutionary party, one bold enough to lead the proletarians in the struggle for power, sufficiently experienced to find its bearings amidst the complex conditions of a revolutionary situation, and sufficiently flexible to steer clear of all submerged rocks in the path to its goal. Without such a party it is useless even to think of overthrowing imperialism, of achieving the dictatorship of the proletariat.” (Foundations of Leninism, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1975, p. 95).

L'Humanité in English: http://www.humaniteinenglish.com/

-30-

HOLLYWOOD IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

vol. 4, no. 4, September 1st, 2011

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

Don’t miss the latest show! Let’s have first a look at the scenario: the story of a US President in quest for an agreement that will allow his administration to spend more money; well, to increase the debt ceiling. According to the mass media, he needs the support of members of both factions of the Congress, Republicans and Democrats. At first glance, it could give the impression that they are enemies, are they?

“One of America’s strengths immediately following the war (WW2, Ed.) was a degree of domestic consensus surrounding foreign policy. There might have been fierce differences between Republicans and Democrats, but politics usually ended at the water’s edge; professionals, whether in the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, or the CIA, were expected to make decisions based on facts and sound judgment, not ideology or electioneering.” (Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope, Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto, 2008, p. 338).
(Photo Internet: President Barack Obama at the US Congress, 2010)

Would the plot of this play have been different nowadays? Mr. Obama delivered a statement on July 29, 2011 and said: “What’s clear now is that any solution to avoid default must be bipartisan. […] And today I urge Democrats and Republicans in the Senate to find common ground on a plan that can get support –that can get support from both parties in the House – a plan that I can sign by Tuesday (August 2nd, 2011, Ed.). Now, keep in mind, this is not a situation where the two parties are miles apart.” (BREAKING: President Obama’s Statement on Debt Negotiations, The White House, Washington, 2011).

He added for US citizens’ purpose: “… let your members of Congress know. Make a phone call. Send an email. Tweet.” (Idem). (The White House can be reached at: info@messages.whitehouse.gov)

What was the answer of the organized labor movement? At the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), a 9 million strong trade-union, the leadership, without questioning the US government spending – for instance the military budget- walked in the President’s footsteps and invited its members and asked them: “Can you write polite but firm messages on some or all of these Facebook pages (for example Sen. Scott Brown, Ed.), asking for key Republican senators to pass a clean increase in the debt ceiling so America doesn’t default on its debts?” (ref.; http://www.aflcio.org/)

The U.S. CEOs and representatives of Big Capital can just applaud to this initiative. Let’s recall that war on Afghanistan costs $ 450 billion so far and the recent war on Libya swallows $ 1 billion, even though that the so-called “rebels” were practically in total rout, if it wouldnot have been the support of NATO.

One can understand that US workers need a new type of trade-union movement: a movement for peace, a movement for real jobs'creation. That’s what the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) is all about. Born after WW2 in Paris (France), this 80 million members union is now based in Athens (Greece). They just hold their last Congress in April 2011. They want to deepen their relations with workers of USA and Canada; it won’t replace the AFL-CIO, but give a new impetus to US working people in their struggles on one hand and also reinforce the movement abroad in the fight against US monopolies and multinationals; in a nutshell, the battle against US imperialism. (Photo Internet: Spanish-speaking trade-unionists with George Mavrikos, second from the right, General Secretary of the World Federation of Trade-Unions, WFTU)

A lack of leadership in the labor movement

The Communist Party USA made a fair appreciation of some aspects of the arrangement, “the budget cuts reportedly included in the deal appear to be, thankfully, heavily weighted towards cuts in the military as wars in Afghanistan and Iraq ‘draw down’. This is a sign that the economic crisis has finally helped force a long overdue retrenchment in the U.S. global military profile”. However, their People’s World electronic newsletter wrongly concludes: “It is no doubt true that a Democratic president and Senate prevented a much worse outcome than the current deal. Many have criticized the president for being too soft and weak in negotiations with the Republicans. I (John Case, Ed.), had nearly 20 years’ experience in the labor movement which proved me it’s hard to judge from the outside what is really possible, and what is not, in such bargaining. The balance of forces is hard to evaluate if you are not at the table. Maybe the president gave too much; maybe this is the best outcome possible to avert disaster for now.” (http://peoplesworld.org/debt-ceiling-disaster-postponed-but-not-for-long/ )

The cherry over this opportunist “coating” is the political stand of the General Secretary of the CP USA, Sam Webb: “The president boxed himself into a corner, not because he is a bad negotiator, but because he and his aides made the calculus on the heels of the 2010 elections that his appeal to independent voters, and thus his reelection, depend on his credentials as a ‘responsible fiscal manager’. […] Paul Krugman reminds us that President Roosevelt pursued this course of action in 1937 to disastrous results. Let’s hope that president Obama fares better.” (http://www.peoplesworld.org/debt-deal-is-bad-for-america/) .

Now, what does that mean?! It is in fact the rubber stamp of the US “communists” on capitalist policies. And there is no question of struggling for socialism in USA, of ending ruinous and unfair wars abroad. The Webb and Co.’s so-called communists are not ready to give people- in USA and abroad-, a “break”. Of course, opposition is growing among the rank-and-file members and they are better and better organized; in New York City, they publish a paper bulletin, Ideological Fightback, which talks to the workers and calls for a new leadership in the US communist movement.

On the other hand, AFL-CIO’s general board and executive council members met with President Obama urging him to focus on jobs for the remainder of this first term. “The president, on national television, shifted discussions away from the debt ceiling deal and declared that the priorities for Congress are passage of measures that will stimulate the sputtering economy, including extending the payroll tax suspensions for workers, beefing up benefits for the unemployed and investing in infrastructure projects. […] The recession, which began during presidency of George Bush, saw the economy shrink at an annual rate of 8 percent in the last three months of 2008, just before Obama was sworn in. It shrunk by another 7 percent during his first three months in office.” (http://www.peoplesworld.org/labor-leaders-at-white-house-press-obama-on-jobs/).

At Jobs with Justice’s national conference that took place Aug. 5-7 in Washington, D.C. “workers, students, religious leaders, community activists and many others planned strategies to build a powerful movement of working people to defeat the corporate agenda.” (http://blog.aflcio.org/2011/08/01/join-jobs-with-justices-national-conference-and-fight-back-against-corporate-agenda/).

"When Republican House leaders forced a shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration -FAA, last week (2011-08-05, Ed.), they not only forced the layoff of 4,000 FAA workers, they also put at risk nearly 90,000 construction jobs at airports around the country. […] Republicans blocked temporary funding in an effort to overturn a new rule making union elections among rail and airline workers more democratic.” (http://blog.aflcio.org/2011/07/25/republican-faa-shutdown-costs-4000-jobs-threatens-90000).

Meanwhile, “the unemployment rate for young workers between ages 16 to 24 has skyrocketed as millions of young people have lost jobs and school enrollment has steadily increased over the past decade. The jobless rate nearly doubled among young workers to a peak of 19 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009 and has remained high, averaging 17.4 percent in the second quarter of this year, compared with 6.7 percent for older workers and 9.1 percent for all workers.” (http://blog.aflcio.org/2011/08/01/jobs-crisis-hits-young-workers-hard/print/).

The New York City daily Metro newspaper reported on August 3rd, 2011, a story about veterans going from deployed to unemployed. “Abbas Malik guarded the Green Zone in Iraq, but he can’t get hired as a mall security guard in Staten Island (New York City, Ed.). […] Like Malik, 13 percent of the 17,000 New York City war veterans are now unemployed. That’s higher than the national unemployment rate of 9 percent. […] Malik is considering returning to war just to pay the bills.”

Communists must address the issue and raise the level of political consciousness. Founders of modern communism once said: “We must not make too many concessions to gain popularity; we shall not underestimate the intellect and level of culture of our workers. […] If the working class is not organized well enough to wage a campaign against the collective power, e.g. the ruling classes’ political power, we must, anyway, lead it through continuous agitation against the political attitude of the ruling classes, an attitude hostile to us.” (Marx-Engels, Critique des programmes de Gotha et d’Erfurt, Éditions sociales, Paris, 1966, pp. 92-93, 119).

“American efficiency, on the other hand, is an antidote to ‘revolutionary’ Manilovism and fantastic scheme concocting (we searched the meaning in several textbooks, but we could not find the exact definition; obviously, ”manilovism” is not a compliment, Ed.). American efficiency is that indomitable force which neither knows nor recognizes obstacles, which with its business-like perseverance brushes aside all obstacles; which continues at a task once started until it is finished, even if it is a minor task; and without which serious constructive work is inconceivable. But American efficiency has every chance of degenerating into narrow and unprincipled practicalism if it is not combined with Russian revolutionary sweep.” (Joseph Stalin, The Foundations of Leninism, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1975, pp. 111-112). (Photo Internet: The Yalta Conference during WW2, when Soviet Union, USA, Great Britain and France were Allied against Nazi Germany)

Anyhow, the American workers will never remain isolated from the rest of the world. Already, we spoke about the orientation of the WFTU. But we cannot cast away the efforts of many communists around the world (France, Greece, Canada, and USA…) who are on the road to rebuild the Communist International (Comintern), which is the association of communist parties worldwide, to support the struggle of the working class movement to replace capitalism with socialism. Probably several US workers will nod and say: “I’ll drink to that!” Yes, it deserves an honest beer…

danieleugpaquet@yahoo.ca

L'Humanité in English: http://www.humaniteinenglish.com/

-30-

WORKERS AND YOUTH EVENTS

vol. 4, no. 3, February 15-28, 2011

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

Many thousand young people took part in the political events in Tunisia and Egypt. They said loudly, some died even chanting it: no more! They cannot live like that anymore. Ever more. all around the world youth is restless. They protest in their own way against social injustice, poverty and lack of opportunities; while workers create wealth every minute. Wherever they live, the young people –it seems- want to rediscover the foundations of their national culture and identity, true human feelings, trampled down by the US so-called main stream culture. They enjoy real love stories…

On December 20, 1901, Lenin underscored that “a fortnight ago we observed the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first social-revolutionary demonstration in Russia. [The communists proposed that the] slogan must be: political freedom; and the demand to be put forward by the entire people to be the convocation of the people’s representatives. […] Public unrest is growing everywhere, and more and more imperative becomes the necessity to unify it into one single current directed against the autocracy, which everywhere sows tyranny, oppression, and violence.” (Lenin, Collected Works, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1961, volume 5, pages 322-325).

“Why does our society (especially the middle classes, Ed.) not support the students at least in the way the workers have already supported them? After all, the higher educational institutions are attended not by the proletarians’ sons and brothers, and yet the workers in Kiev, Kharkov, and Ekaterinoslav have already openly declared their sympathy with the protesters, despite [the] threats to use armed force against demonstrators.” (Lenin, Collected Works, Progress Publishers, Moscow, volume 6, pages 79-85).

The famous German playwrigth, Bertolt Brecht, enunciated many years later some evidences in one of his plays about modernity and progress: “… the old days are over and this is a new time. For the last hundred years mankind has seemed to be expecting something. Our cities are cramped, and so are men’s minds. Superstition and the plague. But now the word is ‘that’s how things are, but they won’t stay like that’. Because everything is in motion, my friend. […] Each day something fresh is discovered. Men of a hundred, even, are getting the young people to bawl the latest example into their ear. There have been a lot of discoveries, but there is still plenty to be found out. So future generations should have enough to do.” (Bertolt Brecht, Life of Galileo, Methuen Drama, London, 1994, pp. 6-7).
(Photo Internet: German writer and dramatist, Bertolt Brecht)

Québec young generations make great strides in the realm of politics, including teen-agers, who pondered on the above-mentioned events, especially about the uprising in Egypt. Why did it happen? Is it true that they were governed by a dictator? Some television reports from this country let understood that “protesters” were using horses and camels to make their way through along side with the people; who were supposedly acting against Western countries journalists. It was not true, accordingly to Associated Press: those “horsemen» were Mubarak’s regime paid agents to intimidate the masses and the news reporters. (Mubarak has been in power in Egypt since over 30 years, “appointed” by the US authorities, Ed.).

About television

The well-known Italian movie-maker, Roberto Rossellini, talking about television, said that “...we must recall that for great modern currents of thought, expressed, each in its own language, from Christianity to Islam, from Socrates to Karl Marx, the objective, -and the only one- is to help mature human thought. All those trends of thought have a common source. They trust mankind (p. 199). […] Television can bring the ‘direct vision’ of things, men and history to millions and millions of human beings. History teaches us that social changes –that we are condemned to, doomed to live better while evolving towards a richer world-, superseding new ways of thinking. However, these ways of thinking evolve only when one may recapitulate what he knows. To reach this goal, knowledge must be accessible to everybody; everything must be ready to all, and up-graded on a regular basis.
(Photo: the vocational and general college Vieux-Montréal).

In a nutshell, we must make knowledge an even more democratic reality.” (Roberto Rossellini, Un esprit libre ne doit rien apprendre en esclave, Fayard, Paris, 1977, pp. 199-200).

danieleugpaquet@yahoo.ca

L'Humanité in English: http://www.humaniteinenglish.com

-30-

WORKERS NEED REVOLUTIONARY METHODS

vol. 4, no. 2, February 1-14, 2011

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

On January 25th 2011, US President Barack Obama “… called for unity with Republicans, while delivering his speech on the State of the Union […] setting the foundations for the second part of his mandate and the race for his re-election in 2012”. He stressed the need for enterprises tax cutbacks, a lesser role for the government and the need for collaboration of both Republican and Democratic parties in Congress, accordingly to Montréal Métro newspaper, on January 26th.

In Montréal, the message is clear and generally well accepted especially by colored people who still savour the presidential election of an Afro-American citizen to this responsibility; paving the way for Hispanic people, women and non-White people in general.
(Illustration Internet: workers' revolt at Haymarket, USA).

The American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), through the voice of its President, Richard Trumka, said in relation with Obama’s proposal for collaboration between Republicans and Democrats, “… we will join the President as partners to help build bipartisan support for a sustained and strategic investment in America’s future”.

He added: “We believe the President is heading in the right direction – but as he outlined tonight, the yardstick must be the health of the middle class and the American economy”. (NOW BLOG, 2011-01-27). Let’s recall that unemployment is currently in the two digits in USA. However, US workers are not urged to action by their union leaders.

“… Where and by whom has it ever been proved that the parliamentary form of struggle is the principle form of struggle of the proletariat (working class, Ed.)? Does not the history of the revolutionary movement show that the parliamentary struggle is only a school for, and an auxiliary in, organizing the extra-parliamentary struggle of the proletariat, that under capitalism the fundamental problems of the working-class movement are solved by force, by the direct struggle of the proletarian masses, their general strike, their uprising? […] Who suggested that the method of the political general strike be substituted for the parliamentary struggle? Where and when have the supporters of the political general strike sought to substitute extra-parliamentary forms of struggle for parliamentary forms?” (Joseph Stalin, The Foundations of Leninism, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1975, p. 15).

These matters are going to be discussed at the 16th Congress of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), 80 million members. In fact, US workers should remember their own traditions and history; those years, the years of the Congress of Industrial Organizations were moments of great struggles for a better living, peace and progress in general. Let’s recall the struggles for civil liberties. The US working class can find, within its own history "handbook", what revolutionary methods mean.

As for the International Trade Union Congress, it will take place in Athens (Greece), April 6th-10th, 2011. There will be a delegation from USA and Canada. They will dwell upon common fields of interests with hundreds of more than 120 countries; for instance exchange of information and the need for international solidarity, especially between US and Canadian workers.

Should we not recall that at the beginning of the communist movement, North-American revolutionaries were members of the same American communist parties; then the Communist party of Canada was created in 1921?

As the leader of the first socialist Revolution -that took place in Russia-, Vladimir Lenin, pointed out: “The American people have a revolutionary tradition which has been adopted by the best representatives of the American proletariat, who have repeatedly expressed their complete solidarity with us Bolsheviks. That tradition is the war of liberation against the British (the real Tea Party, Ed.) in the eighteenth century and the Civil War in the nineteenth century."
(Photo: Winnipeg General Strike in Canada, in 1919).

"In some respects, if we only take into consideration the ‘destruction’ of some branches of industry and of the national economy, America in 1870 was behind 1860. But what a pedant, what an idiot would anyone be to deny on these grounds the immense, world-historic, progressive and revolutionary significance of the American Civil War of 1863-65!” (V.I. Lenin, Letter to American Workers, Progress Publisher, Moscow, vol. 28, 1965, pp. 62-75).

danieleugpaquet@yahoo.ca

L'Humanité in English: http://www.humaniteinenglish.com

-30-

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

Pour la KOMINTERN now!: http://pourlakominternnow.blogspot.com/

L'Humanité in English: http://www.humaniteinenglish.com/

Marxism-Leninism Today (USA): http://mltoday.com/

-30-

BEST WISHES FOR THE YEAR 2011

La Vie Réelle in English, already three years old, extends its best greetings to its 250 readers from Europe, Australia, People’s Republic of China, English-speaking Canada, Cuba, Québec and United States.

It salutes the 10th anniversary of the French La Vie Réelle and the new Pour la KOMINTERN now!

We want to welcome our new friends: Marxism-Leninism Today (USA), U.S. Friends of the Soviet People (New York), The Regina Peace Council, Canadians for Peace and Socialism, the Union des étudiants communistes de France, the Pôle de Renaissance Communiste en France, Northstar Compass, l’Humanité in English (Paris), the Québec solidaire party and the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU).

La Vie Réelle in English congratulates the Communist Party of Canada for its 90th Founding Anniversary (1921-2011) which will be a landmark for workers in English-speaking Canada and Québec. The bulletin will support the CPC in the coming federal elections.

La Vie Réelle in English will attend the April 6th-9th 2011's 16th Congress of the WORLD FEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONS in Athens (Greece), which will orient the work of the federation representing 80 million workers in over 130 countries.
(Photo: Christmas Tree at the Centre l’Échelon in Montréal, the work of the union steward Lise Brochu)

To all of you, La Vie Réelle in English wishes: Peace, Progress and Socialism!

comment: danieleugpaquet@yahoo.ca

ONE MORE STEP TO THE LEFT

The Canadian youth will benefit from it

vol. 3, no. 12, December 2010

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

You will find at the end the link to L'Humanité in English, a selection of articles published in the communist daily newspaper L'Humanité, in Paris (France).

There would not be something more stupid than this writer not recognizing that he makes a real mistake. There is a petition circulating in Québec demanding the step-down of Liberal Premier Jean Charest for not considering the need of a public inquiry into financial contributions to political parties and contracts given to private corporations for governments’ public services in return.

The Québec Federation of Labour (500 000 members) presses also the government to do so. It is also an about-face for the current Editor. The critics against this people’s demand were first published in Pour la KOMMITERN now!

The communists must not allow themselves to stay behind the mood of the population. In English-speaking Canada, the newspaper of the Communist party, People’s Voice report: the Calgary citizens are facing the rampage of neo-Nazis; in Vancouver, people are opposed to closing schools and defend altogether the public education in British Columbia. Still in Western Canada, the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour will be mobilizing to defeat the reactionary policies of the provincial government. In Manitoba, the Communist Party has a candidate in the Winnipeg North federal by-election, an important riding in the history of the Communist party since the 1919 General Strike.

(Photo Internet: Winnipeg- Western Canada, General Strike in 1919).

In Ontario, US Steel locked out the 900 workers and 9000 retirees (in Hamilton), but the working people remember the historic 1946 strike which helped bring the Rand Formula and the closed shop to Canada.

In Québec, the workers are feeling for a change. They tried the Parti québécois for a very long period. They did the same thing with the Liberal Party. They gave its chance to the Action démocratique du Québec that was propelled to the rank of official opposition. Now they have David facing Goliath. David is Amir Khadir, the sole representative of the party Québec solidaire, one out of 125 deputies in the National Assembly. But the overall impression: he is de facto the main workers' opposition to the government. He is really full of energy and it is encouraging for the working people.

Most likely, there will be inroads in the island of Montréal in the coming elections. The communists take part to the development of Québec solidaire as individual members. La Vie Réelle will contribute through its friends, who speak several languages, to outreach the immigrants living in the Québec metropolis. While there are 7, 8 million inhabitants in Québec, half of them live in this city.

The French-Canadian working class is well-educated, disciplined, experienced and self-confident. The workers are no more afraid of scams and bogies.

The proof: Amir Khadir as a Left-oriented Québec solidaire deputy seating with the communist La Vie Réelle Editor during a meeting with journalists.

(Photo: From left to right, Cécile Deschamps, guest; Québec solidaire deputy, Amir Khadir and Daniel Paquet, La Vie Réelle in English Editor).

In Québec, almost everybody is looking towards the future, which is no more dreadful and worrying.

Canada today, United States will follow on…

danieleugpaquet@yahoo.ca

Pour la KOMINTERN now!, http://pourlakominternnow.blogspot.com

L'Humanité in English: http://www.humaniteinenglish.com

Marxism-Leninism Today (USA): http://MLToday.com

-30-

ALEA JACTA EST

THE WORKING CLASS IS CONDEMNED TO LIBERTY, SAYS HISTORY


vol. 3, no. 11, November 16-30, 2010

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

You will find at the end the link to L'Humanité in English, a selection of articles from the daily communist newspaper published in Paris (France).

« For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night… (William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Penguin Books, Toronto, 1969, p. 37).

Workers in general are seduced by Nature, People and Beauty. They stand for world peace and progress. It’s probably why Québec Colleges students are so fond of the french poet, Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891), a prolific one in its early youth. He lived through the Commune de Paris, in 1871. He had opinions : here is Le dormeur du val, The Valley Sleeper,

« Un soldat jeune, bouche ouverte, tête nue,
Et la nuque baignant dans le frais cresson bleu,
Dort ; il est étendu dans l’herbe, sous la nue,
Pâle dans son lit vert où la lumière pleut.
[…]
Les parfums ne font pas frissonner sa narine ;
Il dort dans le soleil, la main sur sa poitrine,
Tranquille. Il a deux trous rouges au côté droit. »

A young soldier, mouth opened, head naked,
Nape bathing in the fresh blue watercress,
Sleeps ; he is lying in the grass, under the skies,
Pale in this green bed where Light rains.
[…]
Perfumes do not move his nostril ;
He sleeps within the sun, the hand over his chest, Quiet. He has two red holes on his right side.
(Image Internet: La Commune de Paris, le premier état des ouvriers au monde, en 1871).

Wars are a source of « big money » for multinationals, such as former US vice-president Dick Cheneys’ Haliburton Corp. Those international mnopolies are always looking for new sources of profits. Now, they channel their efforts through « friendly » governments against the working people « in order to make those attacks on workers’rights in public administration (Education, Social Security and Health, Ed.). European governments are trying to convince the public that civil servants are a privileged stratum and the main culprit for the state’s deficit.

[…] So, they increase job insecurity, they increase the minimum age for retirement, they devaluate pensions, they reduce the purchasing power of workers, they lower or freeze salaries ; they destroy career oppportunities, they cut paid holiday and Christmas bonuses… » (Reflects, World Federation of Trade Unions, Athens, October 2010, #2, p. 7).
(World Federation of Trade Unions Logo. The 16th Congress will take place in Athens, April 6-9, 2011).

But, as states character Galileo in one of Brecht’s play : « As a young man in Siena I watched a group of building workers argue for five minutes, then abandon a thousand-year old method of shifting granite blocks in favour of a new and more efficient arrangement of ropes. [Further, he affirms that] everyone declares : right, that’s what it says in the books, but let’s have a look for ourselves. That most solemn truths are being familiarly nudged ; what was never doubted before is doubted now. » (idem, p. 7), Bertolt Brecht, Life of Galileo, Methuen Student Edition, Toronto, 1988, p. 7).

« A human race which shambles around in a pearly haze of superstition and old saws, too ignorant to develop its own powers, will never be able to develop these powers of nature which you people are revealing to it. To what end are you working ? Presumably for the principle that sciences sole aim must be to lighten te burden of human existence… » (p. 108).

Petty bourgeoisie and society


But we cannot take the human race as one entity set in the stone. We live in a class-divided society. In Québec, the most important class in number and influence is the petty bourgeoisie. Here is what Marx’s comrade, Engels, wrote in 1849 : « It is not unlikely that the petty bourgeoisie, if left to its own devices, would have gone outside the legal framework of lawful, peaceful and virtuous struggle and taken up the musket and the paving-stone in place of the so-called weapons of the spirit. The history of all political movements since 1830 in Germany, as in France and England, shows that this class is invariably full of bluster and loud protestations, at times even extreme as far as talking goes, as long as it perceives no danger ; faint-hearted, continues and calculating as soon as the slightest danger approaches ; aghast, alarmed and wavering as soon as the movement it provoked is seized upon and taken up seriously by other classes, treacherous to the whole movement for the sake of its petty bourgeois existence as soon as there is any questions of a struggle with weapons in hand – and in the end, as a result of its indecisiveness, more often than not cheated and ill-treated as soon as the reactionary side has achieved victory. » (Marx-Engels, Collected Works, Volume 10. International Publishers, New York, 1978, p. 150).

When they wrote The Communist Manifesto the year before (1848), they included a chapter on the Petty Bourgeois socialism : « In countries where modern civilization has become fully developed, a new class of petty bourgeois has been formed, fluctuating between proletariat and bourgeoisie and even renewing itself as a supplementary part of bourgeois society. » (Marx-Engels, The Communist Manifesto, Washington Square Press, New York, 1977, pp. 99-100).
(Photo Internet: Karl Marx)

Consequently, they developed their own school of socialism. « This school of socialism dissected with great acuteness the contradictions in the conditions of modern production. It laid bare the hypocritical apologies of economists. It proved, incontrovertibly, the disastrous effects of machinery and division of labor, the concentration of capital and land in a few hands, over-production and crisis, it pointed out the inevitable ruin of the petty-bourgeois and farmer, the misery of proletariat, the anarchy in production, the crying inequalities in the distribution of wealth, the industrial war of extermination between nations, the dissolution of old moral bonds, of the old family relations, of the old nationalities.

In its positive aims however, this form of socialism aspires either to restoring the old means of production and of exchange, and with them the old property relations and the old society or to cramping the modern means of production and of exchange within the framework of the old property relations that have been, and were bound to be, exploded by those means. In either case, it is both reactionay and Utopian. » (ibidem, pp. 100-101).

The October Revolution and the petty bourgeoisie

(Photo Internet: Lénine haranguant les révolutionnaires en Russie).
Once the Communists took the power in Russia, during the 1917 October Revolution, they had, in the words of Lenin, to face the sitution where : « It was not the State Capitalism which was opposed to socialism but petty bourgeoisie and private capitalism that were struggling, side by side, against State Capitalism and socialism. Petty bourgeoisie opposed itself to State intervention, inventory and control, either from State capitalism or State socialism . » (Lénine, Œuvres, tome 27, Éditions sociales, Paris, 1980. P. 351).

Soviet leaders soon concluded that this experience had to be shared with comrades and friends abroad. The US marxist, James Connolly, underlined in one of his essay, Stalin on Socialist Construction : « Internationalist responsibility also included educating comrades abroad in the basics of Marxism-Leninism and elevating their level of understanding : Stalin remarks on the inadequate level of Marxist development of the majority of the Communist parties abroad’. Compared with the ‘inadequate’ level of Marxist development during Stalin’s time, the level of development at the present time, when revisionism predominates in many Communist parties, appears positively abysmal, » (pp. 8-9).

But, as said the famous french communist poet, Paul Éluard (1895-1952), in support of the Stalin government and the Resistance against Hitler and Nazi Germany :
« Et par le pouvoir d’un mot
Je recommence ma vie
Je suis né pour te connaître
Pour te nommer

Liberté. »

« And with the power of one word
I start my life all over again
I was born to know you
To name you

Liberty. »

(Photo Internet: la Résistance française, des femmes et des hommes).

danieleugpaquet@yahoo.ca

Pour la KOMINTERN now!, http://pourlakominternnow.blogspot.com/

L'Humanité in English: http://www.humaniteinenglish.com

THERE IS HOPE FOR A FUTURE

vol. 3. no. 10, November 1-15, 2010

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

You will find below the link to l'Humanité in English, a selection of articles from the daily communist newspaper published in Paris (France).

Guess what, we will start with bad news and end up with optimism and hope for a future!

“A paternalistic concern for ‘what’s going to happen to the people of Afghanistan and Iraq’ without the U.S. occupying their countries shows how far imperialist assumptions have infected sections of the US peace movement. [...] On the other hand, the U.S. Peace Council, affiliated with the World Peace Council -the largest peace movement on earth-, distributed at a peace meeting in Washington (October 3rd , 2010) a statement that says grosso modo: ‘We must foreground the demand for an immediate unconditional end to the U.S. occupation wars against Afghanistan and Iraq. The trillions of dollars devoted to war industry profits feed more than 1,000 extraterritorial U.S. military bases around the world as well as U.S. and U.S.-backed occupation and wars against Palestine, Colombia, Pakistan, Lebanon, Somalia and Yemen, threats to Iran and Democratic Korea, and the deployment of Special Operations forces in a total of about 75 countries...”

The US Marxist writer, James Connolly, wrote that “Stalin, interestingly, [believed] that ‘it is possible that in a definite conjuncture of circumstances,’ the fight for peace’ will develop here or there’ into a fight for socialism. [...] ‘a movement for the overthrow of capitalism.’ In any case, the peace movement’s anti-militarism opposes the war industry, ‘the “business” best adapted to the extraction of the maximum profit’. The peace movement therefore, even without Marxist-Leninist leadership, objectively tends to undermine modern monopoly capitalism – as long as the peace movement [...] consistently and vigorously objects to imperialist aggression.” (J.V. Stalin, Economic Problems of Socialism in the U.S.S.R. (1952).
(Photo Internet: Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union).

The CPUSA’s electronic bulletin People’s World reported (October 27th, 2010), in relation to the so-called US hawks, pervading the USA in the 1980s, “right-wing extremists and the most reactionary sections of monopoly and financial capital ganged up against the working class, racially oppressed, women, youth, seniors, and other social groups”, the core of the peace movement then and now.

Those were the years of Ronald Reagan era; People’s World goes on: “The wealth of the top income tiers ballooned, while income for the lower tiers either stagnated or plummeted”.

In 2008, President Obama was elected; democratic-minded people and movements backed him. It was the victory of a “loose coalition of diverse forces”. Speaking of two visions about the power at White House, the journal says: “which vision will come out on top and when that will happen is not clear”.

One thing is sure: the CPUSA’s leadership does not intend to fight on its own to advance new policies for the working class.

USA is a typical capitalist country

As stated in the New York City Metro, “since resigning as speaker of the House 11 years ago, Newt Gingrich, the most powerful Republican, has officially been a private citizen...” Speaking about US history, he hammers out: “Following World War II, the left in America romanticized about many ideas put forth by Moscow, and turned a blind eye to the fact that Stalin has already slaughtered millions of his own people and was now subjugating much of Eastern Europe. Just four years later, the Soviets detonated a nuclear weapon...”

Of course, he is lying and exaggerating. Everybody knows that USA was the first power to use the atomic bomb, against Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the WWII, while Japan was already on the verge to capitulate without it. In describing Stalin, Gingrich uses the old Nazi clichés.
(Photo Internet: Newt Gingrich is using the classical clichés of the Nazi regime about Soviet Union; here is "maybe" his favourite mentor on the far right, Adolf Hitler, accompanied by Joseph Goebbels on the left).

In fact, he is more concerned with the well-being of the U.S. well-to-do. He pursues: “Republican candidates must continue to explain their plans for [cutting taxes] and reforming government”.

In February or March 2011, we will know if he runs for President in 2012.

The electronic journal Change.org informed us that a rally was organized in Washington, DC at the end of October whose “aim is to show the country that when it comes to politics and civic discourse, the majority of Americans are interested in sane, calm discussion rather than shrill, angry shouting.”

On the other hand, the Fed declared the same day that the authorities will inquiry in the manner that mortgage societies expelled from their homes, people unable to face financial obligations. This is no joke; so many people just don’t find a job. “The national unemployment rate remained unchanged for September, at 9.6%, according to figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on October 8, 2010. Approximately 14.8 million workers are without jobs as the economy continues slow growth.”

In terms of money, those are the charts (in June 30, 2009) in thousands of dollars for total deposits: a) Bank of America, 817,989,321; b) JP Morgan Chase Bank, 618,124,000; c) Wachovia Bank, 394, 189,004; d) Wells Fargo Bank, 325,417,000; e) Citibank, 265,947,879. And the list is long and impressive.

Now, we could overview the situation of General Motors. The New York Times (October 26th, 2010) recalls that: “For most of the 20th century [it] was the biggest company in the most important industry in the world.” During the bankruptcy process, “the [US] federal government holds nearly 61 percent of the new company, with the Canadian government, a health care trust for the United Auto Workers union and bondholders owning the balance. [...] In April 2010, G.M. repaid its government loan, as sign things could be turning around. Soon afterward, it said it earned $865 million in the first quarter, its first profit since 2007, with revenue up 40 percent, to $31.5 billion, and a positive cash flow of $1 billion. In June, GM increased output at most of its American operations. Sustaining this progress, G.M. said in August that it earned $1.3 billion in the second quarter, its strongest financial performance since 2004.”

For the CPUSA’s current leaders, the workers may reckon on the Obama Democratic Party. But the New York City Metro reported, always at the end of October, that “Democratic Senate candidate and current West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin has said he didn’t fully understand the bill (on Health Care, Ed.) at time of passing. Stammering out a hasty retreat, Manchin explained his concerns: ‘Knowing the existence as far as how reaching it had been, as far as – and onerous- I would have [voted against it], he said’”.

The last word belongs to People’s World: “French workers angry about pensions and more”. The author notes that labour and left activists’ protest in France goes beyond the issue of pension reform. In fact, “polls show that if the election were held today the left would win”.

There are two conclusions here: first, the CPUSA should not be afraid to stress that the labour and left activist are united in the“Intersyndicale”

(All-Unions Movement) that gathers major unions, including the communist-led General Confederation of Labour (CGT). The unions are supported by political parties and movements such as the French Communist Party and the Pôle de Renaissance communiste en France (Communist Renewal in France).
(Photo PCF: October 2010 Demonstration in Paris, France).

The other lesson: the CPUSA must come back on the forefront of the US workers’ battles for jobs, decent housing and racial equality between Black and White workers; and this is the basic starting point for the working class movement in USA; a country as capitalist as anywhere else in the world.

danieleugpaquet@yahoo.ca

L'Humanité in English

Pour la KOMINTERN now!: http://pourlakominternnow.blogspot.com

-30-

SOVIET UNION WAS BORN IN OCTOBER 1917

vol. 3, no. 9, October 16-31, 2010

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

You will find below the link to l'Humanité in English, a selection of articles from the daily communist paper published in Paris (France).

In 1850, Frederick Engels, the close friend to Karl Marx wrote: “Modern large-scale industry can only exist provided it expands incessantly, continually conquers new markets”. (K. Marx/F. Engels, Collected Works, vol. 10, International Publishers, New York, 1978, p. 295). In our today's world, we face financial corporations, such as the Canadian banks (BMO, TD, etc.) who cannot satisfy their quench for profits. In their case, sky is the limit. Any people opposed to their ever-lasting domination of new territories and populations become an enemy;
recently mass media criticized the Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez for that purpose. Of course, Cuba remains a target. To avoid opponents at home, they urge Stephen Harper to repel democratic rights, especially those claimed by the young generation; we saw it in Toronto at the G-20 meeting, last summer, when the police brutalized and arrested over 900 youngsters. For some, it was their first contact with political "freedoms" in Canada.

At the outcome of these demonstrations, taking into account the agenda of the Conservative party of Canada, La Vie Réelle in English called upon the democrats, especially the working people to support a centrist government to promote what we already knew about Canada at a better time, when the working class was stronger, better organized, led by progressive and communists. We don’t live anymore in this “lost” paradise. The dire reality is that Stephen Harper wants to transform the “cool guy attitude” of Canada into a reactionary one, maybe with the fist of a police state; basically, the dream of a state where tycoons of all sorts, -big industrialists and large corporations- would be free to do what they want into a Canada, further divided by the national question.
(Photo PCF/Bagneux: Demonstration in Paris, against the reforms of the French government against the pension plan. The police did not intervene against the young protesters, Fall 2010).

This is nowadays easier for the Right to aggress the youth since the Communist party of Canada is still recovering from inner disputes, factions’ fights and reformism. At an earlier period, the Party could have reckon on international solidarity; what the communists call “proletarian internationalism”, especially based on the support of socialists countries. The biggest rampart was then the Soviet Union, cherished by most of the conscious workers the world over.

Soviet Union

In 2007, on behalf of the Communist party of Ireland, Herman Glaser-Baur, told that after the October Revolution in Russia, in 1917, “this new situation led to conditions under which the working class in the capitalist countries was able to successfully fight for rights previously unknown. All aspects of the ‘social system’ of today such as a national health system, public education, a fixed retirement age, culture for the working class, etc. were first realised in the socialist state and the capitalists and their governments had to make concessions to the struggle of the working class.”

He made the point that “many Communist parties were founded and the 3rd International established (1919). “The Communist party of Canada was founded in 1921 in Guelph, in the vicinity of Toronto (Ontario).

Let's recall also that during WW2, the Red Army defeated the Werhmacht at Stalingrad. As said the German communist leader, Ernst Thälmann: “Stalin is going to break Hitler’s neck”.

To be honest, La Vie Réelle in English does not pretend to defend political crimes, but on the other hand, it is correct and needed that History assesses some facts, concrete facts, like the contribution of Joseph Stalin in the victory over Nazism in 1945 and the rapid economical development of Soviet Union, the growth of the purchasing power of the citizens and the real amelioration of their well-being.
(Photo Internet: Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin)

Who could say, everywhere in the world, that under powerful pressures such as the ones imposed upon the Soviet government, practically always in a state of exception and emergency, - since its inception-, no errors and unfortunately... crimes would not be made. Actually, the data of the Western scientists on this period are wrong according to the National Archives of Soviet Union opened now for all to see. In spite the continuous flow of propaganda against Stalin since the 1930s, practically only bourgeois and petty-bourgeois are scared by his leadership and determination. On the other hand, it was reported in 2008, that 300 000 homeless people were “living” in Poland, while the Czechs had to struggle against US military bases to be installed on their territory. This year the International Council for Friendship and Solidarity with Soviet People marked the 93rd Anniversary of Great October Revolution. At that time, 177 million people were living in Soviet Union and this number reached 360 millions in the 1980s; the official and open counter-revolution occurred by those years.

Today, new organizations are born to promote understanding between peoples, notably between Canada, USA and USSR, gathered in a Friendship Society. The Chairman, Michael Lucas explained: “We function as an united front organization to help unify, consolidate and coordinate the anti-imperialist forces of the world with the ongoing world movement to restore the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Our aim is international cooperation in building socialism and solidarity with all anti-imperialist forces struggling against imperialism, headed by U.S. imperialism.”

In Fall 2011, an international conference will take place in Beograd (Serbia) to reassess the situation in the former Soviet Union by participants from all around the world, including Canada. As the French say goes: "tant qu'il y a de la vie, il y a de l'espoir..."

danieleugpaquet@yahoo.ca

L'Humanité in English

Pour la KOMINTERN now!: http://pourlakominternnow.blogspot.com