August 16, 2014 - No. 28

Historic Anniversaries

August Celebrations







Historic Anniversaries

August Celebrations


Hardial Bains
1939 - 1997

In the month of August, the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) celebrates several historic anniversaries. Its aim is always to take a pause to appreciate its achievements, rekindle the revolutionary drive which guides its work and celebrate the profound mass democratic and revolutionary spirit which imbues its life and work.

One of the important anniversaries the party marks every year is the historic meeting held in Chertsey, Quebec from August 15-19, 1989. Twenty-five years ago, at the time the Chertsey meeting took place, the world was on the eve of being plunged into the retreat of revolution with the collapse of the former Soviet Union and the regimes in Eastern Europe. The Chertsey meeting affirmed the orientation the Party had adopted in 1985, that no individual, collective or social force could act in the old way but had to find their bearings in the new conditions of the retreat of revolution. In Chertsey, on behalf of the Party, its leader Hardial Bains boldly reaffirmed the character of CPC(M-L) to march on courageously under all conditions and circumstances as it has always done, despite whatever treachery and betrayal should rear its head. CPC(M-L) has consistently shown its convictions through its deeds, its constant preparations to lead and determination to uphold the Marxist-Leninist line, Comrade Bains pointed out.

For information on the significance of the Chertsey Meeting, click here.

August 15 also marks the anniversary of the historic Necessity for Change Conference held in London, England 47 years ago. That conference provided the Necessity for Change analysis on which CPC(M-L) was founded. The Necessity for Change analysis begins with a determined and thoroughgoing offensive against ideological subversion and block to development through social forms. It does so by giving the most revolutionary call, "understanding requires an act of conscious participation of the individual, an act of finding out," placing action in the first place and understanding in its service.

The analysis opened a way forward for the youth and student movement at that time allowing it to become a worthy contingent of the communist and workers' movement. This led to the reorganization of the Internationalists as a Marxist-Leninist youth and student movement, the precursor organization of CPC(M-L) founded by Hardial Bains at the University of British Columbia March 13, 1963.


Poster from the 1967
Necessity for Change Conference.

The celebrations include study and discussion of the Necessity for Change analysis, as well as other speeches and writings of Hardial Bains. The aim is to elaborate modern communism so as to enable the advanced workers to provide themselves with guides to action, as practical ways forward under all conditions and circumstances. The program also aims to enable the youth to develop the enlightenment movement, which the youth and the society require to build a bright future for themselves. Those who take up the study and discussion of the Necessity for Change and modern communism do so as concrete practical tasks. Opening society's path to progress requires enlightened theory to illuminate the way forward within the complex situation we are living through today. For information on the books Necessity for Change and Modern Communism, both by Hardial Bains, click here.

During the month of August, CPC(M-L) organizes special activities to discuss the significance of these events and others which, since 1963, have made CPC(M-L) into the kind of Party it is today. Included in these events this year the Party is holding a Commemorative Concert at the Party Memorial in Beechwood Cemetery to honour the memory of Hardial Bains, whose 75th anniversary of birth we also celebrate this year, and all the Party comrades who have passed away. Another celebration will be held to mark the 44th anniversary of the Party Press and the 25th anniversary of the Mass Party and Non-Party Press.

On this occasion the Central Committee sends its revolutionary greetings to all the Party organizations and members across the country, and to all those involved in the crucial work to open society's path to progress. Across the country, Party members and activists are preparing for the battles which lie ahead, confident in the road of the Party. Never has their contribution to making new breakthroughs been more important. Never have they been better served by the model set by CPC(M-L) and its leader Hardial Bains who declared:

We Are Our Own Models!
Show the Party's Revolutionary Colour Through Our Deeds!

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The Deed of the Party

TML is reprinting the following excerpt from the keynote speech "Five Years After Chertsey" given by Hardial Bains at the 16th Consultative Conference of CPC(M-L) held in August 1994.

* * *

Comrades and friends, the achievements of the Party present in a profound way its essence, features and characteristics.

Starting from August 1989, under very, very difficult conditions, the Party set a programme of action for itself. In setting a programme, a large number of things appear, one of which is to be consistent or in step with the movement of the class. How to make that aspect effective in the class is what faces a communist party.

Not a few individuals set their policies on the basis of passing circumstances. Our Communist Party has never forgotten that it is a communist party and neither a propaganda sect nor some agitational agency. It has also not forgotten that it is Marxist-Leninist and must fight revisionism and opportunism under all circumstances and conditions.

Under the circumstances of 1989, the Party set its course. What was the key thing? It has to be analyzed and summed up, not on the basis of underrating some past events, but on the basis of what the Party is today. Has it realized its aims, its plans set in 1989? Is there a concrete manifestation of it in real life? Can we see it under the present circumstances?

It is very easy to have a communist party that carries out criticism of the bourgeoisie. It is also very easy to carry out criticism of the collaborators of the bourgeoisie. Why is it easy? Because their deeds are already telling the working class how rotten they are. It does not require a genius to go around and say, "Look how rotten those people are" because they suck the blood of the working class. Workers know through experience who are their friends and who are their enemies. Thus, to reduce communism to merely some statements about the crimes of the bourgeoisie is to abandon communism.

Today, the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) has taken up the lofty programme of having the communists accountable to their peers, and the Communist Party accountable to its class. It is the deed of the Party that today, besides setting a programme and tasks for the communists is setting criteria as to who is a communist and who is not.

The Communist Party is in the forefront of leading the democratic movement of the people. On this front, not a few can orient themselves as issues arise. Not a few are also led by the nose by the passing events. But, when the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) speaks about its programme of democratic renewal, it is not set on the basis of some passing events. It is not set to find some advantage for itself in a spirit of discovering some support for the Party itself. The work of revolution, the work of building socialism, belongs to the working class and not to the Party alone.

How to have the working class go into action, how to have the working class realize that within its own movement roadblocks occur and it needs to recognize those roadblocks and figure out how they can be overcome; that is the task of the Party. The Party has formulated that this task is not a question of analyzing the attitudes or the activities of this or that bureaucrat, labour aristocrat or bad politician, but to lay down and elaborate those forms of organizations that can become instruments in the hands of the working class to achieve its aims. It is not the task of CPC(M-L) to propagate catechism. CPC(M-L) has a duty and responsibility to its class. As a vanguard of the class, it must be the highest expression of that class in the sphere of organization, in the sphere of political activity, in the sphere of theory and in the sphere of its ideological work.

Not a few people and organizations think that ideological struggle is merely to prove your adversary wrong. The aim of ideological struggle for the working class is to arm itself with those ideas and those forms of consciousness that will enable it to build a system through revolution, and which will make it possible to protect that system under all conditions and circumstances. Those ideas can only emerge from the working class. They can only come from the activities of the broad section of the working class. They cannot be the preserve of the vanguard alone, they cannot be ideas conjured up and developed in isolation from the class.

The broad section of the working class is a section which is most neglected. It is neglected because of the incorrect notion of a vanguard. This notion contends that as long as the vanguard is a fast-talker in terms of its final aims or its immediate programme, or some theory, then everything is fine with the working class. This is not the case, because today the origin of those ideas that can be useful on the high road of civilization can only be the working class itself.

As I said before, the bourgeoisie has abandoned the sphere of sciences. In the last quarter of a century or so massive retrogression has taken place. Our Party does not underestimate the need for professional scientists, but these professional scientists have to submit themselves to the requirements of the class under these and all circumstances. Today the working class is saddled with bogus theories such as the problem with the people is that they are "deviant" in terms of their attitude. The fault here lies with the professional scientists who are quiet on these matters.

What happens in the sphere of education and health, in the sphere of culture and so on, concerns the working class. To just posture and say, "I stand with such and such ideas," which happen to be progressive at one time does not make for a revolutionary or progressive intelligentsia. Under the circumstances in which Karl Marx lived, he was not trying to prove to himself and others how good he was, or how progressive his soul was. He dealt with one of the most important problems of the movement at that time, which was the question of outlook. On the basis of his discoveries, he gave birth to the necessary outlook. For many, the story finishes there. But then, just to repeat that such an outlook as Marx developed exists is not progressive, nay more, it is reactionary, counter-revolutionary. We have seen various schools of fundamentalism fight with each other, trying to convince each other as to who is more fundamentalist. In actual practice, all of them are a social preserve of the dying bourgeois class, of the capitalist system.

What is the need of the working class today? The working class wants to be political; the broad section is calling upon the vanguard to provide it with the instruments and tools so that it can organize itself. And our Party fearing no difficulties set its work and went about providing those tools. It is to the credit of CPC(M-L) that today it stands with a distinct Party Press, which is directed towards those who want to be communists, and with a Non-Party Press for those who want to open the path of society to progress. These are important and indispensable instruments in the hands of the broad section of the working class.

As the work of the Groups of Writers and Disseminators develops, as the workers become confident that they are capable of standing on their own feet, and under the present circumstances do not need the intelligentsia to come to their rescue, then this aspect of the work of the Party for the working class will be complete. A new kind of intelligentsia will arise and that intelligentsia will take up the further duties and responsibilities to enlighten the broad sections, to arm them with the views of the vanguard to make it possible for the working class to advance. [...]

Comrades and friends, as far as coining new words is concerned, CPC(M-L) is not the only one to give itself credit. In fact, CPC(M-L) is very conservative in terms of coining new words. If you look at the words poured out by the Liberals and the Reform Party, in many new ways they claim they want to have consultation, to have an input from the masses, to deal with the problems the people face, to address the concerns of the masses, and so on. But what do the Liberal Party and the Reform Party say? "Accept the conditions at this time and then sometime in the future, the situation will change."

When a vanguard tells the broad section that it is busy with something else today such as waging its sectarian battles, settling scores somewhere else, but a time will come when it will be free to contribute; then, that party is in the camp of the Liberals, in the camp of the Reform Party. As you know, the New Democratic Party does not have any different line. The view, "You should wait, I will come and deal with you later on," has long been a reactionary one and CPC(M-L) has never agreed with such a thing.

Our Party, within these circumstances, has faced every kind of calamity and infamy, to the extent that certain people are threatening us with court actions. Why, because we persist in the plan set by the Party. It does not bother us if somebody wants to stand on the sidelines, put their hands in dung and throw it. Only their hands are dirty because they are conciliators who say that we should conciliate with filth. But the Party says there can be no conciliation. The Party is so imbued with its own plan, so entrenched in working out its tactics, that such kinds of things cannot in any way shake the Party.

Can you say that this was the situation in 1989? Yes, those circumstances required the Party to be unshakeable, while today, the circumstances require it to be even more unshakeable because the disasters that certain people are trying to organize for the Party are far more colossal than before. They are hitting at the achievements of the working class.

Historic meeting in Chertsey, Quebec on August 19, 1989.

On August 19, 1989, on behalf of CPC(M-L) I declared that new men and women have come into being on the soil of Canada. Who are these new persons, these new human beings? Those who have lofty ideals, honesty and sincerity and a clear conscience. They sacrificed everything they had, they trail-blazed a new way of living under the conditions of capitalist decay. Such a colossal achievement is now coming under fire from those who want a part-time revolutionary lifestyle. They are telling us that we are extreme to demand that communists should watch their words and deeds, extreme to insist that CPC(M-L) will not, in any shape and form, conciliate with filth and rottenness. They are trying to suggest that communists should divide their lives in two -- one dealing with the way they carry out politics, the other with the way they live. If we degenerate into such kind of "communists," we will become two-faced, we will be a bourgeois decadent force incapable of achieving anything under any circumstances. We are not such a force and we are not going to become such a force. We have never recognized imbecility or sterility in terms of our overall work, nor do we accept impotency in the face of the situation.

CPC(M-L) has been consolidated further during this period. It recognizes the smiling faces who appear from time to time to be with you but who are not there when the difficulties arise. CPC(M-L) is also able to recognize those who, when they find out the Party is facing difficulties, decide that is the time to hit the Party .

It is laughable that in our Party there are people who call themselves veteran communists but whom you do not see anywhere! Active, they say, for the last 25 years, but they are nowhere to be found but who have friends telling us imbecilities such as, "ethnicity is more important than anything else."

Our Party has toughened itself to face those who make speeches in our Congresses with big claims that they have come with results while they have done everything possible to undermine the Party, even in terms of its thinking and line. We have proven, and we will continue to prove, that we stand steadfastly with what Lenin said, "Better fewer but better." Give me one instance where our Party has lowered its head, bent its knee to any conciliator, to any compromiser, to anyone who wants us to abandon our principles because of difficulties. In all aspects, the Party is far stronger than that.


Hardial Bains speaking to the youth at a meeting in December 1996.

I come to you here one day after the great exploits of our children and youth, who gathered for a week to build a programme for themselves, and accomplished their mission. We came together with our youth after fighting those who wanted to organize them and had spread a rumour that our youth are disorganized. Yes, that is what the youth and children are; they are disorganized. From their own midst, through their own experience, the ideas have to emerge on how to organize themselves. It is glorious that these children, none of whom is a veteran of any kind, gave rise under the present conditions to a bulletin, a newsletter, called Youth Today. This is an achievement.

Comrades and friends, our Party speaks with deepest convictions on every front. No ocean in this world is deeper than that. Its ideals are loftier than the highest peaks of the Himalayas and its resolve is such that nobody can yet define it. For the last 31 years, find a single example where we have turned our chests away from battle. These chests of our Party were brought into being to stand as an example for the whole class and for the whole world. Of course, living under capitalism, it is not accidental to find that at every turn there are schemers who say, "Yes, yes, we agree with you to keep your chest out, but let us face this way, it is better."

Some people are telling us that the lofty politics of preparing the subjective conditions for revolution could be a little bit promoted by turning the Party to city civic politics; in that way we will become popular and, then, some will come for communism. In my opinion, such people are disgraceful. Shame is something that never comes to them, because if we wanted to do such a thing, I as a personality was never unpopular in this country. From popular, I became unpopular, and now they want me to become popular again. What will I do by becoming what they call "popular"? Comrades and friends, today we are in the midst of a situation where the working class, the broad masses of the people, want to have those politicians who, when they become grandparents, can say, "Oh yes, we supported them and they are still credible." So what will happen to my credibility, your credibility, if we become civic politicians?

They say that an idle brain is a devil's workshop and these idle brains are trying to dislodge the Party. They do not even know where the Party is. Twenty-four hours of the day, this Party faces this world heroically and finds solutions to various problems. On this basis, it keeps marching forward. You were there in August 1989, and some of you are asking to be informed how things are today. You tell me, in comparative terms, is the voice of the Party weaker than in 1989? Is the resolve of the Party any less? Has it been shaken by the events since 1989? These are important things. When you go into the class and amongst the broad masses of the people, raise these questions, look at real people, their personalities, see what people need, see what is necessary to be developed there, and not at some idea which has become stale. As I said at the outset, comrades and friends, the deeds of the Party are its word and I have come here to talk about some of those deeds with great pride. [Applause]

Comrades and friends; in Canadian politics, the greatest danger to the working class movement and the broad masses of the people at this time comes in the form of illusions. An illusion is being nurtured by various forces deliberately, an illusion that the situation can be fixed under the present circumstances. When we speak of the situation, we are not merely referring to some long-term questions, long-range questions, which cannot be fixed. We are also speaking about some immediate questions. For instance, there exists a very important issue of the Constitution of Canada. It cannot be said that the Constitution is a long-term question because, as you know, various political parties especially in Quebec stand for what is called "separatism." This puts very big pressure on the circumstances within the country. Either this pressure can be overcome with a modern constitution or this pressure could very well lead to civil war.

Within these circumstances, what does the bourgeoisie say? It says that we should not deal with the question of the constitution. To say the situation can be saved on the basis of good will and that everyone should understand that the unity of the country is far better than "separatism" is an illusion put forward by the bourgeoisie. It wants to bide time so that it can prepare itself for when the situation is most favourable for the imposition of a civil war on the people. Of course, such a civil war would block the path for the progress of society.

Alongside this, the same bourgeoisie is talking about Canadian values. Now everyone in the world is sick and tired of learning about American values, [laughter] values that were not useful to the world even in the 18th Century! Over 200 years of democratic revolution have proven that people have to bring forth their own values under their own conditions. You cannot neglect these issues in any shape or form. Just as you cannot export revolution, you cannot export values. Those who think they can export values and that their values are the best, are generally those who have a plan to dominate the people of other countries.

A value, which is crucial and important for the peoples, is one that can open a path to progress without having to go through conflict, strife and so on. Can these so-called Canadian values open the path to progress? No. Even from the point of view of their literary value, they are very crude. Just to keep on repeating, "Canada is the best country" and "the United Nations says so" will not do. Besides, the U.N. criteria of what is best are thoroughly discredited. After having done so many dirty deeds around the world, the United Nations is not a body that can set values. The U.N. is supposed to stand for peace and yet it sanctions wars. The criteria established at the U.N. do not come from societies where there is no exploitation of the people.

The pushing of Canadian values as a substitute for a modern constitution is just one of the tricks the bourgeoisie is up to. It proposes that all citizens of Canada pledge on July 1st that they will follow "Canadian values." Why should a citizen pledge to uphold Canadian values that are clearly Liberal Party or Conservative Party values? It cannot be said that their values have a new meaning, which has been conjured up.

For instance, they present the rule of law as merely one other value. According to them, the rule of law is not an objective condition under which everyone abides. By having it as one of the values, they define the rule of law in the way they want. For instance, their rule of law appears as follows: a citizen of Canada can become a communist, but an immigrant cannot become a citizen if he or she is a communist. Is this the rule of law? Bourgeois can become whatever political persons they want to be, but if you are a communist, then that is not acceptable.

In this way, various formulations are extremely hostile to a modern rendering of the rule of law. A modern rendering of the rule of law is that a country, which prides itself for following the rule of law, must first enable its citizens to establish, on an equal and direct basis, the fundamental law of the country. In a country where such a thing has not been done by the citizens, the rule of law is in contempt of itself. The British North America Act was not a fundamental law approved by the people of Canada. It was not even approved in the bourgeois form of elections and so on.

Secondly, in terms of the rule of law, the state must be erected and a government elected on the basis of that fundamental law. There can be no other state structure and no other form of government. The legislature's only responsibility is to pass enabling legislation so that the basic tenets contained in the fundamental law can come into operation. According to this modern definition of the rule of law, Canada is not a country that abides by the rule of law.

They also speak about various other things, such as how in Canada various issues are resolved in peace and harmony and how this is the Canadian way. But on every front of life, the people can see what this peace and harmony means. If there is a strike struggle, how is peace established? A person on welfare, who attracts the investigators of the social welfare department backed up by the entire weight of the state, knows all about this harmony. This is called resolving things based on peace and harmony! And this is not to speak about how the police commit killings in various places based on a pretext, or how the army was used in Quebec in 1970, or the experience of the Native peoples and Métis etc.

Are these peaceful ways of dealing with things? Not only were the Native peoples and the Métis forcibly taken over, they were made literally slaves and then wards. The people of Quebec have been kept in this state by the force of arms. What is this Canadian quality of doing things on the basis of peace and harmony?

Internationally, Canada does not behave very well either. Canada believes in aggressive military alliances such as NATO. NATO has been one of the most notorious aggressive military alliances whose task is to stop people, whether in Europe or elsewhere, from going to socialism and communism, to stop people from working for the progress of society. Canada is also part of the North American Aerospace Defense Command -- NORAD. These are not examples of a country and a people having peaceful intentions, past or present. Canada sent ships and planes to the Gulf War. Wherever you have American troops, then you generally have Canadian troops, whether under the name of peacekeeping or in the name of something else.

They also speak about these values strictly in racist terms. One value advocated is of adherence to Canadian duality. This means we speak two languages and recognize two founding nations. How can Canada have a duality when masses of people do not have the same origins and are together in a polity, in a political situation where the issue is not a person's ethnicity, her or his national origin and so on. This value, which is strictly racist, cannot be accepted.

On this question of Canadian values, it is CPC(M-L) that takes the most enlightened positions. CPC(M-L) calls on the people to unite as one to create a new situation, to have a modern constitution and so on. CPC(M-L) wants to create a new state, a state based on the rule of law, where a fundamental law is approved by the masses of the people and governments pass enabling legislation to create the conditions to make the rule of law possible.

In the democratic renewal of the country, one of the greatest dangers facing the masses of the people is the discrediting of the politicians and the political process. Everywhere the broad masses of the people say that they do not trust the politicians, that they do not trust the political process, the House of Commons and so on. Such a situation can only favour right-wing reaction, fascism. It is foolishness for somebody to believe that a situation in which people reach such a conclusion can be a positive state of affairs.

Besides this, a backlash is taking place against elite accommodation, against affirmative legislation, against all those things that they say are to help the poor, the dispossessed, those who are not privileged and so on.

These things would help the right wing movement, the fascist movement, if CPC(M-L) does not put forward a profound programme for democratic renewal. The question of a modern constitution is only one part of it, this is not the whole of it. Besides carrying its own work, CPC(M-L) has to be accountable to its peers, it has to build its institutions, especially its basic organizations in the working class. CPC(M-L) has to be in this political battle. This will determine who is going to take advantage of this backlash. Up to now, as you know, the bourgeoisie has been successful. It has given rise to the Reform Party in parliament in a big way. It has the Bloc Québécois in parliament in a big way. It is trying to create a situation where the discontent of the people is being used to stop the people taking up serious work to reorganize the country to establish a new constitution and build a polity in which all citizens have the same rights and duties.

This work of the Party requires the broad participation of the masses of the people against which the bourgeoisie uses state organizations created with our money. For example, it recognizes what it calls NGOs, non-governmental organizations. How can some of the agencies financed by the state be called NGOs? Whenever they take a stand not desired by the bourgeoisie, either they are no longer recognized or their financing is cut. These NGOs in Canada have been created during the last ten years or so to stop people from having their say in the matter. In a similar fashion, the bourgeoisie diverts various matters, including by organizing that it calls Parliamentary hearings. It also uses the media to give the people the impression they are participating in governance even though, in reality, this is not the case.

Comrades and friends, CPC(M-L) has a great responsibility in this respect. To date we have laid down the general framework for the work of the Party, for the work on the theoretical level as well as in a practical way by taking very important initiatives.

According to some people, the communist organization can only do one thing at a time. This conception does not describe a communist party or any political party. It is merely a mechanism to stop describing a political party. To say we are doing one thing is to say that the Party is so feeble, so incapable that it is just doing one thing. Doing one thing means that the Party was either feeble in the first place, or that it has become enfeebled. It does not describe the strength of the Party. A communist party carries out its broad programme of activity to bring the working class and the broad masses of the people together for the achievement of a single aim. And to say that single aim is one activity at this time is to obscure the issue. A communist party that does not carry out its broad activity will eventually lose its bearings.

During this period of five years, CPC(M-L) has excelled in dealing with various problems and carrying out its broad activities, all the while keeping in mind the aim. As you know, the overall aim is the creation of the subjective conditions for revolution, to make people conscious. But, for revolution, various activities are necessary besides the consolidation of the party and its mass organizations, which you can say are strictly Party activities. There is the issue of democratic renewal; there is the issue of being active internationally in a vigorous way, and so on.

All this has to direct itself towards a single aim. And today the immediate single aim is to move people onto the side of modern definitions. For instance, if the organization of the Party is not capable of analyzing at what concrete stage of development a movement exists in any place, it is not possible for it to have modern definitions. It is not possible, for example, to have a Party that is the political party of the class if it is not aware where society is going.

For instance, many people have started to believe that this society is in motion going from capitalism to a new economy. Strictly speaking, it is not the case that capitalism is going somewhere. The new economy in Canada is part of the decay of capitalism. To call decay a motion means what? At least in the past, bourgeois used to speak openly about how Canada should not just be a drawer of water and hewer of wood -- that Canada should be industrialized, which means it should have a multi-branched economy and so on. Today what are they speaking about in terms of the new economy? They are speaking about organizing the Canadian economy for the benefit of monopolies operating internationally, about an economy geared strictly to serve these monopolies in Canada.

Confusion is often generated by saying this slogan to serve the monopolies is to line up people behind the Canadian monopolies operating abroad. This is not the case. This slogan is to line up the people behind those monopolies operating in Canada and their policies within the country. The confusion is to divert the people from dealing with the economic problems here.

For example in various places, one of the strata that is degenerating at a tremendous rate is going back to medieval times of gambling as a past-time. Besides various other things, gambling was one of the, you can say, features of medievalism. They are introducing this as a form of economy. On this front of forms of the economy and professions, in the programme of new songs and poems based on modern definitions that CPC(M-L) is spearheading, one of the songs refers to Canada legalizing begging as a profession and people being given a license to beg.

Already, they call prostitution the oldest profession. Even though they say prostitution always existed, it is only a feature of an era where a person who has something can lure something from somebody else. Prostitution is a feature of class society and an instrument of pleasure. In this way, the dominant class receives those services, which normally people would deny them. This is called the oldest profession and now we can have begging as a profession as well. They have already legalized the profession of fraudulent and misleading governments, called public relations agencies [laughter], to mislead and misinform public opinion.

The most important thing about this propaganda about a new economy is that it diverts you from what is happening in front of your own eyes. They want the economy to service a very definite kind of people, in the medieval definition what is called a leisured class, people who do not do anything. Their profession, their station in life, is that they do not work, yet everybody and the economy are subordinate to them.

As you know, in medievalism, the family lineage was the most important thing. Even nowadays, we have the example of the French aristocracy, which may have lost its lands and titles, but it still tries to have its titles to prove that they belong to such and such family. The same with the so-called Russian royal houses or the other houses of Europe. Today, family lineage is being promoted at a time the family has become redundant. On the basis of family you cannot solve any problems. The notion is promoted that one must do things for one's family, not for anybody else. We have even seen communists doing such silly things even though the basis of everything is social.

I was raised in a society in Punjab where you could have three or four generations living on the same land, and no one had to go and seek jobs anywhere else. You could say, hey, there is a family I can depend on. But in a place where you have to throw your kid out even when they are 10 or 11 years old to do odd jobs such as distribute flyers or sell newspapers to have pocket money, and when child labour exists everywhere, how could one wonder whether the medieval family still exists or not?

Does a family exist today? It does. But the family of today is defined as something you establish for the purpose of pleasure and to support each other. These are not modern ideas. A modern family is firstly based on the need for a new modern generation. If that need is not fulfilled, families are being built on the requirements of old capitalist families. It is no wonder that such families are falling apart; that the divorce rate is more than fifty per cent; that more than 20 per cent of the people have mental health problems; that violence in the family is increasing and so on.

A social force that refuses to break out of its own prejudices, that does not want to settle scores with its own old conscience, can cogitate about its ideals, can vegetate on the spot, can have dreams about how a new system could be brought about, but there will not be a millimetre of advance. And that is what the bourgeoisie wants. It does not want a situation in which everybody lays claim to society: that I have this family and for my family to have a secure future, such and such things must be done by society. If such a claim is not made, it is not possible to see how the future is going to be created.

Some of these stupidities go on in the families of people who call themselves educated. I have seen people here in Canada teaching their children Shakespeare in 1994, an ideologue of the transition from feudalism to capitalism. And why do they read him? Because they do not want to face the present. They do not want to create a literature about the present conditions, a literature of transition from capitalism to socialism so that the young kids can see how this transition is taking place, how this heroic struggle of the workers has gone on from the time of Marx and Engels, from the time of the Paris Commune to the present time.

It is foolishness to teach people the classics of the bourgeois democratic revolution when this has become a corpse and is stinking, where every pore of it gives rise to filth. How is it possible that a young kid reading Shakespeare is going to find out anything about what is going on in this society? In the same way, young people are taught classical French writers, or Americans, who are always full of all kinds of rotten things from the past. It is not possible to have a social force that can face the world with open eyes if it is always stuck in the past.

CPC(M-L) is extremely active to ensure an all-round development. As far as its activities go, the other day while working on the cultural programme, somebody stated that the poems and music must have been written by very accomplished people. However, the present-day accomplished people are busy with something else. The accomplished people are creating nothing of assistance. They run away from doing so. They have taken up identity politics as the greatest theme of our era. They mystify the struggle against fascism or what was the struggle against Nazism. They show more interest for comfort-seeking than with the task of opening the door for the progress of society.

It is the same CPC(M-L) and its leadership spearheading the work on the cultural front. Of course, little minds cannot comprehend that it is the same CPC(M-L) and its leadership that are going to trail-blaze in every direction. We have also started settling some scores in the natural sciences. These accomplished people are accomplished in doing things the bourgeoisie wants. Forget about comparing professionalism with those who are accomplished. Of course, we are not the ones who in the final analysis are going to perform the works of art and music because we are too busy with other things, but we will win people over to take this up, as is already taking place. [...]

Let me just reemphasise. In this world, it is not difficult to take up something from the past and to become a very big scholar. But to create something from the present, to analyse the present, where things are going on in every sphere, especially the political sphere, especially in the sphere of the working class movement, especially in the sphere of working out tactics, building up instruments that can make the Party line effective. These things are the difficult but necessary tasks. [...] What is Lenin going to tell you about these things? Lenin died a long time ago. His works deal with an entirely different situation. Those conditions have changed. The problems we are facing are not the problems Lenin faced at that time. Of course, one can learn from theory as a guide, but beyond that, it is not useful. The old saying still applies, Learn Warfare Through Warfare. [...]

As a conclusion comrades, in celebration of Chertsey I have come before you as a stalwart of the Party, even more vigorous than we were in 1989. It is all because of the deep convictions of the Party to which we are loyal and with which we have stood firm that we can accomplish this. Today it can be said that the Party's literature, the Party's particular tasks were set in Chertsey. [...]

The other day a very bourgeois person asked me if it takes a great deal of fortitude to be a communist at this time. I was going to tell her that it must be very tough for anybody to be a capitalist [laughter]. Show me where anything is working for the capitalists? But I do not agree with keeping up this propaganda that communism has failed while the capitalists are doing fine. The situation, of course, is quite different. A new force has come into being, even though it will remain small for a time. But as long as it is new and it is a force, a future exists. Comrades and friends, we hold the decisions of Chertsey extremely high. In this regard, all the comrades, all the communists, all the people who have united around the Party and have played a very meritorious role in this respect are doing the same.

I met somebody recently who used to be around the Party some years ago and she was asking me if this person and that person that she knows are still around. I said they are all around. But I did not say what they are doing while being around [laughter]. She did not ask me about that. This is because she wanted to prove that just as she ran off, everybody else must have run off also. I just wanted to disprove her thesis. Whether you, I or anyone else is around is not the issue. The class will remain. Our Party will remain. With this spirit let us shout together:

Long Live the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist)!
Long Live the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist)!
Glory to Marxism-Leninism!


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Tactics of CPC(M-L) in the Period of
Retreat of Revolution


These notes are from a selection of articles and speeches gathered under the title "Turning Liabilities into Assets." Most were published in TML from 1992 to 1997. They show how the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) developed its tactics for the period of retreat of revolution, tactics described as turning liabilities into assets. This period of retreat of revolution, brought into being with the ending of the bipolar division of the world and the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1989-90 period, has seen an unprecedented assault not just on communism but on all the progressive achievements of the twentieth century and the movement for enlightenment.

CPC(M-L) correctly predicted in 1984-85 that this period marks a turning point in world history, after which no force can act in the old way. The seriousness of this assertion for the future of humankind can be seen in the current drive of Anglo-American imperialism under the medieval banner of "Might Makes Right" to impose its dictate on the entire world. It uses war as its main instrument casting aside all international law, seeking revenge against all who hinder its path and attacking the rights and interests of its own citizens in the most base manner. One question preoccupies the minds of thinking people: how to avert the looming catastrophes, resolve things in humanity's interest, and open the door to progress.

This reference material provides a framework to view CPC(M-L)'s overall analysis of the current period and what it considers needs to be done. The material shows how those who want to deal with the problems confronting society can become involved.

The material from the years 1992 to 1997 mainly comprises or is based on the writings and speeches of Hardial Bains. Comrade Bains was the founder and leader of The Internationalists from its inception in 1963, and of CPC(M-L) from its founding in 1970 until his untimely death in 1997. They reveal the clarity and profundity of Comrade Bains and the Party's analysis of the current period and a way forward. They bring into focus a concrete plan and vision of how a new society can be brought into being.

Not a single Canadian political personality in any movement, whether the communist and workers movement or any other, has produced such a long and consistent body of work as Comrade Bains. The material presented here emphasizes the importance of studying the works of Hardial Bains for anyone wishing seriously to participate in bringing about change in Canada and the world.

Scaling Down and Backtracking

The material explains what CPC(M-L) means by its tactic of turning liabilities into assets, scaling down and backtracking during the retreat of revolution. It clarifies that while in this period of retrogression, in which the bourgeoisie is attempting to impose backwardness in every sphere of life, it is necessary to adopt tactics different to those during a period of flow of revolution. The flow of revolution witnessed a sharp contention between socialism and capitalism, victories of national liberation struggles and intense contradictions among the big imperialist powers. While much of this is not so during the period of the retreat of revolution, it in no way means the work of the Party and the interests of the working class and its allies cannot be advanced. They must be advanced to prepare for the coming revolutionary storms.

An article in TML Daily on the Report given by Comrade Bains to the Enlarged Plenum of the Fifth Central Committee of CPC(M-L) on December 26, 1992 highlights what Comrade Bains emphasized:

"The general line and political program, which the Sixth Congress is to sanction, must ensure that the working class makes an advance during this period of retreat. It must not become a victim of retrogression and lose its independent struggle for the realization of the renewal of the society.

"Retrogression and renewal are the two possibilities during this period but the working class has no choice. It must carry out broad work for the renewal of the society and call upon the entire people to join in. Retrogression cannot be an option. It is incumbent upon the working class to not only hold on to the present positions but capture new ones. Within this, the demand for renewal is one of the most important." [An Accurate Assessment of the Present Situation is of Vital Importance to Work Out the Thesis for the Sixth Congress, TMLD 22 (78) December 28, 1992]

"The Party must, as a starting point work out tactics, the forms of organization and struggle for this period. It must do so by keeping in mind that it cannot let go of its place in the society as the Party of the working class, its integral part. It cannot permit the narrowing down of the space in which the Party has to manoeuvre. The tactical slogans and forms of organization and struggle must ensure the realization of the overall aim for this period: the renewal of society. All the slogans, the tactical forms and struggles inconsistent with the present period and not in step with the demand for the renewal of society must be abandoned. This is not an option but a necessity imposed by the conditions, by the general character of this period.

"The Party must take a step back, but not permit backwardness. Far from retreating from the advanced positions, it must further strengthen them. At the same time, it must take up positions not possible to take previously because of the character of the earlier period when the revolutionary movement was in flow. The Party must not give an inch to the feeling that everything progressive and advanced is lost and must be abandoned. On the contrary, it is the retrogressive demands that are becoming increasingly disreputable. This can be seen in countries such as Poland where retrogression has caused such tragedies for the people and the workers have once again mounted the barricades of class struggle." [ibid.]

Retreat should not be confused with retrogression. Retrogression is what the bourgeoisie attempts to impose in its desperation to cling to power. As Comrade Bains explained in the Discussion following his Report:

"Retreat and retrogression are not synonymous. Retreat is an objective process. Retrogression is dependent on the adopted policy, on the consciousness of what should be done about the conditions. Retrogression is the very hidebound, narrow demand of the most reactionary sections of the bourgeoisie who are imposing it on society." [Discussion on the Agenda Based on the Report to the Enlarged Plenum, TMLD 23 (1) January 1, 1993]

The demand and striving of the working class and its allies must be for the renewal of all aspects of life even in this period of retreat. This material makes clear how advance can be made, how space to manoeuvre can be opened up within the possibilities of the present circumstances, and the position of the working class and its allies strengthened so as to take advantage of the situation when retreat turns to flow and the decisive battles take place to determine the fate of humankind. The situation is likened to that of scaling a mountain, when a change of direction may be necessary or possibly the shedding of baggage but the aim remains the same to reach the summit. An article explains:

"When you scale a mountain, you may need to carry all kinds of equipment, then part way up you find a block or the weather changes and you have to seek shelter or change course. Conditions of retreat are imposed on you but this does not mean you have to change your aim. It means you have to change your approach to reach the aim. If anyone holds onto baggage for sentimental reasons, they could lose their lives. They have to decide what to do. It is therefore very important to be able to judge what is an asset and what is a liability. If you throw off your assets and take up a path of retrogression instead of advance and renewal, then you are either a reactionary or a fool. In other words, the program to scale down so as to be effective is a clear indication that the aim of eventually scaling the heights does not change.

"At the present time, a line of retrogression is being imposed on society and the effect is to create a climate of desperation.

"Comrade Bains explained that the Party has to scale down and backtrack on one hand, and develop new work with renewed vigour on the other. The scaling down, the divesting itself of all unnecessary baggage he equated with ‘professionalising' the Party. This means making the Party ever more capable of not only holding its own, as it has done so well up to now within which it has also made some definite advances, but also to take up a rhythm of advance.

"He went on to say: ‘Of course, this advance can only be made on the basis of the full mobilization of the entire Party, with the increased tempo of its political work as the spearhead. The freshness and vigour that characterizes the Party at this time, the vitality of its convictions and its determination to forge ahead, must be seen in its outlook, in its practical proposals, in its work for the realization of its tasks in key areas such as the regularization of its organ The Marxist-Leninist'." [An Accurate Assessment of the Present Situation is of Vital Importance to Work Out the Thesis for the Sixth Congress, TMLD 22 (78) December 28 1992]

"Self-reliance in every sphere of work has to be the main method of work. At the same time, the work has to be established and the tasks have to be formulated by eliminating all that is standing in our way. In this respect, it is not the first time that we have faced this kind of a situation. Our Party is in difficulty but not in crisis. Our Party is having problems to carry its burden but is not on its knees. For this reason, it is totally unacceptable to permit those views that obstruct the Party's great advance under the present circumstances. If an institution of the Party is not able to stand on its own feet, then that institution should not be kept. There is no need for such institutions that cannot justify their existence politically, socially, culturally or financially. This is going to be the attitude of the Party towards everything." [ibid.]

Historic Initiative


The material explains why in January 1995 the Party launched its Plan of Action called the Historic Initiative, its nation-building project. In doing so, the Party bases itself on the needs of society at this time and the needs of the Canadian people to have an aim that can be easily understood and appreciated by everyone. The Party put forward nation-building as the aim -- to constitute the working class itself as the nation and to vest sovereignty in the people, with the working class and its allies setting the agenda for nation-building. Consideration for this nation-building project begins with the necessity of the working class stopping the bourgeoisie from squandering the national resources, well-being and independence of the country. Speaking on the occasion of the launch of the Historic Initiative, January 1, 1995 Comrade Bains said:

"For the Historic Initiative the main question is 'What should be the aim?' Many times in the past, various forces have set an aim based purely on the theoretical premise that we are for socialism. Can it be said that socialism is what people should take up? Should the working class take up socialism as its aim and put all its resources behind its construction? Of course, such a decision can be made. It is consistent with our strategic program but it will not stop the bourgeoisie from pushing its aims. Our consideration in launching the Historic Initiative is not merely theoretical and ideological. Our consideration is mainly how the working class must stop the bourgeoisie from squandering the national resources, the independence of the country and its well-being. What slogan should the working class present to defeat the bourgeoisie and rally the masses of the people to its side? The answer to this question is to use the country's resources for the collective interest.

"The slogan of nation-building is appropriate not only because it opposes what the bourgeoisie is talking about -- that everybody should create an environment for the success of businesses in the global market -- but it also arouses the people to take into their own hands what belongs to them and to create a society which will favour them. Of course, when everything is said and done, nation-building today is equivalent to the construction of socialism, but to present matters in that way would be making a serious blunder.

"A program has to be set not from the point of view of theory but from the needs of society at a particular time. Canadian society needs an aim at this time. The Canadian people need an aim that can be easily understood and appreciated by everyone. This aim can only be the aim of nation-building. The main content of this project is that the working class must constitute itself as the nation. In other words, the aim of the working class must become the aim of the nation, just as the bourgeoisie in its ascendancy put its aim, the aim of defending individual interest and private property, as the aim of the nation and even subordinated the nation to this aim.

"The time has now come for the working class to constitute itself as the nation. It must establish its own aim as the aim of the nation. In other words, the working class itself must take up the question of nation-building. It must lead the broad masses of the people to take up this aim as well. It is not possible for the working class to mobilize all its resources without taking up the aim of satisfying the collective interests of society at this time. This amounts to nation-building. Nation-building in Canada at this time can only mean the following: the working class must provide society with a modern constitution, with a modern political mechanism, with a change in the direction of the economy and with independence." [The Human Factor, Social Consciousness is the Key to the Solution of All Contemporary Problems, TMLD 25 (3) January 3, 1995]

"The Historic Initiative is aimed at causing a discussion on the question of nation-building amongst the broadest masses of the people by using all the resources available to us. The Historic Initiative is a plan of action, the main objective of which is to ensure that a discussion on this question takes place. In other words, its aim is to have the working people set the agenda of nation-building." [ibid.]

The working class has another crucial aim, which Comrade Bains explains:

"Within this framework, the other aim of the working class is to create the conditions for a mass Communist Party. This means that one of the most important tasks in the Historic Initiative is to appropriate the best from the present and the past. It means that there is a need for work to develop and enrich the content of contemporary Marxist-Leninist thought. It means to look at all phenomena and all events and to promote those that favour the working class and favour the aim of nation-building." [ibid.]

The Historic Initiative calls on the working class and the broad masses of the people to bring to the fore what is best from all that humankind has produced up to this time and to develop it to the level necessary for the deep-going transformations, which are the order of the day. The Historic Initiative is a program to put the working class, more precisely the human factor/social consciousness at the centre of all developments. This can only be done by people taking up the work themselves. Comrade Bains explains:

"The human factor cannot be brought to the level necessary for transformations to occur unless there is social consciousness, unless there is debate and discussion amongst the broadest masses of the people, unless there is a real revolutionary movement with a mass character.

"What is the human factor? The human factor is the organization of the class for a very definite aim. The aim is to mobilize and bring into being all those factors that can hit the bourgeoisie head on and defeat it. The human factor invokes the best feelings, aspirations and ideas. It stands directly in opposition to the barbarism of the monopolies and oligopolies, to the brutal notion that social cuts have to take place irrespective of what happens to anyone, and to the propagation of so-called family values and various other theories designed to benumb people and make them forget all that is really crucial in society.

"We need an outlook that can pierce through not just a few months and years but decades and centuries and bring forth that fire, which will turn the barbarism of the bourgeoisie to ashes." [ibid.]

Modern Communism


Book Release of Modern Communism in 1996.

The material explains what the Party means by Modern Communism and why its study and discussion is so important. In particular the book Modern Communism: Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) by Hardial Bains should be studied. Communism was created as a system to solve problems facing humanity during the twentieth century. It accomplished great feats, was linked with every progressive development of the century, raised the consciousness of the peoples of the entire world and ushered in a new epoch, the epoch of imperialism and proletarian revolution.

"When communism was brought in as a system to solve the problems facing humanity during the twentieth century, it signified the sharpest class struggle between the old and the new. This class struggle was of world-wide proportions between the forces of the old and the forces of the new. It took the form of the October Revolution; it took the form of the establishment of the USSR; it took the form of the Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and the great anti-fascist war during World War Two. Communism established the people's democracies in the countries of Eastern Europe, led to the establishment of the Peoples' Republic of China and other independent, sovereign socialist countries and to the upsurge and victory of national liberation struggles and the formation of modern Africa and Asia amongst other things. Communism also raised the consciousness of the entire world's people, placing it on a modern footing." [Study and Discussion of Modern Communism to Oppose the Dogmatic Rendering of Life, TMLD 26 (123) June 24, 1996]

The epoch of imperialism and proletarian revolution remains the same today but a modern communism needs to be put forward making it consistent with the historical shift that has occurred as a result of the struggles of the twentieth century. This modern communism could be said to represent enlightenment in all fields. Its essence is to take life itself as the starting point of study and discussion and act upon what that life reveals. Modern communism will once again render political struggle meaningful so that people can be effective in their struggles. Its aim will be to smash the dogmas and disinformation that block oppressed people and their supporters from taking up and participating in solving the problems they face. An article from TMLD explains:

"The significance of the current phase of work in which CPC(M-L) has embarked, the Historic Initiative it has taken up, is to empower Canadians with the working class at the head, to turn things around in Canada and internationally. In order to accomplish this, CPC(M-L) must engage the broadest masses of the people, Canadians in their hundreds and thousands, in the study and discussion of modern communism so as to smash that which is blocking them from participating in changing their current conditions of life. Unless the all-sided activity of the bourgeoisie to maintain itself in power and maintain the status quo is boldly confronted by smashing the dogmatic rendering of life itself, the road to progress will elude us. In this way, the very essence of modern communism is to smash the dogmatic rendering of life itself by taking life as the starting point of study and discussion, and acting upon what it reveals.

"The situation is extremely volatile and dangerous. The bourgeoisie cannot re-establish either its international order, the new world order, or change the situation within its own countries. Unless political life is rendered in all its profundity, it is not possible for the peoples to grasp what is taking place so as to arm themselves to intervene effectively and bring about real changes which favour them. Modern Communism is synonymous with the most advanced consciousness.

"First and foremost, Modern Communism has solutions to offer in different important aspects of people's lives. It has its theory in the economic sphere, in the political sphere and in terms of outlook." [Study and Discussion of Modern Communism Gets Underway as Part of Historic Initiative to Turn Things in Canada Around, TMLD 26 (122) June 21, 1996]

Drawing the Entire Polity into Discussion

The material in this book emphasizes how throughout their entire history The Internationalists and CPC(M-L) have never considered themselves a unique force, separate or sectarian but an integral part of all the forces struggling to change society. They have always drawn the masses of the people into discussion at every stage of their work.

With the launch of the Historic Initiative, the aim is to draw the entire polity into discussion. How are people to be involved in this discussion? What CPC(M-L) thinks can be clearly seen in the material dealing with the beginning of the Modern Communism Information Project (MCIP) in June 1996.

"The Modern Communism Information Project (MCIP) is the most important work upon which CPC(M-L) has ever embarked. It is the most important because all the work that has been taken up prior to this point has created the conditions for the key work of developing the human factor, social consciousness with the aim of transforming CPC(M-L) into a mass Communist Party and to involve people to create a system through which they can exercise control over their lives. The MCIP is at the centre of this project. Its success is premised on people from all walks of life being involved in discussing and debating, according to the contemporary conditions, what communism ought or ought not to be. The discussion focuses on what kind of system is needed, who should work it out and who should be involved in bringing it about. A most historic discussion has begun on the form and content of a system that will enable people to exercise control over their lives. The flourishing of this discussion amongst all sections of the people will contribute in the broadest possible manner to the opening of the door for the progress of society.

"With the MCIP as a starting point, CPC(M-L) will provide people with all the knowledge available to it. Contemporary Marxist-Leninist thought will be put at the service of arming the people with the ideological, political and theoretical information about the struggle for the creation of a new society. At the same time as it boldly disseminates this information, the Party will carry out programs and actions to involve people in actually working out and determining for themselves the kind of system that is needed through which they can exercise control over their lives." [Modern Communism Information Project Begins, TMLD 26 (118) June 17, 1996]

The working class in particular has to discuss seriously where it is to go from here, what it must do to unleash its initiative to establish a new system for its own emancipation, as the condition for the emancipation of all humanity.

"CPC(M-L) is fully cognizant of the fact that the working class does not have an idle preoccupation in knowing what modern communism is. On the contrary, it looks at modern communism as at any other system, with the aim of making a conscious decision whether or not it suits society and its advance from this stage of capitalist exploitation and wage slavery to its negation, a higher system in which people's human rights are recognized not just civil rights. In other words, the working class is seeking concrete discussion arising out of the concrete conditions, in which there is an immediate need to defeat the anti-social offensive with a pro-social program and to embark on the creation of a new society to ensure that such a thing as exploitation of persons by persons will never happen again.

"It is not some intellectual exercise that the working class is interested in. As the class, which is historically the gravedigger of the bourgeoisie and whose mission is to emancipate itself as the condition for the emancipation of humanity, the immediate aim of the working class is to place itself as the leader of society, which it can only do by working out a system through which people can exercise control over their lives.

"The working class, in the objective sense, is the material weapon of theory, while contemporary Marxist-Leninist thought is its spiritual weapon. The two together make up the human factor/social consciousness which comes into being when the advanced ideas of the working class are gripped by the broad masses of the people and revolution takes place." [ibid.]

Transforming CPC(M-L) into a Mass Communist Party

The material makes clear that the "midwife" for such developments would be the mass Communist Party. A key aim of the Historic Initiative is to lay the foundations for such a development and to transform CPC(M-L) into a mass Party. Laying the foundations and the transformation of the Party are complementary to the people involving themselves in working out their system, bringing it into being and thereby taking control of their own lives.


8th Congress of CPC(M-L) held in Ottawa, August 2008, under the banner
"Laying the Foundations of the Mass Communist Party"

In the important speech "The Challenge We Accept" presented by Comrade Bains in November 1996, he points out that initial success has been achieved in this work to build a mass Communist Party. Such a Party organizes the masses, establishes new arrangements according to the concrete conditions, takes up the interests of the masses and gives coherence to the aims of the working class. Based on its coherence, such a Party accepts the challenge of eliminating isolation and marginalization so as not to become stuck in the diversionary battles present in society. Comrade Bains explains:

"When we say that our Party has had initial success in the creation of the subjective conditions for revolution, we mean that the Party now exists. It not only exists but it is also now at the point of having a vision of what kind of Party it should be, how it should be organized and what its future is. Once that kind of Party comes into being, a mass Communist Party, then the initial success will turn into permanent victory. The entire working class, all the broad masses of the people, will be inseminated by that Communist Party and it will become impossible to turn back. Such a Communist Party will then organize for revolution.

"A Communist Party, which is not conscious of working out arrangements to at least smash the Liberal-Labour alliance in a few places, a Communist Party not capable of analyzing what are grassroots and what are the arrangements in terms of waging an extra-parliamentary struggle, a Communist party not able to differentiate between what is revolutionary action and what is not, that Communist Party has no future whatsoever.

"The standpoint of a mass Communist Party, from the outset, is to organize the masses, establish new arrangements and create the conditions for a new society. That is why it is called a mass Communist Party. A mass Communist Party is not mass because it can accommodate everyone. A mass Communist Party exists because it puts the interests of the masses in first place, both as its standpoint and in all its work. It provides coherence to the aims of the working class. The mass Party provides the working class with its own consciousness so that the working class feels it is not irrational or ignorant or a bunch of babbling idiots. The entire bourgeois pressure is to eliminate such coherence.

"What kind of coherence will be given to the working class in the anti-social offensive? What will be said to the working class? The bourgeoisie and the labour aristocracy can only promote irrational ideas and ignorance and suggest that the workers should only look out for themselves, that each individual is for himself or herself and that individual families, individual job security and individual pursuits in life are all there is. They want to eliminate collectivity, the greatest social phenomenon that has come into being.

"When we begin from the basic thesis that our Communist Party is a modern arrangement with its own ideological basis, it is this which provides coherence to the polity; this is what makes people think about the direction in which society must go and this is what provides the working class with its leading role.

"Arrangements have to be made on the basis of studying where the people are who want to be arranged. There are always people in this world who would like to be arranged. And what do they want to be arranged for? The reasons already have to exist. In other words, we have to see the kind of possibilities, which already exist among the masses, and the arrangements have to be made accordingly. At the same time, the constant work of the Party must go on. The Party must establish organizations of the younger generation. It must carry on consolidating its organs like TML Daily and conducting its other activities. In other words, it must be understood that arrangements are not a matter of presupposing or pre-concluding what can and cannot be done.

"Such a Communist Party will go another 25 years, but under new conditions. It will rock the boat of Anglo-American imperialism. Once that boat is rocked in Canada, imperialism will not be able to steer it anywhere, not in the US, and not in Britain, Australia or South Africa, not to speak of India." [The Challenge We Accept, Speech by Comrade Bains to Central Consultative Forum of CPC(M-L), November 9, 1996, p.52]

TML reported Comrade Bains' speech:

"Comrade Bains acquainted the participants with an extremely important thesis on the necessity for the working class to realize the theory and practice of a new arrangement for the organization of society, an arrangement which will form the basis for the creation of a new society that recognizes and guarantees the claims of all its members and all its collectives upon it. The presentation elaborated the inseparable and crucial task of eliminating the isolation and marginalization of communism. He delineated some of the essential and indispensable features of a modern communist party in this period of the historic shift." [Accepting the Challenge: Trailblazing the Path to Victory, TMLD 26 (219) November 11, 1996]

Broad Wrecking

All this work has taken place and continues to take place in the face of broad wrecking by the bourgeoisie aimed at both the Party and the entire society. The material shows the intensity this wrecking reached in the 1995-96 period and how the Party coped with such pressure. It is here that the tactic of turning liabilities into assets can be clearly seen. From the beginning of the period of retreat, this has involved identifying and strengthening the main work, increasing political activity, identifying those forces in whose interest it is to take up the work, and carrying out maximum political mobilization to ensure the success of the work. This has been seen as a trial of strength for the very existence of the Party. Putting quality in the first place, forces have been chosen for the work who will implement the plan rather than choosing those who agree in words but then do not carry out the work. Emphasis has been placed on integrating and converging, and opposing those forces bent on disintegration. Self-reliance has been stressed on all fronts.

By the end of 1995 and coinciding with the Party being on the threshold of its greatest advance, the liquidationist pressures on the Party reached the level of the basest slanders and smear campaigns, of conciliation with liberalism, of gross indifference, treachery and irrationalism. The bourgeoisie with its labour aristocracy acting as its social prop pressured the Party with liquidationism. As always, the Party protected itself from the liquidationist pressure by stepping up its work to implement its plan, recognising its assets in the working class and the work of the Party, and by eliminating its liabilities, the old way of doing things and the old that refused to renew itself. The Party was fully prepared to settle scores with anyone who tried to raise their hand against the Party and its work, confident that when the time comes to make the decision it is the enemies of communism who break their necks. The Party was confident in the working class, the youth and intelligentsia, confident that they will give rise to those people who can organize everything on the most advanced basis and see the work as the aim of their lives. Because the Party has always paid the closest attention to its own work thus creating its own history, ideology and theory, it was pointed out that the various elements who pitted themselves against the Party faced one single sheet of steel and would definitely break their necks.

Reporting on the Ninth Plenum of the Sixth Central Committee of CPC(M-L) held in January 1996, TML says:

"The Plenum also discussed the pressure to liquidate the Party with irrationalism and smear campaigns, the arsenal of the anti-communist offensive in its hysterical, bankrupt and vain effort to turn the tide against the opening of the door for the progress of society. The Plenum strongly opposed the liquidationist pressure and rejected the method of smear campaigns against this or that individual or organization. It stressed that CPC(M-L) is based on one line with Contemporary Marxist-Leninist Thought at the base of its theoretical thinking, and the cause of the working class for its final emancipation as its only aim.

"The Plenum identified this liquidationist pressure as a component part of the counter-revolutionary work of those who are conciliating with liberalism. The Plenum called upon all the Marxist-Leninists, and all progressive and democratic forces to defeat irrationalism, and defeat the methods of splitting and smear campaigns used by the bourgeoisie and the conciliators with liberalism. The Plenum called upon the members and sympathizers to march in step with the work of democratic renewal and of lifting the society out of the crisis." [Ninth Plenum of the Central Committee of CPC(M-L) Held, TMLW 1 (1) January 14, 1996]

"Comrade Bains pointed out that the past ten years of work was ushered in by the 4th Congress, the period of developing the leading role of the Party. One of the greatest practical projects during this period was the building of the mass party press and the development of the enlightenment movement. This work marked a departure with everything that was based on merely the repetition of some ideas, or merely a propaganda project, or projects of agitation from time to time. The period of 1982-1985 gave rise to a practical project for the working class to take up, and as this project was irresistibly taken up and as it advanced, its enemies arose. One of the preferred tricks of certain enemies was to listen and agree with all the decisions and then do nothing about it. CPC(M-L) was not exasperated or hamstrung by this. In a movement of such high and noble ideals directed towards the complete emancipation of the working class, such indifference thrown in its way cannot become an obstruction. Sooner or later, the curtain is called and the time comes to make a decision and when it does it is the enemies of communism who break their necks.

"Comrade Bains explained that the period since 1982 has seen such elements, particularly amongst the middle strata, who more and more have joined and become one with the bourgeoisie, creating every kind of illusion about the present system. Others have placed themselves in various positions amongst the working class, demanding a special status for themselves whereby they have something else to do while everybody does the work to open the path for progress of the projects the Party has set for itself. There have also emerged hooligan elements who refuse to adhere to even the most elementary fact that CPC(M-L) has its theoretical thinking, its organizational principles, its strategy and tactics and most importantly a history of its own creation. The behaviour of these forces, who claim to be standing for progress yet in practice oppose the Party and its projects, through their conduct lower the profile of the progressive movement and present the communist movement as if it is nothing and is not going to achieve anything. Comrade Bains pointed out that the emergence of such enemies who stand in the way of the battles, which the Party wages is nothing new. They have never diverted the Party from waging its fight in defence of the interests of the working class, of the enlightened sections of the society, and in the interests of all those, nationally and internationally, who stand for democratic renewal of the world.

"It is precisely because the Party has always paid the closest attention to its own work, creating its own history, and its own ideology and theory, that the various elements which pit themselves against the Party are faced with granite rock.

"Comrade Bains went on to explain that the reason the decision which the Party is taking at this time can be characterized as perilous is because the Party is on the threshold of the greatest advance. It is precisely perilous because in such a courageous venture one could very well be beaten and suffer a setback. However, Comrade Bains emphasized, only those who try to scale the highest mountains can say they have at least tried even if they at first suffer failure. In this regard, Comrade Bains stated that the situation requires the utmost vigilance. First and foremost, he said, there has to be vigilance in terms of our ideology and our theory." [Speech to the 9th Enlarged Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist), TMLD 26 (1) January 2, 1996]

Reporting on the Tenth Plenum in March 1996, TML says:

"An ongoing theme during the proceedings of the Plenum was the discussion of the liquidationist pressure, the place weaknesses in the work have in facilitating this pressure, and the role of perfidy, treachery and betrayal during this period of retreat of revolution. All the participants in the Plenum hailed the historic success of the work during this past year in which CPC(M-L) has irresistibly developed its all-round momentum, fully detaching this work from all the encumbrances and setbacks which may occur in other fields because of treachery and betrayal." [CC of CPC(M-L) Holds its Tenth Plenum, TMLD 26 (55) March 18, 1996]

Reporting on a meeting of Party activists from Central Canada (Ontario and Quebec) chaired by Comrade Bains in Toronto on April 28, 1996 TML says:

"The main item on the agenda was to bring the work of ‘turning liabilities into assets' to its conclusion. This is to ensure that the key political task of the period, the consolidation of the mass Party press, is carried out with success.

"In organizing, realizing the 'essence' of a task is crucial. It is not enough to merely 'pose the problem' or 'make some motion' in the direction of its solution. The point is to solve the problem, to realize the essence. Our Party does not depend on spontaneity. On the contrary, it creates everything anew consciously, which is the reason it puts such emphasis on the organizing work. CPC(M-L) has nothing but its class and its own work as its assets, which the Party must put at the disposal of the task to be realized.

"The old world, the old ways of doing things, the bourgeoisie and the liquidationist pressure are the Party's liabilities. It must transform the resistance of the old world to change itself into a broad movement for the destruction of the old world.

"The elimination of the liabilities of the Party is the condition for the deployment of its assets for the victory of the new. Development in the final analysis has its own laws. There can be no construction without destruction." [An Enthusiastic Consultative Meeting, TMLD 26 (84) April 29, 1996]

The Party protects itself, develops and grows by strengthening its new arrangements, making these more and more modern and commensurate with the needs of the time, as Comrade Bains points out in "The Challenge We Accept" in November 1996:

"The Party carries out work in various fields. Most importantly, it does not submit to the pressure of liquidation and disintegration in the sphere of work related to the Communist Party.

"The communist movement fell apart, but CPC(M-L) did not disintegrate. As you know, a Communist Party strengthens itself by overcoming a split. A Communist Party overcomes a split not by looking at itself or carrying out espionage work on who is going to split. Rather, a Party protects itself, develops and grows by strengthening its new arrangements and by making these more and more modern and commensurate with the needs of the times.

"A Party's ideological base becomes clearer and it overcomes a split by ensuring that more and more people split with the bourgeoisie and rally around the Party and the working class." [The "Challenge We Accept,"  p.23]

Speaking to the Central Consultative Forum of CPC(M-L) January 1, 1997 Comrade Bains said:

"In spite of all the progress made in the work of CPC(M-L) and its mass organizations, the period of retreat of revolution and all-round retrogression continues to put the most brutal, inhuman, liquidationist pressure on the entire communist and workers' movement in Canada as well as internationally. It has assumed the form of broad wrecking in recent years, especially in 1995 and 1996. The struggle against wrecking of the communist and workers' movement has assumed the greatest importance, both in the ideological as well as the organizational and political spheres. Nineteen ninety-seven will witness a vigorous development, the most resolute and uncompromising struggle against wrecking."

Speaking to the National Consultative Forum of CPC(M-L) March 30, 1997 Comrade Bains said:

"The Internationalists in August 1964 went on record to expel 41 members out of 43. It was not a two-line struggle. It was a one-line struggle. And that one line was the line of two people. So, after the 7th Congress or some other time, if a similar occasion arises before the turn of the 21st century, it will be done again as far as I'm concerned. It will not be done in the way I described where we get together to expel members. It will be done right in front of our eyes by the people themselves. I am quite confident in our social class, the working class and in our youth and intelligentsia. I am confident they will give rise to those people who can organize everything on the most advanced basis. Comrades, anybody who has eyes and anybody who opens those eyes once in a while can see if they wish to do so. They can see that the conditions are crying out for a social force that is involved in this work as the aim of their lives."

Who Is Extreme, Disruptive, Un-Canadian?

The bourgeoisie and its apologists depict communism and communists as un-Canadian, extreme, divorced from the people, and the cause of disruption for pursuing what will never work. Yet what are the facts? CPC(M-L) can proudly say that right since its inception as The Internationalists in 1963, it has been a genuinely Canadian trend. The Party has never become an agency of any foreign power or lived off borrowed ideas or through plagiarizing or mimicking others. What other political party in Canada can make such a claim? Certainly not those who tie Canada to the US war machine, open up the country and its economy to foreign control and impose so-called "Canadian values," which are an affront to Canadians' right of conscience and blatantly anti-worker, anti-social, racist and anti-communist in content. Are such parties that push anti-social neo-liberalism not the disruptive, un-Canadian extremists divorced from the people?

CPC(M-L) not only bases itself on a profound analysis of the existing problems facing the Canadian people and their needs within this concrete situation, it has always set its work on the basis of a plan that involves the working class and its allies themselves becoming involved in discussing and debating the way forward. This modern method of work involves the working class and its allies themselves in changing the situation and taking control of their own lives.

Who is it who directly disrupts or acts as apologists for disrupting the lives of the people, dragging them into colonial wars, attacking their rights, livelihoods, services and industrial base, privatizing and selling out Canadians' common public property and natural resources? Who makes endless promises of a better future but time and again delivers only policy objectives and further chaos and devastation?

Certainly not the communists, who are in the forefront of resistance to these anti-Canadian attacks!

Only CPC(M-L) puts forward a vision and plan for a realizable new society, and proudly defends and carries forward within the new conditions the edifice of communism, which is the hope of all humanity. Any serious and unprejudiced investigation willing to break through the dark fog of disinformation shows communism was behind every positive step taken by humankind over the past century and will likewise be at the forefront of all progressive developments in the 21st century.

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Organizing Means Making People Conscious of the Task as the Condition for Victory

Hardial Bains, National Leader of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist), spoke to leading activists from the Ontario Regional Committee of CPC(M-L) on July 20, 1996 in Toronto. At the meeting, Comrade Bains put forward an important thesis, which was published for broad discussion.

The thesis deals with important questions of organizing, especially taking measures objectively for the growth of the human factor/social consciousness. It is connected with making the people conscious of the tasks that are the decisive factor for victory. Given below are some salient features of this thesis.

Who should be at the centre stage of all social developments? This question is of vital importance and has already been settled in history. It is the working class that must be at the centre stage of all developments. The working class must be the main and leading force for opening the door to progress for the society. CPC(M-L), as the vanguard of the working class, has worked out political mechanisms to make sure the working class is at the centre stage of all social developments; these include, besides other things, the Party's organizational principle of democratic centralism and its method of work of collective work/individual responsibility.

Hardial Bains introduced the discussion by focussing on the organizations of CPC(M-L) and the institutions of the technical base. These organizations and institutions are crucial for the creation of the conscious factor, that is, the creation of the subjective conditions for revolution. The technical base includes all the institutions that facilitate the work of CPC(M- L): the national office, the research institutions, the institutions connected with the production of TML Daily, as well as the distribution of publications and the entire production process. CPC(M-L) has paid a great deal of attention to this work since 1968 when The Internationalists was reorganized and the decision was taken to create the conditions for the building of CPC(M-L).

How do these organizations of CPC(M-L) and institutions of the technical base contribute to the development of the conscious factor? On whose shoulders must these institutions lean to gain in strength? Are these shoulders not those of the working class as it is made more and more conscious of its responsibilities to itself and the society? For instance, can the national office develop its work without the women, workers, youth and students providing it with assistance? Where else is the strength going to originate to complete the work if not from making the working class conscious of the necessity of the national office and its tasks? It is only by mobilising women, workers, youth and students that the national office can make any headway.

By 1965-66, it had become clear that the Canadian bourgeois political parties could not function without being heavily dependent on the rich. This dependence, in addition to creating an uneven playing field for political parties, also discredited them, and continues to do so in the eyes of the people, as mere mouthpieces of the rich. It is known that "He who pays the piper calls the tune." These bourgeois parties were soon to reform the electoral law and provide themselves with huge resources from the state treasury to facilitate their political manoeuvring to come to power.

However, any serious study of the state of the political parties in 1965-66 and in 1996 will reveal that financial resources are not the key in political organizing. No, the key in political organizing is the raising of the ideological and political level of the people. Bourgeois parties are not interested in placing the people at the centre stage of all social developments. These political parties are gatekeepers barring the people from assuming political power. These political parties make headway not by raising the ideological and political level of the people; on the contrary, they make headway by lowering the people's level.

CPC(M-L) is the champion of the people ascending to power. It stands for direct democracy wherein the people select and elect the candidates for office, and the people retain and exercise full control over the political affairs of the country. The legislative power must be subordinate to the people.

For CPC(M-L) the greatest want or problem is the organizing and mobilizing of the people behind a task rather than any financial or other problem. Concretely expressed, the organizing and mobilizing of the people behind the organizations of CPC(M-L) and the institutions of the technical base has become the most crucial question of the day. Hardial Bains stressed that if such a thing is not accomplished, all the organizations of CPC(M-L) and the institutions of the technical base will transform themselves into instruments opposed to the aim for which they were established in the first place.

The first institution of the technical base was the Necessity For Change Institute of Ideological Studies, established in 1967. The logic behind this Institute was that the work of study, investigation and research belongs to the working class and the broad masses of the people. The need for a professional research institute was necessary to fulfil the need of the people for scientific material, especially social science. The Institute was established based on the enthusiasm of the people for such work. At the same time, it was not a political organization in itself. This institute, as one of the enterprises of the technical base, played and continues to play a crucial role in raising the ideological and political level of the people.

To advance this work, to further develop its quality and quantity, it is absolutely necessary to organize and mobilize the people to support it in every way. This means to make the working class conscious that this work is crucial for its own cause of emancipation. Two ingredients are necessary for this qualitative development.

First is the human factor and the necessary material resources for its development. Put succinctly and directly, people working in such an institute have to eat and clothe and shelter themselves before they are able to do any work. Will the institute produce products that will become popular amongst the people, arousing them to willingly finance the people working there in return for its production?

The second ingredient is social consciousness. Are the people working in the institute fully dedicated to their product, that it must fulfil the needs of the people to raise their ideological and political level? In other words, the institute must produce materials needed by the people without putting the profit-motive in command. At the same time, people working in the institute have to be confident that they will elicit a definite response from the people for the materials they produce. The institute literally has to be run by the people, of the people and for the people, even though to put it this way may appear trite.

Hardial Bains called upon everyone to pay the utmost attention to and fully appreciate what it means in the objective sense to run the institute or other institutions of the technical base such as the national office, distribution enterprise, publishing houses etc. He said the only institution of the technical base in existence in early 1968 was the Necessity For Change Institute of Ideological Studies. Soon however, by August 1968, another institution was established quickly followed by many others. For over twenty-eight years, the Marxist-Leninists have had several important institutions. How should these institutions develop in 1996? Should grants be sought from the state as the bourgeois political parties have done since 1965-66? Or should a path be opened, eliminating the weaknesses of the existing institutions and developing them as real fortresses of communism?

Real fortresses of communism are those where people work on an unremitting professional basis, educate themselves constantly as to what is the purpose of their particular institution and strive to make the people conscious of the necessity and importance of the work. For instance, an enterprise distributing progressive literature has to deeply grasp that the people need such literature. They actually need it badly, even desperately one can say. Those in the enterprise have to let the people know that such literature exists, which will help them even while in the midst of creating the new. This is not just a matter of telemarketing. It is a matter of deeply responding to the need of the people to raise their ideological and political level, and making them conscious of the services the enterprise provides.

The accounting of these enterprises is done on the basis of sharing the income according to the kind of work a person does and the ability they bring to the work, as well as their individual needs, which are also taken into consideration to a certain extent. Most importantly and significantly, labour is not considered a cost. On the contrary, the total income minus costs belongs not only to the collective working there but also to the working class as a whole. Such a collective contributes not only through their own work but also by making it extremely successful so that it is able to support and even start-up enterprises if necessary. In other words, such an institution belongs to the working class in the true sense of the word. This kind of institution has a future at this time. It is this kind of institution that assists the growth of the human factor/social consciousness, an institution that produces individuals who not only look out for themselves but do so within the framework of the needs of the collective and the general interests of the society, and to open a path for progress.

In contrast, what is the bourgeoisie offering? Their latest concoction is the notion of a "stakeholders' society." It is a concept to divide the working class and make them fight with one another. From organizing themselves at the top in the form of tripartism -- governments, big business and big labour -- they are now busy seeking a form of tripartism that operates from the base as well. Ideological work for this very dangerous new development is taking place especially in Britain, but its manifestation is already apparent in Canada as well. It is reminiscent of the marshalling of the masses to support German imperialism by "Making Germany Great Again" through the "national socialism" of the German Nazi Party. To this end today, the Labour Party of Britain has come up with the twaddle of a "stakeholders' society" as part of the bourgeoisie's campaign to "Make Britain Great Again."

According to the "New Labour" ideologues of the Labour Party of Britain, the society is not composed of classes but of "stakeholders." The motive force for development is not the class struggle but the seeking of a "balance" between these disparate "stakeholders." In accordance with this vulgar materialism, at the level of an enterprise all human beings are presented as stakeholders. Class differences vanish before the commonness of being a "stakeholder."

Only the bourgeoisie and its allies can have a stake in capitalism, but it cleverly wants to convince the working class that it also has a stake in it. The only stake the working class has in capitalism is to overthrow it and build socialism. The various people who do have a stake in capitalism matter little to the working class whether they are stockholders, management, certain consumers and customers, suppliers, governments, big business and big labour. A worker knows instinctively that all of the above have a stake in the capitalist system, which they wish to defend. A worker also knows instinctively that these stakeholders work together with the aim of creating value in an enterprise from which they profit in opposition to the interests of the working class. On a grander scale, they work together to "Make Britain Great Again" to extend their influence and power. Workers are supposed to forget all this, even though they realize it instinctively. They are supposed to declare themselves, against all logic, as stakeholders in the capitalist system and not opponents of it. The workers, according to the ideologues of New Labour, must abandon class struggle and class antagonisms and believe that everything will be looked after when a "balance" is struck amongst the various "stakeholders."

The capitalist system, which develops through violent crises and destruction of the productive forces creating an ever-increasing standing army of unemployed and exploding number of poor, is now supposedly going to help a worker because that worker has become a "stakeholder" in capitalism. What a farce and treachery! It would be extremely comical if it were not so tragic that the labour aristocracy is fully engaged in ensuring the realization of this tripartism at the base, a diversionary scheme that is so profoundly against the interests of the working class.

The spurious stakeholder thesis presupposes that the contemporary world marks "the end of history" and further stages in the development of society are not possible. Taking this falsity as an eternal truth, New Labour becomes the preacher of shuffling things around in society. It seeks to create an alliance at the base comprised of the capitalists and workers alike in whose interests it will allegedly be to defend the capitalist system and go to war to "Make Britain Great Again."

The result of such schemes will be to foster the greatest divisions within the working class and other working people and make them fight with one another rather than wage class struggle and prepare conditions to advance society to its next stage. Instead of contributing to the overthrow of capitalism, the working class will be busy defending the very system that is the root of its exploitation and oppression. Instead of developing antagonism against private property and exploitation of persons by persons, antagonism will be developed against those who wage the class struggle to overthrow the capitalist system and build a socialist society.

If allowed to succeed, the greatest assets of the society, the human productive forces, will be mercilessly squandered and the anti-human factor/anti-consciousness will go through an unbridled growth presenting every infamy and brutality as the grandest exploit for the greater glory of Britain, shutting the door to the progress of the society for a long time. This tripartism at the base is to disarm completely the working class ideologically.

The thesis presented by Comrade Bains poses the question: Can there be an enterprise or a society without antagonism? An enterprise or society without any antagonism is an enterprise or society without life. Absence of antagonism presupposes that there is no longer any struggle on the basis of division between opposites and that everything has already been achieved. Society comes to an end and all that is required is to merely work out a balance among all those people who have a "stake" in that society. In other words, the motive of development of such a society is to seek a balance among the "stakeholders" to eliminate any antagonism from a society based on class antagonisms. However, antagonism within the capitalist society between the exploited and the exploiters exists objectively. At the head of the exploited stands the working class, while at the head of the exploiters stands the bourgeoisie.

The antagonism under socialism is between the forces of revolution and the forces for the restoration of capitalism, and under communism between the old and the new. The creation of a "stakeholders" society under capitalism will not achieve a balance; it will heighten the existing antagonisms between the exploited and the exploiters to the highest level giving rise to constant conflicts and strife. Only a socialist revolution can overcome the split in society between the exploited and the exploiters, eliminate class antagonisms and create the condition for the complete emancipation of all humanity.

There is a place for antagonism in the society but not when it acts as a destructive force. This is precisely what class antagonisms are doing at the present time. These antagonisms are forcibly maintained by the capitalist class, which is dead-set against the socialisation of the ownership of the means of production as the condition for the elimination of the class divisions. The humanizing of the social and natural environment invokes the utilization of the human productive forces to act against all class antagonisms. However, antagonism as it pertains to society and nature is not a negative force in itself. It is destructive when the antagonisms are used to block the advance of the society for self-serving reasons, as the bourgeoisie is doing at this time.

The very act of affirmation as a human being is the rejection of the relationship between the current form of ownership through which the vast majority of the people are wage-slaves exploited by a small minority. To seek a balance among the interests of people in a society based on this form of ownership is to be extremely antagonistic towards the people and the way forward. To be rational is to reject this effort to establish a so-called balance. To be rational is to remove the irrational assault taking place that attempts a balance where none exists, which is actually the anti-human factor/anti-consciousness.

The thesis of July 20 recognizes the existence of an abundance of problems in the society. The issue is this: Can we suggest that these existing problems in the society are caused by the "attitude" of this or that individual, or the good or bad "policy objectives" of a certain political party or institution? Who is to be blamed for the seemingly unsolvable issues such as unemployment, job insecurity and poverty, and the social, cultural and spiritual problems? For the "New Labour" ideologues of the Labour Party of Britain, the issue is merely one of everyone in the society recognizing themselves as "stakeholders." How will a worker do that? How will a worker have the same stake in capitalism as the Queen of England? The bourgeoisie, in its desperate effort to prolong its life a bit longer, is dangling the noose of a "stakeholders" society with which, it hopes, workers will hang themselves.

Capitalism in its decline has come up with all kinds of theses to claim that capitalism has become human. They are part of an attempt to suggest that capitalism is the most advanced system human beings are capable of creating and that capitalism's only problems are that it has certain weaknesses. It is suggested that once these ills, these weaknesses are overcome it will become even more human than it supposedly already is. According to the ideologues of these theses, problems within the capitalist system are only of a policy nature and not fundamental. In other words, the capitalist system is not looked at objectively; it is viewed from the angle of the aims of the capitalists who are the dominant economic force in the society. Such views of the dominant economic force, its prevailing ideas, also exert pressure on the working class and the broad masses of the people. In place of measures that are capable of dealing with the situation in the objective sense, it is suggested that individuals or policies are to blame. Illusions are created that by changing this or that attitude, either of individuals or groups, the situation will change. This obviously ignores the fact that societies follow their own objective laws of development and decline.

Speaking a year and a half ago to a group of individuals who had begun a "litigation" against one of the institutions, Hardial Bains strongly emphasized that the issue is not to find who is to be blamed from amongst the Party and the people for the existence of these problems. The issue is to see that problems exist. They are the result of the sharpening of class struggle and all people should work together to solve the problems. He further pointed out that by dealing with this problem by going through the courts is to wage class struggle against the people. How can a bourgeois court deal with a problem stemming from the basic issue that there are people who stand for opening the door for the progress of the society and others who are opposed?

One of the most vocal "litigants" declared at the time, "It is Hardial Bains who is responsible for the problem." Having made the statement, this person made no suggestion as to how to resolve the problem "caused" by Hardial Bains. On the contrary, the problem remains today and the litigants including that person are still pursuing the issue in the courts. Furthermore, the problem has now been handed over to the RCMP for a "criminal" investigation. In other words, the issue in question has now been declared a problem in the realm of the law. In sum, the litigants are waging class struggle through the use of the courts and the RCMP. The posture they assumed, declaring that they are interested to sort out the problem, was merely for effect and to discredit Hardial Bains.

The point of this example is to stress that the person who accused Hardial Bains of allegedly "causing" the problem was merely interested in maligning him. He was not interested in sorting out the problem. Various political parties and organizations accuse others of causing the problems for the explicit and implicit purpose of discrediting their enemies. These political parties and organizations are not interested in solving problems, as is the case with the existing parliamentary parties and politicians. They accuse each other of terrible things but their aim in doing so is merely to come to power themselves. This line of discrediting others by creating "straw people" does not bring anyone closer to the solution of the problems confronting them.

Changed human beings are products of changed societies. Speaking generally, people are moulded by the conditions of their work. The most important condition of work within the institutions of the technical base of CPC(M-L) is that all the means of production are collectively owned and are at the disposal of the working class to establish a socialist society. If people were to act according to the reality that these institutions of the technical base belong to them and that they must run these by adhering to the concept of building a "fortress of communism," they would be changed people who would make links with all those institutions of the same kind, and in the process inspire others to do the same. They would be models of how modern human beings must live and work. This would itself contribute to the raising of the ideological and political level of the working class and the broad masses of the people.

The human factor/social consciousness arises spontaneously because of the division of the society into classes. All measures taken to promote the growth of the human factor/social consciousness have to be organised in a strictly objective sense. The concepts of a "fortress of communism" and that the assets belong to the collective are favourable to the growth of the human factor/social consciousness.

According to the July 20 thesis, if the institutions of the technical base are producing the anti-human factor/anti-consciousness and are not upholding the concepts of building a "fortress of communism" and that the assets belong to the collective, it means that the institutions are not being utilized to raise the ideological and political level of the people. Nay more, such institutions end up ruining themselves.

An extremely sharp struggle exists at this time between the human factor/social consciousness and the anti-human factor/anti-consciousness. The bourgeoisie organizes its enterprises and the entire capitalist society so that the anti-human factor/anti-consciousness remains in the dominant position. There can be no such thing as coexistence or balance between the anti-human factor/anti-consciousness and the human factor/social consciousness. This struggle is not between this or that individual; the victory of the human factor/social consciousness cannot be guaranteed on the basis of giving lectures elaborating its essence, or one person as a single warrior doing their level best to achieve it, as in a "one-person show." It is a matter of taking all the measures necessary in the objective sense that will contribute to its growth.

CPC(M-L) is taking action as a class force, and has a plan to win this battle. It requires extremely radical and revolutionary action on the part of all the organizations of CPC(M-L) and institutions of the technical base to carry out a militant summation and to pursue a program of advance for their own respective work. It is clear that CPC(M-L) will not permit the use of its own institutions to spontaneously create and produce the anti-human factor/anti-consciousness, but this is not the point. The point is that the institutions of the technical base, as well as all the organizations of CPC(M-L), must be factors for the growth of the human factor/social consciousness.

The problems in Canada spring from the system at the foundation of Canadian society and are inherent to it. This system is state monopoly capitalism. The solution to these problems is the overthrow of this monopoly capitalist system, which is at the foundation of the society, and the establishment of a new society that resolves the basic contradiction at the base of society and allows for the quick resolution of the problems engendered by capitalism.

All proposals that divert from changing the foundation of the society are quite acceptable to the bourgeoisie, as long as the blame for the problems of society is not put squarely on the capitalist system. These proposals range from accusing the good and bad policies of the political parties, to denouncing certain blood-thirsty capitalists or even a particular sector of the economy such as the banks. All kinds of solutions are advanced and considered except the only valid one: the overthrow of the monopoly capitalist society and its replacement with a pro-social program leading to the construction of socialism. If similar diversionary approaches acceptable to the bourgeoisie are taken towards the institutions of the Party's technical base, problems will proliferate and the people working in these institutions will be at each other's throats.

CPC(M-L) exists in the form of its own organizations and the institutions it has established to facilitate different aspects of work including the national office, its publications and their distribution, and other institutions of a technical nature. Basic organizations of CPC(M-L) operate within these institutions as well, in order to provide leadership so that the institutions do not degenerate into their opposite and begin working against the interests of the working class and other working people. The members and supporters of CPC(M-L) persist in this entire work on a self-sacrificing basis. For these organizations to make further headway, they must expand and develop their assets.

What are the assets of these organizations? The greatest material asset is the working class and the broad masses of the people. If the organizations of CPC(M-L) and institutions of the technical base were to function on the basis of support from the working class and the broad masses of the people, they will contribute to the raising of their ideological and political level, and to the expansion and development of their asset.

The greatest spiritual asset of the Party's organizations is the theory guiding its thinking, Contemporary Marxist-Leninist Thought. The work to develop this theory will also appreciate their asset according to their own conditions. The greatest asset, besides the working class and theory, is the ideological struggle, the organizing and mobilising power, the turning of the notion of a "fortress of communism" into reality. The organizations of CPC(M-L) at various levels, and the institutions of the technical base must engage in resolute, irreconcilable ideological struggle according to their own concrete conditions, raising the image and profile of their own work in the eyes of the masses.

The July 20 thesis concludes that from all the above the task confronting the organizations of CPC(M-L) and the institutions of the technical base is to develop their work within their own sectors. The weakness in the work of CPC(M-L) is caused by the pressure of retrogression, which taxes the assets of CPC(M-L) and causes a great deal of damage. Such damage to the assets of CPC(M-L) cannot be reversed without all the organizations of CPC(M-L) and all the institutions of the technical base carrying out their own work on the basis of the resources found within the concrete conditions in which they are established.

The July 20 thesis clearly states that the problem does not exist because of the "attitude" of this or that individual, or a particular "policy" of this or that organization of CPC(M-L) and the institutions of the technical base. The problem clearly emanates from the pressure of the forces of retrogression, the class pressure to abandon the task of creating the conscious factor, the opposition to the utilization of the full weight of the available resources for the success of their own work.

A transition can be seen whereby the work of certain organizations of CPC(M-L), which were fully dependent on the masses, have now become a burden on the shoulders of just a few individuals. The same is the case with the institutions of the technical base, which have become ingrown and have emerged as a burden on the resources of CPC(M-L). The aim of the July 20 thesis is to turn things around. CPC(M-L) must be one with the working class like a fish in water. All the organizations of CPC(M-L) and the institutions of the technical base must have the support of the masses from within their own sectors.

Of all the assets of the society, the most important and decisive is the human factor/social consciousness. This asset develops when the measures are taken in the objective sense. These measures have to be taken by the organizations of CPC(M-L) and institutions of the technical base themselves in order to promote the growth of this factor according to the norms set, and by working out new norms conducive to the growth of this factor. It is only through achieving success in their own organizations that the human factor/social consciousness can develop; and, it is only through the development of the human factor/social consciousness that success can be transformed into victory. The work of all these organizations of CPC(M-L) and the institutions of the technical base depends on the involvement of women, workers, youth and students. The more women are involved in the work, the more successful it will be, as is the case with the workers, and the youth and students.

In conclusion, the July 20 thesis challenges all the organizations of CPC(M-L) and all the institutions of the technical base to contribute to the growth of the human factor/social consciousness in such a manner that this entire work becomes invincible. This challenge demands to be taken up at once.

(TML Daily Vol. 26 No. 142, July 22, 1996)

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