Fall Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Canada

The Central Committee (CC) of the Communist Party of Canada met this past weekend in Toronto to discuss the current political situation and the role of the Party. The following summary is provided for members of the Young Communist League and our friends. We would like to draw to your attention to the following highlights, while noting that the Central Committee of the YCL-LJC will also be convened in one week.

1. POLITICAL REPORT

The plenum adopted a political report presented by comrade Miguel Figueroa, leader of the Party, on behalf of the Central Executive.

The primary dynamic driving social and political developments remains the global capitalist crisis, which has entered a second stage:

· The very high cost of the state-monopoly bail-outs (together with falling revenues) has now led to a significant steep increase in debt; the key point is not the level of state debt per se but rather its causes and uses by the ruling class;

· This includes direct attacks at the workplace (mass layoffs, wage cuts, two-tier wage structures, attacking pension plans, etc.) and indirect attacks on living standards (cut-backs and privatization to public services, regressive tax shifts, etc.)

· The CC discussion praised the growing heroic resistance to “austerity measures” especially in Europe;

· The CC also noted increasing crude attempts to ideologically intimidate working people to accept the “necessity” of these anti-people measures, including anti-Communism, sharpening attacks on democratic rights and even promotion of racist, ultra-right and neo-fascist groups.

The deepening economic crisis is sharpening imperialism’s aggressive nature. The CC discussion also addressed war and peace, and climate change:

· Militarization continues, driven by profiteering and mainly the economic interests of imperialism with a serious dangers of war; the CC especially condemned pro-war actions of the new right-wing South Korean government creating a serious flare-up on the peninsula;

· Increasing inter-imperialist rivalries has also seen in the capitalist debate on protectionism vs. open markets – for example, the US QE2 plan and resulting deadlock over this plan in the G20;

· The CC noted the campaign to neutralize and subvert meaningful action to protect global environment, in the context of the upcoming Cancun climate change summit

· The CC also discussed other international developments, including resistance to the ‘iron siege’ on Gaza by the Zionist Netanyahu government, continued positive developments in Latin America

The CC paid special attention to the situation in Canada where, despite official records, working people face rising unemployment, poverty, increasing use of food banks – in short, a job-less recovery:

· In this context, the Harper conservatives have stepped-up their anti-people agenda, cutting government funding, while expanding military, police, and intelligence spending – evidenced at the G20

· Most urgent question is how to prevent the Harper Tories from a majority and drive them out. However, there is very weak opposition in Parliament, including no comprehensive alternative from the NDP; main venue of fight-back is extra-parliamentary;

· Lack of parliamentary resistance to Harper has helped the growth of right-wing populist movements (ie. the BC First Party, Alberta’s Wild Rose Party, the election of Rob Ford in Toronto, and Legeau’s far-right movement in Quebec)

· The Central Committee also called for a well-organized Canada-wide day of Action against the extension of the War in Afghanistan.

The CC discussed the uneven but positive revival of various labour struggles across country, and the urgent need for a coordinated fight back. It called upon the Canadian Labour Congress to take the lead, and identified that the Labour movement faces a choice – policies of class collaboration or class struggle.

2. WORK OF THE PARTY

The CC discussed a series of reports on the work of the Party, identifying successes and shortcomings in various areas.

· The CC discussed the Party’s recent Anti-crisis campaign distributing 25,000 leaflets, and our mobilization at the G20 demonstrations in Toronto, perhaps the largest Party mobilization in over 20 years;

· The rising interest in the Party witnessed in a series of very successful diverse events organized across country;

· Achievements in municipal work in Vancouver, Calgary, Hamilton and Toronto including the election of comrades;

· The successful 25th Convention of the Young Communist League of Canada and the work to build a All-Canada delegation to the World Festival of Youth and Students;

· Reports on the People’s Voice, Clarté, Spark, as well as party commissions on: Trade Unions, Peace and disarmament, Women, Aboriginal people’s, Cuba, International, Education, and internet outreach.

· Plans to mark the 90th anniversary of the Communist Party of Canada

Lastly, the CC passed a serious of resolutions on: solidarity with the striking steel-workers in Hamilton; against the extension of Canada’s mission in Afghanistan; demanding real action at the climate change talks in Cancun; defeat of the criminalization of refugees with Bill C-49; and the 90th anniversary of the Party.

On the Saturday night a very successful social event was held, in coordination with the Young Communist League, which raised over a thousand dollars to send youth to the World Festival of Youth and Students.

The full political report will be available in English shortly.