Guido Liguori, a philosopher specializing in Antonio Gramsci, is the author of Qui a tué le Parti communiste italien? [Who Killed the Italian Communist Party?] Instead of just focusing on the debates of 1989, he works to uncover the intellectual and philosophical roots of the decision to dissolve the Italian Communist Party, the most influential in the West, to create the Democratic Party of the Left.

Read more: http://www.humaniteinenglish.com/spip.php?article2100

By Arthur Shaw

Article 13 of Inter-American Convention To Prevent and Punish Torture says, in part, that:

“Extradition shall not be granted nor shall the person sought be returned when there are grounds to believe that his life is in danger, that he will be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, or that he will be tried by special or ad hoc courts in the requesting State.”

Ecuador signed the Convention May 20, 1986 and ratified it September 30, 1999.

The US-operated concentration and prison camps in Iraq, illegal US-operated concentration or prison camps on stolen Cuban territory, numerous media reports of torture by US and its allies in Iraq and Afghanistan. US congressional hearings on the use of enhanced interrogation, etc. provide “grounds to believe that his [Assange’s] life is in danger” and he may be subjected to torture or enhanced interrogation.

So, under Article 13, Ecuador is duty bound not to extradite or turn over Julian Assange to the UK authorities.

However, this argument has a slight difficulty in it.

Presently, the UK is the first requesting State, not the US.

The recent record of the UK regarding the use of torture is not as brazen as the record of some other countries. After all, Assange himself has spent some time in a UK jail without being killed or tortured

Sweden is a second subsequent requesting State.

Similarly, the record of the Sweden regarding the use of torture is not as brazen as the record of some other countries.

The USA, a hideous regime which tortures and degrades people, is the third subsequent requesting State in this case.

The USA, UK and Sweden may contend that under Article 13 of the Inter-American Convention and a similar provision of the UN Convention on Torture , Ecuador can only consider the recent record of the UK on torture, a record that may not be as bad as some other countries.

Question: Can the extraditing State [in this case, Ecuador] take into consideration “grounds to believe that his [Assange’s] life is in danger” or that he will be subjected to enhanced interrogation by one of the subsequent requesting States … in this case, the rogue US regime?

Obviously, the answer is yes, because Article 13 requires only “grounds to believe.”

This case in fact provides reasonable “grounds to believe.”

Everything now depends of the ethical and democratic will of the Ecuadorian people.

The Government of Ecuador promises the world a decision on the Assange case either upon or soon after the conclusion of the Olympics Games in London.

The glorious Ecuadorian People and their heroic and honorable elected representatives will, I believe, show the rotting capitalist world what ethics and democracy are all about.

A public letter to the Government of Saskatchewan
July 31, 2012

Communist Party: Reject the questioning of Labour’s rights

Members of the Communist Party in Saskatchewan point out that you are questioning the entire range of rights enjoyed by the labour movement and all workers, the majority of people. Too many workers have died in the struggle for the rights you are questioning for this matter to be ignored.

Do Saskatchewan’s labour laws need to improve? Yes, they do. Basic improvements include:
• shorten the work week to 32 hours, with no loss in take-home pay;
• ban compulsory overtime;
• significantly increase the minimum wage;
• extend labour rights and protections to foreign “guest” workers;
• strengthen job and pay equity legislation;
• strengthen the right to organize; stronger penalties for employer interference;
• ban scabbing

But it is obvious that the intention of your review is to attack labour rights. Your questions are a thinly-veiled effort to set the stage for a massive attack on unions and workers’ rights, just like the anti-worker attacks under the pretext of “austerity” by right-wing, pro-corporate governments across Europe and many jurisdictions in North America, such as Minnesota or Ohio.

The only solution is for unions and other popular organizations to defeat these right-wing governments and their anti-labour, anti-people agendas.

Your questions are just a tactic to keep workers fighting defensive battles and prepare a corporate wish list where to weaken unions and boost profits. Your government has never campaigned for the expansion of laws that protect the working majority of Saskatchewan.

It is time to mobilize for a fight that will defeat your government and its corporate backers. Saskatchewan unions will have the solidarity of workers across the land, and you will lose.

You cannot justify attacking rights used by working people to improve their lives, the lives of their families and their communities.

Attacking workers and their families only makes it clearer that capitalism is failing to provide hopeful or stable living conditions for the majority of people in Canada and around the world. The wars Canada is helping start are another sign of crisis for global capitalism.

Your corporate backers would be astonished to hear you explain to the workers of Saskatchewan that the purpose of your review was to improve labour laws.

On the other hand, we believe the time is right to question the entire range of rights enjoyed by the big corporations and banks in Saskatchewan, including why they should exist at all.

If you ask questions, everyone should ask questions. Your questions are limited by narrow, selfish corporate interests.

Broader questions can only help working people get out of the mess you are creating in an economy built on the strength of other countries (resources), injustice to Aboriginal peoples, lowering wages and impoverishing people, killing the family farm, limiting access to education, and catastrophic miscalculations about the environment.

You may not like this line of questioning, but the majority of people in Saskatchewan –Aboriginal peoples, workers, farmers and small businesses – will appreciate that such questions would be fair and even necessary.

Yours Truly,
Darrell Rankin,
For the Trade Union Commission, Communist Party of Canada

Information: Darrell Rankin
Manitoba office, Communist Party of Canada – (204) 586-7824; cell (204) 792-3371
Email: cpc-mb@changetheworldmb.ca  ; Website: www.communist-party.ca

By James Thompson

Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

Words and music by Pete Seeger

Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the flowers gone?
Girls have picked them every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

The rest of the lyrics of this inspiring song can be found at:
http://www.arlo.net/resources/lyrics/flowers-gone.shtml

Proposed new lines:

Where have all the communists gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the communists gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the communists gone?
Leadership liquidating our party everywhere
When will we ever learn?
When will we ever learn?

LIQUIDATION OF THE PARTY

Much has been written about the CPUSA national leadership’s not so subtle efforts to liquidate the party masked in lofty rhetoric claiming to save the party. The crowning glory of this effort appeared in a recent article by C.J. Atkins in Political Affairs advocating changing the name of the party. This drew a vigorous opposition for the first time to the slow mental water torture administered by national leadership to the often ignored and discounted membership.

However, this proposal should not be a shock to membership since it follows the pattern set by top leadership over the last few years. Just a few reminders would include the jettisoning of the party’s vanguard role, as well as the wholesale give away of the party’s treasures to a private university and the shutting down of the party’s print shop, halting of the print publication of the party’s paper and journal, closing of bookshops, and stopping the publication of pamphlets, position papers or other documents which could be used to build the party. The party’s ideological line can now be characterized as encouraging members to be groupies for the Democrats.

NO MORE COMMUNISTS

Meanwhile, any progressive position that deviates slightly from the Obama administration’s positions is characterized by national office leadership as “ultra-left wing”, “Trotskyite”, “Anarchist” or worse. In an effort to throw the baby out with the bathwater, national office leadership has characterized Stalin as an “abomination.”

However, who are the people who have advocated a change in the party’s name? Who are the people who have blasted Stalin all these years? The Trotskyites and ultra-leftists, of course, have used (alas overused) these worn out tactics to attack the party. National party leadership seems to want to usurp these tactics from the ultra left.

In Houston, we had an anarchist attend some of our meetings. The first thing out of his mouth was a demand that the Houston club submit a resolution to national leadership advocating dropping the “Communist” name. When we discussed his demands in a rational, dialectical manner, he withdrew and never returned to our meetings.

In a recent disgusting e-list exchange, top leadership invoked a paper by Lenin entitled “Strange and Monstrous.” Leadership maintains that this paper provides the rationale for making concessions to the right wing when the movement is under assault and weakening. However, a more sober reading of the words to which Lenin objected correctly “In the interests of the world revolution, we consider it expedient to accept the possibility of losing Soviet power which is now becoming purely formal.” suggests that Lenin was reacting to the ultra-leftist’s willingness to destroy the Soviet state (i.e. jettison the Communist Party) for vague, ephemeral reasons. National leadership’s distortion of this excellent polemic is instructive of their current line of thinking. Lenin did not advocate changing the name of the Communist Party or backing down on the party’s support of working people. The article was about military tactics which were necessary to preserve Soviet power and the Communist Party. There was nothing in the article to suggest that anyone should abandon party ideology or its political line. It is indeed “strange and monstrous” that current leadership has taken steps to weaken the greatest working class movement the world has ever seen by gradually dismantling the party in the world’s most powerful capitalist country. Their actions parallel the extremist’s position in Lenin’s article of sacrificing the party and its ideology to the temple of idealistic thinking, i.e. “the world revolution” expressed in newspeak “the labor-led, all people’s coalition.”

Further examination of the e-list pontifications by top leadership shows that our fearless leader slams Robert Reich, Paul Krugman, Eric Foner and others who dare to sharply criticize the Obama administration when it does not support working people. These commentators are doing the work of the party while our leadership equivocates.

Some reports indicate that in a recent national board meeting, top leadership advocated tearing up the party constitution and rejecting Marxist theory.

There were contradictory reports on the party convention this past summer. Some indicate that it was an astounding success. Some indicate that it was an exercise in crowd control as leadership rammed through a program of tailing the Democrats at all costs. Many people complained that opposing voices were silenced in a very undemocratic fashion. This seems more like the way the Catholic Church would conduct its business than the Communist Party of the USA. CPUSA membership values science and democracy rather than mythology and autocracy.

If we go back to Lenin’s “Strange and monstrous” article, we see that he strongly upheld the necessity of democracy and the right of membership to sharply criticize party leadership.

What is most appalling about the current political line is the confusion of Communists with Democrats, peace with war, Wall Street with Main Street, materialism with idealism, Congresspersons with the American people, internationalism with global capitalism and Marxism/Leninism with Keynesianism. Whatever happened to the fight against racism and for equality for all peoples? Whatever happened to the class struggle?

Lost is any effort to maintain independence from the Democrats, which raises questions such as “Do Communists favor tax cuts for the wealthy?”, “Do Communists support imperialistic wars around the globe to bolster capitalism?” “Have Communists given up on universal health care, universal education and immigration reform?” “Are Communists agreeable to the ever expanding prison industrial complex and military industrial complex?” “Have Communists given up on the Employee Free Choice Act and the right to form a union?” “Do Communists want to increase the rate of deportation of immigrants?” “Should Communists turn their cheeks to racism in hopes of placating the enemy?” “Should Communists forget about the atrocities administered by the U.S. government to the Cuban people?”

The party has a glorious history of fighting racism as a major part of the class struggle. Recent party history seems to have a blind eye to the devastating effects of institutional racism on communities of color. Again, this is done in the name of the “labor-led, all people’s coalition.”

With the ideological deterioration seen in the party today, it is no wonder that membership has dwindled to almost nothing.

VIEW FROM THE CLUBS

What does it look like from the lowly view of a CPUSA club in the fourth largest city in the U.S.?

Efforts to organize and build a club in Houston have been consistently thwarted and attempts have been made to split the membership of the club. When requests are made to the national office for the names of people contacting the party from Houston, they are met with non-response or frank hostility. Staff at the national office who handle membership requests stand tall behind their bureaucratic procedures which result in few names reaching the Houston club.

Recently, a top leader of the party came to Houston. He was confronted by several non-party activists who were appalled by the party’s refusal to take a principled position on the wars which have been widened by the Obama administration and are draining the resources of this country in the interest of increasing corporate profits. He maintained, “Obama is not a socialist, so we can’t hold him to a socialist standard.” He seemed to have forgotten that we are socialists and we can hold ourselves to the “socialist standard” or better yet, the “communist standard.”

WHAT IS TO BE DONE?

Our position in Houston is clear. We do not favor “tailism”. We do not favor “liquidating the party.” We do not favor a name change. We do not favor “reformism.” We do not favor capitulation and class collaborationism. We do not favor “right opportunism.” We are not anti-communists.

Rather than fighting among ourselves, we should be fighting the right wing elements in the Obama administration, the Republicans and the Tea Party fascists. However, if leadership continues to uncritically endorse all Obama administration policies, we must struggle at this level first before taking on the external enemy.

We support the working class and all that is involved in the struggle to elevate the working class to the ruling class. In this regard, we are not willing to jettison the fight for peace and against racism, sexism and every form of exploitation and oppression to placate the enemy in hopes that they will cut us a deal. We are not willing to give up the fight for socialism, especially at a time when the capitalist system is obviously floundering with 10% official unemployment and polls indicate that a large percentage of the population believe that socialism is more desirable than capitalism. We are not willing to forget the fight for the right to form unions and for universal education and health care and above all, democracy. We are not willing to distance ourselves from our international allies, including Cuba. We are not willing to forego the building of a Communist Party based on Marxist-Leninist philosophy and principles. We are not willing to abandon the role of the party as the vanguard party.

It is our duty as the only working class party to fight for the interests of the working class, which are our interests.

If we shirk our duty to uphold the interests of the working class, we will only further alienate ourselves from the working class and reduce our collective power.

We need a revolution in the party to oppose the regressive and class collaborationist tendencies in our current national and district leadership. All bureaucrats should be unceremoniously expelled as they are poison to a democratic, working class party. Cronyism, careerism, friendships, and personal relationships should not stand in the way of the development of the party. As one party activist once said, “The party must always come first!”

“When will they ever learn? When will we ever learn?”

PHill1917@comcast.net

After considering the developments of the situation in Syria, the WPC Assembly convened in Kathmandu/ Nepal 20 – 22 July 2012, reaffirms its strong solidarity with the Syrian people in confronting the harsh imperialist attack that is aiming at changing the geostrategic map of the region in order to speed its hegemony on it.

We express our support to the just and genuine demands of the Syrian people in enhancing democracy and social and economic changes in a way that serve their interests within the framework of its territorial integrity and sovereignty. At the same time, the WPC Assembly condemns in the strongest terms this imperialist interference taking place in all forms and by all means, and calls upon all anti-imperialist, progressive and peace loving forces to work on:

Confronting and disclosing the continuous misleading media campaign which is being organized by the imperialist media empires to distort and reverse the facts in Syria.
Escalating the pressure on the EU and US imperialist governments and their allies from the reactionary regimes in the region in order to stop weapon supplying, financial funding of their proxy the so called ´´Free Syrian Army´´ and other mercenary groups which are carrying out terrorist acts in Syria.
Working on lifting and abolishing all kinds of unjust economic sanctions imposed by the imperialist states and reactionary Arab and Turkish regimes against the Syrian people.
Increase the struggle in order to confront the political imperialist pressures that are exerted on Syria inside the international institutions and organizations, and work on supporting the comprehensive national dialogue among Syrians themselves to come out of this crisis and become the masters of their future.

Kathmandu/ Nepal 22/07/2012

Resolution on solidarity with the victims of Agent Orange in Vietnam

Katmandu, Nepal, July 22, 2012

Considering the Resolution passed in on October 24, 2009 by the Executive Committee of the World Peace Council, declaring the 10th August as the day of solidarity with the Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange/dioxin and calling upon all World Peace Council members and the entire world peace movement to undertake initiatives in support of their struggle for justice;

Recalling the strong appeal and commitment of the Second International Conference of Victims of Agent Orange held in Hanoi on August 8-9,/2012, and signed by the World Peace Council President, to build greater solidarity and intensify international efforts to support victims of Agent Orange in Vietnam;

Recognizing that the victims of Agent Orange in Vietnam are still subject to injustice as a result of the actions of those perpetrators who still remain outside the law and still have taken very little action to fulfill their responsibility to their victims;

Feeling great urgency to act immediately because many Agent Orange victims suffer daily torment and pain and their lifetimes are coming to an end;

Emphasizing that international public opinion for the rights of victims of Agent Orange to life and peace, especially that of the various human rights organizations and of the United Nations, has yet to be fully and effectively realized;

Now, therefore, the World Peace Council Congress hereby declares:

1.That all of humanity, all governments, organizations and individuals, whatever their social or political position, should take immediate, resolute and concrete action to support all victims of Agent Orange, particularly Vietnamese Agent Orange victims. In every country and region, those who believe in peace and justice should organize and develop specific programs for mobilizing material resources to help the victims and raise their voices in every way possible in support of the struggle of Vietnamese Agent Orange victims for justice.

2. That the responsibility of the United States government and chemical companies in solving the Agent Orange problem in Vietnam remains unfulfilled and that all of humanity must call upon those responsible for the suffering of the victims of Agent Orange to take responsibility and compensate their victims.

3. That we pledge to organize and activate members of the World Peace Council to implement the 2009 resolution of the Executive Committee in making August 10th a united and annual focus for concerted and ongoing activity to support the victims of Agent Orange in Vietnam, working together with all organizations and individuals to build a strong international movement which can finally, 51 years after the first use of Agent Orange in Vietnam, win justice for those who have suffered so much!

WPC Assembly resolution of solidarity with the Socialist Cuba

The Assembly of the World Peace Council,held in Kathmandu/Nepal reaffirms its profound solidarity with the Socialist Cuba,its people and revolution.

The delegates of the Assembly condemn the criminal economical blockade imposed by the USA on Cuba which is aming on the punishment of the Cuban people for defending its achievements and their right to decide sovereignly about their future.

The WPC expresses its support and demands the release of the five Cuban political prisoners from the US jails, in which they are being held unjustly. We denounce likewise the “Common Position” of the European Union which is aiming in the interference in the domestic affairs of Cuba.

The Assembly of the WPC denounces once more the USA for ther military base of Guantanamo on Cuban soil and demands the closure of the concentartion camp and the removal of the entire basis.

The Assembly of the WPC 22 July 2012 Kathmandu

Resolution of the WPC Assembly on Iran

The WPC expresses its categorical rejection to the imperialist plans of USA,EU and NATO to attack Iran under any pretext and in particular with the one of the Nuclear program of the country.

The people of Iran are the sole to decide upon their future and leadership of the country without any political and military interference.

The WPC expresses its solidarity with all progressive and peace loving forces in Iran which are committeed to the struggle for peace and are resisting imperialism. The Assembly expresses its militant solidarity with the working people of Iran in their complex struggle for peace, social progress and decent life expressing also its support to their democratic and people’s rights.

We call upon the peoples of the world to be vigilant for the war plans of imperialism in the coming period.

22nd July 2012 the Assembly of WPC Kathmandu/Nepal

Athens, 24th July 2012

Via: http://inter.kke.gr/News/news2012/2012-07-25-syria/

The KKE Delegation in the European Parliament, with a letter to Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs & Security Policy, condemns the dangerous escalation of the imperialist intervention of the EU, the USA and the NATO in Syria, which creates the conditions for a general conflict in the wider region. They also underline that the developments in Syria are exclusively a matter of the Syrian people and demands to immediately stop the interventions of the EU, the USA and the NATO against Syria and Iran, to immediately lift the EU sanctions against these countries and their peoples and that Greece does not participate in the new imperialist wars.

In their letter, the KKE members of the European Parliament, Giorgos Toussas and Babis Angourakis, note the following:

“The Delegation of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) in the European Parliament condemns the dangerous escalation of the imperialist intervention of the EU, the USA and the NATO in Syria and the wider region. The recent criminal attack in Damascus that caused the death of the Minister of Defence, Dawoud Rajiha, and other officials of the Syrian government, is the result of the flagrant imperialist intervention that supports the armed opposition and other mechanisms which have no relation to the real interests of the Syrian people. The cruel competition among the imperialist forces, in order to secure their influence and their geostrategic advantages in the wider region of the Middle East and the Persian Gulf, increases the tension and creates the conditions for a general conflict.

Moreover, the pressure and the threats against Iran enter in a new phase, under the pretext of its nuclear program. The atmosphere of war that has been fostered in the wider region of Eurasia for many years is obviously linked to its energy resources and its geostrategic position and not with the alleged “humanitarian” concerns of central and regional imperialist forces. This already explosive situation is aggravated by the escalating threats regarding a unilateral strike against Iran by Israel, which also seeks to consolidate its role as a powerful force against the peoples of the region.

The policy of the EU, the NATO and the USA, the explosive contradictions with forces that claim a role in the area, such as Russia and China, the involvement of anti-people regimes of the region that aspire to play an upgraded role, such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, bring closer the perspective of a general conflict and an open military intervention – as was the case in Libya – in Syria and Iran. Greece is also directly involved in these dangerous plans, mostly because of the US-NATO military base in Souda Bay, which is of strategic importance, and because of the willingness of the Greek government to participate in the criminal plans against the peoples of the region.

The KKE Delegation in the European Parliament underlines the immediate need for resistance by the people of the region against the interventions, in order to thwart the imperialist war.

The developments in Syria are exclusively a matter of the Syrian people, who are the only responsible to decide on their own future and their country’s.

We demand:

•To stop the interventions of the EU, the USA and the NATO against Syria and Iran.

•The immediate lift of the EU sanctions against Syria and Iran that affect their peoples and have negative consequences also on the people in the EU member-states.

•That Greece does not participate in the new imperialist wars which are being prepared against Syria and Iran.

•Not to comply with any “contractual obligation” that involves Greece directly or indirectly.

•Not to use the military base in Souda Bay. It must be closed down immediately.

•The return of all Greek military forces which are abroad.

•To cancel the military manoeuvres and all the agreements of military cooperation with Israel.

The KKE Delegation in the European Parliament calls our people to express their solidarity with the peoples of the region that the imperialists are prepared to drag to massacre in a multifaceted way. To strengthen their struggle for the disengagement from the imperialist unions, the EU and the NATO, that constitutes the most valuable contribution for a peaceful future and people’s prosperity in our region.”

e-mail: cpg@int.kke.gr

By Darrell Rankin, People’s Voice, March 1, 2012

http://www.peoplesvoice.ca/mar-1-2012.pdf

Unless a court overturns Bill C-18, the so-called “Marketing Freedom for Grain Farmers Act”, the loss of the Canadian Wheat Board will be a heavy blow to prairie farmers, to all Canadians, and to the global food system. The millions who rely on grain imports are now more firmly in the grip of giant transnational corporations, based mainly in the U.S. The Harper Conservatives destroyed the CWB as a way to boost their profits and for no other reason.

It is a good time to look at the fight to save the CWB, and to discuss strategy to stop the Conservative campaign to dismantle Canada and turn it over to their favourite bidder.

By killing the Wheat Board, the Conservatives declared war on the family farm. Thousands of small farms will be ruined if the CWB’s single-desk mandate ends in August. This places the matter of building labour-farmer unity as a key strategy to defeat Harper’s big business agenda.

A crack is being created in the relationship between big business and farmers. To find a comparable conflict between small and big business in Canada, we have to go back the Mulroney Tories’ introduction of the GST in 1991, the last time a general strike was considered by the Canadian Labour Congress.

An anti-CWB farmer, Jeff Nielson, told MPs at a House of Commons committee last fall that there were “about 20,000 commercial grain producers in western Canada,” and complained the CWB sent out plebiscite ballots to 66,000 producers. The significance of this figure is enormous.

Nielson’s comment reveals a sharpening struggle between large and small farms in Canada, sparked by the giant corporations/ Tories, where the commercial farms have the upper hand. These larger capitalist farmers hope to prevail and profit from the demise of 46,000 smaller farms.

Most family farmers have small operations and have to make ends meet with offfarm jobs. They are partly in the working class and partly self-employed capitalists. Many are already members of trade unions.

They are often close to losing their farms and joining the ranks of the working class. These farmers can work with the labour movement in creating a better society, where the family farm has a future and city dwellers have food they can trust.

When the labour movement picks the time for a battle in its own name to bring down the Harper Conservatives, it will have a potential ally in the majority of prairie farmers. That is the crowning achievement of the last several months.

Two tactics: the NDP and the Communists
When Tory agriculture minister Gerry Ritz vowed after the May 2 federal election to destroy the Wheat Board, the NDP said it would do all in its power to block such a law. It assigned MP Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre) to head up the effort.

Martin spoke often to Parliament and the media. But he never tried to engage groups outside parliament to block Bill C-18 or to build support for farmers in the trade union movement. That says much about why the Conservatives were able to pass the bill without paying a much higher political price.

On the eve of the first big protest by farmers in October (soon after C18 was introduced), Martin declared defeat: “This is a runaway freight train and I don’t think there’s any stopping it.” The comment was not warmly received by farmers who had worked all summer to build alliances and protests.

The only way to defeat the Conservative agenda is to help mobilize and unite all sections of working people – something the NDP is failing to do. The exclusively parliamentary path to defeating the Tories is one of disappointment and defeat.

Since the federal election, the Communist Party fought to save the Wheat Board by building labour-farmer unity, helping to organize protests and establish coalitions to defend the family farm. We were part of the effort that helped win the support of the CLC and the prairie provincial labour federations for the CWB. We are planting the seeds of a better future.

Anti-communist slander

Anti-communist slander is one of reaction’s most crude and dishonest weapons. An internet search contains at least a thousand references to the “Communist Wheat Board.”

Some top Conservative politicians took part in the effort, such as David Anderson, the Tory minister responsible for the Wheat Board. Anderson posted a video on his website portraying a CWB official telling a wheat farmer who wants to sell his grain to a baker “Slow down, young man. You are talking Eskimo. You cannot do those things in Saskatchewan.” The farmer questions how the CWB can exist, arguing that it seems “kind of communist.”

This anti-Aboriginal racism was condemned by Inuit leader Mary Simon. The video also promotes the false idea that the main market for farmers’ grain is small bakeries across the prairies, and thus there is no need for single-desk selling. I’d like to live in Anderson’s world, without the giant grain transnationals!

Agriculture minister Gerry Ritz sent out a statement in early September, complaining about the large farmer meetings organized by CWB directors to discuss the board’s future. He huffed that “pro-board participants had to be bused in to legitimize the process. Even cousin organizations of the CWB, such as the Communist Party of Canada, were fully represented” (Western Producer, Sept. 15).

Buses had nothing to do with bringing more than 2,000 farmers to seven large meetings last summer. The Communist Party handed out leaflets at these meetings, which is our democratic right.

In fact, farmers have direct experience how the government cancels democracy by dropping them off voters’ lists and replacing their elected directors. Some sent letters to the Producer rebuffing Ritz’ anti-communist outburst (Stooping low; Waste of Energy, October 27), and the struggle continued.

Then there is Nielsen’s comment to the Commons committee that looked at Bill C18. He said the “so-called producer meetings where special interest groups and the Communist Party of Canada were allowed to attend and spread their propaganda” was all part of the CWB’s “constant standoff” with the government.

Although Nielson is deeply offended by democracy, farmers will continue to meet across the prairies to resist the Tories. And the Communist Party will continue to distribute literature as it has for more than ninety years, legal or not.

Anti-communism is the crude weapon of people who want to disguise their real agenda. Stephen Harper’s agenda is being more loyal to the giant U.S. grain transnationals than to prairie farmers. U.S. reactionaries consider Canada “communist,” because for many years we have had medicare, the CBC and the Canadian Wheat Board. Harper is working hard to please his masters in Washington, selling out Western wheat farmers and the country along with them.