Discussion:

What Kind of Party? - Part 2

If we are to identify what kind of political organization the working class requires, we must first understand where the working class is objectively and what its concerns are. This is no easy matter, as the working class is not some homogenous mass. While workers may have some fundamental interests in common, different sections of the working class also have their own specific problems and interests which must be addressed

One of the complaints often raised by trade union leaders is that their members do not follow their leadership when it comes to politics. This reality was brought home once again in the case of the 1999 Ontario election. There, despite calls from trade union leaders for workers to vote NDP or to vote "strategically", the Harris Conservatives were returned to office. The high wages being earned by some sections of the industrial workers have been cited as one of the reasons for this result. The level of income of a section of the working class can obviously have an effect on its political orientation, but this is clearly not the whole answer.

During the Ontario Days of Action campaign, something seized the imagination of Ontario's industrial workers. They followed the call of their leaders and took very definite political action in defence of the rights of society. During the Ontario election, the call was issued to workers to defeat the Harris government at the polls. Objectively, this meant electing the Liberals or a coalition of Liberals and NDP. This time the workers did not follow their leaders.

How can it be reconciled that in 1996 tens of thousands of highly paid industrial workers shut down the city of Hamilton for two days to demand an end to the Harris government's anti-social offensive, while three years later many of those same workers voted for that government or at least ignored the calls to defeat it at the polls? The problem obviously goes deeper that income.

When they were called upon to use extra-parliamentary struggle to bring down an unpopular government the industrial workers responded in their tens of thousands. When they were called upon to replace one set of politicians with another those same workers refused to follow their leaders. Is the problem then a failure of the workers to follow their leaders, or are the leaders failing to offer a political program for which the workers are willing to fight?

The issue that must be examined is what kind of leadership the working class is seeking. What objectives is it willing to fight for? What is the program which can unite the working class around its own aims and objectives?