The Working Class Must Take Advantage of This Historic Turning Point

Statement of the Manitoba Regional Committee

of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist- Leninist)

May 1, 2003

On this May First, International Working Class Day, working people around the world are facing a new situation, a turning point in history. U.S. imperialism has entered a new phase, a phase in which it has returned to the old colonial practice of military aggression and occupation in order to impose its will on the peoples of the world. Two quick military victories in Afghanistan and Iraq, albeit against extremely weak adversaries, has emboldened the Bush administration and whetted its appetite for blood. This can only increase its arrogance and its aggressive militarism.

During the past several years, a massive struggle has taken shape against U.S. imperialism and against the imperialist system as a whole. Prior to September 11, 2001, this anti-imperialist upsurge took the form of the anti-globalization movement. The trade unions were a prominent component of that movement and trade union members made up the vast majority of those participating in the huge mobilizations that took place from Seattle to Quebec City to Genoa. However, following September 11 the trade unions backed off from confrontational politics. The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) failed to take a stand on the U.S. war against Afghanistan and the trade unions were conspicuous in their absence from the anti-war movement that emerged in opposition to that war.

In the months leading up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, both the CLC and many individual trade unions passed resolutions condemning the American march to war. However, in general the trade unions remained hesitant about calling on their members to take to the streets. Demonstrations of tens and hundreds of thousands took place in Canada, as in the rest of the world, but the trade unions did not play a central role in organizing those actions. Undoubtedly, many of their members participated, but not as an organized force. This hesitancy on the part of the main trade union leadership indicates that they have still not abandoned their hopes of a new arrangement with imperialism within the new conditions. This attitude by the main trade union leadership not only weakens the anti-imperialist movement, but could lead to disaster for the working class.

The situation facing the working class today is extremely complex. On the one hand, there is a stirring of revolutionary sentiment amongst a growing section of the working class and people. In some cases, such as in Venezuela, the trade union leadership has responded to this by openly siding with the pro-imperialist forces, with those who want to keep the people enslaved to U.S. imperialism. In a few cases, the trade unions have sided with the forces for revolution and social progress. However, in the majority of cases the trade union leaders have remained aloof from the situation, preferring to take a wait and see attitude. Lacking revolutionary leadership, the working class in many countries has been rendered passive in the face of one of the greatest anti-people offenses ever initiated by imperialism.

At this historic juncture, two possible futures are facing humanity. Either U.S. imperialism will succeed in consolidating a new world order, a Pax Americana, on the basis of the destruction of everything positive created by human civilization, or the revolutionary struggles of the people will put an end, once and for all, to the barbaric system of imperialism. One of the main determining factors in which future will materialize is the attitude of the international working class. The other determining factor is the inter-imperialist contradiction, especially the contradiction between European imperialism and American imperialism.

A new international revolutionary movement will only emerge if both of these factors favour it. This means that if there is to be a new upsurge in the revolutionary movement the working class must be in motion, fighting for revolutionary objectives, for its own emancipation and for the emancipation of all humanity. It also means that a new revolutionary upsurge is possible only if there is a further sharpening of the inter-imperialist contradictions between the European and American imperialists. If either of these factors is missing, there will be no revolutionary upsurge.

At the same time, there is a dialectical interaction between these two factors. If the working class does go for revolution in a number of countries, it may further exacerbate the inter-imperialist contradictions. However, it could also convince the imperialists to temporarily put aside their differences in order to jointly crush the revolutionary working class. During the twentieth century we saw both phenomena, so it is difficult to predict which is more likely at the present time.

The complexity of the current international situation underlines the urgent necessity for the progressive and revolutionary forces to discuss, analyze and organize themselves. If the current disunity of the progressive and revolutionary forces continues, then the revolutionary movement will go nowhere. Argentina is a good example of a country where the people want revolution, but the revolutionary leadership is either totally lacking or hopelessly split. As a result, despite the overthrow of four governments in a span of a few weeks, the international financiers continue to bleed that country dry and the revolutionary movement has lost virtually all of its momentum.

The working class cannot afford to miss this situation. It cannot afford to sit and wait for the trade union leaders to make up their minds which side to support. If the working class and all of the progressive and revolutionary forces do not begin to forge a new unity in action against imperialism now, if they do not begin to build the institutions of their own political power now, it is entirely possible that they will be caught unprepared to face the coming storms. Now is not the time to sit on the sidelines and cheer the spontaneity of the movement; now is the time to build the instruments capable of leading the working class to victory.