Speech to the Social-Political Gathering Celebrating the Successful Conclusion of the Manitoba Regional Conference

- January 22, 2000 -

Comrades and friends,

On behalf of the Manitoba Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist), I want to welcome all of you to this social-political evening.

For the past several months, in preparation for its Regional Conference, our Branch has been summing up its work, analyzing the objective world around us and developing a practical program of work for the future. The method we chose was to carry the broadest possible discussion of politics, both internally and externally, within the broader movement. We discussed problems of democracy and human rights, international, national and local politics, and the problems facing the movement. Many of you who are present this evening, as well as many who could not make it, participated in those discussions.

The sharing of opinions and different points of view is invaluable in a modern society and especially within the communist and revolutionary movement which has experienced very deep divisions over the past several decades. The fact we could sit down and discuss political issues with people from all kinds of different revolutionary perspectives was both an indication of how far we have all come over the past several years, as well as a great assistance to us in formulating and elaborating our own positions. This evening's event is, among other things, an expression of our appreciation to all of you for your participation in these important discussions.

The Regional Conference of our Branch has now successfully completed its deliberations and taken various decisions which we want to share with you this evening. The successful conclusion of our Regional Conference is really only the first phase of this process, as in the coming months and years we intend to continue to deepen and broaden the discussion of the major issues facing the movement.

In summing up the work of our Branch, we looked primarily at the experience of the past decade and especially the years since 1995. This has been a period of great difficulties, both for the communist movement in general and our Party in particular. The decade was ushered in with the greatest offensive against communism in the history of the world. Our Party weathered that storm extremely well by sticking to our strengths and fighting for principles. Our Branch experienced no desertions from our ranks and no disruptions to our work as a result of the events in Eastern Europe.

In 1995, under the direct leadership of Comrade Hardial Bains, the Manitoba Branch took up the difficult task of developing workers' journalism as a key aspect in building the revolutionary movement. That work is now beginning to bear fruit and we are in a position both to develop the communist press and to assist in developing the workers' press.

The work to build unity in action of the workers' movement, which our Branch took up in 1997 along with numerous other groups and individuals, has also been extremely successful. Together we have eliminated the sectarianism of the past and a healthy atmosphere of political discussion and action now exists. It is our position that this work should be further strengthened and expanded.

The greatest challenge to our Branch came on August 24, 1997 with the untimely death of the founder and leader of our Party, Comrade Hardial Bains. Comrade Bains played a crucial role in all the victories of our Branch and his patient guidance and leadership were key elements in the life of our Branch. His passing meant that we had to find our own bearings and learn to stand on our own feet. We were faced with two options: advancing on the basis of our own thinking and actions or giving up in the face of adversity. In other words, we could opt for either renewal or disintegration. To its credit, our Branch opted for renewal and, in this regard, the level of discussion and the decisions of our Regional Conference speak for themselves.

Furthermore, we are proud to say that despite facing the greatest challenge to its existence since its founding in 1969, our Branch has emerged from this period healthier, stronger and more united than ever. Our membership has grown, our Regional Committee has been expanded and further strengthened, and women now constitute 50 percent of the members of our Branch. In terms of class composition, almost all of our members are either workers or have come out of the working class. Most importantly, we have succeeded in building a collective leadership, which is capable of analyzing the world, finding its bearings and setting itself a program of action.

The documents of our Regional Conference have been published in the form of a Political Report, which is available tonight in printed form, as well as on our web page, so tonight we will not go into detail regarding the views and analysis of the Branch. I want to stress that this Political Report is not being presented as a line of demarcation with other groups and individuals. It simply represents our thinking on the major issues facing the movement in this region and is a guide to further action. We do not consider it the final word on any question, merely a beginning. There will be plenty of time for further analysis and elaboration during the coming months and years as the work and discussion develops.

The general program of work adopted by the delegates to our Regional Conference is three-fold:

1. Building the communist press through the publication of a regular newspaper of the Manitoba Regional Committee, to be called Modern Communism.

I'm pleased to announce that this decision has already been implemented and the first issue is available this evening. I'm also pleased to announce that the Manitoba Branch of CPC(M-L) has now constructed its own web site on the Internet, so we can officially state that we have are fully integrated into the modern world. The address of our web site is printed in Modern Communism. The web site contains the complete Political Report of our Regional Conference, as well as the first issue of Modern Communism. In fact, it is our intention that Modern Communism will be primarily an electronic bulletin on the Internet, with a limited number of printed copies for those who do not have Internet access. In the future we may also add a discussion forum. Through these media, we hope to raise the stature of communism in Manitoba and establish a presence in the mainstream politics of the region.

2. Working with other progressive forces to build the mass workers' press and to further develop the unity in action of the workers' movement.

We think that this is an extremely important step which will open up all kinds of possibilities for the workers' and people's movement. Without their own mass media, the working class and people have limited means to influence public opinion or even to let others know what problems they face, or what they are doing and thinking. There have already been some important first steps in establishing such a mass workers' media, and our organization has pledged to provide whatever assistance it can to this project. Manitoba has a history of leadership of the workers' movement, dating back to 1919, if not earlier. We think the establishment of a mass workers' media would put Manitoba back on the map.

3. Developing the unity in action of the communist and revolutionary movement.

As we have already pointed out, the unity in action of the communists and revolutionaries has been central to all of the advances of the workers' and people's movements over the past few years. It has given the movement a new vigour and has created conditions for even further advances. We think that this unity in action should be further developed and more attention should be directed towards building the revolutionary movement itself. It is important that the communists and revolutionaries organize and lead the people's movements to achieve their aims, but if they do not pay attention to the revolutionary movement, to the theory and practice of revolution, who else is going to do so? We want to be very clear on this point. We are not advocating that the communists and revolutionaries of Manitoba get caught up in the merger mania that is sweeping the globe. We are not suggesting that ideological and organizational unity are the order of the day. Rather, we are suggesting that the communists and revolutionaries of all stripes present a united front to the rest of the world on various political projects and deal with their differences in private. We want to instill in the minds of the people that socialism and communism are practical alternatives, that revolutionary change is still possible. Given the political climate and the monopolization of the media and the political process by the rich, that is a tall order at the best of times. However, if the revolutionary movement tells the world it is irrevocably split, then it becomes almost impossible. So what we are proposing is that various groups and individuals that consider themselves communists or socialists of one kind or another should begin to sit down together and explore what issues and projects they have in common and what they can do to co-operate with each other to achieve common goals. From what we have been able to determine in the course of discussions over the past several months, there seems to be a definite will to accomplish this and, for our part, we will do what we can to make it a reality.

The delegates to the Regional Conference also elected a new Regional Committee to lead the work of the Branch during the next period. As mentioned earlier, the number of members on the Regional Committee has been expanded in accordance with the needs of the work and the number of women on the committee has also increased. The Secretariat was also unanimously re-elected.

Comrades and friends, I want to conclude my remarks this evening with some comments on the question of renewal versus disintegration. As you know, any living organism which fails to renew itself will soon no longer be living. It will begin to deteriorate and disintegrate. This principle applies to organizations as well, from the level of the simplest collectives to the level of societies and countries. Ultimately, it applies to the entire human species.

If one were pressed to describe the past decade in one word, the word that comes to mind is disintegration. Everywhere we look disintegration is the order of the day. Russia is a case in point, as is Yugoslavia. Entire societies which had existed in relative harmony for many decades were faced with the need for renewal and opted instead for disintegration. They opted for individual enrichment at the expense of the needs of society. The result has been untold human suffering and death.

Canada is headed in the same direction. The needs of a modern society are in conflict with the archaic institutions and arrangements of Canadian federalism. But rather than attempting to resolve this conflict by renewing the arrangements, by renewing federalism, the federal government and the entire Canadian Establishment are determined to preserve their past privileges and their archaic institutions of power. So, objectively, they are opting for disintegration and chaos. There is really no other option. Strictly speaking, the status quo is not an option. Change is inevitable; it is just a matter of whether the direction of change is forward or back. Rejection of renewal automatically leads to disintegration and disaster.

Our Party analyzed as early as 1985 that the world was undergoing a fundamental change and no force could continue to operate in the old ways. Any force which refused to renew itself would necessarily disintegrate. Since then many organizations have fallen by the wayside, including a whole host of communist organizations. Our Party opted to renew itself and set itself a definite program to do so. In 1995 it established its Historic Initiative to complete that task. Unfortunately, in the middle of its Five-Year Plan our Party's founder and architect, Comrade Hardial Bains, died unexpectedly. Once again, our entire Party was faced with the question of whether it would continue on the path of renewal or opt, instead, to disintegrate, as many other parties have done when they lost a great leader.

This question also faced our Branch, as our work had for a long period been under the direct leadership of Comrade Bains. This question has now been put to rest. The successful holding of our Regional Conference has demonstrated in the most objective way that our comrades and our Branch have refused to disintegrate and have opted for renewal. We are quite confident that in the coming years, as we enter a new century and millennium, this crucial decision will have very significant consequences for our Party and our class.

Once again, comrades and friends, I want to thank you for your assistance and support over the past months and years and for spending this evening here with us to celebrate the successful conclusion of our conference.