sd Page of Discussion Open To Mem

SHOPS oF the Labor-Progressive Party

&

er standing By Tim Buck ag

as

a, "Thank you for your comments upén the need to develop our discussion on the Du-
clos article in a truly Marxist fashion: ‘That indéed is the only way. by which the working
=flass movement will secure full c i St ee See

e she es

j elation of classes which | : f Gas ee <4
interrel This week we continue.
éussion through our. eq

enabled reaction to crush these4

eats : (foe eee TE | revolutions in 1919-23 with the: and presenta letter froz F
capitalist states .continues. This inter-relation of classes which is] Buek, National Leader of
coalition destroyed the armed] joy making it possible for the Labor- Progressive - ‘Pa ty
forces, the state power and the people of numerous countries to. which hhe discusses “Revi
civilian organizations, of fascism achieve success in a crucial stage ae ee OMe a a
—the spearhead of capitalist re-| of their transition to a higher a5 invite d-to submit 8
action—in Europe, and the fact| civilization, will convince the on this subject, but we
that the coalition continues is the | most skeptical that there are request that contributi
decisive fact in world politics and fe aus Mae Goliad Ge kept short: :

; - a in the wor
national. policies today. ny foday as ‘coinpared with the
situation that existed before the
war. , :

NATIONAL UNITY

An essential factor in bring
ing about the conditions which
have made these far-reaching
political gains possible has been
the: fight for wartime national
unity in the capitalist members
of the~United Nations. Without .
that fight it is doubtful whether || Necessarily those of,
the gains could have been made. || Editor. -
To a very large extent the éle- : |
ment of confusion which exists a
in the minds of many comrades | then people’s governments |
concerning the problem of re- liberated. countries is: in
visionism:- is related to the ques- | ably related to the fight fo
tion of national unity. I propose, | oy jobE and decurity 44
therefore, to deal mainly with United Stabe’ Sia Canae E

that question in this letter and “DEE
if necessary will write further | have mentioned the proble; ft
to deal with other detailed ques- large-scale credits to ‘the § i
tions that you raise. Union and people’s governn |
in the liberated countries. 7
will be large-Scale loans
credit, of that there is no ai
The question for: ug is: “
they- be advancéd— py the 4
national bankers as: instrur |
of reactionary domination or
they be granted by the go:
ments of the lending cour.
to the governments of the Hy
ated countries in a manner }
helps make those countries |
pendent of international fim.
capital?” It may-be stated —
foregone conclusion that~ =
scale. governmental credit ©
such a character will be gr 3

_d.must say however that your
‘comment: concerning some reac-
‘tions. to. comrade Duclos’ article
‘reflected a tendency. to depart
from the Marxist method right
at the start. Vancouver is not
alone in this respect. Different
comrades in different parts of the
country have assumed that al-
most everything we did in our
unreserved support of and par-
ticipation in the national war
effort was revisionism. An ex-
member of the party who dis-
agrééd with our all-out support
_ of the war in French Canada and
refused to join the Labor-Pro-
“gressive - Party. when it was |
organized is now claiming that
he.was opposing thé revisionist
line of the party. ?

A ~ discussion
The struggle for complete ex-
tirpation of fascism continues
also, within *the framework of
the general policies. upon which
the great coalition is-united. The
two outstanding and: decisive fea-
tures of that struggle today are
the. naval, air and military
struggle for the ‘total defeat of
fascist militarist. Japan and the
struggle to establish and con-
solidate people’s governments in
the liberated countries of Europe
to complete and consolidate the
gains of the mighty’ agrarian
‘| revolution now in progress there.

do much to clear up misuy -
standings an@é confusion e
ed by interpretations —
forward through the pare «
the bourgeoise and social
ocratic press’ The cont i
tions on this page express.

A few days ago [| received a ideas -0f the Sypieers ong

letter from Edmonton. The writ-
er states among other things, as
supposed evidence of’ revision-
ism, that a worker who formerly
lived in-. Edmonton heard me
speak at a factory meeting in
Hamilton some time ago and he
wrote to him that “Tim Buck is
a pretty good speaker, but his
speech sounded more like that 6f
a Liberal.” Such commentary is
being treated as evidence of re-
visionism. The most interesting
comment I can make upon the
impressions conveyed by the
worker from Edmonton .is that
he was mistaken. I never made
the speech referred to, I have not
addressed a factory meeting in
Hamilton since before the war.

TIM BUCK

Tt is clear that there is some-
thing new in the political -situa-
tion’ as compared with the situ-
ation that existed before the
war. That which is new is il-
lustrated most vividly in what is
going on in the liberated coun-
tries of Europe. The anti-fascist
forces there are carrying through
their agrarian revolution in an
orderly and- generaHy peaceful

postwar struggle for democratic
world progress and the streng-
thening -of the democratic forces,
andra series of concrete actions
and proposals based upon that
assumption.

A number of comrades make
the mistake of thinking . that,
while national unity was “per-
manner. They are destroying the | missable” during the war, it is
feudal structure which has been] a revisionist error to advocate
the basis and bulwark of the al- national unity in support of poli-
liance of hereditary privilege, | cies in accord with the Teheran
landlords and international ‘fin- | perspective after the war. One
ance-capital, which has blocked |of the discussion articles in the
progress in those countries uh-| Pacifie Advocate of July 28th
til now. While - destroying that expresses that point of view
feudal structure the democratic | quite bluntly. Several comrades
forces are taking measures -to have expressed it in discussion.
re establish their industries and The assumption is wrong. To
national economies on the basis | mobilize working class opinion
of “mixed economy” which will and pressure for national unity
include private business and |around correct Marxist policies

e

Our.own study of. Comrade
Duclos’ article and of our party
work in the light of it must serve
a dual purpose. By study and
systematic discussion of his ar-
ticle and its significance we can
become more fully informed up-
on the political content and dan-
ger of revisionism as an inter-
national phenomenon in the
Marxist movement. By system-
atic critical ~ re-examination of
our own work in the light of this
study we can expose and uproot
any revisionist trend or tenden-
cies in our party: Thus the Du-
clos article presents us with the
opportunity to deepen and extend

I could quote a number of ex-
amples similar to those mention-
ed above and they all represent
an erroneous approach to the
task of uprooting every vestige
ef revisionism in cur movement.
There is a tendency to confuse +‘
the fight for national unity with
revisionism. There is 4 tendency
to consider our wartime no-strike

pledge as revisionism. There is a : . profit-making, but in which they|is no mistake. Browder’s re-| only if labor and the other |
tendency to assume that advo_| the Marxist understanding Of | seek to prevent re-establishment | visionist error was the asSump-j|gressive forces are unite
cating national unity in support|°UY entire membership while of the influence of parasitical|tion that finance-capital as a| pressing for them and moné |

strengthening and consolidating

finance-capital and its imperial-
our party work.

istic monopolies. In all those
countries this process is being
carried through by governments
of national unity, i.e. govern-
ments representative of all sec-
tions of the anti-fascist people
without regard to class, religion
or other - sectional differences.

whole would voluntarily choose
te follow suéh -policies and in
proposing policies which would | if big business should be We
have ideologically disarmed the| in opposition to such actioi |
working class. It would be equally |is obvious,
wrong to assume that finance- | labor
capital will be a solid block in|to be successful it must in:
opposition. to continued interna-|a measure of cooperation =i
tional cooperation after the’ war | least to-the extent of SUPPGi ~

capital is not united in Opp |

of postwar policies in accord
them. They will not be Te

with the perspective indicated in
the Teheran and Yalta Accords
is revisionism. Each of ‘these as-
sumptions are wrong and can
only weaken the real struggle
of the party to understand the
danger of revisionism and orien-
tate itself correctly.

The thing to bear in mind is
that. a correct and- effective
struggle against revisionism or
revisionist tendencies is possible
only as;part of a struggle for a
correct party policy. This fact
must be ‘given’ special emphasis

It is the responsibility of pro-
vincial and local leaders of our
party to correct such mistaken ap-
proaches to this question. Every
concrete expression of revision-
ism must be exposed and its re-
petition prevented, but we must
try to keep the discussion centr-
ed upon the question at issue.

The erroneous approaches of
which I have iven examples
above aré politically bad because
they distract attention away from

the real evil and its source and

thereby hinder the fight of the
party against revisionist tend-
encies.

THE FIGHT AGAINST
REVISIONISM

What Jacques Duclos branded
as “a notorious revision of Marx-
ism” in the work of the Com-
munists of the United States was
Browder’s assumption that the
finance-capitalist monopolies will
play, nay will voluntarily choose
to play, a leading -role in the

PACIFIC ADVOCATE—PAGE 2

now that*victory in Europe, the
limited ‘scaléi of Canada’s partici-
pation in the war against Japan
and the results of the federal
elections. in ‘Canada, all point to
sharp changes in the near future
and the need! for marked changes
in the: policies and tactics of the
working class movement.

A CRUCIAL: PERIOD

Lenin emphasized many times
that Marxism demands a precise
analysis of the interrelation of
classes. and. of the concrete pe-
culiarities of each historical mo- |
ment. There never was a day,
since the Communist Manifesto
was written, when Lenin’s warn-
ing in this connection was more
pertinent than it is now.

What are the facts concerning
the interrelation of ‘classes and
the concrete peculiarities of the
present historical moment?. They
are roughly as follows:

The coalition of the socialist

‘Teheran

sixth of the earth with the great (

Not only are the anti-fascist
forces carrying through this his-
terical change in an orderly way
but they are doing so within the
framework of the general politi-
cal agreements known as the Te-
heran and Yalta Accords. With
significant and warning excep-
tions (Greece, Belgium, Italy)
they are carrying through this
historic change free from foreign
military intervention.

What is being achieved in Eur-
epe illustrates the essence of the
Accord and the per-
spective which it for the first
time made possible. It is obvious
that there are definite limits to
what can be achieved within its
terms, but. life is showing that
many things which the demo-
cratic forces were absolutely un-
able to achieve before are now
possible. Any doubts on this
score may be settled by reading
the history of the agrarian revo-
lutions which followed the first
world war. A comparison of the

or that the labor movement in
Canada and the United States
can carry through the policies
which are necesary by pursuing
a “class against class” policy.

There is an indissoluble rela-
tionship between the people’s
war and the peace which follows
the people’s victory precisely he
cause the interrelation of classes
brought into being through the
war influences the conditions of
victory and persists to a greater
ov less extent in the peace. It
is clear that the interests of the
working class in the capitalist
countries, as well as the interests
| of all the liberated countries and
i the Soviet Union, demand that
the broadest possible national]
lunity be maintained in support
of policies aimed at solving the
coming’ problems of the postwar
period in accord with the per-

spective raised at Teheran and
Yalta. Let me illustrate this with
: the following example.

: The need to aid and streng-

Similar measures—with seci |
of big business, including” i
tions of finance capital.

The same is true of =
struggle for aid to Soviet Gis
or the fight for adequate la: §
pay in Canada, of the fight
planned reconversion in Can 3
and of the fight for more {
quate social security legisla
in Canada. Should we fight
such measures? Of course
should—and must! We must, .
“cause as I pointed out in “A&A
tional Front for Victory”
war for people’s liberation n\/
merge with the struggle for
cial progress. We must bee:
our highest international dut
to help strengthen the new de |
cratic regimes in the liber.
countries, and it is equally |f
duty to propose and fight
policies which will help main |

(Continued on page 3)
{ See TIM BUCK .

SATURDAY, AUGUST 11, 1