LPP PRE-CONVENTION DISCUSSION

internationalism. From

and Asia, aid to Spanish democ-
racy and our 600 heroes who fell
in Spain, right through to the pres-
ent day, we have extended the hand
of solidarity to our comrades and
the fighters against fascism in
many lands.

Today we are called to greater
efforts than ever, to help the Greek
to raise high the “Hands
off China!” struggle, to speed as-
sistance to our brother party in
the U.S, which is the target of
Wall Street terror.

This fight is an inseparable part
of our fight for the interests of
the Canadian working class, for
the peace and security of Canada,
for Canada’s independence and
her socialist future.
No less has our Party contrib
uted to the solidarity of the many-
nationed working class and people
of Canadaa.
- We have consistently fought
against Anglo-Saxon chauvinism,’
which is the ideology and practice
of the ruling class, of the imperial-
ists, of Canada, ;
- We clearly proclaimed the two-
mation character of Canada, de-
fending the national rights of the
French Canadian people.
_. We fought many battles against
anti-Semitism and discrimination
- against Negroes in Canada. -
We gave our support to the op-
little nations, the Indians
and Eskimos, in our country. We
fought against the special victim-
ization of the Asiatic—Chinese,
East Indian, Japanese—minority

2. ut all our history we de-
. fended the, foreign-born workers
and the cultural rights of the na-
tional minorities in our country.

: * *« *

Our struggle on this front is not
an aim in itself, but a fight for
: unity of the Canadian work-
img class, for real unity of the
people of Canada in the struggle
against Canadian imperialism, for
‘socialism in Canada (which will
also solve for all time the national
- and national minority problems in
our country).
The real success of that struggle
- earried on by our Party is measured
by the fact that the French-Can-
‘adian workers have flocked into
trade unions (and the desire for
labor solidarity is even breaking
through .the Catholic syndicates),
which is qa powerful reinforcement
to the Canadian labor movement
and simultaneously the greatest
force for winning full national
equality for French Canada.
Similarly, the results of our
Party’s struggle can be seen in
the fact that the immigrant work-
ers of 30 years ago, who were
- mostly outside the labor move)
- ment and were often used to cut
down wage standards have in the
past three decades become fore-
front union fighters and their or-
ganizations powerful factors for
progress in Canada carrying this

essive ideal and movement

on to the Canadian-born genera-
tions.

But while our Party’s main fire
as in the past, must be directed
against Anglo - Saxon chauvinism,
_ the wedge by which the Canadian
- monopolists seek to split and cre-
ate strife and antagonism within
— working class and the people
and perhaps this should have

found clear formulation in the
- Draft Resolution, it is necessary
to struggle equally sharply against
French-Canadian nationalism and
nationalism in the minority groups,
which performs the same function
of splitting and is actually the
other side of the medal of Anglo-
Saxon chauvinism, and which often
seeps into the labor movement and
the ranks of the eS

Im actuality, one of the most
- important struggles our Party has
- eondueted since the last conven-
tion has been the struggle against

USSR: in 1918, the collections to aid |
in the early twenties, assistance to victims of the white terror in Europe

Hits theory of
assimilation

y By JOHN WEIR

—TORONTO

Our Party has a grand record in the struggle for working class
the fight against Canadian intervention in the

famine victims in the USSR

deviation in Quebe¢, which result-
ed in the expulsion of a group
whose nationalism led them into
the camp of the enemy. .

It is wrong, in my opinion, that
the Draft Resolution passes that ex-
perience by, and even more that
the whole Party has not been given
the benefit of the lessons of that
struggle, on the basis of which,
quite as much as on the lessons of
the mistakes in Yugoslavia, we
eould have raised the ideological
level of our membership and
sharpened our vigilance against
alien, bourgeois, influences.

In this article, however, I want
to deal mainly with the national
minority groups. Section XVI of
the Draft Resolution is devoted to
this problem. It does place cor-
rectly the task of fighting against
the nationalists among these sec-
tions of the Canadian people. But
I think that by limiting itself to
the characterization of the nation-
al groups as such as are “bound
by the ties of national origin and
families to the ‘old countries’ of
Europe,” the resolution does not
fully place the Party’s position and
leaves room for Anglo-Saxon chau-
vinist interpretations.

We have discarded, in our party,
the bourgeous-chauvinist “assimil-
ation” theory, which was another
way of saying the “Anglo-Saxon-
ization” of the national minorities.

This theory saw the immigrants
from Europe solely as raw material,
as “New Canadians,’ which were
to be absorbed as soon as possible,
made over into “Anglo-Saxons,”
abandoning their Own culture; ‘tra-
ditions, etc. In reality, this theory
was the front for Anglo - Saxon
chauvinism, which continues its
discrimination against not only the
foreign-born but the Canadian-
born generations.

Of course, they are not separate
nations, such as the French-Can-
adian people of Quebec, but they
are national minorities, with their
own cultural background and tra-
ditions, which do not disappear
with the passing of the immigrant
generation, but persevere and de-
velop on Canadian soil and are
brought into the all-Canadian cul-
ture. This has been proved in life.
Why is it not so stated in the
Draft-Resolution?

To ignore this Canadiao essence
of the national groups and to limit
the characterization to “ties with
the old countries,” can only serve
to perpetuate the “assimilation”
theory, which treats the national
groups as a passing, immigrant,
“foreign’’? phenomenon, (This atti-
tude persists in our own ranks in
many ways; for example, in the
use of the term “language groups
ie, “foreign language groups,”
even when the people in these
groups can speak—and do speak
in their organization—the English
language no worse than their An-
glo-Saxon fellow-Canadians!

The worst danger from the view-
point of practical politics at the
present time is that this approach
ean minimize the necessity of Par-
ty work among the national minor-
ities, especially now when the ti-
tanic upheavals in the lands of
their origin and their own experi-
ences with Anglo-Saxon chauvinism
in Canada are waking them to po-
litical activity and when those
same Anglo-Saxon chauvinist rul-
ers of Canada are busy planting
and encouraging Ukrainian, Polish

and other nationalist fifth-columns

among them. ‘
* * *

In a country such as ours, in
practically every province, region
and city, a Party leadership that
does not place the work among the
national minorities in its proper
place and give it coordination and

, is remiss in its duties
to the working class. :

It wouldn’t hurt for the Party
leadership in every » Bec
tion and city to review its work in

JOHN WEIR

this field as part of the preparation
for the national convention.

Arising from the history of the
formation of our Party and the
make-up of the Canadian working
class, we find that Ukrainians, Jews,
Russians, Finns, etc., form a con-
siderable portion of our party mem-
bership. We also have quite a few
“language” Party clubs, too, i.e.,
party clubs which conduct their
meetings in Ukrainian, Hungarian,
Jewish, etc. And we can and should
recruit many more good working
class fighters from these groups.

But what will an analysis of
our work in these fields show in
practically every locality?

It will show in some localities
that the mechanical disbanding of
“language” clubs and the trans-
fer of their members to English-
speaking industrial and territorial
clubs resulted in these members
dropping out of the Party. Some
Party leaders may loftily dismiss
this with “they couldn’t have been
good Communists anyway,” but I

think that the reflection in the
first place is on them.
In other cases, the “language

clubs” are permitted to exist, they
are given a “territory” (often with
no regard whether the people of
their national group live in that
area), and are henceforth treated
as “territorial clubs.”. :

They get their quotas for raising
funds, their canvassing and liter-
ature distribution jobs, the over-
all directives on campaigns — and
that’s all. In most cases, despite
all their difficulties, they do carry
on geod territorial work — and
that’s to the good! In many other
cases, they collect money and do
the “dirty work” of distributing
leaflets. tee

But in very few cases as yet are
they helped to carry on Party work
among their own people, to trans-
late Party campaigns into the
forms needed in their own nation-
al group, to raise the special prob-
lems facing their people, to combat
the nationalists and build the pro-
gressive movement among the Uk-
ranians, Jews, etc.

It may be. argued that “language”
clubs aren’t a basic form of Party
organization, but then, meither are
territorial clubs! And if we reject
forced assimilation, if we recog-
nize the existence of national min-
orities, if we correctly evaluate the
importance of Party work in that
field, then we must also make it
possible for our leadership to know
and give guidance to that work
and our Party clubs to assume re-
sponsibility for it.

x * *

In the recent period, at least in
the larger centers, this task has
been tackled by setting up for ex-
ample, Ukrainian Party sub-com-
mittees and calling together meet-
ings of all Party members of Uk-
ranian nationality to outline policy
and direct Party work in that field.

But the link was still missing:
how could the work of Party com-
rades in that field be controlled if
the Party clubs had no responsibil-
ity for it? A sub-committee has no
powers of decision or discipline. It
was found necessary to create a di-
rect link between the committee
and the club, the committee mak-
ing recommendations to the club
regarding the work, discipline, etce.,
of the given Party members, and
the club acting on it. j

It is my belief that we should
not shy away from organizing
“language” clubs, and that we
should, as much as possible in re-
lation to all the other work, direct
these national group clubs (I hate
to keep on using that word “lan-
guage”!) to promoting Party cam-|
paigns, building the Party and the
progressive movement among their

Whatever the forms (and I

On Party building
and electoral work —

By OSCAR KOGAN

While agreeing with the resolution in the main, I would like to
support the views” expressed by comrades Laxer and Walsh on the
question of our mistake of January 1948—particularly on the insuffi-
ciént reasons given in the resolution on how and why it was possible

for us to make such a mistake.

In this article 1 wduld like to
deal with one point—the Party and
election campaigns. The resolution
states in a general sense that the
Party must be built. It places a
number of tasks before us. One of
the tasks is to extend and improve
our electoral work.

In the city of Toronto our Party
has become quite a force in muni-
cipal politics, one that is reckoned
with by all sections of the popula-
tion.

While generally agreeing that,
“there must be further and system-
atic extension and improvement in
this field,” it is necessary to exam-
ine this work from the point of
view of Party building as part of
strengthening our ideological in-
fluence among masses of voters.
both to strengthen our municipal
positions as well as winning Trinity
for labor by the election of Com-
rade Tim Buck in the federal elec-
tions.

True, during election campaigns
our main aim must be to advance
the cause of labor and strengthen
its position and that of our Party
in civic bodies. But as part of this
aim we must also find ways of
building the Party.

« * *

Despite gains during the past
years on the electoral front we can-
not say we have made similar gains
in Party growth, or that the read-
ership of the labor press has grown.
In fact the failure of the Daily Tri-
bune amply illustrates that point.

The fact that the gains have been
one-sided only, i.e. gaining votes
without making organizational
gains for the Party or the press has
led to the following:

At a recent Party week-end
school 25 students were asked to
write on, “What are the main posi-
tive and negative features of Party
work in Toronto” Most students
stated that one of the negative
features is that the Party is being
used mainly as an election machine.
That sentiment is quite widespread
and has some basis in fact,

It is my opinion that we do not
sufficiently plan during a campaign
to take advantage of electoral
gains to build the Party and the
press. In fact when it is raised for
discussion the argument is used
that it is dangerous to set ourselves
a task for building the Tribune be-
cause this may detract from the
job of vote getting, or that it may
even lose us some votes.

The resolution, by merely stat-
ing that it is necessary to improve

think special committees and reg-
ular meetings of Party members
of the given national group, pass-
ing on their recommendations for
final control and discipline to the
club and higher Party bodies, is
the best form we have found so
far), this separation between the
Party leadership and organization
from work in the national groups
must be ended.

This will help us also to combat
nationalistic influences and separ-
atist tendencies that are exhibited
from time to time in the work of
our Party members in the national
group fields. It will put the work
in that field as not something sep-
arate, something “extra,” but as an
integral part of the movement as
a whole. And it will bring the
whole movement to help find the
solution and struggle for the spe-
cial problems of the national min-
orities.

Canada is a country which was
fashioned differently than most
others. Immigration has played a
tremendous role in the building of
Canada and of the Canadian peo-
ple. Our Party-is the Party of the
working class, of all the Canadian
people. Unity of all Canadians
against monopoly capital, for social-
ism is the watchword. And that
unity can only be achieved by fear-
lessly struggling against all forms
of nationalism, Anglo-Saxon chau-
vinism and minority nationalism
‘et sh Soap amet each other

eeking to divide an
working class. sowie 8:

; | provement of electoral work.
PACIFIC TRIBUNE — DECEMBER 31, 1948 — PAGE 6

—TORONTO

our electoral activity, dees not
raise the question of Party building
as part of that improvement.

Here are some examples of the
one-sidedness of our election work.
Extraordinary measures are taken
to involve every available force in
work. Leading comrades are
brought in for the duration and the
Party functions on all cylinders.
But while carrying through a good
job of mobilizing for the election,
we replace the leadership that
works in those areas all year round.
The result is to make it very diffi-
cult for club leaders to mobilize the
Party for the follow-up work of
Party and press building.-

Following the last municipal
elections a Tribune drive took
place. During the campaign no at-_
tention was paid to the Tribune by
the election apparatus with the re-
sult that we lost many readers.
During the campaign we were
only able to reach the same reader-
ship we had previous to the cam-
paign. This despite the 50,000 votes
for Smith,

* * *

These methods of work lead to
the feeling that exists, with some
justification, that we look upon
elections as an end in itself rather
than a means to an end.

What is necessary is that during
an election campaign some plan-
ning go into the problem of how
we can utilize the leading comrades
for the purpose of strengthening
our club, section and ward leader-
ship in preparation for the follow
up job of party and press building.

In Ward Five this year we are
working on the following basis:

In order to elect Comrade Tim
Buck from Trinity, we must im-
prove and extend our Party or-
ganization. This can partially be
done during the municipal cam-
Paign.

We have asked the leading com-
rades to help the existing Party
apparatus and not replace it. In
this way we hope to strengthen our
club, section and ward committees.
Our whole campaign is based on
club year-round ‘areas with leading
comrades helping to develop it as
follows:

1. Increase our vote in every sub-
division, with concentration on that
part of Ward Five that is in Trinity
ridng.

2. Establish an “Open Forum” in
every club area. Four of our clubs
have just established such forums.
We hope to sell dozens of Tim
Buck’s book through these forums.
One of them has already sold five
and ordered five more. These for-
ums should become a source of
Party building from the most
favorable voters as well as a basis
for discussion among non-Party
people of national and international
problems. It is our aim that as part .
of the work during this municipal
campaign and in preparation for
the Trinity campaign to have such
a forum exist parallel with every
Party club in the ward. This will
give the basis of year-round con-
tact with the most progressive vot-
ers in their area,

Sub-division during the campaign
or immediately following it.

4. The selling of 10 pamphlets 2
week in every club area as part of
winning votes as well as winning
ideological support, :

ei eee

There is nothing new in the
above points. But there still exists
resistance to such methods pal-
ticularly during elections. Unless
we fight for such a two-sided meth-
od of work during elections we ¢
really not carrying th
ing, nor can we confidshtly speak
Fe pee meyer on

e election of &
the federal phere am ee

Ward Five is determined that th
Party can gain electoral victorie’
as well as win new recruits du!
ing election campaigns, It wou
be of great help if the convention
Powe set up a commission to
nto the problem of how we
build the Party as part of our