The magnificent Party Memorial in Ottawa's Beechwood Cemetery is dedicated to the memory of Comrade Hardial Bains, Founder and Leader of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) and to other Party comrades who have passed away. The Party Memorial also pays deepest tribute to the working class of Canada and the fighting peoples of the entire world.

The proposal to erect a Party Memorial was first put forward by Comrade Bains in 1994, at the time of the death of Comrade Anne Boylan. CPC(M-L) had lost several comrades, some from old age and some in the prime of their life due to illness or tragedies of various kinds. These comrades represented the very best to which the Canadian working class has given rise. Nurtured by the Party, they represent the revolutionary qualities of those who, as a result of their revolutionary activity, saw the necessity to espouse the ideals of Marxism-Leninism and build the Marxist-Leninist Party of a new type. The Party Memorial would honour their memory and contribution to the creation of a new society in Canada, Comrade Bains said. The Central Committee nominated Comrades David Danielson, Thomas Boylan and Anne Boylan as outstanding veteran communists from the time of the Third International as names to place in honour on the Party Memorial. Comrade David Hemingway, who was a member of the Central Committee and a young man when he tragically died, was also accorded this mark of great respect.

To our deepest sorrow Comrade Bains himself passed away unexpectedly and tragically in 1997. The Central Committee of CPC(M-L) reaffirmed its decision to erect the Party Memorial in the spirit Comrade Bains had proposed. Plans for the design of the memorial, the site and fundraising went into gear with the active participation of comrades and friends. In June 1998, at the Second Plenum of the 7th Central Committee, First Secretary Sandra L. Smith highlighted the revolutionary spirit in which the Party Memorial was conceived. She pointed out that the Party Memorial is not intended to turn our beloved comrades into icons, but to immortalize their essence as those who showed the utmost fidelity to their principles and, at each stage of the Party's development, turned their words into deeds. The best way to pay tribute to our comrades, Comrade Smith emphasised, is by building the Party as the necessary condition to turn into historic victory the successes CPC(M-L) has achieved.

The Party Memorial represents the red flag of modern communism flying over Canada. It measures 8' across and is 5'6" high. The red flag bears the hammer and sickle and star of CPC(M-L). On one side we read the inscription Workers of All Countries Unite! and on the other the Party's motto, The Issue is Not to Wave the Red Flag But to Show Our Colours Through Our Deeds. On the base, we read: Hardial Bains, August 15, 1939-August 24, 1997. Our Founder, Our Leader, Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist).The flowers of modern communism are carved on the bottom right hand corner of the base with the lines Vous êtes le rouge de notre drapeau -- Lal Salaam (You are the red of our flag -- Red Salute). On the flagstaff, the red spine of our Party, the names of our three veteran comrades from the time of the Third International are inscribed, Comrades David Danielson, Thomas Boylan and Anne Boylan followed by the name of David Hemingway. On the red flag at the back of the monument are the names of others who have since been added.

In the spirit of involving all who have contributed and continue to contribute to building CPC(M-L), proposals for those to be honoured on the Memorial are considered annually. To realise this important project, members of the Central Committee of CPC(M-L) involve the peers of the nominated comrades, their family members and the Party organizations to which they belonged.

In 1999, the Central Committee decided that all deceased comrades whose nominations are received and discussed amongst their peers and family members and accepted by the Central Committee would be honoured by having their names added to the Memorial on the glorious occasion of the celebration of the Party's 30th anniversary in 2000 and henceforth in August of every year.

The Party Memorial represents the revolutionary quality of fidelity to our cause proclaimed by our immortal teachers Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Workers of All Countries, Unite. You Have Nothing to Lose But Your Chains. You Have a World to Win. The red colour represents the blood of our martyrs the world over. The flag is made from granite quarried in Jhansi, south of Delhi, India. Jhansi itself is legendary in the history of the Indian people's struggle for liberation. Lakshmi Bai, the Rani of Jhansi, was one of the leaders of the First War of Indian Independence in 1857. When the British tried to annex Jhansi in 1853, she assembled a volunteer army of 14,000 rebels to defend the city. During the British attack in March 1858, her valour was exemplary. An Indian ballad sings:

How valiantly fought she,
The Rani of Jhansi
On every parapet a gun she set
Raining fire of hell,
How well fought the Rani of Jhansi
How valiantly and well!

When Jhansi fell to the British, the Rani escaped; again she rallied the rebel forces, this time at the fortress in Kalpi, one hundred miles away. The Rani lost her life in the battle but her name and the cause for which she fought live on in the hearts, minds and revolutionary action of all those the world over whose commitment and sacrifice we honour with the dedication of the Party Memorial.

Throughout his life, Comrade Bains expressed the unfailing conviction that the working class, the peasantry and all the progressive and patriotic forces will carry their struggle irresistibly forward to victory. Enlightened public opinion will always take their side, he said. Revolution is inevitable. The peoples will march on and build the new society, the socialist society, which will satisfy their age old aspiration for freedom and prosperity.

In his book, The Call of the Martyrs, Comrade Bains wrote: "The call of the martyrs and the demand of the masses is for revolution. Let all the people unite as one and rise in a revolutionary storm to end this barbaric rule which has brought so much suffering and has committed such horrible crimes against the people. ... The people must unite from North to South and from East to West, raise the banner of the liberation of all the peoples and fight for the goal of establishing a new democratic state through the triumph of the revolution and embarking on the socialist road. Unite as one around the working class and its Party. Take up the ideas of Marxism-Leninism, the spiritual weapon which will make your unity unbreakable, your force invincible and your victory inevitable.

Rise up, for the times are calling for the settling of scores with the exploiters and oppressors of the people, both native and foreign." A new world is being born, he said. He called on us to build that new world where the masses will find their freedom, a liberated place for all progressive humankind.

This is what the Party Memorial represents. It hoists the red flag, the banner of sacrifice and progress, the emblem of the overthrow of all exploiters and everything backward and oppressive.

Its colour represents the blood of the martyrs of all lands, of the toiling masses and the democratic and progressive forces.

The pledge of CPC(M-L) is to hoist the red flag every day to signal the dawn of the new world, a world that will eliminate exploitation and oppression, hunger and disease, fascism, aggression and war -- a beautiful world dedicated to the liberation of all humankind. The times are calling for the unity of the people to bring this world into being.

In 1999, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the birth of Comrade Hardial Bains and the 10th anniversary of the historic Chertsey gathering where Comrade Bains challenged the working class and people of the entire world to act in a new way, the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) dedicated the Party Memorial in Beechwood Cemetery, which is one of the oldest cemeteries in the national capital. This lovely location provides a place for all those who want to pay their respects to the memory of our Comrades, to the Party and what they stand for.