The Early YearsIt was my good fortune to be at UBC in the early sixties and encounter The Internationalists a year after its formation in 1963 as a revolutionary movement. The discussions, academic symposiums, the concrete programs of action associated with that period of upsurge of youth throughout North America were, on the West Coast, inspired and given direction by this fledgling movement. Comrade Bains, with an incredible energy and dedication, was immersed in the practical politics of UBC as many, many students were drawn into political work. The slogans were profoundly simple: "Create an academic atmosphere on the campus," "Seek truth from facts to serve people" and "Understanding requires an act of conscious participation of the individual, an-act-of-finding-out."
Coming from an upper middle-class background where Cold War propaganda and media spin on the War in Vietnam was simply how we saw the world, The Internationalists provided researched exposures of the Great American Dream. Our own Party has written about this early period and the profound transformational impact of those early years which led to the formation of a revolutionary movement and in 1970 the formation of a party of a new type. There were mass discussions in front of the UBC library, itself an iconic image on the old campus, where this young microbiology graduate student, Hardial Bains, would soapbox to lunch hour crowds from a few dozen and often several hundred. This type of gathering was known as a teach-in in the USA coming out of the Berkeley protests and direct action around the War in Vietnam and racism in the southern USA. In those early years we called these "mass democracy meetings." These were not scripted lectures as were the classes on seemingly unconnected subjects. Rather, it was real exchange of ideas where the most coherent and logical explanations held sway. This was the embryo of the modern communist movement in Canada. It challenged all old dogma, all those whose "Marxist" and "leftist" politics were on some dusty academic shelf, or rooted in a kind of mindless activism. It was based on our real-life experience as students subject to the confines of an education system which reinforced the status quo. This early quality, breaking with the old, has characterized the entire life of CPC(M-L) and explains how our Party has survived so many challenges and turning points over more than half a century. Fidelity to truth, integrity of organization, and setting a program consistent with the needs of the people at every stage of development, and having all members and activists as conscious organizers, breaking down the "you lead -- I'll follow" tendency which gives rise to various forms of bureaucracy. Right from day one, young men and women of all origins worked on an equal footing. As the world adjusts to a global pandemic and economic dislocation unprecedented since the 1929 crash, we are entering a period where old sclerotic political arrangements are patently failing. "Who decides" has become a real visible problem. The incapacity of the old arrangements is not someone's "opinion," it has become a palpable objective feature of the mass consciousness. Constant disinformation by the Anglo-American mainstream media is being challenged as more and more people look to social media and the internet for news and analysis. Very serious questions about the basis of the economy are being asked. For example, how do you shut down production while opening the gates to massive spending? Who really benefits from these multi-billion and trillion-dollar announcements? How can you print paper money which is not grounded in economic activity? There has been little discussion on the negative effects of massive "stimulus packages," or on how a currency is affected when the money supply goes in a direction opposite to production? Are we witnessing an unprecedented bailout in the manner of Goldman-Sachs but disguised as a handout to every laid off worker? More than ever, the need for a new direction in the economy is becoming one of the burning issues of this period. On the 50th Anniversary CPC(M-L), it is timely to declare that there is such a party which addresses these central concerns. Let us march forward together, emerge from this all-sided crisis and create a society which is rational, planned, opposed to the scourge of war and gunboat diplomacy, and which respects all countries, all peoples, and fights for the good of humanity! Long live CPC(M-L)!
This article was published in Article Link:   Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca |
