On the occasion of the New Year, the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) salutes all those the world over who have played such a crucial role in 2020 by showing through their deeds that our security lies in the fight to affirm the rights of all.

First and foremost the Party sends warm New Year's greetings to all its members and supporters. It expresses its profound appreciation of all the efforts made to advance its nation-building project, whose 25th anniversary we marked in 2020 along with the 50th anniversary of the Party's founding. Many initiatives were taken in the past year to consolidate CPC(M-L)'s Historic Initiative in line with the decisions of the Party's 8th Congress, with encouraging results. The work to publish TML Weekly and its supplements and Workers' Forum to encourage all those on the front lines of the fight to affirm the rights of all has been truly exceptional. In the words of one reader: "Best Wishes in 2021 to the Party for all your actions and clarity in the past, may it continue and thrive in the 'New' Year!"

CPC(M-L) also greets Canada's working class and people who, in the past year, have brought great honour to themselves. They have proven their mettle once again, in the conditions of the pandemic, against injustices of all kinds and in support of those fighting for peace, justice and democracy both at home and abroad. Canadian working people are giving collective expression to their claims on society and against every act of injustice, including within the pandemic conditions. It is thanks to them that their own safety and that of their fellow workers is defended. To their great honour, they have persisted in upholding the dignity of labour by laying claim to what belongs to them by right. Taking the high road, they are not only defending the health, safety and well-being of the people within their immediate purview but collectively addressing how to confront the attacks of the rulers who persist in their anti-social wrecking and claim they have a mandate to do so.

The pandemic has served to make Canadians aware of the economy and the role of the workers in production. Canadians have also become more aware of how the economy is managed in Canada, the disastrous consequences of the pay-the-rich course which has been pursued by one party government after another at both the federal and provincial levels since the onset of neo-liberalism in the mid-1980s. Thanks to the working people, many collectives have been activated to provide solutions to the myriad difficulties which exist due to the wrecking of all hitherto known arrangements by the ruling class. It is clear that so long as the direction set by the ruling regime for the economy and all aspects of life is to preserve the man-eating capitalist system and the so-called liberal democratic institutions which are defunct, the destruction of the social and natural environment and every manner of incoherence will continue, in the service of narrow private interests. Havoc will continue to reign, causing more and more damage.

Globalization under the control of the financial oligarchy is a disaster with surging poverty, homelessness, unemployment, ruination of nature and threats of world war increasing with every passing day. The working class has the numbers and capability to forge a new direction to save humanity from the abyss into which the ruling elite, in its obsession to pay the rich, is plunging the human species and Mother Earth.

Knowing the difficulties they face, we salute all the workers who produce and deliver the goods and services we require, most of whom are putting their health and very lives on the line without proper cooperation from either their employers or the governments at every level whose focus is to pay the rich, not look after the people.

We condemn the federal government for responding in the most self-serving manner to the pandemic. Borrowing money from private sources, it calls these private funds "public funds," which it then doles out primarily to narrow private interests claiming they, not the working people, are crucial to the economy. Its demand that vulnerable workers and students pay back thousands of dollars that they received through the Canada Emergency Response Benefit and other payments, under the pretext that they did not qualify according to rules they were never told existed, is unconscionable. How should those who have no money pay it back?

We express our profound admiration for the health care professionals and workers who have steadfastly defended the population against contagion within the most difficult conditions caused by the years of anti-social cutbacks to the health care system and its privatization. We express our deepest sympathies to the families of all those who have fallen victim to the coronavirus due to the failure of governments to properly fund a public health care system which upholds the highest standards of care and quality.

Our hearts go out to the families of those who have lost their lives as residents and in the line of duty in long-term care and seniors' homes. No one should suffer the brutality of the anti-human pay-the-rich schemes which have created for-profit seniors' care, leaving them and those who care for them abandoned, at the mercy of an avoidable fate.

We salute the teachers and staff of our schools, child care centres, colleges and universities who are carrying out their duties in untenable conditions. Our best wishes to all the children, students and parents who are forced to fend for themselves in conditions of life that governments make sure are out of their control.

We salute the workers and people from all walks of life who have come forward to protect and advocate for migrant workers, migrant students, refugee claimants and vulnerable recent immigrants, as well as those who are defending the rights of the homeless and those in need of shelter and protection.

On the occasion of the New Year, CPC(M-L) salutes the Indigenous peoples whose fight to put an end to colonial injustice and for the rights which belong to them by virtue of their being is at the heart of solving the problems of Canada's anachronistic constitution, democracy and institutions. So too the efforts of the people of every province and in Quebec to end the anti-social offensive and resolve the crisis in the people's favour encourage everyone to persist in their striving to humanize the natural and social environment. In this regard, the youth make everyone especially proud. All of it underscores the fact that the working class and people are able to lead the society to sort out the problems it faces.

We hail the courageous resistance struggle and fight for rights of the working class and people in the United States. Their fight for justice against police impunity and for equality has grown in scope and intensity over the past year, winning the support of democratic forces around the world, including the Canadian people, with whom they share weal and woe. Now, as evictions soar in the United States and massive unemployment in the wake of the pandemic means no money for food and rent, the fight the people are waging to bring in new arrangements is bound to open a path to progress.

We send greetings and reaffirm our anti-imperialist solidarity with the peoples of Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean fighting for their rights. Their struggles for justice and to be the masters of their own destiny continue unabated and are escalating even as the terrible conditions of an uncontrolled pandemic and its attendant crises grip their societies, exacerbating the already profound injustices of everyday life. On this occasion, the eyes of the world are on the farmers and peoples of India fighting to repeal farm laws designed to dispossess them in favour of narrow private interests. In their hundreds of millions the peoples of India and south Asia are demanding justice and constitutional arrangements which favour them. Our red salute to the people of Kashmir and all the peoples affirming their right to be.

We salute the peoples of West Asia who persist in fighting for their sovereignty and right to be, facing the non-stop aggression of U.S. imperialism and its proxies, including the Israeli Zionists in Palestine, Syria, Iran and Yemen. Our stand is also with the peoples of Africa where former colonial powers, in their desire to continue plundering natural resources and control spheres of influence, are committing aggression against the peoples of their former colonies, and the people are striving to be the sovereign decision-makers of their nations. This is the case in Mali, the Ivory Coast and elsewhere, including the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic whose people are actively resisting the attempt of Morocco, backed by France, to reoccupy their country by force of arms.

Congratulations to the organized people of Venezuela and Bolivia who won important electoral victories in 2020, delivering a sharp rebuke to U.S. imperialism and its appeasers, including Canada, intent on forcing regime change in their countries and preventing the people from expressing their democratic will. We pledge to do our utmost to ensure that Latin America and the Caribbean are a zone of peace and that Canada cannot be used as a base for undermining the peoples' striving for peace, democracy and freedom.

January 1 marks the 217th anniversary of the 1804 Haitian Revolution which overthrew both slavery and colonial rule. The revolutionaries led by Toussaint L'Ouverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines fought off successive European powers -- the French, Spanish and British -- to proudly establish their independent republic. Haiti was the first country in the world to define citizenship rights on a modern basis, namely that they belong to people by virtue of their being human as members of a body politic. This was a decisive break from the conception of rights of the colonial powers based on the ownership of property and a system of privileges, which the U.S. imperialists and others continue to impose today. Haiti's outstanding achievement continues to have great relevance for the peoples of the world to this day as they fight for new arrangements that affirm rights on a modern basis.

On January 1 we also extend warm greetings to all our fraternal parties, especially at this time to the Communist Party of Cuba and its first secretary, General Raul Castro, as well as to the Cuban people and their president Miguel Díaz-Canel, and congratulate them on the occasion of the 62nd anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. We pledge to do our utmost to contribute to defeating the criminal U.S. blockade and attacks of other kinds that the U.S. has been intensifying in the vain hope of bringing revolutionary Cuba to its knees. Meanwhile Cuba's prestige is soaring to new heights for resisting the brutal U.S. blockade and maintaining its independence and socialist project. The exemplary life-saving work of its Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade in more than 39 countries around the world has earned the Brigade a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021. The work of Cuba's scientists is also exemplary. They have already come up with four candidate vaccines as part of Cuba's efforts to help protect humanity against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

We send greetings as well to the Communist Party of Vietnam and best wishes for the successful holding of its 13th National Congress that will take place in January 2021. The government and people of Vietnam are to be congratulated for the remarkable success they have achieved in keeping the pandemic at bay in their country, giving rise to their own vaccine on a self-reliant basis. With the mobilization and active participation of the entire population, as of December 30, Vietnam has registered only 1,456 total cases and 35 total deaths due to COVID-19 -- 15 cases and 0.4 deaths per one million population -- one of the best records in the world.

So too we congratulate the people of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and their leadership for their achievements in raising the people's well-being despite a brutal sanctions regime, attempts at regime change and a world pandemic. We wish the Workers' Party of Korea and its leadership every success in their 8th Congress to be held in the New Year.

We also wish to express our confidence in the fight of the peoples of Europe and Oceania whose efforts to affirm the rights of all stand second to none.

Nobody is sad to see the year 2020 over. It will go on record for the uncertain conditions which overtook the lives of the peoples of the world as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a matter of great pride for Canadians, Quebeckers and the Indigenous peoples to have faced the pandemic in a manner which defends the rights of all. They have learned a great deal from their experience which is worth appreciating as we ring out the old year and ring in a new year. A crucial lesson is to not put our lives on hold as a result of circumstances considered to be exceptional.

This is a very particular historical juncture where all the old forms of governance no longer exist and new ones have not come into being. Whatever constituted a public authority has been replaced by the destructive stranglehold and dictate of narrow private interests. Far from putting our lives on hold and hoping the old will return in due course, we must live our lives to the fullest under all conditions and circumstances. Life is the object of our living and what we achieve by it. It is ours for the taking.

Best Wishes in the New Year! Stay Safe!

Central Committee
Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist)

Solutions

- Pauline Easton -

In 2021, the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) is going to pay first rate attention to providing the problems we face with solutions. It intends to go to the heart of the matter of what it means to provide problems with solutions which favour the interests of the working people, not the rich.

No matter which capitalist society one refers to, it is plagued by social, spiritual and economic problems which not only persist year after year but get worse. Canada is no exception. The neo-liberal nation-wrecking agenda of the ruling class is taking its toll, saddling the working people with problems which require solutions.

Canada's model of governance is based on Hobbesian covenant thesis. This was given rise to several centuries ago, in England in the 1660s, as a way to get the rulers of the day out of civil war. It established a fictitious person of state in the manner of an incorporated persona which looks down upon the people, who are classified as subjects. This fictitious persona wields a sword in one hand and a bishop's staff in the other, representing the decision-making power which stands above the people. Matters related to war and peace and justice are thus the sole purview of the person of state, who defines the character of the civil society such that the national interest, values and the conduct of relations serve that interest.

Civil society arrangements which current neo-liberal governments are dispensing with, were designed to sort out contradictions between ruling factions by means of elections, deliberations in the legislatures, discourse through the media and contractual arrangements which were judiciable. They also established the system of political parties and party government to act as gatekeepers of the power of the fictitious person of state.

Governments, ministers, members of parliament, judges, lawyers and all such servants of the court and the state must swear allegiance to said person of state who they are duty-bound to represent. Party government in a representative democracy represents the fictitious person of state, not the people. The dictate of the ruling class over the people functions when it appears to have the consent of the governed and to represent the people. Once this fiction is seen to lie naked before the people, what is revealed is the need for the people to solve the problem of wielding the political power in their own favour instead.

The material conditions today reveal the nakedness in the form of unfettered police powers. Prime ministers, presidents, cabinet ministers and the private interests they cater to set the direction of the economy and the interests which will receive funds borrowed from private sources, which are then channelled through the state coffers to claim they are "public" funds. Arrangements hitherto known to comprise a civil society have shed all notions of being a public authority based on providing "the greatest good to the greatest number." No longer is society based on the motto, "All for One and One for All," which upheld a socialized process of production in the service of the rich while also benefiting the many.

The more the rulers clamour for the preservation of the status quo, the more the status quo reveals who it serves and that it is unsustainable.

In order for governments to ensure that society continues to go nowhere, they must give themselves more and more police powers and justifications based on self-serving definitions of what constitutes economic prosperity, national security and the national interest. This has become the dominant feature of everything the federal government does, to the extent that its intelligence agencies openly speak about outlawing anyone who does not swear allegiance to Canadian institutions. Based on these self-serving definitions of what constitutes prosperity, national security and the national interests, the intelligence police agencies are now in charge of monitoring speech on social media, declaring what constitutes fake news and poses a danger to Canada's model of governance.

Especially now under the auspices of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments are passing laws related to the economy and the people's well-being which ensure that the objective laws of capitalist development operate with all their destructive force, while those who protest and call for the fulfillment of their aspirations, who work for the building of a new society, are suppressed. But objective laws when understood do not have to cause destruction. They can be used in such a way that they contribute to the creation of a society fit for human beings.

For their part, the people are not calling for the preservation of the status quo; they are calling for change, for solutions. Problems require solutions. Some are big problems and others are small. Some require temporary measures and others, a permanent solution. Some are problems of nature and others are problems of society. Some are national and some are international. Some are of a theoretical nature and others are of a practical nature. What can be said, for sure, is that there are problems.

Do all problems have a solution? No. But there are some problems with which humankind cannot live without finding a solution. Such is the case when it comes to the political process and its need for renewal. This concerns who controls the decision-making power over all the decisions which affect our lives.

The growing hostility to governments which pay the rich, uphold definitions of justice as decreed by the narrow private interests they serve, and pass the most self-serving laws and call it rule of law requires an organized political expression of the changes the people want. A modern democratic personality is required whose every act is to humanize the natural and social environment as it intervenes in every situation by activating the human factor/social consciousness. The accomplishments of the technical and scientific revolution, if channelled to humanizing the natural and social environment, can bring all of humankind on par with their own creations. A new world can emerge from the debris which is threatening to bury us all alive.

In 2021, let us focus on the decisions which affect our lives. Let us focus on making sure we unite in action to identify the problems which we think require solutions and how to provide them with solutions!

(Photos: TML, J. Gale)

Prospects of a Federal Election

- Anna Di Carlo -

As 2021 gets underway, Canadians are being assaulted with the prospect that a federal election could be unleashed against them at any time. The machinery of polling firms, think-tanks, media and pundits controlled by the Liberal faction currently in power has been in action for some time saying how popular they are and that they deserve a majority to pay the rich and integrate Canada into the U.S. war machine under U.S. President Biden, unencumbered by being a minority government. The other factions within the ruling class are gearing up their own electoral machines to contest power in a manner which favours their own fortunes.

Their self-serving shenanigans provide evidence of how elections are used as an assault against the people's right to conscience. Canadians are told the "issues." They are saddled with candidates not of their own choosing. They are made targets of costly campaigns that reduce democracy to providing people, over whom they exercise no control, with the authority to act in their name.

The idea of electing a party government that is said to have the consent of the governed is a farce in the style of the emperor's new suit of clothes. Self-serving factions usurp the machinery of state through a fraudulent process called elections to serve very narrow private interests. A slew of courtiers declare that the emperor's new suit of clothes is democracy and very beautiful indeed. The emperor's narcissism grows by the day and he too declares himself most fortunate to have such courtiers who permit him to parade his nakedness without reprisals of any kind. They believe that the people are powerless, that it is the people who are naked because they can do nothing to control the emperor's power to strut around naked, doing as he pleases.

The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) does not accept such fairy-tales that are to keep the people tied to a system which justifies paying the rich in the name of high ideals. CPC(M-L) participates in elections under the name the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada. It champions the interests of the working people by putting the full weight of its organization and its press to give expression to the voice of the working people directly and to the claims the people from all walks of life make by virtue of being human. CPC(M-L) alone puts forward a definite vision and direction for society based on political renewal so that the people themselves can take the decisions which affect their lives and ensure all those in positions of power are held to account.

Now is the time to prepare for the assault which will be launched in the form of an election by working out the matters of concern to the polity from the point of view of the working class. More than ever, the situation requires worker politicians who champion the cause of justice, democracy and peace and are capable of speaking about the problems facing the class and the country and involving them to provide these problems with solutions. It is not in the interests of the people or the country to give the cartel parties free rein to set agendas and present the people with faits accomplis.

Activating the human factor/social consciousness is all the more important under conditions of COVID-19, so that working people are not forced to fend for themselves. It is important for workers to be able to assess the situation prior to and during an election period so as to decide how to participate in a manner that breaks them out of their marginalization and depoliticization and instead serves to mobilize their power. The strength of the workers lies in their numbers and organization as worker politicians who champion the cause of humanizing the natural and social environment by affirming the rights of all.

(Photos: TML)

Announcement

To assist the working people to provide themselves with the orientation they require to participate in the political process and share the reports and news which concern their lives, CPC(M-L) will publish the bulletin Renewal Update twice a week, starting in the second half of January. TML will be published on the first Sunday of every month, instead of weekly, and TML supplements will continue to be published as required to provide more substantive information on unfolding developments and matters of concern. The Workers' Centre of CPC(M-L) will continue to publish Workers' Forum twice a week or as needed by the workers' movement at any time.

We are convinced that a first step to people's empowerment is to unite in action around projects of our own making! We count on you to send in your reports, photos and information, along with announcements about events, in a timely fashion, as well as to get more readers and subscribers. Our best wishes for success in 2021!

26th Anniversary of CPC(M-L)'s Historic Initiative

A Nation-Building Project Like No Other

On January 1, 1995, on behalf of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist), party leader Hardial Bains launched CPC(M-L)'s Historic Initiative. This initiative brings together all the different threads of the movement, which are developing across the country within the present national and international conditions, to divert them towards opening the path for the progress of society. It is a nation-building project like no other as required by the times to develop the human factor/social consciousness. This article explains the key references contained in this important nation-building project, based on conversations with Hardial Bains at the time the Historic Initiative was launched.

By human factor is meant the recognition that all people have rights by virtue of being human and on account of their concrete objective reality. Recognizing this as an approach to carrying out any initiative is the basis for social progress.

By social consciousness is meant the recognition that society must harmonize and reconcile the interests of its individual members with their collectives and the individual and collective interests with the general interests of society itself.

By human factor/social consciousness is meant that human sensuous and material action which is directed towards fully controlling the direction of society and its relationship with nature so as to humanize the natural and social environment to benefit society and all its members.

Present Canadian society is constituted so as to put individual freedom in first place by recognizing the sanctity of private property as the basis on which the relations between people are established. Such a society has sidelined the human factor/social consciousness, the human sensuous and material action which can harmonize the interests of the individuals with those of their collectives and the interests of the individuals and their collectives with the general interests of society. In sum, what has been marginalized is that which is directed towards the full control of society and its relationship with nature in favour of the people. The aim is to preserve the status quo and ensure that the door for the progress of the society is kept shut.

The individual interest of private property has been concentrated into a force of such gigantic proportions at this time that it has imposed a state of retrogression on the whole of society in the country and internationally. It claims that spontaneity and anarchism are normal traits of people and society as long as they serve its own interests. Organizing itself to the hilt in the form of coalitions and cartels which seek to control all decision-making powers, the narrow private interests claim that there is such a thing as an inherent human nature in its own image which is egotistical and self-serving. On this basis it claims that society must be organized accordingly and that nothing can be done to change the situation. Such a self-serving notion ensures that only that which facilitates its own existence and expansion and competition with others of its kind is planned.

By historic is meant that consideration which is based on a broad view of the entire development from time immemorial to the present, in general, and from the time of the Middle Ages in Europe to the present, in particular. It is the approach which takes into account all the forces engendered in the present day development and the gravitation inherent in them. It places fidelity to the ensemble of social relations and what they reveal in first place, which is not just the abyss and all the powers of destruction but the face of the New and humanity's striving for empowerment.

By initiative is meant putting the human factor/social consciousness at the centre stage of all developments within the framework of concrete plans of action designed to achieve the successes required at any time.

By Historic Initiative is meant that action by the working class which will place the human factor/social consciousness at the centre stage of all development with a far-reaching impact on the direction of society, capable of determining its entire future form and content.

By pursuing this Historic Initiative and working out concrete plans of action, CPC(M-L) is responding to historic necessity. It is a plan by CPC(M-L) to ensure that human sensuous and material action is put at centre stage, controlling the direction of the society and its relationship with nature so as to benefit society and all its members. In other words, CPC(M-L) is calling on the working class to transcend the narrow aims imposed on society by a corrupt ruling elite and open the door to the progress of society.

By opening the door to the progress of society is meant the creation of all the factors which will lead to social emancipation by ending the exploitation of persons by persons. This requires an immediate conscious move on the part of the working class to set the direction of the economy, establish a modern constitutional foundation and carry out democratic renewal which will open the door to the progress of society.

By progress in this case is meant the creation of a society which cares and provides for all people and their collectives by virtue of their being human, a society in which the claims of all people are recognized according to their concrete objective reality. A conscious, rational and humane society is a requirement of history at this stage in the development of human civilization. Bringing it into being is the main content and thrust of the Historic Initiative until such a time as its aim is accomplished.

By Plan of Action is specifically meant the period of insistence in which the working class must put the human factor/social consciousness at the centre stage of the developments. No other aim must have priority for the working class during this period. A plan of action is adopted to consolidate the working class consciousness that it must fulfil its historic role as the emancipator of humankind. It must do so not just for its own sake but for the sake of the liberation of entire humanity, which is the condition for its own emancipation and vice versa.

This Historic Initiative is the continuation of the initiative of the people of the Renaissance and of the Age of Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, at which point human beings and their sensuous material life were put at the centre of human enterprise in all fields, culminating with the birth of the modern European nation-state and the ascent of the bourgeoisie on one hand and its nemesis, the working class, on the other. This gave rise to the system of governance based on definitions and institutions which defended private ownership of the means of production and civil liberties on this basis. With the release of the Manifesto of the Communist Party, Karl Marx and Frederick Engels further revolutionized the thinking on this question and put the working class at the centre stage of history.

The liberal democratic institutions no longer perform the function they were established to accomplish. The Authority no longer contains the police powers. It is no longer guided by a duty to uphold the public good, and its institutions no longer serve to sort out differences in the ranks of the owners of private property and control rebellion and insurrection. Today these forms have passed away and the private interests of the oligarchs accept no limitations. This main content of the Historic Initiative is thus to establish an Authority in accord with the Conditions which enables the people to exercise control over their lives.

The Historic Initiative was launched by CPC(M-L) within the very definite framework of nation-building. By nation-building is meant fulfilling the need to lay down a modern constitution, change the direction of the economy, carry out democratic renewal of the political process and organize the entire affairs of society in a manner which reconciles individual interests with the interests of their collectives and harmonizes the individual and collective interests with the general interests of society. Internationally, it means establishing peace and harmony between nations by guaranteeing their sovereignty and developing trade and other relations on the basis of mutual benefit.

Just as the period of the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment affirmed the man of property and the twentieth century socialist revolution and socialist construction affirmed the working class and other working people, the present period must affirm the rights of all people by virtue of their being human and their collectives by virtue of their objective reality. The affirmation of all individuals and all their collectives requires that all exploitation of persons by persons be ended.

By affirmation is meant the act of recognizing that all individuals and their collectives are free to exercise their rights by virtue of their being human and on account of their objective reality. Affirmation is that state of being of all individuals and collectives that accepts no limitation to its own development. It is an act of bringing forth that which is most human in the present society and building a modern society as a guarantee to its unfettered development.

The 20th century went down in the chronicles of human development as a century in which the working class was placed at the centre stage of development. The concrete expression of that success is the outlook of the working class, the theory of Contemporary Marxist-Leninist Thought, and all the attributes of a truly humane society without any exploitation of persons by persons. What is needed now is to go from success to victory, an irreversible development in which there is no turning back.

By success is meant the recognition of the victory of socialist revolution and socialist construction, the concrete objective reality of a new system which has not disappeared. It is to fully appreciate -- the period of retrogression and reaction which has set in notwithstanding -- that there has been an advance and a success and that this concrete objective reality is demanding that the human factor/social consciousness transform this success into victory.

By victory is meant the stage at which people will have taken up the centre stage of all developments by virtue of their being human and on account of their concrete reality. This is the condition for a truly modern democratic personality to emerge and forge modern forms of governance which block retrogression by virtue of vesting decision-making power and accountability in the people. To accomplish this there is a need to develop the human factor/social consciousness, the human sensuous and material action which ensures that people are placed at the centre stage of history by virtue of their being human and on account of their objective reality.

Analyzing the developments during the last thirty and more years on the basis of facts, CPC(M-L) has concluded that this is a particular period, characterized by the old forms having passed away and the new forms having not yet been brought into being. There is not a single country on earth where people are not demanding an end to neo-liberalism and its attendant schemes to pay the rich, corruption, anarchy and violence. People have claims on society based on the recognition that they are born to society and society is duty-bound to look after them.

By society is meant the modern conditions at its base in which the entire process of production is social while the ownership of the means of production is private, blocking the vast majority of the people -- who have no other way to make their living except by depending on society -- from having a say in the direction of the economy and matters of concern. The working people are striving to eliminate the block to the progress of society. CPC(M-L)'s Historic Initiative is dedicated to the elaboration of what is required to eliminate this block.

(Hardial Bains Resource Centre archives. Photos: TML)

62nd Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution

Long Live the Cuban Revolution!

The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) joins the Cuban people and peoples around the world in hailing the Cuban Revolution on the occasion of the 62nd anniversary of its triumph. CPC(M-L) sends militant revolutionary greetings to the Communist Party of Cuba, First Secretary Raúl Castro Ruz, President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez and all the Cuban leadership and the entire Cuban people whose heroic defence of the Revolution inspires the entire world.

The Cuban people are heading into the 63rd year of the Revolution having met one challenge after another head on, showing the mettle of which they and their revolutionary leadership are made. Through its response to the COVID-19 pandemic -- with its international medical brigades and unique medications -- Cuba has saved lives and contributed to the well-being of people the world over.

The year also presented challenges of other types in the form of the increasingly hostile policy of the Trump administration towards Cuba.

The Cuban people have weathered all these storms, taking the necessary measures to uphold their own independence and sovereignty in the face of stepped-up U.S. aggression to make them submit, showing to all the world the meaning of dignity. Through their actions and defence of their right to be they have reaffirmed the socialist character of the Revolution in the present. This shows how the life and work of Comrade Fidel Castro live on in the Cuban people's actions today.

Celebration of the New Year at the Cuban Embassy in Ottawa.

CPC(M-L) thinks that now more than ever, Canadians must go all out to demand an end to the U.S. blockade and the return of occupied territory in Guantánamo Bay to Cuba. Now is also the time to insist that Canada maintain a policy of strict non-interference in Cuba's internal affairs. We pledge to do our part to further deepen the profound friendship between the Canadian and the Cuban peoples.

Viva Cuba!

(Photos: TML, Solidaridad Continental con Cuba, Minrex)

Canadian Network on Cuba Hosts Successful
26-Hour Global Virtual Picket

Calendar of January Actions in Support of Cuba

A successful 26-hour virtual event was organized by the Canadian Network on Cuba on December 17, 2020 to demand, "Lift the U.S. Blockade on Cuba Now!" Throughout the global action, people from all around the world united for a dynamic program which included speakers, video greetings, documentary films, and performances of music and poetry. It should be noted that the action was planned for 24 hours, however, due to the great number of messages received, the program was extended to 26 hours.

More than 1,000 people from 50 countries/nationalities, representing over 200 organizations, and spanning six continents joined throughout the action. As of December 21, 2020, videos of the livestream on Facebook had over 5,850 total views.[1]

People of 50 countries and nations participated including: Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Congo, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, England, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guinea Bissau, Honduras, India, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Musqueam, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Quebec, Republic of Abkhasia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Tunisia, Ukraine, USA, Venezuela, Western Sahara, Yemen, and Zambia.

It was not only a success, but something that the Canadian Network on Cuba plans to build on. We must continue struggling and pushing to make 2021 the final year of the criminal U.S. blockade on Cuba!

The global action came together for 26 hours to condemn the 60 years of cruel and criminal U.S. blockade on Cuba. At the same time, the virtual action promoted the work of Cuban doctors and medical personnel in the Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade and why this brigade is deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021. The event also praised Cuba for being an important example for the world in its fight against this global COVID-19 pandemic, both internally and internationally.

December 17, 2020. Picket at U.S. Embassy in Ottawa.

The Canadian Network on Cuba also congratulated the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) for its 60th anniversary, December 30, 2020.

Of course, the event was organized on December 17, 2020 specifically to mark six years of the return of all five of our Cuban heroes. After 16 years of being held unjustly in U.S. jails, they continue to defend Cuba and defend the dignity of the Cuban people as free men living in Cuba today.

The Canadian Network on Cuba would like to thank everyone who participated in this important event and recognizes that the success of the event was due to the special support of: Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos (ICAP), El Movimiento Colombiano de Solidaridad con Cuba (MCSC), the Ukrainian Committee "Stop the Blockade of Cuba," the U.S.-Cuba Normalization Conference Organizing Committee, Australia-Cuba Friendship Society-WA, Table de concertation et de solidarité Québec-Cuba, Associazione Nazionale di Amicizia Italia-Cuba, and the National Network on Cuba (NNOC)-U.S.

The Canadian Network on Cuba is committed to continuing to organize virtual events on the 17th of every month and looks forward to joining together once again on January 17, 2021. We hope that you will continue to join us!

In Solidarity,
Tamara Hansen
Executive Member of the Canadian Network on Cuba (CNC)
and Central organizer of the 24-hour virtual event

December 17, 2020. Picket in Montreal against U.S. blockade of Cuba.

Note

1. To watch livestream videos of the picket click on the following links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

(Photos: TML, CNC)

Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples Celebrates 60th Anniversary

Posted below is the message sent by Elizabeth Hill and Isaac Saney, Co-chairs of the Canadian Network on Cuba to the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) on its 60th Anniversary.

Abrazo de Amistad!

Embracing Friendship -- truly describes the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, known around the world as ICAP. The Canadian Network on Cuba is proud to be part of this significant worldwide embrace and extends its hearty congratulations to ICAP on the occasion of its 60th Anniversary.

Founded on December 30, 1960 to form ties of friendship between the Cuban people and peoples around the world, ICAP has a remarkable history of building solidarity, collaboration and unity in successful accomplishments. One particular example is the campaign to free the Cuban Five heroes from their prisons in the United States. The esteemed President of ICAP today is Fernando González Llort, one of these five heroes who was freed [after nearly] 16 years in the United States for fighting terrorism against Cuba.

Canada's organized solidarity and friendship with Cuba dates to almost the very triumph of the Revolution. Since that time, Canadians have continually demonstrated their respect and admiration for the achievements of the Cuban Revolution. For example, hundreds of Canadians 'brigadistas' have participated in the 26 Che Guevara Volunteer Work Brigades, hosted by ICAP in Cuba. Many Cuban artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers, medical professionals, and representatives of ICAP have travelled across Canada to support solidarity organizations elucidating Cuba's accomplishments.

The Canadian Network on Cuba commends ICAP for its six decades of active dedication to peace, friendship and solidarity. We are committed to continue our close ties with ICAP and to strengthen our solidarity work, particularly to end the immoral, illegal, cruel U.S. Blockade in 2021!

Long Live Canadian-Cuban Friendship! Long Live Peace and Solidarity!

217th Anniversary of the Haitian Revolution

Long Live the Haitian People's
Historic Struggle for Rights and Liberty

The Battle of Santo Domingo.

The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) warmly greets the Haitian people on the occasion of the 217th anniversary of the Haitian Revolution. Beginning in 1791, the organized resistance of the enslaved peoples of the French colony Saint-Domingue took hold and eventually overthrew both slavery and colonial rule. The revolutionaries, led by Toussaint L'Ouverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines, fought off successive European powers -- the French, Spanish and British -- to proudly establish their independent republic, Haiti, in 1804.

Jean-Jacques Dessalines

Glory to this mighty feat, which dealt a severe blow to the French colonial empire. The Haitian Revolution was the first to define citizenship rights on a modern basis, namely that they belong to people by virtue of their being human as members of a body politic. This was a decisive break from the conception of rights of the colonial powers based on the ownership of property and a system of privileges. Haiti's outstanding achievement continues to have great relevance for the peoples of the world to this day as they fight for new arrangements that recognize rights on a modern basis.

From 1804 to the present, the colonial and imperial powers have worked non-stop to wreak vengeance on the Haitian people who continue to fight for peace, freedom and democracy without let-up.

CPC(M-L) condemns the role played by Canada, along with the United States and France, in the 2004 military coup against the democratically elected President of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and which it still plays to keep the people of Haiti in a state of misery and bondage. The consequences of the 2004 coup continue in the crisis and corruption imposed on Haiti's electoral system. The ongoing foreign interference has blocked the people from electing a government which defends their interests.

The indomitable spirit of the Haitian revolutionaries lives on in their descendants and compatriots, many of whom live and work in Canada. By upholding the dignity of labour in this country, they make a contribution second to none.

In 2021, let us continue the work to see that Haiti achieves justice and, especially, that Canada ceases its diplomatic, military and police interference in Haitian affairs, and makes reparations for its criminal role in the 2004 coup.

All Out to Support the Haitian People to See that Justice Is Done!

(Photos: TML, Public Domain)

Argentina

Rights Won: Argentina Legalizes Abortion

- Yolanda Machado -

December 30, 2020. Celebration of legalization of abortion in Argentina.

On Wednesday, December 30, 2020, Argentina woke up a more just, egalitarian and democratic country. One day before the close of the year, the voluntary termination of pregnancy was legalized in a historic session in the Senate of the Nation and in a particularly hard and atypical year. The global repercussions were not long in coming, with Argentina being the largest country in Latin America that now protects the right of women and persons able to conceive, to decide. Abortion is also legal in Cuba, Uruguay, Guyana and French Guiana, and in the case of Mexico, it is legal in the state of Oaxaca and in the Federal District.

After intense debates that lasted around 12 hours, and the uncertainty of some senators being, or counted as being undecided, the vote was positive by a wider margin than expected. Thus, the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy bill became law with 38 votes in favour, 29 against and one abstention, and abortion stopped being clandestine, to become legal, safe and free, thus protecting thousands of lives.

The bill was sent to Congress by President Alberto Fernández along with the Thousand Days bill, which aims to "strengthen comprehensive health care for women during pregnancy and for their children in the first years of life," Fernández explained in the video he posted when he submitted the law on November 17.

In that same address, the president assured that "the criminalization of abortion has been of no use, it has only allowed abortions to take place clandestinely in worrying numbers. About 38,000 women are hospitalized every year for poorly performed abortions. Since the recovery of democracy, more than 3,000 women have died."

The figures are undoubtedly alarming. The estimated number of clandestine abortions is close to 500,000 per year, a number disproportionately higher than what has been officially recorded to date, precisely because it has not been possible to perform them legally.

Outside the Congress, while the words of each one of the representatives of the Argentine provinces were being listened to, two crowds waited attentively, on tenterhooks. On one side, towards Avenida Entre Ríos, the ones with the blue scarves, against the right to decide, and on the Callao side, an immense green tide, filled above all with women, with their daughters, friends, sisters and companions in struggle for the bill.

This is without a doubt a victory for the movement of women and the gender diverse who for years have been fighting for gender equality and who, because of their strength have managed to be heard by the political system. This time the fight had the clear support of the executive branch in the person of President Alberto Fernández, different from the last time in 2018, when former President Mauricio Macri sent the bill to Congress, but without specifically supporting it.

In a virtual year, in which practically nothing could be done, this victory together with the arrival of the first doses of the Sputnik-V vaccine against COVID-19, brings it to a close with a breath of fresh air and hope for a better 2021.

At the same time, it represents a very big boost for all those who followed the debate intently from their own countries, scarcely blinking an eye. Certainly, next year and the years to come will see the fights for this right in Latin America take on renewed momentum.

What Does the Law Stipulate?

The law is called the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy and it decriminalizes and legalizes abortion in the first 14 weeks of gestation, thus establishing the right of pregnant persons to decide whether or not to continue with a pregnancy, to request and access abortion care, and to receive post-abortion care. As well, it is to prevent unintended pregnancies through access to information, comprehensive sexual education and effective contraceptive methods.

More concretely:

- Pregnancy may be terminated free of charge without cause up to week 14 of gestation, since the procedure is included in the mandatory medical program;

- After 14 weeks, starting from the 15th week, it is still legal in cases of rape or risk to the health of the pregnant person;

- The medical establishment has a maximum of 10 calendar days from the time the request for the abortion is made to carry it out.

- Conscientious objection:

- Health professionals can exercise conscientious objection, unless the life of the pregnant person is in danger. However, they must maintain their decision in all areas, public and private, in which they exercise their profession, and refer the patient in good faith to be treated by another professional in a temporary and timely manner, without delay.

- Those private medical or social security centres that do not have professionals to perform an abortion due to conscientious objection must anticipate and arrange for referral to a place with similar characteristics where the service is actually provided.

- Nor can conscientious objection be alleged in order to refuse to provide post-abortion health care. Failure to fulfil the requirements to exercise the right to conscientious objection will lead to disciplinary, administrative, criminal and civil sanctions, as appropriate.

- In the case of children under 13 years of age, they must have the informed consent and the presence of at least one of their parents or a legal representative. In the case of adolescents between 13 and 16, they must have a companion or person to provide emotional support. And in all cases, prior to the abortion being performed, the written informed consent of the pregnant person is required.

- The State is responsible for implementing the Comprehensive Sex Education Law (number 26,150), establishing active policies for the promotion and strengthening of the sexual and reproductive health of the entire population.

- Articles 85 and 86 of the Penal Code are modified, with "abortion performed with the consent of the pregnant person up to the fourteenth (14) week inclusive of the gestational process" ceasing to be a crime and the incorporation of article 85 bis, which stipulates that "a public official or authority of the health establishment, health care professional, provider or staff member that unreasonably delays, obstructs or refuses, in contravention of current regulations, to perform an abortion in legally authorized cases will be punished with imprisonment of THREE (3) months to ONE (1) year and subject to special disqualification for twice the time of the sentence."

Struggles, Perseverance and Rights Triumphed

This victory is essential for women and pregnant persons in Argentina and the continent. The law protects not only the right to decide and to medical support, but also includes as an important element comprehensive sexual education and access to information and contraceptive methods that prevent anyone from having to go through the bitter and painful experience of having to have an abortion, but should they decide to do so, the State preserves and protects their life.

(Acercándonos. Translated from original Spanish by TML. Photos: S. Univazo, K.M. Parra, Sassenach, ctxt, N. Arganavaz )

SUPPLEMENT

Cuba Affirms Its Revolution and Right to Be
Cuban President's Speech to National Assembly
of People's Power

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Best Wishes for Success in 2021