25 Years of the Party's Historic Initiative
Hardial Bains launches CPC(M-L)'s Historic Initiative in Ottawa,
January 1, 1995.
Twenty-five years ago, at a time when all political
forces were
busy manoeuvring to place themselves in power so as to administer the
state in their own favour, the Communist Party of Canada
(Marxist-Leninist) launched a plan of action to put the working class
in power at the head of nation-building. This Historic Initiative was
launched by the
Party's founder and leader Hardial Bains on January 1, 1995. It calls
for a modern constitution which vests sovereignty -- the
decision-making power -- in the hands of the people and for democratic
political mechanisms which ensure that it is the people who must govern
themselves. It also calls for the rational and conscious
reorganization of the
economy, changing its direction to serve the well-being of the people.
It was very moving to hear Hardial Bains describe
not only the
details, paying attention to the objectivity of consideration, but also
the interaction and the key -- the decisive role of organizing the
human factor, social consciousness.
"This plan of
action is so concrete and covers all aspects of organizing in such
detail that the success of any of its aspects will lead to the success
of the whole while the failure of any one or other of its aspects will
have no effect on the outcome of the plan. More importantly, and as a
decisive thing in victory, it puts the human factor, social
consciousness, in first place, in the place which determines
everything," Comrade Bains said at the time.
Hardial
Bains explained:
"In the work of peoples and
nations one of the most important and crucial aspects is what happens
to all the energies which are engendered in the work. Are they utilized
for a very definite aim or are they simply squandered? Today on the
world scale, generally speaking, there are very few countries which
have set an aim for themselves, an
aim for the benefit of society, for the well-being of the people. [...]
In Canada, as far as the Canadian people are concerned, there is no aim
towards which all the resources are directed. The only aim which is
presented by the governments at various levels is one of creating an
environment for the success of the monopolies in the global market.
And even that aim has mainly propaganda value, claiming that the
prosperity of the country depends on the monopolies becoming successful
in the global market.
"In medieval times, in the
dark ages, the aim was set by the ruling forces, by the church and the
feudal lords. It was directly self-serving in the name of some divine
power. All the productive forces and all the assets of society were
directed towards the satisfaction and greater glory of those forces.
There came a time when a break took place
with the medieval attitude; then people were defined according to their
individual rights, and the jurisdiction and boundaries of the state
were drawn in their defence. The aim was set so that all the resources
available to society would be directed towards the greater glory of
individual rights. However, this then blocked the satisfaction of
collective
rights.
"The whole period of nation-building became
the main content of the democratic revolution. Once the modern
bourgeoisie gained the upper hand, the satisfaction of individual
rights became the sole aim of nation-building. With the rise of the
monopolies, the banner of the nation was thrown in the mud. The states
were consolidated and their
role developed in the interest of the ruling circles themselves or the
financial oligarchy. For instance, American propaganda speaks about
defending the national interests of the U.S. everywhere, but it does
not speak about what the Americans want to accomplish in this world.
Canadians do not have an aim either.
"The only
exception was the period of the 'dirty thirties' when the bourgeoisie
was facing the disaster of the Depression. It was terrified that it
would lose everything if the aim of satisfying the collective interests
was not put in place. Thus, in the late thirties and after the war
various countries gave themselves the aim of building a social
welfare state. In Canada, by the 1960s, they presented the aim of
building a 'just society' and spoke about a 'sacred trust' which must
be defended, and so on. This was also in response to the aim which the
Soviet Union as a socialist country had set for itself -- that is, to
satisfy the ever-rising material and cultural needs of the people.
 "Now the collective interests are once again on
the chopping
block. All sorts of demagogy is used and all kinds of promises are
made, but the net result has been the rejection of all that was said
before about social welfare. This is done under the pretext that making
payments on the debt to decrease national indebtedness is the most
important
aim at this time. On the basis of the claim that this is the best thing
for the collective and for society, people are being called upon to
make all the sacrifices. [...]
"In the
Historic Initiative, the main question is: What should be the aim? Many
times in the past various forces have set the aim based purely on the
theoretical and ideological premises that we are for socialism. Can it
be said that socialism is what the people should take up at this time,
that at this time the working class should take up the
construction of socialism as its aim and put all its resources behind
this aim? Of course, such a decision can be made. It is consistent with
our strategic program, but it will not stop the bourgeoisie from
pushing its aims. Our consideration in setting the Historic Initiative
is not merely theoretical and ideological. It is mainly how the working
class
must stop the bourgeoisie from squandering the national resources, the
independence of the country and its well-being. What is the slogan
which the working class must present in order to defeat the bourgeoisie
and rally the masses of the people to its side? The answer to this
question is to use the resources for the collective interests.
"The slogan of
nation-building is appropriate not only because
it opposes what the bourgeoisie is talking about -- that everybody
should create an environment for the success of businesses in the
global market -- but also because it arouses the people to take into
their own hands what belongs to them and to create a society which will
favour
them. Of course, when everything is said and done, nation-building
today is equivalent to the construction of socialism, but to present
matters in this way will be making an extremely serious blunder. A
program has to be set not from the point of view of theory, but from
the needs of society at a particular time. Canadian society needs an
aim at
this time. The Canadian people need an aim which can be easily
understood and appreciated by everyone. This aim can only be the aim of
nation-building. Of course, the main content of this project is that
the working class must constitute itself the nation. In other words,
the aim of the working class must become the aim of the nation, just as
the
bourgeoisie in its ascendency put its aim, the aim of defending
individual interest, private property, as the aim of the nation and
even subordinated the nation to this aim.
"The time
has now come for the working class to constitute the nation. It
must establish its own aim as the aim of the nation. In other words,
the working class itself must take up the question of nation-building.
It must lead the broad masses of the people to take up this aim as
well. It is not possible for the working class to channel all its
resources at this time without taking up the aim of satisfying the
collective interests of society. This amounts to nation-building.
Nation-building in Canada can mean only one thing: that the working
class must provide society with a modern constitution, with a modern
political mechanism, with a change in the direction of the economy and
with
independence.
"The issue does not change, whether
we speak of the nation of Quebec, or Canada, or the nations of the
Indigenous peoples. When we speak of the sovereignty of Quebec, it is
the working class which should take up the aim of nation-building at
the point which is most favourable for the working class. ... [I]t must
fight for a change in the
direction of the economy, for a modern constitution, for democratic
renewal, and for independence.
"The Historic
Initiative is aimed at causing a discussion on the question of
nation-building amongst the broadest masses of the people by using all
the resources available to us. The Historic Initiative is a plan of
action, the main objective of which is to ensure that a discussion on
this question takes place. In other words, its aim is to get the
working people to set the agenda of nation-building. Within this
framework, the other aim for the working class is to create the
conditions for the formation of the mass communist party. This means
that one of the most important tasks in the Historic Initiative is to
appropriate the best from the present and the past. It means that there
is a need for
work to develop and to enrich the content of contemporary
Marxist-Leninist thought. It means to look at all phenomena and all
events, and to promote those which favour the working class and favour
the aim of nation-building."
The Party led and gave orientation to the workers' movement to set its
own pro-social program to Stop Paying the Rich, Increase Funding
for Social Programs.
Comrade Bains
elaborated further:
"Besides appropriating what is
best from the past, communists can find solutions to the complicated
problems of the present. Only communists can lead the society to march
on the high road of civilization. Only they can invoke and bring forth
those theories, those human notions which are necessary to open the
path for the progress of society
at this time.
"The Historic Initiative is launched
to call upon the working class and the broad masses of the people to
bring to the fore the best that humankind has produced until this time
and to develop it to the level necessary for the deep-going
transformations which are the order of the day. In other words, it is a
program to put the working class at the
centre of all developments. More precisely, it is a program to put the
human factor, social consciousness, at the centre of all developments.
Of all the ingredients necessary to build a project, one has to decide
clearly which ingredient is more important and crucial and which
ingredient is less important. If the human factor is not there in the
project
of nation-building, no amount of scientific technical revolution, no
amount of efficiency, no amount of other natural and social resources
will make a difference.
"The human factor cannot be
brought to the level necessary for these transformations unless there
is social consciousness, unless there is debate and discussion amongst
the broadest masses of the people, unless there is a real revolutionary
movement with a mass character. In other words, the Historic Initiative
is designed to create these
conditions and to ensure that many of these aspects actually develop as
essential factors in the creation of the subjective conditions for
revolution. The human factor, in the final analysis, is the crucial
factor. It is not possible to bring all the factors into play without
the human factor."
 On
the occasion of the 25th anniversary of CPC(M-L)'s Historic Initiative,
it is more urgent than ever to activate the human factor, social
consciousness so as to take up the aim of nation-building and build the
mass communist party to turn historic success into historic victory. In
the midst of a global pandemic which has caused great suffering and
exposed the grave consequences of decades of destruction of social
programs, governments are using the situation to justify a further
escalation of the anti-social offensive so as to consolidate even
greater control over all the affairs of society in the hands of private
interests.
The anti-human factor, anti-social consciousness
dominates the actions of the cartel parties in the parliament who, in
the situation of a minority federal government with emergency powers,
are pursuing their own self-serving interests to the detriment of the
people. Federal and provincial governments are taking measures to
suppress and silence the demands of the workers and Canadian people for
necessary measures that would resolve the crisis in their
favour. CPC(M-L) is stepping up its work to imbue the working
class with the aim of nation-building which can only mean one thing:
“the working class must provide society with a modern
constitution, with a modern political mechanism, with a change in the
direction of the economy and with independence.”
Today, even more so
than 25 years ago, the Historic Initiative spearheaded by CPC(M-L) is
crucial for all those who want to make a contribution to opening
society's path to progress.
All Out to Turn Historic
Success into Historic Victory!
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 30 - August 15, 2020
Article Link:
25 Years of the Party's Historic Initiative
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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