50th
Anniversary of the War
Measures Act Invoked in 1970 The Significance of the Proclamation of War Measures
- Pauline Easton - 
Army deployed on the
streets of Montreal October 15, 1970,
the day before the War Measures Act is
invoked.
October 16, 2020 will mark the 50th
Anniversary of the proclamation of the War Measures Act
by the Liberal government headed by Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Trudeau
declared a state of "apprehended insurrection" in order to use the
powers of the War Measures Act, which had been used
in World War I and World War II to indefinitely detain people without
charges or trial. The police carried out more than
1,000 raids between October 7 and 10, 1970. Using the provisions of the
National Defence Act, the army appeared on the
streets of Ottawa on October 12 and on the streets of Montreal on
October 15. After the War Measures Act was invoked,
the police carried out another 3,068 raids and searches without
warrants. During these raids police arrested 465 people and held them
without charges. The vast majority of the people arrested were released
after 21 days without charges while others were held for longer periods.
The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) and its
precursor organizations and youth wings were active participants in the
events surrounding this infamous self-serving use of the War
Measures Act at a time the CIA was conducting its nefarious
"Operation Chaos" on a global basis. Operation Chaos involved, amongst
other things, state organized terrorist attacks, coups
d'état, assassinations, disappearances and rabid
anti-communist propaganda. In preparation for this
anniversary, the organization of the Central Committee responsible for
the Party archives has digitized materials from the Party press related
to the struggles of the workers, youth and students from 1968-1975,
including the Party's intervention against the War Measures
Act, the state attacks, its support of the workers' struggles
and the national liberation of Quebec. CPC(M-L)'s
participation in the events at the time the War
Measures Act was declared contributed to sorting out several
key issues facing the workers' and communist movement in Canada. The
ideo-political and organizational problems that the Party sorted out in
the period from 1968 to 1975 laid the foundation for the Party's
attitude towards the imperialist democracy and Anglo-Canadian state in
its service and defined its fight for the rights of all, the national
question in Canada and the nation-building project the Party is
pursuing today to reconstitute Canada on a modern basis which vests the
sovereign decision-making power in the people and recognizes the
hereditary rights of the Indigenous peoples, the right of Quebec to
self-determination, the inherent rights of the Métis people,
the need to humanize the natural and social environment and affirm the
rights of all according to the demands of the times. Key
problems sorted out at that time include: - The
Quebec national question is not a matter of concern to the Quebec
people only but to the entire polity. - The line
that under "exceptional circumstances" organization is not necessary.
Under all circumstances and conditions, highest quality work must be
carried out on the basis of the principles Individual Work/Collective
Responsibility and For Us Accountability Begins at Home. -
Acts of both individual terror and mass state terror are reprehensible
and serve the same aim of subverting the striving of the people for
empowerment and depriving them of their own outlook and organization
- The attitude towards the state is what determines where one
stands in relation to the struggle of the people and their striving for
empowerment. The Party set the line of blaming the state and not the
people for racist and other attacks and exposed the role of political
opportunists within the communist and workers' movement in promoting
divisions amongst the people instigated by the state on the basis of
language and national origin, - The revolutionary
anti-imperialist nature and significance of the struggles of the period
such as opposition to the war in Vietnam was sorted out, against the
chauvinist line of "solidarity" consisting of activities to help those
"out there" less fortunate than ourselves. The Party recognized that
there was one anti-imperialist struggle of the peoples of the world,
including the Canadian people, whose duty it is to organize against the
ruling class in their own country as part of this. In this regard, it
recognized and brought into play the dialectic between patriotism and
proletarian internationalism On the occasion of the
50th anniversary of the Party's founding, branches of the Party have
been asked to educate members and supporters in the work of the Party
throughout these 50 years, including its achievements during the time
the War Measures Act and state repression were used
in an effort to wipe it out. Individuals and collectives are asked to
position themselves in relation to this work which should serve to
educate the educators. It is important to keep in mind that in that
critical period in the formation of the Party, its political
consciousness was forged in the battle for the rights of the working
class and people, of the Quebec nation and Indigenous peoples and the
right to be of the peoples of the world. The successes in that
work are the foundation for the Party's work in the current period,
particularly the Party's Historic Initiative for constitutional and
democratic renewal launched in 1995 and its modern nation-building
project for the working class to constitute the nation and vest
sovereignty in the people. On the occasion of this
anniversary, TML Weekly is publishing extensive
background material to inform readers about the events which took place
in 1970 and their significance.
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 38 - October 10, 2020
Article Link:
50th
Anniversary of the : The Significance of the Proclamation of War Measures - Pauline Easton
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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