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2021 Virtual Convention of the Canadian Labour Congress -- June 16 to 18 The Workers' Movement Must Provide Canada With a Pro-Social Political Aim
There is no use asking governments or the cartel parties whose very aim is to block the people from coming to power themselves to put their words into deeds. It is precisely their deeds which reveal what they stand for. They have used the pandemic to devise new ways to pay the rich, with the needs of the workers an excuse to funnel billions of dollars in pay-the-rich schemes. As delegates meet to address the most important issues of concern to the workers' movement, they must necessarily address the fundamental need of the working class to provide itself and the country with a pro-social political aim. Even a cursory review of the events of the past year, past few years and past two decades, shows that irrespective of which political party is in power at the provincial or federal levels, they all pursue the same anti-social aim which has contributed to nation-wrecking and the devastation of the natural and social environment in a big way. Without considering the aim set by the rich for society, the view is peddled that this or that agenda of a governing party is responsible for the devastating effects of the economic crisis and the workers can entrust their fate to the agenda of another cartel party to do better. There is no use to pursue attempts to turn the workers into a voting bank for another political party which allegedly has a better agenda. The workers already know they cannot afford to mark time. While they are the victims and scapegoats of pay-the-rich schemes, their conditions of life and work deteriorate along with those of their families and communities, their regions and the entire country and all its integral parts, including the Indigenous peoples, women, children and the elderly and every other identifiable interest with legitimate claims on society. The workers are sure to become increasingly hostile to continued attempts to divert the workers' movement in defence of their interests into becoming a reserve of the rulers' pay-the-rich schemes while all individuals and collectives are forced to fend for themselves in evermore difficult circumstances.
The current system of unrepresentative democracy permits the workers to produce and the rich to rule. One of the main justifications for the vicious anti-social offensive which has destroyed social programs was that resources are "scarce" and this is why the working people had to make sacrifices. The rulers managed those "scarce resources" right into their own ever-expanding pocketbooks. Life experience has shown that the problem is not "scarce resources" at all and that the workers must set an aim for society which puts their claims and those of all Canadians in first place. The working people are deprived of political power and all efforts must be put to resolving this problem. Resources are not "scarce" in Canada. It is one of the countries of the world most richly endowed with natural resources, advanced means of production and an educated work force in abundant supply. The only role given to the working class and people is to submit to the dictate of the rich and those whose job it is to pay the rich. The role of the democracy and the "democratic process," including the electoral part, the legislatures and other institutions is to make the entire thing credible, as if the rule serves everyone. Of course, the more the dictatorial features of this rule are revealed, the less credible and legitimate the system becomes. This is precisely what has happened during the past year of pandemic and since the anti-social offensive was unleashed in the early nineties. It is inevitable for governments at various levels to become increasingly desperate, irrational and cruel as they attempt to get the working class and people to toe the line and accept the massive restructuring and destruction which the rulers are carrying out. The rulers are guided by the non-negotiable demands of the oligopolies which dominate the U.S. war economy, the health care sector, infrastructure projects, mining, agribusiness and everything else including what to do about the degradation of Mother Earth. While all of this points to the necessity for the working class to establish its own political aim, the attempt is made, once again, to keep it chained to the political aim of this or that party whose words and promises are designed to cover up that they have a hidden aim. The experience of all Canadians is that whether an agenda has been touted as right-wing or left-wing, it is corporate. End of story. The fight today pits those who espouse a new way of doing things against those who demand they stick to the old. The working class must resolutely take up its own political aim and end the situation whereby it is marginalized as a result of diverting its struggle into electing this or that representative of an increasingly corrupt and decadent ruling class, no matter what they may call themselves. In this regard, the question delegates to the CLC Convention must pose themselves is: Can the workers' movement expect any positive resolution and new direction from those political forces and parties responsible for what the CLC correctly calls "the profound shortcomings in our society and economy," from those political parties and social forces that impose on working people and the country the priority of reinforcing the power and priorities of employers? The answer to this question is found in the response to the pandemic of the federal Liberal government and provincial governments which have callously continued marshalling public resources to pay the rich, using the workers' needs as excuses. Through their actions they have blocked the workers' movement from discussing, conceiving and implementing a new pro-social direction that puts working people and their needs at the centre of any measures taken under all conditions and circumstances.
Canadians depend on the deeds of the workers. They cannot afford to get diverted by calls for the rulers to put their words into deeds. Canadians have seen the deeds of the rulers and reject them. Canadians have seen the deeds of the workers and accept them. That is the crux of the matter.
This article was published in Article Link:   Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca |
Workers' Forum enthusiastically
greets the delegates attending the 29th Constitutional Convention of
the Canadian Labour Congress being held virtually from June 16 to 18.
We congratulate the workers from coast to coast to coast who have
shown through their deeds that their fight for the rights of all is a
fight
for the lives of all. The last year of pandemic has shown above all
else that Canadians depend on the deeds of the workers for their health
and safety in all fields of life. It is thanks to their actions in
every cell of the society, from healthcare, to the mines, mills,
factories and forests, to agribusiness, transportation and
communications, the educational institutions and in the
communities, that safety needs are met because the workers put the
well-being of the people in first place.
The
world view of the rulers is that the workers constitute a mere
productive force and are expendable. They have no role whatsoever in
participating in arriving at the decisions which concern their lives or
the lives of the polity of which they are members. The workers have
even been deprived of their right to participate in setting the policy
of their own collectives as a result of the imposition of an agenda which beats around the
bush, bypassing the need for their own agency to bring about changes in
their favour.
