January 1, 2024
29th Anniversary of CPC(M-L)’s Historic Initiative

Let Everyone Take Their Place in This Historic Combat by Leaving the Old Behind

In one year we will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the day when the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) launched the Party’s Historic Nation-Building Project. It was released on January 1, 1995 by Comrade Hardial Bains, the founder and leader of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) until his untimely death in 1997. It is historic because it is in tune with the needs of the historic shift, this turning point of history which has been taking place since the 1984-85 period.

Hardial Bains launches CPC(M-L)’s Historic Initiative in Ottawa, January 1,1995.

Many important questions were dealt with at that time which merit attention the more time passes. In 2024, we will focus attention on all these matters, review our work and take concrete measures to strengthen it.

In this regard, an important question dealt with at the time we launched the Historic Initiative, which we have continued to pay attention to every day since then, is: On what basis should one establish policy? Comrade Bains pointed out that the Party has scored important successes in terms of the Party press and the non-Party press, both in setting their policies as well as in working out the methods to consolidate this work. Should we not establish work on this basis, he asked. We want TML to be strengthened. How is it going to be done? By raising the consciousness of the working class, he said. And how is that going to be raised? By having writers and disseminators in the class, by participating in the whole life of the working class, by seeking positive personalities and positive actions in the working class, and so on.

“It is very important in terms of one’s outlook that one establish one’s policy not on the basis of disintegrating aspects, but on the basis of integrating and converging with the aspect which propels you forward. Leave behind those aspects which bog you down,” Comrade Bains said.

This advice is as sound today as it was then. As is the case today, when the Historic Initiative was launched, within those conditions, everyone knew that there were difficulties. Back then, many of the difficulties were a result of the euphoria the bourgeoisie was engaged in propagating that communism was finished and capitalism had triumphed. Today also there are many difficulties even though the euphoria of the bourgeoisie about the triumph of capitalism has long since turned into utter despondency as it lurches from crisis to crisis and resorts to wars of destruction and committing crimes with impunity at home and abroad. Nonetheless, under those circumstances Comrade Bains pointed out that even if we suffer a serious setback, it will not be politically or ideologically or organizationally because of the work which has been carried out by the Party in this period of turning point. And this remains the case today and the Party’s plan also remains the same.

It took the Party 25 years to establish its line following its founding and more than that since the time its precursor organization, The Internationalists, began its work in 1963. The reason it took so long is that powerful forces emerged, many of whom were larger-than-life personalities. Some of these personalities we were supposed to find positive and follow and some we were supposed to find negative and denounce. In the course of our work, Comrade Bains pointed out, we discovered that what was looming around us was actually not something helpful for us. These personalities created great difficulties for everyone concerned with the communist movement, because the line has to emerge out of the national conditions and very precisely on the basis of the specific problems an organized force is tackling.

Under the circumstances, the Party upheld the position that the human personality has to be celebrated, and not in any way negated. It never directed what books somebody should read or not read because doing such a thing is a negation of that personality. This principle is dear to us, so we never banned books even if not a few people would read these books to search for a “correct line” in them and find solace in that pursuit. We establish the line by paying attention to our own work, Comrade Bains pointed out. And this remains the case to this day.

We have seen many people who seek the line in TML. TML has its own preoccupations. It does its own work to identity what concerns of the Party and the class it must address at any time to fulfill the mission the Party has entrusted it with. Read it, but after that, comrades and friends should pay attention to their work. The editorial board of TML knows the logic and under what circumstances TML says what it does. But if the reader does not know their own logic, their own circumstances, nothing will come to life out of this kind of reading. A person’s basic organization must be an organ of class struggle and the branches of the Party must deal with those very specific problems which they face. Then party members and friends will be closer to solving those problems.

Today in our Party nobody has to go to books to find the Party line. They go to their own work. What is that work, Comrade Bains asked. “It is that wherever the Party has achieved historic success, it must be transformed into final victory,” he said. He pointed out that these things are on our fingertips: the mass Party press, the non-Party press, the technical base, the work of the writers and disseminators and to smash the silence on the workers’ living and working conditions, the work of the movement for enlightenment and in defense of rights, and so on. This is a lot of work the Party achieves every year which we celebrate with pride in our accomplishments. Comrade Bains urged the comrades to take pride in their work which provides confidence. “If success is not firmly grasped, then the same success will become a nightmare. We have seen that in many places people have tried to establish programs and agendas in a manner which is not consistent with their own concrete preoccupations,” he said. Comrade Bains explained further:

“We know that a lot of things are going to take place in this world. There may even be a war or other radical developments, but our plan is not going to change. We still have to turn the success on the various fronts into victory. What will change? If tomorrow war breaks out, then we will have to do the same work under war conditions. Do you think the class will not need the mass party press under war conditions? That it will not need the non-Party press? That it will not need to defend minorities? I think it will need to defend rights more at that time than at any other time.

“It is foolish to think that the situation can change so as to make our plan redundant. It may happen when communism comes into being, in which case we could change our plan at that time. Until such a time, we cannot change our plan. The secret of success of The Internationalists and CPC(M-L) is that they never changed their plan. […]”

One should not follow fireworks, Comrade Bains pointed out. “The situation may change, but we are going to establish all our work in order to push our class aims. How will we do it? We can do it successfully if everybody follows that great song of the international proletariat, Let each stand in their place. The problem comes if one does not know where one’s place is. If you do not create a place for yourself, how will you stand?”

“Creating a place for oneself is nine-tenths of the work. This is going to be the greatest difficulty in terms of our work, because more often than not some comrades think that spontaneity is more important than planned work. For example, they think that it is easier to pick wild berries than to grow your own. This is foolish because most of the wild berries are not even very useful. Some of them could be poisonous. The berries which you grow according to a plan will provide what you want. Instead of carrying out the planned work, executing the plan to get the results, some people are led by spontaneity. Spontaneity in terms of the action program, anarchism in place of theory, organizational liberalism and indifference — this is the recipe to disrupt the development of consciousness and organization in the class. It takes time before problems are sorted out when one tries to implement a plan. If you have a plan and develop tactics and tactical forms of organization according to which social class you want to address, then the destination is brought nearer,” Comrade Bains pointed out.

“Only an organized force can win. Other forces can achieve something here and there, but in the final analysis, they disappear. When we say organized force, then we are speaking about a force which is acutely conscious of history’s cunning. For instance, there are all sorts of people in Canada who are sympathetic to communism but the same people can say to you, ‘You can’t win.’ We have to create a climate in which everyone says we always win.”

To win, it is much better to start a battle on your own terrain first, rather than fighting on the enemy’s terrain, Comrade Bains pointed out. Indeed, today with the peoples all over the world speaking in their own name against the Israeli apartheid regime and against the genocide the Zionists are committing against the Palestinians, ruling elites cannot be so cocky. We must work out our own vantage point and speak in our own name, not engage in the irrational arguments which the bourgeoisie puts forward to trap the people into not working out the alternative which the circumstances present.

“Our method of work has to be that while we work on our own program, at the same time we should have a point of focus and convergence. Within that, tactics have to be developed to call upon people to join with us. But victory cannot be left to chance. This is the secret of organizing. Each time, one provides the definition of victory in a manner that is concrete, achievable and permits us to implement the overall plan.

“In our outlook, we cannot accept limitations,” Comrade Bains said. “When you set a program for yourself locally, whatever work you do, you have to have your own definition of victory.” He pointed out:

“It is very important to understand that if one fights on the enemy’s terrain and without the necessary forces, and if wrong definitions of victory are given, then failure is certain. If a concrete definition of victory is given, whereby you are certain to win, then you go from victory to victory.”

The theme CPC(M-L) has put forward for 2023, Let Everyone Take Their Place in this Historic Combat by Leaving the Old Behind! will guide our work and, as the youth have established for 2024: Fight to Win, Nous Vaincrons!

With best wishes for the success of all our work in 2024, we salute our work, our Party our comrades and fellow-travellers at home and abroad and the year ahead!

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