Revolt in France Revolutionary Ideas Pages 3&5 of Karl Marx Page 4-5

$2 | No 604 | May 2018 | socialist.ca

NO CASH FOR KINDER MORGAN On March 10, 2018 an Indigenous-led protest of 10,000 marched against the Kinder Morgan pipeline in Vancouver. Photo Zach Embree CC BY NC SA 2.0

ustin Trudeau is planning to spend as much are putting themselves on the line to stop this. to make sure that the pipeline was approved. economy. These articles attempt to appeal to as $2 billion to prop up the Kinder Morgan Their determination is inspirational. According Avi Lewis from the Leap Manifesto group , but of course fail to remind people Trans-Mountain pipeline. Trudeau is fear- to Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, “There is abso- has been working to let people know about this that Kinder Morgan itself is a Houston-based Jful that if he doesn’t offer the extra cash, lutely no way that we are letting Kinder Morgan scandal. “ rigged the consulta- energy giant. Indeed, most of the tar sands oil is the pipeline may not be built after Kinder Mor- expand its archaic and dangerous fossil fuel tion process for the Kinder Morgan pipeline, being shipped overseas and there is considerable gan ceased all non-essential work on the site. extraction. Today we proudly stood with land and there was pressure from high ranking of- investment from oil companies abroad. This follows a wave of resistance led by In- defenders to send a strong message to Kinder ficials “to give cabinet a legally-sound basis to And it may end up being worse for Canadians digenous land defenders in BC who argue that Morgan, its investors, and Trudeau – we will not say ‘yes’” to the project. No wonder Trudeau is if Kinder Morgan has its way. A former CEO of the pipeline will endanger their lands and the stand down and we will remain united in our op- offering the Texas oil company a bailout in the Kinder Morgan Hal Kvisle has said that it may natural environment. position. I took action today for my children and billions - he made his mind up to ram this project cost as much as $10 billion in public money to They are right. All pipelines spill, and the grandchildren, and for all future generations.” through a long, long time ago.”, he wrote in an ensure the project goes ahead. That’s equivalent environmental impacts are devastating. As the email to supporters. to $149 million for every Indigenous reserve debate on this one was raging, another pipeline Trudeau’s Standing Rock Activists across Canada have begun to apply without the Canadian state that currently is with- in northern Alberta, owned by Paramount Re- This is a headache that will not go away for pressure. There are rallies and pickets at MP of- out clean drinking. sources Limited, was spilling more than 100,000 the Trudeau Liberals. A Standing Rock-style fices throughout the country over the next few Either way, if we are to really address the litres of bitumen into Dene territory. impasse is expected, and it remains to be seen weeks to pressure the Liberals to end support issue of climate change, we need to be canceling It is the fourth such spill in that region and how far the federal authorities will go to clear for the scheme. the destructive projects and pushing for a green follows the massive 9.5 million litre leak that the pipeline route. The right-wing is also applying pressure. future without the use of fossil fuels. There is destroyed hundreds of hectares of boreal forest. They are not above dirty tricks to get their There has been a recent spate of articles de- money available to help with the transition. Just This pipeline will spill too. They all do. way on this file. We now know that the Trudeau nouncing the protests as foreign-funded con- ask Trudeau – he seems to have a few billion That’s why most Indigenous leaders in the area Liberals worked to rig the consultation process spiracies to undermine the Canadian resource to spare. Justice for Marielle Franco

against federal government military by Sean Purdy, PSOL, São Paulo intervention. Just a few years ago, she defended her Master’s Degree n March 14, Marielle in Public Administration with a Franco, a Rio de Janeiro thesis criticizing police and military city councilor for the left- actions in Rio’s favelas. wing Party of Socialism Marielle`s execution provoked Oand Freedom (PSOL) and widespread public indignation her driver, Anderson Gomes, were and rage, but it also exposed brutally executed on a downtown the growing right-wing tide in city street as they left a meeting of Brazilian politics. High-profile Black women activists. A long-time judges, politicians and figures activist in poor peoples’, Black, in the far-right spread malicious LGBT and human rights movements lies about Marielle, reflecting the in the city, Marielle was elected to growing , and the city council in 2016 with the politics in the country fifth-highest number of votes. fueled by the parliamentary Marielle’s murder shocked Brazil, coup against the Workers’ Party provoking massive demonstrations president Dilma Rouseff in 2016 of solidarity around the country. It and a ultra-neoliberal political is likely that Marielle’s death was agenda by the illegitimate federal ordered by paramilitary militias led government. by current and ex-police officers By all accounts, the police who control many of Rio’s poor have bungled the investigation favela communities, organized in the murders. The left, unions criminals with connections to right- and social movements need to wing political parties whom she had first demand that Marielle and long criticized. Yet it also highlights Anderson’s murderers be brought the depth of the severe political and to justice. economic crisis in the country. Toronto vigil calls for justice But to truly honour Marielle, we also need to demand an end Police brutality the world. the murder of a close friend. She which led to the arrest of hundreds, to federal government military The poor shantytowns (favelas) Just one month before Marielle`s worked in local community groups including several politicians and intervention in Rio. We need to in all of Brazil’s major cities have murder, the illegitimate federal who organized against the violence dozens of current and ex-police demand an end to the murders long suffered from the absence of government of Michel Temer ordered of the police and drug gangs and for officers. Yet in the context of the of poor and Black people by the basic water and sanitation services, a wide scale military intervention in improvements in public services. economic and political crisis since police and militias. And we need hospitals and schools as well as Rio, sending in thousands of troops She completed an undergraduate 2013 and their continued links with to unite the Black and LGBT the organized violence of drug to supposedly solve the problem of degree in social services, joined politicians and corrupt police, the movements with socialists and traffickers and, especially, the public safety in the city. Marielle PSOL and was hired as an assistant militias have actually increased the unions to build a fight back police. The police in Brazil regularly and PSOL have been firm opponents to Marcelo Freixo, a state deputy their influence, exercising more against the entire racist, anti- murder poor and Black people with against intervention. in PSOL and her ex-high school power in Rio than the drug gangs. poor, misogynist and homophobic impunity. Between 2009 and 2016, Marielle, born and raised in the history teacher. In the last few months before her politics of governments and the Brazilian police forces killed an favela community of Maré in Rio Freixo, with Marielle’s murder, Marielle criticized both right wing at all levels. average of seven people per day, de Janeiro, first became active assistance, led a high-profile inquiry the brutality of the police and the Marielle and Anderson. making it one of the most violent in politically in the early 2000s after into the paramilitary militias in Rio militias and became a leading voice Presentes! The Bear in the Room: Russia and the new Cold War

by John Bell safely” before returning home. sources that Boris Johnson had so decisively Western-backed coup in 2014–is riddled with In other words, much ado about nothing but cited actually spoke up for themselves: there fascists. Soldiers that aren’t in these far-right The attempts by the Canadian government and a sensational headline. was no proof that the chemical weapon used militias are either sympathetic to them or its NATO allies to ramp up a new Cold War, Just this March Jason Kenney, now head of originated in Russia. Then Swiss researchers fearful of them. According to MP Andriy casting Russia as public enemy number one, Alberta’s United Conservative Party, suggested found that the nerve agent probably came from Biletsky, head of the National Corpus have peaked with the recent missile attack on that Russia was behind the protests against the the arsenals of the US or UK. Party, Ukraine is destined to “lead the white Syria by the US, UK and France. Kinder Morgan pipeline. “In whose interest is it races of the world in a final crusade … Russia, ruled by Tsar-wannabe Vladimir Pu- that Canadian oil and gas does not get to global Skeletons in Cabinet’s Closet against Semite-led Untermenschen [subhu- tin, remains a dangerous nuclear power, playing markets? Well obviously, it’s in the interest So, did the Russian diplomats expelled for mans]”. out its imperial interests in Eastern Europe of Russia, with the fourth largest reserves on fallacious reasons get readmitted? Back in Ot- These are the forces Freeland and Trudeau and the Middle East. But that doesn’t mean earth.” Obviously, except that Russia ranks tawa Trudeau flipped the entire narrative. The would ally with to face down Russia. It isn’t I’m about to fall in behind a gang of people in eighth in proven oil reserves. Russians were expelled, it seems, because they the fascists of the past we have to worry Washington with even more nuclear weapons were mean to Chrystia Freeland. They were about, it is the fascists of today. and their own imperial interests, flooding the A Russian Spy and a Guy Named Boris undermining Canadian democracy by engineer- There is no doubt Russia has imperi- airwaves with stories about how Russia is the Consider the epic story/non-story out of ing a smear campaign charging that Freeland’s al interests in the Crimean and Donbass anti-Christ of nations. Britain, of the attempted assassination of the grandfather was a Nazi collaborator in WW2. regions. And there is no doubt it is backing It has been creeping up on us for years. I Russian defector and his daughter. Theresa The only problem with Trudeau’s moral high President-for-Life Assad in Syria to maintain recall the headlines in 2014, accusing Russian May’s embattled Tory government was quick ground is that Freeland’s grandfather was a its political and economic interests in the planes of “buzzing” a Canadian Forces ship in to accuse Russia of attempted murder in the Nazi collaborator. From 1940 to 1945 Michael Middle East. Whether or not Assad has used the Black Sea, there as part of a NATO “train- poisoning of Sergei Skripal, a Colonel in the Chomiak was editor-in-chief of a newspaper chemical weapons, he is guilty of a long ing exercise”. Rob Nicholson, then Stephen Russian military intelligence service who had called Krakiuski Visti in Cracow. A Ukrainian list of war crimes against Syrians rebelling Harper’s Defence Minister, made the threat defected to Britain, and his daughter Yulia. Buf- ultra-nationalist, Chomiak was an enthusiastic against his rule. as clear as mud: “While the Russian military foonish Foreign Minister Boris Johnson rushed supporter of and wrote approv- Russia is a shitty, dangerous imperial aircraft that circled the HMCS Toronto did not to insist that he had undeniable proof from the ingly of the slaughter of 33,000 of Kiev’s Jews: power, ruled by a slimy autocrat. But the in any way pose a threat to the Canadian ship, Ministry of Defence–that the chemical weapon with them gone, Kiev was “beautiful, glorious.” powers whipping up the current round of an- their actions were unnecessarily provocative used was of Russian origin. He also hailed the creation of a fascist unit ti-Russian are at least as shitty, and risk escalating tensions even further.” Reaction was swift. Russian diplomats were made up of Ukrainian volunteers, the 14th dangerous and slimy–and, yes, that includes The threat was non-threatening? NATO offi- expelled, a serious provocation, the sort of Waffen SS Division Halychyna. Canada. It must be possible to oppose Russia cials later suggested it never happened, but the thing that marks the path to war. In lock step, Freeland has repeatedly lied about it, and and its clients at the same time as opposing “buzzing” was a front page headline while the 29 other countries–including Britain’s NATO now Trudeau has lied on her behalf. Why? She the US, UK, France, NATO and their clients. backtracking appeared in the back pages. allies–expelled almost 150 Russian diplomats. is not responsible for the sins of her ancestors. The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily Then a year ago this headline topped the And there was Canada’s Foreign Affairs But this history reminds us of how easy it was my friend. CBC news: “Canadian jets intercept Russian Minister Chrystia Freeland sternly giving four for Eastern European fascists like Chomiak to All the breathless efforts to stoke a new bombers, 1st time since 2014”. Wow, pretty Russian officials the boot. Her department emigrate to Canada. And it has more to do with Cold War with Russia need to be met with a threatening. But North American Aerospace directly tied the expulsion to the Skripal case: Canada’s present military role in Ukraine than massive dose of skepticism. Maybe we need Defence Command representative Maj. Jennifer “The nerve agent attack represents a clear threat with the past. to deal with our own oily oligarchs, our own Stadnyk said the Russians remained in interna- to the rules-based international order …” It is an open secret that the Ukraine war merchants, and our own lying politicians tional airspace, and acted “professionally and But then the British Ministry of Defence military–like its government, elected after a before we worry about Russia’s.

2 Socialist Worker May 2018 Teachers Rising! by Pam Johnson Red-state revolt It is notable that these mass The West Virginia teachers’ strike protests and strikes are happening has ignited a wave of mass resistance in mainly Republican-controlled red among US teachers. West Virginia states, that overwhelming voted for teachers defied the state government Trump. and their union leadership to initiate “Those who voted for Trump may a historic strike on February 22 to have wanted to shake up the system, demand better wages and protect but there’s a lot of other people that their benefits. And they won! want to shake up unfairness,” said Strikes and walk-outs have Randi Weingarten, president of the exposed the horrendous working American Federation of Teachers. conditions of teachers many who “You saw that in the women’s work multiple jobs to make ends marches, you see that in the ‘Me meet and use food banks to get by. Too’ movement, you see that in the Also exposed is the deterioration kids in Parkland, who rallied for of public schools: mould, broken stricter gun controls.”’ toilets, obsolete and wrecked text- Similarly, the usual right-wing books and lack of basic supplies, like talking points saying teachers are pencils, that teachers must provide. greedy and don’t care about their Years of concessions and erosions of students is backfiring. In all of these their working conditions and erosion struggles, students and parents have of resources for students pushed been up front showing their support these teachers to the brink. They said for their striking teachers. enough is enough. The disconnect of the Trump gov- Their success and the victory of ernment was on display when Betsy their strike lit a flame that is quickly DeVos, Secretary of Education, spreading through the US. In less admitted she had no idea what the than two months, teachers in mainly conditions of public school are in her Republican Party controlled “red home state, Michigan. She has been states” and right-to-work states like pushing the Trump government’s West Virginia are building mass pro- continuation of the privatization of tests. In Arizona, Oklahoma, Ken- public school through charters and tucky and now Colorado teachers vouchers as “choice” in education. have struck, walked-in or walked out to demand better working conditions Arizona teachers wear Red for Ed Power in the Streets for themselves and better learning This movement is exposing the conditions for their students. Trump Republicans’ real agenda, and Oklahoma: nine day strike Arizona: Red for Ed West Virginia to the teachers’ union leaders—who West Virginia: miners’ Oklahoma teachers declared victory In Arizona, where teachers’ pay is In the US, Canada, the UK and have now jumped in front of the strike to teachers’ strike after a nine-day strike in April. The the lowest of any US state, Arizona Brazil teachers are also on the front grassroots struggles—are saying that In West Virginia, teachers are walkout prompted legislators to Educators United (AEU), a coali- line of resistance to austerity. On- the way to solve this is to vote the taking inspiration from the history of boost education funding by $479 tion of teachers, support staff and tario college faculty in OPSEU Democrats in. But it was the Obama struggles of miners in West Virginia million and up teachers’ pay by an administrators initiated a #RedforEd were on strike for 5 weeks in the Democrats who accelerated the ero- coalfields in the early 20th century. average of $6,100, the largest pay campaign. Their demands are for fall 2017. Carleton University sion and privatization of education Small walkouts began in early raise in state history. The teachers better pay for all school staff—sup- faculty were on strike to defend after the 2008 crisis. February, organized by the sons and also won pay raises for support staff port and teachers but they are also pensions and York University con- The labour leaders’ call for leav- daughters of coal miners who had such as cafeteria workers and bus demanding increased per pupil tract faculty and teaching assistants ing the streets for the ballot box was stood on the picket lines themselves. drivers, and secured $70 million funding. remain on a protracted strike for job a disaster in Wisconsin when public “When I was in diapers, my father in recurring revenue for classroom Arizona teachers voted on April security. sector workers took over the capitol was involved in a mine strike,” Justin supplies. 19 to strike following weeks of UK university faculty defied their in 2011. Channelling that anger into Endicott, 34, a fourth-grade teacher in Teachers flooded the state capital “walk-ins” protests. Teachers here, union leadership to stay on strike an election returned anti-union Gov- Mingo County, WV said. and went door knocking at the state following the lead of Oklahoma to defend pensions. Teachers in Sao ernor Scott Walker and he proceeded “It was definitely bottom-up, not legislators’ offices to demand that teachers, are raising the stakes with Paulo faced brutal police violence to decimate union power. top-down,” according Jay O’Neal, they not only fund wages but also re- demands that are not just about their striking against cuts to benefits. What this resistance proves that it who started the group that store millions that has been cut from working conditions. Dylan Wegela, Montreal teachers have called is the protests and strikes that masses became a hub for organizing the early education. On April 16, the day that an AEU leader said, “I can’t walk for a May Day strike on May 1. of people are participating in that actions. “The unions soon jumped on Oklahoma teachers finished striking back into my classroom without Teachers voted for this “illegal” is getting the job done of forcing board, and the strike was born.” and went back to class, Colorado getting more for my students and strike against the wishes of their governments to refund education and teachers walked out. this movement.” trade union leaders. stop the cuts and austerity. Mass strikes shut down France by Charlie Kimber On 22 March there was a wider call. “Macron is very determined. 2, Nantes, Rouen, Strasbourg, ties met last weekend to discuss the The strikes need urgently to Gestures won’t win.” Limoges, Montpellier 3, Aix-Mar- next steps. Around 300,000 people took part in accelerate. Meanwhile the student movement seille, Nancy, Metz, Avingon, Paris Their statement said, “Despite the some 190 demonstrations and rallies Pierre Brun, a rail worker, told continues to resist Macron’s plan 4, Bordeaux Victoire, IEP Paris and repression it is not, and never was, in France at the end of April, as the Socialist Worker, “We had a good to increase selection and make it Nanterre. time for negotiations and compro- battle continues against President demonstration in Lyon, 8,000 or harder to go to university—despite Sylvine, a student from Paris, told mise with the government. Emmanuel Macron’s neoliberal so. It felt strong and united. Lots of police attacks on occupations. Socialist Worker, “The movement is “We call on all students to esca- assault. different workers were on the streets The latest came at Tolbiac in not intimidated, we’re angry. late mobilisations and to take to the They brought together rail work- with us. Paris where cops seriously injured a “There are thousands of young streets on the rail strikers’ protests. ers, electricity and gas workers who “The number of train drivers number of people. people involved—against selection, We also call to participate in all the are fighting privatisation, civil ser- on strike doesn’t go down. Some with the strikers, against the new May Day marches and the 5 May vice workers, pensioners, students people miss a strike or two, others Occupations laws that crackdown on asylum. education strikes. and school students. come out. The government claims that only “There were lots of students on “To allow students to continue Rail workers are striking two “But the issue is how we’re going three universities now have any the demos last week. In 1968 when to struggle, we call for students to days in every five. to win. There will be big demos form of occupations going on. the students were attacked the be automatically marked as having The turnout was smaller than a around May Day. Good, but there But the main student union, unions called strikes. passed exams, and for occupations if united day of action on 22 March. has to be something that paralyses Unef, said on Monday that actions “We want that now—for them- universities don’t agree.” This time in most areas only the the country—a general strike, and continued at Rennes 1, Paris 3, Paris selves and for us.” Originally published in Socialist Worker CGT federation called people out. for more than one day. 8, IEP Lille, Toulouse 2, Rennes Representatives from 33 universi- UK: https://socialistworker.co.uk/

May 2018 Socialist Worker 3 it tends to go down—and this underlies the recurring crises in capitalism. At certain points this tips over into crisis, recession and slump. There are some counter-currents that stave off collapse. And bosses will constantly try new ways to survive and prosper. But Marx wrote that capitalist solu- REVOLUTIONARY tions to crisis only pave the way for “more extensive and destructive” ones. The falling rate of profit limits the rate of expansion of capitalism and discour- ages investment. Bosses can try and get more out of workers for less—increasing hours for no extra pay, or bringing in new pro- duction targets. But there are limits to IDEAS OF how hard workers can be pushed. And measures such as pay cuts mean people have less cash to buy goods and ser- vices, hitting profits elsewhere. Grave of Karl Marx at Highgate cemetery London Photo: Duncan Harris CC 2.0 Parisian workers take to the streets against Macron The crash of 2007-8 flowed from Capitalism to build real solidarity with those who bosses thinking they wouldn’t make Before the rise of capitalist society, face the daily reality of racism and enough from their investments and based on colonialism and the often vi- discrimination. therefore pushed them to find new ways KARL MARX olent expropriation of resources from Marx maintained that only workers of making money. France 1968-2018 those who lived in the “colonies,” mod- could free themselves—no one could They put their money in an ever more ern day racism as we know it did not do it for them. He argued that in strug- bizarre series of financial schemes based by Carolyn Egan every major US city which gave exist. In pre-capitalist societies there gle the working class would become a on an unsustainable expansion of credit. expression to the feelings of so was prejudice against strangers, or “class for itself”, one that consciously Eventually these growing debts In Paris, where workers are many. It has been 200 years since the birth of Karl Marx and his ideas are more relevant than those who lived in the next town, but fights for its own interests. couldn’t be repaid, and banks stopped fighting back against the neo- In 1968, John Carlos and there was no systematic categorization And the process of revolution would lending. The value of the debts, which liberal measures being imposed Tom Smith won their events ever. Much of what he predicted is coming to pass and the capitalist system is looking more of different “races” as inferior. not only transform the world but also the had been sold on, plummeted, spreading by the EU’s darling, Emmanuel at the Olympics and went to This understanding was something workers who made it. Marx wrote that crisis throughout the financial system. Macron, there are prominent the podium, raising their fists unstable each day. Faline Bobier looks back at Marx’s revolutionary ideas. that Karl Marx wrote about very compel- only through revolution can the working Competition and the pressure to placards reading “1968-2018”. in the Black Power salute. lingly in Capital, Vol. 1: “The discovery class “succeed in ridding itself of all the maximise profit also leads to overpro- They bring to mind the time The Black Panther Party was of gold and silver in America, the extir- muck of ages and become fitted to found duction. For example, car makers do not in 1968, fifty years ago, when organizing in city after city, pation, enslavement, and entombment society anew”. get together, calculate how many cars France saw the largest general rallying young Black people in mines of the indigenous population Today the working class makes up will be sold, and divide up production strike in history up until that to a revolutionary program. of the continent, the beginnings of the the majority of the world’s population. among themselves. time. This strike caused the It had broad popular support conquest and plunder of India, and the When the Communist Manifesto was government to panic because way beyond its numbers. The conversion of Africa into a preserve for written in 1848, it was a tiny minority. Unsold of the threat of a mobilized League of Revolutionary Black the commercial hunting of black skins But even then, Marx and Engels could Instead each tries to grab large parts working class. It showed the Workers was organizing auto are all things that characterize the dawn see that this class had the potential to of the market —and plans production world that the collective power of workers in Detroit and leading of the era of capitalist production.” end exploitation and class division for accordingly. Too many cars are pro- ordinary people can shake the walkouts. There were rank and by Faline Bobier peddled in mainstream educational achieve this society of plenty for In one sentence Marx encapsulates good. duced compared to the ability to buy foundations of capitalism if they file movements often led by institutions. According to this view all, because of the way production is immense amounts of human suffering, “The proletarians have nothing to them and then sit unsold. choose to use it. Black workers in the shipyards On this 200th anniversary of Marx’s of history, society moves forward be- organized, with the means of produc- from the genocide visited on First Na- lose but their chains,” they wrote. “They Bosses lay off workers and rein in and steel mills of the US. birth, it is timely to look at Marx’s cause of individual genius, separated tion controlled by a tiny minority of tions people in North America to the have a world to win.” investment. Some firms go bankrupt. World in Revolt The resistance to the war contributions to revolutionary thought from social relations and the rest of society, the ruling class—more wide- slave trade which saw Blacks forcibly Workers overall have less money and It was also the time when grew. What started off as small and practice – from the development society. ly known today as “the 1%”. removed from their homes to die on Crisis and Capitalism the crisis deepens. peasant guerillas in a small actions at draft boards and on of the method of historical material- This is why the study of history so Marx described the ruling class as a slave ships or to survive only to become During the recent stock market Marx noted that capitalism produces Asian nation stood up against university campuses became ism, to his critique and analysis of often seems to be reduced to memo- “band of warring brothers” in constant the property of white masters. panic some commentators reassured ever bigger monopolies over time as the strongest nation in the huge marches of hundreds of capitalism as an economic system and rizing the dates of kings and queens, competition with each other—giving us that the markets were just having “a bigger companies swallow up smaller world. The Tet offensive in Viet thousands happening in every his pinpointing of the working class emperors, presidents, prime ministers the system a relentless drive to expand. Divide and rule correction”. ones. Deeper crises are more likely as Nam began in January of 1968. country. This gave confidence to as the potential ‘gravediggers’ of that and so on. They are the “actors” that As Marx wrote in Capital, “Fanatically Racism is a double-edged sword. Its But whatever the ups and downs capitalism ages because the collapse The huge popular support shown the 100,000 young Americans system. make history, and the only role for the bent on making value expand itself, he first target is obviously those who suffer during the latest episode, Marxism can of bigger firms has a more widespread for the National Liberation Front who said no to the draft and rest of us is to look on in awe, or more (the capitalist) ruthlessly forces the most directly from prejudice and hatred. shook the US leaders. There refused to serve in the military. Historical materialism often, in terror, as they run roughshod human race to produce for produc- However, racism has another objective, were already a half a million Chants such as “Hey, hey LBJ, The 1859 preface to Marx’s A over our lives. tion’s sake.” Capitalism’s insatiable which is to bind those who share the American troops there and how many kids did you kill today” Contribution to the Critique of Politi- However, Marx turned this idea on drive has brought us in the 21st century same skin colour or religion or national General Westmoreland was became “Hell no. We won’t go”, cal Economy is probably the clearest its head and brought ordinary people to the edge of climate chaos and envi- affiliation, to their own ruling class. calling for another 200,000. and they didn’t. Eventually the US statement he made about the method onto the scene of history. According ronmental destruction. But the Achil- Marx understood that this false con- The anti-war movement was lost the war and withdrew. that would come to be known as his- to Marx’s conception history moves les heel of capitalism is that it can only sciousness or affiliation with one’s own growing massively. Martin Luther The 1960s gave the US ruling torical materialism: forward, not through the action of create and re-create itself through the ruling class could only divide the 99% King came out publicly against class a rude awakening. For “In the social production of their powerful individuals, but through labour of workers. and make it much more difficult for the war and was giving his so many years, big business existence, men [human beings] in- class struggle: Marx defined the working class ordinary people to make any gains. In support to trade union struggles and the US government worked evitably enter into definite relations, “At a certain stage of develop- on the basis, not of their salary or the following passage he explains how as well. He stood on a platform together to control society, but which are independent of their will, ment, the material productive forces self-definition, but on their objective English and Irish were set against each in New York City with Malcolm X because of the contradictions namely relations of production ap- of society come into conflict with Making the connections at a demonstration against Trump Photo: Robert Jones CC by 2.0 relationship to the means of produc- other and how this only benefited the in support of hospital workers. which had been developing for propriate to a given stage in the de- the existing relations of production tion. Workers are those of us who can bosses and the English ruling class: He was murdered in Memphis, years, it seemed suddenly there velopment of their material forces or — this merely expresses the same only survive by selling our labour “Every industrial and commercial Tennessee supporting striking was open rebellion and conflict of production. The totality of these thing in legal terms — with the prop- Unlike modern day politicians The great 19th century African power. So, although we are in that center in England now possesses a sanitation workers. which involved millions. We relations of production constitutes erty relations within the framework and mainstream media, Marx did not American abolitionist Frederick sense enslaved to capital, capital is working class divided into two hostile In the south, Black people are not at that point, but the the economic structure of society, of which they have operated hither- argue that the ascendancy of the bour- Douglass, who was born a slave, also dependent on us—and capitalism camps, English proletarians and Irish were not allowed to drink out of anger at the base of society, the the real foundation, on which arises to. From forms of development of the geois class and capitalist production once wrote “If there is no struggle, grows by producing its own gravedig- proletarians. The ordinary English the same water fountains, sit systemic racism and misogyny, a legal and political superstructure productive forces these relations turn represented the “best of all possible there is no progress.” Marx would ger, the working class. worker hates the Irish worker as a com- in the same restaurants, go to the volatility that exists in every and to which correspond definite into their fetters. Then begins an era worlds” and the end of history. He have agreed whole-heartedly with This dependence on the working petitor who lowers his standard of life. Student redecorate their classroom in Paris 1968 the same schools as whites. country is real and people forms of consciousness. The mode of of social revolution. The changes in saw capitalism as another stage in this statement. class can potentially be the down- In relation to the Irish worker he regards They were subject to Jim Crow desperately want change. production of material life conditions the economic foundation lead sooner the development of human society, In that sense, Marxism is both a fall of the system. Profits only come himself as a member of the ruling nation clearly explain why capitalism causes effect on the system as a whole. laws which denied them the right Today, French trade unionists the general process of social, politi- or later to the transformation of the one which could usher in socialism, hopeful and a realistic philosophy. from the exploitation of workers, and and consequently he becomes a tool of recurring crises. Marx explained how Capitalism has produced immense to vote, and in northern cities are harkening back to that time cal and intellectual life. It is not the whole immense superstructure. In an egalitarian society where all could Capitalism has long outlived its because of workers’ relationship to the English aristocrats and capitalists capitalism is based on bosses competing wealth. Yet people go without things subject to poverty, segregation because they remember the consciousness of men [human beings] studying such transformations, it is benefit from the immense amount of usefulness and is unequivocally a production—we create all the wealth against Ireland, thus strengthening their to make the most profits by exploiting they need while “too many” things and police violence. past, and are fighting the same that determines their existence, but always necessary to distinguish be- wealth created by the economic sys- force for destruction on a mass scale. in society, but have no control over domination over himself. He cherishes workers. are produced. And while this was going on, battles as their parents against their social existence that determines tween the material transformation of tem of capitalism. But unless humanity can successfully what is produced, how it is produced religious, social, and national prejudices Workers’ labour creates value, but Fortunately, Marx identified the Black, Puerto Rican, Chicano, the same forces that put profits their consciousness.” the economic conditions of produc- However, this wasn’t a foregone organize to overthrow the system we or who it is produced for—workers are against the Irish worker… This antago- they don’t get paid for the full amount. power to get rid of this system. Indigenous and white youths before people. These struggles Marx starts his examination of tion, which can be determined with conclusion. may well see what Marx described as constantly thrown into conflict with nism is the secret of the impotence of Instead, the boss keeps part of it as sur- Capitalism generates its own “grave were being drafted out of are happening all over the world human society with the material real- the precision of natural science, and “the ruin of the contending classes.” the bosses over working conditions, the English working class, despite its or- plus value, the source of profit. diggers” in workers, who have the their communities. They went – whether it’s rail workers in ity in which we find ourselves. It this the legal, political, religious, artistic Struggle Contradictions of capitalism wages, questions of democracy in the ganization. It is the secret by which the Competition pushes bosses to con- power to scrap capitalism and create off to Viet Nam in crisply France, farmers in India or our that determines our lived reality, not or philosophic — in short, ideolog- It’s sometimes argued that Marx In The Communist Manifesto Marx workplace. When workers withdraw capitalist class maintains its power. And stantly try and boost profits. They may a socialist society based on need not pressed uniforms and too fight in to maintain the the ideas in our heads, although there ical forms in which men become has an “instrumentalist” view of his- describes capitalism at its beginnings our collective labour power, the gears the latter is quite aware of this.” lay off workers to cut labour costs and profit. many returned in pine boxes. victory that a diverse movement is a complex interaction between ma- conscious of this conflict and fight tory – that Marx believed that history as a revolutionary system, because it of capitalism and the profits that flow As Marx also noted in writing about invest in new machinery to undercut We have come to a time in history 50,000 dead, hundreds of won for the $15 minimum wage. terial reality and the ideologies that it out.” would inevitably lead to socialism. creates, for the first time in human from it grind to a halt. the Civil War in the US, “Labor in the competitors. But because value comes when new challengers are showing thousands wounded. US cities The struggles of the sixties spring up to explain, or more often, to So, to understand historical On the contrary, to paraphrase history, the potential for liberation But Marx was aware of problems white skin can never free itself as long from workers’ labour, less value is cre- themselves willing and able to take were exploding. Black people have real lessons for today, obscure, that reality. events, such as the transition from Marx, human beings make history, but from want. Through the development in advancing the workers’ cause. The as labor in the black skin is branded.” ated compared to the amount of machin- on this monstrous system that Marx were no longer willing to accept that there is an alternative to This is a big advance over the feudalism to capitalism, you need not in conditions of their own choos- of industrial production, it became Communist Manifesto notes that the The “secret by which the capitalist ery used in the process of production. understood so profoundly. May the the intolerable conditions what is, and that our collective way that history is often viewed, i.e to see how the development of new ing. History moves forward through possible for every human being to be organisation of workers “is continu- class maintains its power” is this abil- Over time, bosses get a lower return revolutionary ideas of Karl Marx give under which they were forced power can once again shake the the Great Man (and less often, Great forms of production begins to under- class struggle, but the outcome of fed, clothed and housed. But as Marx ally being upset by the competition ity to pit one group against another. In on their investments. They are still mak- them inspiration and strategy for the to live. Uprisings occurred in foundations of capital. Woman) theory of history that is mine the old ruling structures. those struggles is not pre-determined. recognized capitalism would never between the workers themselves”. order to fight effectively it’s important ing billions in profit. But the rate of prof- struggles now and to come.

4 Socialist Worker May 2018 May 2018 Socialist Worker 5 Where we stand The dead-end of capitalism Doug Ford vs the Climate The capitalist system is based on violence, oppression and brutal exploitation. It creates hunger beside plenty, it threatens our sustenance through unsafe and unsustainable farming, and kills the earth itself with by Valerie Lannon pollution and unsustainable extraction of oil, minerals, animals, trees, and water. Capitalism leads to and war. Saving ourselves “Carbon tax is a terrible, terrible tax. and the planet depends on finding an alternative. I don’t even know why they put the word carbon in front of it. I don’t. It’s A system that is killing the planet just a tax. A tax is a tax,” said Doug Capitalist profits depend on extracting the world’s blood and bone. The Ford to a group of conservatives in Ot- devastating impact of capital’s assault on the planet affect the world’s tawa in March. As he later explained, most vulnerable populations and threaten the long-term meaningful “I’m excited for my friend Jason existence of humanity. Capitalism cannot regulate the catastrophic Kenney to get elected [in Alberta], at effects of climate change. We stand for climate justice, including the least we’ll be on [the same] side…If concept of “just transition” for affected workers. we have to [take the matter to court], we have to do it. We’ll do whatever it Socialism and workers’ power takes to make sure our businesses are Any alternative to capitalism must involve replacing the system from the competitive.” bottom up through radical collective action. Central to that struggle is the workplace, where capitalism reaps its profits off our backs. Carbon tax contradictions Capitalist monopolies control the earth’s resources, but workers Ford can grab on to the argument Doug Ford is not a friend of the planet everywhere actually create the wealth. A new socialist society can only that the carbon tax is just “tax and be constructed when workers collectively seize control of that wealth grab” and he’d be right—as long as and plan its production and distribution to satisfy human needs, not there is no requirement for revenues shortfall resulting from not implement- and moderate incomes, and other reve- corporate profits—to respect the environment, not pollute and destroy it. to go to clean energy investment and ing carbon taxes. And Ford’s threat to nues go to furthering actions to reduce refunds to low and middle income stop the $15/hr minimum wage would greenhouse gas emissions. Other calls Oppression people. Unless carefully designed, car- disproportionally impact Indigenous are for more investment in rapid transit, Within capitalist society different groups suffer from specific forms of bon taxes can act as a flat tax, unduly and migrant workers who are most stopping the privatization of Hydro oppression. Attacks on oppressed groups are used to divide workers penalizing low wage workers. impacted by climate disasters and most One, retrofitting buildings, reforestation, and weaken solidarity. We oppose racism and imperialism. We oppose Despite Ford’s ranting, carbon concentrated in low wage jobs. a just transition for workers, mandatory all immigration controls. We support the right of people of colour and taxing is most favoured by business joint union/management for workplace other oppressed groups to organize in their own defence. We are for real, (just like it supports “basic income”), Browning the Greenbelt environmental representatives, and social, economic and political equality for women. We are for an end because this tax is the least likely to A video surfaced during the cam- Community Benefit Agreements with to all forms of discrimination and homophobia against lesbians, gays, quickly, if ever, bring us to a fossil-free paign which showed Ford sitting with binding and equitable employment tar- bisexuals and transgender people. future. The various tax or cap-and- a group of developers and promising gets for major infrastructure projects. We oppose environmental racism. We oppose discrimination on the trade programs do not make the taxes to allow development in the greenbelt. Toronto 350 makes similar demands basis of religion, ability and age. nearly high enough to reduce emis- The Greenbelt is an environmental pro- and adds support for low-carbon jobs sions sufficiently to ward off climate tection area that surrounds the Toronto including a minimum wage increase Canada, , Indigenous Peoples catastrophe. area. Ford dismissed the protected area and enforcement of the Fair Workplac- Canada is not a “colony” of the United States, but an imperialist country This comes at a time when Earth’s as nothing but, “farmers fields”. es and Better Jobs Act (Bill 148) to in its own right that participates in the exploitation of much of the world. planetary boundaries continue to be After an outcry from farmers and recognize the important role low-carbon The Canadian state was founded through the repression of Indigenous breached whether we are talking about environmentalists, Ford was forced jobs—particularly in health, education peoples and the people of Quebec. hotter climate, ocean acidification, to back down from the proposal. It is and social services—play in our econo- We support the struggles for self-determination of Quebec and decreased biodiversity or any of a telling though that he was so willing my and the lives of working people. Indigenous peoples up to and including the right to independence. In host of indicators that measure how to put the natural world up for sale We must push the NDP provincially particular, we recognize Indigenous peoples’ original and primary right habitable our planet is for humans with such ease. We should expect more (and federally) to endorse and act to decide their fate and that of their lands, heritage, and traditions. and animals. Notwithstanding the of the same if he were to get elected. upon the Leap Manifesto. The NDP Socialists in Quebec, and in all oppressed nations, work to give the increased use of renewable energy and should challenge Ford’s contempt for struggle against national oppression an internationalist and working divestment from fossil fuels by some Climate justice: during the climate justice, expose the Liberals’ class content. major financial institutions, the use of election and beyond shortcomings and demand real climate fossil fuels also continues to increase But climate justice activists will not justice alternatives. We can stop fossil Internationalism globally—which is already disastrous be letting Ford or any other politician fuel use by ensuring a just transition The struggle for socialism is part of a worldwide struggle. We campaign for Indigenous communities whose off the hook. Plans are underway for a for fossil fuel workers, while expand- for solidarity with workers in other countries. We oppose everything that territories are poisoned by tar sands climate justice contingent in the June 16 ing and raising the wages of low car- turns workers from one country against those from other countries. We extraction, or migrants displaced by post-election rally called by the Fight bon economy. To push this we need support all genuine national liberation movements. climate disasters. for $15 and Fairness Campaign and the to build the climate justice movement The 1917 revolution in Russia was an inspiration for the oppressed By seizing on the shortcomings of Ontario Federation of Labour. so that it is truly a mass movement, everywhere. But it was defeated when workers’ revolutions elsewhere the carbon tax, Ford is trying to turn The Toronto Good Jobs For All involving high and low carbon were defeated. A Stalinist counter-revolution, which killed millions, the anger at Liberal austerity against coalition (made up of labour, environ- workers fighting for change. The next created a new form of capitalist exploitation based on state ownership the climate justice movement. So far mental and social justice organizations) step in Ontario is to build the biggest and control. In Eastern Europe, China and other countries, a similar the Tories have yet to say anything is developing a climate manifesto. An possible June 16 rally regardless of system was later established by Stalinist, not socialist, parties. We about addressing the climate in any early version calls for any carbon tax to who wins the election, raising climate support the struggle of workers in these countries against both private meaningful way, not even to say justice demands during the election and . be made conditional upon the require- how they will make up the $4 billion ment that refunds go to people on low and beyond.

Elections and democracy Elections can be an opportunity to give voice to the struggle for social Never miss Name: change. But under capitalism, they can’t change the system. The structures of the present parliament, army, police and judiciary protect an issue. Address: the ruling class against the workers. These structures cannot be simply Mail in this form with a cheque taken over and used by the working class. The working class needs Phone: real democracy, and that requires an entirely different kind of state—a or money order made payable to workers’ state based upon councils of workers’ delegates. “Socialist Worker”. E-mail: Prices per year (CAD dollars): Regular subscription: $30 Reform and revolution Mail to: Socialist Worker, PO Box 339 Every day, there are battles between exploiter and exploited, oppressor Institutions, First Class Station E, Toronto, ON Canada, M6H 4E3 and oppressed, to reform the system—to improve living conditions. delivery and U.S.: $50 Phone: 416.972.6391 / E-mail: [email protected] These struggles are crucial in the fight for a new world. To further these Other international: $60 struggles, we work within the trade unions and orient to building a rank and file movement that strengthens workers’ unity and solidarity. But the fight for reforms will not, in itself, bring about fundamental social change. The present system cannot be fixed or reformed as the Join the International Socialists NDP and many trade union leaders say. Nor can the system regulate itself to prevent environmental destruction and climate injustice. It has to Na me: City: be overthrown. That will require the mass action of workers themselves. Address: The revolutionary party E-mail: Phone: To achieve socialism the leading activists in the working class have to be organized into a revolutionary socialist party. The party must be a party Mail to: International Socialists, PO Box 339, Station E, Toronto, ON Canada, M6H 4E3 of action, and it must be democratic. We are an organization of activists Phone: 416.972.6391 / E-mail: [email protected] committed to helping in the construction of such a party through ongoing activity in the mass organizations of the working class and in the daily struggles of workers and the oppressed. If these ideas make sense to you, help us in this project, and join the International Socialists. Find us on: @socialist_ca \socialistca

6 Socialist Worker May 2018 Kinder Morgan New rules for Battle Heats Up immigrants with disabilities a step in the right direction by Melissa Graham

his April, the federal government finally announced changed to med- ical admissibility for immigrants to TCanada. If implemented properly – and that is a big if – the change would mean that many people living with HIV/AIDS and some migrant workers with children with disabilities would now be able to come to Canada. The government promised to increase the cost threshold for medical inadmissibil- ity to 3 times the previous level, and amend the definition of social services by remov- ing references to special education, social and vocational rehabilitation services and personal support services. Demand full repeal These changes are largely thanks to the persistent pressure by migrant worker Threats of state violence aren’t stopping the Kinder Morgan opposition activists, disability activists, and many others across the country. But these changes are far from the full by Graeme Cheadle of the pipeline, claiming that the federal gov- until May 31st to guarantee that the project repeal that activists demanded. Canada will ernment has absolute authority on inter-pro- would go ahead or it would pull out of the continue to deny permanent residency to he battle over the Kinder Morgan’s vincial energy projects (despite a brewing project. In response, both the federal and Al- some families if one member of the family planned TransMountain pipeline ex- scandal which has suggested that the National berta governments announced the possibility of has disabilities, against the recommendation pansion project, which would transport Energy Board process which approved the nationalizing the pipeline in order to guarantee of the Standing Committee on Citizenship T diluted bitumen from the tar sands of TransMountain expansion was rigged from the its successful implementation. It was initially and Immigration. Alberta to a terminus in Burnaby for export outset), and when asked, neither Minister of reported that this would see as much as $2 The changes also did not say what would (increasing tanker traffic in Burrard Inlet by Natural Resources Jim Carr (previously on re- billion of public funds directed toward the happen with immigrants already in the 600%), may be entering a terminal phase. After cord as advocating the use of military force to failed private sector initiative, but according country, meaning there is doubt that many growing protests and the resolute determina- ensure the pipeline’s completion) nor Minister to the former chief executive of oil giant Trans migrant workers who spoke out about this tion of (primarily indigenous) land defenders of Infrastructure and Communities Amarjeet Mountain Corp., the real figure could easily be injustice will be reunited with their families. who continue to occupy strategic points along Sohi would rule out the use of military force as high as $10 billion: The Federal government’s press re- the pipeline’s proposed route, it seems that the against protesters and land defenders. “The only way [the project] could go lease read “Government of Canada brings company has blinked. The federal government has been warn- ahead is if the government was to indemnify medical inadmissibility policy in line with This spring has seen hundreds of protest- ing about the “threat” posed by an emerging Kinder Morgan against a failed project halfway inclusivity for persons with disabilities”, but ers arrested in various actions on Burnaby alliance between environmental activists and through [which is] a $10 billion dollar indem- in reality that system is still intact. Canada Mountain (including federal Green Party MP indigenous land defenders since the days of nity,” Hal Kvisle said. continues to break domestic and interna- Elizabeth May and NDP MP Kennedy Stew- , and Trudeau, despite his Such is the determination of the Canadian tional rules regarding discrimination against art), as well a visit to the blockades by Grand lofty rhetoric about reconciliation, has proven ruling class to rest its fortunes on energy ex- persons with disabilities. Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the Union that this is a thoroughly bipartisan consen- traction, no matter how harmful, controversial The Immigration Minister said, “These of BC Indian Chiefs, along with several other sus, assuring attendees at a Texas oil and gas or even potentially illegal such projects may newcomers are not a burden to Canada” prominent aboriginal leaders and activists. conference last year that “No country would be. After the defeat of the Energy East and but kept in place a system that treats people More actions are planned. find 173 billion barrels of oil in the ground Northern Gateway pipelines, it will no doubt with disabilities precisely as burdens. Our The future of the project has been up in the and just leave them there,” despite his promise become more determined in it efforts to ram work is far from over. air however since the surprise announcement the previous year that “governments grant through pipelines to whichever coast it can by Kinder Morgan that it would cease all permits, communities grant permission” and reach. “non-essential” funding on the project until the well-established opposition to the pipeline How events on the ground play out from the various levels of government involved by First Nations along its entire route, from here depend on the steadfast determination of could work out their differences. The com- the Secwepemc to the Tsleil-Waututh, not to the indigenous land defenders, environmental pany stated that it could not mediate between mention consensus by the world’s leading cli- activists, and socialists. feuding governments and would therefore mate scientists that the oil in the tar sands must not expose its investors to unnecessary risk, indeed stay there in perpetuity if the planet’s To donate to the legal campaigns of the ar- even laying off construction workers while biosphere is to have any chance of long-term rested activists and for updates on anti-Kind- the standoff lengthens, though activists note survival. er Morgan protests, go to https://protectthein- that construction equipment continued to be With his own political survival likely in let.ca/, or visit Camp Cloud (located at the moved on site and tree-clearing efforts appar- mind (a recent poll suggested an incredible corner of Underhill Avenue and Shellmont ently continued for days after the announce- 10% of British Columbians would be will- Street in Burnaby, across the street from ment. ing to engage in direct action to prevent the main gate of the Kinder Morgan facility) pipeline from being built), BC Premier John or the nearby Tsleil-Waututh Watch House State Threats Horgan recently inquired with the BC Court of (about 500 meters east of the main gate of the • For more information, and to sign The Canadian state, meanwhile, is not pre- Appeal about the province’s right to regu- Kinder Morgan facility, along a hiking trail) the petition, please go to http://www. pared to allow the plan to fail without a fight. late pipelines. In its public statement Kinder to donate money, food, supplies or time.ity, migrantworkersalliance.org/ Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Prime Morgan essentially issued an ultimatum to the along a hiking trail) to donate money, food, Minister Justin Trudeau are ardent supporters various governments involved that they had supplies or time.

May 2018 Socialist Worker 7 $2 | No 604 | May 2018 | socialist.ca Why Vote NDP? lections will not, on their own, bring of its connection to labour. about the world we wish to see: a world There is a long and important history in without hunger and racism and war and the union movement. Traditions of collective Eenvironmental destruction. Real change struggle already create a very different way of comes through extra-parliamentary struggles looking at the world. Unions have spoken out which shapes people’s ideas and leads them against racism and war and have fought many towards a challenge to the system as a whole. battles to make things better for working peo- But elections are, nevertheless, important. ple. Most importantly, unions, by their very They have impacts in both the material and nature are an expression of the division of ideological realm and they cannot be simply society into classes. One of the key tools that discounted because of the limitations inherent the ruling 1% use to cement their power is to in the process. argue that “we are all in this together” even as they grow rich on the work of others. The Who are the Liberals? existence of unions belies that falsehood. During every election in Canada, there are For the right wing this connection to the calls for people to vote strategically. Usually unions is one of the main reasons they oppose this means a vote for the Liberals as a means the NDP. It is also why the NDP always fights to stop the Conservatives gaining power. But an uphill battle in the media, regardless of we must assess what that means in practice. how timid their program is. The bosses realise Liberal governments talk a good game as that a party that represents the need for work- progressives, but when challenged, they show ers to have their own party is a threat, and their face as a party of the 1%. When college therefore attack it or push it to the right. faculty went on strike in Ontario, the Liberals It is also one of the reasons why we must legislated them back to work thus eliminating The NDP contingent at the International Women’s day march in Toronto critically support them. In the aftermath of the power of collective bargaining as a tool to an election, if the NDP is decimated and the lift them out of precarity. of healthcare in Canada but again they only liamentary process as the main vehicle for Conservatives grow, the right wing, the boss- It was the Liberals in this province that brought about universal care because activists change inevitably leads them to further capit- es and the bigots all feel buoyed and they privatized Hydro so they could pocket a bit marched and rallied and made this happen. ulations to the system which will move them will push even harder for their agenda. of cash and make the books look balanced. It can be hard to think of good reasons to rightward as well. If the left gains, it can give hope and con- Those privatization schemes have always vote for the NDP. When they have achieved fidence to those who wish to challenge the benefited the rich at the expense of the rest power, they often move significantly to the Role of Labour system and bring about some real change. of us. The Liberals are always ready to make right making them seem indistinguishable While the NDP often looks like it is floun- All these reasons are why we call for a their Bay street buddies richer and they are from the other parties. This has as much to do dering and their platforms are a far cry from critical vote for the NDP. We are critical backed by many of the same corporate inter- with the control of the political system by the what most progressives would like to see, because they are to the right of where they ests that support the Conservatives. corporations and the rich. Those forces have there is a specific difference between them should be and when in power they are often The Wynne Liberals in Ontario didn’t rigged the system so that whoever is elected, and the Liberals and Tories. They are a party a disappointment. But a destroyed NDP raise the minimum wage because they are they remain in power. So the NDP, because that was born out of the labour movement, would mean the Liberals would have no-one truly progressive. They did so because there they have decided to play the parliamentary and they still maintain a connection to the nipping at their heels from the left and things was a movement on the ground to force their game, becomes beholden to that agenda. unions. Some of the best trade union activists would go from bad to worse for working hand. They may call themselves the party The fact that they also look to the par- are NDP supporters because of the tradition people. Fight on class issues With the provincial election looming, what is Doug Ford is the solution to these problems. This the threat of Ford and the possibility of a Tory election, and by putting pressure on the NDP to the situation confronting working class people in is despite the fact that it was the Harris Tories government in Ontario. come out swinging to the left in a real way. Ontario? which initially floated the idea of privatizing But that can’t be done by trying to convince • In urban areas, housing prices have skyrock- Hydro and were responsible for many of the pol- working people that the Liberals are a better al- What is the NDP saying? eted and rental costs have ballooned. In rural icies which have exacerbated rising inequality in ternative, or through “strategic” voting. The NDP announced a wide ranging progres- areas, hydro bills have soared. Ontario Defeating Ford can happen by doing what was sive program including $12 day care, universal • Hospitals face chronic under-staffing. Seniors The Labour movement needs to take seriously done on the ground to stop Tim Hudak in the last pharmacare, free dental care for lower income line the hallways on gurneys in waiting rooms workers, a huge investment in hospitals and a across the province, while nurses and hospital conversion of all student debt to grants. staff work longer and longer hours. This will be paid for by increased taxes on cor- • Workers have seen pensions get gobbled up porations and the wealthy. The strong platform by greedy bankers and bosses such as Sears, US can be a game changer for the NDP. But, the Steel, Toys R Us. key for activists will be to keep pressure on NDP • Wages have stagnated under the Liberals, candidates to actually campaign on this platform yet salaries for CEOs have grown exponentially. to make it a tool to relate to the class anger that The gap between the rich and the rest of us is the Ford is attempting to harness. largest in almost a century. The Tories and Liberals are the twin parties of • The Sunshine list grows, as more and more the rich and powerful, despite attempts to portray CEOs and top managers of hospitals, Hydro, themselves as friends of workers. school boards and Metrolinx line their own The way to stop Ford is to mobilise at the base pockets while jacking up costs and driving down of our unions and in communities and the NDP services. can help by pushing an unapologetically left 15 years of Liberal rule hasn’t made life easier platform. for working class people in Ontario. Bills keep We need the NDP to campaign not to just win piling up while bankers and bosses keep raking seats but to raise class issues such as defending it in. women’s rights, fighting for pensions, defend- Sadly, the Tories have been able to tap into this ing and extending the gains from the fight for anger at watching the rich get richer while the $15 and fairness and renationalizing Hydro. rest of us struggle to keep our heads above water. Working people are looking for a true alterna- Their front group, , tive to the Liberals. Fighting on class issues will outrageously uses the slogan of the Labour Party expose the Tories and stop them from capturing in Britain, “for the many not the few”, to claim Only class issues can defeat the bosses parties Photo: Ontario Health Coalition that anger for themselves.