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Ken Kalturnyk and Karen Naylor 4 from the Food Bank to the Luggage Carousel

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Ken Kalturnyk and Karen Naylor 4 from the Food Bank to the Luggage Carousel #15 JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2007 $3.00 R EA SOCIALISTL PROJECTA Y REVIEW ISRAELI APARTHEID, ISRAELI WARS • U.S. ELECTIONS AMERICA SINKING? • CUBA IN THE COMING PERIOD PINOCHET IS GONE • DEMOCRACY IN GREECE About Relay Relay, A Socialist Project Review, intends to act as a forum for conveying and debating current issues of importance to the Left in Ontario, Editor: Canada and from around the world. Contributions to the re-laying of the foun- Peter Graham dations for a viable socialist politics are welcomed by the editorial committee. Culture Editor: Tanner Mirrlees Relay is published by the Socialist Project. Signed articles reflect the opinions Web Editor: of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the editors. Pance Stojkovski Advisory Board: About the Socialist Project Greg Albo Len Bush The Socialist Project does not propose an easy politics for defeating capitalism Yen Chu or claim a ready alternative to take its place. We oppose capitalism out of Carole Conde necessity and support the resistance of others out of solidarity. This resistance Bryan Evans creates spaces of hope, and an activist hope is the first step to discovering a Richard Fidler new socialist politics. Through the struggles of that politics – struggles informed Matt Fodor by collective analysis and reflection – alternatives to capitalism will emerge. Jess MacKenzie Such anti-capitalist struggles, we believe, must develop a viable working class nchamah miller politics, and be informed by democratic struggles against racial, sexist and Govind Rao homophobic oppressions, and in support of the national self-determination of Richard Roman the many peoples of the world. In Canada and the world today, there is an im- Ernie Tate perative for the Left to begin a sustained process of reflection, struggle and Carlos Torres organizational re-groupment and experimentation. Neither capitalism nor Elaine Whittaker neoliberalism will fade from the political landscape based on the momentum of their own contradictions and without the Left developing new political capacities. Printed by: We encourage those who share this assessment to meet, debate and begin to OpenPrinted Door by: Press make a contribution to a renewed socialist project in your union, school and WinnipegOpen Door Press Winnipeg community. For more information on the Socialist Project check our web-site at www.socialistproject.ca or e-mail us at [email protected]. Subscribe & Donate! $15 for an annual subscription of six issues. $20 for a bundle of ten issues. Relay is financed soley by donations from its supporters. Please send cheques payable to Socialist Project. PO Box 85 Station E Toronto, Ontario M6H 4E1 January/ RELAY February #15 CONTENTS 2007 Canada A Proposal for a Discussion on Party Building ............................Ken Kalturnyk and Karen Naylor 4 From the Food Bank to the Luggage Carousel ......................................................Kevin Skerrett 5 It’s Time to Wise Up, Fellow Workers: The IWW in Canada ...................................... Len Wallace 6 Venezuelan Solidarity Wins New Ground in Toronto............................................ Suzanne Weiss 8 U.S. Mid-term Elections The ‘I Am Fed Up’ Vote: A Quick Look at the Nov. 7 Elections ...............................Bill Fletcher Jr. 9 The 2006 U.S. Congressional Election: Hold the Champagne ..................................Simon Enoch 10 Middle East Continuing Gains in the Struggle Against Israeli Apartheid ........................................... Zac Smith 12 Far From Being the Last Arab-Israeli War .........................................................Hassan Husseini 14 Labour Echoes of the 1930s ........................................ Sedef Arat-Koc, Aparna Sundar and Bryan Evans 16 Challenging Wal-Mart .................................................................................. Herman Rosenfeld 18 Cuba Cuba: The Trials and Tribulations of Socialism ............................. Carlos Torres & Carolyn Watson 23 Cuba’s Revolution Marks its 50th Anniversary ..........................................................John Riddell 26 The British Left and the Anti-imperialist Struggle .......................................................... Ernie Tate 29 Culture Front ‘Neoliberalism and Canada’s Ruling Class’ .................................................................Greg Albo 32 The Orientalist Technique and the Western Media ...........................................Nishant Upadhyay 34 International Pinochet is Gone but Neoliberalism Remains ........................................................ Carlos Torres 35 Epitaph to the death of Death .............................................................................. Carlos Torres 36 Is the Big Ship America Sinking? Contradictions and Openings ................................ Sam Gindin 38 Greek Democracy in the Post-Euro Era ....................................................Michalis Spourdalakis 42 Quebec Canada, Quebec and the Left: Outflanked Again? ..................................................... Nathan Rao 46 Quebec Solidaire Adopts a Program for Government .............................................. Richard Fidler 51 A Proposal for a Discussion Ken Kalturnyk and Karen Naylor on Party Building In the autumn of 1998 San Gindin wrote an essay entitled: “Is every party there the Party Over?” In that essay he presented the thesis that the are complaints NDP could not be considered a party of socialism and that a new about the usurp- party was needed to lead the struggle against neoliberalism and ing of the rights of for the construction of socialism. However, he noted, correctly in the members by our opinion, that conditions did not exist at that time to establish the executive. Lack such a party. Therefore, he proposed an interim measure, the cre- of internal democ- ation of an organization that was more than a movement or coalition racy is also re- and less than a party – a structured movement against capitalism. flected in the fail- That essay sparked a heated discussion in socialist circles ure or refusal of individuals or groups of individuals to carry out and led to several attempts to create such an organization, includ- decisions that have been taken collectively. ing Rebuilding the Left, Structured Movement Against Capital- The problems of democracy are not easy to solve, whether ism and Socialist Project. These experiments have met with vary- within a single organization or within society as a whole. On the ing degrees of success. one hand, the broadest possible democracy is crucial in releasing In the July-August issue of Relay Sam revisited this ques- the initiative and creativity of the members; on the other hand, tion in the article “Beyond the CAW-NDP Divorce: Towards a New without a strong executive there is no focus and very little gets Politics?” Once again he noted that a new socialist party is needed accomplished. On the one hand, democracy is undermined if the but that conditions do not yet exist for its creation. He then went minority refuses to accept the will of the majority; on the other on to propose the establishment of People’s Assemblies as an hand, democracy is undermined if the opinions of the minority interim measure. We agree with Sam’s assessment regarding the are ignored and their rights are trampled on. On the one hand, lack of conditions to establish a new party. We also agree that democracy works best in small groups of 10 or less; on the other some form of mass organization for the broader movement is required hand, effectiveness dictates large organizations. In other words, and People’s Assemblies may be the answer. However, we do not there is a constant balancing act between the rights of the indi- believe that the establishment of such organizations will get us any vidual members and the interests of the collective, between de- closer to establishing a new party. In fact, in some ways we think it mocracy and effectiveness. Having said that, if socialists cannot represents a step backward from Sam’s earlier proposal. solve these fundamental problems of democracy within their own In our view the problem stems from our collective hope that organizations, how are we going to solve them at the level of soci- conditions for establishing a new party will emerge spontaneously ety as a whole? in the course of carrying out joint political organizing in the broader Of course, the issue of internal democracy is not the only movement. However, six years of this kind of activity has brought problem facing a political party. There are also the problems of us no closer to our goal. We would suggest that unless the revo- achieving a balance between theory and practice, between elec- lutionary socialists create such conditions on a systematic basis toral and movement work, between intellectuals and workers, be- conditions to establish a party will never exist. If we do not begin tween local and national work, and so on. Nor is all of the experi- discussions about what kind of party we want and what kind of ence of past party-building negative. However, the main hang-up party we need, the project will never get off the ground. at present seems to be on the issue of internal democracy, so that We fully recognize the reality that many, many people who would seem like the logical place to start. consider themselves socialists, communists or revolutionaries We are not suggesting that individuals and groups should have had negative experiences with political parties spanning the drop their
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