Mission Impossible? Building A Socialist /Nationalist Party in

Michael Behiels

Roch Denis, Luttes de classes et question nationale au Québec 1948-1968 (Montréal: Presses socialistes internationales 1979). Pierre Foumier, The Québec Establishment. The Ruling Class and the State (Montréal: Black Rose Books, 2nd Revised Edition 1976). Pauline Vaillancourt, guest editor, QUÉBEC and the Parti Québécois (San Francisco: A Synthesis Publication 1979).

RECENTLY, THE EDITOR of Saturday Night commented that one of the most striking features of recent intellectual life in Canada was the proliferation of Marxist and neo-Marxist academics and literature. Nowhere has the phenome­ non become more generalized and entrenched than in Quebec where Marxist ideology in all its forms and varieties permeates the labour movement, the co-operative movement, and secondary and post-secondary education. As a consequence the intellectual discourse in the electronic and print media over the past 15 years has been extremely lively and, upon occasion, quite revealing about the socio-economic and political turmoil sweeping through Quebec soci­ ety. Little of this material has, until recently, been made available to the English language reader and this is one of the basic advantages of the books being reviewed below. The Québec Establishment by Pierre Fournier was completed at a most opportune moment and was widely acclaimed by reviewers in all parts of the country. Many of them saw in Fournier's study readymade answers to their nervous questions about the demise of 's Liberal party and the rise to power of René Lévesque's Parti Québécois. A careful second reading will, no doubt, bring many of these reviewers to question the long-term impli­ cations of the seemingly insurmountable hegemony of the corporate sector in our liberal democratic social welfare state societies. Fournier*s conclusions are not reassuring but deeply pessimistic. Pierre Fournier's perspective is that of a Marxist-inspired political scientist who believes that "the functions of the state are primarily determined by the structures of capitalist society rather than by the individuals who occupy posi­ tions of state power." (201) Consequently, for Fournier the source of the political power of the capitalist class "is not greedy business leaders or corrupt politicians but results rather from their dominant ownership and control of the means of production, and the ideological hegemony which they exercise over Michael Behiels, "Mission Impossible? Building A Socialist/Nationalist Parly in Quebec," LabourIU Travailleur, 7 (Spring 1981), 156-164. REVIEW ESSAYS 157

the entire society." (201) While the state Again there are no major surprises offered does function in the interests of the in the chapter on the ideology of business capitalist system it is, nonetheless, rela­ élites. Nearly 85 per cent of respondanis tively autonomous and does, at times, maintained that the main economic func­ introduce policies and programs which are tion of government was to create the eco­ neither initiated nor supported by the busi­ nomic conditions for the growth of the ness sector. What Fournier does private sector. When asked what was the demonstrate convincingly in this study is most important problem facing business in the inordinately comprehensive influence Quebec, 24 per cent replied Quebec's and power wielded by the Quebec business weak economic structure, 33 per cent elites, French and English, over the state answered unemployment and inflation and even after the not so "" 30 per cent pointed to social unrest and and its associated socio-economic and labour problems. There were only minor political reforms. variations between French- and English- Fournier's approach is two-fold. Fol­ speaking respondants, leading one to lowing in the footsteps of Porter's The Ver­ believe that money, shared ideology, and tical Mosaic, Mill's The Power Elite, and socio-economic class can do much to Miliband's The State in Capitalist Society, undermine ethnic conflict. While part I of Fournier's study focuses on the Quebec's Francophone and Anglophone institutional and ideological factors which corporations have developed separate lob­ account for business's influence and power bying forces — Board of Trade, Chambre in Quebec. Part II of the study is devoted to de Commerce, Canadian Manufacturers' demonstrating how Quebec's business Association (Quebec) and the Centre des community uses its power by concentrat­ Dirigeants d'Entreprise — their message ing on three important issue-areas: educa­ for and requests from the government are tion and language, labour and social mat­ strikingly similar. The whole structure is ters, and economic development. Four- crowned by the Conseil du Patronat du nier's primary source was a lengthy ques­ Québec with 130 member associations rep­ tionnaire sent to senior level management resenting the employers of more than 80 of 100 Quebec major corporations and per cent of Quebec's manpower. The Con­ financial institutions. He supplemented seil's leadership is predominantly Franco­ this data with a number of interviews, sev­ phone while the financial backing is eral business publications, and the four mainly from the large English-Canadian daily newspapers. corporations. Those in the Parti In the section on the components of Québécois who count on the support of the business power Fournier's study simply disadvantaged Francophone business com­ confirms most of what is already current munity for their sovereignty- wisdom about the nature of business and association/social-democratic master plan the corporate élite in modern Quebec. had better take heed of Foumier's findings. Using a Parti Québécois study Fournier If the traditional pattern of business contends that 62 corporations control over access to government prevailed after 15 50 per cent of Quebec's industrial produc­ November 1976 then the PQ government tion and within each industrial sector a few has no doubt heard the business point of corporations dominate production and dis­ view on all matters related to its interests. tribution. Fournier offers no reliable data Foumier's data reveals that big business on the precise extent and influence of executives enjoyed privileged access to Quebec's financial institutions apart from senior civil servants and cabinet ministers the very vague and general comments of during the Bourassa administration. In Peter Newman on the high level of concen­ short, political parties were virtually by­ tration in the Canadian banking system. passed as the big business community did 158 LABOUR/LE TRAVAILLEUR not (and does not) consider them effective who were more directly affected by the and influential vehicles for advancing or language issue and were not about to be protecting its interests. One of the major subjected to an entente cordiale between advantages of direct personal contacts with business and government. Similarly, on deputy ministers and cabinet ministers or the issue of separatism, the Bourassa gov­ the premier is, of course, secrecy. The ernment's continual emphasizing of the serious implications for parliamentary "economic disaster" thesis advanced so democracy and responsible government vociferously by the Quebec business com­ are self-evident, but as long as the general munity eventually backfired in the 1976 public remains unaware and unconcerned election. The strategy made the Bourassa the direct and highly confidential personal government appear to be the mouthpiece of contacts between business and government one segment of society, the corporate sec­ will guarantee the hegemony of the influ­ tor, which in the minds of a majority of ence and power of the corporate sector Francophone Quebecers was almost exclu­ over the political decision-making pro­ sively English-Canadian and American. cess. The relative autonomy of the state While these cavils do not weaken Four­ will be eroded to the point of total ineffec­ nier's thesis of business hegemony, they tiveness. Finally, it has become almost a truism to state that the electronic and print do illustrate that there is a point of media have become an industry dominated diminishing returns. The Parti Québécois by big businessmen. Quebec's communi­ is no doubt much more aware of this cations industry is a highly concentrated dynamic than previous Quebec govern­ and profitable segment of the provincial ments and consequently its bargaining economy and like other institutions plays position vis-à-vis business has been an active role in "legitimizing" the exist­ enhanced. Whether or not the PQ govern­ ing power structure. ment will capitalize on the new dynamic depends on a number of factors, the most How effectively has Quebec's business important being the state of the economy establishment used its hegemony over the and the commitment of caucus and cabinet province's institutional structures?Moder­ to break with the entrenched pattern of ately effectively as perceived by the busi­ business/government relations. ness community itself and highly effec­ Foumier's chapter on social and labour tively according to Fournier's overall issues is less than successful because it assessment, at least for the period prior to does not prove categorically that the corpo­ 1976. Fournier reveals that the business rate sector was able to prevent the community had considerable influence on implementation in the period 1960-74 of the Gendron Commission and its language labour and social legislation which it con­ recommendations, and advised the sidered inimical to its interests. Much of Bourassa government on the formulation the Bourassa government's problem with of its language legislation introduced and organized labour came from public and passed as Bill 22. Unfortunately, Foumier para-public sector unions and the govern­ fails to push his analysis far enough. While ment had its own internal reasons for Bill 22 was generally acceptable to the opposing the common front strategy of the business community, it proved unaccepta­ CSN, the CEQ, and the FTQ. ble to all immigrant groups as well as to the Where Quebec's corporate sector, majority Francophone population. This argues Foumier, had the most direct and, was a classic example of the business com­ to it, satisfactory influence was in the area munity and the government becoming vic­ of government economic policy. Since timized by a long-established pattern. 1960, the intervention of successive They simply forgot that there were other Quebec governments in the provincial interest groups, larger and more vocal, economy through state economic institu- REVIEW ESSAYS 159 lions such as Hydro-Québec, Quebec Fournier's Marxism has brought him to Deposit and Investment Fund, and the elaborate a far too categorical assessment General Investment Corporation has been of the power and influence of the Quebec generally interpreted as an indication of establishment. The deck, it appears from the majority Francophone political elite's all the evidence provided, is clearly desire to create an economic power base stacked and the prospect of providing an independent from the Anglophone- effective counterforce to the ongoing dominated private sector. An activist and hegemony of the corporate sector is non­ interventionist state would end the eco­ existent under our existing socio-economic nomic inferiority of the Québécois and structures. The future, it appears, is bleak make them "masters in their own house." indeed. There is, nevertheless, a second A reasonably thorough assessment of the school of thought for those who are com­ Quebec government's services to industry, mitted to a reform strategy of gradualism. its refusal to adopt an entrepreneurial role This approach is used by John Richards in crucial resource sectors, namely mining and Larry Pratt in their recent study and pulp and paper, its business-oriented Prairie Capitalism: Power and Influence budgets, and the plethora of state eco­ in the New West (Toronto 1978). This nomic institutions beings Fournier to the detailed analysis of the politics of resource following conclusion: "Despite increased development — oil and natural gas in government spending and intervention in Alberta and potash in Saskatchewan — economic affairs, the Quebec government brings Pratt and Richards to conclude that had played primarily a service role towards there has been a genuine "movement away business and had not significantly from dependent regional capitalism... the increased its own power. Put another way, break with rentier traditions has occurred the increasing economic activities of the when provincial governments have deter­ Quebec state in the last decade did not pro­ mined to exploit the region's comparative vide a serious challenge to the economic advantage in mineral staples, and have power of private enterprise." (165-166) mobilized the required domestic entrepre­ Finally, in this revised edition Foumier neurial skills to capture the potential bene­ offers a few comments on the Parti fits from oil, gas and potash develop­ Québécois and the power of business. For ment." (328) In short, provincial govern­ Fournier the PQ victory will not bring about ments can extract for their citizens a a break with recent developments nor mark greater proportion of the economic rent in the beginning of a new era in state-business the staples industries if they are ideologi­ relations. On the contrary, the cally oriented to exercise entrepreneurial sovereignty-association scheme is merely initiative and if they maintain the support the logical culmination of the economic of relevant indigenous classes and interest and political ambitions of the Francophone groups. An analysis of resource and indus­ state and petty bourgeoisie. A politically trial development from this non-Marxist independent Quebec state, contends Four­ perspective would, no doubt, have led nier, under the direction of a PQ govern­ Foumier to significantly different conclu­ ment, would benefit the new and old sions. If the PQ can simply claim that its French-Canadian middle classes at the options and autonomy are severely cir­ expense of the English-Canadian middle cumscribed by the "system," then the old and upper classes as well as the vast major­ or restructured Quebec establishment will ity of Quebec's working people. Industrial maintain its hegemony. monopoly capitalism and the concomitant influence and power of the corporate sector Roch Denis' Luttes de classes et ques­ would flourish and prosper. tion nationale au Québec 1948-1968 is a highly pretentious title for what is essen­ No doubt, many readers will feel that tially a descriptive analysis of why a 160 LABOUR/LE TRAVAILLEUR

genuine workers' party has failed to trals, the Confédération des travailleurs emerge in Quebec. The Parti Québécois, Catholiques du Canada (CTCQ and the in Denis' view, is the direct consequence Fédération Provinciale du Travail du of the inability of organized labour, social Québec (FPTQ) were not, for various rea­ democrats, and socialists to support the sons, supportive of the CCF or any other creation of a labour party committed to the form of direct political action via affilia­ simultaneous achievement of two funda­ tion with a labour party. When FUIQ and the mental objectives — national indepen­ FPTQ amalgamated in February 1957 to dence and the independence of the working form the Fédération des Travailleurs du class. The author follows a Whiggish inter­ Québec (PTQ) the tradition of political pretation in its most crude form. All action of the industrial unions came to socio-economic and political develop­ dominate the new labour central. ments in the 20-year period beginning in Along with this commitment to politi­ 1948 are made to appear as if they are almost an inevitable step by step march cal action the industrial unions brought toward the two major developments of into the FTQ a deep and serious division 1968 — the creation of the Parti between activists who favoured organized Québécois and the victory of the federal labour's affiliation with the CCF and mili­ Liberal party under the leadership of Pierre tants who argued strongly for the creation Elliott Trudeau. of a totally new Quebec-based third party. As Denis attempts to show, in a rather dis­ Denis does not begin to deal with the jointed and somewhat unclear way, both central theme of the study, the emergence groups supported the Canadian Labour of a labour party, until chapter six ! Every­ Congress/CCF campaign for the creation of thing described up to that point — rambl­ a new labour party, namely the New ing historical preamble, a synopsis of the Democratic Party, but for quite divergent undemocratic state of Quebec's socio- and, some would argue, fundamentally cultural and political institutions in 1959, exclusive reasons. The division was the economic and political inferiority of glossed over for five years as proponents of the French-Canadian nation, and the post­ both groups somehow deluded themselves war origins of the grass-root revolt against into believing that what would eventually the Duplessis régime — should all have emerge would be two parties, a provincial been synthesized in a couple of analytical based national NDP organization devoted to chapters. Furthermore, Jean-Louis Roy's federal matters and a social-democratic or La March des Québécois (Montréal 1976) offers a much more comprehensive socialist Quebec party devoted to serving description of the grass-roots opposition to the particular needs of the province of the ancien régime epitomized by Quebec, a province unlike the others Duplessis and the . because it was the homeland of the French-Canadian nation. The strategy Ever since its inception the CCF, prima­ exploded in the face of both factions as it rily for religious and nationalist reasons, proved impossible to create a national had remained a fringe movement/party in labour party along bi-national lines. It was the province of Quebec. Hopes were raised one thing for delegates at the NDP founding when in 1952 Quebec's industrial unions convention in 1961 to pass a resolution created the Fédération des Unions Indus­ supporting the "two nations" concept but trielles du Québec (FUIQ). Affiliated with quite another to apply that concept directly the Canadian Congress of Labour, FUIQ's to the structure of the new party. The organizers and supporters were eager to "national question," as Denis character­ undertake a degree of political action on izes it, would prove to be an insurmounta­ the provincial as well as the federal level ble barrier to the establishment of the NDP via the CCF. Quebec's two other union cen­ at both the provincial and federal levels in REVIEW ESSAYS 161

Quebec. natJonalists' commitment to the survival Given this crucial role of nationalism, and épanouissement of the French- a major flaw in Denis' study is the com­ Canadian nation. This development took plete lack of an analysis of the origins and the wind out of the sails of organized development of neo-nationalism in the labour's commitment to creating a third 1950s. Neo-nationalism simply did not party. Both the FTQ and the CSN decided to emerge out of nowhere in 1960. It was the provide qualified support for the Lesage creation of neither Jean Lesage's Liberal régime at a very crucial period for those party nor of the so-called "Quiet Revolu­ attempting to establish the NDP in Quebec. tion" that party allegedly ushered in during Here again, Denis devotes several chapters its six-year reign. Union members in the to substantiating his rather critical CTCC and the FTQ as well as militants in the revisionist interpretation of the révolution provincial wing of the CCF, the Parti Social tranquille without demonstrating clearly Démocratique (PSD> had rejected how this relates to the failure of social- Trudeau's 1958 plea for "Démocratie d'abord" and the creation of a third party democrats and socialists to establish a via­ committed primarily to the political demo­ ble third party in Quebec, either federally cratization of Quebec's institutions at all or provincially. Here one can profitably levels for two reasons. First, and this is the consult Dorval Brunelle's La désillusion only point Denis stresses, Trudeau*s tranquille (Montréal 1978) and Michel l'union démocratique entailed a coalition Pelletier and Yves Vaillaricourt, Les of socio-economic classes with divergent politiques sociales et les travailleurs: and antagonistic interests whereas what Cahiers IV: Les années 60 for a more com­ left-wing activists felt necessary was a prehensive analysis of the "Qùiet Revolu­ party based upon a coalition of classes with tion.'' common interests who could achieve a In fact, only two short and unsatisfac­ consensus on necessary socio-economic tory chapters are devoted to the interesting and political reforms. Only such a party battle between the two groups. The first would ensure the survival and develop­ group supported the creation of the NDP- ment of political democracy in Quebec. Quebec committed to a new constitution (200-3) The second reason, and in the end recognizing two nations and their right to the more important of the two, was the self-determination and creating a truly emergent ideology of neo-nationalism, the decentralized confederal system. The sec­ strongest motivating factor behind PSD and ond group, advocates of the Parti Socialiste union militants pushing for a highly auton­ du Québec (PSQ), were committed to an omous Quebec labour party. Pierre ill-defined form of sovereignty- Trudeau and his Cité Libre colleagues had association. The most articulate and influ­ become identified as ardent anti- ential advocate of the marriage of nationalists thereby ensuring that socialism and the new separatist-inspired nationalist-minded liberals, social- Québécois nationalism was Pierre Vade- democrats, and socialists would not boncoeur, a veteran technical and legal respond to his plea for l'Union des forces advisor for the CSN • Denis fails to describe démocratiques. adequately the leading personnel of both of these groups. By 1960 rapidly changing events soon The remainder of the study is devoted bypassed all these ill-fated attempts at to two themes. The first theme encom­ creating a third party. The Liberal party passes "la réaction tranquille" which set in offered the electorate a platform which after 1964 and contributed in no small shrewdly reflected the widespread grass­ measure to the defeat of the Lesage Liberal roots demands for greater political and party in 1966, to the departure in 1967 of social democracy as well as the neo- its nationalist minority led by René Lèves- 162 LABOUR/LE TRAVAILLEUR

que, as well as to a veritable explosion of accord being reached just prior to the lat- strike activity in the public and para-public ter's convention in early March 1966. The unions. Organized labour's highly qual­ alliance was a shaky one from the start. ified support for Quebec's Liberal party The disastrous results for the PSQ in the came to an abrupt end. Also, it appeared 1966 provincial election (five candidates possible to the left-wing intelligentsia that gained only 1,267 votes) led to the with­ a genuine labour party could be established drawal of the Parti-Pris militants almost to break the stranglehold of the traditional immediately. The PSQ's poor showing was parties, neither of which were fulfilling due primarily to the fact that it was a move­ adequately the democratic, social, and ment of intellectuals and students because nationalist aspirations of the working peo­ it had rejected, in a very cavalier manner, ple. any direct affiliation with organized This conjuncture of circumstances labour. brings Denis to his second theme, a Parti-Pris political activists then went descriptive analysis of the origins, devel­ in two directions. Pierre Vallières and opment, and impact of Parti-Pris, both a Charles Gagnon joined the ranks of the FLQ periodical and an ideological movement while Jean-Marc Piotte, Gaétan Tremblay, devoted to the nationalist/socialist struggle and Pierre Maheu, rediscovering the in Quebec. Denis' account does not pro­ étapiste strategy of revolution, called upon vide the personal insights offered by Mal­ all socialists to build a workers' party by colm Reid's The Shouting Signpainters transforming the RIN, the only party fully (Toronto 1972), but it does provide an committed, in 1967, to the national libera­ informative assessment of Parti-Pris' con­ tion of all Québécois. Between Spring tinual flip-flopping on the question of 1967 and March 1968 a group of Parti- strategy and tactics concerning the Pris activists, led by Andrée Feretti, infil­ movement's painful and frustrating search trated the RIN hoping to make it more truly for a political vehicle. In their pursuit of an independent, secular, and socialist socialist. Much to Pierre Bourgault's dis­ Quebec, Pierre Maheu, Jean-Marc Piotte, pleasure, Feretti was elected vice- Paul Chamberland, André Brochu, and president, but the victory was only tempo­ André Major contended in 1964-65 that the rary as a major crisis developed concerning revolution had to take place in stages. the question of coalition or fusion with Hence Parti Pris' rejection of the RIN or René Lévesque's Mouvement Souverain- the PSQ and its appeal for a "tactical" té-Association. Feretti and her followers alliance with the progressive bourgeoisie were highly critical of the bourgeois nature in the for the con­ of the MSA and, refusing to contemplate quest of "l'Indépendance d'abord!" either option, left the RIN. Bourgault, fail­ (372-391) But in September 1965 Parti- ing to negotiate a deal with Lévesque, sim­ Pris and its political action wing, the ply dissolved the RIN and joined, along Mouvement de Libération Populaire (MU) with his followers, the ranks of the Parti issued a joint Manifesto abandoning the Québécois. The formation of the PQ also strategy of revolution by stages and created a serious crisis within the ranks of defined the working classes as the only Parti-Pris between Gilles Bourque, Luc effective motor force in any revolutionary Racine, and Gilles Dostater who process. The Manifesto called for the pur­ denounced the concept of sovereignty- suit of "la révolution permanente" and the association and the support of the PQ by creation or support of a political party com­ socialists, and Maheu and Piotte who mitted to botn the nationalist and socialist pleaded with socialists to work through the revolutions. MLP members undertook PQ to gain the support of organized labour negotiations with the PSQ resulting in an and the masses. These tensions were sim­ ply too great and the last issue of Parti- REVIEW ESSAYS 163

Pris appeared in summer 1968 with the for­ viduals who participate directly in govern­ mal end coming in October. Its demise ment power through the production and symbolized, momentarily at least, the end management of the huge state and social of the struggle for the creation of a labour services which are characteristic of state parry while all attention focused on the monopoly capitalism." (10) Pierre Four- Parti Québécois' battle for sovereignty- nier's article summarizes the essence of his association. book and he concludes, in part, that "the Denis' motive is clearly didactic. A PQ has systematically used the prospect of full understanding of the failures of the independence as a pretext not to deal with 1950s and 1960s, he claims, will allow key social and economic issues." (23) Québécois socialists and indépendantistes Michel Pelletier tries to explain the posi­ to avoid past mistakes and the numerous tive achievements of the PQ, namely in the ideological and strategic pitfalls and hence language area, and stresses the enormous chart the course for "la révolution per­ pressures exerted by "international" and manente" more carefully and successfully. "Canadian" bourgeoisies against its con­ There is little that has transpired in Quebec stitutional concept of sovereignty- since 1968 to allow anyone to be so association. optimistic. Jean-Marc Piotte and Pauline Vaillan- As we all know, the Parti Québécois court offer some novel and repealing emerged victorious in the IS November insights in their contribution entitled, 1976 provincial election and the debate "Toward Understanding the Enigmatic over its commitment to the dual Parti Québécois." The PQ is not, in their nationalist/socialist revolution became a view, a bona fide social democratic party concrete rather than merely theoretical because it has no organic ties or financial one. The Califomia-based Institute for the links to organized labour and its ideology Study of Labour and Economic Crisis rests entirely on the defence of the devoted the Fall issue of its review Synthe­ Québécois nation. They also reject the sis to a number of preliminary assessments argument that the PQ will demonstrate its of the PQ performance in several areas. commitment to social democracy and the This issue was subsequently issued in book workers once Quebec is independent and form entitled QUEBEC and the Parti power solidified because the PQ has com­ Québécois. It provides English-language promised on the issue of independence by readers with the views of a number of proposing economic association. Further­ well-informed left-wing intellectuals and more, the strategy of independence first, academics. AH, except one, are uniformly socialism later is used by the PQ to justify critical of the Parti Québécois' perform­ reformist legislation while at the same time ance and promise, and essentially make a curtailing the demands of social democrats plea for the establishment of a genuine and socialists within the party. Piotte and working-class political party. Alfred Vaillancourt make a convincing case for Dubuc outlines the historical origins of the viewing the PQ as a neo-populist party emergence of the PQ in a rambling, non- which rode to office on an ideology of documented, highly generalized over­ populist nationalism. Consequently, the PQ view. He argues, with little substantiation, has pursued measures which serve the that the PQ, while voted into power by the interests of the francophone petty and mid­ petty bourgeoisie and the working class, is dle bourgeoisies, old and new, while at the essentially the political vehicle of the old same time co-opting the labour movement francophone middle bourgeoisie com­ with mildly reformist legislation and satis­ posed of the members of small and fying the nationalists with the highly popu­ medium-sized businesses as well as the lar Charter of the French language. Bill new state bourgeoisie, "a group of indi­ 101. Nevertheless, both authors want the 164 LABOUR/LE TRAVAILLEUR

PQ to win the referendum so that Canada is debate further can consult articles by Jorge given the opportunity to reject Niosi and Gilles Bourque in Les Cahiers sovereignty-association. Only then will du Socialisme (number 1-3) or in English Québécois come to understand that the in Studies in Political Economy (numbers "struggle for political sovereignty, for 1-2). All of these assessments of the PQ are independence and for socialism, is indivis­ uniformly critical. This is quite natural ible, and must be undertaken simulta­ considering that the authors are writing neously." (51) The remaining articles by from a neo-Marxist perspective and are Jacques Dofny on "Socialism in Quebec," proponents of a socialist and independent Francine Fournieron "Quebec Women and Quebec dominated by the working class. the Parti Québécois," and a document by Nevertheless, readers need not share their the Centre de Formation Populaire on ideology or objectives to gain important "The National Question and the Workers* and revealing insights into what Léon Dion Struggle" are interesting but break no new has dubbed "Quebec's unfinished revolu­ ground. Readers wishing to follow the tion."

Bulletin du RCHTQ

Le Regroupement des chercheurs en histoire des travailleurs québécois rep­ rend la publication de son bulletin d'information. Paraissant trois fois par année, le bulletin se veut un lieu d'information et d'échanges entres cher­ cheurs en histoire des travailleurs québécois. Comptant en moyenne une cinquantaine de pages par numéro, on y trouve des bibliographies, inven­ taires de travaux et de thèses en court, projets de recherche, guides de sources d'archives, etc. On peut s'abonner en écrivant à Johanne Burgess, Département d'his­ toire, Université du Québec à Montréal, C.P. 8888, Suce. "A", Montréal, Québec, H3C 3P8. Coût de l'abonnement: $5.00 par année.