Parti Quebecois defaults in nationalist struggle

Scan page 5

"We should look at the example of ...South Africa revolt The following interview with Francois Moreau, a a leader of Gauche Socialiste (Socialist Leftl, a Quebecois organization that is in political solidarity with the Fourth International, was conducted in San Francisco on Aug. 20 Socialist Action: Could you tell about the general political situation Quebec today?

Francois Moreau: I think the major feature is the decline of the Parti Quebecois (PQ), the nationalist party. From the early 1960s until 1981, it achieved constant growth because it succeeded in being the main political expression of the nationalist movement that arose during this period. The PQ made a number of small reforms after its election in 1976, and it promised to achieve the national liberation of Quebec. This was the main reason why it was able to win support.

Now it has been in power for eight years and Quebec is no closer to national liberation. To the contrary, the PQ government has suffered a number of defeats and setbacks that were worse than any previous government had suffered. The repatriation of the constitution was the first major setback of the Quebecois movement since World War II.

S.A.: What exactly is the repatriation of the constitution?

Moreau: The previous constitution of the Canadian state was enacted by the British Parliament in 1867. It was (continued from page 1: “South Africa revolt runs deep”)

In fact, the only significant reform introduced by South Africa's new constitution was its provision to endow Prime Minister Botha with virtually dictatorial powers-even over the white chamber of the Parliament. Botha may now declare war, veto legislation, and dismiss Parliament under the powers granted by the constitution. Thus, the apartheid regime can introduce further "reforms" if it so desires, because effective power will continue to be wielded by the Prime Minister.

Under the impact of the Black protests of recent years, divisions have appeared among the white politicians over whether to introduce reforms. The dominant political party fears that the introduction of too many reforms would embolden the Black majority to press further toward the complete dismantling of apartheid.

Revolt runs deep

In contrast to the situation in Israel, where the Palestinian population has been economically marginalized by colonial settlers, South African Blacks, who make up 73 percent of the total population, represent 85 percent of the industrial workforce. The vast bulk of the workers in the gold mines are Black, and mining is the key industry which provides half of South Africa's foreign exchange. The pressures of economic development have forced the regime to also permit Blacks to occupy various skilled job cate ries that were previously closed to them.

The struggle against the apartheid regime is spearheaded by two interlinked movements: the movement of urban shantytown dwellers and that of the Black independent unions. The school boycotts and the confrontations with the South African police around the anniversary of the death of Steve Biko, the founder of the Black Conimpossible to amend it except by going through the British Parliament. Repatriation means that now the Federal government-the Federal Parliament-is going to be able to amend the constitution. But there is no protection at all for Quebec rights in this process. The new constitution has a whole section on language rights which was written deliberately to counter and invalidate Law 101 on Quebec language rights adopted by the PQ government in 1977. the Brazillan Workers Party."

As for the labor movement, the PQ used the confidence placed in it by the labor leadership to attack the working class in a savage way. For instance, teachers suffered a 20 percent wage cutback as a result of new legislation by the government, and strikes were made illegal.

So in February 1984 there was a teachers' and hospital workers' strike to oppose this, but unfortunately the union leadership retreated in the face of a sharp confrontation with the government. At one point there were close to 200,000 people on strike-hospital workers, transit workers, and teachers.

I think that it would have been possible to broaden the support among other sectors of the working class, but this was opposed strongly by the union leadsciousness movement, together with the latest strike by a union representing 70,000 Black mineworkers, demonstrate the depth of the recent revolt.

South Africa remains the most important ally of the U.S. government in the region, both because of its economic importance and because of its role as the main opponent of national liberation movements in Africa. However, despite its abundant wealth— South Africa has the greatest concentration of mineral resources of any capitalist country-it was not sheltered from the recent international recession. Inflation in South Africa has reached 15 percent and adds to the discontent of ership, which tried everything to roll back this fight and to bring about a compromise with the government. If the strike had continued for two weeks, the government would have been forced to resign.

S.A.: What has the labor officialdom proposed to fight the austerity plan?

Moreau: There is a polarization growing inside the labor movement between those who accept the so-called need for austerity and those who do not. Basically the union bureaucrats accept the idea that workers should grant wage concessions, invest their money in the companies, and ask the government to give subsidies to the companies. Things that were opposed by the union movement 10 years ago, they now accept.

The union movement, by asking favors from the government, is acting like a kind of auxiliary force of the different capitalist sectors. This is called a "sectoralist strategy" by the Quebec Federation of Labor (FTQ). In each of the sectors they are going to do everything to help the companies.

There is also a solidarity fund scheme, which has been put forward by the leadership of the FTQ. The fund is made up of dues paid by the workers. It Black workers.

The South African economy is intertwined with that of the imperialist countries. Half of all foreign investment south of the Sahara is centered in South Africa. South African corporations rely on joint-venture operations with Western European and U.S. firms to obtain necessary technological expertise. Foreign firms, moreover, control the great bulk of South Africa's electronics, auto, and oil industries. In fact, foreign investment in South Africa tripled from 1973 to 1981.

The fundamental prop of the South African regime remains the apartheid system itself. South African capitalism, SOCIALIST ACTION in shares of companies, supposedly in order to save jobs.

S.A.: What are the prospects for building a labor party in Quebec?

Moreau: Today the PQ has 25 percent support, according to the polis. They had 49 percent of the vote in 1981. Some of the 24 percent lost to the PQ have turned to the Liberal Party as a revenge. But many others are looking for a political alternative. So, at some point, a new political formation, in our opinion, will be built.

The question is whether it will be a new national populist bourgeois party or a labor party. Of course, we are working to develop a labor party which will be based on the union movement. But in order to achieve this we first have to fight in all the social movements to draw them away from lobbying one or another bourgeois party.

We are quite confident of the prospects for building a labor party because even in 1981 the possibility of local unions running candidates in the elections on their program was raised in a number of unions. It was agreed to in principle even in the big hospital union, but it was three weeks before the election and time was running short. We think that for the next election we are going to witness a number of these initiatives.

So from all these social movements-the labor movement plus other social movements that are fighting the government and employers-there will be increased political activity. Our task will be to try to help unify these forces, develop a program, and transform the growing motion into a firmly established party. I think we should look at the experience of the Brazilian Workers Party. I think this is the most encouraging precedent and example for working people in Quebec.

as it has developed, cannot exist without the exploitation of the Black masses. That exploitation rests on three features of the apartheid regime.

First, it is based on the forced separation of Blacks from landowning rights. That is, virtually the entire Black population is forced to look for work to survive. The Bantustans-the completely dependent Black states within South Africa-cannot produce enough food to feed their populations. For example, in Transkei, the largest of the Bantustans, only one-third of the minimum food requirements for the entire population can be produced within its territory. In contrast, 70,000 white farmers own 85 million hectares, or nearly 85 percent of all land in South Africa.

Second, apartheid is based on a system of virtually total racial segregation. Blacks have not achieved the right to be citizens of South Africa. A meshwork of repressive laws and regulations ensures a tightly controlled influx of Black workers into the industrial workplaces or cities. Union organizers or Black militants can simply be refused admittance to the white areas.

Third, it rests on the superexploitation of the Black working class. Black unions either have to become legally registered, which allows the apartheid regime to monitor them closely, or they are illegal, in which case they are subject to repression. By contrast, white workers in South Africa represent a privileged and conservative labor aristocracy, holding, for the most part, skilled and supervisory positions.

Black protests in South Africaranging from bus and school boycotts, to strikes, riots and demonstrations— will continue so long as the white minority regime is in power. The fight for Black majority rule will be inseparable from the fight for the social demands of the Black workers—a dynamic which will threaten the future of South African capitalism and open the door to the true liberation of all of Southern Africa from poverty and oppression.

OCTOBER 1984 5

Scan page 6

JUAN P CUA LIBRE with the class struggle. The coup d'etat failed, and he was executed by the Roman occupiers of Judea.

There is no evidence outside the New Testament that Jesus even existed. It seems likely, however, that the Gospel