Canadian CP breaking apart

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Following is an article from the February/March 1992 issue of Socialist Challenge, the newspaper published by Fourth Internationalists in the Canadian state.

The official death of the Communist Party of Canada (CPC) appears cluse at hand in the wake of the collapse of Stalinism and the break-up of the Soviet Union.

For 60 years, the Communist Party of Canada was characterized by slavish adherence to Moscow's Stalinist line. This contributed to the party's marginalization and failure to challenge the New Democratic Party (NDP) for political influence. Partly due to the failings of social democracy and the weakness of the revolutionary left, the CP gained pockets of influence in the trade unions, municipal politics, social action coalitions, and the peace movement, especially in British Columbia (B.C.).

Things finally began to change with the rise of Gorbachev, A new generation of leaders arose who advocated a pro-Gorbachev line. They sought to shed some of the Stalinist baggage of the past. Unfortunately, this was not done in the name of revolutionary politics. Like some other CPs around the world, the new Hewison leadership underwent a process of embracing the politics of the social-democracy.

The new leadership's agenda is in some ways a retreat to the right, but in contradiction, it also represents some positive trends. This includes a new openness to social movements, a new non-sectarian emphasis on left unity, and the dropping of the Communist Party of Canada's organizational/political sectarianism towards the NDP.

At the last CP convention in the fall of 1990, the new Hewison leadership won a slight majority. But tensions ran very high as the neo-Stalinist old guard resisted the transformation of the CP. While some of the old guard's criticisms may have validity, the Stalinist past is manifestly bankrupt. But Gorbachev's project also failed. An The Hewison leadership has no loyalty to an admittedly embarrassing history. They will drop the name Communist Party at the first opportunity. Indeed, the new independent Pacific Tribune, a CPC newspaper, is perhaps a harbinger of where they are going politically. However, they would like to keep the CP's not inconsiderable material As a result there is a very messy divorce. A number of the old guard were expelled in December. In Vancouver, B.C., the old guard seized control of the party's B.C. headquarters, locking out the elected leader, Kim Zander, and the staff of the Pacific Tribune. The Zander leadership has replied by seeking a court order.

It's a sad ending. But the price tag for big political illusions, justification of the unjustifiable, and a long history of reprehensible political practices is very high. to accept the 'correct view,' as epitomized by Gus Hall."

The Mobilizer concludes, "We are continuing to feel the brunt of this atmosphere of purge as whole districts and collectives are disenfranchised and locked-out due to untenable circumstances in the Party."

The New York State organization, which claims some 550 members in New York City alone, has announced a reduction in dues payment to the National CP. In boldfaced type, it explained to CP club treasurers that henceforth, "All contributions to the fund drive go completely and directly to the District treasury."

Money has today become an important element in CP internal factional considerations. According to Soviet documents, an annual $2 million subsidy from Moscow was discontinued in 1990.

Still the same politics Consistent with its Stalinist tradition of falsifying history, the Hall faction and its political organ, the People's Weekly World (PWW), denied that the Norther California rupture occurred. The Feb. 22, 1992, PWW reports a subsequent meeting of the district held "only a week after the former district leadership, unwilling to accept the majority decisions of the 25th Convention, attempted to dissolve the district organization."

A "temporary leadership," according to the PWW, was elected from the remaining CPers in the area. It was charged with ...reorganizing the clubs and commissions and other Party infrastructure, and reviving communications and cooperation with the CPUSA national center."

The newly elected interim chair, identified in the PWW as "Juan, a Mexican American trade unionist," described the December 1991 Cleveland, Ohio, CPUSA 14 SOCIALIST ACTION explosion inside the CPC was almost inevitable.

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MARCH 1992 was a rush job, and therefore I think it reflects certain weaknesses. ... The committee was too narrow. It could have been much more influential if it wasn't so much related to the heads of the security organizations."

Hall went on to critique the coup-makers failure to properly utilize Soviet television to discuss the problems in the Soviet Union "with the people." The fact that this discussion was to take place while the coup-makers intimidated the Soviet people with guns and tanks was ignored. Hall, however, quickly changed his tune when it became clear that the coup would be defeated.

The newly-informed Gus Hall then stated, "The attempted coup was an illegal, unconstitutional takeover of power, using the phony excuse of Gorbachev's health."

Today, the Soviet Stalinists are scattered but still in control of many aspects of military, political, and economic life. They have publicly stated, as has the CPUSA, that the current government has no legitimacy.

Those members of the CPUSA who have resigned, or who will resign in the near future, have abandoned even the pretense of building a revolutionary vanguard party. Their project is a broad regroupment of liberal and left elements around an amorphous program. In short, both wings of the crisis-ridden CPUSA reflect two sides of the same coin of Stalinist politics.

The CPUSA will continue to exist in this country, perhaps with a bit more leftism in its rhetoric as befits the times. Its final demise will only be assured when the workers and farmers of the United States and the former USSR resume their historic march for power.

(To be continued)