When Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan declared October 22 that his Liberal provincial government faces a $24.7 billion deficit this year, it was a signal that a major assault on public service wages and programmes for the poor is in the works.
This is the major challenge facing delegates at the biennial convention of the Ontario Federation of Labour, November 23-27 at the Sheraton Centre in Toronto. Firebrand CUPE Ontario leader Sid Ryan is set to replace retiring OFL President Wayne Samuelson. Many labour activists wonder whether this will mark a shift towards mass action to challenge labour concessions, disappearing pensions and benefits, and rising unemployment (expected to stay above 9 per cent, officially, in Ontario for the next three years).
A Workers' Agenda is urgently needed to oppose the coming attacks on the Ontario public service, and to support the strike of the Vale Inco workers, now in its fourth month at Sudbury and Port Colborne, Ontario and in Labrador. Required is a programme to reject further labour concessions in the auto sector, to nationalize industry instead of dishing up corporate bail-outs, and to demand steeply progressive taxation of big business and the rich.
A good place to start would be a commitment to mobilize labour's strength in numbers along side the 115,000 member Ontario Public Service Employees' Union as it takes on the Liberal McGuinty government's likely targetting of wages, jobs and vital public services.
OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas issued a statement on October 23. Here are some excerpts:
“Finance Minister Dwight Duncan promised a “sweeping review” of government spending. Premier Dalton McGuinty would not rule out unpaid days off for the million Ontarians who earn their bread in the provincial public sector. And the spectre of privatization now looms over every public service worker.
“The Liberals’ plan is to make us pay.
“Dwight Duncan won’t have much luck looking for waste in public services (except, of course, for the hundreds of millions he’s throwing away on private consultants). We already had a “sweeping review” from 1995 to 2003. It was called the Common Sense Revolution (of Tory Premier Mike Harris), and public services still haven’t recovered from the brutal trauma of those years.
“As far as unpaid days off, a lot of us remember (then-NDP Premier) Bob Rae’s “Social Contract” all too well. But much has changed since the Rae days.
“For one thing, the Social Contract would be struck down by the courts today. In 2007, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that (British Columbia) Premier Gordon Campbell was wrong to tear up the collective agreements of health workers in that province. Since then, collective bargaining has been recognized as a protected right under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“McGuinty can’t legislate his way out of this. If he wants to use public employees to buy Ontario out of the recession, his two main options are: a) privatization; and b) mass layoffs.
“Privatization is a stupid idea. It cuts services, it destroys jobs, and it usually comes with major cost overruns. And from a budget standpoint, selling off assets like the (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) LCBO – which right-wingers are already barking for – would kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.
“As for more layoffs, they can only weaken local economies, destroy the services people need, and generate headlines the Liberals really don’t want to see.
“So what’s their plan? My guess is, they think that just the threat of layoffs and privatization will force public employees to agree to the wage cuts or “Dalton Days” he wants.
“How is it fair that a part-time secretary at a community college, who makes maybe $27,000 a year, should be the one paying off the deficit when the Bay Street banker is not?
“Which is more important, providing professional help to a child with a mental illness, or giving income tax breaks to profitable corporations and obscene bonuses to their CEOS?
“Public services aren’t just for public employees. They exist because we all need them. And that’s why saving them is not the responsibility of public employees alone.
“We chose careers in public service not to get rich, but because we care – for people, for families, for communities. It’s time our commitment got the respect it deserves.
“We are already planning a bold strategy to fight the coming attack. It will take courage, commitment, brains, resources, and leadership.
“Working together as we have done so many times before, I know we will do whatever it takes”, Smokey Thomas concluded.
Will the Ontario Federation of Labour “do whatever it takes”? Will OPSEU undertake mass job action, and invite all workers and allies to join the struggle?
Therein hangs a tale. --Barry Weisleder
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Recovery? In a Pig's Eye!
Wishful thinking usually dominates the financial pages, especially after an economic crash. So goes the coverage of the current 'recovery'. It bears closer scrutiny.
Yes, in September, Canadian house sales jumped 17 per cent from a year ago. The Conference Board of Canada predicts the economy will grow 2.9 per cent next year, and up to 3.6 per cent in 2011. There's just one catch. The gains are largely the result of government stimulus programmes -- which governments are now rushing to reel in and curtail.
Looking to the south, auto sales in the United States plunged 10.4 per cent in September. Overall retails sales were down 1.5 per cent, the worst decline since retail sales fell 3.2 per cent last December. Factory sales in Canada dropped 2.1 per cent in August, due largely to declining automobile shipments.
A record number of U.S. homeowners were forced into foreclosure in the third quarter. More than 930,000 homes received a default notice or were repossessed, a jump of 23 per cent from the year before. Job losses rose another 263,000 in September, pushing America's official unemployment rate to 9.8 per cent, and that's not counting the 571,000 workers who simply gave up and stopped looking for work. As a result, the number of bad loans will likely increase in the coming months.
The number of Canadians filing for bankruptcy in August was up 17 per cent compared to the same period last year. Canadian exports and imports fell in August, and the trade deficit rose (for the fifth consecutive month), now at $2 billion. Exports declined 5.1 per cent and imports were off 2.8 per cent. New housing starts dropped 4.6 per cent in September.
So, while investors and brokers are cheering recent market gains -- the sharpest rally ever seen in the midst of a downturn -- some observers are wondering out loud: Is it too good to be true, given the fragile state of the economy? Is this another bubble?
Indeed, is this another wake up call.... for socialist measures? --Barry Weisleder
Yes, in September, Canadian house sales jumped 17 per cent from a year ago. The Conference Board of Canada predicts the economy will grow 2.9 per cent next year, and up to 3.6 per cent in 2011. There's just one catch. The gains are largely the result of government stimulus programmes -- which governments are now rushing to reel in and curtail.
Looking to the south, auto sales in the United States plunged 10.4 per cent in September. Overall retails sales were down 1.5 per cent, the worst decline since retail sales fell 3.2 per cent last December. Factory sales in Canada dropped 2.1 per cent in August, due largely to declining automobile shipments.
A record number of U.S. homeowners were forced into foreclosure in the third quarter. More than 930,000 homes received a default notice or were repossessed, a jump of 23 per cent from the year before. Job losses rose another 263,000 in September, pushing America's official unemployment rate to 9.8 per cent, and that's not counting the 571,000 workers who simply gave up and stopped looking for work. As a result, the number of bad loans will likely increase in the coming months.
The number of Canadians filing for bankruptcy in August was up 17 per cent compared to the same period last year. Canadian exports and imports fell in August, and the trade deficit rose (for the fifth consecutive month), now at $2 billion. Exports declined 5.1 per cent and imports were off 2.8 per cent. New housing starts dropped 4.6 per cent in September.
So, while investors and brokers are cheering recent market gains -- the sharpest rally ever seen in the midst of a downturn -- some observers are wondering out loud: Is it too good to be true, given the fragile state of the economy? Is this another bubble?
Indeed, is this another wake up call.... for socialist measures? --Barry Weisleder
Manitoba NDP Chooses New Premier
According to the business media, Manitoba Finance Minister Greg Salinger, 58, became NDP provincial Leader and Premier-elect by defeating a challenger from the left, MLA Steve Ashton, 53. “Race for top job in Manitoba pits centre against left”, read a headline in the Toronto Star.
Not so, according to long-time socialist Harry Paine. He was one of the 2003 delegates who packed the Winnipeg Convention Centre on October 17 for the party leadership vote. The difference wasn't left versus right. The issue was who is best able to keep the labour-based NDP in government in Manitoba, the prairie province (population 1.2 million) just north of Minnesota and North Dakota.
In a report to the NDP Socialist Caucus, Paine wrote:
“More significant for anyone attempting to gauge the level of consciousness of the NDP membership and consequently how that reflects the consciousness of Manitobans was the fact that the first candidate out of the gate, Andrew Swan (a younger Cabinet minister) chose to drop out of the race after a couple of weeks. There was some speculation that the Third Way (neo-liberal) machine that had been running the party for the last couple of decades had been grooming Swan to wear the mantle of Gary Doer (the 10-year Premier who left office to become Canada's ambassador to the United States), but the first few NDP delegate selection meetings indicated a much stronger intervention by community activists and Swan was unable to get more than a handful of delegate supporters.
“In the few short weeks of the campaign leading up to the delegate selection meetings the membership more than doubled and therein was the first serious controversy. The Steve Ashton campaign was accused of signing up hundreds of new members from within ethnic communities, many of whom had little or no real loyalty to the NDP. This raised the whole question of voting process and the ugly head of 'One Member, One Vote' arose once again.
“Ashton tried to present as the more traditional left candidate, but surrounded himself with some questionable and opportunistic public face supporters. The Chair of his campaign committee was maverick City Councillor Russ Wyatt who has joined, and quit, the party depending on his need for assistance from the NDP electoral machine. Main union support came from the Firefighters Union, which is often just as comfortable supporting Tory candidates as it is backing the NDP.
“Greg Selinger was able to garner support from a much wider sector of the working-class organizations that included almost all of the MLAs, the Manitoba Federation of Labour, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives staff and most of the constituencies' traditional activists. He was seen as a leader who could bring the party together into the 'Renewal' mode.
“Before being elected to the Legislature, Selinger had a history of being a popular City Councillor and a key contributor to CHO!CES, a coalition of leftist independent community activists. As Finance Minister he has brought in ten fairly progressive and balanced budgets and was seen as largely responsible for Manitoba being relatively able to fend off the effects of the current global financial crisis. He also instituted an open community consultative process in the period leading up to budget production.
“'Renewal' was the slogan adopted by the Provincial Executive going into this Leadership Campaign and that was probably an accurate choice as the departure of Doer marks a shift to a greater involvement of community based influences in the party and the government. How that will reflect itself in policy is hard to say at this time.
“Poverty is still a big issue in Manitoba especially in much of the rural farm areas, for those on a fixed income, and in almost all of the First Nations reserves and communities. At the same time there is a shortage of skilled labour and fairly dramatic population growth. While the effects of the latest crisis of Capitalism have not been felt as much in Manitoba as other provinces there is considerable nervousness and discussion among those looking for answers.
“Community activism that doesn't pose a clear socialist alternative is little more than a band-aid solution to cover the open sores of Capitalism and make life a little more tolerable. On the positive side there is a growing consciousness that there needs to be a fundamental structural change in the distribution of wealth in society. Interest is renewed in the lessons of the past, and Marxism is very much on the discussion agenda.”
I asked Harry Paine about grass roots involvement. He responded, “Activists in Manitoba are not so much in political party life, as they are involved in community organizations. I think that is becoming somewhat universal as capitalism declines dramatically; the working class has to rely more on its defensive organizations. The challenge for socialists is how do we integrate the transitional demands of a socialist program into the pragmatic concerns of these defensive community organizations?
“Manitoba has one of the highest rates of volunteerism in North America. One in three Manitobans volunteer in their community. Of course that includes sports coaches and Girl Guide leaders, but there are huge numbers who are working with the homeless, the aged, in food banks, and so on.
“These people often support the NDP because it is a lot easier to get grants and legislation passed with them than it was with the Tories in government. The fact that community representatives are listened to and consulted does more to keep our membership figures up than anything.
“For instance, I am President of the Manitoba Society of Seniors, was appointed by the Cabinet to the Council on Aging as an advisor to the Minister and on the Boards of half a dozen other community-based organizations and as such have access to all the relevant Ministers and their departments even though I am constantly reminding people that I am a Trotskyist, and believe the only real answer is to overthrow capitalism.
“Last year I was the Campaign Manager for our MLA Rob Altemeyer and ran the most successful campaign, next to Greg Selinger's in St. Boniface. I publish an on-line community newsletter that goes to most of the local NDP members once or twice a week, which has some pretty radical stuff in it sometimes, and I have never been challenged because of my leftist slant. Actually I get lots of fan mail from people who think that is the strength of the NDP riding association.
“In spite of his popularity, Gary Doer was seen as being inaccessible and out of touch with this growing and powerful sector of activists. There are some members who are concerned and upset because they feel abandoned by big daddy, but most members feel honoured that he was chosen as ambassador and will do a good job. Then again, there are a lot of us who believe that either there (Washington), or in the (appointed Canadian) Senate, is where Doer properly belongs.”
What about Ashton's so-called leftist stance, including his pledge to freeze/reduce university tuition and ban strikebreakers?
“Ashton's base was to some extent in the northern areas of the province where he comes from, although Selinger cut into that with support from First Nations' delegates. Community activists seem to be divided into those who basically support the NDP and those who stand aside and are somewhat cynical about politics; the latter provided the main active base of Ashton's support. Some were traditional leftists, but for the most part were an unprincipled combination.
“As for his 'left' policies, for the most part it was seen as posturing. It is easy to talk about strikebreaking legislation in a province that hasn't seen a scab situation in years and where strikes that last more than a few days are pretty rare. Unions haven't suggested anti-scab legislation and only the Firefighters and the Steelworkers from Thompson (the area Ashton represents in the Legislature) supported him. The main bulk of the Manitoba Federation of Labour supported Selinger. Students were divided about 52/48 for Selinger. I don't think they really believed Ashton was serious about his program.”
The Manitoba NDP convention was over in three short hours; no policy debate, no election of officers. The leadership vote was Selinger 1,317 and Ashton 685. The regular annual party provincial convention will occur in the Spring. By then, in the face of the deepening global economic crisis, the direction of the new NDP Premier may be clear. The question is: what will the new crop of Manitoba NDP members have to say about it? --Barry Weisleder
Not so, according to long-time socialist Harry Paine. He was one of the 2003 delegates who packed the Winnipeg Convention Centre on October 17 for the party leadership vote. The difference wasn't left versus right. The issue was who is best able to keep the labour-based NDP in government in Manitoba, the prairie province (population 1.2 million) just north of Minnesota and North Dakota.
In a report to the NDP Socialist Caucus, Paine wrote:
“More significant for anyone attempting to gauge the level of consciousness of the NDP membership and consequently how that reflects the consciousness of Manitobans was the fact that the first candidate out of the gate, Andrew Swan (a younger Cabinet minister) chose to drop out of the race after a couple of weeks. There was some speculation that the Third Way (neo-liberal) machine that had been running the party for the last couple of decades had been grooming Swan to wear the mantle of Gary Doer (the 10-year Premier who left office to become Canada's ambassador to the United States), but the first few NDP delegate selection meetings indicated a much stronger intervention by community activists and Swan was unable to get more than a handful of delegate supporters.
“In the few short weeks of the campaign leading up to the delegate selection meetings the membership more than doubled and therein was the first serious controversy. The Steve Ashton campaign was accused of signing up hundreds of new members from within ethnic communities, many of whom had little or no real loyalty to the NDP. This raised the whole question of voting process and the ugly head of 'One Member, One Vote' arose once again.
“Ashton tried to present as the more traditional left candidate, but surrounded himself with some questionable and opportunistic public face supporters. The Chair of his campaign committee was maverick City Councillor Russ Wyatt who has joined, and quit, the party depending on his need for assistance from the NDP electoral machine. Main union support came from the Firefighters Union, which is often just as comfortable supporting Tory candidates as it is backing the NDP.
“Greg Selinger was able to garner support from a much wider sector of the working-class organizations that included almost all of the MLAs, the Manitoba Federation of Labour, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives staff and most of the constituencies' traditional activists. He was seen as a leader who could bring the party together into the 'Renewal' mode.
“Before being elected to the Legislature, Selinger had a history of being a popular City Councillor and a key contributor to CHO!CES, a coalition of leftist independent community activists. As Finance Minister he has brought in ten fairly progressive and balanced budgets and was seen as largely responsible for Manitoba being relatively able to fend off the effects of the current global financial crisis. He also instituted an open community consultative process in the period leading up to budget production.
“'Renewal' was the slogan adopted by the Provincial Executive going into this Leadership Campaign and that was probably an accurate choice as the departure of Doer marks a shift to a greater involvement of community based influences in the party and the government. How that will reflect itself in policy is hard to say at this time.
“Poverty is still a big issue in Manitoba especially in much of the rural farm areas, for those on a fixed income, and in almost all of the First Nations reserves and communities. At the same time there is a shortage of skilled labour and fairly dramatic population growth. While the effects of the latest crisis of Capitalism have not been felt as much in Manitoba as other provinces there is considerable nervousness and discussion among those looking for answers.
“Community activism that doesn't pose a clear socialist alternative is little more than a band-aid solution to cover the open sores of Capitalism and make life a little more tolerable. On the positive side there is a growing consciousness that there needs to be a fundamental structural change in the distribution of wealth in society. Interest is renewed in the lessons of the past, and Marxism is very much on the discussion agenda.”
I asked Harry Paine about grass roots involvement. He responded, “Activists in Manitoba are not so much in political party life, as they are involved in community organizations. I think that is becoming somewhat universal as capitalism declines dramatically; the working class has to rely more on its defensive organizations. The challenge for socialists is how do we integrate the transitional demands of a socialist program into the pragmatic concerns of these defensive community organizations?
“Manitoba has one of the highest rates of volunteerism in North America. One in three Manitobans volunteer in their community. Of course that includes sports coaches and Girl Guide leaders, but there are huge numbers who are working with the homeless, the aged, in food banks, and so on.
“These people often support the NDP because it is a lot easier to get grants and legislation passed with them than it was with the Tories in government. The fact that community representatives are listened to and consulted does more to keep our membership figures up than anything.
“For instance, I am President of the Manitoba Society of Seniors, was appointed by the Cabinet to the Council on Aging as an advisor to the Minister and on the Boards of half a dozen other community-based organizations and as such have access to all the relevant Ministers and their departments even though I am constantly reminding people that I am a Trotskyist, and believe the only real answer is to overthrow capitalism.
“Last year I was the Campaign Manager for our MLA Rob Altemeyer and ran the most successful campaign, next to Greg Selinger's in St. Boniface. I publish an on-line community newsletter that goes to most of the local NDP members once or twice a week, which has some pretty radical stuff in it sometimes, and I have never been challenged because of my leftist slant. Actually I get lots of fan mail from people who think that is the strength of the NDP riding association.
“In spite of his popularity, Gary Doer was seen as being inaccessible and out of touch with this growing and powerful sector of activists. There are some members who are concerned and upset because they feel abandoned by big daddy, but most members feel honoured that he was chosen as ambassador and will do a good job. Then again, there are a lot of us who believe that either there (Washington), or in the (appointed Canadian) Senate, is where Doer properly belongs.”
What about Ashton's so-called leftist stance, including his pledge to freeze/reduce university tuition and ban strikebreakers?
“Ashton's base was to some extent in the northern areas of the province where he comes from, although Selinger cut into that with support from First Nations' delegates. Community activists seem to be divided into those who basically support the NDP and those who stand aside and are somewhat cynical about politics; the latter provided the main active base of Ashton's support. Some were traditional leftists, but for the most part were an unprincipled combination.
“As for his 'left' policies, for the most part it was seen as posturing. It is easy to talk about strikebreaking legislation in a province that hasn't seen a scab situation in years and where strikes that last more than a few days are pretty rare. Unions haven't suggested anti-scab legislation and only the Firefighters and the Steelworkers from Thompson (the area Ashton represents in the Legislature) supported him. The main bulk of the Manitoba Federation of Labour supported Selinger. Students were divided about 52/48 for Selinger. I don't think they really believed Ashton was serious about his program.”
The Manitoba NDP convention was over in three short hours; no policy debate, no election of officers. The leadership vote was Selinger 1,317 and Ashton 685. The regular annual party provincial convention will occur in the Spring. By then, in the face of the deepening global economic crisis, the direction of the new NDP Premier may be clear. The question is: what will the new crop of Manitoba NDP members have to say about it? --Barry Weisleder
Aim a Little Lower, Please
After Taser International, Inc., issued a bulletin from its U.S. headquarters instructing users not to aim the weapon at the chest of a suspect to avoid impact to the heart, police in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Winnipeg, plus the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Ontario Provincial Police decided to comply.
This comes almost two years after Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski died at Vancouver International Airport. He was jolted by a Taser up to five times by the RCMP. Indeed, hundreds of people across North America have been killed by cops using the weapon. Toronto police admit to deploying Tasers on 122 people last year, including two 15-year olds.
John Tackaberry, spokesperson for Amnesty International in Canada, said adjusting where police aim their Tasers “isn't a solution to the problem... it's the impact the Tasers have on bodies.”
Paul Lochner, whose autistic brother George was Tasered by the Toronto emergency task force in 2006, agrees the change isn't enough. He would like to see Tasers banned.
Ditto. The lesson here is that the cops are feeling the pressure of public outrage. The point is to keep it up. --Barry Weisleder
This comes almost two years after Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski died at Vancouver International Airport. He was jolted by a Taser up to five times by the RCMP. Indeed, hundreds of people across North America have been killed by cops using the weapon. Toronto police admit to deploying Tasers on 122 people last year, including two 15-year olds.
John Tackaberry, spokesperson for Amnesty International in Canada, said adjusting where police aim their Tasers “isn't a solution to the problem... it's the impact the Tasers have on bodies.”
Paul Lochner, whose autistic brother George was Tasered by the Toronto emergency task force in 2006, agrees the change isn't enough. He would like to see Tasers banned.
Ditto. The lesson here is that the cops are feeling the pressure of public outrage. The point is to keep it up. --Barry Weisleder
Like We Said . . . Blood for Oil
Oil baron T. Boone Pickens told the U.S. Congress in Washington on October 21 that U.S. energy companies are “entitled” to some of Iraq's crude oil because of the large number of U.S. troops that lost their lives fighting in the country and the American taxpayer money spent in Iraq.
Pickens complained to the newly formed Congressional Natural Gas Caucus that the Iraqi government has awarded contracts to non-U.S. Companies, particularly Chinese firms, to develop Iraq's vast reserves while U.S. companies have been shut out.
“Heck, we even lost 5,000 of our people, 65,000 injured and a trillion, five hundred billion dollars.” Bitter over promises (which Obama is unlikely to keep), Pickens said, “We leave there with the Chinese getting the oil.”
Cry us a river, boss man, but the blood and the oil still flow plenty profits into your pockets. Only anti-war mass protest action will turn off that tap. --Barry Weisleder
Pickens complained to the newly formed Congressional Natural Gas Caucus that the Iraqi government has awarded contracts to non-U.S. Companies, particularly Chinese firms, to develop Iraq's vast reserves while U.S. companies have been shut out.
“Heck, we even lost 5,000 of our people, 65,000 injured and a trillion, five hundred billion dollars.” Bitter over promises (which Obama is unlikely to keep), Pickens said, “We leave there with the Chinese getting the oil.”
Cry us a river, boss man, but the blood and the oil still flow plenty profits into your pockets. Only anti-war mass protest action will turn off that tap. --Barry Weisleder
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Education for Activists Conference
Education for Activists Conference
2nd annual Toronto Socialist Action Trotsky School
November 20-21, 2009 at OISE, U of Toronto, 252 Bloor St. W.
just above the St. George Subway Station
Friday, November 20, 7 p.m.
Rosa Luxemburg – a revolutionary for the 21st Century The nature of Reformism, the concept of the Mass Strike, and an analysis of the Revolutions at the end of World War I.
Presentation by Adam Shils, Chicago Socialist Action, leading member of SA-USA
Saturday, November 21, 10 a.m.
Is Fascism on the rise in America?
What is fascism? What is the significance of the right wing rallies against medicare reform? Where is the U.S. labour movement and what is it doing?
Presentation by Adam Shils, Chicago SA
12 noon Lunch break, and screening of film “Workers of All Lands”, a history of 3rd and 4th Internationals
1 p.m. Permanent Revolution, Stalinism and the Transitional Program What is the strategy for fundamental change?
Presentation by Barry Weisleder, federal secretary, Socialist Action / Ligue pour l’Action socialiste
4 p.m. The Jobless Recovery, and other absurdities of the capitalist economy What is the socialist alternative?
Presentation by Julius Arscott, Executive member, Toronto Socialist Action
6 p.m. Social event at a nearby pub
Conference Registration: $10 for the weekend, $4 per session (or pay what you can)
For more information, visit: www.socialistaction-canada.blogspot.com
e-mail: barryaw@rogers.com or call: 416 – 535-8779
2nd annual Toronto Socialist Action Trotsky School
November 20-21, 2009 at OISE, U of Toronto, 252 Bloor St. W.
just above the St. George Subway Station
Friday, November 20, 7 p.m.
Rosa Luxemburg – a revolutionary for the 21st Century The nature of Reformism, the concept of the Mass Strike, and an analysis of the Revolutions at the end of World War I.
Presentation by Adam Shils, Chicago Socialist Action, leading member of SA-USA
Saturday, November 21, 10 a.m.
Is Fascism on the rise in America?
What is fascism? What is the significance of the right wing rallies against medicare reform? Where is the U.S. labour movement and what is it doing?
Presentation by Adam Shils, Chicago SA
12 noon Lunch break, and screening of film “Workers of All Lands”, a history of 3rd and 4th Internationals
1 p.m. Permanent Revolution, Stalinism and the Transitional Program What is the strategy for fundamental change?
Presentation by Barry Weisleder, federal secretary, Socialist Action / Ligue pour l’Action socialiste
4 p.m. The Jobless Recovery, and other absurdities of the capitalist economy What is the socialist alternative?
Presentation by Julius Arscott, Executive member, Toronto Socialist Action
6 p.m. Social event at a nearby pub
Conference Registration: $10 for the weekend, $4 per session (or pay what you can)
For more information, visit: www.socialistaction-canada.blogspot.com
e-mail: barryaw@rogers.com or call: 416 – 535-8779
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Layton's hypocrisy undermines NDP
Fear that a Fall Canadian federal election would decimate the ranks of New Democratic Party MPs drove Leader Jack Layton to a self-inflicted act of desperation – voting for a rotten Tory budget.
Months of failing to advance socialist policies to meet human needs and differentiate the NDP made Layton's parliamentary caucus more vulnerable to a tactical shift by the Liberal Party. On September 18, Michael Ignatieff had his Liberal MPs vote non-confidence in the Conservative minority government of Stephen Harper. But it would take a vote by all three opposition parties in the House of Commons (Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecois) to defeat the government and force an election. Worried that NDP support would bleed towards the Liberals, and that voters would punish the NDP for precipitating a fourth federal election in only five and a half years, Layton and company opted to prop up the more rightist Tories.
According to opinion polls, 60 per cent of Canadians don't want an election now. Many want employment insurance reform and the $6 Billion home renovation tax credit in the budget Harper tabled.
But 40 per cent do want a federal vote to dump the labour-hating, Tar Sands-loving, war mongering Tories. That segment of the electorate is much more likely to consider supporting the NDP than the anti-election crowd – provided the party gives them some good reasons to do so.
By selling out so cheaply (that is, for E.I. changes that won't help most of the 1.5 million unemployed), and by propping up the Conservatives just to avoid an election, Layton comes off pretty badly. He looks like a hypocrite and alienates the NDP base (of 2.5 million voters) at one stroke.
The labour-linked NDP, the left and the workers' movement as a whole are squandering a golden opportunity to put capitalism on trial, and to seize upon the global capitalist crisis as a tailor-made platform to fight for public ownership and green energy conversion through workers' and community control of industry.
If Jack Layton isn't up to the task, which was evident at the federal NDP convention in Halifax in August, he should step aside. The sooner, the better. -Barry Weisleder
Months of failing to advance socialist policies to meet human needs and differentiate the NDP made Layton's parliamentary caucus more vulnerable to a tactical shift by the Liberal Party. On September 18, Michael Ignatieff had his Liberal MPs vote non-confidence in the Conservative minority government of Stephen Harper. But it would take a vote by all three opposition parties in the House of Commons (Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecois) to defeat the government and force an election. Worried that NDP support would bleed towards the Liberals, and that voters would punish the NDP for precipitating a fourth federal election in only five and a half years, Layton and company opted to prop up the more rightist Tories.
According to opinion polls, 60 per cent of Canadians don't want an election now. Many want employment insurance reform and the $6 Billion home renovation tax credit in the budget Harper tabled.
But 40 per cent do want a federal vote to dump the labour-hating, Tar Sands-loving, war mongering Tories. That segment of the electorate is much more likely to consider supporting the NDP than the anti-election crowd – provided the party gives them some good reasons to do so.
By selling out so cheaply (that is, for E.I. changes that won't help most of the 1.5 million unemployed), and by propping up the Conservatives just to avoid an election, Layton comes off pretty badly. He looks like a hypocrite and alienates the NDP base (of 2.5 million voters) at one stroke.
The labour-linked NDP, the left and the workers' movement as a whole are squandering a golden opportunity to put capitalism on trial, and to seize upon the global capitalist crisis as a tailor-made platform to fight for public ownership and green energy conversion through workers' and community control of industry.
If Jack Layton isn't up to the task, which was evident at the federal NDP convention in Halifax in August, he should step aside. The sooner, the better. -Barry Weisleder
Toronto Labour must replace Miller
The mayor of Canada's biggest city, David Miller, betrayed labour, disappointed his business allies, and was so low in the polls that he announced on September 25 that he will not seek a third term in office. Although the next Toronto municipal election is more than a year away (November 10, 2010), the mega-city's corporate elite has been busy auditioning potential candidates for the mayor's chair.
The labour movement should get busy too. It's time to replace Miller and find standard bearers who will fight for a Workers' Agenda, rather than fight workers.
Miller began his electoral career as a labour-based, New Democratic Party-backed councillor for the west-end ward of High Park in 1994. Before his successful run for Toronto mayor in 2006 he hooked up with Liberal Party fund-raisers, got Conservative Party strategist John Laschinger to run his campaign, and subsequently let his NDP membership lapse.
Miller's policies were implemented by an informal Liberal-NDP alliance that controlled the 44-member Toronto city council. Those policies included corporate subsidies, tax incentives and/or deferrals for costly environmental clean-ups, and tax rebates and minimal property taxes for major commercial developers. At the same time, City Hall imposed steeply rising taxes, rents and fees for small homeowners and tenants, and serious cuts to services like street cleaning, snow removal, public access to swimming pools, arenas, community centers and libraries. Welcome anti-corruption reforms were coupled with an economic assault against the majority of residents that still left the city short of operating funds.
The class collaborationist coalition hit a big bump in the road when city hall bosses tried to squeeze the wages, benefits and work place rights of Toronto civic workers. One hundred and twenty pages of management take-away demands precipitated a 39-day strike by 30,000 inside and outside employees, members of Canadian Union of Public Employees Locals 79 and 416, in June and July.
The workers won a partial victory by resisting most concession demands and making modest gains. (See SA, page 10, August 2009.) Then Toronto and York Region Labour Council served Miller and several other city politicians their just desserts by telling them they were not welcome at the 27,000-strong Toronto Labour Day Parade, September 7.
Meanwhile, some of Miller's Liberal backers, including lawyer/bagman Ralph Lean, and fund-raising co-chair John Ronson, jumped ship. Prominent bourgeois politicians, led by Ontario's Liberal Deputy Premier George Smitherman, former Ontario Conservative leader John Tory, and several right wing city councillors are testing the water for a mayoral run. The class forces they represent resent Miller for not punishing city workers enough, and for not privatizing services. In the game of municipal musical chairs, the ex-NDP sell-out realized that he would have no where to sit.
Labour Council should learn the bitter lesson from backing a gaggle of Liberals and NDPers in 2006 who went on to legislate in favour of rich developers, bankers and businessmen, at the expense of working people. It's time to assemble a team of NDP and Labour activists who will fight for a socialist City Hall in 2010.
To make that team accountable, the NDP should convene a Toronto NDP municipal convention, open to all Toronto members. It should debate policies, adopt a programme and determine a method for the selection of candidates for all municipal offices – and find a way to hold them all accountable to that programme. This is how the NDP functioned officially in Toronto up to the 1970s, before a wave of liberal opportunism and populist reform sidelined open and honest labour party politics at the local level. Hard times demand that labour and the NDP head back to the future. -Barry Weisleder
The labour movement should get busy too. It's time to replace Miller and find standard bearers who will fight for a Workers' Agenda, rather than fight workers.
Miller began his electoral career as a labour-based, New Democratic Party-backed councillor for the west-end ward of High Park in 1994. Before his successful run for Toronto mayor in 2006 he hooked up with Liberal Party fund-raisers, got Conservative Party strategist John Laschinger to run his campaign, and subsequently let his NDP membership lapse.
Miller's policies were implemented by an informal Liberal-NDP alliance that controlled the 44-member Toronto city council. Those policies included corporate subsidies, tax incentives and/or deferrals for costly environmental clean-ups, and tax rebates and minimal property taxes for major commercial developers. At the same time, City Hall imposed steeply rising taxes, rents and fees for small homeowners and tenants, and serious cuts to services like street cleaning, snow removal, public access to swimming pools, arenas, community centers and libraries. Welcome anti-corruption reforms were coupled with an economic assault against the majority of residents that still left the city short of operating funds.
The class collaborationist coalition hit a big bump in the road when city hall bosses tried to squeeze the wages, benefits and work place rights of Toronto civic workers. One hundred and twenty pages of management take-away demands precipitated a 39-day strike by 30,000 inside and outside employees, members of Canadian Union of Public Employees Locals 79 and 416, in June and July.
The workers won a partial victory by resisting most concession demands and making modest gains. (See SA, page 10, August 2009.) Then Toronto and York Region Labour Council served Miller and several other city politicians their just desserts by telling them they were not welcome at the 27,000-strong Toronto Labour Day Parade, September 7.
Meanwhile, some of Miller's Liberal backers, including lawyer/bagman Ralph Lean, and fund-raising co-chair John Ronson, jumped ship. Prominent bourgeois politicians, led by Ontario's Liberal Deputy Premier George Smitherman, former Ontario Conservative leader John Tory, and several right wing city councillors are testing the water for a mayoral run. The class forces they represent resent Miller for not punishing city workers enough, and for not privatizing services. In the game of municipal musical chairs, the ex-NDP sell-out realized that he would have no where to sit.
Labour Council should learn the bitter lesson from backing a gaggle of Liberals and NDPers in 2006 who went on to legislate in favour of rich developers, bankers and businessmen, at the expense of working people. It's time to assemble a team of NDP and Labour activists who will fight for a socialist City Hall in 2010.
To make that team accountable, the NDP should convene a Toronto NDP municipal convention, open to all Toronto members. It should debate policies, adopt a programme and determine a method for the selection of candidates for all municipal offices – and find a way to hold them all accountable to that programme. This is how the NDP functioned officially in Toronto up to the 1970s, before a wave of liberal opportunism and populist reform sidelined open and honest labour party politics at the local level. Hard times demand that labour and the NDP head back to the future. -Barry Weisleder
Family says soldier's death in Afghanistan “useless”
For once, the corporate media felt compelled to feature an opinion critical of the Canadian military intervention in Afghanistan. It is a view shared by over 60 per cent of the population, but it took the expressed grief of a slain soldier's family to get it reported.
Jonathan Couturier, a 23-year-old private in the Canadian Forces, in mid-September became the 131st fatality of the Canadian intervention. As his body was being flown back to his home in Montreal (in Quebec, where opposition to the war is over 80 per cent), his brother and sister-in-law lambasted the mission.
“That war over there, he found it a bit useless – that they were wasting their time over there,” Nicolas Couturier told the Quebec City-based daily Le Soleil.
His wife agreed: “(Jonathan) didn't want to know anything about going there,” said Valerie Boucher. “He didn't want to talk about it, he stayed positive, but at some moments he said he was fed up.”
Military booster, retired Maj.-Gen. Lewis Mackenzie downplayed the family's reaction; he insultingly portrayed it as marginal. But Bloc Quebecois defence critic Claude Bachand endorsed the comments of the soldier's family.
The fact that such poignant criticism of the intervention is prominently reported, even though impugned by militarists, reflects the wavering resolve of Canada's ruling business and media elite for the failed imperialist occupation of Afghanistan. -Barry Weisleder
Jonathan Couturier, a 23-year-old private in the Canadian Forces, in mid-September became the 131st fatality of the Canadian intervention. As his body was being flown back to his home in Montreal (in Quebec, where opposition to the war is over 80 per cent), his brother and sister-in-law lambasted the mission.
“That war over there, he found it a bit useless – that they were wasting their time over there,” Nicolas Couturier told the Quebec City-based daily Le Soleil.
His wife agreed: “(Jonathan) didn't want to know anything about going there,” said Valerie Boucher. “He didn't want to talk about it, he stayed positive, but at some moments he said he was fed up.”
Military booster, retired Maj.-Gen. Lewis Mackenzie downplayed the family's reaction; he insultingly portrayed it as marginal. But Bloc Quebecois defence critic Claude Bachand endorsed the comments of the soldier's family.
The fact that such poignant criticism of the intervention is prominently reported, even though impugned by militarists, reflects the wavering resolve of Canada's ruling business and media elite for the failed imperialist occupation of Afghanistan. -Barry Weisleder
Big Canadian banks set for buying spree
While the average person is coping with lost income, a vanishing pension, shrinking benefits, inaccessible unemployment insurance and double-digit joblessness, the Big Five Canadian banks are flush with capital, thank you very much.
And you know what? They're preparing to go on an international shopping spree.
Canadian bank executives dropped strong hints in mid-September that, having weathered the global financial crisis, they are ready to make some “once in decades” acquisitions – especially in the United States, where more than 90 U.S. banks have been closed so far this year.
Gordon Nixon, chief executive of Royal Bank of Canada, told a bankers' summit “Over the next few years, there will be significant aquisition opportunities in wealth and asset management.” The RBC has businesses in the U.S. and Caribbean, and global custody and investor services through 50 per cent ownership in RBC Dexia Investor Services.
Scotiabank has operations in about 50 countries, including the U.S., Caribbean and Central America, Europe, Middle East and Asia, with 5.5 million customers, 1,500 branches and 2,660 ABMs. It is eyeing expansion in Chile, Japan and Mexio.
Toronto-Dominion Bank has 1,100 retail locations from Maine to Florida, wholesale bank offices in the U.S., Mexico, U.K., Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and South Korea. Brokerage TD Waterhouse also operates in the U.K.
Bank of Montreal owns Harris Bank, a major U.S. Midwest financial services organization with a network of banks in the Chicago area. It also operates across the U.S. with BMO Capital Markets, its investment banking division. BMO highlighted buying troubled consumer banks to bolster its Midwest footprint.
The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is in 17 regional markets in the Caribbean through First Caribbean International Bank. CIBC's wholesale banking division also operates worldwide.
The Big Five apparently didn't need a government bail-out, but just in case, the feds did initiate a programme to aid them. Conservative Finance Minister Jim Flaherty in October said Ottawa would spend up to C$25 billion (US$19.6 billion) to buy mortgages from banks in an effort to keep them lending to homeowners. The size of the program has been increased twice, most recently to C$125 billion.
Workers' tax money funded aid to banks, auto, forestry and other corporate giants. But we are still waiting to see the public works and job creation spending promised by the federal government last Fall and Winter. -Barry Weisleder
And you know what? They're preparing to go on an international shopping spree.
Canadian bank executives dropped strong hints in mid-September that, having weathered the global financial crisis, they are ready to make some “once in decades” acquisitions – especially in the United States, where more than 90 U.S. banks have been closed so far this year.
Gordon Nixon, chief executive of Royal Bank of Canada, told a bankers' summit “Over the next few years, there will be significant aquisition opportunities in wealth and asset management.” The RBC has businesses in the U.S. and Caribbean, and global custody and investor services through 50 per cent ownership in RBC Dexia Investor Services.
Scotiabank has operations in about 50 countries, including the U.S., Caribbean and Central America, Europe, Middle East and Asia, with 5.5 million customers, 1,500 branches and 2,660 ABMs. It is eyeing expansion in Chile, Japan and Mexio.
Toronto-Dominion Bank has 1,100 retail locations from Maine to Florida, wholesale bank offices in the U.S., Mexico, U.K., Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and South Korea. Brokerage TD Waterhouse also operates in the U.K.
Bank of Montreal owns Harris Bank, a major U.S. Midwest financial services organization with a network of banks in the Chicago area. It also operates across the U.S. with BMO Capital Markets, its investment banking division. BMO highlighted buying troubled consumer banks to bolster its Midwest footprint.
The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is in 17 regional markets in the Caribbean through First Caribbean International Bank. CIBC's wholesale banking division also operates worldwide.
The Big Five apparently didn't need a government bail-out, but just in case, the feds did initiate a programme to aid them. Conservative Finance Minister Jim Flaherty in October said Ottawa would spend up to C$25 billion (US$19.6 billion) to buy mortgages from banks in an effort to keep them lending to homeowners. The size of the program has been increased twice, most recently to C$125 billion.
Workers' tax money funded aid to banks, auto, forestry and other corporate giants. But we are still waiting to see the public works and job creation spending promised by the federal government last Fall and Winter. -Barry Weisleder
Economic crisis harms health
Health, as well as wealth, is taking a beating in the current economic crisis. A Canadian Medical Association survey, reported on August 17, shows that while 57 per cent of Canadians are worried about their financial security, nearly an equal number, 52 per cent, worried about their health.
The poll found many Canadians, especially those in lower income brackets, are cutting corners on health spending to make ends meet.
Specifically: 32 per cent said they are spending less money on food; 25 per cent said they cancelled or delayed a dental appointment; 23 per cent reported sleeping less than normal due to financial anxiety; 22 per cent said they had cut recreation or sporting activities to pinch pennies; 16 per cent admitted to skipping meals; 14 per cent said they had delayed or stopped buying their prescription medications for lack of funds; ten per cent indicated they cancelled or delayed a doctor's appointment.
In every example, the less household income, the less education a person has, the harder hit s/he appears to be. For example, 28 per cent of those with annual income under $30,000 said they had skipped meals, compared to 8 per cent of those with family income above $90,000.
The poll, exposing the links between the economic depression and health, was conducted by Ipsos- Reid, which surveyed 3,223 adults online between June 25 and July 11.
While the Canadian Medicare system covers all citizens and permanent residents, it does not include prescription drugs, dental procedures, visual or hearing aids, and a growing list of treatments and services. Clearly, now is the time to expand medicare, not starve it through inadequate funding and cuts that promote the not-so-hidden corporate/capitalist government agenda of privatization. - Barry Weisleder
The poll found many Canadians, especially those in lower income brackets, are cutting corners on health spending to make ends meet.
Specifically: 32 per cent said they are spending less money on food; 25 per cent said they cancelled or delayed a dental appointment; 23 per cent reported sleeping less than normal due to financial anxiety; 22 per cent said they had cut recreation or sporting activities to pinch pennies; 16 per cent admitted to skipping meals; 14 per cent said they had delayed or stopped buying their prescription medications for lack of funds; ten per cent indicated they cancelled or delayed a doctor's appointment.
In every example, the less household income, the less education a person has, the harder hit s/he appears to be. For example, 28 per cent of those with annual income under $30,000 said they had skipped meals, compared to 8 per cent of those with family income above $90,000.
The poll, exposing the links between the economic depression and health, was conducted by Ipsos- Reid, which surveyed 3,223 adults online between June 25 and July 11.
While the Canadian Medicare system covers all citizens and permanent residents, it does not include prescription drugs, dental procedures, visual or hearing aids, and a growing list of treatments and services. Clearly, now is the time to expand medicare, not starve it through inadequate funding and cuts that promote the not-so-hidden corporate/capitalist government agenda of privatization. - Barry Weisleder
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