JULY 1st: CANADA DAY
A Marxist
approach to the 150th anniversary of Canada (July 1st, 1867-2017)
By Daniel Paquet dpaquet1871@gmail.com
What really occurred on July 1st 1867? Well, a meeting of merchants, bankers and
people of liberal professions took place in Fredericton (capital city of the Province
Prince-Edward Island). They decided to
establish a common market, more or less independent from Great Britain, that
continued to include them in the Commonwealth and gave them protection. Nowadays, it is a day of celebrations; but it
has nothing to do for instance with July 14th in France, while in
1789, the French people seized the political power, abolished monarchy and
proclaimed a Republic, with notably the ideas of the Lumières. For instance,
Robespierre, one of the leaders of this Revolution was especially inspired by Le Contrat social, masterpiece of Jean-Jacques
Rousseau. In Canada (which could mean in
one of the several Amerindian languages:
the small village), nothing of the sort happened. It was rather quiet.
In paradox, the working people around the world gave
themselves a day of remembrance for past struggles and a day of festivities to always
keep in mind the historical battles of the proletariat. As says the Russian
leader, Lenin: “the trade unions were a tremendous step forward for the working
class in the early days of capitalist development, inasmuch as they marked a
transition from the workers’ disunity and helplessness to the rudiments of class
organization…” [1]
This special day is called May Day and it takes place on May the First every
year all around the world. In a
nutshell, Canadian Confederation Day of British colonies has no people’s
content, while May Day has a specific international struggle’s
significance. But we can say that
Canadian Communists gave a particular meaning to the peoples of Canada as the
need to break the unequal union between English-speaking Canada and Québec (and
it goes as well with the Native peoples, immigrants, etc. For Québec, the Communists claim the right of
the French-Canadian nation to self-determination up and including the right to
secede if such is the will of the people in Québec.
A new party emerged in 1921, the Communist Party of
Canada and as said one of its past General Secretary, Tim Buck, in 1965: “… We will build the Communist party,
strengthen the Party, and extend our influence in preparation for the change
which I know is going to come.”[2]
Now as for those who believe and especially maneuver for
the workers to stay away from this revolutionary party, let’s remember Lenin’s
word: “Class political consciousness can be brought to the workers only from
without, that is only from outside on the economic struggle, from outside of
the sphere of relations between workers and employers.”[3]
Could we not have a last word on the State which calls
in a viewpoint of its realization in Canada?
“The State is, therefore by no means a power forced on society from
without; just as little is it, the reality, of the ethical idea,’ ‘the image
and reality of reason,’ as Hegel maintains.
Rather, it is a product of
society at a certain stage of development.; it is the admission that this society
has become entangled in an insoluble contradiction with itself, that it is
cleft into irreconcilable antagonisms, cases with conflicting economic
interest, might not consume themselves and society in sterile struggle, a power seemingly
standing above society became necessary for the purpose of moderating the
conflict of keeping it within the bounds of ‘order’; and this power , arisen
out of society, but placing itself above it, and increasingly alienating itself
from it, is the state.” [4] The
Manifesto of the Communist Party, written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
develops this thesis fully; as well as the brochure published by Lenin, whose
name is The State and Revolution.
While Canada is ranking second for its size, after
Russia; the population is rather small:
34 millions, with a national minority (the Québécois), of around 8, 6
millions. Both nations would have a lot
to lose politically and economically being independent one from the other.
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[1] Lenin, On the Organizational Principles
of a Proletarian Party, Novosti Press Agency Publishing House, Moscow,
1972, page 271).
[2] Reminiscences of Tim Buck, Yours
in the Struggle, NC Press Limited, Toronto, 1977, page 405).
[3] Lenin, V.I., What is to be done,
Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1973¬Reprinted by Red Star Publishers, U.S.A.,
2014, page 73).
[4] Edited by Robert C. Tucker, The
Marx-Engels Reader, W. W. Norton & Company, New York – London,
1978, page 752).
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