First Published: Alive Magazine, {Canada] No 80, June 11, 1977
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Malcolm and Paul Saba
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The US organization, “October League” has made an error which has significance to Canadian anti-imperialists. This error constitutes a negative interference in our affairs and must be openly opposed.
Writing in the May 23rd issue of The Call, the October League has stated that Canada is an imperialist country. Also, the October League has stated in that same article that the principal contradiction in Canada is between the the proletariat and the Canadian bourgeoise. In making these statements the October League is assisting the US imperialist, fascist machine and no one else.
The error should be acknowleged and rectified by the October League for it contains many unfortunate and pro-imperialist aspects.
The article printed on pages 6 and 7 of the May 23rd issue of The Call makes many of the errors which have been traditional in “Marxist-Leninist” circles of the US and Canada. However, these are, in the main, secondary to the error of stating that Canada is an imperialist country.
In the article there is usual “historical account” of the development of Marxism-Leninism in Canada and the US in the past decade. Although the article is listed as a joint communique of the October League and a Canadian organization there is no mention anywhere of the existance and activities of the Bainzite Cleftists who have been masquerading as Marxist-Leninists in Canada since at least 1968.
This selective accounting is quite interesting. The October League knows very well the role of the Bainzites in Canada because they have had organizational contact and discussions with the Bainzites. The Canadian organization CCL(M-L), with whom the joint communique was issued, is not the first to attact the interest of the October League. And, CCL(M-L) itself, comes out of a split in the Quebec section of the Bainzite organization. That split coming at the time of or after October League and the Bainzites examined the possibilities of formal relationships.
The selective memories of both October League and CCL (M-L) should be analyzed with care. Both organizations claim to oppose the Bainzites (although they do not make this claim very often). Yet, people know, opposition can come from two motives. Opposition to the Bainzites can come from genuine progressive revolutionary circles or it can come from circles which are like the Bainzites and in competition with them for counter-revolutionary influence.
We have pointed out in the past that the CCL(M-L) appears in practice at least, to be following exactly in the footsteps of the Bainzites. In style and in organizational procedures they are more like a carbon copy than they are like a different thing.
The October League, if it is a positive force for revolution in the heartland of the US imperialist monster, should keep its hands off Canada. At the moment its program looks somewhat the same as the Soviet social-imperialist tactics in countries such as Angola (“support” for the MPLA and opposition to the FNLA and the UNITA). Also, it is like the Bainzites’ position of “support” for UNITA and opposition to the FNLA and MPLA.
These are all reflections to varying degrees of hegemonistic design. Paying attention to these practical reflections is a must for Canadian anti-imperialists. As Chairman Mao points out correct ideas come from social practice. Anyone who pays attention to their five senses in the world will have noticed the general tendency of birds of feather flock together.
In that light we would point out that we do not object to the October League and CCL(M-L) issuing a joint statement. That is their affair. (The people’s judgement of their affair is another thing altoghether.) However, we do object to an American organization, which calls itself Marxist-Leninist, poking its nose into Canada and attempting to divert attention away from US imperialism and Soviet social-imperialism.
The October League will undoubtedly offer, in that specific matter, the same defense as that offered by the CCL(M-L) and the others in Canada who say that Canada is an imperialist country. They will point out that they have said that the Canadian people must oppose the two superpowers.
It is bad enough when some Canadian “revolutionaries” think and claim that the main problem is the Canadian bourgeoisie and the US imperialist bourgeoisie. When an organization from the heartland of US imperialism makes the same claim it borders on fascist criminality. Rectification for such an insane pronouncement must be immediately forthcoming. And, if the claim is made that the pronouncement is not insane, but, rather is sane, then judgement of the October League must be made in the light of their attempt to divert the attention of Canadian anti-imperialists from the jugular vein of the US imperialists.
US imperialism dominates Canada. Agents of US imperialism in Canada (conscious or unconscious agents) promote, in the Left, that the enemy is not primarily US imperialism but rather is the Canadian bourgeoisie. They do this to ensure that the Canadian people do not punch the actual gun-men in the nose.
On the other hand, agents of Soviet social-imperialism in Canada, the Bainzites, promote that US imperialism is the main enemy. They do this to bolster the image of the Soviet Union as an anti-US force. The Bainzites want the Canadian people to punch the US imperialist gun-men in the nose with brass knuckles supplied by Soviet social-imperialism.
That CCL(M-L) needs to rope in a big brother to join in its nonsensical chorus that Canada is an imperialist country is interesting. However, no matter who joins that particular bourgeois tune, it remains a pack of lies.