First Published: The Forge, Vol. 4, No. 9, March 9, 1979
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Malcolm and Paul Saba
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This week the League published the draft program for the new communist party. This draft program puts forward the road Canadian workers must take to free themselves from the chains of capitalist exploitation. It charts the way for the socialist revolution in our country.
The draft program presents the fundamental principles and positions of the new communist party that we will found before the year is out. It is a call to all Canadian workers to join us in creating the party that can lead the working class in the battle for liberation.
For more than 20 years, since the Communist Party of Canada degenerated into revisionism, the proletariat of our country has been deprived of its vanguard party. The working class needs its own political party, a new communist party. The publication of the draft party program brings us closer to this goal.
The program is an essential arm of a Marxist-Leninist party. The program clearly states the party’s long-term objectives as well as its immediate demands. It draws a clear fine of distinction between the communist party, the party of the working class and all the bourgeois and opportunist parties that try to hoodwink the proletariat.
The program of a workers’ party is a scientific statement of the aims and tasks of the working class. The program defines both the ultimate goal of the revolutionary movement of the proletariat, and the demands for which the party fights to achieve this goal.
The draft program the League has published contains a stinging denunciation of the capitalist system and the handful of parasites who live from the profits they squeeze from the workers. It presents a basic class analysis of Canadian society, essential for determining who are the friends and who are the enemies of the revolutionary struggle. This Marxist-Leninist class analysis stands in stark contrast to the various bourgeois and opportunist distortions on this question.
The draft program treats the oppression of the various nationalities in Canada; the Quebec national question of course, but also the struggles of the other oppressed nationalities, like the Native peoples, the Acadians, French Canadians in the rest of the country, as well as Black Canadians and Chinese Canadians. It shows how these peoples constitute a precious reserve of the proletarian revolution in Canada.
The two superpowers, especially US imperialism, are shown to be enemies of our revolutionary struggle, and the fight to defend Canada’s independence is taken up.
The draft party program also presents a clear strategy for the revolution in Canada. It identifies the enemies of the revolution. It shows that the masses of the working people and the peoples of the oppressed nationalities are the two most reliable allies of the proletariat in the fight for socialism. It determines the nature of the revolutionary united front we must build, winning over all possible forces and isolating our enemies to the maximum, to assure the triumph of the revolution.
Socialism and finally, communism are shown to be the party’s objectives and the only path for the emancipation of the proletariat.
The draft program that the League is publishing contains the synthesis of three and a half years of practice in applying Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought to the class struggle In our country.
In these three and a half years the League has expanded from its origins in Montreal right across the country. The League has rooted Itself in the factories and among the masses and has become actively involved in the major battles of the working class.
This document Is also the result of intensive study and democratic discussion by League members throughout the organization.
The final version of the party program will be officially adopted by delegates at the party’s founding congress.
In publicly presenting the draft program, we invite comments, suggestions and criticisms on any of the subjects treated. It is important that the draft program for a new communist party be distributed as widely as possible to all class-conscious workers, and to all those who desire revolutionary change in our country.
The publication of the draft party program is a big step forward. It signals the beginning of the final stage in the struggle to found the party of the Canadian working class!
Join with us In the great cause of socialist revolution!
Join the Canadian Communist League (Marxist-Leninist)!
Forge our party