Canada is a developed capitalist country in which the fundamental contradiction is between the private character of appropriation and the social character of production, represented in classes by the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The achievement of socialism in this country requires a single stage revolution aimed at the seizure of state power, the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat, and the socialization of the means of production.
Two main bourgeois classes are present in Canada. There is an independent Canadian capitalist class, centered in the banking, transportation, and commercial sectors of the economy, which holds state power. There is also US imperialism, an internal force dominating the surplus value producing sectors of resource extraction and manufacturing, which influences the way in which state power is exercised. Both the Canadian bourgeoisie and US imperialism exploit the proletariat in this country, and both will directly oppose the proletarian revolution. For these reasons, the principal contradiction in Canada is most accurately summed up as being between the Canadian bourgeoisie and US imperialism on the one hand and the Canadian proletariat on the other.
The relationship between the Canadian bourgeoisie and US imperialism is one of alliance. Within the alliance there is contention when the interests of one or the other parties is threatened, but the main character of the alliance is collusion. The Canadian bourgeoisie benefits from US investment in this country 1) because the investment is focused chiefly in the surplus value producing sectors of the economy, thereby expanding the economic base and generating capital, and 2) because the Canadian-controlled sectors of banking, transportation, and commerce service this expanded economic base and appropriate their “share” of the surplus value. In this relationship it is the Canadian bourgeoisie’s possession of state power that enables it to maintain a position of strength against the economic, political, and military superiority of US imperialism. Canadian political independence benefits American capital, however, in that it provides a stable climate and a developed infrastructure for investment. When the Canadian bourgeoisie exercises state power in ways antagonistic to US imperialism, American interests use their economic power in this country to create political leverage on the Canadian bourgeoisie, and their influence through the US state to bring direct pressure to bear on the Canadian state.
It is because of this alliance that the Canadian bourgeoisie and US imperialism together constitute the target of the Canadian revolution. Although the immediate objective of the revolution is the seizure of state power which is held by the Canadian bourgeoisie, the state is part of the political superstructure created on an economic base which is dominated by US imperialism. In the struggle for state power the Canadian proletariat will face the combined political, military, and economic strength of the Canadian bourgeoisie and US imperialism. The extent to which the US will intervene may be limited by domestic and international crises of its own, but it would be a serious mistake to underestimate the certain involvement of this enemy. It is highly possible that the US will attempt to suppress the Canadian revolution through an intervention equivalent to military invasion. This still would not alter the dual nature of the target of the revolution, since such an invasion would occur with the official or unofficial consent of the Canadian bourgeoisie. The Canadian bourgeoisie will always ally with US imperialism against the revolution in this country.
In addition to these principal forces of reaction there is a substantial section of the petit bourgeoisie, including small businessmen, government bureaucrats, and professionals, who will likely oppose the revolution. Further, there are the agents of the bourgeoisie in the workers’ movement in the form of the labour aristocracy, including a section of the union bureaucracies, who will try to sabotage the struggle.
The revolutionary forces in Canada are composed primarily of the proletariat, which represents approximately 80% of the population. Its most powerful sections are those engaged in the production of essential goods and services. Workers in mines, mills, and factories tend to develop class consciousness through their experience of exploitation at the point of production. Workers in the transportation, communication and utilities sectors develop their class consciousness through their antagonistic relationship with the state, to which they supply services which are used to provide a superstructure for the bourgeoisie. Concentrated in large productive units and disciplined by the process of work itself, these workers have the capacity to paralyze the economy; thus they constitute a vital strategic element in the struggle for power.
The proletariat has some potentially stable allies such as farmers and fishermen. Non-proletarian sections of the oppressed Quebec nation and the Native and Inuit peoples also have some objective interest in the revolution. Further, some petit bourgeois shopkeepers, lower level bureaucrats, and professionals, will provide unstable allies to the proletarian cause.
Of the external forces in the Canadian revolution, imperialist interests outside of Canada with investments in this country will line up against the proletariat, while the imperialist system as a whole will serve as a reserve for the Canadian bourgeoisie and US imperialism. Conversely, the Canadian working class struggle is a part of the struggles of the international proletariat, the oppressed nations and the peoples of the world. The Canadian proletariat will be in a situation of mutual support with those forces genuinely waging these struggles, as well as with the socialist countries.
There are a number of important secondary contradictions in Canada. The Red Star Collective:
1) recognizes the right of the Quebec nation to self-determination up to and including secession, and must struggle against any use of force by the Canadian state to keep Quebec within Confederation.
As a nation the Quebec people are entitled to decide their own language, educational, and economic policies. While defending Quebec’s rights, however, communists must emphasize that the enemy of the Quebec proletariat is the same as that of the proletariat of English Canada and that the workers of both nations should therefore unite under one communist party and wage a single socialist revolution in Canada as a whole. The Marxist-Leninist movement is in agreement on this position, but in putting it forward must be particularly respectful of the views of the Quebec people.
2) affirms the language, cultural, and democratic rights of French Canadians throughout the country.
3) supports the struggles of women against their particular oppression and exploitation. Women are exploited economically by capitalism in their dual function as cheap labour and cheap reproducers of the labour force within the family. As well, sexist ideology is used to justify the political, social and personal oppression of women and to divide the working class.
The right to abortion on demand, the right to jobs, and equal pay for equal work are all examples of particular demands of women. While the struggle for these demands must continue, it must be recognized that the real emancipation of women will only be achieved to the extent that the entire working class is emancipated; the working class will be emancipated only when women take up this struggle and fuse with it the struggle for their particular emancipation.
Because of the particular situation of women in the work force and in the home, it is necessary to develop a strategy for their organization and mobilization. This must be based on a concrete analysis of women’s situation and the changing forms of work within our society.
The economic division of labour between men and women has created a deep-rooted ideological structure of sexism which is embedded in the family and culture of bourgeois society. Both men and women are oppressed by sexist socialization and ideology. Sexism within the working class and its organizations can only be eliminated by a conscious and continuous struggle.
4) recognizes the importance of developing a full Marxist-Leninist position on the situation of the Amerindian and Inuit peoples, including the question of whether or not native peoples have rights to self-determination.
The approach to the issue of native peoples must begin with the acknowledgement that the process of European settlement cruelly exploited and oppressed the original inhabitants, denying their national and economic rights. We must, therefore, uphold the rights of the Amerindian and Inuit peoples, including the right to their own land, culture, language and education.
5) defends the rights of immigrants, who are singled out for special exploitation and attack by the bourgeoisie and its state, over and above that directed at workers in general.
6) opposes racism by promoting the equality of peoples of all nationalities and promoting unity among them in a common struggle against racial discrimination.
7) support the struggle for jobs and a decent standard of living for the millions of unemployed and working poor throughout Canada – especially in the Maritimes, the North, and Quebec.
The role of Marxist-Leninists in struggling to resolve these secondary contradictions must be to assist in the immediate actions of the people concerned, and at the same time to demonstrate that their fight can be fully won only through the establishment of a communist society.