First Published: The Forge, Vol. 3, No. 11, May 26, 1978
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Malcolm and Paul Saba
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Today the superpowers’ rivalry is sparking up armed conflicts in Africa and Asia. But their rivalry and their ambitions extend to every corner of the globe, including Canada.
Canada is sandwiched between the United States and the Soviet Union. It constitutes the front line of defence for American imperialism against Soviet attacks. The Canadian ruling class has linked this country to US imperialism through the NATO and Norad military pacts. When the next world war breaks out, the Canadian bourgeoisie will try to drag this country in on the American side. Canadian workers will be recruited to serve as cannon fodder in an imperialist war.
We cannot sit idly by as the superpower war preparations develop. We can and must use every occasion to prepare the Canadian people for the danger of war. Not to take up this task would be suicide for the socialist revolution in our country. It would mean serving the Canadian people up on a platter to the two superpowers. We must do everything in our power to fight the superpowers’ war preparations, help to put off the outbreak of war so that when it does break out we will be in a better state of preparation to take advantage of any situation.
1. Push forward the struggle for socialist revolution. We must concentrate our main energies in the pre-war period on leading the struggle to overthrow our main enemy, the Canadian bourgeoisie. If we are able to achieve the revolution before war breaks out, even though this possibility appears unlikely at the present time, a socialist Canada would stay out of all imperialist wars and would be in an excellent position to fight off any invaders.
2. Educate the people about the danger of war and struggle against the superpower war preparations. Many people today in our country still think a new war is a far-away possibility that will never really touch our shores. We must show, through our communist education work, by opposing every superpower attack or threat to our country, that not only is a new war inevitable, but that we can fight the superpowers and we can win victories. When we denounce US military exercises in Canada, or the Soviet spy satellite, all these acts help to mobilize the people against the superpower threat.
3. Fight to safeguard Canada’s independence. Every superpower encroachment or attack against Canada’s independence, every new sell-out by the Canadian bourgeoisie leaves the Canadian people open pawns in the superpower game of world hegemony. As we fight for such things as the 200-mile limit, against US imperialist political and economic control of Canada, we must show that only the Canadian working class can lead the people in the defence of Canadian independence.
4. Fight to withdraw Canada from the NATO and Norad pacts. Fight against participation in all military pacts. Canada’s participation in the NATO/Norad alliances can only lead to Canada being dragged into the war on the US side. We must fight these pacts and at the same time oppose the Soviet-dominated. Warsaw Pact.
5. Fight the strengthening of the Canadian army. The Canadian government has embarked on a major program of defence spending. When more than a million are out of work, billions of dollars of our money are being used to buy new jet fighters and tanks which can only reinforce the ruling class’s ability to repress the masses or strengthen the actual Canadian troop presence in Europe.
6. Fight against any Canadian participation in the next imperialist world war, or any local wars to safeguard imperialist interests. Not only is the Canadian state preparing to drag us into the next world war, it is ready and willing right now to send Canadian troops into places like Namibia or Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) to protect Canadian monopolies.
7. Prepare the Canadian people militarily for the next war. If the bourgeoisie is preparing the Canadian army to fight for the US superpower, we have to prepare the Canadian people to turn the nextimperialist war into a civil war for socialism; and if Canada is invaded by the superpowers, we must lead the struggle for national liberation as one phase of the socialist revolution.
Some people may throw up their arms in dismay at all this and say, “But how are we ever going to be able to accomplish all this; how can we fight such formidable enemies as the US and the USSR and, at the same time, our own ruling class?”
The answer is we can if we are organized, if we have our own communist party.
The Chinese people vanquished Japanese forces which at the time dominated most of Asia. The Kampuchean people beat the mighty US imperialists who claimed they would bomb them back into the stone age. And we can do it too. That’s why we must move as quickly and as resolutely as possible to build our own Marxist-Leninist party, to lead us correctly through the difficult period which lies ahead.