May Day 2016: Build Coalitions, struggle for a Common Front

 Posted on May 1, 2016
May 012016
 

May Day greetings from the Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada

May Day 2016 arrives in an environment where stagnating imperialism seeks to extend its existence, using war, nationalism, militarism, religious fundamentalism and racism to continue its exploitation of the planet and its peoples. Inter-imperialist rivalries for world domination escalate the dangers of war and ecological destruction, to the extent that the survival of our species is a concrete and immediate question. The socialist alternative, first achieved in statehood by the victory of the great proletarian revolution of 1917, is no longer an option but the essence of the struggle for existence. The socialist states that exist, or the development of transitional forms to socialism, are harbingers of the future, the ingredients of salvation. These are the parameters of the global struggle for life, for the continuity of our species. Continue reading »

2016 Federal Budget: New Car – Not Much Gas

 Posted on April 2, 2016
Apr 022016
 

The 2016 federal budget proposes to make good on the slew of Liberal election promises that resulted in a Liberal majority last fall.   Fed up with the Tories, Canadians chose the Liberals as the preferred vehicle to drive the Tories out and move the country away from a decade of austerity, war and corruption, to the ‘sunny ways’ agenda of promised jobs, prosperity, democracy, and action on climate change. Continue reading »

Tell Parliament to reject the Trans-Pacific Partnership

 Posted on March 15, 2016
Mar 152016
 

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was signed in early February by 12 countries, including Canada. Negotiated behind closed doors, this deal will guarantee the “right” of investors, at the expense of working people. Politicians and the corporate media claim that trade deals “create jobs” and boost tax revenues. But under capitalism, corporations (both Canadian-based and foreign-owned) boost profits by slashing employment, avoiding environmental oversight, and demanding lower taxes. The TPP requires ratification by the legislatures of all the signing countries. Mobilize now: tell Parliament to reject the TPP! Continue reading »

CPC Central Committee launches 38th Central Convention discussion, stop TPP campaign

 Posted on February 16, 2016
Feb 162016
 

Big challenges were on the table for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Canada, when it met Jan. 30-31 to launch preparations for the party’s upcoming 38th Central Convention in Toronto. The centrepiece of the meeting was the Draft Political Resolution for the May 21-23 convention, a document which will be debated by members at club meetings and provincial gatherings over the next three months. Continue reading »

A strong rejection of the pro-austerity and pro-war agenda

 Posted on October 30, 2015
Oct 302015
 

Contribution to the 17th International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties by Communist Party of Canada leader Miguel Figueroa

First of all, we join with others in expressing our solidarity to our host party, the Communist Party, Turkey.

At such a critical moment in this region, with dark clouds of war swirling everywhere, with imperialist intrigues fomenting national and religious conflict in order to extend its hegemony, and with a humanitarian and refugee crisis of epic proportions, the principled, internationalist role of your party and other Communist and Workers’ parties across the Middle East are more crucial than ever. Continue reading »

The Greek people have our whole-hearted solidarity

 Posted on July 21, 2015
Jul 212015
 

The 3rd Memorandum debt refinancing pact signed between the Troika (European Commission, the IMF and the European Central Bank) and the Syriza-led government in Greece will have disastrous effects on the Greek working class and working people. It constitutes a monumental betrayal by the Syriza (social democratic) party of its previous promises to stand up to the European bankers and to end and reverse austerity imposed by previous bourgeois governments. The various attempts by Syriza (or its supporters abroad) to justify or excuse this sell-out agreement – or to deflect responsibility away from the Tsipras government in Athens – fail to alter that basic reality.

As the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) correctly noted in its recent statement, the government is essence is burdening the people with a new loan worth 86 billion € and savage measures that accompany it, such as the further reduction of the people’s income, the new heavy taxes, the maintenance of the new property tax, the significant increase of VAT on items of mass popular consumption, the reduction of pensions, the implementation of a new and worse social-security regime, the gradual abolition of supplementary assistance for poor pensioners, and the wholesale privatization of public assets.

Continue reading »

De tout cœur, solidaires avec le peuple grec

 Posted on July 21, 2015
Jul 212015
 

L’entente signée de refinancement de la dette du 3ième mémorandum entre la Troïka (Commission européenne, le FMI et la Banque centrale européenne) et le gouvernement dirigé par Syriza en Grèce aura des effets désastreux pour la classe ouvrière et le peuple travailleur grec. Elle constitue une trahison monumentale des promesses du parti social-démocrate Syriza de tenir tête aux banquiers européens et d’en terminer avec l’austérité imposée par les précédents gouvernements bourgeois. Les diverses tentatives de Syriza (ou de ses partisanes et partisans à l’étranger) pour excuser ou justifier cette trahison, ou bien voiler la responsabilité du gouvernement Tsipras à Athènes – ne parviennent aucunement à altérer cette réalité fondamentale.

Comme le Parti communiste de Grèce (KKE) l’a correctement relevé dans sa récente déclaration, le gouvernement accable essentiellement la population avec un nouveau prêt d’une valeur de 86 milliards d’euros et les mesures sauvages qui l’accompagnent, telles que la poursuite de la réduction du revenu de la population, de lourds impôts, le maintien d’une nouvelle taxe sur la propriété, une importante augmentation de la TVA sur les articles de consommation des masses populaires et la taxe de solidarité, la réduction des pensions, la mise en œuvre d’un nouveau régime de sécurité sociale encore diminué, la suppression graduelle des pensions complémentaires pour les retraités pauvres et la privatisation systématique de biens publics.

Continue reading »

June Central Committee Report

 Posted on July 14, 2015
Jul 142015
 

Main Political Report
to the Central Committee, CPC
June 13, 2015
Download the full CC report as PDF 

[The following was presented by cde. Miguel Figueroa on behalf of the Central Executive. The Central Committee adopted the Report unanimously, and directed the CEC to finalize the Report in line with the discussion.]

There are a great number of matters before us this weekend, given the long interval since our last full plenum in September. We did convene a special CC teleconference meeting back in February to deal with federal election preparations in the event of an early writ.

This report will focus on two main questions: first, the socio-economic and political situation in Canada, the fightback against austerity and reaction, and the immediate priority of working to help defeat the Harper Conservatives in the coming election; and (2) the ideological, political and organizational work of our own Party, especially with respect to party building and extending our reach and influence in the broader labour and democratic movements.

This report aims to assess the most important developments in our country, and in our party itself, to deepen our ideological and political analysis in leading the work of our party. These valuable discussions should continue and deepen when we gather again in August for the Central School of the CC, and following the Federal election, when we discuss and adopt the draft documents for the 38th Central Convention.

Before proceeding to the heart of our deliberations however, we must first situate Canadian political reality in the broader global context. Continue reading »

Ceremony to honour Arthur “Slim” Evans and On to Ottawa Trekkers – July 1

 Posted on June 29, 2015
Jun 292015
 

July 1 will mark the 80th anniversary of the brutal police attack against the On to Ottawa Trek. On that date in 1935, the citizens of Regina and Trek participants were holding a peaceful mass rally in that city’s Market Square. Suddenly, at 8:17 pm, RCMP officers emerged from vans parked at the square with batons and tear gas to break up the rally, injuring hundreds and sparking the infamous “Regina Police Riot”.

The On to Ottawa Trek was organized by the Relief Camp Workers Union, and led by Arthur “Slim” Evans, one of the most popular trade union and Communist leaders of the “Dirty Thirties” Depression era. In the spring of 1935, after weeks of political organizing in Vancouver to demand “Work and Wages”, hundreds of RCWU members and other unemployed workers boarded freight trains, intending to take their struggle directly to the federal government in Ottawa. Continue reading »

80th anniversary of the On To Ottawa Trek: Mass struggle is still the key to victory!

 Posted on June 24, 2015
Jun 242015
 

Special Resolution on the 80th anniversary of the On to Ottawa Trek, adopted by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Canada, June 13-14, 2015

This meeting of the Central Committee CPC salutes the 80th anniversary of the 1935 On to Ottawa Trek – one of the most iconic episodes in the history of the working class struggle in Canada. On this occasion, we pay tribute to the leaders of the Trek – Arthur “Slim” Evans, Robert “Doc” Savage and other working class heroes who fearlessly took on the bosses, the police, the military, and right-wing politicians.

At the same time, we stress the need to understand the lessons of the past in today’s context.

The On to Ottawa Trek was initiated by the communist-led Relief Camp Workers Union at the height of the Great Depression, after five years of vicious ruling class attacks on the living standards and rights of the working class across the country. Today we are experiencing another period of economic crisis for the capitalist system, which has seen a rebound of corporate profits since 2008, but no real economic recovery for working people. Once again, the gap between the ultra-wealthy and the mass of the people has increased sharply, reflecting the intensified exploitation of workers as bosses use the “reserve army of labour” to drive down wages and impose austerity cuts. Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries