The Class Struggle in Canada, Political Perspectives for 2007 — Part Three: The Crisis of Reformism

Many honest activists will today look at the leadership of the New Democratic Party and scratch their head. Every Marxist knows the treachery of reformism, but for the present leadership of the NDP, it is even a stretch to call them this. Aren’t reformists supposed to propose reforms? For years, there has been very little […]

  • The Fightback Editorial Board - www.marxist.ca
  • Wed, Jun 27, 2007
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Many honest activists will today look at the leadership of the New Democratic Party and scratch their head. Every Marxist knows the treachery of reformism, but for the present leadership of the NDP, it is even a stretch to call them this. Aren’t reformists supposed to propose reforms? For years, there has been very little progress coming from these progressives. Confining themselves to working within capitalism, in the present epoch, means confining themselves to defeat. And so the game is set.

The bosses’ parties everywhere are proposing cuts and privatizations. Any time they are elected into government the working class is met with an all out assault on their hard-won rights. But to counter this, the leaders of the NDP propose the status quo. They will decry cuts and privatizations when they happen, but when asked if they plan to undo these injustices when elected, they simply answer, “Well, you can’t unscramble and omelet.”

These people then wonder why they cannot rally enough support to get elected. They rely entirely on a vote against the present governments, while giving the working class nothing to vote for. Again and again, the working class votes against the governments of the bosses; however, they do this mostly by staying home.

It has long been the position of Fightback that eventually this passive opposition would turn into active opposition, and this would be reflected inside the NDP. This perspective is now being proven correct by events. All of the storms and stresses in society are beginning to have their effect on the rank and file of the NDP. The equilibrium of Canadian capitalism has been thrown off, leading to inevitable turmoil between the classes. The leadership of the NDP is increasingly finding themselves under pressure from the rank and file members of their party.

In recent months, the NDP leadership has moved to the left. Sensing the pressure from below and trying to be heard over the voice of the new Liberal Party leader, Stephane Dion, Jack Layton has turned his attacks to the big banks. He is demanding a ban on ATM fees and playing towards the instinctive hatred of the bankers that exits amongst the working class.

“Last year the banks broke all records by posting 19 billion dollars in profit. The oil companies in Canada made$ 21 billion. At a time when this country is creating unprecedented prosperity, the average Canadian family is working harder and realizing less of the economic growth. It’s not right that the income gap is at a 30-year high. And it’s not fair that the gap is growing – not shrinking. It’s time for leadership. And the NDP is providing it. Because the banks are making record profits, but are still ‘nickel and dimeing’ us, the NDP is taking them on to end ATM fees. Because every Canadian deserves a living salary we’ve tabled a bill to reinstate the federal minimum wage – and start it at ten dollars an hour. “

– Jack Layton, speaking to party activists, 18th March 2007

Though these words are far from revolutionary, but they are also far from where the NDP has been for the last decade. This is the only way forward for the NDP. The right-wing of the party will argue that this will scare away voters and that we need to appeal to the centre, but these are the same people who have been leading this party to electoral failure since the NDP was founded. Only working class policies can win the support of the majority and give people a reason to come out and vote. This was proven beyond any doubt by their by-election victory in York-South Weston. By waging a campaign on issues that mattered to working class people, the NDP delivered a humiliating defeat to the Ontario Liberals. They captured what was supposed to be a Liberal “safe-seat”.

“The determining factor in this race was the NDP’s stance on raising the minimum wage in Ontario and fighting the MPP pay hike. The minute the NDP proposed a modest reform that would raise the wages of over one million Ontarians, they scored an electoral upset. Workers took note when the NDP voted against the motion by MPPs to give themselves a 31% pay raise just before Christmas. The class divide between Queen’s Park and the interests of the working poor was made even more apparent by the united opposition of McGuinty’s Liberals and John Tory’s Conservatives against raising the minimum wage in Ontario to $10/hr. The Ontario Federation of Labour launched the $10 minimum wage campaign with the endorsement of the NDP. The NDP campaign successfully contrasted the MPPs’ pay increase and the stagnant minimum wage. Marxists have been arguing for years that a leftward turn would lead to victory at the ballot box, while the right wing of the NDP has tried to appease a non-existent middle ground. Here, we have seen that the minute the NDP takes up even one small reform, backed up by a campaign of the wider labour movement, that this is the recipe for victory.”

But the most striking example of the shift to the left in the NDP came at the party’s last federal convention. Jack Layton finally came out against the war in Afghanistan. This was met with immediate enthusiasm from the rank and file. A resolution was passed by a large margin that called for the withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan. The old guard of the party bureaucracy tried in vain to water down the proposal to simply withdrawing the troops from combat missions, but they were handily defeated.

“The NDP membership had, long before convention, demanded the party take a concrete, anti-war stand on Canada’s intervention in Afghanistan. Under incredible pressure from below, Jack Layton announced that the NDP was doing exactly that a short week before convention. The Canadian Labour Congress, representing 3 million workers, also adopted an anti-war position. This policy, itself the subject of countless resolution proposals, was met with great popularity in the party’s ranks and can rightfully be seen as a victory for the Left.

“However, while the bureaucracy was willing to allow a change to an anti-war stance, it was set out to limit the solidity of this policy as much as possible. Defence critic Dawn Black and International Affairs critic Alexa McDonough both attempted to alter the proposed resolution to the point that it would hardly be an anti-war policy at all. Black was the mover of an amendment that would call for the withdrawal of Canadian troops only from ‘the anti-insurgency war in Kandahar province.’ In effect, the amendment would keep the NDP in a pro-intervention position and simply call for soldiers of other nationalities to take over Canada’s role on the front lines. McDonough spoke in favour of this resolution, suggesting that this is what the NDP should be standing for.

“While the party brass was clearly trying to dilute this resolution, the party membership actually stood up against the administration and asserted itself. A trade unionist from Sault Ste. Marie spoke passionately for a comprehensive anti-war stance, ‘Where does it stop? First it was Kabul, then it was Kandahar. It’s very clearly a war, no matter what we’re doing in it. We don’t need another war party, we need a peace party.’

“Many other rank-and-file members spoke out against the amendment and it seemed the only ones speaking, repeatedly, for the change were in fact the NDP MPs. In the end, the membership voted overwhelmingly to submit a resolution to the plenary floor that called for the “immediate” withdrawal of Canadian forces from Afghanistan.”

These are very significant events. The bureaucracy pulled out every trick in the book in an attempt to water down this position and they were still defeated by the momentum of the membership. Jack Layton’s anti-war stance instantly rocketed him into popularity. His leadership review gave him a historically high 90% approval.

The Crisis of Canadian Capitalism

These are uncertain times for Canadian capitalism. While the Canadian economy is still afloat, it is sailing in troubled waters. The equilibrium of Canadian capitalism has been thrown off. The situation is incredibly unstable. Any minor event can trigger a catastrophe. The tensions between the classes are rising steadily. Any spark can set off an explosion. A simple strike, in the present situation, can take on much larger significance and in an instant we could see a major show down. On the economic front we see the same fragility of the situation. Any minor setback can send the markets tumbling. The most glaring expression of the situation is shown by the state of bourgeois politics. Neither the Conservatives nor the Liberals, the two parties of capital, are able to rule as they would like. The ruling class is divided on which direction to turn and the parliament is trapped in an endless spiral of minority governments. There is a sharp mistrust of the entire political system developing in Canada. Not a single political party in the country can come close to capturing the number of votes that are absent from the ballot box.

It is clear that the general direction is not towards stability, but precisely the opposite. The immediate future will see the continuation of an uncertain boom in the west and a steady increase in labour militancy in the east. But at a certain point, consciousness will catch up with events and the class struggle will be rocketed to the fore. It is impossible to predict at exactly what point this will happen, but it may be sooner than any of us imagine.

See also: