This April 25 marks 10 years since the death of Camilo Cahis.
Camilo was one of the first members of our party, which was known as Fightback at the time of his death. From the time he joined, Camilo soon morphed into one of our leading members. He was the second person to be employed by our party, during a time when it had only a few dozen members, and came to play a central role on our Executive Committee—responsibilities which he devoted the utmost attention to until the final moments of his life. Though far too humble to accept the accolades, Camilo helped to re-lay the foundations of Marxism in Canada and was one of its undisputed leaders.
Sadly, too few people got to meet this remarkable man. This applies to the vast majority of our own members, most of whom joined long after his death. If they have any familiarity at all with the name Camilo Cahis, it is only because of the publishing house that bears his name.
Despite this, Camilo’s work touches on every aspect of our ideas and activity today. The RCP would not be what it is without him.
It goes without saying that parties are never built through the efforts of great men and women alone. Instead, it is a collective endeavor—one that derives its cohesion and strength from the ideas and traditions of Marxism.
That said, it would be mistaken to ignore the role that certain exceptional individuals play in building and providing leadership to a party. This is particularly true in the early days. In those periods, the actions of even one individual can play a deciding role in shaping the party’s future course of development. Camilo played just such a role during his life.
Camilo the Marxist
Ted Grant once said that a revolutionary should possess three qualities: theory, a sense of proportion and a sense of humour. Camilo had all three of these in spades.
I first met Camilo at a Fightback event held at the University of Toronto on the subject of Stalinism. It was my first event and Camilo was the speaker. I was a high school student who had just been introduced to Marxism, but I still had my share of doubts about Lenin and the Russian Revolution.
Needless to say, those doubts soon disappeared. Camilo spoke in an almost quiet and measured way, as was his style. I was stunned by how well he knew the subject, as well as his systematic way of developing each point. There was never a shred of arrogance or unnecessary bombast when Camilo spoke, even with those subjects he understood better than anyone else. Camilo let the ideas speak for themselves. I was shocked when I was told many years later that Camilo was a shy person and that public speaking did not come naturally to him. I had never been so impressed by a public talk before that event, and I have only met a few people who could compare since.
Camilo took a similar approach with his writing. I always looked forward to reading his latest articles in Fightback, probably more than any other writer. His articles were never boring and were always exhaustive, containing many facts and figures. Camilo would regularly pore over the bourgeois news, particularly the National Post and the Globe & Mail, noting down interesting and useful things as he went along. He never forced a conclusion in his articles, which is always the case with lazy writers, but assembled the facts and figures in such a way that the reader would draw his conclusion for themselves. I would always try to model my own writing after his, though not always with success.
Camilo was not the kind of person who dealt with simple answers and slogans, as is all too common in the movement today. What I thought was a simple question often turned into a one-hour discussion with him. Camilo always explored every question in its depth. He never treated Marxism as a dogma, but as a science—the only way it should be.
Camilo the man
But these things form only a small part of what made Camilo who he was. There are plenty of talented and intelligent people out there who will never shape up into serious leaders. Camilo had an impressive strength of mind, but he also had a unique strength of character. It was the combination of these two things that made him the man he was.
The attribute that most struck me about Camilo was his immense humility. The way most people conceive of great men is as larger than life figures, overflowing with bombast and confidence. This is the image we are often fed in school or in film and television. But this fantastic picture does not always measure up with reality. It was certainly not the case with Camilo—though he was a great man just the same.
Camilo had an almost organic contempt for prestige of any kind, especially as it concerned his own position. I never once witnessed Camilo “pull rank,” raise his voice or even display irritation with me, even when my line of questioning certainly warranted the latter. This behaviour usually results from a severe lack of confidence, not the other way around.
Camilo had an immense confidence—not necessarily in himself, but in the ideas that he defended. Lenin once rebuffed the idea that he was a theoretician, insisting that he was merely a “publicist” of Marxism. Camilo no doubt saw himself in a similar light.
Camilo also displayed great care in his work as a leading party member. He did this with things both big and small. Camilo devoted as much attention to a major presentation at an event as he would to showing up on time for a routine branch meeting. Handing a task to Camilo served as a guarantee that it would be completed on time and executed with finesse, no matter what the task was. He was a serious man when it came to the work, and this inspired the same serious attitude with those around him. He did this despite the mental suffering that tormented him throughout his adult life—a fact he kept hidden from most people, including myself.
But Camilo was no stiff. On the contrary, he had a rich sense of humour which I have not encountered in anyone to the same degree since. Today’s “left” has many unsavory features, one of which is a total inability to find humour in the world—and especially in themselves. Camilo had no such qualms. His good humour endeared him to everyone he spoke to.
Camilo was at his funniest when he was describing some ridiculous comment from Justin Trudeau or the latest bonehead move of the NDP bureaucracy. I often regret that Camilo never lived to see the election of Donald Trump, which would have provided an inexhaustible source of joke making for him. Camilo’s laughter was always explosive and infectious. It is one of those small details that I miss the most.
Our work continues
Isaac Newton once remarked that “if I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” In our tradition, this role was played by the likes of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky.
However, it can be all too easy to forget the secondary individuals who defended their ideas through the ages, often without acclaim. They too played a role in preserving the ideas, methods and program that we defend today. They form as much a part of our heritage as the giants that everyone knows. We forget them at our own peril.
Camilo’s legacy may appear modest when compared to others—but that makes it no less important. He and others operated at a time when the forces of Marxism were negligible in Canada. The pressures to abandon our ideas were immense. Few people would have the grit to hold the course in conditions like those. But Camilo did.
In doing so, Camilo helped introduce a new generation to the ideas of Marxism. I am proud to count myself among them—though I am hardly the only one. He executed this task with iron determination and without fanfare. The result is the party we have today.
However, his contribution is also something more than that. It does not take someone special to teach the basics of Marxism. It does, however, take a certain ability to build leaders. Here, Camilo stood unmatched. To this day, I often find myself asking “What would Camilo do in this situation”? I am sure that others who knew Camilo often ask themselves the same question. This is the enduring impact of a true Marxist leader.
Camilo is gone, but his impact is still as powerful as ever. The best tribute we can offer is to continue his work—that is, by building the RCP, and establishing a socialist society free of want, misery and oppression. It is a future Camilo will never get to witness. But thanks to him, it is a future all but guaranteed to us.
