Imagine - magazine of the Socialist Party of Canada

Imagine

VOL. 1 NO. 1

January 2002

Official Journal of
the Socialist Party of Canada

Hey, worker!

It's the heat of sweltering summer
in the Motor City capital of Can-
ada—Windsor, Ontario. People like
you and me go to work, sweat out our
jobs— in factory, office, home— those
"lucky" enough to have work. Some — a
goodly number— fret out their time in
quiet desperation wondering how they
are going to make ends meet on what
little unemployment dole cheque they
get.

We work when we can, some five
days a week, others accepting overtime
to pay bills and the mortgage. We try
to build up a fund to live comfortably
enough to keep paying bills and accu-
mulating goods in the belief that we
are living the good life. We try to
plan a future, get married, and raise
kids, in a world where everything has
become a commodity for sale— with
the forced message from television,
radio and newspaper to buy, buy, buy
because that is how we will suppos-
edly find happiness. Meanwhile, we
keep a watch over our shoulders in the
hope that the latest round of economic
"restructuring" and "rationalization"
and "globalization" won't throw us on
the economic rubbish heap.

This is the best of all worlds, we are
told, even though the corporate powers
that be know that all is not well; that
recession is constantly nipping at their
heels. They tell us, "There is no alterna-
tive."

We are the workers. We're the ones
who build things, make things, pro-
vide services, make things work, pro-
vide the ideas. But though we build the
world around us, it does not belong to

us. We produce not for ourselves, but
at the behests and whims of others.

We are the ones who are told what
to produce, how to produce it, how
much, and how fast.

We are the ones who receive a
paycheque, be it high or low, not for
selling what we produce but for sell-
ing our power to work. With that
paycheque we try to buy back what
we make. The source of someone else's
profits comes from our work.

How did it come to this? How did
we end up with a worldwide society in
which there is an overwhelming major-
ity forced into this situation while a
few— the ones who own capital, the
means of producing things, by right
of a thing called "ownership" — are the
ones who "employ" us and live off this
thing called "profit"?

It's certainly not any part of nature's

order to have a society which is divided

between those who are workers (the

many) and those who are capitalists

see WORKING CLASS, page 7

WHAT'S INSIDE

Socialism Q&A

2

Declaration of principles

3

Twin Towers Downed

4

In Ontario

6

Newswatch

8

Handicapitalism

8

Socialism O&A

Is capitalism really broken, and is there anything we can do to fix it?

Greetings to all readers and wel-
come to the first edition of the
Northern Socialist. This journal
is published by the Socialist Party of
Canada (SPC), a companion party in
the World Socialist Movement (WSM).
Our purpose is to promote the estab-
lishment of a socialist society to replace
the current capitalist system.

What is the difference between
capitalism and socialism?

Capitalism is a world economic and
social system where the means of pro-
duction (land, factories, etc.) and the
distribution of wealth is owned and
controlled by the capitalist class. The
basic unit in this system, the commod-
ity, must be sold for a profit to pay
rent, costs, and produce the necessary
capital to be reinvested to accumulate
more capital. Workers are forced to
sell their labour power to the capital-
ists, who then extract the surplus value

Published by:

The Socialist Party of Canada

Box 4280

Victoria, BC V8X 3X8

Canada

spc@iname.com

http://www.worldsocialism.org/canada/

Fax: +1 (603) 676-7417

The Socialist Party of Canada provides
educational material and forums to
explain capitalism and socialism, and
works to promote working class under-
standing of socialism. Although pri-
marily active in Canada, the Party
sends information to people around the
world.

The Socialist Party of Canada was
founded in 1905. It is a companion
party in an international organization
of socialist parties known as the World
Socialist Movement, whose Object and
Declaration of Principles can be found
elsewhere in this issue.

(i.e. value the workers put into a com-
modity over and above the wages they
receive). Thus two classes are formed,
the capitalists who own but do not pro-
duce, and the workers who produce
but do not own. Socialism is also a
world economic and social system, but
one where the means of production
and the distribution of wealth is based
on common ownership and democratic
control, and is operated in the inter-
ests of society as a whole. Socialism
will be a world without states, classes,
or money; where production will be to
meet human needs, and everyone will
have free access to all the goods pro-
vided by society according to their self-
determined needs.

Why should we change a system
that works?

For the vast majority of people in the
world, capitalism does not work. Wars,
disease, starvation, and poverty con-
tinue unabated year after year. Basic
human needs are not being met because
capitalism by its very nature must
choose profit over people. Without
profit, capital cannot be accumulated
and the system would fail. Thus,
human needs can be met only if you
are able to pay for them. That's why
some 15 million people die of starva-
tion and malnutrition related diseases
every year, even though we are quite
capable of producing enough to feed
everyone. We even destroy food and
pay farmers not to produce food to keep
prices and profit high. Capitalism is
also why many millions more die of
easily treated diseases when we have
an abundance of the necessary medi-
cines. Starving and sick people who
are unable to pay for food or drugs
simply don't receive them. You may
look upon this as evil. We see it as
the normal functioning of the capital-
ist system and the reason we want to
replace it.

But hasn't socialism been tried
and failed?

The word socialism is probably the
most misrepresented in the English lan-
guage. The Toronto Star recently ran a
series of articles on the fall of Commu-
nism on the tenth anniversary of the end
of the Soviet Union. Doesn't the USSR
prove socialism/communism's failure?
The capitalist media would like you to
think so. Many groups, parties and
countries have called themselves social-
ist. That does not make them so. If you
look back to our description of social-
ism, you will clearly see that we have
never had a world economic system
without states, without money, without
classes, where production was owned
by and for the whole of the popula-
tion: not in the Soviet Union, China,
nor in Cuba. Our party stated in 1918
that the Bolshevik revolution was not
socialist but rather state capitalist. Cer-
tainly, the socialist society that we pro-
mote has never been advocated by the
world's Social Democratic parties. Just
ask the NDP! They simply want to get
elected to manage capitalism for the
capitalists, just like all the other par-
ties. Despite what the capitalist media
would like you to believe, socialism has
never been tried.

Can't we simply work to improve
the system we already have?

There are hundreds of organizations,
such as the Council of Canadians,
Greenpeace, and various anti-poverty
groups, full of well-meaning people
who want to change capitalism for the
better; to make it a responsible system
that works for the benefit of all. They
have not understood the true meaning
of capitalism: that everything must
be sacrificed to accumulate capital —
workers' rights, human rights, the
environment, your grandmother's med-
ical treatment, and anything else that
impinges on profit. For the last 200 years

2 January 2002

Imagine

or so that capitalism has been the dom-
inant economic mode, we have fought
innumerable battles for better working
conditions, more pay, improved social
programs. We have won some of them,
only to see our hard work legislated
away when it became politically expe-
dient to so. Today in Ontario we have
seen the Harris government roll back
labour legislation fifty years with a few
strokes of the pen, including institut-
ing a 60-hour work week! Despite our
best efforts, we still have the capitalist
system and we still have its unaccepta-
ble exploitation and abuses that we had
at the beginning. We call the endless
drive to make capitalism better reform-
ism. We would spend our time, ener-
gies, and resources educating people
to establish socialism rather than waste
time in the false belief that our present
system can be made to work in every-
one's interest.

But isn't reformism working?
Aren't we better off than we
used to be?

Many people around the world are
worse off than in former times. Many
countries who have fallen under the
guidance of the World Bank, World
Trade Organization, and International
Monetary Fund have been forced to
give up local economies that could at
least provide the bare minimum. They
are coerced to restructure in the inter-
ests of the capitalist class, using val-
uable land to produce cash crops for
export. The proceeds are used to pay
off huge debts that never go down. The
results have been disastrous, invariably
bringing greater poverty and gutted
social services. Some of us in the
so-called developed world have better
living standards than our parents and
grand parents. By most projections, we
may be the last generation to be able
to say that. Recent studies point to an
exponential growth in the gap between
the capitalist and worker classes. In
other words, we're getting a smaller
and smaller share of all the wealth we
produce.

How does the SPC differ from
other socialist parties?

There are many groups/parties out
there who use the name "socialist".
Many of them believe capitalism can be
changed incrementally into socialism.
They are generally referred to as "Left-
wing". We believe the Left wing and
the Right wing are both parts of the
same bird: capitalism. Other groups
want to suddenly replace capitalism by
a military or violent coup led by a small
group who will later convince the rest
of the population that they need social-
ism. We promote a peaceful revolution,
taking control of the existing political
system democratically only when the
vast majority of the people understand
socialism and make a conscious choice
for it. We are the only party working
for our own demise, as there will be
no need for political parties when we
achieve our objective. The WSM does
not have leaders, as leaders imply fol-
lowers who are told what to do. Rather,
we expect everyone to be able to pro-
mote their ideas in a democratic forum.
We base our arguments, objects, and
principles on a scientific understand-
ing of society, and we have maintained
the same principles since 1904.

These themes and others will be
more fully explained and developed
in this and subsequent issues of the
Northern Socialist. We expect to be pub-
lishing quarterly; we encourage you
to subscribe to make sure you get the
alternative views you won't read in
the managed news and opinion of the
mainstream media. We welcome your
letters, opinions, criticisms and com-
ments. If you wish to join the Socialist
Party of Canada, or get more informa-
tion, our contact information appears
on page 2.

—J. Ayers

Subscribe to
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only $12/year (4 issues)!

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Socialist Party of Canada and

send it to our regular address.

The Socialist Party of Canada

Object

The establishment of a system of society
based upon the common ownership and
democratic control of the means and instru-
ments for producing and distributing wealth
by and in the interest of society as a whole.

Declaration of Principles

The Socialist Party of Canada holds:

1. That society as at present constituted is
based upon the ownership of the means of
living (i.e., land, factories, railways, etc.) by
the capitalist or master class, and the conse-
quent enslavement of the working class, by
whose labour alone wealth is produced.

2. That in society, therefore, there is an
antagonism of interests, manifesting itself as
a class struggle between those who possess
but do not produce and those who produce
but do not possess.

3. That this antagonism can be abolished
only by the emancipation of the working
class from the domination of the master class,
by the conversion into the common property
of society of the means of production and
distribution, and their democratic control by
the whole people.

4. That as in the order of social evolution
the working class is the last class to achieve
its freedom, the emancipation of the work-
ing class will involve the emancipation of all
mankind, without distinction of race or sex.

5. That this emancipation must be the work
of the working class itself.

6. That as the machinery of government,
including the armed forces of the nation,
exists only to conserve the monopoly by the
capitalist class of the wealth taken from the
workers, the working class must organize
consciously and politically for the conquest
of the powers of government, in order that
this machinery, including these forces, may
be converted from an instrument of oppres-
sion into an agent of emancipation and the
overthrow of plutocratic privilege.

7. That as political parties are but the expres-
sion of class interests, and as the interest of
the working class is diametrically opposed to
the interest of all sections of the master class,
the party seeking working class emancipa-
tion must be hostile to every other party.

8. The Socialist Party of Canada, therefore,
enters the field of political action determined
to wage war against all other political par-
ties, whether alleged labour or avowedly
capitalist, and calls upon the members of
the working class of this country to support
these principles to the end that a termina-
tion may be brought to the system which
deprives them of the fruits of their labour,
and that poverty may give place to comfort,
privilege to equality, and slavery to free-

Imagine

January 2002 3

Twin towers downed by terrorists

The age-old terrorism vs. terrorism struggle now waged on US soil

In America's financial city of gold,
New York, bought for a few dollars
in trinkets from unknowing aborig-
inals four hundred years ago, a group
of suicidal terrorists successfully sliced
into and destroyed part of lower Man-
hattan to the tune of over $20 billion
and massive destruction of human life.
Fellow terrorists flew into the Penta-
gon and Pennsylvania soil. Thousands
of American working-class lives were
suddenly snuffed out in a matter of
a few short minutes. I suppose from
the terrorist's point of view it was a
successful mission, however a victory
that the terrorists themselves will never
know. Friends and supporters of the
terrorists may know and covet their
victory over American capitalist soci-
ety. To the terrorists things might now
appear even as a balance has been
reached with American capitalists, who
clearly now realize that they are sus-

ceptible to
their con-

reprisals on
.•!» tinental

9H

land. Because all nations of the world
have adopted the modern capitalist
mode of production it in no way means
that competition for markets is friendly.
Historically, when American capitalists
reached out to compete with opposing
capitalists over new markets for prof-
its, they engendered conflict and made
enemies. The modern terrorists not
allied with American capitalist inter-
ests are warring with the US just as
the US has warred with other capital-
ist interests in the past. It is a sobering
indictment of capitalism that one of
its preconditions operating normally is
war.

Since the terrorist attacks, it has
been suggested by numerous economic
spin doctors that because American
capitalist property has been breached
on home soil for the first time, America
is on the economic wane— perhaps. The
leaders and defenders of US capitalist
interests have and are now pumping
out the usual patriotic
outpouring of good
prevailing over evil,
etc. — full of sound and
fury signifying little
more than

tic hatred of other cultures. I think that
it is all too typical that most working-
class people in the USA, like in all pre-
vious wars, have now been asked to
put their lives on the line for the nation.
Capitalism, in the eyes of those who
own it, must continue. Their propa-
ganda is a cogent reminder of their
wish to make this so.

Worldwide, capitalism is homoge-
neous, yet everywhere capitalist inter-
ests are in open economic opposition to
each other. Some nations create overt
armed forces to expand their "inter-
ests"; others covertly train terrorists to
do the same. Many of these terrorists
receive their training in countries where
later on they commit
their acts of ter-
rorism, and in
the USA's case,
it is a politi-
cal irony that
the terror-

4 January 2002

Imagine

US. Is it not ideological hypocrisy that
countries like the United States, with
large open armed forces, train their own
terrorists and euphemistically call them
"special forces" or "secret agents"?

As long as capitalism exists, with
its laws that allow a privileged few to
own the overwhelming majority of the
means of life, it will be an increasingly
precarious existence for workers facing
a world where terrorism will never be
wholly eradicated, and in fact, threat-
ens to even escalate! Under the capi-
talist credo, profits will always come
before human lives. It is a system that
has empirically proven its inherent anti-
life violence to make profit, whose only
"true religion" is that of Mammon and
the promise of ever-increasing profita-
bility.

In a speech delivered in 1919, Pres-
ident Wilson once made a cogent
statement about modern America.
He said, "Why, my fellow citizens, is
there any man here, or any woman—
let's say, is there any child here— who
does not know that the seed of war
in the modern world is industrial and
commercial rivalry?" How honest it
would be if President Bush could make
such a similar admission. The recent
events in the Middle East, including
Iraq and Afghanistan, have overtones
eerily similar to other wars America has
been involved in continuously since its
birth as a nation. It might be said that
too much emphasis is put on the exam-
ple of American capitalist interests in
this article; however, it is an explicit
example of what the world's leading
capitalist power is capable of doing
in the name of profit. The callous
butchery, the indiscriminate slaughter
of civilians, the wiping out of commu-
nities in defence of capitalism's pre-
scriptive rights for raw materials and
new markets, are indicative of capital's
normal functioning in protecting and
advancing its profits. Many compara-
ble instances involving other nations
could be cited throughout the entire
span of capitalism's existence. Capi-
talism's vast production of wealth as a
whole is offset by the staggering pov-

erty and suffering it produces in its
wake.

The picture we depict here is of
capitalism's destructive side, one which
overwhelmingly overshadows its con-
structive side. With such destructive-
ness in view, our mutual interests and
collective common sense, if we are to
prosper, demand an alternative.

In contrast to capital's legacy of
inherent violence, human beings are
by nature highly sociable and coopera-
tive (a realization that capitalists have
efficiently exploited yet kept workers
ignorant of for over three centuries).
In times of crisis genuinely helpful
acts and benevolent empathy are the
behaviour patterns of the overwhelm-
ing majority of people. Their behaviour
contradicts the philosophy of greed-
driven capitalist accumulation. People
are willing to freely volunteer aid in
tragedies despite the antisocial condi-
tions capitalism fosters, clearly illus-
trated by the global outpouring of
aid and sheer dedication to help save
those people caught in the World Trade
Center and Pentagon bombings. If it is
truth that workers exploit themselves
and continue to collectively run capi-
talism for their masters against their
own interests, then where can we go
from here?

I would like to suggest that we have
within our grasp the ability to create a
democratic worldwide system of soci-
ety, based on cooperation and common
ownership of the means of existence
that will end forever the squalor of
capitalist economics. With the techno-
logical capabilities we presently have
to produce surpluses of materials for
human needs, we can create enough
food, clothing, and shelter, as well as
social benefits from scientific innova-
tion, artistic creations, and leisure, so
that all people may live satisfying,
mutually benefiting, and meaningful
lives. The capitalist minority, however,
are not ever likely to willingly sur-
render their position of economic and
social privilege. A society of free access
would be sustainable only with the
understanding, desire, and political
volition of the working-class majority

to replace capitalism through the dem-
ocratic process. It is a type of a world
worth striving for, and as John Lennon
states in his song "Imagine", "It's easy
if you try." His words echo our vision
of a society that all of us could be
proud to call "civil", and, as another
Socialist writer stated over 100 years
ago, "Workers of the world, unite! You
have nothing to lose but your chains!"

— Joleth

Obituary

General Secretary Don Poirier

Don contacted the Party in 1956/58
in Victoria, BC while on shore leave
from the Royal Canadian Navy. The
local paper had published an interview
with SPGB member Gilbert McLatchie
(Gilmac) who was on a North Amer-
ican speaking tour. It also announced
a meeting that the Victoria local was
holding for Gilmac that evening. Don
attended -with Ruby, one of his sisters.

He consumed the first volume of
"Capital" three times during his next
naval tour in 1959. Within two years
he became very active, running as the
Party's candidate in the 1961 Esquimalt/
Saanich federal by-election. It not being
a general contest, the Party got coast-to-
coast media coverage. After organizing
a tour of the US and Canada, he helped
the Victoria local to pressure city coun-
cil to establish a "speaker's corner" in
Beacon Hill Park. He did the same with
the Vancouver local for the Brockton
Oval in Stanley Park.

Don worked for Duthies book
stores before moving to the forest indus-
try. He loved books and had a book-
store of his own. Don also worked as an
independent logger. He became curator
of the Forest Museum in Duncan, BC.
He fought to better labour conditions
while he was a member of the Indus-
trial Workers of America union. He
made important safety gains and was
instrumental in getting pension rights
for all. In the 1970s, Don ran against
Jack Munroe for the presidency of the
50,000-member IWA union.

Don died 8 October 2001. The
socialist movement has lost an outstand-
ing worker.

Our condolences go out to Don's
family, friends, and comrades.

Imagine

January 2002 5

In Ontario

New overtime and safety legislation sinks workers' rights to new lows

Toronto recently applied for, and
lost, the right to host the 2008
Summer Olympic Games. That
in itself is not so interesting, but watch-
ing the machinations of the capitalist
system is worthy of note. The Province
of Ontario, you should understand,
despite being "the economic engine" of
the country and home to more than a
third of Canada's population, is impov-
erished. The current Tory government,
on ascending to power in 1996, deemed
that we were in such dire straits that
massive cuts in spending on health,
education and social programs had to
be made. So now we have long wait-
ing lists at emergency rooms and to
see medical specialists, a critical nurs-
ing shortage, and cases of people dying
while their ambulances are rerouted to
another hospital that isn't full. Wel-
fare benefits were chopped 20% in 1995
and haven't moved since. The City
of Toronto is wrestling with a budget
shortfall of some $350 million and has
to charge kids for previously free sports
programs. The Toronto Board of Edu-
cation is so strapped for cash that it is
considering closing its large network
of swimming pools, to say nothing of
its special education programs. The
provincial government has got out of
the public housing business despite
our having more homeless people than
ever before, and downloaded its inven-
tory of houses onto Toronto City coun-
cil as a "gift".

The list goes on and on. Human
needs are continually getting shuffled
to the bottom of the list. Then along
comes word of an Olympic bid and
money magically appears for mind-
boggling development projects costing
billions of dollars, including new sports
facilities and swimming pools! Grandi-
ose plans were drawn up for waterfront
redevelopment and much was made
of the legacy of sports facilities and
public housing that would be Toronto's
gain. The plans didn't clarify whether

the hundreds of homeless would be
removed from the city's streets, parks,
and bridges for the duration of the
games, as happened in Atlanta and
Sydney. The money came from the big
developers, whose front men ran the
bid, and from government assurances
of plentiful money from all levels to
keep the jackals on the Olympic com-
mittee happy. A campaign costing mil-
lions was launched without any public
discussion or vote, culminating in a del-
egation of over 200 members gathering
in Moscow for a week. There they met
with the Olympic committee, recently
disgraced for corruption, to discover
they had been easily out-manoeuvred
by a bigger set of money hungry cap-
italists: the Chinese delegation. They
were able to promise delivery of over
400 million children, all eager to try
on Nike shoes and other corporate
products. No contest. Thankfully,
Toronto's delegation returned home
empty-handed and the people were
only out a few million for the bid
instead of billions for the games them-
selves. Of course, the promised money
has disappeared and won't be available
to provide the necessary services we so
desperately need.

The Walkerton inquiry is winding
down and lawyers' summations
are being delivered. In case
you missed it, in the spring of 2000,
the town of Walkerton's water supply
became contaminated with E. coli bac-
teria, resulting in seven deaths and
2300 people becoming sick. The man-
ager of the system admitted he falsi-
fied records and ignored the problem
while health officials were scrambling
to find the cause of the sickness. The
provincial government prefers to take
the narrow view that the manager was
the sole culprit in order to take the spot-
light from their own cost-cutting meas-
ures. The environment ministry was
slashed 50-60% in funding and man-

power, but the premier of the province,
Mike Harris, testified at the enquiry
that the cabinet received no warning
that budget cuts and privatizing test-
ing labs would pose any threat to the
public. It was deemed by the cabinet
to be a "manageable risk". The enquiry
heard, however, that at the time of the
cuts, then health minister Jim Wilson
was concerned that private testing labs
were not required to notify health offi-
cials if a drinking water system was
found to be contaminated. The lab
testing Walkerton's water told only
the manager who chose to ignore the
report.

Obviously, the safeguards that had
been in place fell apart with reduced
funding, and private testing labs were
not instructed how to communicate
properly with public health institutions.
This allowed the manager's duplicity to
go undetected. Subsequent investiga-
tion revealed other factors in the trag-
edy, such as a crumbling infrastructure
that successive local governments had
failed to find money to replace, and the
presence of huge amounts of pig efflu-
ence from the large factory farms in the
area. These factors can be charged to
our system of putting money and prof-
its before human need.

Incredibly, on the heels of the Walk-
erton tragedy, the provincial gov-
ernment continues to put the lives
and well-being of its citizens at risk.
Recently passed was Bill 57, euphemis-
tically titled the Occupational Health
and Safety Act. Opponents believe it
will lead to needless death and injury
in the workplace. The law abolishes
the right of workers to refuse to work
in unsafe conditions and to have a
ministry inspector immediately adjudi-
cate the dispute. In addition, the bill
revokes the mandatory reporting pro-
visions with respect to the introduction
of new (possibly hazardous) materials,
continued on page 8

6 January 2002

Imagine

Working class a modern invention

continued from page 1

(the few)— this arrangement is entirely
human-made.

We, as workers, have a history. You
see, what we call the working class
didn't always exist. It was created.

Some six hundred years ago, the
idea of a vast majority of people really
owning nothing except their ability to
work and working for a wage or salary
in order to survive would have been
considered preposterous.

That old philosopher Karl Marx
made the comment that capitalism
came into existence with much violence
and bloodshed. It's true. Peasants —
independent producers— were driven
by starvation from their land. Clan sys-
tems of ownership such as in Scotland
and Ireland were forcibly destroyed.
Small producers of goods had their live-
lihoods taken away from them. People
were forced into the cities and towns
through arrest, starvation, or maiming
by the powers that be, with assistance
from the Church and State laws.

It was a common occurrence across
the face of Europe. In Africa, whole peo-
ples were torn from their homes and
sold as slaves. Capital and those who
owned and controlled it conquered
every sphere of activity to make a soci-
ety where everything is for sale with a
view to profit (and the profit for a few).
It made inroads to destroy the econo-
mies of South America and Asia.

At each stage of the game there
was revolt by our ancestors because
being forced to work in factories and
workshops for a wage meant dehu-
manization on a vast scale. Workers
stood ready to smash the machines and
workshops; they rallied to build unions
(often at the expense of their own lives,
brutalization, threats, exile, and impris-
onment). At times they rose to desper-
ately try to change these conditions.

Our history is a history of struggle
against a system where the profit of
capital is the be all and end all of pro-
duction. It has been a struggle in which

many died for the right to organize into
unions, for the right to vote, for the
right not to work sixteen hours a day,
to stop forced child labour, to stop our
exploitation, for the right not to starve,
for the right to at least a minimal edu-
cation in schools where we are taught
that this and only this is the best of all
possible worlds.

We have been divided by clever
mystifications, by the colour of our
skin, men against women, one religion
against another, and on the basis of
sexual preference, and it has been used
well against us, making us compete
against each other and making us ready
to wage war upon each other at the
whim of governments.

When the cost in human misery
was too great, a myriad of reforms
was presented by politicians — a tinker-
ing with the system to attempt to put
a human face on it. Yet reform after
reform has not brought us any closer to
any solution of the problems inherent
in the system itself.

Old notions die hard. Just as the
rulers of ancient empires told their
slaves that slavery was the natural
order of things, and just as the feudal
lords told the serfs and peasants that
their society reflected the natural order,
so we too are told that capitalism and
the rule of profit is natural; that there
is no alternative. It's taught to us in

schools, through the media, through
the regulation of everything we do.

What they have not been able to
take away from us is our ability to
think. There is an alternative.

Everything that has been built
around us is the result of our work and
yet we don't work for ourselves. The
fundamental fact is that this system
we call capitalism, like any other eco-
nomic system, is the creation of men
and women. And men and women can
choose other systems.

As long as a system is in place, be
it the so-called "free market" or state
control (what some people mistakenly
or deliberately pass off as "socialism"),
workers will remain in their positions
and nothing can change. Society will
remain geared to the creation of profit,
a society ruled by the needs of capital
rather than the real needs of people.

Some of us have banded together.
We call ourselves Socialists and have
joined the Socialist Party of Canada,
working together with other compan-
ion political parties in the World Social-
ist Movement. We are not politicians,
we do not propose to lead anyone to
the "promised land", we do not advo-
cate reforms or state controls, and we
do not promise any Utopias. We too are
workers, but with a vision of workers
creating a fundamentally different kind
of society. It can be done.

— Len Wallace

Interested in learning more about socialism? The following members of the Social-
ist Party of Canada have volunteered themselves as regional contacts.

Cobourg, ON: John Ayers, (905) 377-8190, jpayers@sympatico.ca
Windsor, ON: Len Wallace, lwallace@mnsi.net
Victoria, BC: Tony Gelsthorpe, (250) 384-5789, tonyge@juno.com
St. John's, NF: Joshua Tremblett, (709) 722-7941, juoshuatremblett@hotmail.com;
Kevin Moulton, kmoulton@roadrunner.nf.net

We also invite you to write us for a free package of introductory literature. Drop us
a line at the usual address:

The Socialist Party of Canada

Box 4280

Victoria, BC V8X 3X8

e-mail: spc@iname.com

Imagine

January 2002 7

In Ontario

continued from page 6

and replaces the regulation of work-
place hazards with unenforceable codes
of practice. As with the environment,
employers are increasingly responsible
for policing themselves.

All this is part of the Tories'
"Ontario is open for business" stance
that has seen systematic attacks on
labour and unions, and has set us back
50 years in workplace conditions. Cer-
tifying unions has been made more
difficult and decertifying them easier.
Government respect for workers
reached new heights with the introduc-
tion of the 60-hour work week the day
after Labour Day! Yes, it's now legal
to employ workers for 60 hours per
week (up from 48). This legislation also
eliminated mandatory overtime after
44 hours in favour of a four-week aver-
aging system. This means you could
have work weeks of 60, 40, 40, and 35
hours in a month and not receive any
overtime pay. So much for putting all
our efforts into trying to reform the
capitalist system into one that cares
about and works for all! Surely, no one
can now doubt in this province that
our present economic system is solely
about the accumulation of wealth, and
in no way about supplying human
needs unless a profit can be made by
doing so.

—J. Ayers

Newswatch

Good news for evil bosses

Miserable people make better workers than happy ones — at least, that's the
finding of a new University of Alberta study. The researchers, headed by
Robert Sinclair and Carrie Lavis, studied four groups of workers on a circuit
board assembly line. They report that workers who described themselves as
happy made twice as many errors as sad people. The BBC (13 June) predicts
the study may "spell the end for bonding weekends, company songs and other
attempts at corporate jollity"

How much will they be charging for tickets next year?

No longer is mindless activism the exclusive purview of the left— ardent right-
wingers took to the streets on 2 December for the first global Walk for Capital-
ism (http://www.WalkForCapitalism.org/). The Walk, conceived as a reaction
to the recent spate of anti-globalization protests, aimed to promote capitalism
as "the greatest benefactor man has ever had." In order that participants could
observe firsthand the many benefits of global capitalism, perhaps the Walk
should have included a leg through one of Nike's Vietnamese sweatshops.

This book will self-destruct in 15 seconds

On 16 July, FBI agents arrested Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov at a con-
ference in Las Vegas, reports the Las Vegas Sun (18 July). He was subsequently
charged with violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a law which
makes it a criminal offence to publish software that circumvents access con-
trols on digital media. Sklyarov had written a program that allows users of
Adobe Systems' electronic book software to disable restrictions the publisher
may have imposed, such as a restriction on having the book read aloud by
speech synthesis software. A blind person, for example, could use Sklyarov's
software to listen to a book. Despite the fact that the program was never pub-
lished in the USA, and is perfectly legal in most other countries, including
Canada and his native Russia, Sklyarov has now been indicted and faces up to
25 years in prison plus a $375,000 fine. To the delight of Canadian publishing
magnates, the Government of Canada already has plans underway to develop
its own version of the DMCA.

-Psy

Handicapitalism byjin wicked &psv

BUT I'ffl THE CQMpLiCTOBI ~J

8 January 2002

Imagine

Imagine

VOL.1 NO. 2

October 2002

Official Journal of
the Socialist Party of Canada

Hunger in Canada

ASoutham news report pub-
lished on 16 August 2001
informs us that "[a]bout 2.5
million Canadians, including tens of
thousands of middle class families, had
problems putting food on the table at
least once in 1998-99, Statistics Canada
said Wednesday." Canada, however,
is a net exporter of food. It is also a
nation which is known to be "the best
country in the world to live" accord-
ing to the United Nations Develop-
ment Programme. Yet, despite these
facts, another family study conducted
for Human Resources Development
Canada found that 1.6% of Canadian
families with children under age 12
reported experiencing hunger in 1996.
It is clear from both studies that
for most of those reporting hunger, it
was not an everyday event. But the 8%
of Canadians reporting "food insecu-
rity" is a condemnation of the social
structure under which we live today. As
much as some might argue that these
people are lazy, uneducated, or respon-
sible for their own plight, the fact is that
there are a lot of hungry children and
adults. Many people are honestly wor-
ried about their ability to feed them-
selves, but this is not because there isn't
enough food, but rather that capitalism
allocates food, and everything else, in
a strange way. Rather than allocating
food to those who are hungry, capital-
ism allocates food to those who have
the money to pay for it. Under capi-
talism, food is a commodity, like other
things for sale, to be sold with a view to
profit.

Under capitalist logic, if nobody
wants to purchase your ability to labour,
then you will not work. Capitalism has
no obligation to feed you and your chil-
dren. And, because capitalist econom-
ics has its continuous cycles of "booms
and busts", it is only really necessary
to keep the pool of unemployed work-
ers on the dole for the next anticipated
"boom" . Also, the nasty habit of people
to revolt when they suffer from too
much hardship ensures that enough
money keeps trickling down to
the working class
(90% or more of
the population)
to stave off the
worst pangs of
starvation. It
matters little
whether the
money is in
the form of
government
handouts,
food sub-
sidies, or
other forms
of charity.
The "bottom
line" under

capitalism is that
the working class
keeps producing prof-
its for the capitalists, not
that workers get enough to
eat.

Some will fault the above
noted StatsCan study for including
see FOOD INSECURITY, page 4

WHAT'S INSIDE

Socialism Q&A

2

Africa's debt

3

In Ontario

6

Corporate scandals

7

Handicapitalism

8

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utimAL

kv

'///,/m%wM?My/

.JMM vmckcd'oi

Socialism O&A

Higher wages, better benefits— a futile struggle?

Is it worthwhile for the worker to
struggle for gains in wages and ben-
efits if this will cause an increase in
prices and negate his efforts?

This is a common argument of the
capitalist class to discourage workers
from taking action to improve their lot,
and depends on the fraudulent claims
that the price of commodities will in
fact rise, that the price of commodities
depends on the price of labour, and
that the capitalist can raise his prices as
he pleases.

Firstly, a pay increase will mean
increased spending by the workers on
their usual necessities— food, clothing,
household goods, etc. This increased
demand will cause prices to rise tempo-
rarily. However, this increase in prices
ensures that the capitalist producing
those products will be compensated for
paying out higher wages. The capital-
ist producing luxury goods will experi-
ence a drop in sales and profits because

Published by:

The Socialist Party of Canada

Box 4280

Victoria, BC V8X 3X8

Canada

spc@iname.com
http://www.worldsocialism.org/canada/

The Socialist Party of Canada provides
educational material and forums to
explain capitalism and socialism, and
works to promote working class under-
standing of socialism. Although pri-
marily active in Canada, the Party
sends information to people around the
world.

The Socialist Party of Canada was
founded in 1905. It is a companion
party in an international organization
of socialist parties known as the World
Socialist Movement, whose Object and
Declaration of Principles can be found
elsewhere in this issue.

overall demand of all goods will remain
the same and if the demand for neces-
saries rises, then demand for luxuries
must fall. Thus the luxury producers
will be hit with increased wages and
falling sales and profits. This will bring
about a transfer of capital and labour
to the production of those goods giving
the highest rate of profit (necessities)
until supply equals or exceeds demand
and prices fall to their original level
or lower. For proof that higher wages
don't mean higher prices, Marx points
out (Value, Price & Profit) that the Eng-
lish worker was higher paid than work-
ers in other European countries, but
English products undersold those of
their competitors.

The price of commodities does not
depend on the price of labour. Marx
has shown that the value of a commod-
ity is determined by the socially neces-
sary labour time required to produce
an article: "As the exchangeable values
of commodities are only social func-
tions of those things, and have nothing
to do with natural qualities, we must
first ask, 'What is the common social
substance of all commodities?' It is
labour." (Value Price & Profit) Price
is simply the monetary expression of
value. The market price may fluctuate
up and down from the value accord-
ing to supply and demand, but always
tends towards the natural price (i.e.,
the expression of value as quantities of
equal social labour) and over the long
term sells at this price.

Therefore, as price is set by value,
and value is the amount of socially
necessary labour crystallized in a com-
modity, and as any price fluctuations
are due to supply and demand, then it
is clear that the capitalist cannot raise
his prices on a whim, however much
he may want to.

In conclusion, we must state that, as
wages depend on supply and demand,
rising when demand outstrips supply
and falling when supply outstrips

demand, the worker should take advan-
tage of any opportune time to increase
his wages and benefits. This, of course,
must be done when demand for labour
is high, as it would be economic sui-
cide to do so when demand is low.
It must be seen that any advantage
gained could easily be wiped out at the
next recession or legislative attack on
labour. One has only to examine the
record of the current Tory government
of Ontario's record of labour legislation
to see that the lot of the workers can
be set back fifty years at the stroke of a
pen. Secondly, as the capitalist cannot
raise his prices whenever and to what-
ever level he pleases, wage increases
must come from gaining a greater share
of the profits. The capitalist must resist
any loss of his portion of the profits,
thus creating the inevitable and contin-
uous conflict between worker and capi-
talist. Consequently, the worker should
be aware that the fight for better wages
is secondary to the main goal of over-
throwing the wage system and replac-
ing it with a system of democratic
control of the means of production by,
and in the interests of, the people. The
social conditions under which Marx
wrote have altered little in their gen-
eral character since he addressed Value,
Price & Profit to the First International
Working Men's Association in 1865.
What he states about the limitations
of trade unions holds as equally true
for today as it did when he wrote it:
"Trades Unions work well as centres of
resistance against the encroachment of
capital. They fail partly from an inju-
dicious use of their power. They fail
generally from limiting themselves to
a guerilla war against the effects of the
existing system, instead of simultane-
ously trying to change it, instead of
using their organized forces as a lever
for the final emancipation of the work-
ing class, that is to say, the ultimate
abolition of the wages system."

—Toronto Socialist Discussion Group

2 October 2002

Imagine

s debt

Free market capitalism a specious solution

While the leaders of the wealth-
iest governments forming the
G8 met in Calgary, Alberta,
protests were made across Canada
demanding aid to African governments
burdened with financial debt.

African state officials attended the
G8 conference begging relief from
the crushing debt their states owe to
western powers. Their developing and
competing states have seen poverty,
continual wars, miserable health con-
ditions—much of it the result of three
centuries of western capitalist powers
carving out their spheres of influence
through colonization and unabated eco-
nomic exploitation. The legacy is a
cycle of developing and small capital-
ist states' economic dependence on the
more rapacious and developed capital-
ist states.

Celebrities have joined the chorus
of those advocating billions of dollars
of financial aid. Others, like U2's rock
star Bono, demand that western gov-
ernments, banks, and capitalists for-
give the debt of the African states. Both
reason that this will free up needed
monies for pressing social problems:
poverty, rampant health problems, and
building needed economic infrastruc-
ture.

Their hearts are in the right place,
but what they propose as the solu-
tions, or at least the beginnings of solu-
tions—to provide Africa with needed
breathing space to "catch up" to west-
ern capitalist states — falls short of their
goal despite Africa's problems being
real enough.

One recent report suggests nearly
600 million people will be living in
extreme poverty in sub-Saharan Africa
by the year 2016 (BBC News, Monday,
13 May 2002, "UK Blair pressed over
Africa poverty").

Such forecasts mirror poverty
worldwide. Presently under global cap-
italism half the world's population live
on less than $2 a day, a fifth surviving

on half of that. Some 30 000 children
die each day because of poverty (Susan
George, Associate director Amsterdam
Transnational Institute). Sweatshops
and the misery of child labour, such as
in India's silk manufacturing industry
where children as young as ten years
old work seven days a week for a pit-
tance, are the conditions of work for
many. Meanwhile, multinational cor-
porations reap the profits from their
labour (CBC News Report, 23 June),
so altering the relationship between
labour and capital is one thing they'd
prefer not to do.

Yet, while this sanctioned misery
for Africa's labouring poor car-
ries on, hired ideologists and
apologists beating the drum of free
enterprise suggest that what Africa
really needs is not more aid but a good
dose of free market capitalism.

These economic spin doctors weave
fractured fairy tales of capitalism's glo-
ries where commodities, demand and
supply, and money reign supreme. To
them Africa's economic woes can only
be overcome by the free reign of "the
market," and if that means the further
tightening of belts amongst the work-
ing class then so be it. They tell us that
there is no other alternative. In their
view, capitalism is the best of all pos-
sible systems— which is not surpris-
ing, because it's 'their system' and they
draw their parasitical existence from
it.

The so-called "radical" solutions of
forgiving state debt or massive foreign
aid do nothing to solve the root of the
problem— capitalism itself— a system
based upon exploitation, where com-
modities must be sold with a view to
profit. Simply, it is the way the system
functions. It is not, and never can be,
a system that deals with people as
human beings, to provide them with
the things they need. Those who try
continued on page 7

The Socialist Party of Canada

Object

The establishment of a system of society
based upon the common ownership and
democratic control of the means and instru-
ments for producing and distributing wealth
by and in the interest of society as a whole.

Declaration of Principles

The Socialist Party of Canada holds:

1. That society as at present constituted is
based upon the ownership of the means of
living (i.e., land, factories, railways, etc.) by
the capitalist or master class, and the conse-
quent enslavement of the working class, by
whose labour alone wealth is produced.

2. That in society, therefore, there is an
antagonism of interests, manifesting itself as
a class struggle between those who possess
but do not produce and those who produce
but do not possess.

3. That this antagonism can be abolished
only by the emancipation of the working
class from the domination of the master class,
by the conversion into the common property
of society of the means of production and
distribution, and their democratic control by
the whole people.

4. That as in the order of social evolution
the working class is the last class to achieve
its freedom, the emancipation of the work-
ing class will involve the emancipation of all
mankind, without distinction of race or sex.

5. That this emancipation must be the work
of the working class itself.

6. That as the machinery of government,
including the armed forces of the nation,
exists only to conserve the monopoly by the
capitalist class of the wealth taken from the
workers, the working class must organize
consciously and politically for the conquest
of the powers of government, in order that
this machinery, including these forces, may
be converted from an instrument of oppres-
sion into an agent of emancipation and the
overthrow of plutocratic privilege.

7. That as political parties are but the expres-
sion of class interests, and as the interest of
the working class is diametrically opposed to
the interest of all sections of the master class,
the party seeking working class emancipa-
tion must be hostile to every other party.

8. The Socialist Party of Canada, therefore,
enters the field of political action determined
to wage war against all other political par-
ties, whether alleged labour or avowedly
capitalist, and calls upon the members of
the working class of this country to support
these principles to the end that a termina-
tion may be brought to the system which
deprives them of the fruits of their labour,
and that poverty may give place to comfort,
privilege to equality, and slavery to free-

Imagine

October 2002 3

"Food insecurity" rampant: StatsCan

continued from page 1

the concept of "food insecurity". There
is a popular myth that unless people are
actually starving to death, their lives
are really not all that bad. This goes
hand in hand with blaming the vic-
tim—the parents of those hungry chil-
dren—for their poverty and hunger.
The belief that somehow the poverty of
others does not affect those who feel
that they are well fed is a misconcep-
tion. It affects them. Nobody is immune
to the poverty that is inherent under
capitalism. The richest person in the
world spends money to protect himself
from becoming poor, and the poorest
of the world incessantly try to flee it.

The Right blames the poor for their
poverty, yet concedes that charity
is a good way to deal with things
like feeding the hungry. The Left takes
their own approach, blaming the capi-
talists for not being benevolent enough.
They promote government handouts to
help the poor. The Left has given up on
the idea of ending poverty, except per-
haps in the oh-so-distant future. Their
schemes to make poverty somehow
more bearable, which do not address
the problem, are an insult to the work-
ers and ignore the truth about what is
causing people to go hungry.

We socialists, however, look beyond
the discomforts of poverty that both the
Right and Left suggest we have to put
up with. We examine the root cause.
Despite the past 150 years or so that
the Left, Right and Centre have tried
to argue that we are wrong about their
failures to reform capitalism, all their
numerous schemes have not ended
poverty and hunger. They still wish us
to believe that their policies can make
poverty better for the poor.

The Right has tried to show how
poverty has eased with little or no state
interference, even going so far as to
mislead any who might listen that state
interference is actually the cause of
poverty in the first place. (See the essay,

"End Poverty by Ending Welfare As
We Know It" by Fred McMahon in
the forthcoming book, Memos to the
Prime Minister: What Canada Should Be
in the 21" Century, John Wiley & Sons
Canada Ltd.). Likewise, The Centre's
sway from Left to Right does nothing
to end hunger either.

"Capitalism aiiocates
resources based upon how
much money you have.

Socialism, when the working

class finally decides to

establish it, will allocate

resources based upon

human need."

Socialists claim that the NDP, Cana-
dian Alliance, Liberals, Greens,
Conservatives, Communist Party,
etc. have not failed outright, however.
On the contrary, they have been remark-
ably successful — successful at main-
taining capitalism! No matter how
awful capitalism is proven to be for
the working class, no matter how many
times people say, "Never again!" No
matter how many people go hungry,
live in poverty, are cold and sick, are
maimed or killed in wars or industrial
"accidents", capitalism holds its ubiq-
uitous grip on the working class.

Yet the working class does not have
to succumb to the pretense of choices
offered by the Left, Right and Centre.

We socialists claim that there is no
need for poverty. We claim that replac-
ing capitalism with socialism can end
hunger and poverty. We claim that our
analysis of capitalism shows we are
right. We claim that the working class
runs capitalism for the capitalists, by
and large. We claim that everything
that has ever been built has been built
by working people. We claim that there
is no need for capitalists or capitalism.
Some people from the Left blame
capitalists for society's problems. Social-
ists most emphatically state that no one
should hate capitalists. Rather we state,
just as emphatically, that as long as
the working class acquiesces to capi-
talism — working for wages — capitalists
are getting us to do exactly what they
want. The capitalists are exploiting us
by living off the profits derived from
our labour. Capitalists pay us less than
the value of our labour, and yet, by the
logic of capitalism, when we sell our
labour power we are not being cheated.
Our ability to work is a commodity
bought and sold like all other things
in the market place. It is the very epit-
ome of fair dealing under capitalism
and most people show their support
for it by their acquiescence.

If you cannot find a buyer for your
ability to work, then you are of
almost no use to capitalism. Your
continued existence is next to meaning-
less from the perspective of capitalism.
However, the unemployed poor are not
useless to capital. The poor spur those
who do work to do whatever is nec-
essary to remain employed, including
accepting pay cuts. Of course, employ-
ment doesn't end poverty. Sometimes
it doesn't even end hunger. But it does
ensure profits are made, keeping the
rich rich and the working class in servi-
tude.

It is capitalism at which we social-
ists direct our severest criticism, because
it is capitalism itself, (by its very logic of
profit before people), that is the prob-

4 October 2002

Imagine

lem. Capitalism is a class-divided soci-
ety in which the capitalist class owns
and enjoys the wealth produced by the
majority working class, and as long
as society remains this way, the major-
ity will surfer. Food insecurity is one
level of this suffering, and fearing being
poorer than you already are is yet
another level of suffering.

Capitalism allocates resources
based upon how much money
you have. Socialism, when the
working class finally decides to estab-
lish it, will allocate resources based

upon human need. If you need food,
you will take it. In such a society,
hunger will not exist. To end hunger,
and the plethora of horrors which
socialists show are caused by a class
divided society all we need to do is
understand reality, and work to elimi-
nate the barriers to a cooperative soci-
ety. It sounds simple, but one of the
reasons that this idea has not material-
ized is because we need to overcome
the Left's popular, mythic ignorance of
what socialism means.

So, the first step is to stop believing
the empty promises of capitalism's Left,

Right and Centre. The second step is
to put trust in ourselves: we who have
built the society in which we live— the
working class. The third step is to stop
believing that we can do nothing to
change society— this is simply capital-
ist hoodwinking! Join with us in the
knowledge that we can create a society
to satisfy everyone's needs. Join with
us to build a society that can resolve
the problems that today evade solution
because capitalist interests take prefer-
ence over our own interests.

— Anon.

About our logo

Logos are omnipresent in our society today, mainly to invite
support and loyalty to an organization. Thus sports teams, non-
governmental organizations, governments and especially busi-
nesses, large and small, use logos constantly in the hope of
establishing product identification in the consumer's mind. All
are competing for your attention, shopping loyalty, and above
all, your dollars. So what about our logo? The "One World, One
People" logo of the World Socialist Movement embodies many of
our beliefs and seeks to put our case before you.

"One World" means that we see the world as one contin-
uous co-operative entity rather than a world that is divided
into competing sectors or countries. Socialists see a world
without boundaries, where co-operation and mutual help will
take place between autonomous and largely self-suffi-

cient regions. As there will be no money or
trade, there will be nothing to go to war for.
If one region is deficient in steel, for example,
it need only request the amount needed from
a steel-producing area. By contrast, the
competing sectors and countries in the
present world have arbitrary bounda-
ries drawn on a map by groups of V
competing capitalists to mark their con- ^
trol of resources in a particular region.
They continually seek to extend their bound-
aries or influence to include other resource-
rich areas and trade routes. Protecting these
spheres of influence inevitably leads to war, a
constant state in capitalism. Afghanistan is a prime example. Cre-
ated by Britain in the 19th century to provide a buffer between
its empire and that of Russia, it threw together many culturally
disparate groups and created a recipe for turmoil lasting to
the present time. George Bush's war in this country is certainly
more about establishing hegemony to secure oil and gas pipeline
routes than it is about stopping terrorism.

"One World" would mean a world council, elected demo-
cratically from all the various regions to solve world problems,
armed with the knowledge and tools to do the job properly. The
petty squabbles and usual monetary constraints responsible for
today's tragic lack of action on such pressing global problems as

starvation, poverty, homelessness, and environmental degrada-
tion would not exist. Thus, an agreed course of action to improve
the environment could not be vetoed by a single country, as the
Americans did to the Kyoto agreement, feeble as it was, with the
excuse that saving the environment would hurt that country's
economy (read: profits). In socialism, if something needs doing
to improve our conditions, it will be done. We need only have the
will to seek the knowledge and resources required.

The "One People" part of our logo refers to the fact that
we are all members of one race— the human race — and we share
the same planet along with multitudes of other species. We all
have similar needs — food, water, shelter, health, education, secu-
rity, etc. The disorder of capitalist production and distribution
of wealth means that all workers, companies and regions must
compete to grab as much material wealth for themselves as pos-
sible, to the detriment of others who become
^^ Mtl ^1 the losers in the system. Thus, we currently
V^ I I \4 have 20% of the world's population in North
America, Western Europe, Japan and Aus-
tralasia consuming 80% of the world's
^^ resources, mostly in a blatantly waste-
ful fashion. Socialists hold that the
planet's resources, if managed prop-
erly, can provide more than all the
essential needs for a full and productive
life for everyone. Further, after abolishing
the capitalist economic and class system,
there will no longer exist hierarchies of
social privilege or class divisions. Will we,
then, be all the same? Of course not! There
will still be different cultures, languages, food, literature, and
arts that will continue to flourish and enrich the lives of all.
They'll just be able to develop better without the constant bar-
rage of the Golden Arches, Mickey Mouse, and Swoosh logos
they are subjected to today. It is obvious that availing ourselves
of these cultural riches will benefit all, and gone will be the
present capitalist rationalization to go to war with other nations
and cultures for reasons that have nothing to do with ordinary
workers. This is what socialism can and will achieve. When it
will happen is up to you — when you and our fellow workers
embrace the concept and inaugurate it. Hasten the day!

—J. Ayers

One People

Imagine

October 2002 5

In Ontario

Housing, electricity woes: "profit before people" the true culprit

It's not surprising that we encounter
poverty in Ontario. After all, it's an
inevitable by-product of the capi-
talist economic system throughout the
world. The workers cannot continually
give up most of the wealth they create
through their labour to the small group
of affluent owners of the means of pro-
duction without a considerable portion
of them being deprived of the necessi-
ties of life. Nor should we be particu-
larly surprised just because we live in
Canada's richest province, which has
recently experienced an unprecedented
wealth-creating boom with the US, or
because twelve years ago the federal
government, with the support of all
parties, pledged to eliminate child pov-
erty by the turn of the century. Child
poverty has actually risen 39% in that
period despite a projected five-year
budget surplus of well over $100 bil-
lion, and anyone would be disturbed
by the statistics and the effect on chil-
dren. For instance, the Daily Bread
Food Bank in the Canadian Centre for
Policy Alternatives's magazine, Monitor
(Vol. 8, No. 7, December 2001), reported
50 000 children in Canada's largest city,
Toronto, and 125 000 in Ontario, live in
families that need to use a food bank
or similar emergency food program.
The median monthly income for food
bank users is $1087, from which an
average $758.50 must be deducted for
rent, leaving just $3.81 per person per
day to meet all other needs, not just
food. While most of these families are
on welfare, almost one third have at
least one parent working but still need
regular assistance. While parents regu-
larly go hungry, the effect on children
is shown by the following:

• 24.5% live in families who have
been evicted or threatened with
eviction.

• 56% cannot afford public transpor-
tation.

• 25% live in houses rated as poor
and 20.5% are waiting for social
housing.

• 12% rely on a school breakfast pro-
gram and 9% on a school snack
program.

The first act of the current provin-
cial government when elected in 1995
was to slash welfare payments by 20%
and they have not been increased since,
losing a further 15% to inflationary
erosion. Additionally, this government
claws back every dollar received by
these families from the National Child
Benefit Supplement (a federal program
to put nutritious food in the mouths
of hungry children) from their provin-
cial welfare payments. In other words,
these poor people are helping to fund
the provincial government's handouts
and tax cuts to big business and to the
wealthy.

It doesn't get any better either when
it comes to housing. The Toronto Star
article "Housing Solutions Are Elusive"
(24 November 2001) underscores the
housing problem. In the year 2000, 1000
households were evicted every week
for inability to pay rent. Some 200 000
Toronto families spend more than 50%
of their income on rent, even though
paying just 30% of income is deemed
"affordable". The federal government,
perhaps slightly embarrassed by giving
away $100 billion of its expected five-
year surplus (mainly to the already
wealthy or comfortable through tax
refunds) has offered $680 million for
affordable housing to the whole of
Canada over the next four years, pro-
vided the provinces will match this. If
they do, and this is far from certain,
Ontario's share will be $244.5 million,
enough to build 4 800 units of the 16
000 units Toronto will need.

Both these problems of food and
housing could be easily corrected in
short order. We already have enough
food for everyone to enjoy a nutritious
diet and we certainly have the skilled

workers and raw materials to meet the
housing needs in this city that assim-
ilates 100 000 new immigrants every
year. The problem lies, of course, with
the profit system. There's no profit in
providing food and housing to people
who have just $3.81 a day. The capitalist
system never has been able, and never
will be able to provide these abso-
lutely basic needs to all of society. This
can only be done for those who can
pay. Incredibly, the Daily Bread Food
Bank and many other such well-mean-
ing agencies never seem to be able to
figure this out. They call for remedies
such as a petition to restore the Child
Benefit Supplement, or increase the
welfare payments or minimum wage a
few cents. While I applaud their efforts
to help feed the hungry and house the
homeless, it would be nice to read, just
once, that more people are with us in
revealing that the capitalist economic
system of putting profit before people
is the rightful culprit.

Power to the people

The current provincial government
rode to power on the strength of
the "Common Sense Revolution"
which generally aped Reagonomics and
Thatcherism, giving high priority to
privatization and deep spending cuts
in the public domain. Thus, Ontario
Hydro, having provided Ontarians
with consistent, price-controlled elec-
tricity since its inception in 1906, is in
the process of being turned into a pri-
vate company. The utility was split into
two entities early in the Tories' mandate
creating a power-generating company
and a power-transmitting company a
few years ago in anticipation of open-
ing up the privately owned energy
market. The reasons for the delay are
political, not ideological. Two jurisdic-
tions that tried this ahead of Ontario,
California and Alberta, have already
run into some embarrassing problems.
see BAY STREET, page 8

6 October 2002

Imagine

Corporate scandals

Bush Jr.'s "tough talk" all bark, no bite

Economic "scandals" have always
been part and parcel of the system
of capitalism. A tiny minority
reaps in vast quantities of wealth while
the vast majority of us (the working
class) must be content with the crumbs,
hoping that we do not fall into the cess-
pool of unemployment.

Recently public outrage has grown
against corporate powers such as Enron,
WorldCom and Xerox, where account-
ing books have been doctored and
workers' pension investments have
been embezzled, share prices artificially
inflated, and the (capitalist) economy
thrown into turmoil resulting in thou-
sands of workers being sacked.

The corporate media have seized
upon the issue. The problem looms so
large that it cannot be ignored. Even
US President George Bush, Jr. has been
forced to enter the fray. He has been
reported by some media as presenting
a new "anti-corporatist" sentiment, a
new form of populism to bolster sag-
ging ratings when it comes to domestic
economic issues. Indeed, he has openly
stated that corporations should be more
"accountable".

It's not the first time in US history
that presidents have had to step in. At

the turn of the 20th century, President
Theodore Roosevelt's reputation was
that of a "trust breaker" against capi-
talism's robber barons and the growing
monopolization of industry. Similarly,
Franklin Delano Roosevelt advocated
public works during the economic
breakdown of the Great Depression in
the 1930s, much to the consternation of
some capitalists.

However, as well-sounding as these
Presidents' words ring to some, what
we are really seeing with Bush's "tough
talk" is a bark without much of a bite in
terms of working class interests or real
protection. How correct Karl Marx was
when he stated that governments are
nothing more than the executive com-
mittees of the capitalist class. The capi-
talist politicians, such as Bush, are just
the water-boys trying to ensure the sur-
vival of the capitalist system, and I am
sure we will see many more corpora-
tion rip-offs and dodges such as Enron,
WorldCom and Xerox in the future.
This is how the system works— it's a
social system of waste, corruption, and
contempt for working people and it is
high time we send it packing.

— Len Wallace

Africa's debt

continued from page 3

to put a human face on it ultimately
deceive themselves because reforms do
not remove the system that engenders
poverty— it postpones it.

The continent of Africa is rich in
resources and in the human abil-
ity and intelligence to meet their
own needs. Contrary to cow towing
to the capitalist game, the solution can
only be a fundamentally different kind
of society where production is solely
for use, without profits or wages, where
all people of the world democratically
determine their future for themselves.
This is the basis of what we in the
Socialist Party stand for— Real Social-
ism—Real Democracy.

Those who have been dubbed as
part of the "anti-globalist" movement
may argue that change is needed now.
Socialists agree. What we advocate is
a real change now, not a tinkering
with the capitalist system. The move-
ment toward a better, sane world fit for
human beings would be a much more
strategic use of our energies if devoted
for that very fundamental change —
Socialism, Now.

— Len Wallace

Interested in learning more about socialism?

The following members of the Socialist Party of Canada have volunteered themselves as regional contacts.

Cobourg, ON: John Ayers, (905) 377-8190, jpayers@sympatico.ca

Windsor, ON: Len Wallace, lwallace@mnsi.net

Victoria, BC: Tony Gelsthorpe, (250) 384-5789, tonyge@juno.com

St. John's, NF: Joshua Tremblett, (709) 722-7941, ioshtremblett@hotmail.com;

Kevin Moulton, kmoulton@roadrunner.nf.net

We also invite you to write us for a free package of introductory literature. Drop us a line at the usual address:

The Socialist Party of Canada

Box 4280

Victoria, BC V8X 3X8

e-mail: spc@iname.com

Imagine

October 2002 7

Bay Street berserk over Hydro proposal

continued from page 6

In California, skyrocketing rates and
rolling brown-outs were the order of
the day last winter, prompting state
officials to consider returning power to
the public sector, a move saved only
by the recession and consequent lower
energy demand. In Alberta, the original
flag-wavers for privatization, the steel
and petrochemical industries, cried foul
when their bills for energy quadru-
pled.

These examples made it politically
dangerous for the Ontario Tories to pro-
ceed with their usual haste and disre-
gard of public opinion, but the clincher
was the squabble between the indus-
trialists and the Bay Street financiers.
Speaking for the industrialists, lobbyist
Dan Macnamara said, "In theory, free-
market competition is great; in practice,
it doesn't seem to work-at least not
in the electricity industry." (Toronto
Star, 15 December 2001) Ontario's big
power users, such as Dofasco Steel,
wanted to turn electricity into a non-
profit co-operative committed to deliv-
ering cheap and reliable power, much
like what Adam Beck established in
1906 and is now in the process of
being dismantled. Ian Urquhart, writ-

ing in the Toronto Star (15 December
2001), commented on this situation,
stating, "The rest of Bay Street, and
their mouthpieces in the financial press,
went berserk when the news first broke
that the government was seriously con-
sidering the non-profit option." Advo-
cates of this option were accused of
"being fixated on keeping prices low"
(as if that were a bad thing) and of
trying to "shackle" Hydro One. Yet the
financiers pressed for the sale to go
through, expecting to make as much as
$200 million in commissions and fees.
Additionally, Hydro One's senior man-
agers, including the utility's chair, Sir
Graham Day, a major proponent of pri-
vatization under Thatcher, pushed to
go ahead with deregulation because
this would give them huge windfalls
by reaping lucrative stock options. Day,
always looking for the easiest way to
cash in, threatened to go elsewhere if
the sale did not go through. In the end,

Premier Harris pressed ahead with pri-
vatization, even as he was resigning his
position, and will not be around to take
the resulting heat when prices go up.

Through all of this, consideration
for the needs of the average consumers
struggling to pay their bills is nowhere
to be heard. They are right to be con-
cerned. Capitalism demands that com-
modities be sold in the highest paying
market, i.e., the one ensuring the high-
est profits. To our south lies the giant
US economy, eager to take our energy
and already paying up to 50% more
than we are. Indeed, Hydro One has
already applied for permission to lay a
transmission cable under Lake Erie to
points south. So either we pay more,
much more, or we freeze in the dark.
This is the capitalist system in action,
nothing to do with socially controlled
hydro— needs can only be met if you
have the money to pay for them.

—J. Ayers

Subscribe to Imagine today

Contact us at spc@iname.com for subscription information.

Handicapitalism byjin wicked &psv

Reformism in Medieval times.

8 October 2002

Imagine

Imagine

VOL. 2 NO. 1

July 2003

Official Journal of
the Socialist Party of Canada

No war but the class war!

Once again another bloody
capitalist war has broken out.
The US and GB have ignored
the objections of most of the world
and invaded a country that posed no
threat to any of the coalition countries
and for reasons that seem illusory
even to the most casual observer.
This has brought unprecedented street
demonstrations against the war
around the world. The Socialist Party
of Canada and its companion parties
of the World Socialist Movement have
opposed all wars, except the class
war, since it first formulated a policy
regarding armed conflicts in response
to the First World War. It is worth
reiterating our position at this time by
quoting the Manifesto of the Socialist
Party of Canada on War printed
in "The Western Socialist" (October
1939):

It is in the nature of capitalism
that in their quest for markets, raw
materials, sources of exploitation,
etc., the respective capitalists of the
world are engaged in a constant,
competitive struggle, either to
preserve or to gain advantages over
their rival: and by virtue of their
control of the powers of government
they are in the position to transfer this
struggle from the economic field to the
military field, where they endeavour
to gain by wholesale slaughter, what
they have been unable to gain by other
means. This is the explanation, not
only of previous wars, but also of the

present war. Thus, the declarations
of the ruling class propagandist
agencies that this conflict is being
waged for democracy, freedom, and
the independence of small nations, are
merely the bait that must be used if the
active participation of the politically
uneducated workers is to be gained.

The Socialist Party of Canada,
in placing on record its opposition
to this new, horrible demonstration
of capitalism's unfitness to survive,
herewith reaffirms:

That society as at present
constituted is based upon the
ownership of the means of living by
the capitalist class and the consequent
enslavement of the working class,
by whose labour alone wealth is
produced;

That in society, therefore, there
is an antagonism of interests,
manifesting itself as a class struggle
between those who possess but do not
produce and those who produce but
do not possess;

That this antagonism can be
abolished only by the emancipation
of the working class from the
domination of the capitalist class and
the conversion into common property
of society of the means of production
and distribution, and their democratic
control by the whole people;

That as the machinery of
government, including the armed
forces of the nation, exists only to
conserve the monopoly by the
capitalist class of the wealth taken from

WHAT'S INSIDE

Letters

2

Aggression in Iraq

3

In Ontario

4

Obscene and heard

5

A JUST WAR

7

the workers, the working class must
organize consciously and politically in
order that this machinery, including
these forces, may be converted from
an instrument of oppression into the
agent of emancipation and the
overthrow of plutocratic privilege.

The Socialist Party of Canada
further declares that no interest is at
stake in this conflict which justifies
the shedding of a single drop of
working class blood; and it extends its
fraternal greetings to the workers of all
countries and calls upon them to unite
in the Greater Struggle, the struggle
for the establishment of Socialism,
a system of society in which the
ever-increasing poverty, misery, terror,
and bloodshed of capitalism shall be
forever banished from the earth.

The pertinence of this Manifesto
in today's world is a sad
testament to the continuance of
the destructive nature of our economic
and social system and to the accuracy
of its analysis.

— Editors

Letters

Lennon no better than Lenin as a spokesperson for real socialism?

Dear Sirs,

I wondered what inspired the SPC
to adopt the title Imagine instead of
"socialist" as a prefix or suffix, as, for,
example The Socialist Standard, The World
Socialist Review, etc. I never considered
John Lennon a socialist. To me a socialist
is one who has no dichotomy between
his thought and action. So why should
we be eager to project a hero's image
on him by hiring his word? We are
not hero worshippers. The working
class does not require any hero for its
emancipation. I have bitter experiences
with people like John Lennon, Bob
Dillon, Herbert Marcus, Rezis Debre,
Franz Fenon, and similar personalities
in our own country. They were all
opportunists. Where are those people
now? They never undertook the day-
to-day strain of socialist organization,
education, and propaganda within the
working class. They went on selling
their wares in the market. Like

Published by:

The Socialist Party of Canada

Box 4280

Victoria, BC V8X 3X8

Canada

spc@iname.com
http://www.worldsocialism.org/canada/

The Socialist Party of Canada provides
educational material and forums to
explain capitalism and socialism, and
works to promote working class under-
standing of socialism. Although pri-
marily active in Canada, the Party
sends information to people around the
world.

The Socialist Party of Canada was
founded in 1905. It is a companion
party in an international organization
of socialist parties known as the World
Socialist Movement, whose Object and
Declaration of Principles can be found
elsewhere in this issue.

capitalists publishers who take
advantage of Marx's writings, not from
consideration of a socialist cause, but
from profit motives, they never tried to
come out of the ghetto of capitalism.
Hiring anything from them will
automatically give a wrong signal to
the working class. Taking any other
name implies the ignorance that the
working class cannot be attracted to
socialism directly. To lay false bait
to the working class only signifies
ignorance and prejudice that the
working class cannot understand and
achieve socialism themselves. Last, but
not least, "An end which requires
unjustified means is not a justifiable
end" ( — Karl Marx)

— Asok Chakrabarti, India

There is much to agree with in your letter,
the most salient being that emancipation
from capitalism will be the work of the
working class itself and that we will require
no leaders to show us the way. The title
Imagine was selected by democratic means
by the whole membership of the SPC from
a large number of proposals, most of which
did include the word "Socialist". You will
note that beside the title we have clearly
placed the words, "Official Journal of the
Socialist Party of Canada ". While many of
the protest singers wrote against war and
the social ills of their time, as far as we
are aware, none of them professed to be
socialist, certainly not as we understand
the term. This should not mean that we
should not listen to, appreciate, or even
use their words in the right context. Marx 's
works are replete with quotations from non-
socialists and are used both to juxtapose
and to support his positions. As for selling
their wares in the market place, it should
be noted that, from the very beginning,
capitalism was as virulent at eliminating
alternative forms of employment for the
labourer as it was in promoting itself. Thus,
all workers in a capitalist system must sell
their wares, labour power, to the capitalist.
The title Imagine takes its inspiration from

the words of Lennon 's song and also is a
reminder of our stand that socialism has
never been tried and has no living, concrete
examples and, at the present time, can only
be imagined. Perhaps printing the words of
the song would be appropriate at this point
to reflect on their meaning:

Imagine there 's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn 't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you 11 join us
And the world will be as one

We couldn 't have said it better ourselves!

—Editors

We welcome correspondence

from all our readers — you can

write us by post or e-mail at the

address shown at the left.

Letters which are selected for

publication in Imagine may be

edited for length.

2 July 2003

Imagine

US-British military aggression in Iraq
and the privatization of everything

The US-British war with Iraq is
nothing new in terms of US-UK
foreign policy. For fifty years,
the United States and Great Britain
have used military aggression against
militarily weaker third world nations
like Korea, Vietnam, Panama, and
Argentina. None of these conflicts were
ever over the threatened sovereignty of
the United States or Britain— just their
economic logic.

Like these countries, the Muslim
way of life in large parts of Africa, the
Middle East and Asia frustrates the eco-
nomic aspirations of capitalists in Amer-
ica and Britain. Despite world opinion
against this war, Bush and Blair's
lackey-like, laissez-faire globalization
stumbles irresponsibly towards Iraq's
devastation under their distorted logic
of capitalist accumulation.

Like the US and Britain's laissez-
faire approach to "Thinking Globally" —
including murdering nations when
deemed advantageous— this logic is
likewise bullying its way into numerous
Canadian provinces, such as Alberta,
British Columbia, and Ontario, slashing
provincial utilities while

simultaneously axing public services.

Conservative-led governments in
these provinces are the local chapters of
this US-British expansion of corporate
greed, echoing such sycophantic
mantras as Gordon Campbell's "New
Era of Prosperity" which rationalize
massive tax cuts for the rich through
undermining healthcare, education,
and social services for the labouring
population.

Global privatization is nothing
more than these Right-wing loonies'
ideal of turning publicly owned assets
into profit making markets for the ever-
grasping hands of their political whips,
the capitalist class. Their paring back
of what little advances workers have
gained through reforms since World
War II arises in ever-rising user fees;
gross deregulation of sound mining,

fishing, and forest practices; and
systematic dismantling of hard-earned
labour rights— proof positive that
reforms under capitalism repeatedly
fail to free workers from the fetter of
international capital.

These capitalist-minded provincial
Rightists, instead of using "weapons of
mass destruction" to get their way, are
using draconian legislation to kick-start
their own version of economic terrorism
on Canadian workers nation-wide.

Their moves to privatize
provincially-owned hydropower,

insurance, parks, liquor distribution,
and water is their brainchild to spurring
sluggish local markets while choking
nationalized cash-flow to already
under-funded public services like
hospitals and schools. Their brand of
legislated terrorism and union bashing
threatens to roll back public reforms
decades while simultaneously lending
perverse merit in telling workers to
tighten their belts to pay for all-too-cash-
strapped public services.

Like the decision process of the
Iraq war, decisions on all public utility
closures in Canada continue behind
closed doors. Insidiously, under
Canada's North American Free Trade
Agreement with the United States, such
changes when they involve the US will
be irreversible.

Let's remember this about Bush
and Blair's Globalization:

WHEREVER THE "INVISIBLE
HAND" OF THE MARKET TRAVELS,
THE IRON FIST OF SUBJUGATION
FOLLOWS...
Our solution:

Whether private or state capital-
ism: No compromise, no reform. Let
us unite to rid ourselves of subjugation
worldwide by transforming capitalism
into an economic democracy for all.

— ADAPTED FROM AN ORIGINAL LEAFLET

by J. Ames, A. O'Day, & C. Ekdahl

The Socialist Party of Canada

Object

The establishment of a system of society
based upon the common ownership and
democratic control of the means and instru-
ments for producing and distributing wealth
by and in the interest of society as a whole.

Declaration of Principles

The Socialist Party of Canada holds:

1. That society as at present constituted is
based upon the ownership of the means of
living (i.e., land, factories, railways, etc.) by
the capitalist or master class, and the conse-
quent enslavement of the working class, by
whose labour alone wealth is produced.

2. That in society, therefore, there is an
antagonism of interests, manifesting itself as
a class struggle between those who possess
but do not produce and those who produce
but do not possess.

3. That this antagonism can be abolished
only by the emancipation of the working
class from the domination of the master class,
by the conversion into the common property
of society of the means of production and
distribution, and their democratic control by
the whole people.

4. That as in the order of social evolution
the working class is the last class to achieve
its freedom, the emancipation of the work-
ing class will involve the emancipation of all
mankind, without distinction of race or sex.

5. That this emancipation must be the work
of the working class itself.

6. That as the machinery of government,
including the armed forces of the nation,
exists only to conserve the monopoly by the
capitalist class of the wealth taken from the
workers, the working class must organize
consciously and politically for the conquest
of the powers of government, in order that
this machinery, including these forces, may
be converted from an instrument of oppres-
sion into an agent of emancipation and the
overthrow of plutocratic privilege.

7. That as political parties are but the expres-
sion of class interests, and as the interest of
the working class is diametrically opposed to
the interest of all sections of the master class,
the party seeking working class emancipa-
tion must be hostile to every other party.

8. The Socialist Party of Canada, therefore,
enters the field of political action determined
to wage war against all other political par-
ties, whether alleged labour or avowedly
capitalist, and calls upon the members of
the working class of this country to support
these principles to the end that a termina-
tion may be brought to the system which
deprives them of the fruits of their labour,
and that poverty may give place to comfort,
privilege to equality, and slavery to free-

Imagine

July 2003 3

In Ontario

Poverty and food deprivation still here despite "robust economy"

Crisis in Education

Ever since the present provincial
government came to power in 1995,
they have mounted an attack on public
services with a view to privatizing them
to allow the people they represent, the
capitalist class, to cash in on the
billions of dollars at stake. In education,
they first appointed a high school
dropout as Minister of Education. That
dovetailed nicely with the appointment
of a car dealership owner as Minister of
Transportation, and a person of wealth
as Minister of Social Services, who
promptly lectured the poor on how
to wisely spend their welfare cheques
that he had just cut by 20%— e.g.,
bargain with the supermarket manager
on the price of cans of tuna! Not
surprisingly, none of the above was the
least interested in developing public
services.

Education in Ontario is run by
school boards of elected officials
representing districts, like legislative
bodies, and funds used to be raised
by taking a portion of the property
taxes which could be raised by the
boards as needs arose and the electorate
permitted. The government took the
fundraising capability out of the hands
of the boards, scooped the money
into their own coffers to help pay for
massive tax cuts, mainly to the rich
and a tax credit for private school users
amounting to $300 million, and then
funded the boards directly with about
$2 billion less than previously. The
result was the expected cuts in program,
maintenance, capital spending,
materials, and personnel. The Toronto
Board, for example, was recognized as
a leader in providing social programs
such as beefed up special education
services, second language help for
the city's burgeoning immigrant
population, parenting, inner-city help,
swimming instruction, adult education,
outdoor education, etc. After slashing
or eliminating such programs for years,

and then legislated to bring in a
balanced budget, the Toronto, Ottawa,
and Hamilton boards refused to cut
any further, while many other boards
did so under duress, writing letters
of complaint before complying. The
three recalcitrant boards were promptly
taken over by the government, the
elected trustees suspended and
prevented from carrying out those
duties for which they were elected, a
provincial auditor appointed to slash
and burn, and another government
appointee ran the boards as a virtual
dictator. The resulting outcry brought

I Ontario Minister of Social
Services to the province's
poor: Why don 't you try
haggling with the
supermarket manager
on the price of tinned fish?

the public versus private debate to
the forefront. Although the private
capitalists would examine each part
of the system to reduce costs and
maximize profits and we would see
costly "frills" such as music, physical
education, and learning about nature
eliminated (or provided for an extra
charge as in Alberta), the proponents
of public education would do well to
consider that both systems are subject
to the laws of capitalism. Services
under either one are provided only on
a monetary basis, not a needs basis,
as is everything where profit is the
end result. Having worked for public
boards for most of my working life,
I know what a struggle it is just to

maintain necessary programs, never
mind expand them or introduce new
ones. For example, The Toronto Board
recently had to cut all-day kindergarten,
a program designed to give
disadvantaged kids a head start, in
order to save $500 000. In addition
the employee-employer relationship of
antagonism is little different from that
of the private sector with work-to-
rules and strikes to improve wages
and benefits and avoid staff cuts being
common occurrences. Until the system
is based on needs and operated directly
by and for the people involved, we
cannot expect this situation to improve
and, very likely, it will to continue to
deteriorate.

And the beat goes on...

As new statistics showed poverty and
food deprivation growing across
Canada, even in times of a "robust
economy", the forces of capitalism
raised their ugly heel to tread once
again on the most needy and vulnerable
in our society. The Canadian Centre
for Policy Alternatives reported in their
publication, The Monitor (November

2002) that the top 50% of Canadians
hold 94.4% of our wealth, leaving just
5.6% to the other half, and the richest
10% held 53% while the poorest 10%
held a negative 4%! The December
2002/January 2003 edition of the same
journal reported that food bank use
has doubled in the last decade, a time
that included unprecedented wealth
creation. The Canadian Food Bank
Association reported, also in that
journal, that 750 000 people, about the
population of our capital city, now
use this service every month. A recent
report in the Toronto Star (26 March

2003) prepared by Ontario Campaign
2000, part of the national coalition
seeking to hold parliament to its 1989
pledge to end child poverty by the year

see ONTARIO, page 8

4 July 2003

Imagine

Obscene and heard

Voices in a capitalist world

On War

"He rules by fear because he knows
there is no underlying support. Support
for Saddam, including within his
military organization, will collapse after
the first whiff of gunpowder."
—Richard Perle, Defence Policy Board
chair on the invasion to bring
democracy to Iraq (Toronto Star, 30
March 2003)

"Take away the deaths from
helicopter crashes, or bumping into
each other in the air... just what
have the fatalities been? ...The war is
going pretty well and pretty humanely."
—David Frum, neo-con author and
sometime presidential speechwriter
(Toronto Star, 30 March 2003)

Referring to the damaged Iraqi
infrastructure from the first Gulf War,
such as water pumping and treatment
plants which released an epidemic
of water-borne diseases like cholera,
typhoid and diarrhea, Richard Cheney,
then- Secretary of Defence: "We had
significant impact on Iraqi society that
we wished we had not had to do.
Nevertheless, every target was perfectly
legitimate. If I had to do it all over
again, I would do exactly the same
thing." (Toronto Star, 10 February 2003)

Then-General Colin Powell,
commenting on the number of Iraqis
killed in the first Gulf War, estimated
to be between 200 000 and 300 000
civilians and soldiers: "It's not really
a number I'm terribly interested in."
(Toronto Star, 3 March 2003)

"I was very much in favour of
the American action in Afghanistan. I
think it was necessary and I thought,
on the whole, pretty well done."
— author Salman Rushdie (Toronto Star,
9 February 2003)

Defence contractors were eager to
get to war to showcase their new
equipment, such as the 9000-kilo MOAB
(Massive Ordnance Air Burst). "Well,
it's very efficient," said George
Friedman. "Let's say you've got a large
concentration of Republican Guard
units. Instead of having to do repeated
bombing sorties, you can take out a
batallion, 500 to 600 troops, with one
bomb." (Toronto Star, 3 March 2003)

On economy and War

Steve Forbes, editor-in-chief, Forbes
Magazine, commenting on the
impending invasion of Iraq: "Until this
thing is over we are going to have
the economic version of suspended
animation." And on the aftermath: "We
will then see value in the stock market."
(Toronto Star, 10 February 2003)

"Incredibly Sherry Cooper, the
chief economist for BMO Nesbitt Burns,
thinks war on Iraq 'would be just
great' because it would be good for the
stock market, and Thomas D' Aquino,
CEO of the Canadian Council of Chief
Executives, thinks the war would be
good for the Canadian oil industry.
Apparently they feel this is the price
we should pay to boost the market
and the economy. How callous. These
people have no moral compass and
we Canadians are no better than the
warmongers in Washington if we echo
George Bush's policies of greed and self-
interest." —letter to the editor (Toronto
Star, 4 January 2003)

"Of all the possible courses of
action, brutally invading and occupying
Iraq with massive military force, which
will inevitably be followed by
disastrous long-term consequences
such as disease from lack of clean
water, is just not a humanitarian way to
proceed. It is the right way to proceed,
though, if the goal is to gain economic
control of another country's resources."

—letter to the editor (Toronto Star, March
2003)

On the Economy

After collecting a $20 million bonus for
the three-week negotiation to merge
Chase Manhattan Corporation and J.P.
Morgan & Co., William Harrison:
"These bonuses are compensation as
a round of applause by boardrooms
filled with stuffed animals." (Toronto
Star, 25 August 2002)

Commenting on the federal
handout of $383 million to the metal
mining industry in 2000/2001, Joan
Kuyek of Mining Watch: "The richest vein
of gold the Canadian mining industry
has ever tapped was the one they
discovered in the tax-payer's arm." (The
Monitor, journal of the Canadian Centre
for Policy Alternatives, February 2003)

A Treasury official commenting
on the revelation that corporate and
individual tax write-offs for
entertaining would mean a loss of
$0.5 billion to treasury coffers: "Overall
the rules represent a balance between
fairness and simplicity." (Toronto Star,
19 January 2003)

On Poverty

A 32-year-old mother of three,
commenting on a new $500 million
condo to accommodate wealthy
Toronto skiers in the resort town of
Collingwood: "As far as I'm concerned,
they're from another world. All they
worry about is if it's cold enough for
the ski resorts to make snow, while I
worry about being able to afford to
keep my children warm." (Toronto Star,
4 January 2003)

Toronto mayor Mel Lastman,

commenting on the dawn raid to oust

squatters from an unused lot in the

see CAPITALISTS, page 7

Imagine

July 2003 5

Book review

"Machinofacture" and the growth of monopoly capitalism

Labour and Monopoly Capital, the Degradation
of Work in the Twentieth Century by Harry
Braverman, published by Monthly Review
Press, 1974. (A 25 lh anniversary edition was
also published.)

The introduction reveals the
author as a time-served trades-
man working extensively in ship-
yards and railways and later turning
to socialist writing and editing. Also in
the introduction, to tweak the socialist
reader's interest, Braverman writes on
the Soviet Union, "Whatever view
one takes of Soviet industrialization,
one cannot consciously interpret its
history, even in its earliest, most
revolutionary period, as an attempt to
organize the labour process in any way
fundamentally different from those of
capitalism." Braverman has produced
a readable, erudite book that takes
Marxist principles and brings them
up to the three-quarter mark of the
twentieth century.

The thesis of the book, stated
in the subtitle, examines the factors
contributing to the appalling
atomization of work into fractional,
repetitive processes in the sole interest
of profitability and, in so doing, exposes
the myth of the modern, skilled,
well-educated and well-paid worker.
Braverman details how the degradation
of labour was achieved through the
division of labour, the scientific/

technical revolution, and scientific
management.

From the earliest days of capitalism,
the capitalist took on the role of
management through ownership of the
means of production, by gathering
craftsmen under his roof, and by
reorganizing and transforming
assembly trades and industries such
as iron smelting and sugar refining.
He also realized the infinite capacity
of humans to adapt to new methods
of production that could continually
enlarge productive capacities, surplus
value, and capital. This mastery over
the process, Braverman notes, allowed
the capitalist to systematically eliminate
alternate forms of livelihood for the
labourer and force him to sell his only
commodity: labour power. In addition,
once in control, the capitalist took
the knowledge of the craftsman and
returned it piecemeal, dividing the
skills into small, repetitive sections,
mostly capable of being performed by
cheap, unskilled labour.

Braverman documents the growth
of monopoly capitalism that
produced, by the late nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries, huge
companies such as Dupont, Standard
Oil, General Motors and Sears Roebuck,
which became the models that
dominated the economic landscape.
Society was being transformed into a
huge market place, greatly expanding
cities, transportation systems,

infrastructure and, above all,
productive capacity. These large
agglomerations of capital demanded
new non-productive fields such as
accounting, sales, advertising, and
scientific management. Pioneered by
Frederick Winslow Taylor and Charles
Babbage and later continued by Frank
Gilbreth, scientific management is
described by Braverman as "the study
of work on behalf of those who manage

it, rather than for those who perform
it."

It culminated in the infamous time
and motion studies of Gilbreth that
classified all the possible motions of the
worker at his machine and assigned a
time to each, thus illustrating how capi-
talists viewed human labour in abstract
and machine terms. To Babbage, the
machine was a masterpiece of control:
"One great advantage that we may
derive from machinery is the check
which it affords against the inattention,
the idleness or the dishonesty of human
agents."

The third factor in the degradation
of work was the scientific/technical
revolution. Whereas the first industrial
revolution was largely a mechanical
one, driven by the steam engine in
particular, the second revolution
harnessed science, the last and most
important social property, to the
capitalist mode of production.
Machinofacture, writes Braverman,
took the instruments of labour from the
workers' hands and placed them in the
grip of mechanization, thus reducing
the worker to a mere machine part
and bringing to a close over a million
years of human labour in which the
worker created complex structures and
recreated himself. Innovations such
as numerical control cards and later
silicone chips and electronic circuitry
meant fewer parts, fewer steps, and
less knowledge by each generation of
labourers, reducing training time for
machinists by a ratio of 12:1, from four
years to four months. Thus, Braverman
points out, machinery was not born
as a servant to humanity but as an
instrument of those to whom capital
accumulation gives ownership of the
productive process and controlled, not
by the producer, but by the owners and
representatives of capital.

see DEGRADATION, page 8

6 July 2003

Imagine

A just war

Religion's legitimization of armed conflict

Many people have opposed the
latest capitalist conflict, the
war in Iraq. Among them are
many religious groups such as the
Anglican Church of Canada. To high-
light just how ridiculous their position
is and to give further credence to our
opposition to all religion, we should
listen to Archbishop Michael Peers:
"The church has supported wars in the
past, including World War II, but the
impending war in Iraq fails to meet any
of the principles set by the church in the
time of St. Augustine to define a 'just'
war." (Toronto Star, 22 February 2003).
Apparently, St. Augustine developed
these principles that are supposed to
still guide us on when to go to war and
are as follows:

1. A just war can only be
waged as a last resort.

2. A war is only just if it

is waged by a legitimate
authority.

3. A just war can only be
waged to redress a wrong
suffered.

4. A war is only just if it

is fought with a reasonable
chance of success.

5. A war is only just if its
goal is to re-establish peace.
Moreover, the peace
established as a result of
the war must be an
improvement over the
circumstances that would
have prevailed had the war
not been waged.

6. A war is only just if the
violence used is
proportional to the harm
suffered.

7. Non-combatants are never
permissible targets of war.
Their deaths are justified
only if they are unavoidable
victims of a deliberate attack
on a military target.

So far, we have been able to determine
neither what terms such as "legitimate
authority", "a wrong suffered", "a
reasonable chance of success", and
"an improvement over circumstances"
actually mean, nor how to figure out
the proportion of "violence used" to
"harm suffered" or what proportion is
satisfactory. We now understand why
the likes of George Bush and Tony
Blair have become devoutly religious.
St. Augustine has given them the green
light to wage war against anybody,
anywhere in the world, at any time
with any pretext. It also explains a lot
about their rhetoric to attempt to justify
their war to the world community.

— Editors

Capitalists speak

continued from page 5

shadow of the Toronto skyscrapers:
"Somebody was going to get sick or
hurt or worse. . . and that liability could
have hurt Home Depot [the owners of
the property] a lot." (Toronto Star, 25
September 2002)

On the Environment

"Global warming is only a theoretical
problem dreamed up by scientists
and environmentalists bent on having
fun." —Stephen Harper, leader of the
opposition Alliance party, a neo-con
and pro-business group (Toronto Star,
21 September 2002)

On the War against Terrorism

"Blaming terrorism on poverty is a
mistake because it weakens the global
war on terrorists. India's view is that
when you are fighting a war against
terrorism, one should not weaken the
cause by trying to get into the root
causes of terrorism." —India's external
affairs minister, Yahwant Sinha (Toronto
Star, 21 September 2002)

—Editors

Interested in learning more
about socialism?

The following members of the Socialist Party of Canada
have volunteered themselves as contacts.

John Ayers, (905) 377-8190, jpayers@sympatico.ca

John Thompson, kajeme@telus.net

William Johnson, bill_j@hotmail.com

We also invite you to write us for a free package of introductory literature. Drop
us a line at the usual address:

The Socialist Party of Canada

Box 4280

Victoria, BC V8X 3X8

e-mail: spc@iname.com

Imagine

July 2003 7

The degradation of work in our time

continued from page 6

Finally, Braverman records how
this process of degradation was
applied to the burgeoning num-
bers of socially unnecessary, non-pro-
ductive workers in the offices. The
same principles of division of labour,
scientific management, and technology
were applied equally to white collar
workers thus shackling these workers
to their machines just as surely as is
the case for the factory worker. The
attention to detail in the interests of
higher productivity in factory and office
outlined carefully by the author is both
astounding and egregious.

In the foreword, Paul Sweezy nicely
sums up the reader' outrage when he
writes,

The sad, horrible, heart-break-
ing way the vast majority of my
fellow countrymen and women,
as well as their counterparts in
most of the rest of the world,
are obliged to spend the rest
of their lives is seared into my
consciousness in an excruciating
and unforgettable way. And

Obituary

when I think of all the talent
and energy which daily go into
devising ways and means of
making their torment worse, all
in the name of efficiency and
productivity but really for the
greater glory of the great god,
Capital, my wonder at humani-
ty's ability to create such a mon-
strous system is surpasses only
by my amazement at its willing-
ness to tolerate the continuance
of an arrangement so obviously
destructive of the well-being
and happiness of human beings.
If the same effort, or only half
of it, were devoted to making
work the joyous and creative
activity it can be, what a won-
derful world this could be.
Braverman may not be a socialist by the
World Socialist Movement definition,
but he has produced a highly readable
indictment of the capitalist mode of
production and its treatment of labour,
bringing a Marxist examination up to
more modern times. The events of the

George Jenkins, 1920-2003

Born in Wilkie, Saskatchewan in 1920,
George Jenkins spent the first part
of his life on our dad's farm near
Lloydminster, Saskatchewan. Our dad
was a CCFer and George canvassed
for that party at that time. His time
spent in the army was the catalyst that
made George a socialist. The family
moved to BC in 1946 where he became a
struggling artist. After a short marriage,
he lived alone on Darwin Avenue,
Victoria, BC. It was during these years
that I visited my brother George often,
discussing socialism. This is how I
became a socialist. George had great
insight into the human condition and
promoted socialism for many years.

Because of this and our age difference
(fifteen years) he was my mentor.
George was subsequently married to
Ethel (Rachel) for 27 years until the time
of his passing. These years were spent
on Lodge Avenue in Victoria where
he enjoyed greater artistic success.
The monthly socialist meetings were
held at the Jenkins' house for many
years. Towards the end of his life, due
to arthritis and Parkinson's disease,
George needed a walker to mobilize
but his mind remained clear. He had a
good sense of humour. I miss him as a
brother, a socialist, and a friend, as I am
sure most who knew him will.

—Ron Jenkins

last twenty-five years— the increased
use of neo-liberal trade practices and
treaties, the further globalization of
capital, the drawing of public services
into private capitalists' hands, the
continued degradation of work,
especially as production shifts to the
Third World, all serve to validate Marx's
exposition of the system for what it
is — a system created for the benefit of
the privileged few at the expense of the
exploited masses.

—J. Ayers

In Ontario

continued from page 4

2000, stated that Ontario was home to
390 000 children defined as poor, a 41%
increase in the last decade.

Against this backdrop of dismal
statistics, squatters who had built a
shanty town within spitting distance of
Toronto's gleaming multi-billion dollar
skyscrapers were evicted by a dawn
raid when the owners of the property,
ironically named Home Depot, ordered
security guards and bulldozers in. The
squatters were escorted out without
belongings while a police presence kept
the peace — obviously not that of the
homeless! Toronto mayor Mel Lastman
capped this effort when he told the
media, "Somebody was going to get
sick or hurt or worse, and the liability
could have hurt Home Depot greatly."
The insanity of it all is that we have
plenty of empty houses and buildings
and plenty of homeless people living
on the streets or in temporary
arrangements, 6000 on any given night.
As always under a system based on
profit, unless you can pay, you can't
have even the basic human needs
like food and shelter. Only control of
resources, production and distribution
of wealth, by and for the people, and
free access to all one needs can truly
and finally solve problems like these.

—J. Ayers

8 July 2003

Imagine

Imagine

VOL. 3 NO. 1

May 2004

Official Journal of
the Socialist Party of Canada

Capitalism works (for me capitalists

When socialists argue their case
for a better world, they often
elicit the response that while
socialism may be a good idea, it has
never existed and we don't know
whether it would be successful or not,
but at least we know capitalism works. I
couldn't agree more. In fact, capitalism
has worked beyond the wildest dreams
of the capitalist class. As a system
set up to create wealth through the
exploitation of the labour of the masses
and then concentrate that immense cap-
ital in the hands of a tiny minority
of owners of production, it has done
remarkably well. Today we see corpo-
rations that straddle the globe, wealth-
ier than many countries, individuals
with so much accumulated capital that
mind-boggling statements can be trot-
ted out, such as the top 10 billionaires
having a combined income greater than
that of the poorest forty-eight countries

But how well can such a system
work for the majority? In the rich coun-
tries of the world, most workers don't
starve and can afford houses, cars, hol-
idays, and the latest electronic equip-
ment. But even here, if we scratch
the surface, some alarming statistics
are produced— e.g., 37 million unem-
ployed, 100 million (including 31 mil-
lion Americans) live below the poverty
line [2]. In Canada, over 700000 people,
equivalent to the population of our cap-
ital city, Ottawa, use food banks on a
regular basis, 300 000 in Ontario alone;
3 million Canadians live in "food inse-
cure" households; more than 1 million
children live in poverty with its attend-

ant lack of adequate diet and life
opportunities; with the increase in non-
standard, temporary, part-time, inse-
cure employment and the decrease in
unionized, full-time, full-benefit jobs,
almost a quarter of Canadian workers
earn less than $10 an hour, virtually
guaranteeing poverty [3]. A recent study
using 2001 census figures [4] reported
that in Toronto, while the top 10% of
earners grossed $261042, the lowest
10% had to be content with almost 30
times less — $9571 per annum. The rich-
est 50% of Canadians own 94.4% of
the total wealth, leaving just 5.4% for
the poorest 50%. One has to wonder
how well the system works for them
or, as "flexible" work forces, cut-backs
in health, education, and social serv-
ices become an every-day reality, what
the future may hold for the rest of the
working class.

If the above figures still leave any
doubt in anyone's mind for whom
the current system works, a look at
world statistics reveals a spectacular
and tragic failure to work in the inter-
ests of all. For example, 1.3 billion
struggle to exist on less than $1 per day,
3 billion on less than $2 and 2 billion
have no access to electricity [1]; 50000
people die each day due to poor shel-
ter, poor water supply or poor sani-
tation; globally, 1 in 5 people do not
expect to live beyond 40 years and in
the poorest countries, three quarters of
the people will not see 50 years [1] and
life expectancy has dropped in 33 coun-
tries since 1990 [2]. A recent report by
the UN Food and Agriculture Organi-
zation noted that the number of chroni-

WHAT'S INSIDE

Obscene and heard

2

Declaration of principles

3

In Ontario

4

The Tyranny of Work

6

cally hungry people in the world rose
to 842 million in the year 2000 and is
growing by 5 million annually.

In an article titled, "Children of
the Dump", the Cohourg Star (31 Octo-
ber 2003) described the situation of the
poor in Guatemala City. Of 8 million
inhabitants, at least one quarter live
within the walls of the huge city dump
and another quarter live in communi-
ties surrounding it. They survive by
rummaging through the garbage in
search of recyclables and other items
to be sold or traded. Apart from the
appalling health risks, the dump is very
unstable to work on, which necessi-
tates the use of lighter children to do
most of the work. This is a scenario that
is enacted in many large cities of the
southern hemisphere.

If we didn't have the productive
powers or the wealth to correct this
awful situation, it might be somewhat
excusable but, in addition to our afore-
mentioned billionaires, the years 2000
and 2001 saw a 25% increase in the bil-
lionaires club and while the richest 20%
see COMMODITIZATION, page 9

ISSN 1710-5944

Obscene and heard

Voices in a capitalist world

The Americans, British, and
Australians invaded Iraq to
disarm a dangerous dictator
developing weapons of mass destruc-
tion, capable of striking anywhere in
the world in forty-five minutes, right?
No, neither the inspectors before the
war nor the coalition efforts after the
war seem to have located any. Then,
it was to get those responsible for
the 9/lldisaster. No, despite 70% of a
misinformed American public believ-
ing this to be the case, Saddam Hus-
sein was not involved in that particular
attack, according to all rational observ-
ers. Then it must have been to fight ter-
rorism. No again, unless we count the
war as being the catalyst for attracting
terrorists to Iraq to fight the American
occupation of a Muslim country after
the war. Then it must have been to
rid the world of a terrible dictator and
establish good old American democ-

Published by:

The Socialist Party of Canada

Box 4280

Victoria, BC V8X 3X8

Canada

spc@iname.com
http://www.worldsocialism.org/canada/

The Socialist Party of Canada provides
educational material and forums to
explain capitalism and socialism, and
works to promote working class under-
standing of socialism. Although pri-
marily active in Canada, the Party
sends information to people around the
world.

The Socialist Party of Canada was
founded in 1905. It is a companion
party in an international organization
of socialist parties known as the World
Socialist Movement, whose Object and
Declaration of Principles can be found
elsewhere in this issue.

racy. Right, so let's listen to what that
democracy sounds like.

L. Paul Brenner, civil administrator of
Iraq, on free elections for the Iraqi
people: " I'm not opposed to it, but I
want to do it in a way that takes care
of our concerns. Elections that are held
too early can be destructive. It's got
to be done very carefully. In a post-
war situation like this, if you start hold-
ing the elections, the people who are
rejectionists tend to win. It's often the
best organized who win, and the best-
organized right now are the former
Baathists and, to some extent, the Islam-
ists." (Toronto Star, 3 July 2003) Perhaps
we should wait until an American-
friendly party is the best organized to
ensure the correct results!

Max Boot, neo-conservative analyst at
the Council on Foreign Relations: "The
notion that you can't export democracy
through the barrel of a gun is simply
wrong. We did it in Germany, Japan,
and elsewhere." (Toronto Star, 11 May
2003)

Director of the BBC Greg Dyke, on the
lack of impartiality of the US media:
"Personally, I was shocked while in the
United States by how unquestioning
the broadcast news media was during
the war. If Iraq proved anything, it
was that the BBC cannot afford to mix
patriotism and journalism. This is hap-
pening in the United States and, if it
continues, will undermine the credibil-
ity of the US electronic news media. We
are genuinely shocked when we dis-
cover that the largest radio group in the
United States was using its airwaves to
organize pro-war rallies." (Toronto Star,
27 April 2003)

General John Abizaid, new head of US
Central Command in Iraq, commenting
on soldiers voicing their frustrations on
CNN regarding long terms of service

and their criticisms of top American
officials including Bush and Rumsfeld:
"None of us who wear this uniform
are free to say anything disparaging
about the Secretary of Defense or the
President of the United States. We
are not free to do that. It's our pro-
fessional code." (Toronto Star, 17 July
2003). Apparently free to die for free-
dom but not free to exercise it!

Matt Drudge, commenting on the White
House campaign to discredit journalist
Jeffrey Koffman, who gave voice to
those disgruntled servicemen: "The
White House press office is under
new management and has become
slightly more aggressive about con-
tacting reporters." (Toronto Star, 19
July 2003). No freedom for reporters,
either!

Bahith Sattar, biology teacher, tribal
leader, and mayoral candidate, com-
menting on the appointment of mayors
by American command: " They [Amer-
icans] give us a general. First of all an
Iraqi general? They lost the last three
wars! They're not even good generals.
And they know nothing about running
a city." (Toronto Star, 29 July 2003)

War correspondent Christiane Aman-
pour, on how CNN was intimidated
into acquiescence of the White House
war policy by the Bush administration
and the Fox News Network: " I think
the press was muzzled and I think the
press self-muzzled. I'm sorry to say, but
certainly television and perhaps, to a
certain extent, my station, was intim-
idated by the administration and its
foot soldiers at Fox News. And it did,
in fact, put a climate of fear and self-
censorship, in my view, in terms of
the kind of broadcast work we did."
(Toronto Star, 16 September 2003)

Tariq Hassan-Gordon, program man-
ager of the Toronto-based Canadian

2 May 2004

Imagine

Journalists for Free Expression, com-
menting on the beating received by
a Japanese journalist at the hands of
American troops for daring to film the
aftermath of a US raid on a private resi-
dence in Baghdad: " There have been
a lot of examples of journalists being
mistreated by American forces and
the situation is made worse because
the post-Hussein Iraq is not yet a typi-
cal democratic process that we would
expect in democratic countries. The
dangers faced by independent journal-
ists in Iraq are especially high in this
situation undoubtedly affects the qual-
ity of journalism coming out of the
country." (Toronto Star, 2 August 2003).

Explaining the seizure of editorial con-
trol of the only TV station in Mosul,
Iraq, US Army Major-General David
Petraeus: "We have every right as an
occupying power to stop the broadcast
of something that will incite violence.
Yes, what we are looking at is cen-
sorship but you can censor something
that is intended to inflame passions."
(Toronto Star, 20 May 2003)

George W. Bush, during his Middle
Eastern tour: "We must not allow a few
people, a few killers, a few terrorists,
to destroy the dreams and hopes of the
many." (Toronto Star, 4 June 2003). No
word yet on who he was talking about!

Charles Knight, national security ana-
lyst at the Commonwealth Institute,
Cambridge, Massachusetts: " Is there
democracy outside of four square
blocks in Kabul? I don't think so. We
now have the least democratic regime
in our history and we're going to try to
spread it elsewhere? I have great skep-
ticism." (Toronto Star, 11 May 2003).

On justification of one's point of
view

The American administration's aggres-
sive stance on the international scene
could possibly bring retaliation, even
with nuclear weapons. Not to worry!
According to Thomas K. Jones, Deputy
Undersecretary of Defense in the
Reagan administration, "If there are

enough shovels to go around every-
body's going to make it." (Toronto Star,
11 May 2003). I feel reassured!

Tony Blair justifying the push to glo-
balization: "There is a risk, seen very
clearly in parts of the European left,
that we end up defining ourselves in
economic terms by anti-globalization,
and in foreign policy terms by anti-
Americanism. Both are cul-de-sacs."
(Toronto Star, 12 July 2003)

Justifying the administration's lying to
the American public about the reasons
for the invasion of Iraq, Deputy Defense
Secretary Paul Wolfowitz: "Stop and
think, if in 2001 or in 2000 or in 1999,
we had gone to war in Afghanistan to
deal with Osama bin Laden and we had
tried to say it's because he's planning
to kill 3000 people in New York, people
would have said, 'You don't have any
proof of that.' I think the lesson of Sep-
tember 11 is that you can't wait until
proof after the fact." (Toronto Star, 28
July 2003). Stunning logic!

Donald Rumsfeld, US Defense Secre-
tary, when asked why soldiers stood
around while looters stripped Bagh-
dad's Museum of Antiquities: "It's an
awful lot to ask of young men and
women whose lives are at risk, to ask
them to go into an area and protect eve-
rything in that area it would be nice to
protect." (Toronto Star, 27 April 2003).
Right, let's just stay with the Oil Minis-
try then.

George Bush talking about the need to
protect America from outside threat:
"There's no telling how many wars
it will take to secure freedom in the
homeland." (Toronto Star, 7 September
2003)

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld,
when asked what he thought about the
need to ask Congress for a further $87
billion to continue the "peace" in Iraq
and the fact that the war helped turn
a $230 billion surplus into a $525 bil-
see OBSCENE, page 12

The Socialist Party of Canada

Object

The establishment of a system of society
based upon the common ownership and
democratic control of the means and instru-
ments for producing and distributing wealth
by and in the interest of society as a whole.

Declaration of Principles

The Socialist Party of Canada holds:

1. That society as at present constituted is
based upon the ownership of the means of
living (i.e., land, factories, railways, etc.) by
the capitalist or master class, and the conse-
quent enslavement of the working class, by
whose labour alone wealth is produced.

2. That in society, therefore, there is an
antagonism of interests, manifesting itself as
a class struggle between those who possess
but do not produce and those who produce
but do not possess.

3. That this antagonism can be abolished
only by the emancipation of the working
class from the domination of the master class,
by the conversion into the common property
of society of the means of production and
distribution, and their democratic control by
the whole people.

4. That as in the order of social evolution
the working class is the last class to achieve
its freedom, the emancipation of the work-
ing class will involve the emancipation of all
mankind, without distinction of race or sex.

5. That this emancipation must be the work
of the working class itself.

6. That as the machinery of government,
including the armed forces of the nation,
exists only to conserve the monopoly by the
capitalist class of the wealth taken from the
workers, the working class must organize
consciously and politically for the conquest
of the powers of government, in order that
this machinery, including these forces, may
be converted from an instrument of oppres-
sion into an agent of emancipation and the
overthrow of plutocratic privilege.

7. That as political parties are but the expres-
sion of class interests, and as the interest of
the working class is diametrically opposed to
the interest of all sections of the master class,
the party seeking working class emancipa-
tion must be hostile to every other party.

8. The Socialist Party of Canada, therefore,
enters the field of political action determined
to wage war against all other political par-
ties, whether alleged labour or avowedly
capitalist, and calls upon the members of
the working class of this country to support
these principles to the end that a termina-
tion may be brought to the system which
deprives them of the fruits of their labour,
and that poverty may give place to comfort,
privilege to equality, and slavery to free-

Imagine

May 2004 3

In Ontario

How capitalism handled the great crises of 2003

Ontario experienced a series of
crises in 2003 which impacted
on the economy and provided
a lesson in true nature of the capitalist
mode of production. Firstly, Canada
refused to become a member of the
'coalition of the willing' and join the
US in its quest to secure the oilfields
of Iraq for its own purposes. The cor-
porate-funded right-wing think tanks
and their political arm, the Alliance
Party of Canada (recently amalgamated
with the Conservative Party), raised a
cacophonous chorus of objection and
trotted out their poster boy, American
ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci.
He proceeded, in a most undiplomatic
fashion, to lecture the Canadian govern-
ment on several occasions on national
television about standing by friends in
time of need, how the US would be
there for Canada, and how the Cana-
dian action could have a detrimental
effect on cross-border trade upon which
the Canadian economy relies so much.
The ambassador neglected to mention
how his government not only opposed
several Canadian international initia-
tives such as the moratorium on land
mines or the Kyoto agreement, but
actively campaigned against them, or
how the US has sought to punish
Canada frequently under the "Free"
Trade Agreement of North America by
slapping huge import duties on Cana-
dian goods such as softwood lumber
whenever their capitalists felt economi-
cally challenged. Some friends! No need
to worry, no capitalists have passed
up any chances to make money by
not trading with us and the sky hasn't
fallen in yet.

In the spring, a family returned to
Toronto from a visit to Hong Kong
and brought the virus known as
Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome
(SARS) with them. A new virus, it was
not immediately recognized and those
infected were left side by side with

other patients or sent home into the
community, causing a hospital emer-
gency that closed hospitals, put medi-
cal staff at grave risk, killed 44 people,
made another 375 very sick, and quar-
antined thousands. While the medical
community was praised for its selfless
devotion to duty, it was clearly play-
ing against a stacked deck. In an effort
to privatize health delivery, both fed-
eral and provincial governments have
chronically underfunded the health
system, which left the detection and
care of infectious diseases vulnerable
and inadequate. Between 1995 and
1999, 25000 hospital positions were cut
by the provincial government. These
people are not sitting around doing
nothing. They help to make the system
work and when they are not there it
doesn't function efficiently. The Toronto
Medical Officer of Health complained
that the ability of the public health
system, of hospitals, and of govern-
ments to respond to such crises had
been severely reduced by cutting health
care to the bone. Even though it was
his own government that had fired
thousands of nurses and paid out mil-
lions in severance pay, only to have
to rehire them, the Minister of Health,
Tony Clement, expressed shock at find-
ing an army of nurses, 50% of the total,
who worked at part-time jobs, often at
more than one hospital. But it was only
when the World Health Organization
placed a travel advisory on Toronto that
we heard from our political and busi-
ness leaders. The media were full of
stories and figures about how much the
economy would suffer and, of course,
trotted out the old rubric of how many
jobs would be lost, mostly in the tour-
ism and hospitality sector, and finally
estimated losses at around $2 billion.
The WHO was painted as the villain,
sustained extensive lobbying from the
business interests and caved in by lift-
ing the ban after just eight days. This
left Toronto with a huge image prob-

lem which would be sure to affect the
chink of cash registers in the future.
What to do? A huge SARS benefit con-
cert was arranged to show the world
that Toronto was "open for business".
(How that phrase makes me cringe after
eight years of the Tories' "Common
Sense Revolution"!) That the organiz-
ers chose the Rolling Stones to head-
line the concert and save the city is
a cause of some amusement after the
group had been vilified for their drugs,
sex, and rock and roll attitude by the
city's leaders when they first arrived
here thirty years ago. To be sure there
was plenty of hype, newspaper head-
lines screamed, "We Rocked— 450000
Party puts Toronto back on the World
Map" (Toronto Star). A commentator
at the event shouted excitedly, "We're
open for business— come here and
spend money!" Not too many people
were fooled by this thinly veiled attempt
to boost business while ignoring the
real issues of the health sector. Letters
to the editor at the Toronto Star were typ-
ical: "[The SARS concert] was intended
to benefit this provincial government's
main constituency, the boys of the busi-
ness community, who have been hit in
the wallet by the outbreak." And ". . .all
the lack of funding and the tremen-
dous costs to the health care system ($1
billion) will not be changed one iota
by the Stones concert. They're coming
to boost the tourism and hospitality
industry." Surely in a sane society, one
not based on money and profit, we
would have said right from the begin-
ning, "Don't come here; we have a
problem and we want to fix it, not risk
spreading it around the world." Surely
in a sane society we would have pre-
cautions for recognizing and reacting
to infectious diseases in place, and
those who were no longer required in
the tourist industry could contribute in
other areas until required again rather
than losing their means of living.

4 May 2004

Imagine

August saw the great North
American blackout which cut
power to over 50 million people
in the North Eastern US and Ontario.
Two things are notable. First, it seems
that once again privatization of serv-
ices was a strong factor. The transmis-
sion system is described as old and in
need of serious money to meet today's
demands. When this money must come
from profits, it will be the absolute min-
imum and thus infrastructure usually
lags behind needs. When it comes from
public funds (taxes) this also comes
from profits, with the same results.
The initial enquiries fingered a private
energy company in Ohio, FirstEnergy,
whose lines began to go down early in

registers down, capitalism was sus-
pended. Many people simply pitched
in with directing traffic at intersections,
helping the workers at the few gas sta-
tions with backup generators, and bus
drivers extending their shifts and waiv-
ing the fares to provide needed serv-
ice, all working for free. Meanwhile
comments from the general population
included, "What a beautiful night we
had last night. Our family gathered
together and had dinner outside. With
the TV and computers down the kids
were also with us. We all played a board
game with the help of candles and a
million stars. Maybe if we are lucky the
power will still be out tonight." And,
"Despite the amount of holidays and

ii

While the medical com-
munity was praised for its self-
less devotion to duty during the
SARS crisis, it was clearly play-
ing against a stacked deck. ■■

the day, but the company neglected to
warn other suppliers so the problem
could be isolated. Apparently the com-
pany had been judged responsible for
a recent blackout in the New Jersey
area and thus were required by law to
forego their next price increase, a situ-
ation to be avoided at all costs. FirstEn-
ergy is also reported to be a company
that neglects infrastructure in the inter-
ests of higher profits (no surprise there,
what company doesn't!) and drew a
scathing remark from senator Edward
Markey (D-Mass) while addressing a
Congressional Committee: "From what
I can tell, FirstEnergy should not have
a licence to drive a car let alone nuclear
power plants." The second notable
factor is what happened when the
energy supply died and, with the cash

vacations that we are given from work,
it takes a massive shut-down for us
to just plain do nothing. I spent the
night talking to my family face-to-face,
and I had nowhere else to be." And,
"Not wanting to be alone in a dark and
empty house, I knocked on the door
of my neighbours to see if they would
mind if I hung out with them. They
decided to come over to my house with
all kinds of steaks and barbecue-type
foods that would have been wasted
in their fridge. We had a great, relax-
ing gathering out on my deck, and an
opportunity for the first time I remem-
ber to see a beautiful sky full of stars
over Toronto." (Toronto Star) Just a
small glimpse of what life could be like
without the madhouse chase to earn a
living and consume at all costs!

In September a tainted meat scandal
came to light when a meat process-
ing plant in the province was found
to have been using dead and sick ani-
mals. This came after mad cow disease
had been discovered in Alberta, impact-
ing economically on the Canadian meat
industry. This brought a flurry of photo-
ops for politicians to be seen eating
at barbecues and declaring meat safe
to eat (read: buy). On further investi-
gation it was obvious that the inspec-
tion system was quite inadequate for
the task at hand, allowing at least one
unscrupulous plant to take advantage
and put the public's health at risk. In
its zeal to present a balanced budget
and hand more tax cuts back to the
already-wealthy the provincial govern-
ment had, as in so many other areas,
slashed funding for the inspection of
meat, reducing 100 inspectors to just
ten full-time contract employees, and
relied on part time inspectors or down-
loading to the municipalities to fill in
the void. Once again, the insanity of
running an economic and social system
solely to accumulate capital is quite
obvious. In the case of mad cow disease
we should have been saying, "Yes, we
have a problem, and all beef deliveries
will be stopped until we are certain
all is safe." Why is our industry still
using feed made from animals anyway
after the recent experience in Britain?
Obviously, that type of feed is cheaper
and inflates profits, public health be
damned! In the case of Ontario's tainted
meat, if there were no money involved,
it simply wouldn't be worth cheating
the system. There would be no gain. All
of these catastrophes could have been
avoided or minimized if sane people in
a sane system were charged with look-
ing after the public good. In capitalism,
those charged with this task, no matter
whether it is businessmen, politicians,
or workers with the appropriate skills,
no matter whether they are working
in a for-profit enterprise or a non-
profit enterprise, can only operate in
an insane system that must attend to
the economic consequences before the
human consequences.

—J. Ayers

Imagine

May 2004 5

Book review

Was there ever a time in which work was satisfying and pleasurable?

The Tyranny of Work: Alienation and the
Labour Process by Paul Rinehart, Har-
court Brace & Company, Canada, 1996.

The purpose of the book is to
reveal the manner in which the
nature and organization of work
have adversely affected the Canadian
people since pre-industrial times. Pane-
hart begins his examination of work
under capitalism by identifying it as
a social problem. Work plays such a
central role in our lives and yet has
brought continuing protests from work-
ers to protect themselves from indus-
trial excesses such as child labour, long
hours, low pay and injurious working
conditions. These struggles, especially
spectacular ones such as the Winnipeg
General Strike, were viewed by the
authorities as a problem of workers'
responses to work, never of the nature
of work itself. Rinehart asks, "What
has happened to make an important,
necessary, and potentially pleasurable
social activity which is capable of sat-
isfying both material and psychologi-
cal human needs into a source of strife,
resentment, and boredom?"

At the root of the problem is the
alienation of the worker— i.e., estrange-
ment of the worker from the product;
alienation from decisions regarding
the work; organizational estrangement
from the meaning and purpose of work;
estrangement from the expression of
human qualities such as conceptuali-
zation and planning; and deterioration
of human relationships, both between
workers and between workers and cap-
italists, through the creation of domi-
nant and subordinate positions in the
workplace. The sources of alienation,
Rinehart writes, are the fact that the
means of production is in the hands
of a small minority, thus excluding
the majority from decision making and
so creating an exploitive relationship;
the markets in land, labour-power, and
commodities being under the domain

of prices and profits and taking prefer-
ence over human conditions; and the
division of labour, creating specializa-
tion and boring, mindless, repetitive
jobs. This picture is contrasted with pre-
industrial work that was varied, com-
munal, and family-related, and often
indistinguishable from play sociability
and leisure. Rinehart rejects technology
itself as a cause of alienation, rightly
recognizing that the primary causes
are to be found in the social relations
of production: "Under capitalism, the
development and selection of technol-
ogy are guided not only by the goals of
productivity and profitability, but also
by employers' and managers' determi-
nation to minimize workers' control
over the labour process."

Rinehart describes the rise of
industrial capitalism in Canada,
which arrived late but followed
familiar developmental patterns as the
mercantile class gained hegemony and
capital wealth from land and lucrative
terms of credit, that bankrupted farm-
ers and put land out of the reach of
immigrants, supplying a ready work-
force for capitalist enterprises, and thus
paving the way for the establishment of
the factory system in Montreal, Toronto,
and Hamilton in the late nineteenth
century. The small, self-sufficient vil-
lages were transformed by the replace-
ment of craftsmen by machines, the
movement of production to large cent-
ers and the conscription of women
and children to cheapen labour. Disci-
pline was applied, of course, to force
the workers to labour ever harder to
produce greater amounts of surplus
value. Rinehart cites Paul Mantou, in
The Industrial Revolution in the Eighteenth
Century: "Hard and fast rules replaced
the freedom of the small workshops.
Work started, meals were eaten and
work stopped at fixed hours, notified
by the ringing of a bell. Within the fac-
tory each had his allotted place and

his strictly defined and invariable duty.
Everyone had to work steadily and
without stopping, under the vigilant
eye of a foreman who secured obedi-
ence by means of fines or dismissals,
and sometimes by more brutal forms of
coercion."

Rinehart recounts the workers reac-
tions to the factory system pointing out
that besides the known reported pro-
test movements such as the formation
of trade unions and their actions,
more subtle and less reported forms
were prevalent, as detailed in the 1889
Royal Commission, such as spontane-
ous walk-outs, work stoppages, restric-
tions of output, industrial sabotage,
and absenteeism. The author writes,
"Wherever it has arisen, industrial cap-
italism and its work requirements have
clashed with the pre-industrial cultural
values and practices." The Fourth Con-
vention of the Canadian Labour Union,
1876, even passed a resolution calling
for co-operative ownership of industry
in their search for an egalitarian alter-
native to capitalism. Strikes and strife
have continued up to the present day
and have, in fact, been expanded from
the factory to include clerical and
public service workers. Rinehart cor-
rectly analyses in his notes to this sec-
tion (#158) that far from removing the
especially antagonistic practices of the
globalization of capital and liberaliza-
tion of trade that has occurred in the
last quarter century, so-called worker-
friendly parties such as the New Dem-
ocratic Party and the Liberal Party have
simply continued the same trends. This,
of course, fits in with the socialist view
that all parties are capitalist in nature
and every four years compete among
themselves to run the capitalist system
for the capitalists.

Rinehart looks extensively at the
gradual change from manufac-
ture to white-collar, knowledge-
based, service and technology sectors.

6 May 2004

Imagine

Like Harry Braverman in Monopoly Cap-
ital (see Imagine 2(1)), he concludes that
these jobs have been subjected, like
the factory jobs, to the capitalist mode
of production and thus degraded, and
that the emphasis on training and edu-
cation far outstrips its need. For exam-
ple, in 1986, 41% of undergraduates,
62% with masters degrees, and 35%
with PhDs held jobs that did not require
a university education. Far from need-
ing the workers to pull up their socks
to be even more competitive, Rinehart
writes, "Canada's problem is not a
shortage of good workers, but a lack of
good jobs." Socialists would interject
that Canada's problem is the employ-
ment system itself. Rinehart notes the
rationalization of white-collar jobs, such
as sales clerks, who have become mere
movers of material as small stores with
product-knowledgeable clerks give way
to the big box stores staffed with mini-
mum wage assistants. Even the skilled
professional, technological and scien-
tific workers are subject to strict control
and limited to working on projects that
will turn a profit. For example, scien-
tists employed by a large multinational
firm were told, after developing a tech-
nique of making fertilizer that could
substantially increase rice production,
to concentrate instead on lawn fertilizer.
Obviously, the buying power of the
American public to have green lawns
far outweighed the needs of impover-
ished Third World farmers.

While it is true that some profes-
sionals move up the corporate ladder,
closer to the levers of control, they gen-
erally leave their skills behind them:
"The engineer who, at forty, can still
use a slide rule or logarithmic table,
and make a true drawing, is a failure."

The public sector, which doubled
as a percentage of the Canadian work-
force to 20% during 1941-70, while
viewed as plodding unimaginative and
inefficient, in reality, follows the private
organizations, using the same values
and practices. This is hardly surpris-
ing, Rinehart points out, because there
is widespread interchange of top per-
sonnel between the two systems and
close personal ties among top exec-

utives moving in the same business
and social circles. Rinehart confirms the
socialist view of government as the leg-
islative arm of capitalism: "Owners and
executives of big business are active in
both the state and private systems, and
the alliance between the two sectors is
dominated by the interests of corporate
capitalism."

Rinehart argues that although
labour force developments are com-
plex, the position taken by some post-
industrialist theorists that science and
technology are transforming the social
relations of production and class struc-
ture is largely a false position consider-
ing the increase in minimum-skill jobs
and the continuation of the class strug-
gle through increased union action of
white collar workers in recent decades:
"Given that employers determine the
implementations and purposes of tech-
nology its overall effect, in conjunction
with modes of work rationalization, is
not the creation of knowledge workers
but the displacement of workers, the
removal of their skills, and the transfer
of their discretion and control over the
labour process to management."

In his section on blue-collar employ-
ment, Rinehart notes the factors that
continue to alienate the worker and
challenges the popular media stereo-
type of the affluent trade union member
who could care less about the nature,
skill, or control of labour. In reality,
the increase in real family incomes
for workers slowed in the seventies,
stagnated in the eighties, and declined
in the nineties. In London, Ontario,
for example, in 1992, a family of four
would have needed $36338 to meet
basic needs, while the average male
worker earned $31696, necessitating
two incomes to achieve this end. The
jobless rate varied between 5.7% and
11.3% in those decades, but Rinehart
points out that if discouraged (no
longer seeking employment) workers
were counted, it would have been as
high as 15.7% in 1991 and double that
if underemployed were counted. The
division and degradation of labour has
continued its profit-oriented course and

extended into more occupations such as
printing, mining, trucking, longshore-
men, and railroading. Rinehart asks us
to consider the following job descrip-
tion from a typical blue-collar worker
at a food processing plant: "Basically, I
stand there all day and slash the necks
of chickens. You make one slash up
on the skin of the neck and then you
cut around the base of the neck so
the next person beside you can crop
it... The chickens go in front of you on
the line and you do every other chicken
or whatever. And you stand there for
eight hours in one spot and do it." Rine-
hart describes many more jobs like this
and some who enjoy their work such as
a toolmaker and a piano tuner— nota-
bly those with some control, variety,
and creativity.

New technology is increasingly
used to set up surveillance of workers
by monitoring the speed and output of
machinery, the movement of trucks and
the routes of meter readers— in short,
not to free the worker but to tie him
more securely to his task. Discipline is
an ever-present component of the drive
to increase productivity. "The capital-
ist workplace is characterized by rela-
tions of subordination and domination,
and manual workers occupy the sub-
ordinate positions," notes Rinehart. In
the service industry, the fastest-grow-
ing job sector, jobs are characterized by
low pay, low security, and little training,
and are occupied mainly by women
and teenagers. The physical environ-
ment frequently exposes the worker to
unsafe and harmful conditions result-
ing in 4000 injuries per day and 1000
deaths annually (1968-1978), and a
myriad of life-long diseases, including
cancer, emphysema, black lung, and
asbestosis: "General statistics on the
magnitude of workplace health and
safety problems and recent events in
industries such as meat packing and
mining tragically reveal that the inter-
ests of employers and employees are
far from identical on this matter." All
of these factors have ensured a contin-
uation of the class war manifested by
strikes, legal and wildcat; quota restric-
tions; gold bricking; slowdowns and

Imagine

May 2004 7

u

working to rule; indifference; sabotage;
and production games to belittle man-
agement and put the workers in con-
trol. Rinehart sums up, "In their pursuit
of profits, employers and managers
subjugate workers, speed up and routi-
nize work, implement labour-replacing
machinery and keep wages as low as
possible — actions inviting resentment
and resistance from workers. By con-
trast, involvement in the production
of useful goods and services creates
among workers a concern for the qual-
ity of their output and their work per-
formance."

In his concluding chapter, Rinehart
examines solutions to alienation.
He notes that, contrary to former
systems, the capitalist
system has created a
sharp division

between work and lei-
sure. A full and crea-
tive leisure life might
decrease the effects of
alienation but, unfor-
tunately, leisure is a
small percentage of
total time for the
worker and with the
modern pace and
expectations of busi-
ness and close surveil-
lance via such devices
as cell phones and laptop computers,
it is essentially much less than pre-
viously experienced for many sectors
of the economy. Automation could be
a source of freeing the worker from
menial tasks — e.g., in 1980, it took ten
to twenty man-hours to produce one
ton of steel; in 1990, just five man hours
were required for the same task. In
1980, a metal shop did $5 million in
business with fourteen skilled men; in
1990, the same shop did $25 million in
business with thirteen skilled men. But
as Rinehart observes, "Unfortunately,
the liberatory potential of technology
is limited, since its development and
implementation are controlled and its
purpose defined by persons and insti-
tutions with vast resources of capital
and power." Indeed, in the greatest

period of automation, from the 1960s
to the present, we have seen virtually
no reduction in the hours and little
advance in real wages of workers. Since
1948, US workers' productivity has
doubled— i.e., they could be working
half the time for the same standard of
living, but, in fact, they were working
163 hours more per annum, on aver-
age, by 1987!

In this section Rinehart also exam-
ines initiatives by management to amel-
iorate the lot of the worker. Various
human relations and quality of life pro-
grammes, such as participatory man-
agement, job redesign (despecialization
and rotation), and Japanese lean pro-
duction, all supposedly to create more
interesting jobs. For example, Rinehart

Since 1948, workers' productivity
has doubled. We could be working
half the time for the same standard
of living, but in fact by 1987 we were
working 163 hours more each year. 1 1

describes the Uddvalla Volvo plant in
Sweden where assembly lines were
foregone in favour of assembly islands
where four people assembled the whole
car. Although the plant eventually
matched traditional methods and was
more flexible and therefore more con-
ducive to model changes, it was the first
plant closed when Volvo sales declined
in 1993. Rinehart found that all these
schemes were designed not to human-
ize work, but to intensify labour, lessen
labour costs, meet production emergen-
cies, or to turn resistant workers and
adversarial unions into willing collabo-
rators with management and its poli-
cies: ".. .this retreat from the precepts of
Fordism and Taylorism is undertaken
by management for management's pur-
pose."

Rinehart then moves to workers'
control of production and cites the
examples of the Paris Commune (1871),
the Russian revolutions (1905 and 1917),
Italian and German factory occupations
(1918-1920), Spain (1936), Japan (1946),
and Poland (1981). In Spain, Rinehart
writes, there were masses of urban and
rural labourers who had transformed
social and economic conditions. Seven-
teen hundred villages and three mil-
lion people were involved in collective
forms of agriculture and workers' com-
mittees controlled entire towns. Barce-
lona and its province, Catalan, were a
large industrial collective sporting signs
that read " incanltado" , or placed under
workers' control. Rinehart cites Noam
Chomsky's observation that the move-
ment in Spain
was largely a
spontaneous one
without a

revolutionary
vanguard. Even-
tually these
enterprises were
forced to a
standstill because
credit and nec-
essary supplies
were withheld,
not by Franco, but
by the Republi-
can forces. These
examples and many more modern ones,
such as the vast Basque Mondragon co-
operative prove that workers can and
do run production of goods success-
fully, without any help from the capital-
ists. Rinehart observes that the market
(the capitalist mode of production)
is the barrier to worker control and
sees the only genuine solution to alien-
ation as a total restructuring of the
workplace, the economy, and the state,
and the establishment of a collective
mode of production, a democratically
planned economy, and worker-man-
aged enterprises.

Finally, in the last sentence, Rine-
hart echoes socialist sentiments: "Only
when working people take up the strug-
gle on a massive basis will the full
see TYRANNY, page 12

8 May 2004

Imagine

The commoditization of food

continued from page 1

consume 80% of all goods and serv-
ices, the poorest 20% make do with a
meager 1%. In other words, we have
the resources to redress the wrongs,
perhaps even the will, but we have a
system that must concentrate capital in
an enterprise to make it competitive
and giving wealth away would make
corporate survival in a competitive cap-
italist world impossible.

In spite of the above picture, you
would think that any system would
at least be successful at providing the
absolute human necessity of food to
everyone. All societies in history have
been able to produce or find adequate
food; otherwise they would not have
existed. Of course, there were famines
and people died of starvation, but these
were mostly due to natural causes such
as weather or pests. Food shortages
were usually shared among the whole
community. Today, in contrast, we have
millions dying annually of food depri-
vation and we continually hear about
desperate situations such as the 15 mil-
lion people who faced starvation in
Southern Africa at the start of 2003. Yet
we are quite capable of, and generally
do, produce enough food to feed every-
body. It is estimated that 80% of coun-
tries where people are starving export
food. Wealthy people in those coun-
tries have no problem buying food. In
the affluent countries, we pay farmers
billions of dollars not to produce food
and frequently hoard commodities like
grain to create an artificial shortage to
keep the price and profits up. In other
words, we have starvation amid plenty.
The cause is not shortage of food, but an
abundance of poverty. This is a recent
phenomenon in human history but fits
right in with the property rights and
capital accumulation of our economic
system.

Even the rich countries don't
entirely escape this problem. Apart
from the deficient diets of those living
below the poverty line or those earn-
ing minimum wage, we have the large

numbers resorting to food banks, as
noted above, a figure which keeps
on growing and stretching the volun-
teers' ability to meet rising demand.
In Greater Toronto, food bank use has
increased 40% since 1995 to 160000
people; over 50 000 of them are children
[5].

What is going on that has cre-
ated this great disconnect
between producer and con-
sumer? At the beginning of capitalism,
food was used as a coercive instrument
in persuading the dislocated peasants
to move from the countryside to the
developing factory towns. They were
housed in tiny row houses with a ten
foot by eight foot concrete backyard.
As well as being efficient housing from
the capitalists' point of view, it pre-
vented these skilled market gardeners
from producing their own food. Hence
they were forced to show up at the fac-
tory on a daily basis whereas, with a
plot of land, they might have thumbed
their noses at the employers. Food
then became a commodity and became
subject to the same market forces as
all other widgets — i.e., mechanization,
productivity, labour and product deg-
radation, ever-greater rates of exploita-
tion of labour.

What we are experiencing today
is simply the natural extension of this
continual process. Just as skilled, inde-
pendent artisans and tradesmen were
put out of business by the factory
system, so too are independent farm-
ers being pushed off their land to make
way for industrial agriculture. In the
US, small farms have declined from 6.8
million in 1928 to 1.6 million today [6];
the six founding nations of Europe's
common agricultural policy had 22 mil-
lion farmers in 1957, but just 7 million
today; Canada lost three-quarters of its
farmers between 1941 and 1996; China
has an estimated 400 million endan-
gered farmers [7]; in Missouri, hog pro-
duction has doubled but the number

of farmers cut in half; the introduction
of massive hog farms in Huron county,
Ontario has brought the pig popula-
tion to 594250 (174.8 per square kil-
ometer) while the human population is
58000 (17.1 per square kilometer). The
waste run-off from these operations has
resulted in E. coli contamination of up
to 100 times safe levels in surrounding
streams and the permanent closure of
beaches on Lake Huron.

The natural trend of capitalism to
concentrate capital in ever-larger enter-
prises has brought food decisions into
the realm of the corporate boardroom.
The bottom line is about profit maximi-
zation and has little to do with dietary,
environmental or sustainable farming
considerations. Industrial farming is
characterized by large-scale factory
operations, confinement and concen-
tration of animals, lagoon storage of
animal wastes which frequently leak
into local ground water systems,
spreading or spraying of manure on
open fields, monoculture and high
chemical use in crops, genetically mod-
ified foods, irradiation, food alteration
and dilution, and vast transportation
systems to send products thousands of
kilometres to huge supermarket chains.
In addition, these large enterprises have
been able, through bribery tactics such
as large political contributions, spend-
ing huge amounts on lobbying and the
collusion of their partners, the state
governments, to win massive conces-
sions in the form of subsidies and
favourable trade legislation. For exam-
ple, the 2002 US farm bill gave $248 bil-
lion to large farming corporations, and
the richest 20% of farmers in the Euro-
pean Union pull in 80% of the sub-
sidies. Total agricultural subsidies in the
rich countries exceed $300 billion per
annum [7]. Small farmers can no longer
compete. In Canada, since 1988, agri-
cultural exports have tripled but net
farm income has dropped 24%, farm
debt has doubled, 16% have been forced
off their land, and the number of inde-

Imagine

May 2004 9

pendent hog farmers has dropped 66%
[6]. In recent decades, world trade
agreements have liberalized trade rules
allowing organizations such as the
World Bank and the International Mon-
etary Fund to use loan repayments to
force poor countries in the Southern
Hemisphere to open their markets to
cheap, subsidized food from the north,
closing local farms and forcing a reli-
ance on foreign food. At the same
time these rich countries have main-
tained their own tariffs and subsidies.
In Jamaica in 1992, for example, local
dairy farmers produced 25% of milk
consumed in that country. World Bank
liberalization policies required the elim-
ination of tariffs on imported dairy
products. Within one year, millions
of dollars worth of milk had to be
destroyed, hundreds of cows slaugh-
tered and many dairy farms closed as
cheap, subsidized milk powder flooded
in [7]. The $3.9 billion US subsidy to
25000 cotton farmers was greater than
the entire GDP of Burkina Faso where
2 million unlucky farmers relied on
cotton for a livelihood.

As is usual in the capitalist mode
of production, no stone is
unturned in the search for
greater productivity and cost cutting
to increase profits. This has resulted in
some questionable but financially suc-
cessful tactics. In meat production, the
feeding of processed blood/bone meal
and animal parts spreads viruses and
diseases including mad cow disease;
antibiotic use, 80% of which is for non-
essential use, has resulted in an increase
of new strains of resistant bacteria;
force-feeding of cows of grain rations
prior to slaughter to increase weight
has, in some cases, resulted in E. coli
contamination soaring to 300%; the
practice of dunking chicken carcases
into fetal soups to increase market
weight leads to bacterial outbreaks;
advanced meat recovery techniques —
scraping everything including nerves,
cartilage, and ligaments — pro duces low
grade meat for fast food outlets [8].

In another recent technological
development, genetically modified

foods, genes of a plant are altered by
injecting genetic material from another
species into the plant to make it resist-
ant to specific herbicides or pesticides.
Producers claim it will enhance present
yields to the point where we will be
able to feed the hungry of the world.
As noted above, however, we are quite
capable of doing that with current food
technology and distribution practices.
Action Aid, an international devel-
opment agency in its report, "Going
Against the Grain" [9], says that GM
foods are risky technology with no
track record of alleviating hunger and
may actually worsen the situation. Only
1% of GM research is aimed at poor
farmers in developing countries and
the report concluded, after studying
nine million farmers on four continents,
that "it's not the interests of poor farm-
ers but the profits of the agro-chemical
industry that have been the driving
force behind the emergence of GM agri-
culture." The Independent Panel on
GM, a newly formed group of leading
international scientists, has called for
a ban on GM crops in favour of sus-
tainable agriculture after GM crop fail-
ures in India reached as high as 100%.
On the Canadian prairies, Monsanto, a
leader in the GM field, promised farm-
ers using their product higher yields,
little or no cross contamination, and a
benign impact on the environment, but
what they got was lower yields due to
wider contamination, damage to wild-
life support systems, and super weeds
that required increased pesticide use.
In addition, organic canola was wiped
out by cross contamination of Monsan-
to's Roundup Ready GM canola, and
in at least one case, the company took
the organic farmer to court for using
their product without permission even
though his seed supplier could not
guarantee the supply to be free from
contamination.[10]. In a study cover-
ing three states by US scientists, it was
found that modified sunflowers spread
their properties to the wild variety and
that transgenes could transform weeds
into superweeds — i.e., those which are
not controllable [11]. Paul Brown, envi-
ronmental correspondent for The Guard-

ian, reported that a British study in
eight counties and nine other sites
showed that seeds sown in these GM
trials had been contaminated with anti-
biotic genes undetected by govern-
ment inspectors who simply accepted
the word of the offending company,
Adventis, and that animal or human
consumers could develop an immunity
to common life-saving drugs [12]. The
New Internationalistmageizme confirmed
this by citing an article by University of
California researchers in Nature maga-
zine who stated that modified DNA in
GM foods can recombine in the stomach
during consumption transferring the
properties of the modified plants. This
could render medicine ineffective. The
Institute of Science in Society reported
that the 550 million acres planted with
GM corn, soybeans, and cotton between
1996 and 2003 increased pesticide use
by fifty million pounds. A study by
the University of Manitoba, commis-
sioned by the Canadian Wheat Board
stated that Monsanto 's Roundup Ready
wheat posed an "unacceptable risk" to
the environment [14].

This all points to an industry that
has developed new techniques which
with time and patient research may
help mankind in the future. Unfortu-
nately, those in charge of its develop-
ment and use, in the interests of making
fast and huge returns on investment,
have rushed products to market that
are unstable, uncontrollable, exacerbate
old problems and bring a host of new
ones, and could be downright danger-
ous to consumers.

This scenario contrasts with sus-
tainable organic farming where skills
learned over centuries are applied to
produce smaller units growing a vari-
ety of crops, using less soil-compacting
machinery, reduced tillage, crop rota-
tion, fallowing, mulching, recycling of
organic wastes, and avoidance of chem-
icals. Animals roam in more natural
environments eating natural foods and
only use antibiotics only when nec-
essary. It is more labour-intensive for
actual food production but, as it can
be practiced anywhere, it can save the
huge costs and labour of transporta-

10 May 2004

Imagine

tion and building of machinery. Various
studies have proven the superiority of
organic farming. Jules Petty of the Uni-
versity of Essex, in a study of organic
farming in 52 developing countries,
found organic farms increased yield
by an average 73%, and increases of
200-1000% have been attained. Sas-
katchewan farmers discovered that by
substituting a variety of biological and
cultural practices, they could reduce
chemical inputs by 20-60% [13]; small
organic farms can generate revenue of
$1902.50 per acre compared to $21.40
for large farms [6]. Not surprisingly, this
type of food production creates more
nutrition, uses less chemical inputs,
supports soil health, nurtures diverse
wildlife and prevents water supply
contamination. Organic vegetables con-
tain more vitamins, minerals, enzymes
and other nutrients than commercially
grown crops. Megafarm fruits and veg-
etables, on the other hand, contain less
nutrients than they did 50 years ago.
For example, broccoli now has 62%
less calcium, 33% less iron, 55% less
vitamin A, and 40% less thiamin [6].
Organic turkeys, in contrast to those
commercially reared, receive no anti-
biotics, hormones, or GM feed, and
are field-grazed on pesticide-free grass-
land, producing birds that contain half
the fat and cholesterol and have a higher
protein content. One might wonder
why this form of agriculture does not
replace industrial farming were it not
for a knowledge of the profit system.

As modern food production
moves further away from mar-
kets and more to the cheaper,
less regulated Southern hemisphere,
better preservation techniques are
required. One such technique is irra-
diation, where food trays are moved
through chambers with six-foot thick
walls and exposed to high-energy
gamma rays from dripping pencils of
nuclear waste products such as cobalt
60 and cesium 137. Leaking canisters
pose a threat to food and workers. The
big player in this process is Sure-Beam,
a division of American defense contrac-
tor Titan corporation, aided and abet-

ted by the nuclear industry eager to
find a market for its waste products. An
"e-beam" from a particle accelerator
may be used but only penetrates lVi"
and no method is 100% successful in
killing microbes. Irradiation ruptures
numerous chemical bonds, leaving free
radicals, ions, and other radiolytic
byproducts dangerous to human health
such as formaldehyde, octane, formic
acid, butane, methyl propane, and ben-
zene, and others found only in irra-
diated food. Nutrition is destroyed
leaving vitamins, enzymes, healthy bac-
teria, and essential fatty acids seriously
depleted— e.g., losses of up to 80% of
vitamin A in eggs, 91% of vitamin B-6
in beef, 50% of vitamin A in carrot juice,
37% of vitamin B-l in oats, and 30% of
vitamin C in potatoes [8]. Once again,
a technique that fits the convenience
of large scale, profit-motivated farm-
ing corporations, but not the nutritional
needs of the consumer, is put into prac-
tice without the consent of the latter.

What we have ended up with
today, then, is an industry
essential to human existence
that has the ability to richly feed eve-
ryone on earth but, following the capi-
talists' mantra, "can't pay, can't have",
millions experience food deprivation
due to the nature of the system. Follow-
ing the capitalist mode of production,
the food industry has developed tech-
niques that result in higher profits for
the food giants while forcing smaller
farmers out of business. The level
of monopoly capitalism is illustrated
by the fact that just four US compa-
nies, linked into two alliances, Cargill/
Monsanto and Novartis/ADM, control
80% of the world seed market; six cor-
porations handle 85% of the world
grain trade and fifteen corporations
control 85-90% of world coffee sales.
Large scale monoculture techniques
have resulted in a staggering loss of
diversity, the bedrock of the natural bio-
logical world, to the extent that today
less than 30 crops produce 80% of the
world's food supply; 75% of the genetic
diversity of agricultural crops has been
lost since 1900; Mexico has lost 80% of

its corn varieties since 1930, and China
lost 90% of its wheat and rice varieties
in 20 years [15]. These figures can only
be matched by the nutrient loss in our
foods that has spawned massive vita-
min, mineral supplement, and drug
industries. The dilution of quality, the
substitution of processed, additive-rich,
and sugar-rich foods has resulted in
unprecedented obesity levels stimulat-
ing diet and exercise industries. I sup-
pose from the capitalist point of view,
this is good business, more opportuni-
ties to invest capital and exploit more
wage earners, and as these giant capi-
talist enterprises move into health care,
degraded food is creating more cus-
tomers for them in the health system.
In the US, obesity rates have tripled
since 1980, two-thirds of the popula-
tion are overweight and 300 000 die of
obesity every year. At current rates, it is
estimated that three-quarters of Britons
will be obese within 15 years. Because
obesity occurs among poor popula-
tions, it can be concluded that it is not
a disease of affluence, but rather one of
diet.

The marketing arm of capitalism
has exacerbated the problem with the
"supermarketization" of food sales that
rely on the profitable pre-cooked meats
and processed, convenience foods that
contain lots of sugars. In Brazil, the
share of food sales by supermarkets
went from 30% to 75% in the 1990s,
China went from to 600 supermarkets
in six years, and in Mexico, Wal-Mart
commands one third of all household
expenditure [15]. This process has com-
pleted the control, by a few giant corpo-
rations, of the food chain from seeds to
production to chemical inputs, to sales
to the consumer. It has rendered eating
natural healthy foods almost impossi-
ble. If they are obtainable at all, they
are often too expensive for the average
consumer.

A recent radio report cited a pov-
erty action group that bought healthy
food for one month and determined
the cost for a family of four to eat prop-
erly to be $600. For that quarter of the
Canadian population that earns $10 per
hour or less, this would leave a maxi-

Imagine

May 2004 11

mum of $1000 for all other expenditures
including rent, clothing, and transpor-
tation — an impossible task. With proba-
bly another quarter that is only slightly
better off, perhaps half of the Canadian
population is condemned to cheap,
processed, and diluted fast foods for the
majority of their diet. No wonder our
health care system is overburdened!

The commoditization of food for the
purpose of accumulating capital wealth
has obviously been very successful for
the investors, but continues to be a
tragic disaster for mankind.

—J. Ayers

References

1. United Nations Development/Unicef/WHO
reports 1997, 1998 2. Canadian Centre for Policy

Alternatives (CCPA) Monitor, Jan. 2002 3. Toronto
Star, 24 Nov. 2003 4. Toronto Star, 14 May

2003 5. Toronto Star, 12 Apr. 2003 6. CCPAAfom-
tor, Nov. 2003 7. New Internationalist 353, Dec.
2002/Fan. 2003 8. CCPA Monitor, Dec. 2003^[an.

2004 9. CCPA Monitor, Sep. 2003 10. Toronto
Star, 9 Aug. 2003 11. Globe and Mail, 9 Aug. 2002
12. Guardian, 16 Aug. 2002 13. CCPA Monitor,
Dec. 2000/Jan. 2001 14. Alive, Jan. 2004 15. New
Internationalist, Dec. 2003

Obscene and heard

continued from page 3

lion deficit in three years: "Look, I'm
not in the budget business. The presi-
dent has announced a number. I work
for the president. If you want to know
what I think of his number, I like it."
(Toronto Star, 14 September 2003)

Henry Ford, defending the establish-
ment of boring, repetitive jobs on his
assembly line: "The average worker,
I'm sorry to say, wants a job in which he
does not have to put forth much physi-
cal exertion — above all, he wants a job
in which he does not have to think."
(Rinehart, The Tyranny of Work)

Colin Powell, squirming like a stranded
earthworm, returning, cap in hand, to
the "irrelevant" UN to ask it to put
forth a major commitment and play
second fiddle to USA in "rebuilding"
(pillaging) Iraq: "There are many roles
to be played. And we believe every
peace-loving nation in the world, every
nation that would like to see a more
stable Middle East, that would like to
see democracy arise in that part of
the world, would want to play a role.
Whether one might call it dominant
or not dominant, it's important for us
to come together as an international
community, and this is a further step."
(Toronto Star, 14 September 2003)

On health

Toronto Mayor, Mel Lastman, com-
plaining in a CNN interview about
the imposition of a travel advisory on
Toronto by the World Health Organiza-
tion, the 55-year-old body charged with
guarding the world's health: "Who are

these guys anyway? I've never even
heard of them."

Letter to Editor: "SARS and politics
are a bad mix. SARS is clearly dem-
onstrating that our political and eco-
nomic goals far outweigh the primary
goal of protecting our citizens from
disease. Where were Jean Chretien
[PM] and Ernie Eves [Ontario Premier]
and Mel Lastman before the WHO
declared its travel advisory? Only when
it became clear that the Canadian econ-
omy was about to take a serious hit did
they become visible." (Toronto Star, 27
April 2003)

In an article in the Toronto Star (25
August 2003), writer Rick Westhead:
"Even though it affects as many as 300
million people a year and kills one
million, for decades malaria has been
ignored by the pharmaceutical industry
because companies make more money
developing drugs to sell to affluent
patients."

On starvation

In the US congress debate over the G-7

initiative to provide debt relief to forty / y f CI if if y

poor countries, legislators depicted the

IMF (International Monetary Fund)

as the agency responsible for that

debt crisis and Representative Maxine

Waters commented, "Do we have to

have the IMF involved at all? Because

as we have painfully discovered, the

way the IMF works causes children to

starve."

On the blackout

As the power flickered back on after
the great North American Blackout,
the huge neon advertising billboards
sucked electricity out of the faltering
grid and prompted an enraged Mayor
Mel Lastman to hit at the very bedrock
of capitalist production — advertising —
screaming, "Turn them off. They're not
necessary. They're not important." Well
said, Mel.

On the environment

After a particularly smoggy period in
Southern Ontario, environment min-
ister Jim Wilson attempted to deflect
blame from the real culprits, unreg-
ulated capitalist producers, onto the
public: "Clearly, anything they [the
public] can do to cut down their use
of equipment or barbecues that pro-
duce smog would help." The Ontario
Clean Air Alliance noted that the gov-
ernment's coal-fired generating plant,
Canada's top polluter, produced 7.5
million kilograms of pollutants annu-
ally, an SUV produces 10 kg, while bar-
becue pollution is so trivial, it's never
been quantified.

—Editors

continued from p. 8

development of our personal and social
lives become possible." Although there
are many aspects of the socialist case
that Rinehart does not touch upon,
such as the end of states, money, wage
labour, etc., he is on the right track on
his topic, the alienation of the worker,
its consequences, and solutions.

—J. Ayers

12 May 2004

Imagine

Imagine

VOL. 4 NO. 1

May 2005

Official Journal of
the Socialist Party of Canada

The Tyranny of Copyright

Trouble at the Fourth
International

Last year, the Trotskyist online news-
paper World Socialist Web Site, or
WSWS (no relation to us and the World
Socialist Movement), published a
press release and an open letter to the
Madrid-based magazine Amanecer del
Nuevo Siglo accusing them of translat-
ing and reprinting WSWS articles with-
out their permission [10,8]. The charge
was compounded by the allegation that
the Spanish magazine
had deliberately
misrepresented
the source
of the

articles either by attributing them to
their own editorial staff and writers or
by removing the byline altogether.

The WSWS staff was under-
standably surprised and upset at this
unsanctioned reproduction, but more
surprising still were the threats and
capitalist-tinged language contained
in their accusations. Terms such as
"piracy" and "stealing" were used to
describe the actions of the Amanecer,
implying that the unauthorized copy-
ing of political literature is the equiva-
lent attacking a ship, looting its cargo,
and kidnapping or killing the people
onboard. The WSWS claims its articles
enjoy special status as "protected liter-
ary works", as if to imply that copy-
right laws exist to prevent their articles
from destruction or damage by mali-
cious third parties.

While the SPC does not condone
the Amanecer's actions, it is clear from
the WSWS's reaction to this incident
that their brand of politics has little
in common with the Socialism
we advocate. Not only is their
conception of copyright and
so-called "intellectual
property" inconsistent
with a Socialist view-
point, it is also largely
unsupported by the
current legal sys-
tems of the US
(whence the

WSWS oper-
ates), Spain,
and other

countries. In
short, the

WHAT'S INSIDE

The Numbers Game

2

Bolshevik Bullshit

3

In Ontario

4

Death at Dieppe

6

Marx in 90 Minutes

7

WSWS has a far more narrowly con-
strued and materialistic view of its
"property rights" than even capitalist
copyright law affords.

The monopoly of information in
nascent capitalism

Before examining this issue fur-
ther, however, it is helpful to review a
few basic concepts about copyright and
its history in the Common Law world.
Since the very invention of writing, the
copying of literary works had tradition-
ally been a painstakingly slow process
performed manually by trained scribes.
Almost all literature was commis-
sioned or issued by the Church or the
state, and nearly everyone outside the
ruling and religious classes was illiter-
ate. For these three reasons, the idea of
placing restrictions on the reproduction
and distribution of written information
would have seemed ridiculous at the
time. Indeed, there were countless ben-
efits to the free flow of ideas— philoso-
phers and mathematicians were free
to borrow, critique, and expand upon
see COPYRIGHT, page 8

ISSN 1710-5994

The numbers game

Can "social activism" really change the way society works?

The World Socialist Movement
(WSM) is small. It has been small
since the first of the Companion
Parties was founded in 1904. Socialists
assert that only a vast majority of the
world's population, as socialists, can
create socialism. According to some,
this means that our approach is wrong,
because it hasn't generated the billions
of socialists required to create social-
ism.

Before reviewing that issue, let us
first review the flipside of the issue.
That is, can socialism be created in
any other way, or can the problems be
solved any other way?

The World Socialist Movement,
over the years, and socialists before us,
have created a large library of literature
showing that the answer to those two
questions is no. There is no solution
but socialism, and socialism cannot be
created by a minority. So it is a choice
between more of the same— wars, pov-

Published by:

The Socialist Party of Canada

Box 4280

Victoria, BC V8X 3X8

Canada

spc@iname.com
http://www.worldsocialism.org/canada/

The Socialist Party of Canada provides
educational material and forums to
explain capitalism and socialism, and
works to promote working class under-
standing of socialism. Although pri-
marily active in Canada, the Party
sends information to people around the
world.

The Socialist Party of Canada was
founded in 1905. It is a companion
party in an international organization
of socialist parties known as the World
Socialist Movement, whose Object and
Declaration of Principles can be found
elsewhere in this issue.

erty environmental destruction— and
working to get the world's working
class majority to convince itself to
create socialism.

The World Socialist Movement now
contains about one six millionth of the
world's population. If we assume that
membership today is ten times what
it was 100 years ago, and that rate of
growth continues, we can extrapolate
into the future. That extrapolation will
show that socialism is therefore impos-
sible.

But we haven't closed the door
quite yet. Sluggish growth can be
replaced by sufficient growth.

If today you are a reformer, per-
haps a supporter of Greenpeace, con-
sider how far you are from where
Greenpeace thinks we need to be. And
consider the current rate, scale, and
success of reforms. We offer a sure-fire
approach to getting the reforms Green-
peace and other reform groups want.

As the numbers of socialists
increases towards a majority (or even
a sizable minority), reforms (such as
the ones sought by "social activists")
will be easier to get, because the threat
to capitalism will have significantly
increased.

Consider a world in which Green-
peace has 2.8 million supporters (same
as today) seeking to limit the worst
excesses of capitalism (same as today).
Consider now that there are also 2.8
million active, conscious socialists in
the world. Capitalism will not be on its
knees, by any stretch of imagination,
but it will notice us, and will have an
obvious interest, and powerful impe-
tus, to prevent those 2.8 million social-
ists from recruiting new socialists.
Capital will try to convince those who
are not yet socialists that capitalism can
solve the problems and therefore that
socialism is not needed. Capital cannot
solve the problems inherent in capital-
ism. So the capitalists will attempt to
correct the worst excesses of capital-

ism—as it does today— to appease the
Greenpeacers and other reformers.

When the appeasement fails, and
there are 28 million socialists, the
reforms will become a steady flow.
When there are 280 million socialists,
the river of reforms will overflow its
banks, if there are any more reforms
possible at that time. When there are
2.8 billion socialists we will be only a
step from ruling the world and elimi-
nating the cause of the problems, and
the supposed need for reforms.

There are not a lot of socialists. Few
people have heard of the World Social-
ist Movement, and the media is not
exactly helpful in promoting socialism.
It takes a lot of time, and a lot of work
to get people to convince themselves to
work for socialism.

Everyone who spends time work-
ing for reforms, or donates to reform
organizations, is proving by their
actions that they believe that reforms
are a useful route to a solution. His-
tory has shown, time and time again,
that they are wrong. The reforms are
always too little, too late.

Socialists want to solve the prob-
lems. Therefore, socialists want social-
ism, and work to build a socialist
majority.

The Companion Parties of Social-
ism, in the World Socialist Movement,
are socialist parties. They promote
socialism because that is all a socialist
party can promote.

If you find a "socialist" party pro-
moting "social activism," you will have
found a non-socialist party ignoring
socialism and working for reforms.

— Steve Szalai

We welcome correspondence

from all our readers — you can

write us by post or e-mail at the

address shown at the left.

2 May 2005

Imagine

Bolshevik bullshit

What Leninists failed to learn from the Winnipeg General Strike

Ian Angus, author of Canadian Bolshe-
viks (just re-issued) and a latter-day
Canadian Bolshevik himself, gave
a talk in Toronto last May on "What
Socialists Learned from the Winnipeg
General Strike" of 1919 (the full text of
which can be found at http://www.
socialisthistory.ca/Docs/His-
tory/WinnipegStrike . htm).

In it he attacked the old Socialist
Party of Canada for adopting a non-
interventionist attitude towards the
strike. According to him, instead of
leaving the workers involved to plan
and run the strike themselves, the SPC
should have tried to turn it into the Bol-
shevik insurrection to seize power that
the capitalist press of the time claimed
it was.

Despite the press's Red-scare-mon-
gering, the Winnipeg General Strike
was what it claimed to be: a strike to
win collective bargaining rights with
local employers. And it had not been
organized by the SPC. There were a
number of SPC members on the strike
committee, but they were there as work-
ers directly involved in the economic
side of the class struggle alongside
other workers who— the vast major-
ity—were not socialists, and they were
aware that without a majority of social-
ists, socialism was not on the agenda
and certainly couldn't be the outcome
of the strike. Given this situation, all a
socialist party could do — and what the
SPC did do— was to express and organ-
ize support while continuing its policy
of "education for revolution".

This position was not to Angus's
liking. The SPC, he said, "failed to
lead":

While Socialist Party leaders
played a central role in leading the
Winnipeg Strike and in parallel
strikes across the country, they did
so as labor militants. The SPC as a
party played a minimal role, and
the strike wave had no ■political
strategy. That was a critical weak-

Workers demonstrate on Main Street during the Winnipeg General Strike of 1 91 9

ness. A general strike by its very
nature is a challenge to the estab-
lished order... But the leaders of
the Winnipeg strike, including the
socialists, failed to see the political
implications of this. On the con-
trary, they did their utmost to con-
fine the strike to simple questions
of trade union rights and wages.
They exerted every effort to avoid
conflict with the government.

Given that the strike was in fact over
"trade union rights and wages" this
was the intelligent thing to have done.
Any action to try to overthrow the gov-
ernment, as advocated today by arm-
chair Bolsheviks like Angus, would
have failed and resulted in widespread
and senseless bloodshed. As it was, the
government decided to use its superior
power to make a stand in Winnipeg to
try to stop the post-war labor unrest.
They arrested eight persons who they
considered to be the strike's organiz-

ers and put them on trial for seditious
conspiracy, thus effectively breaking
the strike. All eight, five of whom were
SPC members, were convicted and sent
to prison.

According to Angus, "most of the
leaders of the 1919 strike wave were
not social democrats or liberals— they
were revolutionary socialists. And the
experience did not lead them to the
CCF— it led them to build a new revo-
lutionary party, the Communist Party
of Canada."

This is not true, as far as the Win-
nipeg General Strike is concerned.
None of the eight singled out by the
government and sent to prison joined
the Communist Party. Nearly all of
them tried to become Labor politicians
and some of them succeeded— A. A.
Heaps, for instance, becoming a federal
MP for the CCF. Two later returned to

continued on page 12

Imagine

May 2005 3

In Ontario

The more governments change, the more they stay the same

Can You Spot The Difference?

In the last two years we have suffered
through two elections in Ontario, one
provincial and one federal. I say suf-
fered because it is an exercise in futil-
ity for the voter to sort out the different
parties by listening to their politicians
and platforms. The Socialist Party of
Canada/World Socialist Movement
stands against all other political par-
ties and even has a clause in its Decla-
ration of Principles to that effect, and
with good reason! We hold that all
other parties are capitalist in that they
openly support that system, or offer no
alternatives to ownership of the means
of production by a tiny minority, no
alternative to commodity production
for profit, no alternative to exploitation
through wage-labour, no alternative
to the class system. The confines that
these political parties operate in is so
narrow that meaningful alternatives
are not even heard or considered, leav-
ing little choice for voters. This is partly
the result of the control of the media
by capitalist interests to preclude any
other real alternative. In the federal
election, the Green Party ran in every
single riding but was excluded from
the national televised debate, as was
Ralph Nader and many others in the
US presidential election. Any think-
ing outside these narrow parameters is
labelled extreme and dismissed. Given
that, it is not surprising that Canadian
voters have simply exchanged the two
major parties for decades like changing
underwear.

In the Ontario election, the Con-
servative Party, which had been in
power for two terms on the basis of
their neo-liberal agenda of mean and
lean government, were exchanged for
the Liberal party. The electorate simply
became fed up with cutbacks in serv-
ices and the party was exposed as
fraudulent when, during the campaign,
it was revealed that their much-touted
balanced budget was going to show a

$5.6 billion deficit. The new "alterna-
tive" immediately moved in the same
direction as its predecessor by passing
Bill 8, which provides "accountability"
in the health care system. That means,
among other things, that the Minister
of Health will receive more control to
cancel services and to amend collective
bargaining agreements to implement
wage, benefit, and staff cuts, and disal-
low job security provisions. New Pre-
mier McGuinty commented, "It's about
slowing down growth... that is our
objective, to begin to better manage our
health care expenditures..." (Toronto
Star, 24 April 2004). This was followed
by news that the promised tuition
freeze for beleaguered students would
now not apply in all cases— news not
much different than that of McGuinty's
political predecessors.

This sameness in administering
capitalism, of course, illustrates
that every government is con-
strained by the economic system we
currently have in place, the capitalist
system, where the largest chunk of the
value created by the worker must go
to the capitalist to pay for production
costs and profit. The other small frac-
tion of the wealth produced, the cost
of wages, represents the cost of main-
tenance of workers and their families
to keep the supply of workers coming.
Such constraints also mean that work-
ers cannot be expected to fork out for
the cost of social programs, education,
hospitals, and so on, without impact-
ing on their maintenance. The money
for these necessary programs must
come out of profits— profits indirectly
cloaked as apparent taxes on workers'
wages over and above workers' living
costs, and out of which necessary soci-
etal benefits are in part paid. In other
words, the employers pay the taxes,
not the workers. If taxes go up, wages
must rise to account for it. If taxes go
down, wages will correspondingly be

depressed. That's why the greatest cry
for tax reduction comes from corpo-
rate-funded think tanks like the Fraser
and C. D. Howe Institutes and the
capitalist media. They have attempted
to hoodwink workers into believing
that if they had lower taxes they would
have more disposable income, but in
reality lower taxes mean higher profits
and lower real wages.

We have a third party in Canada,
the New Democratic Party, with which
the word "socialist" is sometimes
linked. During the federal campaign,
I walked into my local NDP office and
stated I was a socialist looking for a
party to vote for, and could anyone rec-
ommend a suitable one? The surprised
campaign manager replied that they
were known as social democrats now,
but they would like to re-nationalize
Ontario's electricity industry. "Is that
the same as capitalism?" I enquired,
tongue in cheek. He nodded sheep-
ishly and grinned. Not much difference
there, then. Likewise, the Communist
Party platform contained the ideas of
giving students a better deal with tui-
tion fees, striving to give everyone the
right to have a job (presumably so more
of us could be exploited and increase
the capital accumulation for the capi-
talists) and tax the corporations more.
Sounds just like the NDP platform.
They go on to say that although these
reforms will not lead to socialism, they
could very well lead to larger reforms.
That they say nothing about ending the
system of exploitation, the class system,
or ownership of the means of produc-
tion, puts them in the same category as
all the other capitalist parties.

In the federal election, the Liberals
posed as the defenders of social pro-
grams even though their leader, Paul
Martin, as finance minister in the 1990s
was the person responsible for slash-
ing funding to them in unprecedented
measures. During the campaign, the

4 May 2005

Imagine

current Liberal finance minister, Ralph
Goodale, accused Tory leader Stephen
Harper of proposing deep tax cuts that
would lead to deeper cuts in govern-
ment programs. It is a matter of record,
however, that it was Martin who made
the deepest cuts with his deficit-slay-
ing-on-the-backs-of -the-poor budget
of 1996 that reduced federal spending
from 16% to 12% of Canada's GDP, a
level not seen since the 1940s before
we had a public health care system
(Toronto Star, 5 April 2004). This was
highly praised by a former Tory finance
minister and executive director of the
right wing Fraser Institute, Michael
Wilson, as exactly the cuts they had
proposed. Equal praise came from the
same sources when Martin refunded
a $100 billion tax give away, mainly to
major corporations and rich Canadi-
ans, in 2000 when surpluses appeared
from an expanding economy. This sur-
plus would have eliminated the deficit
without any program-cutting.

What it all boils down to is that
there is no alternative party to the array
of capitalist parties masquerading as
a wide choice, other than the Social-
ist Party of Canada, the only one with
just one objective— the establishment
of socialism. Isn't it time that YOU,
the reader, joined and worked for a
party that proposes the only system of
society that would end war, poverty,
starvation, exploitation, and the class
system!

And The Beat Goes On...

Many capitalists, their minions, and
apologists are fond of telling us that
capitalism is a system that can solve
world problems such as poverty and
inequality, if only given a free rein and
time to spread its benefits world-wide.
They use the developed nations of the
West to illustrate their point of wealthy
workers and endless opportunities for
those willing to work hard. The fact
that 250 years of capitalism has left us
with approximately half the world's

population eking out a living on $2
a day or less, almost a billion people
going to bed hungry every night, and
millions without access to clean water,
health services or education, all in a
world of plenty, doesn't seem to regis-
ter. Even when we look closely at the
"successful" world, we see that report
after report details growing poverty,
hunger and homelessness. A recent
United Way report entitled "Poverty
by Postal Code" shows how, among
522 identified neighbourhoods of the
city of Toronto, 120 contained more
than 25% of families living in pov-
erty (a number that has doubled since
1981), 23 neighbourhoods designated
super-poor (40% in poverty), and just
177 neighbourhoods with low poverty
(Toronto Star, 5 April 5 2004).

Poverty, it seems, is moving to the
suburbs where 92 of the 120 neigh-
bourhoods are located, and it is so
widespread that Royson James (Torvnto
Star, 4 April 2004) commented, "In
truth, our ghetto might just be the
pockets of privilege— small islands of
prosperity in a city-wide span of pov-
erty." Poverty in Toronto is becoming
increasingly widespread among recent
immigrants and visible minorities as
jobs with a living wage and benefits
are being replaced by minimum wage,
short-term jobs, continuing the trend
to greater inequality between rich and
poor. The median household income in
the poorest 10% of the neighbourhoods
was $32 900, up just 2.6% since 1980,
while that of the richest 10% of areas
was $92 800, a 17.4% increase.

All this is not exactly a ringing
endorsement of our system in the rich-
est city in Canada. With every report it
is becoming ever clearer that, despite
the promises, resolve, and desire of
our politicians, these problems cannot
be resolved under a system that is spe-
cifically designed to create wealth for a
few and never, no matter what reforms
are gained, work in the interests of all.

—J. Ayers

Socialism needs your help:
Please consider passing this issue on to a friend!

The Socialist Party of Canada

Object

The establishment of a system of society
based upon the common ownership and
democratic control of the means and instru-
ments for producing and distributing wealth
by and in the interest of society as a whole.

Declaration of Principles

The Socialist Party of Canada holds:

1. That society as at present constituted is
based upon the ownership of the means of
living (i.e., land, factories, railways, etc.) by
the capitalist or master class, and the conse-
quent enslavement of the working class, by
whose labour alone wealth is produced.

2. That in society, therefore, there is an
antagonism of interests, manifesting itself as
a class struggle between those who possess
but do not produce and those who produce
but do not possess.

3. That this antagonism can be abolished
only by the emancipation of the working
class from the domination of the master
class, by the conversion into the common
property of society of the means of produc-
tion and distribution, and their democratic
control by the whole people.

4. That as in the order of social evolution
the working class is the last class to achieve
its freedom, the emancipation of the work-
ing class will involve the emancipation of all
mankind, without distinction of race or sex.

5. That this emancipation must be the work
of the working class itself.

6. That as the machinery of government,
including the armed forces of the nation,
exists only to conserve the monopoly by the
capitalist class of the wealth taken from the
workers, the working class must organize
consciously and politically for the conquest
of the powers of government, in order that
this machinery, including these forces, may
be converted from an instrument of oppres-
sion into an agent of emancipation and the
overthrow of plutocratic privilege.

7. That as political parties are but the expres-
sion of class interests, and as the interest of
the working class is diametrically opposed to
the interest of all sections of the master class,
the party seeking working class emancipa-
tion must be hostile to every other party.

8. The Socialist Party of Canada, therefore,
enters the field of political action determined
to wage war against all other political par-
ties, whether alleged labour or avowedly
capitalist, and calls upon the members of
the working class of this country to support
these principles to the end that a termination
may be brought to the system which deprives
them of the fruits of their labour, and that
poverty may give place to comfort, privilege
to equality, and slavery to freedom.

Imagine

May 2005 5

Death at Diep pe

Why 900 Canadian soldiers were sacrificied for the botched raid

An event of 62 years ago would
hardly come under the head-
ing of current affairs, but with
the media's near-frenzy concerning
the 60th anniversary of the Normandy
landings, some have pointed out there
was a landing in Northern France two
years before. This was the disastrous
Dieppe invasion of 19 August 1942— or
perhaps "fiasco" would be the appro-
priate description. The Germans, obvi-
ously aware of the impending raid,
had their "reception committee" in
place, which left
900 Canadian
soldiers dead on
the beach.

What makes
William Burr-
ill's article in The
Toronto Star (9
November 2004)
different from
all the other arti-
cles is his con-
tention that the
BBC, to put it
mildly, tipped
the Germans off.
According to Mr.
Burrill, the Star's
radio expert,
"BBC radio

broadcast details
of the attack to
France via Radio

North Africa would mean the Germans
would have access to British-owned oil
wells in the Middle East, thereby crip-
pling, if not destroying, their war effort.
It would also mean the German army
could push through the Middle East
to link up with the their own troops in
Russia and with the Japanese army in
Burma. Could, one wonders, the tip-
off have been a diversionary tactic?
If not, it certainly was an enormous
coincidence. What one may believe is
in direct proportion to how much one

Corpses litter the beach after the disastrous 1 942 raid on German-occupied Dieppe

Free Europe. The
BBC said an attack was taking place
on Dieppe by thousands of soldiers in
landing craft." One may wonder what
flight of madness would cause the Brit-
ish to tell their intentions to the enemy.
To the British and North Ameri-
can capitalists, it may not have seemed
so mad. According to historian Barry
Broadfoot in his book Six War Years, a
convoy of eighteen ships taking sup-
plies to the British army in North
Africa left Southampton that morning.
It was imperative to the Western capi-
talist class that it arrive safely. Defeat in

believes in coincidence. According to
Broadfoot, the Canadians were chosen
because many had complained that
they hadn't enlisted just to "sit around
the barracks for years". Boy! What some
workers won't do for the capitalists! By
sending them to death at Dieppe, they
were effectively silenced, figuratively
and literally.

The reason (excuse) for the raid
was to capture the German's radar
so British scientists could see how it
worked. There is a never-ending stream
of excuses to make people fight. We've
all witnessed Bush, a politician and oil

capitalist, excuse the estimated 100 000
deaths in Iraq with the lie of weap-
ons of mass destruction— the blatant
hypocrisy being that no one has more
control of weapons of mass destruction
than Bush himself.

Most people this writer converses
with about war tend to group war-
related deaths into two categories:
those that are necessary for the normal
prosecution of war (as if war could be
considered normal); and those caused
by stupidity and/or blind ambition, two
related aspects.
The charge of the
Light Brigade and
the battle of the
Little Big Horn
would be two
prime examples.
Clive Ponting, in
his excellent work,
Winston Churchill,
asserts that 30 000
died in the insane
Gallipoli venture
in 1915, in the hon-
ourable gentle-
man's attempt to
further his career.

Many con-
sider atrocities
such as the Holo-
caust and other
forms of genocide,
all of which make the mind recoil in
horror, as unnecessary to war. Social-
ists draw no such distinctions. When
one understands the case for socialism,
one realizes that all wars, and therefore
all war-related deaths, are unnecessary,
as indeed are those deaths caused by
other social ills that could be prevented
by the establishment of a sane society.
The companion parties of socialism
have explained very clearly for a cen-
tury that the working class has no stake
in wars, which are caused by compet-
ing sections of the capitalist class for

continued on page 12

6 May 2005

Imagine

Book review

BUIL STRATHERN ,1 (:, "

MARX

IN 90 MINUTES

Marx in 90 Minutes
by Paul Strathern

Philosophers in 90
Minutes series
Ivan R. Dee, Pub-
lisher, Chicago,
2001

ISBN 1-56663-
354-0 (hardcover);
1-56663-355-9
(paperback)

One of the most common
requests from those new to
socialist theory is for a short
introductory text to the philosophical
and economic writings of Marx him-
self. It's easy to see why— anyone who
has casually leafed through the meaty
Das Kapital, let alone the monstrous
50- volume Marx/Engels Collected Works
by Progress Publishers, can easily feel
overwhelmed at the sheer volume of
text. For those who simply don't know
where to start, Paul Strathern, author of
the popular Philosophers in 90 Minutes
series, promises to deliver a "concise,
expert account of Marx's life and ideas"
in this compact 90-page volume.

Instead of providing us with some
brief biographical details to put Marx's
work in context, however, Strathern
immediately launches into various
sordid details of Marx's personal life.
There is no end to the vices with which
the author gleefully attributes his sub-
ject: The infant Marx, we learn, was an
abusive sibling who forced his sisters
to eat mud-pies. In school, he was a
habitual drunkard who brawled with
the local gendarmerie and dodged the
draft with a suspicious medical certifi-
cate. As a refugee in London, he took
to stock market gambling and engaged
in wanton vandalism of public prop-
erty. The older Marx is described as
a "grubby", dishevelled adulterer
who squandered his family's meagre
income on cheap cigars while he "sat
sunning himself at the window in his
underpants". And as if this image were
not detailed enough, Strathern goes on

to describe the eruption of a boil on
Marx's penis. If these facts are in any
way relevant to Marx's philosophical
and economic works, Strathern fails to
mention it.

It's not until page 48 — almost half-
way through the book— that the gra-
tuitous gossip ends and the treatment
of Marxism proper begins. This leaves
only about 20 pages before the appen-
dices, which is not nearly enough to
convey Marx's major ideas. Still, the
author gives a more or less correct, if
superficial, exposition of Marx's views
on the division of labour, alienation,
religion and the rise of Christianity,
private property, social relations of
production, monopolies, unemploy-
ment, and crises. It is questionable how
useful or understandable this informa-
tion is, though, given that Strathern
almost completely glosses over such
fundamental concepts as surplus value
and the labour theory of value. In fact,
he rejects outright the validity of the
latter, using the opportunity to preach
the distinctly non-Marxian notion that
profit is a reward for taking financial
risks.

Though Strathern places great
emphasis on the historical context of
Marx's ideas, he seems to willfully
ignore this context when it suits his
arguments. For example, he criticizes
the reforms Marx advocated in The
Communist Manifesto [2, p. 31-2], but
fails to consider that they were made
with specific reference to nascent 19th-
century capitalism and were never
intended to be applicable to today's
global markets. He also seems at times
to deliberately misinterpret Marx's use
of the word "labour" as referring to
manual labour only; in fact, the Marx-
ian conception of a labourer is anyone
who is compelled to sell their ability to
work for wages or a salary, irrespective
of the type of work performed. Perhaps
the only other significant error Strath-
ern commits is to claim that Marx pre-
dicted that capitalism would eventually
self-destruct. In reality, Marx described

capitalism as going through repetitive
cycles of prosperity, crisis, and stag-
nation, and that no crisis would ever
be permanent [1, p. 373]. If capitalism
were truly in imminent danger of col-
lapse, of course, there would have been
no need for Marx to advocate revolu-
tion; the proletariat could simply sit
around and wait for socialism to arrive
on its own.

The interested reader will be dis-
appointed to discover that towards the
end of the book, Strathern abandons
Marx altogether and instead wastes
space on his own theories on the nature
of capitalism and socialism. The prob-
lems of capitalism, we are told, are not
inherent in the system itself, but are
rather the fault of a few overly greedy
capitalists trying to cheat the system.
Strathern furthermore drags out the
tired old argument that the system can
be made more humane through gov-
ernment intervention and nationaliza-
tion. He criticizes the former USSR for
taking such interventionism too far,
using its failure as a state as a spe-
cious argument for the impossibility
of socialism. In reality, the Bolsheviks
could not have implemented socialism
even if that had truly been their goal,
for socialism must be a global eco-
nomic system with the understanding
and support of a vast majority of the
world's people.

It seems clear that we cannot rec-
ommend this book as a general intro-
duction to Marxian theory. It may hold
some appeal for those who want the
"National Enquirer" version of Marx,
but for those who are interested in the
facts that matter, the book is of very
little value. Perhaps the most charitable
thing that can be said about it is that
it doesn't get too much about Marx's
ideas wrong— but then again, this
stems from the fact that precious few
of Marx's ideas are mentioned in the
first place.

continued on page 12

Imagine

May 2005 7

Co pyright under capitalism

continued from page 1

the works of their colleagues; histori-
ans were free to compile and summa-
rize descriptions of events recorded by
others; storytellers were free to retell
existing tales while adding their own
embellishments. In fact, many ancient
texts survive to the present day only
through the liberal quotations found
in the critiques and summaries of con-
temporary authors.

This state of affairs changed dras-
tically with the perfection of
mechanized printing in the 15th
century which opened up a whole
new economic sector for printers and
booksellers to exploit. The increasing
availability of books led to increasing
literacy among the general population,
which in turn led to some output of lit-
erature that was not necessarily in line
with the status quo. It is not surprising,
then, that one of the first known laws
instituting prohibitions on copying,
Britain's Licensing Act of 1662, was pro-
duced not to grant rights to authors but
to censor works deemed objectionable
by the government. The Act, whose
full title is "An Act for Preventing the
Frequent Abuses in Printing Seditious
Treasonable and Unlicensed Books and
Pamphlets and for Regulating of Print-
ing and Printing Presses", essentially
granted legal monopolies to printers
who agreed to restrict the dissemina-
tion of political and religious ideas
the state found unacceptable. Books
and leaflets from unlicensed printers,
including foreign imports, were com-
pletely outlawed.

As the book trade grew, printers
and booksellers rose in economic clout,
and the Licensing Act was superseded
by the Statute of Anne (1710) which
established the principle of "sole own-
ership" of a literary work. Initially this
ownership, or copyright, rested with the
author, but in order to be paid for the
work the author had to assign the cop-
yright to a publisher. The lump sum or

royalties the author earned from this
sale helped support his upkeep while
he produced his next work. In theory,
an author could copy and sell the work
himself, but because few authors had
the capital necessary to purchase and
operate their own printing presses, the
Statute was clearly biased in favour of
the bourgeois publishers.

With the Industrial Revolution,
capitalism quickly estab-
lished itself as the dominant
socio-economic system in Europe, and
with it came more rules and legislation
designed to protect the profits of the
established publishing houses. Fore-
most among these was the 1886 Berne
Convention for the Protection of Literary
and Artistic Works, a treaty which har-
monized the recognition of copyrights
among national governments. Prior
to its adoption, a book published, for
instance, in London, was covered by
copyright only in Britain, and could
be reproduced and distributed with
impunity by French and German pub-
lishers. Of greater importance to the
actual producers of literary works was
the fact that any author was thereto-
fore free to translate and incorporate
text from foreign works into his own;
he did not need to seek prior permis-
sion from the author (or more likely,
from the publisher, to which copyright
was almost invariably assigned). In this
way ideas flowed freely across national
borders with the same ease they did
from writer to writer in the ancient
world, allowing for the rapid develop-
ment and improvement of science, phi-
losophy, and the arts.

Recognizing that maintaining this
sort of freely reproducible public pool of
works was important for the synthesis
of new ideas, the drafters of the Statute
of Anne and the Berne Convention tried
to strike a balance between the short-
term profit motives of publishers and
the higher goal of advancing human

knowledge. They stipulated that copy-
right on any given work was in effect
for a limited term, after which the work
fell into the public domain and could
be reprinted by anyone. The term spec-
ified by the Statute was fourteen years,
renewable once if the author was still
alive. The Berne Convention extended
this to, at minimum, the lifetime of the
author plus fifty years.

The Mickey Mouse Preservation
Act

In practice, however, publishers
realized that some of the works they
owned remained potentially profit-
able well after the expiry of the origi-
nal copyright term, and lobbied their
respective governments to extend cop-
yright terms to ever greater lengths.
For example, shortly before the copy-
rights on early Mickey Mouse, Donald
Duck, and other cartoons were due to
expire, Walt Disney Co. executives led
an intense and highly successful lobby-
ing campaign to the US government.
Through extensive public propaganda,
direct proselytizing to legislators in
secret hearings, and that form of legal-
ized bribery known as "campaign con-
tributions", Disney and its allies in the
Motion Picture Association of Amer-
ica were able to secure a twenty-year
extension to US copyright [5].

No longer able to maintain the pre-
tence that copyright exists simply to
benefit authors (the retroactive exten-
sion affecting only works whose crea-
tors were long dead), lobbyists and
legislators seeking extension upon
extension resorted to outrageous claims
such as that "lack of copyright protec-
tion actually restrains dissemination of
the work, since publishers and other
users cannot risk investing in the work
unless assured of exclusive rights" [1,
pp. 134-5; 2, pp. 117-18]. Of course, this
claim is patently false in the majority of
cases; witness the continued sales and
profitability of classic public-domain

8 May 2005

Imagine

works from Dickens and Shakespeare
all the way back to Homer and ^sop.
The true issue is not the profitability of
older works, but the right to concen-
trate that profit in the hands of a single
publisher. The total sales of Mickey
Mouse cartoons would be the same
whether they were sold by one large
company or a dozen different small
ones. As the owner of the reproduction
rights to the cartoons, however, Disney
is strongly motivated to do whatever it
can to preserve its income from its legal
monopoly.

Information under fire in the
Digital Age

The freedom of the common
people to access and use pub
lished materials suffered an
even greater blow in 1998
with the passing in Amer-
ica of the Digital Millen-
nium Copyright Act, or
DMCA, most of the pro-
visions of which were
later adopted by the EU
and 43 other countries
as the WIPO Copyright
Treaty. This radical new
legislation essentially
gives publishers of elec-
tronic media carte blanche
to rewrite the law as they
see fit. The key is the infa
mous "anti-circumvention"
clause, which states that "[n]o
person shall circumvent a tech
nological measure that effectively
controls access to a work" [4, §1201
1 (a); 9, §11]. This clause makes not
only copying a book a crime, but even
merely reading it or otherwise using
it in any manner not approved by the
publisher.

To recount one infamous example,
in the late 1990s the software company
Adobe Systems developed a computer
file format for storing and distributing
books electronically, along with a pro-
gram which could access these files.
Along with each "e-book" in Adobe's
format was stored a series of compu-
ter-readable rules specifying which
actions were and were not authorized

uses — for example, there might be a
rule against transferring the e-book
to another computer, or a rule against
using a speech synthesizer to read the
e-book aloud. It is important to note
that neither of these uses is illegal in
and of itself; there is no law stating
that someone may not lend a book to a
friend, or read a book aloud in private.
However, Adobe's proprietary soft-
ware for accessing these e-books would
always abide by the rules encoded in
the file, thus denying users the rights
they would have enjoyed had the book

been of the regular printed kind. When
an independent programmer named
Dmitry Sklyarov produced his own e-
book-reading software which ignored
the access restrictions, he was arrested
by the FBI and charged with circum-
vention of the DMCA.

The benefit to the publishers of
such a law may not be apparent
at first, but consider the many
freedoms people enjoy with printed
books that with digital media can now

be restricted and exploited for profit.
When someone buys a printed book,
they're free to keep it as long as they
wish and read it as many times as they
wish. An e-book, on the other hand,
might have limits on reading it more
than a certain number of times, or after
a certain date; if you wish to continue to
access it afterwards, you need to pay. A
printed book can be bought from, sold
to, or traded at a used bookstore. An e-
book, however, might be licenced for
use only on one device, making trans-
fer impossible. For the same reason, it
might be impossible to give a used e-
book to a friend or check one out from
a library the way you can with a physi-
cal book. Any time someone needs
to obtain a book, he or she will
have to pay the full price.

All of these restric-
tions could also be, and in
many cases already are
being, implemented for
other types of electronic
media. Most DVD play-
ers, for example, are
specially programmed
to refuse to play any
DVDpurchasedoutside
its regional market. This
helps movie publish-
ers and sellers maximize
revenue by preventing
people from mail-ordering
DVDs from cheaper mar-
kets. (In a case which grimly
parallels that of Sklyarov, in
2000 sixteen-year-old Jon Johansen
was charged under access circumven-
tion laws when he published a simple
computer program capable of play-
ing DVDs from any region. Four years
later, he was finally acquitted, but not
without having accumulated nearly
$30000 in legal costs [6].) In an effort
partly to prevent people from copying
music to their computers and partly to
lock users into certain comercially-pro-
duced media players, music publishers
have recently begun releasing sabo-
taged CDs which can be played on a
computer only with specially-licensed
software. Those who do not have the
necessary software must fork over the

Imagine

May 2005 9

cash to buy it before being able to listen
to the music.

Production for use or sabotage
for profit?

All these examples clearly show
how, under capitalism, businesses
use laws to manufacture scarcity of
goods in the interests of turning a
profit. Instead of allowing the public
to freely reproduce and distribute
venerable literary and artistic works
that should belong to all of humanity,
companies shackle them under restric-
tive copyright licenses, the contraven-
tion of which results in heavy fines
and even prison sentences. Instead of
distributing digital music and movies
in standard, published formats which
any device can understand, publishers
and hardware manufacturers collude
to engineer crippled discs which can be
played only on certain proprietary sys-
tems, and prosecute anyone who builds
a cheaper compatible player. Instead of
innovation to improve existing media,
businesses produce and promote dig-
ital books deliberately designed to deny
readers the most basic of freedoms they
enjoyed with the printed variety.

Faced with such evidence, how can
anyone still believe the myth that capi-
talism works in the interest of the work-
ing class by providing us with useful
consumer goods? With the advent of
high-speed computer networks such
as the Internet and inexpensive home
computers which can store and copy
digital media with the click of a mouse,
for the first time in history the work-
ing people of this world are finding
themselves with access to the means
of production and mass distribution
of information. Those who previously
enjoyed exclusive rights to these means
are now scrambling to re-establish their
privileged position as their sole benefi-
ciary. They will do this even if it means
stopping and even reversing the course
of technological innovation. They will
do this even if it means using the threat
of violence (criminal penalties) to deter
those who would avail themselves of
said innovation.

The fact of the matter, as has been
demonstrated in this article, is that the
law is and has always been designed
by and for the possessing classes, not
for those who must work to create or
earn enough money to purchase the
literary and artistic works copyright
ostensibly "protects". True, copyright
works in part to ensure artists are
compensated for their works, but as
with all other types of labour, in the
vast majority of cases this remunera-
tion is simply a pittance intended to
tide the artist over while they produce
their next work. Even many famous,
multiplatinum-selling rock stars don't
earn more than their country's median
household income [3]. The bulk of the
money generated by writers and artists
goes to the increasingly obsolescent
and parasitic publishing and distribu-
tion companies; the artist who finds
himself a millionaire is the rare excep-
tion, not the rule.

Copyright and socialism

Before we return to the story of
the World Socialist Web Site, we need to
point out one further tactic that capital-
ist publishers use to justify copyright
to the public. They claim that informa-
tion is a kind of property— "intellec-
tual property" — and that unauthorized
copying of information is the same as
stealing. However, this comparison
is deliberately misleading. Stealing is
when someone walks into a library,
takes a book off the shelf, and leaves
without checking it out. Copyright
infringement is when someone walks
into a library, photocopies a book for
later reading at home, and then replaces
the book on the shelf. In the first case,
there is one less book in the library,
and the public has been deprived of
the ability to use it. In the second case,
the book remains in the library, and
other patrons can continue to read it.
Unlike with physical property, owner-
ship of so-called intellectual property
is not exclusory; like the atmosphere
we breathe, information can be owned
and used concurrently by any number
of people. Even the legislative and
judicial systems have grudgingly

admitted to this, refusing to equate
criminal copyright infringement with
theft [7]. Nonetheless, publishers con-
tinue to propagandize to legislators
and consumers that the unauthorized
dissemination of information is akin to
destructive crimes such as vandalism,
armed robbery, and piracy on the high
seas.

It is rather telling of the true motives
and beliefs of left-wing organizations
such as the WSWS, then, that they
have no qualms about using the same
misleading arguments and terminol-
ogy respecting "intellectual property"
as the capitalist class they purport to
oppose. They nominally decry the arti-
ficial scarcity produced by capitalism's
laws while at the same time proudly
espousing the property-mongering
ideals of the monopolistic corporations
these laws were designed to benefit.
We in the World Socialist Movement
believe that the purpose of political
literature is not to turn a profit, but to
change people's ways of thinking about
government, economics, and society.
We want the widest possible audience
for our ideas, and in fact encourage
people to copy and spread our writ-
ings to the greatest extent possible. The
WSWS's characterization of its writings
as "protected literary works", and of
those who republish it as thieves and
pirates, suggests that they think of
political literature in quite a different
sense. As is typical of Trotskyist van-
guardists, they consider themselves
to have a monopoly on political ideas
and that the working class cannot be
trusted with them. Only their official
party vanguard is authorized to dis-
pense and interpret political writings;
groups who republish their texts are
seen as rival sects seeking to usurp
their authority as the true leaders of the
working class.

In a true socialist society, however,
there will be no need for leaders
or owners. The means of produc-
tion and distribution will be owned
and controlled by the community at
large. This includes not only factories
and railways for the manufacture and

10 May 2005

Imagine

transportation of physical goods, but
also instruments for the production and
dissemination of information: printing
presses, film studios, the computers
that drive the Internet, and the televi-
sion and radio airwaves themselves.
Everyone will have free access to goods
and services, and society will orient its
patterns of production to meet these
use needs, rather than for the purpose
of turning a profit, which often entails
producing artificial conditions of scar-
city for certain goods. We have seen
in this article how the system of copy-
right is one of the means capitalism
employs to artificially restrict a supply
of goods— information— that might
otherwise be plentiful. Whereas we
currently have the means to produce
mass digital copies of a book, film, or
music album instantly and at virtually
no cost, under capitalism the technol-
ogy to do so has been crippled or crimi-
nalized at the behest of publishers.

While some left-wing groups, like
the WSWS, hypocritically support the
notion that ideas should be owned
and controlled, other less authoritarian
organizations like the Free Software
Foundation, the Creative Commons,
and the Electronic Frontier Foundation
lobby governments to modify copyright
laws to make information more acces-
sible to the general public, or propose
new information licensing schemes
which operate on top of the existing
copyright framework. Such efforts
have sometimes succeeded in eroding
the power of publishers' monopolies,
but they can never truly eliminate it.
As long as capitalism is in place, gov-
ernments will continue to institute and
uphold laws to protect the profits of
the publishers at the expense of with-
holding access to information from the
working class. Only by replacing capi-
talism with a system of free access and
common ownership will we be able to
truly and finally liberate music, litera-
ture, and the arts for the benefit of all
humanity.

Bibliography

1. Report 94-1476, United States House of Repre-
sentatives Judiciary Committee, 1976.

2. Report 94-473, United States Senate Judiciary
Committee, 1976.

3. Courtney Love. Courtney Love does the math.
Salon.com, 14 June 2000.

4. One Hundred Fifth Congress of the United
States of America. Digital Millennium Copyright
Act, October 1998.

5. One Hundred Fifth Congress of the United
States of America. Sonny Bono Copyright Term
Extension Act, October 1998.

6. Associated Press. 'DVD Jon' wants authorities
to cover legal costs. Washington Post, 27 January
2004.

7. Richard G. Stearns. Memorandum of deci-
sion and order on defendant's motion to dismiss.
In United States of America v. David LaMacchia,
Criminal Action No. 9410092-RGS. United States
District Court, District of Massachusetts, 28 De-
cember 1994.

8. Bill Vann. WSWS letter to Spanish web site.
World Socialist Web Site, 7 January 2004.

9. WIPO. The WIPO Internet treaties. WIPO
Publication L450IN/E, World Intellectual Prop-
erty Organization, Geneva, 2000.

10. WSWS Editorial Board. Spanish magazine/
web site engaged in theft of WSWS material.
World Socialist Web Site, 7 January 2004.

—Tristan Miller

A socialist world will be one...

...without classes.

...without countries.

...without governments.

...without money.

...without wages or employment.

...without the need for war.

...with the means of producing
goods held democratically in
the hands of all the people.

...with production for use, not for
profit.

...with decisions on what and how
to produce and how to develop
made by each local community.

...with sufficient food, clean water,
health services, housing, and
education for all the world's
inhabitants.

...with free access to all that soci-
ety produces, based on one's
personally determined needs.

...with the maxim, "from each
according to his ability, to each
according to his needs".

Contact us

Interested in learning more about
socialism? Want to comment on some-
thing you've read in this issue? If so,
feel free to contact our main office or
your nearest regional contact volun-
teer.

Socialist Party of Canada

Box 4280

Victoria, BC V8X 3X8

spc@iname.com

http://www.worldsocialism.org/canada/

Regional contacts

Victoria, BC

Bill Johnson

bill j@hotmail . com

Vancouver, BC

John Ames

j rames@telus. net
Ontario

John Ayers

j payers@sympatico . ca
Quebec

Michael Descamps

mich_m666@hotmail . com

WSM Companion Parties

The Socialist Party of Canada is just
one member of a world-wide associa-
tion of socialist parties known as the
World Socialist Movement:

World Socialist Party of Australia.

% Rod Miller, 8 Graelee Court, King-
ston, Tasmania 7050, Australia.
commonownership@yahoo . com.au
Socialist Party of Great Britain.
52 Clapham High Street, London
SW4 7UN, United Kingdom.
spgb@worldsocialism.org
World Socialist Party (New Zealand).
P.O. Box 1929, Auckland, NI, New Zea-
land. wspnz@worldsocialism.org
World Socialist Party of the United
States. P.O. Box 440247, Boston, MA
02144, USA. wspboston@mindspring.
com

Imagine

May 2005 11

Bolshevik bullshit

Book review

continued from page 3

the "education for revolution" policy
of the old SPC, Armstrong (after a spell
as an MLA) in the reconstituted SPC in
1931 and Pritchard (after a spell with
the CCF) in the World Socialist Party of
the US.

Angus also claims that by the end of
1921 a majority of members of the SPC
had been won over to the idea of form-
ing a Communist Party in Canada on
Bolshevik lines. Certainly, most mem-
bers of the SPC of the time were carried
away (mistakenly, if understandably,
in our view today) by the coming to
power of the Bolsheviks in Russia, but
were sufficiently clear-headed to reject,
when it came to a vote, accepting the
21 conditions for affiliation to the Com-
munist International. They took the
view that while Bolshevism was appro-
priate for Russian conditions, it wasn't
for a developed capitalist country like
Canada where a policy of "education
for revolution" remained valid. The
formation of the Communist Party— or
Workers Party, as it was called — did
contribute to the demise of the old SPC
in 1925. But in 1931 a number of former
SPC members and others reconstituted
it as the present SPC, and without any

illusions about Bolshevism in Russia,
not just in Canada.

The real lesson of the Winnipeg
General Strike, which latter-day roman-
tic Bolsheviks like Angus have yet to
learn, was well stated by Pritchard in
an article on the strike's 50th anniver-
sary in 1969:

Strikes may result in changes and
even so-called improvements but
this is but superficial. This will
continue until the workers in suf-
ficient numbers free themselves
from the concepts of this society,
from ideas that bind them to the
notion that the present is the only
possible social system, and recog-
nize that under this system "the
more things change the more they
remain the same"; that even now
in their struggles over wages and
conditions, like the character in
Alice in Wonderland they have to
keep running in order to stay in
the same place. But the Winnipeg
Strike will go down in history as
a magnificent example of work-
ing class solidarity and courage."
(Western Socialist, Nq 3, 1969).

-Adam Buick

continued from page 7
Bibliography

1. Karl Marx. Theories of Surplus Value. Lawrence
and Wishart, London, 1951.

2. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The Commu-
nist Manifesto. Crofts Classics. Appleton-Century-
Crofts, New York, 1955.

— Tristan Miller

Looking for a good introduction
to Marxian theory? Confused
about the difference between
true socialism and the so-called
"Communist" governments of
China, Cuba, and the USSR? Want
to know what socialism has to
offer you?

Contact us to inquire about

our available literature, or to

request a free information

package!

You can also find a wealth of

information on the World Socialist

Movement website:

http://www.worldsocialism.org/

Death at Diep pe

continued from page 6

access to raw materials, capturing mar-
kets to sell products, or taking com-
mand of strategic positions. (Bush
and his partners in crime didn't want
Hussein selling oil to their prospective
commercial rivals, China and the Euro-
pean Common Market.)

Whether or not the 900 Canadians
were sent to their deaths so that the war
effort could continue in North Africa
is a question that can probably never
be satisfactorily answered. One ques-
tion that can be answered, however, is
how to prevent future war deaths from

happening. By organizing, consciously
and politically, for the capture of politi-
cal power so that capitalism may be
overthrown and socialism established,
then, and only then, will we have a
world free from war and all its many
attendant evils. A world free from pov-
erty, unemployment, pollution, racism,
crime, famine, unnecessary disease,
planned obsolescence, environmental
destruction, regimentation (which per-
vades all areas of our lives, particularly
culture), and the dehumanization of
people leading to a multitude of psy-

chological problems. The list is end-
less.

In a socialist world, all will stand
equal in relation to the tools of produc-
tion and the Earth's natural resources,
all of which will be democratically con-
trolled by the whole community, in the
interests of the whole community. In
such a world, all will cherish all. Love
of humanity will reign supreme.

Who wouldn't want such a world?
So why not organize to speedily give
it birth?

— Steve Shannon

12 May 2005

Imagine

Imagine

VOL. 5 NO. 1

Summer 2007

Official Journal of
the Socialist Party of Canada

1 00 years for Socialism

T

he year 2005 marked the 100th
anniversary of the birth of
the Socialist Party of Canada.
According to J.R. Milne's history the
first meeting of the Executive Com-
mittee of our party took place on 19
February 1905 after socialist groups in
Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick,
and the Yukon Territory adopted the
platform of the Socialist Party of British
Columbia. Some oldtimers in the party
dispute this date, recalling 1903 being
used as the starting date.

In any case, it has not been an
unbroken century. The Russian Revo-

Speaking for Socialism, July 1 965

lution of 1917 captured the imagination
and hopes of the workers around the
world and led to the formation of many
national Communist parties. Many left
our party in the misguided belief that
communism could be achieved by
similar revolutions in this country, and
the party disbanded in 1926. Appar-
ently, by 1931, workers were becoming
increasingly disillusioned with events
in the Soviet Union and that year the
SPC was able to reconstitute itself on
a more scientific basis. The SPC, along
with its new companion parties in the
World Socialist Movement, used Marx-
ian scientific theory to determine that
a socialist revolution could not have
taken place in Russia due to the circum-
stances prevailing at the time and the
subsequent events and development
of Russian society. Rather, we said, a
new form of capitalism, organized by
the state, was evolving, but this was
not socialism. Although what unfolded
in the Soviet Union, and later in China
and Cuba, has proven our analysis to
be correct, many workers at the time
were duped into believing Bolshevism
was the real thing.

Believing that political power must
be gained by a majority of workers
who understand socialism and want to
put an end to capitalism, the SPC has
strived to contest elections. We had
early successes in electing J. Hawthorn-
thwaite, P. Williams, and J. M. Mclnnis
to the British Columbia legislature, and
CM. O'Brien to the Alberta legislature
in the early twentieth century.

We are proud that we have never
wavered from our objective— the

WHAT'S INSIDE

What is Poverty?

3

A Century of

6

Socialist Journalism

A Class-Conscious Majority

7

The 1919 Winnipeg

9

General Strike

What can we do about Peace?

13

Notes on our Early History

14

establishment of a society based on the
common ownership and democratic
control of the means and instruments
for producing and distributing wealth
by and in the interests of society as a
whole. We reject reformism as a means
to establish socialism. To understand
Marxian economics is to understand
that capitalism cannot be reformed to
work in the interests of any other than
the capitalist minority. As a political
party, we stand alone in this belief. In
addition, we advocate the democratic
establishment of socialism only when
the vast majority of workers under-
stand and choose socialism— not when
a minority, a so-called elite vanguard,
tell the rest of us what we want and
need. This also sets us aside from the
many so-called communist, Marxist-
Leninist (an oxymoronic title if ever
there was one!), and Bolshevik par-
ties and groups. We run our party as
we expect socialism to operate— a
free association of producers making
democratic decisions in the interests
of all. We do not have leaders, only
elected officials doing the bidding of
the rank and file, for it is not "great"

ISSN 1710-5994

leaders that will bring socialism, but
the will of the whole working class. We
use scientific socialist analysis based on
Marx's theories to interpret historical
and current events, and, in so doing,
have been proved correct many times
while other groups wander all over the
political map looking for answers to fit
their preconceived ideas.

Apart from the aforementioned
analysis of the Russian Revo-
lution, our attitude to war is
unique and yet simple common sense.
At the outbreak of World War I, social-
ists were forced to develop a response
to the patriotic jingoism that led young
workers to their deaths in the millions.
After careful analysis, it was obvious
that the interests of groups of capital-
ists had clashed and what was at stake
was the hegemony of one group over
another vis-a-vis commerce, strategic
territories, trade routes, etc., with the
prize being access to more markets
and more of the world to plunder and
exploit. What was taking place could
not be in the interests of workers nor
bring socialism any closer. Therefore
we oppose all wars, except the class
war, on that basis. This was, of course,
repeated for World War II, while the
various Communist parties wavered
for and against war according to the
dictates of the Soviet Union. Though
opposed to the war when Hitler and
Stalin signed the Warsaw Pact, once
Hitler invaded Russia these so-called
communists changed their tune and
were active in recruiting workers to
fight— and needlessly die for— the cap-
italists' interests.

In other areas, such as our analysis
of Keynesian economics, the welfare
state, national movements, we have
differed sharply from the tactics of
other parties who always seem to join
capitalist parties such as the NDP in
putting forth reform-based platforms
to attract votes. These platforms invari-
ably lead not to socialism but down a
road to nowhere.

continued on page 12

Party stall in Victoria, April 1 986

Socialist Party of Canada

PUBLIC
MEETING

LaborTemple, 523 Bealty St.
SUNDAY, MARCH 25lii

at 8 p.m.
Subject:

"UNITY AND THE
COMING STRUGGLE 1

Speaker: F. NEALE

Mnlsdcn fr« Owstloas and Dlscuaita

Handbills from 1 943 (right) and 1 945

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MEETING

On Thursday, Oil. 26 1943
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"Tin C. C F. and Sofi»l»m

J. MILNE Speaking

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2 Summer 2007

Imagine

What is poverty?

Starving millions of no interest to the dictates of capital

Some time ago, the Toronto Star
newspaper, Canada's largest, had
a campaign entitled "The War on
Poverty". Many articles and editorials
have pointed out the levels and effects
of this social disease. The Star has even
proudly noted that its founder was a
champion of the anti-poverty cause
over 100 years ago, but did not note
that if, in all that time, it has not been
successful, the solution lies in a dif-
ferent course of action. The following
letter, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, was
sent to the Star's editorial board.

Dear Sirs,

Recently my newspaper was not
delivered as usual. I called the Star
circulation department to report it.
After patiently navigating through
the automatic system, I eventually
got to discuss the matter with a
real human being. In the course
of going through the details, I
asked the operator where she was
located. She replied, "Nova Scotia".
Residing in Ontario and discuss-
ing my address, I was somewhat
astounded. After some thought,
I came to the conclusion that the
Star must have outsourced this ser-
vice to a company who had gone
to the most compliant jurisdiction
for operating costs like minimum
wage, labour laws, etc. to gain an
advantage over competitors. This
lower cost to the Star would help
the publisher to realize a larger
profit and pay bigger dividends to
the investors who would, in their
turn, continue to invest in the Star
rather than other enterprises. For
this, the Star cannot be blamed, as
it is the normal way of operating
in a profit-driven economy.

But this also means that those
big, bad corporations who relo-
cate their production to low
wage countries with "flexible"
labour laws are only doing what
they have to do to survive. This
is what drives wages down and

prevents workers from getting out
of the poverty cycle. This brings
forth the conclusion that as long
as this system of increasing prof-
its continues, poverty is not only
endemic in that system but is actu-
ally an unavoidable consequence.
Thus to eliminate the problem
is not a matter of political will or
morals, or of finding the money.
It is simply a matter of who con-
trols the wealth distribution in our
society. Once that control passes
into the hands of all of society to
distribute however we want, then,
and only then, will that wealth
be used for the common good,
including eliminating poverty.

Needless to say this letter was not pub-
lished. It was never intended to give a
real socialist analysis of the problem of
poverty, so it would be fitting to add
the following.

Poverty usually falls into two cat-
egories for the benefit of sociolo-
gists, government departments
and the media: relative and absolute.
The former refers mainly to developed
nations to identify those people not
receiving enough money to provide
the basic necessities of life expected in
our society for themselves and their
families. It is usually calculated as a
percentage, 50 or 60, of the median
wage. Absolute poverty is used to refer
to many people in the "developing
world" who are in life-threatening
situations and who require immedi-
ate intervention from government or
world agencies.

It is worth remarking that, for the
vast majority of the time that humans
have wandered the earth, hunting
and gathering societies were the gen-
eral mode of producing the necessary
goods, and it was rare that these soci-
eties experienced starvation. When it
did occur, it was entirely due to nat-
ural causes such as weather or animal
migration patterns, and it affected the

whole society equally. It was only with
the coming of the first agrarian revolu-
tion and the advent of private prop-
erty that access to the necessities of life
became restricted for some. As class
systems developed dividing humans
into the oppressors and the oppressed,
so did equality and the idea of privil-
eged access to wealth. All the ancient
empires — Sumerian, Greek, Roman,
Egyptian— had the rich, the free produ-
cers, and the slaves, in descending order
of wealth and influence. The feudal
system, which succeeded the slave
system of the empires, operated with
the oppressors— the king, the lords, the
church, and their entourages — and the
oppressed serfs who worked the land
to enrich the owners. Marx wrote, "But
whatever form [societies] may have
taken, one fact is common to all past
ages, viz., the exploitation of one part of
society by another." (Communist Mani-
festo) Many parts of the world, espe-
cially in the "Third World", continued
to function with a mixture of these
systems while capitalism was estab-
lishing itself in Western Europe. While
the more primitive societies were fall-
ing behind technologically speaking,
and inequality was sometimes a part
of their systems, it was again rare that
starvation occurred as they were very
viable societies in their own environ-
ments.

The situation changed radically
with the adoption of the capitalist mode
of production. Based on private prop-
erty, large-scale commodity produc-
tion for profit only, and the exploitation
of the worker through the creation and
theft of surplus value— that extra value
produced by the worker over and
above his wage — capitalism introduced
a new concept, managed scarcity. The
value of commodities is determined by
the amount of socially necessary labour
that is put into them— i.e., the amount
of labour under average conditions of
work by the average worker— but price

Imagine

Summer 2007 3

will vary around that value according to
availability. If you want to get the high-
est price for your commodity then you
control the amount available— flood-
ing the market cheapens the commod-
ity; scarcity raises prices. This is why
wheat, for example, is locked away in
elevators on the prairies until the price
rises sufficiently to make it worthwhile
to sell and realize a profit, no matter
how desperately it is needed. When
the price is high, only the wealthy can
partake freely, while the rest make do.
In other words, capitalism is driven
by the necessity to get the best price
on the market and realize the highest
possible profit, which not only gives
you more capital to work with, it can
also give you a leg up on the competi-
tion. The fact that people are starving
in the millions is of no consequence to
the dictates of capital. This applies to
other necessities of life such as hous-
ing, health care, and clean water.

When capitalism reached the less
developed areas, it destroyed their
local economies by turning cropland
into cash crops for the world market
and forcing the displaced farmers to
become wage earners at the whim of
the market and the profitability of the
multinational corporations. The abil-
ity of the indigenous populations to
feed themselves diminished as they
lost control of their lands. This vicious
cycle is the cause of poverty in the
Third World.

Relative poverty in developed
nations is also caused by the need to
maximize profits and accumulate and
attract capital. Capitalism is in a per-
petual boom-and-bust cycle. This is
because each enterprise decides for
itself how they will operate and how
much they will produce— the anarchy
of production. When the economy is
expanding to meet growing demand,
the production units must also expand
and employ more labour to take
advantage of that demand. There is no
planned effort by capitalism as a whole
to regulate production to match the
need. When supply overtakes demand
and there is a surplus of goods on
the market selling at low prices and

Absolute poverty: trash dump slum in Jakarta, Indonesia

reduced profit, factories are closed
down, machinery is scrapped, and
workers are laid off to await the next
boom. Thus a certain number of work-
ers is needed to meet the demands of
expansion and then tossed away as pro-
duction slows. In the meantime they are
unemployed or living on welfare, and
if lucky enough to find work, usually
it is temporary or at minimum wages.
In any case, it is just barely enough to
exist. This group is referred to by Marx
as "the reserve army" or "the surplus
population" and is as necessary to cap-
italism as wage labour. Marx wrote,
"In such cases [of industrial expansion]
there must be the possibility of sud-
denly throwing great masses of men
into the decisive areas... The surplus
population supplies these masses...
Periods of average activity, production
at high pressure, crisis, and stagnation,
depends on the constant formation, the
greater or lesser absorption, and the
re-formation of the industrial reserve
army or surplus population." (Capital,
The Process of the Accumulation of
Capital).

There is another form of poverty
that you will not hear about in
the media. Whenever a mode of
producing wealth for a society is put
into motion, a set of relations develops
simultaneously between the partici-
pants. In capitalism, there develops a
set of antagonistic relations between
the producers who do not own, and
the owners who do not produce. The
owners determine what will be pro-
duced, when, where, and in what
manner. The producers must simply
follow instructions and the dictates of
capital. All workers are subject to strict
parameters set by the owners who
employ solely at their discretion. Here
the reserve army plays another role —
that of maintaining those relations so
favourable to the capitalist class. Marx
writes, "The industrial reserve army,
during the periods of stagnation and
average prosperity, weighs down the
active army of workers; during the
periods of over production and fever-
ish activity, it puts a curb on their pre-
tensions," and, "The overwork of the
employed part of the working class
swells the ranks of its reserve, while,
conversely the greater pressure that the

4 Summer 2007

Imagine

Relative poverty: workers queue for food in Oslo, Norway

reserve, by its competition, exerts on
the employed workers, forces them to
submit to over-work and subjects them
to the dictates of capital." (Capital)

In addition to the subordinate
position of those who actually pro-
duce all the wealth, the owner takes
all the surplus value the worker has
embedded in the product— that value
the workers have produced over and
above their wages; the source of all
profit. This legalized theft is sup-
ported by the systems of society that
are essential to, and support, the cur-
rent economic system— the state gov-
ernment and its legislation, the court
system to uphold the legislation, the
military and police forces to enforce it,
and the prison system to punish trans-
gressors, and the media to propagan-
dize the whole thing. This means that
the class responsible for producing the
wealth of society, not only does not
own and control its own product, but
it is severely limited in the access they
have to that wealth. On the other hand,
the tiny minority of owners not only
get the lion's share, but they are able
to re-invest the surplus profit as capi-

tal to dominate the workers again and
increase their capital once more.

This constant growth of capi-
tal is the reason we see the great and
ever growing gaps in living standards
between the multi-millionaires and bil-
lionaires who produce nothing, and
the workers who struggle to put a roof
over their heads, feed their families,
pay for health, education, and so on. In
this sense, all workers, no matter what
their financial situation, are in a state
of relative poverty— relative, that is,
to what they are entitled to: the whole
loaf, not the crumbs. Marx quotes econ-
omist James Bray in The Poverty of Phi-
losophy:

The workmen have given the cap-
italist the labour of a whole year,
in exchange for the value of only
half a year — and from this, and
not from the assumed inequality
of bodily and mental powers in
individuals has arisen the inequal-
ity of wealth and power which at
present exists around us. It is an
inevitable condition of inequal-
ity of exchange — of buying at one
price and selling at another— that
capitalists shall continue to be
capitalists, and working men to

be working men— the one a class
of tyrants and the other a class
of slaves — to eternity. The whole
transaction, therefore, plainly
shows the capitalists and the pro-
prietors do no more than give
the working man, for his labour
of one week, a part of the wealth
they obtained from him the week
before!— which just amounts to
giving him nothing for some-
thing... The whole transaction,
therefore, between the producer
and the capitalist is a palpable
deception, a mere farce: it is, in
fact, in thousands of instances, no
other than a bare-faced though
legalized robbery."

It can be seen, then, that poverty,
relative or absolute, is a natural con-
sequence of the capitalist system. It
can be no more eliminated by raising
minimum wages, fairer taxation, or
income supplements, than an elephant
can fly. While we must give credit to
the decency of those people and organ-
izations involved in the struggle to
improve conditions for fellow human
beings, it is tragic that they spend all
their time and resources to alleviate a
symptom of the problem and nothing
at all to eliminate its cause. The effect,
like all attempts to reform the capital-
ist system, is to treat the symptoms and
prolong the disease. Poverty, like many
of the ills of our world caused by cap-
italism, can be eliminated only when
we, the producers who do not own,
finally realize that the resources of the
earth and the products of our labour
are the common heritage of all human-
kind, to be shared freely, as needed,
among all peoples of the world. Only
then, as Marx said, can we put an end
to man's prehistory and begin man's
history.

—J. Ayers

We welcome correspondence
from our readers. Send e-mail
to spc@worldsocialism.org or
write us at Box 4280, Victoria,
BC V8X 3X8, Canada.

Imagine

Summer 2007 5

A century of socialist journalism

A retrospective of Socialist Party commentary and criticism

In this issue of Imagine we are pre-
sentingthree articles from the annals
of the Western Socialist, former jour-
nal of the Socialist Party of Canada
and the World Socialist Party of the
United States, to celebrate our history
and the dedicated comrades who have
worked tirelessly to promote socialism
throughout their lives. The parties of
the World Socialist Movement believe
socialism can be established only when
the vast majority of the working class
understand what socialism is and
choose that society to replace capital-
ism. Before that can happen, that class
must become conscious of its position
in capitalism as the producers of all
wealth and the owners of nothing, as
the exploited class, and, finally, as the
class, as a whole, that can bring about
the change to socialism themselves.
This argument is expounded in the first
historical article, "A class conscious
majority" by W. A. Pritchard.

The next article deals with the
Winnipeg General Strike, an impor-
tant event in Canadian labour history.
It began, as many strikes do, with a
demand for higher wages. It was not
a call for socialism, and, had that been
the case, the Winnipeg workers would
have been a minority of the total Cana-
dian labour force. The SPC, therefore,
did not see the strike as an opportunity
to establish socialism, as did many left-
wing groups. As the article's author

Right: The Western Socialist, journal

of the Socialist Party of Canada, Vol. 1

No. 1, Winnipeg, October 1933

Far right: Fulcrum, journal of the

Victoria Local of the Socialist Party of

Canada, September/October 1968

Top: World Socialist, journal of the

World Socialist Movement, No. 6,

Winter 1986-7

notes, "strikes may result in changes
and even so-called improvements but
this is superficial." While the strike was
"a magnificent example of working
class solidarity and courage", socialists
understand that it is only the complete
replacement of the capitalist system
that will bring about a lasting improve-
ment in all workers' conditions.

The third article, "What can we do
about peace?", echoes the party's atti-
tude to the constant state of war and
conflict that exists on our planet. Not
only is it as relevant today as when
it was first published in 1963, but the
ideas it espouses are just as applicable
to 1914 when the party's early mem-
bers had to state a clear response to the
impending war. It was clear then, as it
is now, that conflicts between nations
are really conflicts between competing
groups of capitalists over resources,
trade advantages, control of strategic
routes and areas— in short, maintain-
ing or grabbing an economic edge over
another capitalist group. War is, there-
fore, endemic to the capitalist mode of
production, is of no interest or benefit

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to the workers (indeed it is they who
must do the fighting and dying), and
will not bring socialism one inch closer.
Socialists, then, withdraw from all wars
but the class war.

—Editors

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6 Summer 2007

Imagine

A class-conscious majority

(Reprinted from the Western Socialist, Vol. 37
No. 275, 1970, pp. 11-13)

...no government can impose its
will upon a consciously unwilling
majority. . .

The above truncated extract from
an article by a Socialist writer is
here presented in this form since
it struck me as being a suitable text for
a sermon— as some parson might say;
or a theme in music which could be
developed and presented with a whole
series of variations. I shall now try my
hand at a transposition or— to use the
musician's term— an inversion.

So from the negative to the positive
form my transposition might read:

...no conceivable power could
successfully resist a consciously
willing and determined class con-
scious majority. . .

I now replace the quotation as given at
the head of this article into the context
from which it was taken, by giving the
whole of a concluding paragraph of an
article by Ivan in the Socialist Standard
of February, 1969.

If we say, then, that Socialism will
be the society of freedom which
will not know such disfigure-
ments as political prisoners we are
inviting an obvious question. Why
are there no socialists in prison
for their opinions? The answer is
equally obvious. At the moment
Socialism, is not a threat to a capi-
talist state. But the socialist move-
ment grows through the developing
consciousness among workers —
and remember no government can
impose its will upon a consciously
unwilling majority. So when Social-
ism is a threat, and the ruling class
would like to do something about
it— it will be too late. (Emph. mine,
W. A. P.)

I pursue the line of thought which is
herein revealed because, in so many
instances throughout the past years
—here and in Canada— have I heard
well informed socialists, from the

speaker's platform, answer a question
in such fashion as to make the confu-
sion of the interested questioner even
more confounded.

Following a usually well presented
argument for socialism the speaker gets
a question: "You have put up a rather
persuasive argument and I am inter-
ested but I would like to know 'How
are you going to do it?' "

The answers I have heard so
many times might be brief, bright and
brotherly, but decidedly not to the
point. "You select your delegate or can-
didate and send him to Parliament— or
Congress, as the case may be." Put this
way— it has so often been put just this
way to my knowledge— it becomes a
"bald and unconvincing" declaration.
Of course, it is true, insofar as we know
the seat of power to be in these institu-
tions, but such overly simplistic state-
ments — granting them to be true — can
result only in greater confusion and
misunderstanding than had a direct
falsehood been uttered.

Com. Ivan refers to "a consciously
unwilling majority." I use the phrase
"consciously willing and determined
class conscious majority." Both phrases
carry the same concept. And that is: a
majority fully aware of its position, as
members of a class, and aware of the
needs of that class.

The class which today constitutes
a majority of the population, in
all those countries where the
capitalist mode of production obtains,
is the working class. But the majority
of this class is by no means aware of
its place in this society as a subjugated
and exploited one, and therefore is
also unaware of the cause of unem-
ployment, poverty, war, or any other
of the horrible features of the current
scene. So we say of these: "They are
not class conscious." Conversely, of that
minority within this majority who do
understand their status as exploited
producers, and realize that this can be
abolished through concerted action

and clear knowledge, we say: "These
are class conscious."

The reason for these class conscious
being organized into a political party, is
to engage in well considered and well
presented propaganda directed to their
un-class conscious fellow workers. This
calls for an analysis of the character
of the power which holds the worker
in subjugation— the techniques of
brain-washing, distorted information
concerning events and peoples, the
manipulation of "alleged" educational
processes, etc., by which the ruling class
is able to keep its ideas as the ideas of
society. The workers are thus fooled
into accepting these ideas of the mas-
ters as being the ideas best suited to the
promotion of their material interests.
"If it were not for the capitalist where
would the worker be? The capitalist
creates jobs. And where would we be
without jobs?" This crude idea is so
often expressed by workers when con-
fronted with the socialist case.

The socialist's task is to work at
removing these cobwebs from the mind
of the worker; to stress by diligent and
simple presentation the contrary idea:
"Where would the capitalist be without
the worker?" Completely helpless. For
all those goods and services required
to maintain society are produced by
the labor of the working class, and the
surplus value created by labor supplies
the wealth upon which the idle owner
lives and the capital accumulation by
which he increases his holdings and
his power.

But this power is maintained and
protected through the power of the
State— that instrument of coercion
and administration which has existed,
under different forms, in human soci-
ety since the dawn of civilization and
the birth of the property "idea." And in
all highly developed countries the seat,
and the source, of this power, today, is
the institution of "parliament" what-
ever name it may carry in whatever
country.

Imagine

Summer 2007 7

For the working class to free itself
from its present position, it must cap-
ture these bastions of power and priv-
ilege, and use them as instruments in
that endeavor. Because the vast major-
ity of the working class is unaware
either of its real status or of the need for
doing away with it, as Ivan puts it: "At
the moment socialism is not a threat to
a capitalist state."

Ivan states, though, "the social-
ist movement grows through the
developing consciousness among
workers." We work in our propaganda
to speed this growth.

While we indicate parliament
as the seat of capitalist power and
defender of capitalist interests, sug-
gesting thereby that the capture of pol-
itical power by the workers calls for
the prior capture of parliament, there
is much more involved than "selecting
our candidate and sending him to the
House, etc." And it is incumbent, in my
opinion, upon our propagandists to
explain these things and not be content
merely with a bald and off-hand state-
ment such as this article indicates has
been used much too often. If it were
only used once that would be once too
many.

For the present, then, and until
that time when as Ivan says:
"the developing consciousness
among workers" has produced the
resistance to attempted coercion by
a "consciously unwilling majority"
or, conversely, when "no conceivable
power could successfully resist a con-
sciously willing, and determined class
conscious majority," we carry on the
work of education among the workers,
opposing and exposing the "ideology"
of the ruling class by stressing and elu-
cidating the "ideology" demanded by
working class interests.

In short, to make our ideas per-
vasive; and when these ideas have
become sufficiently pervasive then—
again making use of Com Ivan's term—
"It will be too late," for the masters, or
calling upon a phrase once used by
this writer on another occasion, "With
these agents of power (the state forces)
in the hands of an enlightened major-
ity, no aggressive minority, no power
on earth, can successfully re-establish
itself."

So, for the present, "when social-
ism is not a threat to a capitalist state,"
and until that time when working class
ideas "have become sufficiently perva-
sive," we make such use of parliament-
ary elections as we can, for here is a

ready to hand situation— and ready to
hand machinery— of which socialists
can avail themselves. The day will come
when class conscious workers through
the agency of their organization (pol-
itical party) will send their delegates
to the seats of power, backed by that
ideology which has then become "suf-
ficiently pervasive."

For the present, education is the
first priority. An election provides a
sounding board for our ideas, and as a
barometer to measure our influence.

And for those who may be nomin-
ated as candidates at such times and
for such purposes as I have outlined, I
would suggest their campaign promise
be given in this wise.

We are running in this election to
spread socialist education. All political
parties make promises. We also make
one: "We promise nothing" — and thus
be the only party which is able to keep
its promise.

B

rethren! Here ends this short and
simple sermon. Let us then work,
for events are moving rapidly.

— W. A. Pritchard

are YOU
doing
Socialism?

POVERTY

INSECURITY

MALNUTRITION

SLIMS

WAR

WAGE SLAVERY

Will remain until capital (private
or state) is abolished

(T~*f> ARE YOU WORKING FOR

w ~-^ SOCIALISM ?

SPC handbill,
circa 1935

8 Summer 2007

Imagine

The 1919 Winnipeg General Strike

i

(Reprinted from the Western Socialist, Vol. 36
No. 269, 1969, pp. 12-16)

I have been bombarded throughout
the past half-century from many
quarters to write on this event.
Hitherto I have refused, being reluctant
to do so, feeling that one cannot deal
with events in which one may
have been involved and do
so with the objectivity neces-
sary. For the same reason I
refrain from reviewing books
in which I may have been
(honorably or otherwise)
mentioned.

But now, this year being
the fiftieth anniversary of
that historic event, receiving
an official request from the
Executive Committee of the
Socialist Party of Canada,
and simultaneously one from
the United Steel Workers of
America (Canadian Section) I
feel I must comply. The Steel
Workers, with headquarters
in Toronto, will hold their
National (annual) Policy
Conference in Montreal,
May 1st and 2nd, this year,
and intend to commemor-
ate the Winnipeg Strike's fif-
tieth anniversary and have
their proceedings covered by
national radio and possibly
television.

As to the Strike and
myself. Contrary to general
opinion I had little or almost
nothing to do with it per-
sonally, and therefore have
very little knowledge of all
the ingredients which led
up to it. That the panic-struck author-
ities pounced upon me in their blind
fury and were successful in having
me jailed, does not alter the fact. That
I went to Winnipeg at the behest of a
committee of workers as a spectator
and in the week (approximately) I was
there, sitting by invitation once with

the Strike Committee, and addressing
a few open-air gatherings, gave the
authorities their chance and they took
it.

I have no documents in my posses-
sion at the moment and must rely only
upon a memory which at the age of
eighty-one may be defective, although

Also, I understand, a further work on
this subject will shortly appear from
the pen of David J. Bercuson of Mont-
real. These are recommended for what
they might contain to students of Can-
adian history. I have but few reserva-
tions for the master's opus and these
only on rather minor points.

Western Labor News

SPECIAL STRIKE EDITION No. 6

Schedules Presented !o Ik
Metal Trades Employers

i-i l-.i *" ICH.l£Ji'. ■t.--<u.ii. ngi
iininn wrf —n»in u» iJwjmm ti
•u'i'^m mlkai hi >r lu *■_.

THJ TVUU A«rt1 IV tKE MIS INCLUDE

liked "em Dry

Background of the
Strike

To understand the Strike one
should place it in the context
of the social atmosphere of

STRIKE OR ST A RV E the countr y' the p° sition of

organized labor (especially
in Western Canada), together
with the political situation of
that time.

The government was
a coalition wartime prod-
uct. The war (to make the
world safe for Democracy)
was over— but not the peace
(the outbreak of which was
"more cataclysmic than the
outbreak of war.")

The Government had
been operating for some
time less and less by statute
and more and more by the
exigent weapon of "Order-
in-Council." The Meighen
administration came to be
known as "government
by Order-in-Council." The
people were ordered not
to eat meat on two days of
the week but at the same
time were not informed as
to how the many poor were
to get meat on the other five
days. A censorship, under
the erudite Col. Chambers
was established and hundreds of pub-
lications were banned, the penalty for
possessing any cited: twenty years in
the penitentiary. The governmental
"sublimity" slid rapidly downhill to
the lowest depths of the "ridiculous."

■,-...,s i h . ■ i :. 1 1 ma men 1 1 irum

I

muriBI

\ ■- • .'■!

tffcnfliir !■

»—w» *** -»»*■ •

■ Mb Mil

I .i lit! -sin mlM vtot
■ *n u_ii rks-rj

Ua- 11*11.
bfcl

T*» (f---*M fHM-t-B 1 -tar* 1* Oil U- nSt

MI •»!■« Ulli

1. 1b* |l*iT -| Wm iNjiki. uit U»

.hi-Lir*

my contemporaries seem to think it is
almost too devilishly keen.

Recommended for reading, though,
is a work of some years ago by Dr. D. C.
Masters, and there are in Canada two
other works by scholars whose names
for the moment escape me. Both are
from the Toronto University Press.

For under this Order-in-Council such

Imagine

Summer 2007 9

works as Darwin's Origin of Species,
Tyndall's Fragments of Science, and even
the Savoy operas of Gilbert and Sulli-
van were placed on the governmental
"Index Expurgatorious." This in the
attempt to ban the socialist and labor
classics of a century.

Rapidly rising prices affected all,
particularly workers. The allowances
to the wives and families of men in the
service overseas had not been increased
and many hardships were the lot of
these folk. Scandals in connection
with the war effort were popping up
all over the country in which promin-
ent patriots figured: The Ross rifle that
jammed; the "Flavelle" affair; and the
noise about hay for the armed forces.
And when the cry about corruption in
the purchase of hay went up govern-
mental donkeys immediately cocked
their long ears.

Against these growing enormities
Labor, particularly in the West, pro-
tested vigorously. They accepted reluc-
tantly the order to eat meat but not on
the two specified days of the week; they
objected, somewhat as to what they
should read, or what a man might have
in his own library, but when instruc-
tions appeared as to what they should
think, they balked.

In British Columbia in 1918, the
employees of the Street Railway Co. tied
up transportation in Vancouver, North
Vancouver, Victoria, and New West-
minster for some time, their demands
being for raise in pay but more so for
a reduction of the working day from
nine to eight hours. As one of these
strikers said to this writer at the time:
"Bill, if we don't get the eight-hour day
now, it will be a long time." Many other
instances of unrest among the workers
could be cited, and all this could be
accompanied with the fact of Western
Canadian Labor's dissatisfaction with
the Canadian Trades Congress and its
generally reactionary attitude.

The Strike starts

Into this setting one must place the
Winnipeg Strike. So far as I can recall
it developed in this wise: the organized
workers in the Building Trades tried to

open negotiations with the City's Build-
ing Masters on wages and working con-
ditions, stipulating that they wished to
have the Building Trades Council, of
which they were members, act as their
bargaining agency. This was refused
out of hand. A long story made short
is that was how the building workers
went on strike. At the same time the
machinists, boiler makers, etc., in what
were called the contract shops, tried to
open negotiations with the Ironmasters
of the City (Manitoba Bridge and Iron
Works, Dominion Bridge Co., Vulcan
Iron Works, etc.) in order to have the
rates of pay for the same categories
in the railway shops. These rates had
been set for the railroads by William G.
McAdoo. They were working under a
signed agreement, the result of collect-
ive bargaining, at approximately 40%
higher rates than their brothers in the
contract shops. As with the Building
Masters, the Iron Masters refused to
bargain. They, like the building trades
workers, wanted a bargaining agency:
the Metal Trades Council.

And that is how it started.

Some highlights

A short account of a large and import-
ant event, such as the Winnipeg Strike,
requires that specifics must give way
to generalities. Nonetheless I'll try to
deal with some highlights as I can best
recall them from my week's sojourn in
Winnipeg during the Strike.

Early in May 1919, the workers
in the Metal and Building Trades had
already "hit the bricks." The inter-
national offices of all these unions gave
no endorsement and no help. These
men were on strike for a principle and
without pay. Their only recourse was
appeal to the general body of the city's
workers. And this body was, of course,
the Trades and Labor Council. So, May
6th, 1919, the Trades Council was con-
fronted with the question of either
giving support to the strikers, or not.
Following long and heated debate the
decision was made to take a vote of all
the Council's affiliates on the question
of a strike in support of the building
trades and metal workers.

The result was announced at the
next Council meeting, May 13th, 1919:
over eleven thousand in favor; five
hundred against. The strike was called
for 11 a.m. Thursday, May 15th.

Seventy unions voted, all in favor.
According to the report of H. A. Robson,
K. C, appointed commissioner to inves-
tigate and report on the strike the vote
was fairly conducted. From questions
he claims to have put to certain mem-
bers and officers of eighteen unions,
some of whom were opposed to the
strike "stated that the large majority
had voted in favor..." [sic]

I found out quickly what would be
considered a phenomenon under other
circumstances and in another geo-
graphical area. Some thirteen thousand
organized workers on strike in a city,
have their numbers greatly augmented,
almost overnight, by the sudden strikes
of unorganized workers, from candy
workers to newspaper vendors. This
demanded attention and forthwith
organizing committees were created to
organize the striking unorganized.

The police had also voted and came
out on strike, only to be requested by
the strike committee to go back to
their jobs. The reason for this should
be apparent to any serious analyst of
the situation. Not until they were con-
fronted with the demand made later
to denounce the strike, express regret
for their part in it did the bulk of the
police force appear as strikers. They
were forced out by the forces of "Law
and Order," and their places filled
with an assortment of second-story
men, forgers, burglars, etc., etc., chiefly
imported from Minneapolis. I was to
meet with and observe these pillars of
justice in the County Jail later. But that
is another story.

What lesson this strike committee
was soon to learn (composed of men
of different political outlooks though
it was) was that when a withdrawal
of efficiency on the part of labor takes
place in a community everything stops.
No milk and bread for the people, or for
hospital needs, etc., and this affects not
merely men and women but infants.

10 Summer 2007

Imagine

In this acute situation the com-
mittee acted with good sense and
promptitude. The committee was com-
posed of fifteen members and was
thereupon named the "inner" com-
mittee. It organized another committee
of three hundred known as the outer
committee, which then subdivided
into communities specifically charged
with those functions that would keep
the city population as a viable com-
munity. So milk and bread, etc., sup-
plies were maintained, transportation
organized, and so on. Of course, there
were inconveniences but the city was
kept alive — and by the good sense,
humanitarianism, and organization of
the workers. The bosses could not do it.
Those who had performed these social
services, etc., heretofore for wages now
were doing it without pay. This might
give one a gleam of light as to just how
socially unnecessary wages and the
wage system really are.

Significant too was the action of
the Strike Committee in requesting the
theatre owners to re-open. This was a
measure designed to keep people from
congregating on the streets, a condition
conducive to volatile and irresponsible
action that could occur through the
gathering of crowds, and one which,
no doubt, would have been welcomed
by the authorities as an excuse for vio-
lent repression.

So that the theatre owners would
not be accused by the strikers (and
one must understand that the families
involved there numbered well over
thirty thousand) placards were placed
outside the theatres "Open by Author-
ity of the Strike Committee." One the-
atre manager had thrown upon his
picture screen this message: "Working
in Harmony with the Strike Commit-
tee."

Also, in contrast with so many
other strikes, this had no demonstra-
tions, protests, or those other manifest-
ations of which we see so much today.
People were exhorted to keep the peace
and keep off the streets. To this end
numerous public meetings took place
in the various parks of the city and its
environs. The only parades of which

this writer has knowledge were the
rather huge parades of the returned
soldiers sympathetic to the strike,
and the significantly small parades of
those supporting the Citizen's Com-
mittee, composed chiefly of the officer
caste. Common sense on both sides in
this connection seemed to have been
used by both parade managers. They
paraded at different times, or, if not,
trotted off in different directions. The
Strikers' soldier element also held daily
sessions, of what they termed their
"parliament" in Victoria Park.

How the Strike was broken

Attempts were made from time to time
by elements on both sides to come to
a compromise and end the dispute. I
remember being asked to accompany
a delegation in this connection to meet
with one from the anti-strike soldiers.
The meeting was presided over by
Canon F. G. Scott, senior chaplain of
the First Division in France. He came
to Winnipeg to look after "his boys,"
evidently had no interest in politics, a
very gracious and charming individ-
ual, and with a deep sympathy for the
Strike and the strikers. He seemed to
me, from my short observation, to be
very much attached to Russell.

The members of the delegation
which I accompanied were Winning,

Russell and Scoble. The spokesman for
the other side was a young army offi-
cer, an attorney, Captain F. G. Thomp-
son. My immediate impression of him
as the talks opened was that he had
now discovered the first arena in which
he could demonstrate his legal exper-
tise. All his questions were such as to
provide material for legal action and
he was definitely addicted, in my opin-
ion, to the job of involving Russell in a
legal tangle. I, thereupon, advised Rus-
sell not to attempt the answering of the
obviously loaded questions. There may
have been many other efforts on both
sides towards affecting a settlement,
but the foregoing is the only one of
which I have any personal knowledge.

It was at the close of this abortive
meeting that I overheard Canon Scott
tell Russell that he had been ordered
home to Eastern Canada.

As I remember Winnipeg, during
the week of my stay (I had a longer
stay later on, but that was if I remem-
ber aright, quite involuntary) it was
the most peaceful city I had ever seen,
a well disciplined and behaved com-
munity, singularly free from the crimes
which are so noticeable in our cities
today, and remained so until the instal-
lation of the special police (criminals
and thugs already referred to).

Strikers surround the Board of Trade building

Imagine

Summer 2007 11

^,*rt

The Mounted Police charging down Main Street, 21 June 1919

The strike did not seem to be
weakening, not to the extent that the
employers expected, so drastic action
was needed. And this was used in the
midnight, or early morning, raids on
the homes of certain men. The six who
were so unceremoniously "kidnaped"
from their warm beds in the wee
morning hours, were Russell, Queen,
Armstrong, Heaps, Ivens and Bray.
R. J. (Dick) Johns had not been in Win-
nipeg during the entire strike period,
but was carrying out his duties as a
member of the War Relations Labor
Board in Montreal. I was taken from a
CPR train in the city of Calgary, on my
way home to Vancouver.

At the same time, several labor
sympathizers from North Winnipeg
who had the misfortune to carry "for-
eign" sounding names, especially Rus-
sian, were also swept into the net, and
shipped with the rest to Stony Moun-
tain Penitentiary. This I opine was (to
slightly paraphrase the inimitable
phrase of Gilbert and Sullivan's Pooh-
Bah) undertaken as "merely corrob-
orative detail, intended to give artistic

verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and
unconvincing (narrative)."

By this means was the strike
broken. What lessons can be taken
therefrom depends on how the work-
ers now view the event. Unknown,
perhaps, to a large majority of Can-
adian workers is the fact that what is
now accepted without question— the
principle of collective bargaining— re-
sulted. Today the metal contract shops
in Winnipeg all have agreements with
the United Steel Workers. Several other
so-called problems were attended to as
a result of the Mather and the Robson
commissions.

Lessons of the Strike

But while forms may have changed,
and some "improvements" made— for
instance in the living conditions, etc., of
lumber workers and others— the basic
fact remains. The workers are still wage
recipients and the masters the benefici-
aries of the surplus values extracted
from the result of labor's effort.

The workers still must engage in
confrontations and even conflicts with
their masters. The labor history since

Winnipeg is replete with instances:
the longshoremen of Vancouver— the
then only remaining organized body
of waterfront workers on the Pacific
Coast in 1922; the strikes of miners and
lumber workers; the Kirkland Land
Strike of 1941. But why go on?

Strikes may result in changes and
even so-called improvements but this is
but superficial. This will continue until
the workers in sufficient numbers free
themselves from the concepts of this
society, from the ideas that bind them
to the notion that the present is the
only possible social system, and recog-
nize that under this system "the more
things change the more they remain the
same"; that even now in their struggles
over wages and conditions, like the
character in Alice in Wonderland they
have to keep running harder in order
to stay in the same place.

But the Winnipeg Strike will go
down in history as a magnificent
example of working class solidarity
and courage.

— W. A. Pritchard

continued from page 2

This, then, is our legacy to be
passed on to new generations of work-
ers until they as a mass, come to their
senses and realize there is a better way
to produce and distribute wealth. In
this issue of Imagine we have tried to
give you a sense of our history but it
is to the future we must look to resolve
the antagonisms and outrages of the
capitalist system. To put an end to
poverty, inequality class-based soci-
ety starvation, war, and want, there
is, as there has always been, but one
answer— to establish a socialist society.
No amount of reforms, beseeching the
government to act in our interests, or
petition-signing will suffice. A simple
vote for real socialism, and the willing-
ness to put it into practice once others
have done likewise, will do the trick.

—Editors

12 Summer 2007

Imagine

What can we do about peace?

Nobel Peace winner joins Nuclear Club

(Reprinted from the Western Socialist, Vol. 30
No. 232, 1963, pp. 5-7)

It was no surprise to learn that Lester
Pearson has decided that Canadian
military forces should be equipped
with nuclear and atomic warheads and
arms. It does not surprise the socialist
one bit to encounter this switch in a
professed opponent of A-arms to one of
supporter. History is laced with people

who profess one thing before election
to office and either change half-way
there or when elected.

Does it make any difference
whether or not Canada is to become a
member of the "nuclear club"? I do not
think so. To the mass of people through
out the world the result will be the
same — death and destruction— with or
without these arms for Canada, unless
we prevent war. How, then, can we pre-

Maryon and Lester Pearson receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, 1957

vent war? What are we to do about it?
These seem to be pertinent questions.

At first glance it appears as though
we can do very little about it. General
Norstad, President Kennedy and now
Lester Pearson have had their say and
that seems to be the end of the matter.
It is asserted, by some, that the work-
ing class will have no say in the matter
nor have ever had a say on the question
of war. In a sense, however, this state-
ment is quite false. We have had and
still can have much to say about it. We
have so far elected to support things
as they are and the result is apparent
to all — a future which threatens death
and destruction to all mankind. Can
we change this situation? Assuredly
we can.

In the firstplace,insteadof repeating
like parrots the phrases spewed out of
the television and radio boxes, we can
investigate this supposedly best of all
possible worlds — explore beneath the
clouds of subterfuge, deceit and lies.
Purposeful investigation must lead to
the discovery of the cause of war with
all of its varying degrees of horror,
death, and destruction.

What is it, then, that gives rise
to conflicts between nations?
What is it, furthermore, that
engenders disagreements and strikes
between employer and employed?
To find cause for the first question is
to discover the answer to the second.
Nations are forever in conflict because
the owners of the means of life within
these nations must compete and strug-
gle with one another in furtherance of
their material interests. They must for-
ever strive to outdo one another in the
never-ceasing search for markets and
sources of raw materials. In the jungle
world of capitalism the maxim must be
compete (with no holds barred) or die\
Herein lies the key to the problem. In

continued on page IS

Imagine

Summer 2007 13

Notes on our early history

A timeline of the early years of the Socialist Party of Canada

1905

19 February: First meet-
ing of the Dominion
Executive Committee of the Socialist
Party of Canada. • Hawthornthwaite
and Williams elected to BC legislature.
• Party propagandist E. T. Kingsley
who lost both legs in a railway accident,
publishes his own journal, the Western
Clarion, with a circulation of 4-10 000.

Canadian group to adopt the SPGB
principles. SPNA later dissolves and
some members return to the SPC.

Toronto members

arrested at a meeting.

1907

"1 r\ r\ Q Kingsley addresses a
I7UO meeting of 1000 in Win-
nipeg. Meeting stopped by police. • D.
G. Mackenzie, a party member since
1904, becomes editor of the Clarion.
Recognised as the party's finest writer,
he also wrote the Manifesto for the
party.

1909

SPC and Industrial
Workers of the World
(IWW) members arrested for 'speaking
out against the master class'. Comrades
Matthews and Hemmings spend seven
days in one of 'His Majesty's Drawing
rooms' rather than pay a $1 fine for
holding a street meeting. • The DEC
issues a resolution not to affiliate with
the Second International, which con-
sisted mainly of groups interested in
immediate reforms. • O'Brien elected
in Alberta.

1910

Some foreign-language
locals break away to
form separate groups over reformism.
• O'Brien criticized in the legislature
for giving a lecture on socialism rather
than addressing the question.

1911

The Socialist Party of
Great Britain (SPGB)
and its ideas disseminated throughout
Canada by the Socialist Standard, which
heavily influences the non-reform sec-
tion of the party. The Toronto local
breaks away to form the Socialist Party
of North America and becomes the first

'I r\ 1 O A meeting on Powell
J. y J_ Z_ Grounds, Vancouver,
addressed by Pettipeace, Lestor, and
the IWW broken up by police 'Cos-
sacks' and 25 arrested. Three IWW
members given three months for refus-
ing to swear on the Bible. Several more
attempts to hold meetings at the same
venue also broken up by police. • Wil-
liams elected in BC but eventually allies
with the Social Democratic Party.

1913

O'Brien defeated in
Alberta, despite the exist-
ence of 26 locals in the province.

1 Q1 A Canada enters WWI,
J_ y J_ Tt "the war for democ-
racy", while suppressing free speech at
home. Religious groups, including the
Salvation Army, continue to hold street
meetings undisturbed. • Socialist Party
Manifesto to the workers of Canada:
"Wars have their origin in the disputes
of the international capitalist class. The
war will claim many workers' lives in a
quarrel that is not theirs. Considering
the fact that the workers produce all
the wealth but receive only a pittance
in return, only the struggle to end this
injustice is worthwhile. Workers of the
world unite! You have nothing to lose
but your chains! You have a world to
gain!"

1916

Comrades J. Reid and
W. Gribble arrested and
imprisoned for sedition. • SPC con-
tinues its anti-war stance and contests
elections.

-1 r\ -1 P7 Conscription introduced
J. y J_ / and opposed by unions
and, of course, the SPC: "Thus we pro-
test emphatically against the proposed
Act to enforce military service upon us.
Our masters' quarrels do not arouse

any enthusiasm in us. Our quarrel
has ever been, since we realized our
position as slaves, and ever will be,
until our status as slaves is abolished,
a quarrel against the master class the
world over. The International Working
Class has but one real enemy, the Inter-
national Capitalist Class." • Several
members, including Tom Cassidy Sid
Rose, Ginger Goodwin, Dave Aitken,
Joe Naylor, Roy Devore, Alex Shep-
pard, and Moses Baritz, go into hiding
or are arrested for evading or oppos-
ing the draft. Bolshevik Revolution
in Russia. Articles by revolutionaries
such as Lenin and Trotsky appear in
the Clarion. Later, after events in Russia
develop further, skepticism and then
outright opposition grow to the new
order that grows out of the revolu-
tion. • Government hysteria and "red
scare"— organizations promoting gov-
ernmental, social, industrial, economic
change are banned. • SPC meeting
broken up by returning "patriotic" sol-
diers and party offices destroyed.

1918

The Western Clarion
banned and replaced
with the Red Flag, which in turn is sup-
pressed and replaced with the Indica-
tor.

1 Q1 Q Winni P e S

General
Strike: SPC not directly
involved, but five of eight union lead-
ers imprisoned were SPC members (G.
Armstrong, R. Bray, R. J. Johns, W. A.
Pritchard, R. B. Russell) and party liter-
ature was used in the trial to show that
the strike was "the work of the devil".

1920

Ban on the Western Clar-
ion lifted. The Third
International triggered an examination
of the methods of revolution: insur-
rection or parliamentary route. • The
Workers' Party of Canada formed,
later to become The Communist Party.
Many SPC members leave to join. •

14 Summer 2007

Imagine

G. Armstrong elected to the Manitoba
legislature.

1925

The Clarion, reflecting
the declining member-
ship, ceases publication.

1931

The Socialist Party of

by Armstrong, Lestor, Neale, Breeze,
Kaiser, and others. The declaration of
principles of the Socialist Party of Great
Britain is adopted.

-1 QOO The Western Socialist joui-
J- y \J £m nal launched. • Clarity
on Russia: Bolshevism examined and
found wanting, and not socialist.

1 QQQ Solid opposition to WWII
J- y \J J on the same grounds as
the first: a war between capitalist inter-
ests and having nothing to do with
the working class or the establishment
of socialism. Contrasts sharply with
the Communist Party's stances— for
the fight against fascism, then against
the war after the Soviet-German
nonaggression pact, then for the war
again when that pact was broken, and
actively recruiting workers for the
capitalist side. • The Western Socialist
becomes a joint publication of SPC and
WSPUS.

(Source: J.M. Milne's History of The
Socialist Party of Canada.)

— Editors

continued from page 13

it does require some effort on the part
of those who would seek it. Know-
ledge of the world we live in and how
it operates can be acquired with a min-
imum of effort. The socialist case can
be examined and its validity measured
in the light of unfolding events. What-
ever the effort the rewards will amply
compensate.

The conflict, then, which continues
among the nations has as its cause

the effort to realize the surplus-value
extracted from the working class, the
rival national capitalists must forever
vie with one another in the markets
of the world and those nations which
can sell the most commodities and
make the most profit become, in con-
sequence, the most powerful and the
most influential.

In this endeavor of the owning class
of each country to gain profit, power
and influence, however, there can be no
real interest for the workers. The mass
of people, forced to work for wages or
salaries throughout their lives (when
they are not unemployed), can never
gain more, on the average, than what
is required to produce and reproduce
their particular abilities. The average
worker enters the world heir to noth-
ing but his parents to work and care
for him. He spends his life in ceaseless
toil or in the search for it, and leaves
the world almost as he came into it-
with nothing but his children to carry
on this tradition of labour.

We, the vast mass of the world,
working all our lives and the vast
masses who have preceded us back
through the ages, have toiled and
laboured and yet, after these aeons of
work have still only poverty! And why
may we ask? Because the means and
instruments for producing wealth do
not belong to society, as a whole, but
to a small but privileged minority who
live but to exploit and appropriate unto
themselves the fruits of the labour of
society. This is the basis for the struggle
which they prefer to present to us as
a struggle between ideologies, "Ways
of Life," and so forth. The so-called
struggle between "communism" and
the "free, democratic," type of society
is actually but a struggle for control
over spheres of influence such as Cuba,
Berlin, Laos, Vietnam, Africa, and
other areas of contention. They are but
struggles to gain control over the social
wealth of the world.

How can this be altered? What
can we do about it? Inasmuch as we
are never consulted in time of crisis
how can we change this sorry state of
things? The answer is simple although

the same basis as the conflict which is
inherent in the struggle between cap-
ital and labour. The struggle on the part
of the employers to extract a maximum
amount of labour from their workers
for a minimum amount of wages gives
rise to the strikes and lockouts which
plague all society. In the final analysis,
this is but a struggle over the wealth of
society and the question of the division
of the wealth created by the working
class. Furthermore, it should be appar-
ent that those who own the means of
life shall amass unto themselves the
greater portion of the wealth of society
leaving for those who possess nothing
but their ability to labour, sufficient
only to enable them to continue the
process of production.

Let us now return to the question
with which we started. What
can we do about it? The answer
should now be clear. We can apply our
understanding of the causes of strug-
gle to an effort to change the world.
Rather than attempting to adapt to
conditions in the struggle for survival,
the task is one of changing the condi-
tions in order that the conflicts and
strife which are an everyday feature
of today shall be resolved. The ques-
tion of nuclear weapons as opposed to
"conventional" weapons is irrelevant.
The only weapon required to save the
world from obliteration is the weapon
of knowledge, in the hands and heads
of the majority Search it out and obtain
it, for with it we shall begin to live as
human beings rather than as pawns
in a life and death struggle for dom-
ination over the resources of the world.
With the proper application and use of
understanding, these resources will be
restored to humanity as a whole. We,
who are not consulted today, shall with
our knowledge and our political action
decree that the means of life shall be
commonly owned by all mankind and
that mankind shall finally be released
from the horror of war and the horror
of capitalism, in general. That's what
we can do about it!

—Gladys Catt

Imagine

Summer 2007 15

Contact us

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Box 4280

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WSM Companion Parties

The Socialist Party of Canada is just
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tion of socialist parties known as the
World Socialist Movement:

World Socialist Party of Australia

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Victoria 3121
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Photo credits

p. 4: © 2004 Jonathan Mcintosh; licensed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
License, p. 5: Royal Norwegian Information
Service, Washington, D.C. p. 11: Brown
Brothers, National Archives of Canada, p. 12:
National Archives of Canada, p. 13: Duncan
Cameron/Library and Archives Canada/PA.

The Socialist Party of Canada

Object

The establishment of a system of society
based upon the common ownership and
democratic control of the means and instru-
ments for producing and distributing wealth
by and in the interest of society as a whole.

Declaration of Principles

The Socialist Party of Canada holds:

1. That society as at present constituted is
based upon the ownership of the means of
living (i.e., land, factories, railways, etc.) by
the capitalist or master class, and the conse-
quent enslavement of the working class, by
whose labour alone wealth is produced.

2. That in society, therefore, there is an
antagonism of interests, manifesting itself as
a class struggle between those who possess
but do not produce and those who produce
but do not possess.

3. That this antagonism can be abolished
only by the emancipation of the working
class from the domination of the master
class, by the conversion into the common
property of society of the means of produc-
tion and distribution, and their democratic
control by the whole people.

4. That as in the order of social evolution
the working class is the last class to achieve
its freedom, the emancipation of the work-
ing class will involve the emancipation of all
mankind, without distinction of race or sex.

5. That this emancipation must be the work
of the working class itself.

6. That as the machinery of government,
including the armed forces of the nation,
exists only to conserve the monopoly by the
capitalist class of the wealth taken from the
workers, the working class must organize
consciously and politically for the conquest
of the powers of government, in order that
this machinery, including these forces, may
be converted from an instrument of oppres-
sion into an agent of emancipation and the
overthrow of plutocratic privilege.

7. That as political parties are but the expres-
sion of class interests, and as the interest of
the working class is diametrically opposed to
the interest of all sections of the master class,
the party seeking working class emancipa-
tion must be hostile to every other party.

8. The Socialist Party of Canada, therefore,
enters the field of political action determined
to wage war against all other political par-
ties, whether alleged labour or avowedly
capitalist, and calls upon the members of
the working class of this country to support
these principles to the end that a termination
may be brought to the system which deprives
them of the fruits of their labour, and that
poverty may give place to comfort, privilege
to equality, and slavery to freedom.

16 Summer 2007

Imagine

Imagine

FALL 2008
Vol. 6 Num. 1

Official Journal of
the Socialist Party of Canada

A Call To Action

Eds. many have some extra disposable

income after paying the bills for

This is a call to all those who must holidays, entertainment and a few
sell their mental and physical extras. Yet there is that nagging fly in
capabilities in order to survive. It the ointment. Sporadically reports
doesn't matter whether you call your surface that indicate all is not well,
payment a wage or a salary, or how More and more, our jobs and benefits
much it is, or whether you work in are less secure; we are told one in five
coveralls or in a suit. If you do not own children are raised in poverty
the tools of production at your work and are denied the experiences of
place, then you must work if, how, and normal human development; there is
when, your employer says so. That, of always unemployment no matter how
course, applies to the vast majority of the government cooks the books and
the world's population. ignores those who have given up

What are we asking you to do? Firstly, looking for jobs and those who are
take a few minutes to look at the state underemployed; in the rich GTA,

almost one million people per year use
food banks, no matter that many of
them have full time jobs; the gap
between rich and poor grows ever

of the world around you. In a rich

country such as Canada, it is easy to

think almost everyone is doing OK.

Many own a house, or will do after a

few decades of payments that total way wider at an alarming rate

more than the buying price; many

families own two cars-necessary so that And how about the rest of the

both adults can go to work in order to world? Consider this information from

pay for the house and the extra car; "The State of The World" (giobainetnews-

summary(3) lists, riseup. net).

• Since WWII there have
been 250 major wars
killing twenty-three
million people, 90% of
them civilians.

• There are over 35 major
conflicts in the world
today.

• There are over five
hundred

million small arms and light
weapons circulating in the

WHAT'S INSIDE

National Ownership

2

or Common Ownership?

The Long Commute To

3

Nowhere

Honesty is the Worst

4

Policy

Free Trade or

5

Free World?

Tales From the Class War

7

world today.

• There are approximately thirty
thousand nuclear
warheads, five thousand on
hair-trigger alert.

• Current global military
spending is around eight
hundred billion dollars- more
than the total annual income of
the poorest 45% of the world.

• Thirty-five per cent of the
world's population live in
countries where basic civil
rights such as freedom of
speech, of the press, of religion,
and fair trials, are denied.

• One billion people are
unemployed or
underemployed.

• Two hundred and fifty
million children are
involved in child labour.

• Women work two thirds of
the world's working hours
and produce one half of the

ISSN 1710-5994

world's food, yet earn only
ten per cent of the world's
income and own less than

one per cent of the
world's property and make

place, the goods must be sold and a
profit made. If this does not happen,
production must stop, factories close,
and workers laid off. Only those who
can pay can have access to the goods.

National Ownership or
Common Ownership?

J.Ayers

M

[el Watkins is a research
associate at the Canadian Centre
for Policy Alternatives, a left
wing think tank based in Ottawa. He is
also professor emeritus at the
University of Toronto, and an adjunct

up seventy per cent of those Starving people do not have money for

in absolute poverty. food and therefore have no access to it.

Three billion people exist on If an alien craft were to land on

less than two dollars a day. earth, they would not be able to

Eight hundred million lack comprehend this situation. The sheer
access to even basic medical scale of the unnecessary destruction,
care devastation, and human misery is

Seventeen million including almost incomprehensible. It can only beprofessor at Carleton University. His
eleven million children die matched by the apparent willingness to specialty is economics and he is well
each year from easily ignore it or excuse it by the vast known for a 1968 report on foreign

preventable diseases majority of the world's citizens. ownership of Canadian companies.

Eight hundred million DeoDle^ ow ^ ou know why we must act. Now Evidently, he has stuck with this theme
are hungry or mal-nourished comes the hard part. What to do? First, for forty years, as his recent article,

eleven million die yearly take stock of the situation - Secondly, "Enough With Foreign Ownership"
from hunger and malnutrition identif y the cause and solution. If, as (Toronto Star, 03/02/2008) attests.

_.,,, , , , 'we claim, the problems are caused by

Eight hundred and seventy ^ . ' , • r- ., c

.... Cd , . ,, . ti the private ownership or the means of

million or the world s adults are j _. , . . ,

.,,. production by a tiny minority who

' control and run the system in their own Canadian ownership will give us more

P interest, then that ownership must control over our economic destiny. He

as much as the poorest titty- change We are saying that the takes the current Conservative

v P resources and bounties of the earth government to task for creating The

The top five per cent earn as g^uid belong to everyone and should Competition Policy Review Panel too

much as the bottom eighty per ^ e p erate( j m me ir interest so no one late to repair the damage. Watkins is

will ever be deprived of the necessities disappointed that the Panel found that

of life. Is there any argument against Canadian business interests want less

this concept? We don't think so. restrictions on buying, selling, merging

The hard part is that only the non- and taking over companies, not more,

owners (you) can bring this about. He goes on to point the finger at the
Electing a leader and his party every

His thesis is that foreign ownership
is bad for Canada and substituting more

cent.

The wealthiest one fifth of
the world's population earns
seventy-five times that of the
poorest fifth.

Regarding the environment,

and add flooding and natural
disasters unprecedented scale.

All of the above is entirely
preventable. The Socialist Party of
Canada holds that it is the profit
system that is responsible. In the
capitalist mode of production,

commodities are produced with a view The time is now!
to making a profit. For this to take

sub-prime mortgage crisis and the
few years won't cut it. They are forced resulting market turmoil as evidence of

the chaos of the global market from
which more Canadian ownership will
insulate us. Surely Watkins is aware
that the nature of capitalist production
and its market are anarchic and chaotic
at any time.

In the same vein, David Olive wrote in
his article "A Lament for A Nation of
Sellouts" (Toronto Star, 24/02/08), "
What hope is there for Canada to be

we are experiencing rapid

deforestation, large-scale by the institutions and conventions in

species extinction, place to operate this system we are in

desertification and land now , no matter what their personal

degradation, polluted land, sea, choices may be. How many different

and air, and global warming, leaders and their parties have you

which will accelerate the above elected so far in your lifetime? Have

they solved any of the problems
mentioned above? Of course not.
It is up to you to act in the interests of
the non-owning class and bring about

the social revolution that is necessary toanything but a second tier, resource-
for a better world. Now you know why dependent, player on the global stage if
and how to act. every time a corporation approaches

critical mass, it gets sold off to a
foreign buyer?" Continued on page. . . 6

2 FALL 2008

IMAGINE

The Lonff Commute to Nowhere

One of the many problems caused
by the capitalist mode of
production is the long journey
to work for many workers, which itself
creates more problems. The "Toronto
Star" of December 8 th . 2007, focused
on the plight of Lori Forrester, a 42
year old accountant and mother of two
young children, who daily commutes
240 miles. Forrester leaves her home in
Berryville, Virginia at 7:30 am and
arrives at her workplace at shortly
after 9:00am. She comments, "It's
like I spend all my time at work and
on the road."

Forrester's husband leaves for work
at 3:30am. The long commutes and
early rising leave the Forresters with
three hours a day for family time.
Aside from the cost of gas and car
maintenance, they also pay someone
$225 a week to clean their house
because they don't have the time to
do it themselves. As for the family's
evening meal, it's a choice between
McDonalds and Taco Bell.
It used to take this writer two hours
to get from his home in Mississauga,
Ontario, to his job in Toronto. This
was by car, commuter train, and
walking. When weather ruled out
walking, then a subway and streetcar
substituted. According to Tim Harper,
the Star's man in Washington, "The
American commute starts earlier, lasts
longer, wastes more time and money,
and further endangers physical and
psychological health each year." Nor is
this a specifically North American
problem. Soaring house prices in most
of the industrialized countries
have caused many workers in cities to
live out of town and commute.
Not all places of employment are
accessible by train or bus, leaving the
car as the only option, and thereby

clogging the highways and roads and
contributing to global warming. The
craziness of it all is that many buy cars
to get to work and use up a fair chunk
of their wage in paying the car loan,
gas, parking, and maintenance. But
then whoever said capitalism was sane?
According to the following sources,
The Texas Transportation Institute, The
US census, The New England Journal

England, exacerbated by growing
suburbs, are well documented. Mayor
Livingstone's imposition of a $16 a day
charge on fossil fuel vehicles entering
central London has projected subway
ridership to reach 1.5 billion in the
coming years. This clearly shows that
in attempting to solve problems within
capitalism, new problems appear and
old ones can be exacerbated.

of Medicine, and The UN, the Now that China is emerging as a major

following statistics present a harrowing industrialized power, it can be expected

picture. The cost per year in wasted
fuel, and lost work due to road
congestion is $78 billion. The amount
of time drivers spend stuck in traffic
each year is 60 hours per driver in the
Washington area, and 37 hours is the
national average, compared to just 14

to experience the same problems.
Already three million cars clog the
main streets with one thousand more
appearing every day. China's rapidly
growing economy and rising incomes
have made it the fastest growing car
market in the world. Last years, car
sales rose 26% and this trend is

hours 25 years ago. Total hours for
Americans stuck in traffic for 2005 was expected to continue. The total car
4.2 billion! ownership in China is expected to

The Star continued in this vein by eclipse that of the US by 2025.

focusing on the travel problems in otherCloser to home, Michael Barrett, who
cities. The traffic problems of London, commutes from his home in Oshawa to

3 FALL 2008

IMAGINE

We welcome correspondence
from our readers. Send email
to spc@iname.com Or write
us at BOX 4280, Victoria BC,
V8X 3X8, Canada

his job in Mississauga says, " I will as it would become voluntary, not a

leave in the dark, come home in the compulsory five days out of seven

dark, and I'm always in the dark about drudge.

what's going on in the family. Barrett, aControl over one's work and over the

father of six, drives 150 kilometers very nature of production would likely

each day, and when he recently result in one's societal contribution

introduced himself to another parent at being close to home negating the mad

his daughter's swim practice, she was world of rising in the middle of the

surprised to hear that his wife was not anight to race to make far away

single parent. Another parent, Jennifer deadlines and unnecessarily consuming

Case, commutes 90 minutes, loves valuable energy and resources.

living in the country and is not Establishment of a socialist society

interested in car pooling or taking three would restore sanity to the work and

buses. "I do worry about my impact on commuting world.

the environment. I can't afford one of m -wit ■•

those lovely $60 000 hybrid cars." Case HOIieStV IS the WOfSt POllCV

Ipacp-c a par fnr "R^OO n tnnnth enpnHc ^ ^ ^n

leases a car for $300 a month, spends
another $300 on gas, and $100 on
insurance, "Half my pay goes to
commuting costs.

The reform minded "Toronto Star", of
course, can only see improvements
made within capitalism. It mentions
congestion fees in London, Stockholm,
and Singapore, but also mentions that
the decline has only been 22%. It also
mentions Denmark, which seems to
have dealt with the problem well by
increasing vehicle registration costs by
180% and a 25% value added tax. This
has forced many commuters to use
bicycles who have their own lanes,
parking, and signals. Bicycles,
however, are hardly feasible in North
American winters and distances. The
Star concludes, "... either we kill the
commute, or it will kill us."
The long commuting distances, by
whatever method, trigger problems
such as environmental damage,
resource waste, monetary cost, family
disruption, mental and physical stress.

In a society where human needs are
the only priority, this problem would
not exist. Once socialism is established,
its first task would be to eradicate the
mess capitalism has left behind. This
would involve a positive social
revolution. Cities, as they exist now, or
even automobiles, may not be needed.
Work would have a different meaning,

S.Shannon

As you are all aware, the
American economy is taking a
pounding and, given the global
nature of the market, the world
economy is following suit. As Dick
Bryan, professor of economics at the
University of Sydney, said, "In this
globalized world, a problem in one

higher rating. Later, it became known
that these agencies, on which foreign
investors rely for impartial advice, were
being paid by the banks selling the
mortgages. This revelation prompted
investors to move their money out of
the US mortgage market, thus creating
a panic.

location is a problem everywhere." The In Germany, the government had to
cause is the result of the American sub- save two banks from failing. In France,
prime mortgage crisis that exacerbated BNP Paribas, one of the country's

an already weakening US economy,
real estate agents, money lenders, and
mortgage brokers excepted. The
problem was that the real estate boom
was based on artificially low interest
rates. When they rose to the going
level, homeowners had difficulty with
the payments and walked away from,
or lost, their homes.

American banks, holding vast
amounts in sub-prime mortgages on

largest banks, had to suspend
redemptions from three of its
investment funds. In Britain, Northern
Rock PLC, the country's fifth largest
mortgage lender, had a run on funds as
investors lined up for their money.
What is amazingly hypocritical is the
reaction from the politicians and
economic experts in defence of the
system. French President, Sarkozy, who

has vowed to 'moralize financial
their books, decided to sell off the debt, capital', called for a rule book to avoid
Who would buy them if advertised global crisis. (Tribune, 28 August
honestly? The answer was to bundle the2007). Peter Bofinger, an economic
debt into packages using complex adviser to the German government,

computer models. Then, they were able said, "We need an international
to convince the rating agencies such as approach and the US needs to be part of

Moody's and the Orwellian-named
Standard and Poor's to give the
mortgage securities an artificially

it." (New York Times, 29 August
2007). Economic analyst Jim Willie
said, "The entire world is growing in its
disgust for having been defrauded."

(321gold.COm). Cont. on next page

4 FALL 2008

IMAGINE

would wonder what all the fuss was
about since it's all part of the normal
function of the capitalist system. A
capitalist apologist might claim that it
is an aberration, a result of blatant
despicable dishonesty. They would

Hamid Varzi, economic expert, is in a mess. War, conflict, crime, presidency-the North American Free

summarized it for most people, "The poverty, starvation, want, are all Trade Agreement with Canada and

US economy, once the envy of the accepted as part of daily life, but those Mexico", claims Luiza Savage in
world, is now viewed across the globe who believe in capitalism tell us that a "Macleans" magazine, 17 December
with suspicion." (International Herald socialist society would create chaos! If 2007. To quote Clinton, " NAFTA and
Tribune, 17 August 2007). A socialist any party, or its representative, were to the way it's been implemented has hurt

say, "Vote for us, and we will look after a lot of American workers." she told
the interests of the wealthy at the the union organization, AFL-CIO, in

expense of the poor", who would vote August. This has been the labour
for them? But, in reality, that's what
happens. The Conservative, Liberal,
Green, NDP, and even the so-called
never admit that dishonesty is a normal Communist Parties stand for
operating condition like wars and capitalism. They may run it in various

conflicts, famines, genocides, want, andways, but, because they do not put
poverty. In fact, dishonesty is found forward an alternative system and insist 'time-out', if elected, on the signing of
throughout the current system. on trying to make the present system new trade agreements and pledged to

Do politicians, all of whom stand for work in the interests of all, an set up a five-year review of existing

capitalism, come out and state this? Areimpossibility, they are not being honest, agreements beginning with NAFTA.
advertisers honest when selling their This does not mean that you can search Clinton did indeed do a study in 2006
products? During times of war, are we for the truth on the field of political on NAFTA, but, rather than deal with
told we are defending the system that combat and never find it. the plight of the unemployed, it focused

makes the few rich at the expense of The Socialist Party of Canada has no on improving access to Canadian
the many, i.e., defending the right of reason to lie. We have stuck to our
the rich to be rich? Of course not, for, if platform for over 100 years, i.e., the

they did, workers would stay home and establishment of a socialist society. We wrote," The Canadian government
let the capitalists fight their own wars, do not ask you to vote for us because ofmust address these costly and time-

criticism since the beginning.

Is Hilary courting the union vote? No
doubt. To another audience in June she
complained that factories were moving
to Mexico and promised to declare a

markets for New York State
agricultural products. Senator Clinton

Some lies are to split the working class, what we can do for you, but we can

to divide and conquer. Promoting
racism is one way. Immigrants are
blamed for unemployment although
statistics show that mass migration
causes greater economic activity and

consuming barriers to trade with New
York which are unfairly disadvantaging
New York producers." Even if Clinton
were well meaning, little of her good
intentions would take effect. Should

show you how to bring about that

society yourselves. We will not do or

say anything to get your vote. In fact,

we are the only party to say, "Do not

vote for us", unless you understand and she order an investigation into trade
jobs. It's the reason that Canada acceptswant socialism. When sufficient people agreements, it would be undertaken by
large numbers of immigrants annually, do understand the concept of socialism a government agency called the
Jews have often been blamed for worldand act to create it, then we will be able International Trade Commission. It
problems and their presence in banking to put an end to the ills that plague us examines trade law violations and

and finance cited, yet, only a tiny

percentage of the directors of the

world's banks are Jews. Blacks blame

whites and vice versa. The worse

conditions become, the more

scapegoats are sought to deflect

scrutiny of the real problem, private

ownership of the means of producing S.Shannon

and distributing wealth.

today. Study our case!

Free Trade or
Free World?

makes statements such as, "There is a
reasonable indication that a US
industry is materially injured by reason
of imports of Polyethelene
Terephthalate (PET) film, sheet, and
strip from Brazil and elsewhere that are
allegedly sold in the United States at
less than fair value." (Macleans, 17
December 2007). In other words,

The greatest lie of all is that capitalism " Since launching her campaign for the would an agency that is set up to look
is the best possible system. Anyone can White House, Democratic front runner, after the interests of the capitalists
clearly see that the world Hilary Clinton, has discovered 'serious conclude that NAFTA is bad for the

short comings' with a signature workers?

achievement of her husband's Continued on page 7

5 FALL 2008

IMAGINE

National Ownership or Common Ownership

continued.

He goes on to complain that the rest of
the world is cravenly protectionist,
despite what they may espouse, while
we are playing the global competition
game with noble rules. As he points
out, this is a system based on lying and
cheating and it behooves the Canadian
capitalist class to do the same to
compete, which I am sure they are
doing to the best of their ability. The
two articles, as far as socialists are
concerned, are typical of the mindless
fodder that makes up the science of
economics. So-called experts in this

of the working class. They don't own regulated but it is anything goes for the
Canadian firms any more than they rest as far as attracting capital goes,
own Chinese or Chilean ones. They Watkins thinks this type of regulation
simply sell their only commodity, should be expanded to protect us from

labour-power, to whoever will buy it in the vagaries of the
order to survive. While the Canadian market, but the mess that The Canadian

capitalist class and its supporter, the
government, exhort the worker to be
patriotic, work hard, reduce wage and
benefit demands to keep the company
"competitive", and even, in times of
war, risk their lives, the company
shows no loyalty whatsoever in return.

Imperial Bank of Commerce got into
through dabbling in the sub-prime
mortgage debacle (it reported a loss of
$1 .4 billion for the latest quarter and
could lose as much as $5 billion
overall) proves that they are global
players by necessity and can be global

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field fail to look at the whole picture
and the dynamics involved through
ignorance, lack of interest, or to
deliberately mislead the public. Rather
they search for remedies within the
capitalist system that has caused the
problem in the first place.
Capitalism began as small enterprises
operating in mainly local markets. As
capital accumulation and competition
grew, enterprises spread their wings in
search of more markets and became
regional, national and international in
scope. A great way to eliminate
competition and increase operating
capital was the merger or take over.
This process, as Marx pointed out, is a
natural consequence of capitalist
production. It is not an option to remain
local or national. The mantra is grow or
be gobbled up.

Secondly, the whole concept of
nationalism of company ownership has
no bearing whatsoever on the fortunes

Just like any other capitalist enterprise, losers despite an army of 'economists'
if an opportunity to increase profitand money managers, and any
margins appears elsewhere in the government regulations. In addition,
world, then they are forced to take Nortel recently announced the
advantage of it and will have no elimination of 2 100 jobs which
compunction about closing down continues a trend over the last few
Canadian operations and laying years that has seen their global
off Canadian workers. Do workforce drop from 100 000 to about

Canadian firms keep a full staff in 30 000. Obviously, regulated
employment in times of reduced companies are subject to the same
production, or do they, like all the forces and produce the same reactions
rest, reduce their wage bill by as non-regulated companies,
showing workers to the door? The All of this has no effect on the
answer is obvious and the evidence all Canadian worker, who, if he is lucky,
around us as our manufacturing sector may own the title to a tiny plot of land
continues to shrink and the jobs on which to live, together with a hefty

literally 'go south' . The world is not mortgage for a few decades that he
producing fewer commodities, it's just hopes to pay off in time for retirement.

that it is more profitable to produce
them elsewhere. This is the normal
operation of the capitalist mode of
production, and nationalizing
industries, as Watkins suggests, will
make not one iota of difference to the

This is why we say that workers have
no countries. They are simply part of a
world-wide class that produces
everything that is exploited by a world-
wide parasitic capitalist class. Country
has nothing to do with this process and

worker who will continue to be a wage is simply a symptom of the private
labourer whose surplus value is property system. Only when a system

appropriated, and continue to work at of common ownership of the world's
the whim of capital, "... state ownership resources and productive powers by the

does not do away with the capitalist
nature of the productive forces."
(Engels in "Anti-Duhring) . It is
doubtful whether there is such a thing
as a Canadian company of any size as
all enterprises are owned by blocks of
capital that can originate anywhere in
the world. Banking and
telecommunications are somewhat

whole of humanity is implemented will
the vast majority of us have any interest
or influence over what is produced and
for whom. At that time we will not
need economists, politicians, or
nationalism to figure it out for us.

6 FALL 2008

IMAGINE

t-1 rr\ i t~i wxt I 1 O anyone willing to work hard, that the word

r ree Iracie or r ree World : ciass as a s ° ciai divisi ° n is n ° ion g er

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^~ relevant. They are wrong. They are

„ , . _ influenced by the capitalist propaganda and

Continued from page 5 ,,, . , , . , • ...

J r * so-called economists trarned in compiling

nature of capitalist production with the an d spinning statistics to try to explain the
It would be very hard using any minority owning the tools of vagaries of the market. A large downturn is

of their economic techniques to reach production and the maj ority working called a 'correction' rather than a recession,
that conclusion." Said Jeffrey Scott, a for wages, is such that the problems it no matter that hundreds of thousands of
senior fellow at the Petersen Institute creates cannot be solved within it They workers lose their livelihoods until the
for International Economics, a are natural consequences of the market 'rights' itself. They are capitalist

nr u- „t *x.- i 4. 1 . „ . „ apologists and cheerleaders whose iob it is to

Washington think tank operation of the system. Some very ^ \ lcture and soften ^ ^

This is not to say that Clinton is totally we ll intentioned people have been suffered by workers at the hands of

uncaring when it comes to those who trying for a long time and we are still capitalism. The bourgeois revolutions of the
lose their jobs. She has proposed faced with the same problems we have seventeenth and eighteenth centuries firmly

expanding a federal program that pays had from the beginning. The capitalist established the rising capitalist class as the
benefits to the unemployed if their must ma ke a profit or go out of dominant force as commodity production and

company moves abroad or if their jobs business. Hence his need to keep labour wage labour took f h °^ ^ defeated u
become outsourced. Whatever Clinton costs down . The wor ker, in his need to ^^^Stl
wants and whatever results she may, or pay for rent, groceries, clothing, ^ classes were left= the capitalist class that

may not, achieve, the plain fact is that utilities, etc., needs higher wages. Thus,owns the resources, the factories, the land,

any change to any trade agreement,
including abolition and/or
compensation, is simply a matter of
tinkering with capitalism.

All disagreements between

in wage labour, appears the class

struggle over the surplus product

produced by the labour of the workers
One thing about NAFTA that

should be evident to everyone is that
politicians are on the business efficacy the worker has no country. There may
of the agreements, and any be emotional attachments to, and a

compensation for the workers is genuine like of the area in which one

seeking answers to capitalism's lives. That is normal, but a country as a other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat."

problems within the system that caused political entity is but a means whereby (Communist Manifesto). Class society and
them in the first place. The some live well at the expense of others. the ^S™ 8 therem a f e fr ° m the ,

fundamental aspect of NAFTA is the It is not the workers who own their ^r^^^^^Z^.

country and the law protects those who The worker is forced to sell his mental md

and the workers who operate the system but
do not own any of it, not even the product,
which is appropriated by the capitalist. Karl
Marx wrote, "Our epoch, the epoch of the
bourgeoisie, possesses, however, this distinct
feature: it has simplified the class
antagonisms. Society as a whole is more and
more splitting up into two great hostile
camps, into two great classes facing each

ability to move capital and production
freely to wherever they can get the
cheapest labour and the best deal, and.
hence, bigger profits. In fact, Clinton
made no bones about it, complaining
that factories were moving to Mexico
for lower labour costs and to Canada
for cheaper health care costs.

The most blatant hypocrisy of

do.

All that can be easily changed
through political organization acting
consciously for a socialist society in
which trade agreements,
unemployment, and outsourcing are
things of the past and security of food

physical powers in order to survive. His
surplus value, the hours in excess of those
necessary to produce the value of his wage,
and therefore worked unpaid, form the
source of profit for the owner. The worker
has a job only so long as a profit is realized
from his labour. The hours and conditions of
work, the pay, the production decisions, are
all made by the employer. These antagonisms
must exist no matter how personable the

and necessary goods a thing of the
all is that during wartime capitalists and pre sent. Whatever you may think of

politicians exhort the workers to be this analysis, why not study the case forowner may be, no matter where you work
patriotic and fight for their country. socialism? You have nothing to lose but factorv or office < and wlll > sooner or later,
Those who don't fight are made to feel yoU r chains ! lead t0 conflict

guilty. The results of NAFTA are such

that we can clearly see that capitalists Ta l es f rom The ClaSS War
do not live up to their own phony ^^^^^^^^^^— ^^^^^^^^^^—

standards. You may ask how one could

change this in our present day society. There are those people who believe that
The answer is that you can't. The very socia i c i asses have disappeared in recent

decades, that social mobility is available to

7 FALL 2008

IMAGINE

Contact us

Socialist Party of Canada

Box 4280

Victoria, BC V8X 3X8

spc@iname.com

www.worldsocialism.org/canada/

Regional contacts

Victoria, BC

Bill Johnson

bill j@hotmail.com

Vancouver, BC

John Ames
jrames@telus.net

Manitoba

Jaime Chinchilla Solano
jaimech@gmail.com

Ontario

John Ayers

j payers@sym patico . ca

Quebec

Michael Descamps

mich_international

@hotmail.com

International contacts

Belgium

martyn.dunmore@pandora.be

Denmark

Graham Taylor

grahamt@sol.dk

Gambia

World of Free Access

gambia@worldsocialism .org

Germany

Norbert

weltsozialismus@gmx.net

India

World Socialist Group

Vill Gobarahanpur

P.O. Amral, Dist. Bankura

72212

Italy

Gian Maria Freddi

Casella Postale n. 7

. Ag. PTVR 32

37131 Verona

gm.freddi@libero.it

Japan

Michael

worldsocialismjapan

@hotmail.com

Kenya

Patrick Ndege

P.O. Box 56428

Nairobi

Norway

Robert Stafford

hallblithe@yahoo.com

Sweden

Dag Nilsson

Bergsbrunna villavag 3B

S-75256 Uppsala

Swaziland

Mandla Ntshakala

P.O. Box 981

Manzini

Zambia

Marxist Education Group
zambia@worldsocialism.org

WSM Companion Parties

The Socialist Party of Canada is just

one member of a world-wide association

of socialist parties known as the

World Socialist Movement:

World Socialist Party of Australia
P.O. Box 1266
North Richmond
Victoria 3121

Socialist Party of Great Britain

52 Clapham High Street,

London SW4 7UN

spgb@worldsocialism.org

www.worldsocialism.org/spgb

World Socialist Party (New Zealand)

P.O. Box 1929

Auckland, Nl

www.worldsocialism.org/nz

World Socialist Party
of the United States

P.O. Box 440247

Boston, MA 021 44

wspusa@worldsocialism.org

www.worldsocialism.orq/usa

The Socialist Party of Canada
Object

The establishment of a system of society
based upon the common ownership and
democratic control of the means and instruments
for producing and distributing wealth
by and in the interest of society as a whole.

Declaration of Principles

The Socialist Party of Canada holds:

1 . That society as at present constituted is
based upon the ownership of the means of
living (i.e.. land, factories, railways, etc.) by

the capitalist or master class, and the consequent
enslavement of the working class, by
whose labour alone wealth is produced.

2. That in society, therefore, there is an
antagonism of interests, manifesting itself as

a class struggle between those who possess
but do not produce and those who produce
but do not possess.

3. That this antagonism can be abolished
only by the emancipation of the working

class from the domination of the master
class, by the conversion into the common
property of society of the means of production
and distribution, and their democratic
control by the whole people.

4. That as in the order of social evolution
the working class is the last class to achieve

its freedom, the emancipation of the working
class will involve the emancipation of all
mankind, without distinction of race or sex.

5. That this emancipation must be the workof
the working class itself.

6. That as the machinery of government,
including the armed forces of the nation,
exists only to conserve the monopoly by the
capitalist class of the wealth taken from the
workers, the working class must organize
consciously and politically for the conquest

of the powers of government, in order that
this machinery, including these forces, may
be converted from an instrument of oppression
into an agent of emancipation and the
overthrow of plutocratic privilege.

7. That as political parties are but the
expression

of class interests, and as the interest of
the working class is diametrically opposed to
the interest of all sections of the master class,
the party seeking working class emancipation
must be hostile to every other party.

8. The Socialist Party of Canada, therefore,
enters the field of political action determined

to wage war against all other political parties,
whether alleged labour or avowedly
capitalist, and calls upon the members of
the working class of this country to support
these principles to the end that a termination
may be brought to the system which deprives
them of the fruits of their labour, and that
poverty may give place to comfort, privilege
to equality, and slavery to freedom.

8 FALL 2008

IMAGINE

Imagine

OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF CANADA

WAR IN GAZA

Who's Side
are You On?

WINTER 2009

VOL. 7 NUM. 1

ISSN 1710-5994

Socialism
as a Dirty
Word pg.

2

Rainfor-
ests Un-
der Stress

Pg-7

IMPOSSIBILISTS

"PETER E
NEWELL

Book
Review
History
of the
SPC pg. 8

Political Fear Mongering

and the Stigma of Socialism

CIAUST?

M. CROSSMAN

If you have been in the dark lately,
an election recently occurred in
the United States. Election time
in the U.S. guarantees mudsling-
ing and scandals. Socialism is now be-
ing dragged through the mud, having
being thrown around during the elec-
tion race like a deadly weapon. True
socialism has been tarnished by previ-
ous historical events, and the Presiden-
tial candidates perpetuated the misun-
derstanding of scientific socialism. "A
vote for Obama is a vote for Socialism"
was plastered on a billboard in Penn-
sylvania on October 31, 2008. Barack
Obama, now President elect, has been
branded as a socialist because of a
statement made regarding taxes. In a
discussion with a man termed "Joe
the Plumber" Barack Obama stated
that the distribution of wealth was part
of his agenda. Obama was quoted as
saying "when you spread the wealth
around, it's good for everybody."
John McCain and Sarah Palin, the can-
didates for the Republican Party have

IMAGINE Winter 2009

declared that Obama's "spread the
wealth" comment proves he has a so-
cialist agenda. "Certainly it's part of the
socialist creed, the socialist philosophy
... to share the wealth," McCain said.
Governor Palin repeatedly used the
word socialism in the context that it is
a toxic programme. "Friends, now is no
time to experiment with socialism," she
said at a rally in Roswell, New Mexico.
And McCain, discussing Obama's tax
proposals, agreed that they sounded "a
lot like socialism." Furthermore, Todd
Akin, a Republican congressman from
Missouri, told a McCain rally out-
side St. Louis that, "This campaign in
the next couple of weeks is about one
thing. It's a referendum on socialism."
And yet another Senator, George Voi-
novich of Ohio, said of Obama, "With
all due respect, the man is a socialist."

It is these broad and misunderstood
statements about what socialism is that
impedes the advance of a true and sci-
entific understanding of it. Simply dis-
tributing wealth in the U.S. would not
be socialism; instead it would be state
capitalism. The essential features of
capitalism would still remain, which
are; ownership of the tools of pro-
duction by a small minority with the
consequent wage enslavement of the
majority and production with a view
to making a profit on the market. Fur-
thermore, the government would still
exist the way it does now, to sustain the
status quo. What's worse is that people
truly believe that wealth sharing would
usher in Soviet-style socialism, which
was state capitalism, since it is one of
the examples of a country that labelled

itself socialist or communist. For ex-
ample: 84-year-old World War II vet-
eran John H. Gay is certain that Obama
believes in the communist ideology
and that "if we go the socialist way,
you young people will lose all your
freedoms ~ mentally, physically and
religiously." That is not part of true
socialism in any way, but the stigma
and lack of understanding on the sub-
ject impede people from considering
it as a viable and practical alternative.
Although Mr Gay's stigma does not
reflect true socialism in any way, the
likes of such "common sense" igno-
rance on the subject hoodwinks peo-
ple from considering real socialism
as a viable and practical alternative to
the never ending capitalist mayhem
of economic slumps, unemployment,
wars, environmental destruction, and
other varieties of human-made misery.

Although material conditions are of-
ten the mother of invention in building
class consciousness opposing capital,
socialists never cease endeavouring to
educate en masse debunking the myths
of capitalist apologists and mystifi-
ers. Through persausive argument and
much hard work rational opinions and
knowledge can be assertained to truly
reflect and share the ideas and scien-
tific principles of conducting human
affairs based on what real socialism is
- and not what it is not. We urge you
to join us in hastening this en masse
education evolution for social revolu-
tion and speed the day to end capital-
ist oppression and all that it entails.

The Palestinian/Israeli Conflict:

Who 's Side are You On ?

The latest outbreak of hostilities
in the Middle East has brought
predictable results - condemna-
tion of the brutal way in which Israel
has used its military might (900 dead
and 4 000 injured, many women and
children); support for Israel by most
Western governments, especially Brit-
ain and the US; inaction by the UN as
any resolution is easily vetoed by the
five permanent members of the Security
Council, who just happen also to be the
world's main purveyors of armaments.
Israel has invaded Palestinian territory
ostensibly to stop the continual firing of
crude rockets into their land. Palestin-
ian rockets are in response to the two-
year blockade of Gaza, essentially im-
prisoning them and creating economic
chaos and misery. Hamas, the ruling
party of the Palestinians, refuses to rec-

ognize Israel's right to exist, while Is-
rael and the US have declared Hamas,
a democratically elected government,
verified by international observers,
to be a terrorist organization. But the
roots of the conflict go much deeper
than that. The establishment of the
state of Israel after WW II was carried
out at the behest of the US. For them,
it created a modern friendly state in a
strategically important region and gave
them the opportunity to destabilize the
area to evade facing a pan-Arab front.
It has worked well. The region is in a
constant state of war and conflict and
Arab factions compete with each other.
Jews and Arabs lived peaceably in the
area for thousands of years, but when
the Israeli state boundaries were drawn
and enforced, many Palestinians had
to move from territories they had oc-

cupied for generations. It was a recipe
for disaster and the West has seen to it
that this situation will continue forever.
The modern state, with clearly defined
boundaries, a central government com-
plete with its apparatus for 'defence'
and for propaganda, the education
system and the media, is necessary to
the operation of the class system that
is capitalism. That there is conflict as
rival states compete for economic he-
gemony is no surprise to the socialist,
as this is a natural consequence of the
operation of the system. The supposed
solution to the problem, the creation of
a Palestinian state, would simply cre-
ate a formally organised capitalist unit,
complete with a dominant owning class
and an exploited working class. Like
all other states, it would operate in the
interests of profit, not in the interests

IMAGINE Winter 2009

of the people. Furthermore, it would
necessarily be in direct competition
with all other states, including Israel,
for resources, land, and trade. In other
words, the conflict would continue as
long as the competitive profit system
exists. So whose side do
we take? The Socialist
Party of Canada and its
companion parties around
the world were first con-
fronted with this question
as the First World War be-
gan. Using Marxian theo-
ry, its own Declaration of
Principles, and analytical
common sense, The SPC
produced a war manifesto
on August 6th. 1914. In its
"Manifesto to the Work-
ers of Canada", it stated
that modern wars have
their origin in the disputes
between the international
capitalist class and have
no interest for the working
class; that it will be the
workers who will be ex-
pected to fight and die for
their capitalists' cause and
benefit; that since the in-
ternational working class
produces all the world's
wealth yet possesses noth-
ing and receives but paltry
wages to maintain a slav-
ish existence, while the
capitalist class produces nothing and
possesses everything by virtue of the
powers of the state, then the only strug-
gle of interest to the workers is wrest-
ing this power from the master class to
remove all forms of exploitation and
servitude, (see "The Impossibilists; A
Brief History of The Socialist Party of
Canada", by Peter E. Newell, Athena
Press). This stance has been upheld
continuously since that time by all
parties of The World Socialist Move-

ment in the face of the seemingly end-
less wars that afflict the profit system.
In the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, then,
we equally condemn the invasion of
Gaza by the vastly superior forces
of Israel and its blockade that causes

hardship to the Palestinians, and the
indiscriminate rocket attacks and the
tactic of sending in suicide bombers,
some just children, to kill and maim a
few Israeli workers. The SPC supports
the workers of both sides in their strug-
gle to throw off the yoke of capitalist
oppression, legitimized and enforced
by the state machinery and operated
by so-called leaders who pretend to
guard the interests of the people while
operating a system of exploitation.

Only when the working class as a
whole comes to realize that we are
in the majority and that we have the
same interests, no matter where we
live, and that we have the power to
make the fundamental changes need-
ed to end all conflict, will the Middle
Eastern problem, and others around
the world, be solved. This, and other,
conflicts will continue so long as the
present competitive system of private
ownership by the minority contin-
ues. Only when the people are able to
elect representatives, not leaders, who
are charged with carrying out their
wishes, and are daily responsible for
that task, will peace be possible. Only
when private ownership of the means
of producing and distributing wealth
become collective and states, classes,
money, profit, wages disappear, will
the reasons for war also disappear.

Mankind as a Commodity

J. HODGINS

Human beings are commodified
though the selling and buying
of their labour power. A commod-
ity appears simply as something with
a threefold value i.e, a use-value, an
exchange value and a price. What im-
plications does this have in regards to
the commodification of human labour
power? It would appear as though the
purchase of our labour power would
indeed be the essence of enslavement,
slavery being defined in terms "as one
being compelled to work for others,
and the surrender of the product of
they're labour". The term wage-slavery
would be an appropriate definition for
the monetary exchange of human la-
bour. The commodified human being

IMAGINE Winter 2009

does not have any claim over the wealth that they produce.
While, unlike the slaves of yesterday, the wage-slave is
not compelled to work for any given master, he nonethe-
less must work for a master, for his very livelihood depends
upon this monetary exchange. The Capitalist neither pur-
chases his worker, nor does he own them. The capitalist
merely purchases from them their labour power, the work-
ers physical energy, for a certain period of time. The worker
represents to him merely a machine capable of expending
a certain amount of labour power. When the capitalist does
not need any more labour power, he simply refrains from
purchasing any. This occurrence is quite a common thing,
as we have recently seen in the layoffs in the various sec-
tors of industry. The layoff is an overt example of the ces-
sation of exchange that exists between workers and capi-
talist, it is merely a circumstance of supply and demand.

It is clear that mankind's livelihood is directly related to
the production we are involved in. In all aspects of social
history this has remained true. It is the relationship that the
worker's holds in relation to labour that has transformed
throughout the ages. Where once the worker laboured in
a state of serfdom, he now labours in the state of wage-
dom. The future of this relationship will not remain un-
changed. The Socialist Party of Canada puts forth the
case for a radical transformation of the workers relation-
ship towards the means of producing wealth. The socialist
advocates the common ownership of the wealth of man-
kind's labour, and the abolishment of the commodifica-
tion of humanity. It is only when the working class as a
whole stands in an equal ownership towards the means of
producing and distributing wealth that this exploitation will
end. To that end we encourage the entire working class to
study our case, and to bring forth the next age of mankind.

What's in a Price?

J. HODGINS

In the Capitalist mode of production
the creation and distribution of com-
modities and goods take form in the
shape of prices. The rise and decline
in prices can be attributed to many
varying factors. Production of a sin-
gle commodity does not occur within
a vacuum, rather many different as-
pects and circumstances go into the
production of a product that are out
of the hands of the workers that pro-
duce them. Let's for example use the
automobile as an illustration of this.
An automobile takes its final form as a
finished product in the shape of a price,
lets say $40 000. If you break apart the
process by which the production of an
automobile occurs you find that hun-
dreds of different forms of labour were
involved in its final form. A car is com-
posed of thousands of different me-
chanical parts, the majority of which
are produced in different factories by
different workers. We can deduce even
further that the production of a single
mechanical part in the car has many
different aspects of labour involved
with its production. The worker who
labours at the mine in northern Ontario
producing steel derivatives is as much

involved in the process of automobile
production as the worker that assem-
bles the finishing pieces of a single
car. The same can be said for the truck
driver who transports the raw material
from the mine to the processing plant to
be further refined into industrial grade
steel. Even more so we can lump into
this process the farmer, who by their
production of food allows individual
workers in this chain the sustenance re-
quired to be a productive producer. We
can see then, that the $40 000 dollar
price tag is not some arbitrary number
created out of thin air by money crazed
capitalists. The final price is the amal-
gamation of all other forms of labour
value that goes into the production of
a single product for sale on the market.

Neither are the wages that we receive
just an arbitrary number created by our
employers. A wage takes its form in
the shape of a sale and purchase. The
sale is brought forth by the worker,
who confronts the market with his only
true possession, that of his mind and
muscle. The purchase occurs on the
side of the owner who buys from the
worker his time and labour. Wages are

calculated by the cost of the goods and
services a worker needs to consume in
order to continue being a productive
worker, this being the necessary things
a human needs in order to live and
support a family. Simply put, the price
of labour is what constitutes a wage.
The labour a worker expends during
production adds value to the thing the
worker is producing. It is this factor
that creates what is called 'surplus-val-
ue' i.e. profit. It can then be considered
that the worker, throughout one por-
tion of the day works to produce the
equivalent value of their wage, and in
another portion of the day works to cre-
ate profit for the capitalist. The wage a
worker receives must always be less
then the value of what they produce,
otherwise there is no profit to be made,
and production will cease. Profit is
merely the value created by the worker
above and beyond the cost of the wage;
it can be considered that profit is the
equivalent of unpaid labour. Consider
this next time you are in your work-
place, for most of your working day
you are essentially working for free.

IMAGINE Winter 2009

As soon as the world credit cri-
sis burst on the scene, capital-
ists, politicians, and soothsay-
ers put global warming on the back
burner. Even before the economic cri-
sis, the deforestation aspects of global
warming were already low on the radar
which is ludicrous to anyone concerned
with preventing the environmental ca-
tastrophe into which capitalism is rush-
ing headlong. Forests were left out of
the original Kyoto agreement and out
of the carbon markets proposed in The
International Panel of Climate Change
Report of 2007. Yet, they contain fifty
per cent of life on earth while covering
less than seven per cent of the earth's
surface, and they are responsible for
most of the rainfall on this planet. To
an extent, they determine the earth's
temperature by forming a cooling
belt around the equator. According to
Rodney Castleden in his "Discover-
ies that Changed the World" (Futura,
2008), "The rate of destruction of the
tropical rainforests became a major
cause of concern in the 1980s. Sud-

denly, environmentalists and the gen-
eral public all over the world became
aware that the forests were being lost
at such a fast rate, that, in as little as
a generation, there might be no rain-
forest left at all." Nearly two decades
have gone by since that time and they
are becoming increasingly smaller,
through over exploitation, in the name
of profit, for timber, agricultural land,
mineral resources and cattle ranching.
Commercial logging, which is a ma-
jor contributor to deforestation, pro-
vides pulp for paper and cardboard
for the major industrialized countries.
Approximately fifty per cent of the
world's timber and seventy -five per
cent of the world's paper is consumed
by a quarter of its population, mostly
in the US, Europe, and Japan. Though
some forest is cleared for local food
production, much is cleared for cattle
ranching. Beef cattle are raised for the
US fast food industry. Every burger
eaten represents the clearing of fifty
square feet of rainforest. Powerful,
multi-national companies are also in-

volved, whether it is logging, oil and
mineral mining, or power generation.
Their power schemes have resulted in
vast flooded areas of rainforest. In ad-
dition, as they move their employees
in, they destroy more forest with high-
way, railway and settlement building.
The forests used to be an enormous
water reservoir but clearing reduces
this amount through increased evapo-
ration. The risk exists that the forests
could become deserts. What is now
the Sahara desert was once a for-
ested area, brought about natural cli-
mate change. Imagine what is now
possible with man's helping hand!
In 1992, The Food and Agricultural
Organization (FOA) estimated that,
globally, tropical rainforests were be-
ing lost at the rate of 65 000 square
miles a year. The World Resources
Institute disagreed and said it was 70
OOOsquare miles. In 2007 it was dis-
covered that deforestation has created
huge volumes of carbon dioxide by
destroying much of the cooling belt
around the equator. The Stern Report

IMAGINE Winter 2009

on climate change estimated that de-
forestation produces twenty-five per
cent of the greenhouse gases that are
responsible for global warming. By
focusing on the direct production of
carbon dioxide emissions, politicians
are turning a blind eye to deforestation.
The Stern Report also comments," ...
that the destruction of the tropical for-
est during the four years 2008 to 2011
alone is set to pump more carbon di-
oxide into the atmosphere than every
flight in the history of aviation until at
least 2025." According to Castleden, "
Another environmental report has stat-
ed bleakly 'If we lose the forests, we
lose the fight against climate change.'
The people most directly affected are
the 1.6 billion of the world's poor-
est people who live in or near the rain

forests, and get their living from them.
Poorly armed, educated, and organized,
they are no match for the governments
who force them off their land or for the
multi-nationals who take it from them.
What can be done within capitalism to
save the rainforests? It would seem pre-
cious little, considering it isn't high on
any politician's agenda, including those
who are fighting a losing battle against
global warming in general. The reason
the forests are being destroyed can be
summed up in one word, profit. Wheth-
er it is wood and paper products, food
products, mining, or energy projects, it
all means the same thing - commodi-
ties that can be sold for profit. Nor can
anyone expect any capitalist enterprise
to consider long- term consequences. A
profit must be made quickly for them to

remain in business. Though profit may
be the very lifeblood of the capitalist
system, it is also a destructive force,
whether it be the deaths of members
of the working class in wars, or, in this
case, destruction of the environment.
Some may well ask if the members of
a socialist society wouldn't need the
products that capitalism is plunder-
ing the world to produce. We most
certainly would need those things that
are essential to our modern world, but
production and production techniques
would be devised that wouldn't include
the blatant rape and devastation of our
natural world. The vast majority would,
through elected representatives, ascer-
tain needs, materials, clean methods of
production and distribution, and fuel
that minimizes or eliminates damage
to our environment. The
first citizens of a social-
ist world will be con-
fronted with the mess
that capitalism has made
of this planet. They will
have to reclaim the for-
ests, irrigate the des-
erts, and clean the air,
land, and waters. With
present day technology
and future innovations
and discoveries, they
will probably succeed.
Then a world will exist
where humankind can
live in harmony with
nature. Who would not
want such a world? So
why not organize politi-
cally to speed the day.

IMAGINE Winter 2009

Book Review

The Impossibilists -A Brief History
of The Socialist Party of Canada

By Peter E. Newell, Athena Press, UK, 2008.

S. SHANNON

In writing his highly informative
and readable history, Newell has
accomplished something that biog-
raphers of The Socialist Party of Great
Britain (of Which Newell is a member)
have failed to achieve in one volume.
Newell describes, in detail, the events
and controversies that have occurred in
the SPC's history and captures the spir-
it and flair of the colourful personalities
that played a conspicuous part in its his-
tory. Readers will consider themselves
fortunate that the author persevered over
a long period to complete this work.

Though the title includes the word brief,
absorbing the voluminous information
contained in the 400 pages and six ap-
pendices, it's hard to think of it as such.
Marxist activity, as opposed to Re-
formist and Christian socialism began
in Canada, mostly in the Western prov-
inces, around 1900. Many were British
working people who (like the found-
ers of SPGB) had been members of
the Social Democratic Federation, but
had quit, disillusioned and disgusted
because it had become increasingly re-
formist. Several parties claiming to be
socialist were founded, two of which
deserve mention here. The Revolution-
ary Party was formed in late 1901 or
early 1902. They contested a by-elec-
tion in Nanaimo, BC, in December,
1902. Their platform was the abolition
of capitalism and the wages system,
not immediate demands or reforms. In-
terestingly, Newell claims this was the

world's first completely revolutionary
Socialist Party. In 1901, the Socialist
Party of British Columbia was formed
in Vancouver, which was a mixture of
revolutionaries and reformers. By Jan-
uary, 1903, the former had sufficient
power to suggest (probably for the first
time) that in elections, where there were
no socialist candidates, workers should
write 'Socialism' on their ballot papers
In February, 1905, the above parties
and various others throughout Can-
ada, merged to form the SPC. In the
early days, the bulk of the member-
ship and its most active ones, were in
British Columbia. The most influen-
tial members advocated the need to
educate workers 'to their class inter-
ests and demand the collective own-
ership of the means of production."

Newell quoted another biographer,
Ross McCormack, "By refusing to de-
mand reforms in its platform, the SPC
became unique in North America."
An outstanding early member was Eu-
gene Kingsley, as a speaker, organizer,
and writer, who, when asked about re-
forms, declared, " Go after the earth
and the first thing you know, you will
have palliatives galore from the cow-
ardly capitalist tribe, fleeing for their
lives, from the wrath to come." Anoth-
er early member was Jim Pritchard, an
immigrant from the UK, who had, for a
time, worked in Manchester at the Er-
men and Engels Textile Mill. Pritchard
had led the drive to organize coal min-

THE

IMPOSSIBILISTS

J KIEF FBOFHE GF THE
SOCIALISE PHET

W&m

"PETER E
NEWELL

ers on Vancouver Island into the West-
ern Federation of Miners, where he
worked as a miner. In 1903, he was
blacklisted and he moved to the city of
Vancouver. He died in 1952, aged 90
and still a member of the SPC. Howev-
er impressive the above may seem, the
plain fact was that there were reformers
among the members who would even-
tually create discord. In 1911, various
groups of reformists left to form the
Social Democratic Party of Canada,
leaving the SPC at a very low ebb.

Newell recounts some of the SPC's
achievements, which are quite an eye-
opener, even for present-day members.
On August 6th. 1914, two days after
Britain declared war on Germany, the
SPC drew up an anti-war manifesto
that was published in the Western
Clarion on August 15th. Its most sig-
nificant paragraph being," inasmuch
as all modern wars have their origins
in the disputes of the international
capitalist class for markets in which
to dispose of the stolen products of
labour, or to protect themselves in the
possession of markets they already
have, the motive of the anticipated
struggle in Europe is of no real inter-
est to the international working class."
This was published ten days before
the SPGB's own anti-war statement.
In may, 1917, three month's after the
Russian czar's abdication and six
months before the Bolshevik coup,
the Western Clarion included what

IMAGINE Winter 2009

may be the first correct analysis by a
Marxist party on the events in Rus-
sia "...although events in Russia were
encouraging in that they were moving
the proletariat towards emancipation,
the historical juncture for the co-oper-
ative commonwealth had not arrived."

Among the companion parties of so-
cialism, the SPC alone has had some
electoral success. Between 1905 and
1920, five candidates were elected (two
of them twice) to the provincial parlia-
ments in British Columbia, Alberta,
and Manitoba. It must, though, be hon-
estly said that the majority of votes
cast were both on a Labour Union and
Reformist basis. Newell gives details
of the differing attitudes among mem-
bers towards unions, including IWW,
which has not resolved itself today.
The Winnipeg strike of 1919, was not
organized by SPC, nor was socialism
an issue. Nevertheless, SPC mem-
bers were involved, including strike
committee members George Arm-
strong, Dick Johns, and Bob Russell,
all of whom served prison terms for
their involvement. Bill Pritchard, the
son of the previously mentioned Jim,
was not on the committee, but was
jailed anyway for his involvement.

Newell devotes an entire chapter to
the strike, which (like the rest of the
book) is absorbing reading. As an
aside, this reviewer would like to add
that at the '"Museum of Man"' in Gatin-
eau, Quebec (across the river from
Ottawa) there is an exhibit devoted
to the strike. It includes an exact rep-
lica of the Strike H.Q., the literature of
the time, such as The Western Labour
News and life-sized cardboard cutouts
of some of the leading personalities in-
volved such as Helen Armstrong, wife
of George, herself an SPC member
and member of the strike committee.

The Bolshevik seizure of power had a
devastating effect on the SPC. Some

quit to join Bolshevik-
style parties. Others were
'...subject to the anti-red
propaganda and persecu-
tion, whether they were
sympathetic to the Rus-
sian upheaval or not."
In 1919, the 'One Big
Union' was founded,
largely by SPC members,
some of which devoted
more time to it than to the
SPC itself. . . "the Canadian
state closely monitored
the activities of promi-
nent members of SPC and
OBU. Some of them left
the country, either for a few months,
or, in some cases, permanently." Some
became reformists, Bill Pritchard be-
ing a perfect example. By 1933 he
"was heavily involved with the newly
established Cooperative Common-
wealth Federation." He eventually
returned to the fold in the US and,
in 1969, wrote an excellent analy-
sis of the Winnipeg strike, in com-
memoration of its fiftieth anniversary.

For the SPC it was too many setbacks
and , in 1925, without consulting the
membership, the executive dissolved
the party. At no time did socialist ac-
tivity by ex members cease. A number
of small locals continued to function, a
proletarian club was founded in Van-
couver, and a science study club was
founded in Winnipeg. By 1931, former
members re-organized the SPC and,
in 1931, accepted the SPGB's object
and declaration of principles, Since
then, the SPC has struggled through
the depression, WWII, the cold war,
the prosperity of the fifties and sixties,
and subsequent recessions, constantly
stating the case for socialism without
compromise. Like all parties, it has had
its controversies, one of which was in
the 1960s. This concerned internal de-
mocracy - some Vancouver members
were expelled and joined with the To-

"7#e Sacialut Patitf. oj
Canada.

will huld a

MEETING

On Thursday, Oct. 28, 1943

AT 8 P.M.

EMPIRE HALL

ALEXANDER AND WORTH

Subject:

"The C. C. F. and Socialism"

J. MILNE Speaking

ALL ARE WELCOME AND WE ARE SURE
YOUR TIME WILL BE WELL SPENT

7& gocuUiU Patty o/ eaHaJa
I'.O. Box 1751, Winnipeg

ronto local, which
resigned to form the
World Socialist Party
of Canada. A previous
reviewer criticized
Newell for devot-
ing a whole chapter
on this and, I'm told,
Newell agreed. For
my part, it was some-
thing that happened
and the effect was
terrible for a small
party that could ill
afford such schisms.
If one is going to
tell it 'warts and all',
it had to be dealt with in detail.
One topic that I question, that had to
be dealt with in detail, is an appendix
of 15 pages devoted to Daniel De Leon
and The Socialist Labour Party. Possi-
bly, Newell didn't want any confusion
concerning SPC differences with SLP
There may be some confusion when one
sees De Leon's name on the back cover.
This, I'm told, is the publisher's doing.
Another topic that I feel has too much
space is Charles Lestor He w as a colour-
ful member, active in the twenties and
thirties in Canada and Britain, whose
socialist understanding was questioned
by both parties. Newell sums up, "Dan-
iel De Leon and Trotsky were, appar-
ently Lestor's great unsung heroes."
Besides De Leon, there are appendices
on SPC pamphlets, an electoral history
of SPC, locals after 1931, locals 1933-
1939, and Canadian Socialist and Ca-
nadian Social Democratic groups and
parties since 1939. "The Impossibil-
ists" ends on a couple of high notes
- the publication of a new journal,
"Imagine", and the other being the final
sentence, "At the time of writing, the
SPC appears to have moved up a gear
or two - only time will tell." "The Im-
possibilists" is indispensable reading
for those interested in the history of the
labour movement in Canada and the
movement for socialism everywhere.

IMAGINE Winter 2009

10

Obscene and Heard

Health

A big issue for Canadians is the pres-
ervation of our universal "free"
Health care. Especially as half the
1.5 million American families that go
bankrupt each year do so due to medi-
cal causes. In Canada we have creeping
privatization as for profit clinics keep
popping up contravening the Canada
Health Act but never challenged by any
level of government. These clinics are
slowly stripping the health care system
of doctors, nurses, other health care pro-
fessionals, and resources. They charge
fees that most Canadians cannot afford,
such as $13-20 000 for knee surgery.

On health, cigarette manufactur-
ers, virtually chased out of the
shrinking tobacco market in North
America, have found new ones in the
Third World (will it ever get to Second
place?). China is the land of cheap cig-
arettes with ads such as, "This special
product was created... as an apprecia-
tion to all women in style. Because you
deserve the best" (message on packs of
'low side stream lady' rose flavoured
cigarettes, Toronto Star, 25/10/08).
Apparently it's going well as smoking
kills over a million in China every year!

Work

capitalism', China style. Is it any dif-
ferent from the Canadian manufac-
turing companies who, over the last
five years, have run from Canada to
greener (as in green money) pastures,
throwing 300 000 workers out of a job.

On November 19th. the leaders of the
US auto industry left Washington with-
out any bail out money for their com-
panies, but traveled in their private jets.
Each flight cost about $20 000. As one
observer commented, "there is a deli-
cious irony in seeing private luxury jets
flying into Washington with tin cups in
their hands saying they are going to be
trimming down and streamlining their
business." Kinda like seeing someone
show up at a soup kitchen in a top hat
and tux. With GM and Chrysler close
to collapse, some 2 to 3 million work-
ers will become unemployed, probably
none of whom will pick up their dole
money (if they qualify) in a private jet.
An article on disappearing auto jobs
(Toronto Star, 14 Nov 2008) revealed
that the average assembly worker in
that industry produces $300 000 worth
of value per year and receives $65
000 in pay. That means on an eight-
hour shift starting at, say, 7:00am,
the worker has earned his wages by
8:45 am. Hope they all figure this
out and come to our conclusion!

In China - Toronto Star headline,

"Crisis Slows China's March to Poverty

Capitalism". Ignoring the fact that

they have always been capitalist, the
story tells how a business couple saw
the writing on the wall for their com-
pany so they took the money and
ran, throwing 6 000 employees out
of work. This is portrayed as 'raw

The Ontario Association of Food Banks
(yes, in Canada) released a report show-
ing poverty's total costs to the Ontario
economy amount to $38 billion, "The
simple truth is that the poor are a drag

on the economy, and by giving them
crumbs instead of lifting them out of
poverty, we ensure they will con-
tinue to live miserable, yet expensive
lives." Just how they are going to be
lifted out of poverty is never stated.
Once again, Captain McGuinty rides
to the rescue of the poor. His Gov-
ernment has raised welfare rates,
for example, a single person would
receive $572 per month, up from
$560. This increase brings them up to
the recommended level, FOR 1988! As
the average rental in Toronto is around
$1 000, you can see the difficulties.
This is from a government committed
to fighting poverty! Increasing numbers
are lining up at food banks and debt-
burdened post secondary students fig-
ure prominently. A report on poverty by
the Ontario Association of Food Banks
suggests the obvious - that poverty af-
fects more than the homeless and for the
ten thousandth time states that in-
vesting in childhood development,
early education programs, literacy,
job training etc would be a good in-
vestment. The plain fact is that
governments have been trying to
eradicate poverty for decades with-
out success. Socialists know that-
capitalism itself is the problem and
investment is needed to establish
socialism to solve the problem.

Top US army officials said, " A $160
billion future combat systems modern-
ization program managed by Boeing
Co. and SAIC Inc. was on budget and
on track." (Socialist Standard, Nov.
2008).Yet $30 billion a year would
eliminate world hunger. So much for
capitalism's priorities. A November
20th. article in the Toronto Star by Da-

IMAGINE Winter 2009

11

vid Hulchanski, quotes, " It wasn't too long ago that
our language did not include terms like good jobs
or bad jobs or the working poor. How could you
work and be poor? Times have certainly changed.
In the early 1970s about two-thirds of the city of
Toronto's neighbourhoods were middle income -
within 20% of the average individu-
al income. By 2006 that percentage
had declined to just one third. The
point is that in the 1970s most people
thought that prosperity was here to stay,
the fact being, within capitalism pros-
perity and security are all too fleeting.

On December 11th. Anderson Cooper, then a guest
of Regis Philibin and Kelly Ripa, mentioned that
one million sharks a year are killed. They are
caught, their fins removed for sale, and, still alive,
are thrown back into the ocean. Without their fins,
the sharks lose the ability to balance, sink to the
bottom, and die. This is causing havoc on the eco-
system and endangering the species, but who cares?
Big profits justify such reprehensible actions.

Madonna recently settled her divorce with ex-
husband, Guy Ritchie, by parting with 50 mil-
lion pounds, CA$93 million (Metro News, 16/
Dec/2008). Ritchie also keeps the couple's
West London pub and their country home. The
couple was reportedly worth US$525 million,
most of which belonged to Madonna. "I'd as-
sume it's one of the largest payouts ever in a di-
vorce settlement," lawyer Rosenberg commented.
Contrast that with the recent movie, "Slumdog Mil-
lionaire" which is set in the slums of Mumbai. In
fact to use the word 'slums' is a masterpiece of un-
derstatement. One sees the squalor of homes made
of cardboard and corrugated iron, of communal toi-
lets that are simple pits, and the sheer hopelessness
on the people's faces. The film portrays unscrupu-
lous men capturing children and maiming them to
qualify as beggars, and, in one case, even blinding
a young boy. All this in the main industrial city of
a country that is becoming one of the world's lead-
ing industrial powers. Do not these vast differences
in wealth suggest that something is very wrong in
capitalist society? In a socialist society, no one will
live in slums anywhere as money will not be needed
and no one will be able to accumulate vast fortunes
that are used to further enslave the working class.

Declaration of Principles

Object

The establishment of a system
of society based upon the com-
mon ownership and democratic
control of the means and instru-
ments for producing and dis-
tributing wealth by and in the
interest of society as a whole.

Declaration of Principles

1. That society as at pres-
ent constituted is based upon
the ownership of the means
of living (i.e., land, factories,
railways, etc.) by the capitalist
or master class, and the con-
sequent enslavement of the
working class, by whose la-
bour alone wealth is produced.

2. That in society, there-
fore, there is an antagonism
of interests, manifesting it-
self as a class struggle be-
tween those who possess but
do not produce and those who
produce but do not possess.

3 . Thatthis antagonism can
be abolished only by the eman-
cipation of the working class
from the domination of the mas-
ter class, by the conversion into
the common property of society
of the means of production and
distribution, and their democrat-
ic control by the whole people.

4. That as in the order of
social evolution the working
class is the last class to achieve
its freedom, the emancipation of
the working class will involve
the emancipation of all mankind,
without distinction of race or sex.

5. That this eman-
cipation must be the work
of the working class itself.

6. That as the machinery
of government, including the
armed forces of the nation, ex-
ists only to conserve the mo-
nopoly by the capitalist class
of the wealth taken from the
workers, the working class
must organize consciously and
politically for the conquest of
the powers of government, in
order that this machinery, in-
cluding these forces, may be
converted from an instrument
of oppression into an agent of
emancipation and the over-
throw of plutocratic privilege

7. That as political par-
ties are but the expression of
class interests, and as the inter-
est of the working class is dia-
metrically opposed to the inter-
est of all sections of the master
class, the party seeking work-
ing class emancipation must
be hostile to every other party.

8. The Socialist Party of
Canada, therefore, enters the
field of political action deter-
mined to wage war against all
other political parties, whether
alleged labour or avowedly
capitalist, and calls upon the
members of the working class
of this country to support these
principles to the end that a ter-
mination may be brought to the
system which deprives them of
the fruits of their labour, and
that poverty may give place
to comfort, privilege to equal-
ity, and slavery to freedom.

IMAGINE Winter 2009

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CONTACT

THE SOCIALIST

PARTY

Socialist Party of Canada
Box 4280 Victoria, B.C.

Canada V8X 3X8

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