November 13, 1977
Comrades and Friends,
On behalf of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist), I thank all the comrades from across Canada, and also the invited guests and other comrades who participated in the proceedings of the Fifth Consultative Conference.
It is our estimation that the Conference has been successful in terms of what we wanted to accomplish during this Conference.
The tradition of holding consultative conferences in Canada began on January 1, 1972. The necessity for holding the First Consultative Conference arose because of the imperialist and revisionist attack on our Party, especially in Montreal, from November 1970.
The consultative conference is a very important event in the life of the Party. In the consultative conference, we carry out detailed consultation with all our comrades from all across Canada. As well, we carry out consultations with our fraternal comrades. These consultations are absolutely necessary in order to have correct orientation for our work here. Besides this, the consultative conference is used to popularize the Party line. The consultative conference is not a Congress; at the same time, it is a very important organ to consolidate and to educate our comrades from all over the country about the problems of leading class struggle.
The comrades may recall that the Fourth Consultative Conference was a very important event. In the Fourth Consultative Conference, we had discussion on the international questions. We celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. So, comrades, all the discussion which we carried out in May 1976 was extremely valuable for the Party comrades in leading class struggle, in particular, to deal with various international developments. All the questions which our Party sorted out and the assessment our Party made in the Fourth Consultative Conference regarding three forms of class struggle, have been confirmed by life experience of class struggle of the past eighteen months. We can say that without going to China, our Party made a correct assessment of international class struggle. The opportunists make a big fuss about “visits”. The opportunists prate about having “inside stories”. We have one opportunist who is going around Canada at this time saying that he is a friend of Teng Hsiao-ping, and he has the inside story about the Chinese government and all this. Comrades and friends, an ordinary worker, who is a supporter or friend of the Party, can tell this opportunist what Teng Hsiao-ping is up to without making “visits”, without meeting Teng Hsiao-ping. (applause) We can do so because we are loyal to Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism and we defend its purity and vigorously oppose revisionism and opportunism of all hues.
The basic organization of the Party is the basic organ of leadership of class struggle and the consultative conference is an instrument to consolidate the leading role of the basic organization and to make it conscious of its role. The revisionists and opportunists of all hues carry out their criminal activities against the proletariat by keeping their local “organizations” ignorant and by making their “members” submit to the baton of revisionism and opportunism of all hues.
Our Party begins by making its basic organizations the most conscious elements in the Party. Only when our basic organization is the most conscious element can the Central Committee be its leader, and the basic organization the basic organ of leadership of class struggle. If the Central Committee ever divorces itself from the life of the basic organizations, from the life of actually leading the class struggle, then it is bound to lead revolution astray. We consider the power, the energy, the strength of the Party to lie in the masses of our members and supporters. It is from discussion with our members and supporters, which we carry out through various methods, that we find out what is going on in actual class struggle in Canada and how to lead it. As far as our Party is concerned, it is the basic organizations of the Party which can organize combat against imperialism and which can oppose revisionism and opportunism. Without the basic organization having this initiative, having this ability and consciousness as well as orientation, the Party cannot execute any of its tasks.
Comrades and friends,
When we set the priorities for our Party, which activity should be given the first priority?
We have heard various comrades from our basic organizations, as well as comrades from regional bodies, giving the view that the theoretical work of the Central Committee is the decisive factor. They say, such-and-such work of the Central Committee is very important. If we can analyze the whole historical development, then that will defend the Party, and provide the Party with the orientation. We say that this is not the decisive factor. It is only the duty and responsibility of the Central Committee to carry on investigation and study, to carry on the theoretical work. But the main priority of the Party is to lead class struggle, all forms of class struggle – the theoretical, political and economic forms of class struggle. And who is going to carry that struggle? Who in actual fact is going to implement the line of the Party? The basic organizations, and the regional bodies which direct the basic organizations. It is not an accident that we have opportunists crying all over Canada that you meet any member of CPC(M-L), and they talk just like Hardial Bains! (laughter, applause) They say that even the pronunciation and accents of the members have changed. They are wrong on this question, as well, because our members speak the language of our Marxist-Leninist Party. Our members implement what the Party wants them to implement. Our members are the soldiers of the Party. And when we talk about the soldiers of the Party, then the basic quality that we demand from our members is that they must be soldiers, not marshals, not generals, not sergeants, but soldiers. And then out of the ranks of the soldiers will come the sergeants who drill the masses. The basic organization of the Party is like a sergeant. It is this quality of the Party – that we speak as one, that we carry out our activities as a monolithic Party which does not permit any kind of factions, which does not permit any kind of speculation with the Party’s line – it is this quality of our Party which we cherish and defend vigorously.
The consultative conference and various other events which the Party organizes are what contribute to building this monolithic unity which all of us are so proud of and cherish.
It is no accident that in the 1970-71 period, when the opportunists arose in our organization on the basis of demanding “freedom of criticism”, our Party stood as one. We dared the opportunists to wage struggle inside the Party and see whether the Party would adopt an opportunist position. In order to push their opportunist line, they had to go outside the Party. And this is the case today as well. This is why any disruptive element, any alien class element which has as his mission to disrupt our Party finds no place in the basic organization, no place in the Party.
It is this quality of the Party, its monolithic unity, its foundation, its basic organ of leadership, that must be consolidated as the leader of class struggle. To consolidate that, first and foremost, we need to arouse the ordinary proletarians. We should educate them about the significance of the Party. We should educate them about the significance of the monolithic unity of the Party, so that the ordinary proletarians become the mainstay of the unity and solidity of the Party, and so that they do not tolerate any kind of factional and other disruptive activity in the Party nor do they tolerate any attack on the Party from the opportunists, from the imperialists and from other enemies. We organized mass democracy meetings for these reasons. It was not an empty slogan that we organized mass democracy meetings. Mass democracy meetings were to imbue the ordinary masses of the proletariat and people with the spirit of Marxism-Leninism, with the spirit of revolution, with the line that it is absolutely necessary that Canadian revolution should have Marxism-Leninism as its guide. And we won victory on this front. We won victory in the sense that the proletariat all across Canada sent its sons and daughters to take up the mission of the dissemination of the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao Tsetung and Comrade Enver Hoxha. The proletariat sent its sons and daughters to face the slanders of the imperialists and opportunists, and the police and prisons of the state. And it is this glorious quality of the proletariat which we must value. We should never forget that it is the proletariat which is the leader of revolution. It is the proletariat which is the gravedigger of capitalism. It is the proletariat which will overthrow imperialism. It is the proletariat through its Marxist-Leninist party, which will build a new society without imperialism, without capitalism, and without exploitation of man by man. Our starting point is the masses and masses of proletarians. That is what we did in 1968. That is what we have carried on throughout. That is what we are doing now. Our struggle is based on the masses and masses of proletarians.
Comrades and friends,
Party comrades do not fall from the sky. They are not ahistorical beings. They are the product of definite aspirations of the proletariat and people of this country. And it is these aspirations which we must cherish. Right in the heart of the proletariat and people, there is a current and a sentiment which exists, which calls for change from this barbaric capitalist system. They do not want to live under these conditions. Their lives are unbearable for them. No longer do they have the mission of the enemy classes; no longer do they have the aspirations of the enemy classes. It is for this reason that they give birth to the Party comrades, to the fighters. It is for this reason that you have the founding of the Party in the 1920’s; you have the re-establishment of the Party in 1970. It is for this reason that revolution is inevitable. It may be that it will take ten to twenty years, but revolution is on the agenda and because revolution is on the agenda, you have the proletariat giving birth to those comrades who took up the task to establish the Party as a solution to the problem of organizing social revolution.
Comrades and friends,
We are at a very definite juncture of history. We are guided not only by the fact that the overall character of the era is that this is the era of imperialism and proletarian revolution and furthermore, that this is the epoch of the transition from capitalism tocommunism; as well, we have very definite demands of this era. These demands are that without hesitation our comrades, our Party, our proletariat, should defend the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania. It is the proletarian internationalist duty of all the proletarians on the world scale to make sure that imperialism and revisionism never dare to encroach in any way on the sovereignty of the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania. This matter is not, as some individuals are suggesting, a minor matter, because what imperialism and social-imperialism hate most, what revisionism hates most, is socialism, genuine scientific socialism, and a socialist country which practises that, which is building socialism, which is engaging in socialist revolution and socialist construction. We can assist the Albanian people only if we are loyal to Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism, if we deal with the problems facing the revolution in our country on the basis of our own efforts, and we successfully bring our revolution to a victorious conclusion.
Comrades and friends,
When our Party comrades were in Albania, people everywhere mentioned to them that Albania will never change its colour; that Albania will carry on the socialist road; that Albania will fulfill its proletarian internationalist duty and they pointed out many times that if the Albanian proletariat does not fulfill its internationalist responsibilities, then what will the proletarians of other countries think about them? And the same applies to us. If we do not fight revisionism and opportunism of all hues, if we do not defend the purity of Marxism-Leninism and the principles of proletarian internationalism, if we do not persist vigorously on the road of revolution and do not conclude our revolution here, then what will the proletarians of other countries think of us?
Our work, the activity which we are undertaking, is not only the concentrated reflection of the best sentiments and aspirations of the proletariat and people of our country, but it is also the concentrated expression of the best sentiments and aspirations of the proletariat and people of other countries. We have a responsibility to our class, to our country, to history, to world revolution. Some opportunists are debasing the question of countries making contributions to mankind. You have Teng Hsiao-ping demagogically saying that if they do not become capitalist roaders, then what would people think of them, and that Chinese opportunists should make more contributions to mankind. This is straightforward deception and demagogy on their part. Because the Chinese proletariat and people have already made a tremendous contribution to mankind: the birth of the Marxist-Leninist party, the victory of the People’s Democratic Revolution, the persistence on the socialist road, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and the struggle against the Right-deviationist wind were great contributions to mankind, and the people who have the best interests of mankind at heart greet these great exploits of the Chinese proletariat and people with unbounded happiness and praise. They are happy that the Chinese proletariat and people made such a great contribution to mankind. Of course, in countries which are socialist like China, individuals like Khrushchov can come into being, they can attempt to turn the victories of the people into defeat. But this is merely a temporary phase. We have not lost faith in the proletariat and people of China and we have not lost faith in the proletariat and people in the Soviet Union and the proletariat and people of the revisionist countries. Their strivings, their sentiments and aspirations jibe with our strivings, our sentiments and our aspirations. It just cannot be otherwise.
The establishment of our Party was greeted with the greatest scorn by imperialism and revisionism. They hated our Party! The question has always been: Why should a small party, a relatively inexperienced party, a party facing a lot of difficulties, receive such a vile response from our enemies? The reason why they responded to us in this manner – and I say this to you in their language, the language of our enemies – is that “these people are never going to change”. And it’s not without reason that the opportunists talk about this – that CPC(M-L) is always going to remain the same.
The commitment and determination to defend the purity of Marxism-Leninism, the commitment and determination to defend the principles of proletarian internationalism, the commitment and determination to carry our revolution through to the end which we have is what they hate the most. They have seen various organizations which came into being pass away. And you remember in 1973, the revisionists issued a lament. They said that for many years there have been Maoists and Maoist groups in Canada, but only after these years, they have a party. The revisionists recognized the existence of CPC(M-L) in 1973 and they considered it as a very serious threat to their very existence. That is why they issued a call in 1973 to smash the Party. It’s an easy statement to make when you sit in the boardrooms of revisionism where you transact various business deals as to which revisionist chieftain is going to get what profit from their betrayal of the class. Then it is easy to issue a statement: “Smash CPC(M-L).” It is like King Canute ordering the waves to go back.
When they issued this statement, they also said: Ban CPC(M-L) from all mass organizations, throw them out of the trade unions, throw them out of the student circles, and for a minute it’s very scary, because you may think that you may be thrown out of this earth! But it is scary only if one has a wavering mind. If one speculates about Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism, if one does not have the spirit of the proletariat and people running through him, if one’s blood is like water, if one’s blood does not reflect the redness of the sacrifices of the international proletariat, then of course, one can be scared. We are not in any way intimidated. But, we analyzed their statement, and we said, very good. We won one victory – revisionism is scared of us. Now, let us have mopping up operations of revisionism, throw them out of the trade unions, throw them out of the universities . . . (laughter, applause)
Two years later, the dastardly offspring of revisionism said: Don’t underestimate the statement which CPC(M-L) issues from time to time that it is the genuine Marxist-Leninist party, that it has defeated the revisionist claim to communism. They said: Wes hould consider this statement seriously and get together, hatch a conspiracy, send a telegramme to opportunists of all hues, to warn them that opportunism is in trouble in Canada, (applause)They also issued the call: “Smash CPC(M-L)”. How did we respond to that? We said: This is very good, because wherever the broom of Marxism-Leninism has not swept, wherever this dirt was lying, now this broom of Marxism-Leninism will hit there. We will clear them out of the revolutionary movement as well.
You have seen the despicable demagogy and drama in which they have participated over the last two years. They want to “unite with the Marxist-Leninists”; they want to “build a Party”. In their dreams, in the morning, in the evening, they have prayers: Please Almighty, give us some power by which all members of CPC(M-L) drop dead! (laughter) And if this doesn’t work on the leader of CPC(M-L), then deport him! (laughter)
All their wishful thinking, all their despicable hysteria, amounted to nothing. It merely amounted to them calling one another names. After two years, you have the collapse of the opportunist front. You have these opportunists at each others’ throats, competing, and writing out polemics as to who is a genuine opportunist and who isn’t a genuine opportunist. We dealt with this opportunist trend also with the same conviction and determination, and with the same quality of defending Marxism-Leninsim with our lives. Our Party inspires us not to be afraid of the prisons, the police and the army of the state. Our Party inspires us to be brave, courageous in this historic struggle, because fear is only the characteristic of a dying class. Fear grips them when they see the Holy Ghost coming to them and at that time, they carry out the most vile activity to escape political extinction. The plight of revisionism and opportunism has also been like that. Comrade Lenin said many years ago that opportunism is like hens in the backyard of the working class movement. It will peck every bit of dung in order to escape political extinction. And that is precisely what this brand of opportunism did. Every living body has to relieve itself, throw its waste matter out, and the more the Party threw out this waste matter, the more these hens thrived on that. History is even going to denounce them for wasting natural resources with the reams of books they have written, full of quotations from this waste matter: “I was in CPC(M-L) on such-and-such a date. I know! CPC(M-L) threw me out!” This is the level of this animal opportunism, and we are not afraid of it. We are not afraid of any of our enemies.
Comrades and friends,
The justness of our cause, history and the historical trend beckons us to courageously march on the road of independence, progress, liberation and socialism. In this cause, we are not alone. We have the proletariat and people of the world with us. So there is no room either in our Party, in our consciousness, in our spirit.for pessimism or for any kind of fear. This is why our Party walks tall under the most difficult conditions and faces imperialism and revisionism courageously. It is because of the absolute confidence and faith which our Party has in the proletariat and in the outcome of the struggle that we have vigorously carried on, on the correct path. We have never vacillated on this path.
The Fifth Consultative Conference of 1977 has once again put on the agenda that our Party’s foundations must be like granite rock. We must defend the purity of Marxism-Leninism and the principles of proletarian internationalism. Our links with the masses must be absolutely unbreakable. Only then will we not take any adventurist action, nor will we capitulate to our enemies, and it doesn’t matter what kind of garb our enemy wears, or what kind of deception and demagogy our enemy commits.
Comrades and friends,
As far as the comrades who have organized the Consultative Conference are concerned, they have accomplished the tasks for which the Consultative Conference has been organized. We have not seen a single Party member or supporter who is not a member and supporter of the Party in body and spirit. We have seen them from very close quarters during the period of preparation for the Consultative Conference, which began around May 1977, and during the actual proceedings here. We have not seen a single comrade who has not told us that what the Party says about the necessity to defend the purity of Marxism-Leninism and the principles of proletarian internationalism, and about the question of the consolidation of the basic organizations is correct. This is also the experience of the regional bodies, and is the kind of problem that the basic organizations are facing in leading the class struggle.
We have received messages from Newfoundland to Victoria, B.C. that the masses of proletarians are asking: What should we do to overcome this crisis? Every one has reported to us that never before has the proletariat shown such an appetite for revolutionary politics, such an appetite for taking up the responsibility to deal with the problems facing Canada. Never before has the proletariat been so concerned as it is today. And this concern is going to multiply in its quality as well as in its quantity in the coming months and years. Let us make this concern multiply with the conscious, systematic and planned activity of our Party, of our basic organizations in leading class struggle.
How do we judge whether our conference has been successful in accomplishing what it was organized to do? Our criteria is not the same as those of the revisionists and opportunists of all hues. For example, there was a conference in Montreal on September 9, where right at the beginning of the conference, the opportunists really gave a lot of shrill cries of “Unity!”, “Unity!”. They were crying, actually. These people who all their lives have done nothing else but to split, sabotage and organize disunity, were crying “Unity!”, “Unity!” And at that conference they had organized a debate to come to the conclusion as to whether Leninism is all right, or maybe anti-Leninism is all right as well – it looks OK.
Our conferences are never conferences of speculating on Marxism-Leninism. Our conferences are conferences of militant unity, the unity of the fighting soldiers who do not permit a bit of dissent in their ranks, a unity based on the granite rock of Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism. That’s why they call us very “dogmatic” and “sectarian”!
Comrades and friends,
I would just like to conclude my remarks by pointing out to you that the victories of the Party, the victories which the basic organizations win in leading class struggle, all belong to the international proletariat. We are a contingent of the international proletariat and all our victories have been victories inspired and organized by the international proletariat. And to come back here after a period of one and a half years since the Fourth Consultative Conference, and to assess in a scientific manner our accomplishments, we can just say one thing: a party is known by the product that it produces. And as far as we are concerned, it has produced the greatest product which our country, our proletariat, our revolution needs, and that is you Marxist-Leninist members of our Party, the basic organizations which lead class struggle, the regional bodies which direct the basic organizations, the Central Committee which is the central organ of leadership, and the proletarian revolutionary spirit which the Party has imbued in all its members and the correct Marxist-Leninist political, ideological and organizational line which leads all the work of the Party, (long and tumultuous applause)