Marxist Left in the Orbit of Liberalism

The NDP and union bureaucrats are driving the working class into the ground with their liberalism. Communists must fight to break the working class from these treacherous misleaders. We present our program for this in the article “Fight Poilievre! Dump Trudeau & Singh!” (see page 1). The rest of the Marxist left in this country was also opposed to the Liberal-NDP coalition. But the question is: what alternative have they been putting forward and what are the results?

The Marxist left (whether inside or outside of the NDP) has never had a serious impact on the class struggle in this country. The reason for this is the failure to confront liberalism head on. Let’s look at two of the largest Marxist organizations in Canada today, Socialist Action (SA) and the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP).

Socialist Action and Palestine

SA says they are building a class-struggle leadership in the unions and in the NDP, via their oppositional groupings. And for over 25 years SA has worked inside the NDP to fight the liberal reformist leadership through their Socialist Caucus. But this has gone nowhere. Why? Because SA pushes for more militancy while leaving the liberal program of the labour leaders fundamentally unchallenged—which is the central obstacle to forging a revolutionary leadership.

Take the question of Palestinian liberation: it is vital that workers internationally mobilize against the Zionist state and its imperialist backers, including in Canada. But this is opposed at every turn by the misleaders of the labour movement. An example of this was when SA supporters were kicked out of the federal NDP convention last year for joining a pro-Palestine protest at the convention. In the course of fighting back against this censorship, this would have been the perfect occasion to raise the call to kick the pro-Zionists out of the NDP.

Rather what SA puts forward does not counter the pro-liberal politics of the labour misleaders. For instance, SA points out that after decades of socialist agitation the Ontario Federation of Labour is now demanding that Trudeau call for a ceasefire, and an end to the blockade of Gaza and restore humanitarian support (“OFL Embraces the Palestinian People,” socialistaction.ca, 2 December 2023). But this is a position that is acceptable to the ruling class—in fact, ceasefire is now the position of Biden and Trudeau. It only reinforces the “human rights” credentials of Canadian imperialism in the labour movement and the hold of its pro-capitalist misleaders. And it is utterly counterposed to winning the working class to the Palestinian cause.

What is needed for Palestinian liberation is to build an anti-imperialist pole against the U.S. imperialists and their Canadian lackeys who back the genocidal Zionist state. But you won’t get that by staying in the framework of Canadian liberalism. That’s why SA’s attempts to replace the leadership keep going around in circles.

The RCP and Quebec

The RCP might seem to be a more left-wing alternative than SA, rejecting tactics towards the NDP and marching under red flags. Following the lead of its international co-thinkers (see “The Grant Leap Forward,” page 5), the RCP has recently made a left turn. But beyond abstractly calling for communism it offers no road forward. Instead of making a sober assessment of the state of class struggle to chart a course forward, the RCP puts forward fantastical schemas (e.g., an “ocean of communists is constantly growing, looking for their party”). They even dismiss the rise of Poilievre’s right-wing Tories as unimportant. “We see some moving right and supporting Poilievre,” says Communist Revolution (marxist.ca, 20 September 2023), “but many more turning left and turning against capitalism and capitalist politicians in general.” A perspective based on this absurd analysis could only disorient workers in today’s struggles against capitalist reaction.

It is impossible to combat the hegemonic liberalism in the workers movement with red soap bubbles. To have an impact it is necessary to confront the pillars that hold Canadian capitalism together. Take the question of Quebec. The RCP says it supports the right to self-determination for Quebec (so does the NDP) and claims to have a “class based approach.” But they oppose calling for Quebec independence. This is done in the name of abstract calls to unite the workers in Canada and Quebec. But such unity can only be achieved if the working class in English Canada actively champions Quebec’s national liberation.

The Canadian state oppresses Quebec, and the leaders of English Canadian labour promote the reactionary program of national unity. By not fighting for independence the RCP ends up in the framework of Trudeau and the NDP. This makes them an adjunct to Canadian liberalism, no matter how many activists they recruit to the banner of communism. Rather, the task of Marxists in English Canada is to fight to break the working class from their misleaders by championing Quebec’s national liberation.

Let’s look at the RCP’s approach to Québec Solidaire, a left-populist nationalist party. In recent years, as he sought to make QS more electable, leader Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois has presided over a right-wing shift in the party’s posture. What the RCP has complained about though, is that QS is putting more emphasis on the national question. They denounce QS for getting closer to the mainstream bourgeois nationalists of the CAQ and the PQ. Such bourgeois nationalism is indeed a dead-end for Québécois workers and fighting nationalism is a key task of Marxists in Quebec.

But in order to combat bourgeois nationalism, it is crucial that Marxists take up the cause of national liberation and expose the nationalists as misleaders and lackeys of imperialism. Instead, the RCP denounces the whole struggle for national liberation as “divisive” and a diversion from the “real issues”: “while working people go hungry in shabby apartments, the party is putting more and more emphasis on independence” (“Québec solidaire is turning into a pale copy of the PQ,” marxist.ca, 11 April). Such rhetoric, counterposing national and social liberation, is not only an echo of Trudeauism but has also served to prostrate the Quebec left ever since the Quiet Revolution. To the contrary, revolutionaries must fight to lead the national liberation struggle to ensure it serves the interest of workers and the oppressed—for a workers republic of Quebec!

As the RCP has no aim of trying to lead the national liberation struggle, they can rail against the “reactionary” nationalists all they want, but they can’t actually defeat them. And to say the least, it does nothing to combat English Canadian workers’ illusions in “united Canada” and liberalism, and dovetails perfectly with the liberal politics of the misleaders of labour.

So, at the end of the day, Socialist Action and the Revolutionary Communist Party may have a different tactical approach to social democracy, but neither puts forward politics that can break the hold of the NDP and labour bureaucracy on the Canadian working class. Fight in the labour movement—yes. Fight for communism—absolutely. But to move the struggle forward and have an actual impact, Marxists need to frontally take on the pillars of Canadian liberalism.