Manner of Speaking
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 Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 1:01 am Post subject: The fire has dimmed but revolution lives on |
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The fire has dimmed but revolution lives on
With Berlin Wall long gone and Fidel ill, Communist Party gathers in Toronto but convention attracts only 65 faithful
Feb 03, 2007 04:30 AM
Francine Kopun
Feature Writer
Toronto -- There is something endearing about the 65 believers gathered in Canada's capital of capitalism this weekend for a convention on communism.
First off, it takes chutzpah to call 65 people a convention. Then there are the facts: The collapse of the USSR and the Soviet bloc, Fidel Castro's fragile health, and the triumphs of Microsoft and Google and Wal-Mart. Doesn't faze them. "The first airplanes didn't work, the pilots died, but the principles of the first flying machines were excellent." says delegate Antonio Artuso, 61, by way of explaining communism's failure to thrive in the 20th Century, and his continuing belief that it will one day triumph.
"It takes time for systems to work," he adds.
Artuso, an accredited translator from Montreal, says he donates $2,000 a year to the party, has been a communist for 35 years and becomes more communist every day. He's convinced U.S. President George Bush is leading the world into a third global war, into fascism. This despite the fact that the Communist Party of Canada, which once claimed 20,000 dues-paying members, is down to 500 adherents, 4.5 staff members and a leader who files for employment insurance a couple of months a year because his party can't always afford to pay him.
"Obviously we don't have any corporate support," says Miguel Figueroa, 54.He's the Torontonian, first elected to lead the party in Canada in December 1992, after the collapse of the former Soviet Union and other socialist states in Eastern Europe. "It really is a sacrifice. We don't have a pension plan, unfortunately. It's very bad." Not that he's complaining.
No one said it would be easy, overthrowing the imperialists. Delegates admit it's not likely to happen in their lifetime. "It's probably a long struggle," admits Jason Mann, 22, who flew to the convention from Prince George. B.C., where he works in a liquor store. He's studying economics at university, but the financial towers of Bay Street are not in his future. "Absolutely not. I'll go work for the trade-union movement," says Mann, who is one of the few youth delegates at the weekend convention. He says he was drawn into the party while fighting poverty and inequality.
The overwhelming majority of delegates are men firmly planted in middle age. Most are from Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec with a few from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nova Scotia, according to Figueroa. C.E. Carr, a M�tis from Winnipeg and one of the few women delegates, opened the convention yesterday morning with a native drum song.
Figueroa delivered the keynote address, offering best wishes to elderly Cuban leader Fidel Castro, recovering from surgery, with a cry of "Viva Fidel!" Top of the agenda for delegates this weekend: How to defeat Harper's Conservative government.
Figueroa called on his comrades to field at least 25 Communist candidates in the next federal election.
The fact that the Communist Party of Canada garnered 3,022 votes in the last federal election seems to have dampened his enthusiasm about as much as the fall of the Soviet Union, which is to say, not much. Although Figueroa did concede that in ridings where no Communists are running, it might be necessary to vote (reluctantly, of course) for the New Democratic candidates.
Plotting the democratic overthrow of the Conservative government isn't the only item on this weekend's agenda of course � a party was planned for last night in the Steelworkers' Hall on Cecil Street where the convention is taking place, (tickets $22 at the door, $10 for the unemployed) and a Canadian-Cuban Friendship Association Dance is scheduled.
Outside the meeting yesterday, Figueroa expounded on the reasons for his seemingly unshakeable optimism, despite the evidence, despite the odds, despite Communism's track record: Millions perished of famine in agricultural reforms in communist China and the USSR; dissidents and intellectuals were sent to gulags and re-education camps. And in the streets of Havana, which is often cited as a success story by communists, Cubans sometimes stop tourists to ask for toothpaste and soap and Aspirin.
"The same argument could be made about Haiti," Figueroa says, with just a hint of irritation. Besides, he points out, "Nobody goes up to the Liberal party and demands that they justify what's going on in other capitalist countries." Mistakes have been made, he points out. The first wave of socialism contained "distortions and perversions."
"I continue to be confident that the next wave of socialism will be qualitatively different, qualitatively better, because we've learned a lot of lessons from the past."
The convention continues today.
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/177914 |
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