It is quite telling when the main mouthpiece of the Canadian capitalists, the Globe and Mail, is adamantly supporting the discarding of socialism from the NDP constitution. In its latest editorial (“Why the NDP needs to discard its poisoned roots,” 5 Apr. 2013), the Globe specifically mentioned two basic principles of socialism that it would like to see disappear from the NDP constitution “at all costs”:
“The production and distribution of goods and services shall be directed to meeting the social and individual needs of people within a sustainable environment and economy and not to the making of profit…
“To modify and control the operations of the monopolistic productive and distributive organizations through economic and social planning. Towards these ends and where necessary the extension of the principle of social ownership…”
Social ownership and a planned economy — these are anathema to Bay Street and the ruling class, which the Globe admitted to be “at direct odds with capitalism, in which the means of production and distribution of goods and services are based on private ownership, and the making of a profit is seen as the best way to ensure economic growth.” As long as the above two clauses are removed, the Globe is not concerned about what replaces them.
The Globe gloats about “the inescapable conclusion that capitalism, while not perfect, is the one suited to creating prosperity, equality, and progress”. But it escapes them that after more than 300 years of rule, with all the resources of the world in their hands, the capitalists still allow 2.5-billion people (or nearly half of the world’s population) to subsist on less than $2-per-day. Instead, the capitalist class manages to bring about two World Wars (in addition to countless others throughout the 20th century), which have claimed more than 150-million lives. Despite claims that capitalism helps to bring about democracy, the staunchest proponents of capitalism have had no qualms in sanctioning some of the bloodiest dictatorships in history — Soeharto, Pinochet, and Mubarak are just a few of the monsters who have killed millions in order to defend the profit-motive. We assume that for the Globe and Mail, these simple “imperfections” are still not enough to call capitalism into question. How much worse do the failures of capitalism need to become?
The truth is like a stubborn stain that refuses to go away, no matter how hard you try to scrub it away. On the same day that the Globe was promoting the virtues of capitalism, the news came out that Canada lost 54,500 jobs in March, the single largest monthly job loss in the past four years. The manufacturing industry took the biggest hit, with 24,200 workers sent home. Accommodation and food services lost 24,900 jobs, and 24,300 workers found themselves out of work in public administration. In total, 93,100 people actually lost their full-time jobs; the loss was partially mitigated by 38,700 joining the self-employed ranks, which are considered low-paying with little benefits and security. This new number, generously characterized as “disappointing” by federal Finance minister Jim Flaherty, brought Canada’s unemployment rate up to 7.2 per cent.
South of the border, U.S. employers only managed to add 88,000 jobs last month, the smallest increase in nine months and less than half of what economists were expecting. This is causing concerns for the Canadian economy, as admitted by BMO chief economist, Douglas Porter, who said, “We had been largely banking on a U.S. recovery to regenerate some gains in Canada. If the U.S. economy is in fact struggling, there’s not much to pull the Canadian economy out of its funk.” This is the general picture of capitalism’s “prosperity, equality, and progress” — a vision that is getting more and more difficult to sell nowadays.
It is shameful that the leadership of the NDP seems to be falling into a similar mindset as Bay Street and the Globe and Mail’s editorial board, precisely when capitalism has been discredited in the eyes of millions of workers and young people around the world. They are looking for a way out of the austerity and crisis, not looking for a peddling of the same old tired ideas and mantras that got us here in the first place.
To its credit, there is at least one truth in the Globe’s editorial, that “the average left-leaning unionized auto-plant worker or oil-sands labourer is not aware that the official Opposition is obliged by its constitution to support the government takeover of his or her workplace, and to eliminate the profit motive that created the workplace in the first place.” Indeed, if the average worker were to see the NDP standing for – and, more importantly, actively fighting for – the democratic control and ownership of the economy (as opposed to a market economy that sacks workers, cuts wages, hoards $500-billion in dead money, and pays exorbitant salaries and bonuses to CEOs and executives), they would be much more likely to join the NDP’s ranks, propelling the party to victory.
And this is the genuine crux of the matter. The demands made by the corporate press to “modernize” the NDP’s constitution are not meant to increase the party’s base; instead, it is an attempt to neuter the NDP and to make sure that a future NDP government would be complicit in the bosses’ attacks and austerity.
It is precisely now that the NDP should not discard, but guard at all costs, socialism in the party. The NDP doesn’t need to listen to the advice from the Globe and Mail, which has been one of the staunchest supporters of the current Harper government. Instead, the NDP needs to listen to the voices of the Canadian working class, which forms the ground where it lies. And for those who care to listen carefully, the voices are calling for social ownership and democratic planning of the economy.
Join the campaign, “Say ‘No’ to amending the NDP constitution — Defend social ownership” on Facebook.
