By the time this newspaper is delivered, delegates will be arriving in Toronto for the 38th Central Convention of Canada’s third-oldest political party. Formed in May 1921 at an illegal meeting held on the outskirts of Guelph, Ontario, the Communist Party of Canada has shown remarkable resilience and optimism for 95 years, defying enormous obstacles and bitter attacks. Nearly every progressive demand by the working people of the nations within the Canadian state was first put forward by the Communists, including the right to organize unions, universal medicare, gender equality, pensions, employment insurance, self-determination for indigenous peoples and Quebec, electoral rights, and much more. Today, the CPC presents the most comprehensive, far-sighted program for fundamental change in this country – and for a socialist future of genuine equality, in which the deadly evils of exploitation, oppression, racism, sexism, homophobia, bigotry, misogyny, environmental destruction, hunger and war are simply distant painful memories.
The delegates who meet in Toronto have been democratically elected by their comrades in every part of Canada, from Vancouver Island to Newfoundland. They come from factories and service industries and campuses, from the jails of fascist regimes, from the front lines of today’s struggles for social justice and human rights. Unlike any other party, they will elect every member of their leadership directly at convention, after an open, comradely debate on policies and strategies, and they will leave united around a commitment to win their sisters and brothers for revolutionary ideas.
Yes, the Communist Party of Canada is an organization small in numbers, but huge in potential. As Karl Marx wrote, “the Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims.” We send our warmest greetings to the 38th Convention delegates, who represent the best traditions of the working class in Canada, and the future of our common struggle for socialist liberation.
