<html﻿>﻿
﻿<head﻿>﻿<script type="text/javascript" src="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=2N_sDSC0" charset="utf-8"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script>﻿
﻿<script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden","showSwfDownload":true};</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="﻿https://web-static.archive.org/_static/﻿js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script>
﻿<script type="text/javascript">
  ﻿  __wm.init(﻿"https://web.archive.org/web"﻿);
  __wm.wombat(﻿"http://www.newsocialist.org/magazine/14/article08.html"﻿,﻿"20071023020427"﻿,﻿"https://web.archive.org/"﻿,﻿"web"﻿,﻿"https://web-static.archive.org/_static/"﻿,
	      "﻿1193105067﻿");
</script>
﻿<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=1utQkbB3" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://web-static.archive.org/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />﻿
﻿<!-- End Wayback Rewrite JS Include -->
﻿
﻿<title﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, Quebec, Native Peoples, and the English-Canadian Left - Comment﻿</title>﻿
﻿<meta﻿ ﻿name="description"﻿ ﻿content="New Socialist Group socialism communism  socialists communists "﻿>﻿
﻿<meta﻿ ﻿name="keywords"﻿ ﻿content="socialism, communism, socialists, communists, marx, marxists, marxism, Marx, Marxists, Marxism, Canada, politics, anarchism, Trotsky, trotskyism, NDP, radical, revolution, revolutionary, Lenin, leninism, leninist, Luxemburg, working class, 1917, syndicalism, radicalism, union, labour, anarchy"﻿>﻿
﻿</head>﻿

﻿<body﻿ ﻿topmargin="20"﻿ ﻿leftmargin="20"﻿ ﻿marginheight="20"﻿ ﻿marginwidth="20"﻿ ﻿bgcolor="#FFFFFF"﻿>﻿

﻿<font﻿ ﻿face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"﻿ ﻿size="5"﻿ ﻿color="#000000"﻿>﻿
﻿<center﻿>﻿
﻿<b﻿>﻿Quebec, Native Peoples, and the English-Canadian Left 
﻿<br﻿>﻿</b>﻿</font>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

﻿<font﻿ ﻿face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"﻿ ﻿size="2"﻿ ﻿color="#000000"﻿>﻿
by David McNally﻿<br﻿>﻿
﻿<i﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, July - August 1999﻿</i>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿
﻿</center>﻿

It was greatly encouraging to see Marc Bonhomme's article on Quebec in the last issue of New Socialist ("Quebec's right to self-determination: A test for the English-Canadian working class," New Socialist, April-May 1998). Contributions from Quebec socialists are vital to the project of renewing socialism in the Canadian state.
﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿
Bonhomme is absolutely right to point out that "the preferred tool of Canadian nationalism is Quebec-bashing." In order to bind workers in English-speaking Canada to their rulers, the dominant class in this country tries to unite people against an alleged "threat" from Quebec. Keeping Canada safe from dangerous "separatists" becomes a national crusade that blunts effective class politics in English-speaking Canada. Bonhomme is also right when he claims that Canadian nationalism is one of the real Achilles' heels of the English-Canadian left, hindering us from building solidarity with our oppressed sisters and brothers in Quebec.
﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿
Having said this, however, I want to take issue with Bonhomme's assessment of the politics of the nationalist leadership in Quebec, and his evaluation of aboriginal struggles against the Canadian state.
﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿
On the first point, I think he's wrong to say the mainstream nationalist leadership in Quebec removed then-Premier Jacques Parizeau from the head of the 1995 referendum campaign and replaced him with Lucien Bouchard because they were unwilling "to go as far left as Parizeau." The simple fact is that the Parti Quebecois were losing the referendum debate - and losing badly - largely because of their record in office (which had been anything but left wing, as Bonhomme well knows). Bouchard was parachuted in because he was untainted by the PQ's record in office - and this enabled him to rally the nationalist forces and prevent a crushing defeat for the independentist cause.
﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿
It is also somewhat far-fetched to suggest that under Parizeau the referendum campaign "had become an open class struggle affair." True, Parizeau opportunistically used a populist rhetoric. But he did so because he was trying to obscure the PQ's record in closing hospitals, cutting education funding and attacking public-sector workers. The problem, however, was that populist rhetoric didn't make people forget the PQ's right-wing record. That's why Parizeau had to go - not because he (or his campaign) was too left-wing.
﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿
I think Bonhomme wrongly assesses the situation because he believes that the PQ and the Bloc Quebecois are not sincerely dedicated to the cause of an independent Quebec. In my view, this is a misreading of the situation. True, the PQ and BQ don't want a mass struggle to achieve Quebec independence. Because of their class position, they fear any kind of social upheaval which might jeopardize business investment and profit-making in Quebec. They certainly don't want a mass movement whose social objectives go beyond their own. 
﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿
But fearing mass struggle is not the same thing as fearing a referendum (or even an election), as Bonhomme suggests Lucien Bouchard does. I would argue that Bouchard and Co. genuinely want an independent Quebec - but they want it to be achieved through votes (elections and referendums) and negotiations with Ottawa, not via a social upheaval. They are, in short, middle class nationalists, with all the class biases that entails.
﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿
And this takes me to my second point: Bonhomme's underestimation of ruling class opposition to aboriginal struggles. He writes that Canada's rulers "cannot hammer on the Aboriginals because it is not politically correct and because their leadership must be mobilized against Quebec." I think this drastically oversimplifies the situation. 
﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿
True, the Canadian government loves it when they can line up aboriginal spokespeople to criticize Quebec. But this does not mean they will not "hammer on the aboriginals" when native peoples fight back. One need only think about the use of armed force against native peoples at Oka, Gustafsen Lake in B.C., Stoney Point/Ipperwash in Ontario, or current disputes in New Brunswick to realize that the federal and provincial governments oppose militant aboriginal struggles for self-determination and will use force against them.
﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿
In building opposition to the Canadian's state we need to encourage a thoroughgoing respect for the struggles of all oppressed peoples. I hope this exchange in the pages of New Socialist can be part of a growing dialogue among Quebecois, aboriginal and English-Canadian activists.
﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

﻿<form﻿>﻿<input﻿ ﻿type="button"﻿ ﻿value="Close"﻿ ﻿onclick="top.close()"﻿>﻿</form>﻿

﻿</body>﻿
﻿</html>﻿<!--
     FILE ARCHIVED ON ﻿02:04:27 Oct 23, 2007﻿ AND RETRIEVED FROM THE
     INTERNET ARCHIVE ON ﻿06:30:34 Mar 05, 2026﻿.
     JAVASCRIPT APPENDED BY WAYBACK MACHINE, COPYRIGHT INTERNET ARCHIVE.

     ALL OTHER CONTENT MAY ALSO BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT (17 U.S.C.
     SECTION 108(a)(3)).
-->
<!--
﻿playback timings (ms):
﻿  ﻿captures_list﻿: ﻿0.517﻿
﻿  ﻿exclusion.robots﻿: ﻿0.036﻿
﻿  ﻿exclusion.robots.policy﻿: ﻿0.027﻿
﻿  ﻿esindex﻿: ﻿0.008﻿
﻿  ﻿cdx.remote﻿: ﻿6.088﻿
﻿  ﻿LoadShardBlock﻿: ﻿76.179﻿ (﻿3﻿)
﻿  ﻿PetaboxLoader3.datanode﻿: ﻿84.221﻿ (﻿4﻿)
﻿  ﻿load_resource﻿: ﻿127.552﻿
﻿  ﻿PetaboxLoader3.resolve﻿: ﻿50.192﻿
﻿--�