Effective and inspiring working class action is possible. In France, a huge struggle is underway to defeat the government’s pension and education “reforms.” Mass walkouts have virtually shut down the country on three separate occasions, galvanizing public opinion against the government. Unfortunately, the story in BC is entirely different. Instead of leading the struggle, the BC Federation of Labour (BCFL) is currently leading the retreat, directing its efforts into re-electing the NDP.

The absence of a fightback leaves Gordon Campbell’s government free to ram through its hardline neo-liberal agenda. BC’s government is determined to implement massive budget cuts in social programs and to privatize public services.

A recently released report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) documents why it’s “a bad time to be poor in BC.” The government has succeeded in purging the welfare rolls and a major human and social catastrophe looms in April 2004 when a two-year time limit for welfare expires and thousands will be cut off social assistance. According to the CCPA report, the government’s approach represents the worst of US-style welfare reform, with few support services and few available jobs.

Ongoing Resistance

Fortunately, pockets of resistance continue to exist. “Days of Defiance” marked the second anniversary of the Campbell government. Vancouver’s Anti-Poverty Committee (APC), continues to lead direct actions against welfare cuts and homelessness. Across the province, there have been hundreds of local direct actions. Hospital workers and other public sector union workers, women’s groups, the disabled, students, seniors and environmentalists are protesting and organizing against the government.

In general however, actions have been shrinking in size. Only about 500 to 1000 people attended the Day of Defiance of May 15 in Victoria, and similar numbers came out in Vancouver on May 23. The BCFL leadership has done nothing to build these actions and in some cases, has undermined independent initiatives. While labour-community alliances remain essential, the BCFL’s handpicked coalition has withered. Instead, independent coalitions of trade union and community groups and activists in BC represent the most promising approach, including the Victoria Communities Solidarity Coalition, the All Island Coalition (Vancouver Island) and the revived Lower Mainland Social Justice Coalition (Vancouver region). Such coalitions, and the Prepare the General Strike Committee, are initiating or supporting many ongoing actions against cuts and privatization, and building mutual solidarity between workers and communities facing attacks.

In late May, disaffected hospital workers and other activists occupied the offices of the BCFL to demand implementation of the Action Plan unanimously adopted at its 2002 convention. The Prepare the General Strike Committee is also organizing to make the BCFL leadership implement the Action Plan, which calls for economic sanctions and disruptions up to and including job action by sector, region or province-wide and/or general strike.

The BCFL bureaucracy’s desire to avoid confrontation is not an accident. It is inextricably tied to a political perspective in which the only way to defeat the Liberals is to elect an NDP government in 2005. Yet the NDP’s election strategy is not a turn to the left or support for mass fightbacks, but rather an occupation of the political centre–liberal capitalism with a human face. But many people have bitter memories of the past NDP government while others are parking their votes with the Green party.

The remoteness of an NDP victory has led to talk of an opposition coalition of the NDP, Greens and other progressives. The search for a new alliance was intensified by the massive victory of the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE) in the last Vancouver municipal election. But attempts to create non-party coalitions or an NDP-Green alliance have been scuttled by both NDP and Green Party leaderships.

The outcome of the 2005 election is now unpredictable. Will we see a repeat of what has happened in Ontario, with Gordon Campbell re-elected like Mike Harris? Or will the NDP succeed in occupying the center, winning the election and establishing a Manitoba-style government?

The strategy of BC’s corporate sector seems to be to score as many gains as possible now while they maintain a secure upper hand. If this leads to another NDP government in 2005, it will have neither the political will nor the financial leeway to reverse the Liberals’ cuts. In addition, privatizations may be locked in via the WTO rules or by NAFTA.

The only thing that could upset the ruling class’s applecart is an escalating campaign of resistance that builds movements which exert strong pressure on the NDP to implement a worker and community-based agenda. The anti-capitalist left in BC is united in favour of escalating the resistance and using confrontational tactics. It also favours continuing the resistance no matter who gets elected and recognizes that building independent and ongoing labour-community coalitions can sow seeds for building future resistance.

The anti-capitalist left however, lacks any common approach on the electoral terrain. Many favour a “kick out the Liberals” approach (which in practical terms means directly or indirectly re-electing the NDP). Advocates of such an approach could focus primarily on building struggles as the best way to ensure the Liberals and their agenda are soundly defeated. Or they might choose to run a few candidates to pose real alternatives, while recognizing that the labour movement is overwhelmingly committed to kicking out the Liberals by electing the NDP. There is currently no other mass-based political alternative (the Green Party has shown its colors by refusing to support a class struggle approach). Yet some voices in the radical left reject the idea of giving any support to or making any alliances with reformist social democrats, while others, believing the political system is illegitimate, advocate not voting.