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Resolution adopted by the NWBCW committees in Canada – Down with the War!
Partly in response to a strike of postal workers in Canada and the work of sabotage carried out by the unions in the country, the Toronto and Montreal No War But the Class War committees jointly adopted the resolution reproduced below. The text of this resolution is adapted from the resolution proposed by the Petersburg committee of the Bolshevik Party and adopted at many workplaces in 1916. At the time, there were severe food shortages and economic hardship that resulted from wartime conditions. The Bolshevik resolution [1] linked these conditions to the war and argued that the only way to combat them was to fight against the war and against the ruling classes which profited from it. Similarly today, we can observe a marked deterioration in workers’ living conditions caused by the devastation of war and the economic consequences of it, so much so that some populations – such as in Gaza and Sudan – are faced with famine. The resolution ends with slogans that attempt to provide a way forward for combative workers. A previous draft version of the resolution, proposed by one of our members, included the slogan “spread the strikes to nearby workplaces”. However, the majority of participants – among them ICT militants – in the NWBCW committees in Canada objected to this phrasing on the grounds that it is an unrealistic tactic to propose to workers given the current balance of class power in Canada. This slogan was therefore modified to “a generalized crisis requires a generalized response”, which in our opinion weakens and waters down the orientation. Nevertheless, we believe that the resolution in the form in which it was adopted represents a step forward for the NWBCW committees because it explicitly spells out the connection between the war, the economic consequences of it, and the terrain on which the proletariat can resist these.
DOWN WITH THE WAR!
(1) The worldwide deterioration of workers’ living conditions is an inevitable consequence of the current drive to World War and the resulting global economic dislocation.
(2) The continuation of war preparations entails a deepening of the cost-of-living crisis, famine, poverty and degradation of living conditions of the working class.
(3) All piecemeal ways of fighting against the deterioration of our living conditions (e.g. food banks; subsidized housing) can only mitigate the effects of the crisis and not eliminate its causes.
(4) The existence of nuclear weapons makes global catastrophe a realistic prospect if the warmongering designs of the ruling class are not opposed.
(5) The only effective means of struggle against the crisis is a struggle against the causes producing it, i.e. a struggle against the war, the preparation for war, as well as the ruling classes which plotted it and which stand to benefit from it.
The only way forward for the working class is to take the road of decisive struggle against the capitalists and their state. To win, workers must set up struggle and strike committees that can advance the slogans:
REJECT THE SACRIFICES FOR THE WAR!
THE GENERALIZED CRISIS CAN ONLY BE FOUGHT WITH A GENERALIZED STRUGGLE!
A COMMON STRUGGLE FOR COMMON DEMANDS
No War But Class War Canada, 12 December 2024
Notes:
[1] The text of the 1916 resolution can be found on page 30 of Russia: Revolution and Counter-Revolution, 1905-1924 - A View from the Communist Left. https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2021-09-09/russia-revolution-and-counter-revolution-1905-1924-a-view-from-the-communist