The illusion-mongers for the Liberals and the NDP claim that these
political parties are actually pro-worker or even working class
parties as is the case with the NDP. The Liberals and the NDP
ensure that the working class neither puts forward its own class
interest as the main thing nor adopts its own independent political
program.
The illusion-mongers always demand that the working class place the
agenda of the bourgeoisie as paramount. The Liberals and the NDP
are the facilitators in this regard. This is where their treachery
against the working class lies.
A key feature of this treachery is the question of the "rule
of law" in relation to the economic and political system. If there
is any threat, even minor, to this rule of law and the economic and
political system, the real beast emerges from these political
parties to crush anyone or anything which poses such a threat. In
such cases there is no "pro-worker" bias to soften the blow. It is
not accidental that these political parties are pursing the
bourgeois agenda of the anti-social offensive at this time.
This treachery is organized by these political parties with
the support of the illusion-mongers. The illusion-mongers claim, as
their strategic opinion, that no radical transformation of the
society is possible. Having ruled out the possibility of
revolution, they set out to demand that the working class support
the very political parties that commit treachery against them time
and again. In other words, these illusion-mongers do not want the
working class to become political and look after its own interests.
The demand by the Ontario Labor Relations Board that the
trade unions must abide by the existing rule of law and not engage
in protests against the anti-social offensive comes from these
political parties themselves. They are the ones who established
these boards and this labor law. They are the ones who place the
interests of the financial oligarchy in the primary position.
The NDP and its illusion-mongers, right from the day Mike
Harris was elected in Ontario last year, accused the people of a
gross "wrongdoing" by not "voting" for the NDP. And little by
little they have become more brazen in their pressure that the
people must not do anything to stop the Harris government in its
anti-social offensive. No, they are exhorting the people to elect
them next time around or suffer the consequences. The message they
give is loud and clear: Stop the struggle against the anti-social
offensive and vote for us or else!
The protest movement in Ontario is arriving at its own
conclusions. Workers learn from their own direct experience. As
they develop their struggle against the anti-social offensive, they
also see that they can achieve success only by relying on
themselves and not on the Liberals and the NDP. They are coming to
the conclusion that they must become political themselves. They are
coming into a head-on collision with the illusion-mongers. They are
coming into a head-on collision with this treachery.
Shawgi Tell
University at Buffalo
Graduate School of Education
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
