Communist Party of Canada raises alarm over anti-communist monument, PEOPLE’S VOICE • OCTOBER 16-31, 2009

PEOPLE’S VOICE • OCTOBER 16-31, 2009


In a letter to the National Capital
Commission, the Communist
Party of Canada has voiced strong
objections to plans by far-right
forces to erect an anti-communist
monument on the grounds of the
National Capital Region in Ottawa.

The letter from CPC leader
Miguel Figueroa expresses “our
strong opposition to the proposal
to erect a `Monument to the Victims
of Totalitarian Communism’
which was considered by the Board
of Directors of the National Capital
Commission at its September
10, 2009 meeting.” He calls on the
Board to reconsider its decision to
grant approval for this proposal.

“In our considered view,
the monument would constitute
an unjust attack on the
pride Canadian Communists
feel for our pioneering contributions
to Canada since
1921, such as fighting against
fascism, organizing industrial
workers into unions, initiating
the movements to win
Unemployment Insurance,
public healthcare and other
social programs, campaigning
for peace and disarmament,
fighting for the full national rights
of Aboriginal peoples and Quebec,
and in defending Canada’s
sovereignty.

“This proposal smacks of the
type of vicious anti-communism
which plagued our country (among
others) during much of the latter
half of the last century. As you are
no doubt aware, that sordid period
of our history was marked by crude,
unsubstantiated and unjust slanders
and attacks on progressiveminded
Canadians, and resulted
in a wave of mass hysteria and
witch-hunts, social ostracism, and
great hardships, including imprisonment,
for many of its victims.
Most importantly, it had a ferocious
`chilling effect’ on public
discourse and sharply curtailed the
freedom of expression and associ-
ated democratic rights of all Canadians.
McCarthyism was ultimately
relegated to the dustbin of
history, and that is where it should
remain.

“The sponsors of this proposal,
`Tribute to Liberty with Founding
Partners the Open Book Group’,
are well aware of the highlycharged
political nature of said
`monument’. They note that their
proposal’s `commemorative theme
remains not entirely compatible
with the NCC’s policy for commemorations
that mark national
events or individuals. However,
the international significance of
the proposed subject is gaining
considerable profile and support
from various foreign governments...’.
Indeed, they admit that
it has `significant high-level political
support’, and this is confirmed
by recent press reports indicating
that Mr. Jason Kenney,
Minister of Citizenship, Immigration
and Multiculturalism, and
Prime Minister Stephen Harper
have given their active support
and encouragement to this defamatory
initiative.

“Given the political implications
of this proposal - implications
which go far beyond the
National Capital Region, or
Canada as a whole, for that matter
- we feel it only proper and necessary
to point out the wider international
context of this particular
project. In Europe, there is a concerted
campaign to whip up a renewed
atmosphere of anti-communism.
This past July, the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Organization
for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE) adopted a
resolution that equated fascism and
communism - a most disgraceful
attempt to rewrite the history of
the 20th century.

“In several European countries,
anti-democratic attacks have recently
been launched against Communist
parties and affiliated organizations.
In the Czech Republic,
there was an attempt to ban the
KSM, the communist youth league,
on such spurious grounds that the
Czech Supreme Court ultimately
had to overturn the prohibition.
Similar politically-inspired
attacks have taken
place in Hungary, Latvia,
Ukraine and elsewhere, without
any legal or justifiable
basis in any of these instances.

“It is equally noteworthy
in this regard, that one of the
leading conspirators behind
the coup in Honduras (which
seized power from the democratically-
elected President
Manuel Zelaya), recently
tried to `justify’ the coup d’état on
the grounds that it was a `necessary
step’ to arrest the spread of
left and socialist ideas and movements
across Latin America.

“This nefarious campaign has
no evidentiary basis in any violations
of the law, nor on historical
truth or accuracy; rather, it is intended
to once again intimidate
and isolate progressive parties and
movements and poison the free
contention of ideas in these societies.

The authors of the NCC monument
proposal are no less `fast and
loose’ with historical truth, when
they claim that the monument in
question would `honour the 100
million lives lost under Communist
regimes’. This is a monstrous
lie, as demonstrated in numerous
objective historical studies. The
20 million Soviet citizens who
perished during World War II, for
example, died at the hands of the
Nazi invasion, and in defending
their national sovereignty, not at
the hands of `Communist regimes’.
This is a crude attempt to turn
history on its head.

“We fully understand why the
Board of Directors had reservations
about the name for this monument.
The monument would also
defame the many accomplishments
of socialist and communist parties
around the world. The NCC needs
to reflect on how this will be viewed
in the People’s Republic of China,
for instance. Or in Cuba. Or in
South Africa and India, where Communist
parties form or have formed
part of the ruling governments.
“In conclusion, our Party wishes
to restate our fervent opposition to
this monument proposal and calls
on the Board of the NCC to reverse
its decision and deny approval
as soon as possible, before
this process is allowed is permitted
to advance any further.