Dissidence

by Roussopoulos

Overview

The last half of the 20th century is, unquestionably, the first period in human history during which the agenda absorbing our attention has been dominated by one question - the survival of the human species. This question casts the darkest shadow on all other preoccupations and concerns. Slowly at first, but quite evidently by the 1960s, we became aware that humanity could be exterminated and civilization destroyed if a nuclear war - World War III- occurred. In the last twenty years, another threatto our survival as a species (again, the awareness developed slowly), took hold: the ecological collapse of the planet. Thus, the survival of humanity, a practical task, became for me an all embracing occupation. This task, however, required not only the questioning of the dominant institutions and the society that had put in place a system that was drifting and pushing itself towards nuclear war and ecocide, but also the formulation of how these same institutions and society could be renovated as a requirement to reversing this situation. Thus, difficult theoretical investigations and discussions could not be closed. This intellectual task could not, however, delay an immediate setting off down the road to the survival of the human species. To turn back because of the lack of a theoretical basis would mean compromising humanity's future. Hence, movement became crucial, the movement of people wanting change, in large groups or small. Movement was the condition wherein a dialectic between the practical and a reflection on experience would nourish theory. Since the 1960s, we can only be impressed at the outpouring of people into movement(s). The closest observation, analysis and interacting with this profound historical process was the rationale for the founding of the journal Our Generation Against Nuclear War, later to become Our Generation, and for my role as editor/organiser.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781895431414
Publisher:	Black Rose Books
Publication date:	02/24/1994
Pages:	250
Product dimensions:	6.25(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Dimitri Roussopoulos was a prominent New Left activist in the 1960s, locally and internationally. He continues to write and edit on major issues while being a committed activist testing theory with practice.

Table of Contents

Contents Preface ix Acknowledgements xvi CHAPTER I THE PEACE MOVEMENT AND THE POLITICS OF PEACE 1 Internationalising the Nuclear Disarmament Movement 1 "My Country, Right or Wrong" ... A Dangerous Lunacy 5 International Peace Action 10 International Confederation For Disarmament and Peace 13 The Purpose of Our Generation 15 Towards a Peace and Freedom Movement 17 What Next? 20 The Hemispheric Conference in Montreal 22 On the Nuclear State 25 The Politics of the Peace Movement 28 Notes to the Reader 36 CHAPTER2 THE NATIONAL QUESTION - LOOKING AT QUEBEC AND CANADA 40 On Quebec 40 Social Classes and Nationalism in Quebec 50 May 1972-Quebec's General Strike 72 The Canadian Elections 80 Canadian Independence and the Marxist Left 86 The Waffle and Electoralism 105 Quebec and Radical Social Change 109 McCarthyism in Canada: Our Response 125 Addendum 127 CHAPTER3 THE SOCIAL QUESTION: THE NEW LEFT 129 The State of the Movement 129 Struggle Is Freedom, It's Just Beginning 130 The CYC: The Bird That Cannot Even Fly... 134 What is the New Radicalism? 135 Historical Perspectives 145 Stalin Is Dead, But Neo-Stalinism Lives 148 Community Control 151 Root and Branch: The Political Origins of the 1960s New Left and the Future 156 vii 27126-Dissidence_int_550x850.indd 8 2015-04-22 2:14 PM CHAPTER4 POLITICAL ANALYSIS AND POLITICAL TIIEORY 166 The Politics of Creative Disorder 166 Towards an Extra-Parliamentary Opposition in Canada 168 The Radical Implications of the Ecology Question 182 The State 183 State Power and Political Parties or, Why the PQ Lost the By-elections 189 The State and the Movement for Change 192 CHAPTERS TIIE URBAN QUESTION - TI/INK GLOBALLY AND ACT LOCALLY 198 The Future Of Canadian Cities and the Limits of the City: Think globally and act locally 198 Beyond Reformism: The Ambiguity of the Urban Question 206 viii

Reading Group Guide

Chapter 1 THE PEACE MOVEMENT AND THE POLITICS OF PEACE Winter1962 INTERNATIONALISING THE NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT MOVEMENT On our planet today, for the very first time, many ordinary people on a massive scale have begun to think internationally and are becoming involved in the growing resistance movement against war. In order to defeat the international war system, the people of the world who believe in the world of tomorrow, however, must band all their efforts together and build a world movement. Brotherhood Not Bombs The most important movement against the international war system has not come from any political party but from a scattered group of individuals who became aware of the danger of radiation fallout. The fear of fallout mounted protests against the testing of thermonuclear weapons and these in time developed into organised protests against the nuclear status quo. This pattern of development unfolded almost in the same way in the two countries that now have the most important, massive and wellorganised anti-nuclear movements, Japan and England. In the Western hemisphere, the mass demonstrations of Aldermaston, organised by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), have been an inspiration to people in every country. The influence of the CND has become widespread and its semaphore symbol has become the international symbol of resistance. Similar movements have now developed in Belgium, in the Scandinavian countries, West Germany, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and other countries. This development has been quite haphazard without any international assistance or direction; however, it cannot continue in this manner. It was James Cameron of the national executive of the CND, in an article in Peace News1 welcoming the San Francisco-to-Moscow Marchers, who asked: "Where do we go from here?" He proceeded to answer by 27126-Dissidence_int_550x850.indd 18 2015-04-22 2:14 PM 2 I DISSIDENCE saying, "The arrival of the Americans is certainly not going to answer the question either, but I believe it may remind us of two things: one, that there is a pretty big world all around, and another, that we are not alone. It is possible that the time has come for the anti-nuclear fighters in Britain to think rather more internationally than we have been doing up to now ... " It could well be that the coming activities of the anti-nuclear movement in Britain will involve a great deal more international liaison. As long ago as the 1960 Annual Conference of CND it was resolved to form international associations and to call an international conference. This year it was agreed to set up a Commonwealth Bureau for the co-ordination of anti-nuclear movements in the member countries, and to make contact with the government of uncommitted countries to secure their support. If these things can be realised it places the movement on a much more serious international scale and puts our entire work in a meaningful context in the 20th century. First International Day During Easter 1961, people all over the world demonstrated in large numbers against nuclear war. Although these demonstrations were in no way internationally or centrally co-ordinated, under the influence of the Aldermaston example, groups organised marches in support of and in conjunction with their British brothers and sisters. The Campaigns in the US, Canada, Sweden, Norway, West Germany, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Ghana, New Zealand, were carrying the same message. It is this which must give us hope. People no longer feel quite so helpless. The growing brotherhood, facing a common danger and having similar ideals, can lead the world to safety. We must march and raise our voice that mankind awakes from its thoughtlessness in which it goes on living, and realises the danger in which it finds itself before it will be too late. A thousand thanks to those who march. (Albert Schweitzer, Lambarene, March 1961.) While many, many thousands marched the path from Aldermaston to London, in Amsterdam 2,000 people attended the final rally; in Copenhagan 2,000 people marched and 20,000 attended the final rally; a central office in Hamburg reported that some 20,000 people attended meetings in main towns and that over 8,000 took part in various marches; in the US from New York to Seattle some 25,000 people walked for peace in the largest demonstrations since the war; in Canada some 7,000 people marched in Montreal, Toronto, Regina, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Vancouver; and, in New Zealand, after a 45-mile march began with 40 people on Good Friday, the demonstration ended with 400 on Easter Monday.2 The growing internationalism of the Aldermaston march can be demonstrated by the fact that the international contingent on last year's manifestation was the largest yet. Among the many countries represented were Nigeria, Ghana, Malta, Italy, France, West Germany (a large contingent of young trade unionists came all the way to Britain), Holland, Nor27126- Dissidence_int_550x850.indd 19 2015-04-22 2:14 PM The Peace Movement and the Politics of Peace/ 3 way, the US, Canada, Ceylon, Cyprus, New Zealand, Goa, India and Australia. Many marchers came from their particular countries expressly for this march. Recently, Mrs. Ruth Gage Colby, co-ordinator of the Women's International Strike for Peace (this group of women organised the picket of 4,000 women in Washington on January 19, 1962), announced that on March 7, women in the four nuclear countries will demonstrate in concert against the arms race and for lasting peace. Women's Day for Peace will mark the first time since the Cold War that US and Soviet citizens have joined to demand disarmament from their governments. "Women must rise above nations on this vital matter," Mrs. Colby said. A recent development illustrates that our thinking is moving quite rapidly towards internationalisation. A number of very important decisions were taken at the meeting of the European Federation Against Nuclear Arms in Copenhagen on January 27th and 28th of this year. It was agreed to ask all affiliated and associated organisations to mount an immediate campaign to persuade their governments to give sympathetic consideration to the Unden Plan, otherwise known as the Swedish resolution. To quote the press statement of the Copenhagen Conference: "The first fruits of this co-operation will be common activity on the Unden Plan and the co-ordination of the Aldermaston and Easter marches which will make them powerful international demonstrations."3 A communication was sent to disarmament organisations in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Yugoslavia, Canada, US, Japan and New Zealand. Easter demonstrations are expected in all these countries. (They will take place, in the United States and Canada, on Saturday, April 21, 1962). The Way Forward An elementary analysis of the world situation forces us to draw the following conclusion. The international war system is very firmly entrenched. Hundreds of years of history have meant hundreds of years of war. This system of which we speak has a hard historical basis. We know that billions upon billions of dollars perpetuate this system. We know that in involves a complex of huge military establishments. We know that this system perpetuates an archaic type of thinking. We also know that on the other hand, the forces of world peace, although armed with the greatest of all weapons, an idea that has come into its own time - the idea of permanent world peace - have a long way to go before they can effectively organise international mass resistance. The theoretical aspect of the new thinking is slowly beginning to unfold. Recently in Sanity, the monthly newspaper of CND, there appeared an article based on a pamphlet by one of the members of its national executive, Frank Beswick, called "World Government - Let Britain Lead."4 27126-Dissidence_int_550x850.indd 20 2015-04-22 2:14 PM 4 / DISSIDENCE Now what we need, and quickly, isa CND International to implement the new thinking. At the last general assembly meeting of the Campaign many interesting resolutions were passed showing some sort of trend in this direction, but they were not articulate enough. Mr. Francis Jude, one of the very few CND leaders who has come to Canada, went back to England convinced that some sort of International Bureau was necessary. He realised that the nuclear disarmament movements that exist now cannot continue to work in isolation from one another. The San Francisco-to-Moscow Marchers for the first time focused our work in an international context. We need our own independent news agency, and international communications system; we need multi-lingual translations of important peace literature; we need an International Fund to assist conference delegates and movements which have difficulties; we need international co-ordinating committees on many different projects; we need a permanent United Nations lobby; we should have CND observers, if not delegates, to the UN; and we need to institute an International Nuclear Disarmament Day when people all over the world can demonstrate their resistance and protest against the arms race and the Cold War. It is we who will bring the concepts of internationalism and human brotherhood into reality, not the national power elites with their bankrupt international relations. It is the ordinary people all over the world who are resisting nuclear weapons tests, the spread of nuclear weapons, and it is they that will play the major role in attaining world peace. We must internationalise the nuclear disarmament movement to succeed. We must all begin to work for the world as a whole, for humanity.