International Socialists (Canada)
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The International Socialists is a Canadian Trotskyist group. It is part of the International Socialist Tendency, of which the British Socialist Workers Party (SWP) is the most prominent group. The IS publishes an English-language fortnightly paper, Socialist Worker, a French-language monthly, Résistance!, and an annual theoretical journal Marxism. The organization also holds an annual Marxism conference every spring in Toronto, modelled on the much larger Marxism conference of the British SWP. The organization claims that it has a membership of 400.
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[edit] Leadership
The highest decision making body is the annual convention, which meets annually, and is comprised of delegates elected from local branches by dues-paying members. The convention then elects a steering committee which is responsible for the day to day running of the organization. The steering committee has varied in size over the years, from a low figure of seven to a high figure of ten. Branches also elect members of a National Committee which holds weekend meetings twice a year, and a one day meeting prior to the annual May conference called "Marxism". Only delegates can vote at either the convention or the National Committee, but any member can participate in the discussion. Conventions and National Committee meetings are usually preceded by the publicaiton of bulletins, which are open to any member of the IS.
[edit] Early history
The initial cadres consisted of members of the Movement for an Independent Socialist Canada (better known as the Waffle), which had been forced to leave the social democratic New Democratic Party in 1972. A group of students at York University in Toronto formed a Marxist study group, and came into contact with left-Shachtmanites in the International Socialists (USA), an American group founded by Hal Draper.
After the collapse of the Waffle in late 1974, the group organized itself as the Independent Socialists in February 1975. This reflected the roots of the I.S. in the Waffle, which had a "left-nationalist" analysis of Canada's place in the world economy. But the name was in contradiction to the internationalist approach of the I.S., and by 1976, the group voted to rename itself the International Socialists. From 1975, the I.S. published a monthly paper alled Workers Action. In 1985, the paper was renamed Socialist Worker.
The I.S. is often identified as the "state-capitalist" group -- reflecting the position of the I.S. that, from 1928 on, Russia was no longer a workers' state, but state capitalist. This position was not actually central to the group's founding in 1975. Several prominent members adhered to the "bureaucratic collectivist" position associated with Max Shachtman. But by the late 1970s, the majority position in the group was clearly "state capitalist", outlined most clearly in Abbie Bakan's pamphlet, "The Great Lie."
During the 1980s, the group was heavily involved in women's struggles, playing an important role in mobilizing support for a woman's right to choose in Canada, largely through the Ontario Coalition for Abortion Clinics.
From 1985 to 6, when the I.S. was no more than 80 members, a crisis led to the division of the Toronto branch. The Toronto Central branch represented the majority and was led by David McNally. The Toronto East branch represented the minority faction and was led by Abbie Bakan and supported by the Montreal branch. The crisis caused leading members of the Socialist Workers Party in the UK to write an open letter of concern, urging the unity of the Toronto branch. Some attributed the dispute to personal animosities between leading members. But there was also a tension between a tendency towards propagandism by the majority, and an emphasis on an interventionist perspective by the minority.
A united steering committee slate was put forward and elected at the 1987 convention of the I.S., addressed by Alex Callinicos, leading member of the SWP. The two Toronto branches fused into a single branch. That year, for the first time, the I.S. counted more than 100 members, and continued to grow through the late 1980s and into the early 1990s – intervening into the campaign to defend abortion clinics in Toronto, helping to build the movement against the war in the Gulf, and building in the student movement across the country. It is in this period that the I.S. also began to flesh out its position on the national question in Quebec, even not being able to operate to any degree in French in Quebec.
Two pamphlets published in this period ("Downturn: The Origins of the Employers' Offensive and the Tasks for Socialists" by Paul Kellogg, and "Quebec: From Conquest to Constitution" by Abbie Bakan) provide useful background material. Also useful is "Origins of the International Socialists" by Abbie Bakan and Philip Murton, available at http://www.socialisthistory.ca/Docs/History/IS-Origins.htm
[edit] The 1990s
The IS grew rapidly in the early 1990s, from 150 to 340 members in 1993-94 alone. Further growth was achieved during the "Days of Action", a series of one day general strikes between late 1995 and 1998 against the ruling Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, led by Premier Mike Harris. During this period of growth, the publication of Socialist Worker - the organization's paper - became fortnightly rather than monthly.
The unexpected and rapid growth of the group during this period led to a large split in 1996. A section of the organization argued that there were new possibilities for growth in the 1990s, and a more interventionist, activist organization was necessary. Another section of the organization thought that the interventionist perspective was based on an overly-optimistic analysis of the period, and were loathe to move too far away from a propagandist, educational orientation. The section arguing for a more interventionist line carried the day at the November, 1994 convention, Socialist Worker began appearing bi-weekly in January, 1995, and the organization began publishing a monthly French paper. One year later, several leading members (including David McNally) resigned, and a faction emerged called the Political Reorientation Faction (PRF). The PRF produced a document rejecting the International Socialist Tendency's analysis of an upswing in class struggle during the mid-1990s, and the Leninist conception of the party. Within weeks, members of the PRF left the IS to form the New Socialist Group prompting criticism from the IS majority for quitting rather than engaging in a proper political debate. The departing minority, however, argued that their position in the IS had become untenable and that their right to debate and organize were not tolerated by the majority.
[edit] Recent history
The IS has participated in several important campaigns since the rise of the anti-capitalist movement following the Seattle protests of late 1999. The IS participated in the large Quebec City Summit of the Americas protests in Quebec City, in April 2001 and, were also present in the smaller G8 Protests in Calgary, Alberta in June 2002. The Quebec City protests marked the launch of Résistance!", the monthly French-language publication of the IS.
The IS played a role in organizing the Canadian anti-war movement, through unions, student organizations and community activist organizations. Leading IS members remain involved in some of the larger anti-war groups across the country, notably in Toronto. The IS argues that the mass mobilizations against the war in 2002, 2003 (read article Three hundred thousand march against war) – particularly the huge demonstrations in Montreal – prevented the Liberal government from actively participating in the Iraq war (see article by Abbie Bakan, Why Canada didn't go to war). This has been challenged by other groups on the left.
The International Socialists have also been involved in Project Threadbare, a campaign to defend Muslims and South Asians against the Canadian government's post-9/11 national security policy. This policy has been controversial. ISers and others believe that it is prone to abuse by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. The IS and other individuals stopped working in Project Threadbare in the spring of 2004 following the occupation of an MPs office by supporters of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty claiming, without permission, to act on behalf of Project Threadbare (read statements: Aftermath of Sgro Occupation, Founding and Organizing Members Leave Threadbare).
[edit] Student component
Since the mid-1980s when the group took a political turn towards the student movement, much of the IS' work occurs on university campuses and most of their members are either university students or joined while in university. It was once quite active at the University of Toronto where one member became president of the Student Administrative Council as part of a broader left wing slate. The IS presence at the University of Toronto has disappeared in recent years to members graduating or leaving the group.
The group is active at York University in Toronto, and the University of Victoria. Its largest influence among students is in Ottawa, especially at Carleton University where it is one of the largest political groups with leading members in the undergrad student union, CUPE Local 4600 and the Student Coalition Against War. The Carleton IS branch publishes a newsletter called The Agitator. The IS has a lesser presence at the University of Ottawa and several Cégeps in Gatineau.
[edit] Political stances
Unlike much of the mainstream left in Canada, the International Socialists oppose Left Nationalism, which argues that Canada is a colony or dependency of the United States. The IS maintains that Canada is a leading capitalist country with an independent ruling class that carries out its own acts of imperialism. At the same time, members of the IS, including members of its steering committee, were also members of the left nationalist Council of Canadians as recently as 2002.
The group supports international socialism and Québécois and First Nations struggles for self-determination, up to and including independence. In Quebec, the IS does not, however, support the separatist Parti Québécois. The IS is involved in Québec Solidaire, a merger of the Union des Forces Progressistes and the Option Citoyenne.
The International Socialists argue for "critical support" of the New Democratic Party on the federal and provincial levels. In 2003, members of the IS worked on Joe Comartin's NDP leadership campaign despite the fact that ISers generally do not join the NDP.
[edit] Criticism
Some in the NDP view IS electoral support for the NDP as an attempt to recruit its members. Other groups and individual leftists are critical of the IS's orientation toward movements, claiming that it tries to take over groups and dominates them in an undemocratic manner, particularly in Toronto where the IS is strongest. Smaller socialist groups, such as the International Bolshevik Tendency and the Spartacists, and various anarchists describe the IS as left social democrats who are insincere about militancy and revolution. Socialist Action argues that the IS does not involve itself in campaigns it cannot recruit from and criticizes its role in labour politics for over-adapting to union bureaucracy. [1]
The IS is also criticized for its role in the peace movement in Toronto where it has an influential position in the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War. The June 30th Committee, an independent Toronto anti-war group, argues that TCSW was decisively influenced by the IS to sabotage their demonstration on June 30, 2004. It did so by calling a demonstration for the same time and location as the J30 demonstration and then proceeded to split the demonstration. One account can be found Toronto's Now Magazine [2] TCSW and IS members dispute this account. Other detractors argue that the IS did the same thing again for an emergency rally in November 2004 called by the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty.
The IS has been criticized for its alleged role in undermining an anti-racist demonstration in Ottawa in May 1993. Strong criticisms of the IS were made in Warren Kinsella's book Web of Hate and in the anarchist magazine Arm the Spirit. [3] Regarding this incident, the Spartacist League produced a leaflet entitled "Love the liberals, trust the cops, and be somewhere else".
