The Fallout from Quebec City
The recent anti – Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) protests in Quebec City saw a new generation of radical youth make a mark on this country no less significant than the one left by American youth in Seattle a year and a half earlier. These young activists firmly established the existence of a very significant extra – parliamentary social force that both rattled those in power and left the union bureaucracy in Canada reeling. As such the events in Quebec City were a defining moment for the labour movement in Canada.
The young militants who mobilized in Quebec City spearheaded what became an impressive manifestation of anti-capitalist social resistance in the face of the largest mobilization of repressive force by the Canadian state since Pierre Trudeau imposed the War Measures Act in 1970. Yet all of this repressive force did not deter the young militants who were on the front lines in Quebec City. To the contrary, it inspired their courage and heroism. It steeled their determination. They were also not deterred by the fact that the union bureaucracy, with a few notable exceptions, was just as determined to avoid even the semblance of a confrontation.
In effect, the union bureaucracy not only witheld its support of the youth on the front lines. It denied them a real measure of protection against the riot police by leading the massive legal march against the FTAA as far away as possible from the riot police and the “Wall of Shame” erected in downtown Quebec City to “protect” the would be architects of the FTAA.
In view of this it was only fitting that the demonstration led by the union bureaucracy proved to be woefully ineffective and politically insignificant. Organized labour came away with a semblance of credibility. This was the case only because a significant minority of the union activists, local union leadership and a handful of full time union officials would not tolerate the unfolding labour farce. They broke ranks with the state - sanctioned march to join the youth being attacked on the front lines of the struggle in Quebec City.
Significantly, most of the trade unionists who defied the union bureaucracy were relatively young workers. There was, in effect, a divide between generations. It separated those who were determined to accomplish something meaningful from those who, willingly or not, opted to avoid confrontation and received the cynical approval of those who had deployed so much repressive force in Quebec City.
Political Fallout
The resulting political fallout within organized labour has been profound and unprecedented. This was vividly apparent less than two weeks after the battle in Quebec City.
On May 3 an impressive, overflow crowd of over 700 people packed an auditorium at Ryerson College in downtown Toronto to hear a panel of speakers address the question After Quebec City: What Next? Many of those in attendance were young militants who had faced the tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon fired by the riot police.
The most notable speaker was Canadian Autoworkers (CAW) leader Carol Phillips. She read the text of e-mails sent to the CAW National Office by CAW activists venting their frustration and anger at having been led as far away as possible from the Wall of Shame during the legal march. These CAW activists had gone to Quebec City determined to make a powerful political statement not to turn their backs on those genuinely taking on the fight to stop the FTAA.
Carol Phillips proceeded to declare for all to hear that labour was “embarrassed and ashamed” by what had happened in Quebec City. Her stunning admission was greeted by a standing ovation by many in the crowd. She went on to commit that the CAW would adopt a more militant, confrontational role in such situations in the future. She even said CAW activists were going to form affinity groups during future protests.
Others in the union bureaucracy have made their embarrassment known only very quietly by, at most, acknowledging that a mistake had been made. No one else has yet declared that the union leadership will do things differently in the future. Not even other prominent CAW leaders. And in the absence of such a declaration there is no reason to believe organized labour will effectively stand as one in the future with the heroic youth who are leading the fight in North America against capitalist globalization. The union bureaucracy is destined to remain a steadfast pillar of the existing social order and thereby facilitate the continued advance of capitalist globalization.
What we can realistically look forward to in the aftermath of Quebec City are much greater numbers of workers at the base of the labour movement, along with some local leadership, linking up with and bolstering the young militants who can be counted upon to press the struggle forward. It logically follows that this convergence process should not only be actively encouraged in every possible way but done so with the complementary goals of giving it a more organized form and a more clearly focused political direction.
In the process ongoing analysis of and principled debate about this developing anti-capitalist movement will be indispensable to its advance. This will hold true both with regard to its immediate objectives, such as stopping the FTAA, and beyond meaning successfully challenging the rule of the architects of obscenities like the proposed FTAA and the broader process of capitalist globalization.
Bruce Allen is the Vice – President of CAW Local 199 in St. Catharines, Ontario.
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