Hardial Bains
Hardial Bains | |
---|---|
First Secretary of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist–Leninist) | |
In office 1970–1997 | |
Preceded by | Position established |
Succeeded by | Sandra Smith |
Personal details | |
Born | British India | 15 August 1939
Died | 24 August 1997 Quebec, Canada | (aged 58)
Nationality | Canadian |
Political party | Communist Party of Canada (Marxist–Leninist) |
Other political affiliations | Communist Party of Ireland (Marxist–Leninist) Marxist–Leninist Party, USA Communist Ghadar Party of India |
Spouse | Sandra Smith |
Alma mater | University of British Columbia |
Occupation | Politician |
Profession | Professor, microbiologist, university lecturer |
Hardial Bains (
Biography
Born in
In 1963, he helped found "The Internationalists",
In 1965, Bains founded the "Internationalists in Ireland", while he was working as a lecturer in
In 1967, Bains held a small conference of students in London with the express objective determining the future of the anti-revisionist movement, the "Necessity for Change" conference. While the
In addition to founding the CPC(M-L) and CPI(ML), Bains is regarded as a major influence on the
Political affiliations
As a young man, Bains was a member of the
Later, following the Sino-Soviet split, Bains' groups and parties held a strident pro-China position from the 1960s and into the 1970s. Bains himself openly identified as Maoist. The CPC(M-L) was the first significant Maoist formation in Canada, although it was joined by two other Maoist groups in the mid-1970s and Bains engaged in polemics against these groups as well.
With
After the overturn of socialism in Albania, Bains again re-appraised his ideological outlook. He visited Cuba and announced he had changed his outlook towards the country and now viewed it as a successful example of socialism. The CPC(M-L) also re-appraised its view of North Korea into a positive light. By the end of his life, Bains' writings made fewer and fewer references to anti-revisionism and socialist revolution, and developed the theme of democratic renewal and the self-empowerment of the people.
Death and legacy
After his death, a memorial was erected in the honour of Bains and other CPC(M-L) "fallen comrades" in
Bains wrote several books, including Necessity for Change!, Modern Communism, Visiting Cuba, If You Love Your Class and Thinking About the Sixties, and many articles, pamphlets and speeches.
Sandra L. Smith, his widow, also served as leader of the CPC(M-L).[13]
NFC thought
Hardial Bains identified his main line of thinking as "Necessity for Change" or NFC thought. Formulated in the early 1960s, NFC thought brought together a variety of Marxist phraseology and addressed some
The recognition of the Necessity for Change, which created those subjective conditions for revolution, would create a new level of consciousness which broke with the anti-consciousness of
- The battle cry of The Internationalists was "Change the World," while the battle cry of the capitalist class was "change the individual." The NFC analysis of the "I", of the existence of this "relate or relationship" placed the task of changing the world on a profound social basis. A "relate" or "relationship," if it is to be true to itself, must be objective, independent of everyone and dependent on the world. This relate or relationship must be continuously discovered and rediscovered in the course of struggle. It constitutes the centre around which all other consciousness is placed.[14]
But for Bains individual consciousness alone was not sufficient and needed to be joined with a political party. "The crucial ingredient for victory is the human factor/social consciousness, but this factor cannot exist in a vacuum. This factor finds its highest expression in an organisation, which is strengthened on an on-going basis with the sound foundation of a new, modern and revolutionary culture in ideological and social forms,"[14] he wrote, adding that "A Communist Party, if it is to realise its tasks in a mature, professional and on-going manner, must develop revolutionary culture in ideological form, on the one hand, and the revolutionisation of culture in social form, on the other."[14]
Bains strongly decried what he termed revisionist parties. "Revisionists and opportunists of various kinds," he wrote, "present the bourgeois social forms as the ideal motivating humanity [...] Besides fighting for "a bigger slice of the pie" and for job security which this system can never provide, these people, as dogmatists and fanatics, oppose everyone fighting for social revolution."[14] Instead, "The act of joining CPC(ML) will itself be a great leap forward for the creation of a new and affirmed humanity, in which every act of human beings becomes another act for that affirmation, the measure of what is truly human."[15] During his time as leader, the CPC(M-L) swung from actively supporting Maoist China, to denouncing Maoism and embracing Enver Hoxha's Albania and later, after the over-turn of socialism in that country, a more muted support of North Korea and Cuba.
Bains remained true, however, to his pro-Stalinist orientation, asserting in the late 1980s that "They say that Stalin had a plan to conquer the world. Stalin was alive until 1953. There is not one single country in the world which was occupied by the Soviet Union while Stalin was alive.[16]"
Publications
- Hardial Bains. The Question is Really One of Word and Deed (pamphlet), Progressive Cultural Association, 1997. ISBN 978-0-9530083-0-8.
- Hardial Bains. The Call of the Martyrs: On the Crisis in India and the Present Situation in the Punjab. National Publications Centre, 1985. ISBN 978-0-88803-133-4.
- Hardial Bains. Modern Communism (pamphlet), Communist Party of Canada (Marxist–Leninist), reprinted 1996. ISBN 978-0-920410-03-5.
- Hardial Bains. Communism 1989-1991, Ideological Studies Centre, 1991.
- Hardial Bains. Necessity for Change! The Dialectic Lives! (pamphlet), The Internationalists, 1967. Reprinted by Communist Party of Canada (Marxist–Leninist), 1998.
References
- ^ "Modern Communism and the Political Legacy of Hardial Bains - Part 6: The Events of 1989-91". Modern Communism. Archived from the original on April 25, 2012. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
- ^ a b "CPC - Hardial Bains". Hardial Bains - Party Founder and Leader. Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist). Archived from the original on August 9, 2011. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
- ^ Isitt, Benjamin.
Militant minority: British Columbia workers and the rise of a New Left, 1948-1972 University of Toronto Press, 2011
ISBN 1-4426-1105-7, (p.123).
- ^ Trinity Tales: Trinity College Dublin in the Sixties edited by Sebastian Balfour, Laurie Howes, Michael De Larrabeiti and Anthony Weale. Lilliput Press,2009. (p. 265-66)
- ISBN 0-275-96148-6, (p.103)
- ^ Red Patriot, Vol.2, no.9, 6 July 1970
- ^ Red Patriot magazine (Ireland), July 19th, 1975.
- ^ a b Seattle, Ben (5 April 1998). "In memory of a charlatan". Leninism.org. Retrieved October 3, 2011.
- ^ Seattle, Ben (29 July 1998). "Anniversary". On the 1st anniversary of the death of a charlatan. Leninism.org. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
- ^ "Modern Communism and the Political Legacy of Hardial Bains". Modern Communism. Archived from the original on April 25, 2012. Retrieved October 3, 2011.
- ^ Saba, Malcolm; Saba, Paul (5 September 1982). "Once again on Canadian imperialism and the Maoist deviation of the leadership of the CP of Canada (M-L)". The Workers Advocate. Marxist-Leninist Party of the USA. pp. Vol 12, No 8. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
- ^ "Marxist-Leninists seek mass appeal - CBC Archives". CBC News.
- ^ "Sandra L. Smith - First Secretary of the Central Committee -". Communist Party of Canada (M-L). Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f "The Marxist-Leninist Weekly".
- ^ "CPC(M-L): Hardial Bains". Archived from the original on 2011-08-09. Retrieved 2011-10-04.
- ^ "Causes and Lessons of the Second World War". Archived from the original on 2016-01-15. Retrieved 2015-11-29.