On the night of March 18th, the Cuban political police organized a mob of more than 200 people to attack a group of 50 Ladies in White in Palma Soriano who were holding their monthly meeting, dedicating it to the 10th anniversary of the Black Spring crackdown when 75 dissidents were arrested and sentenced to prison. These actions resulted in the hospitalization of one of the Ladies in White and the violent arrests of various neighbors who came out in their defense.
I should never lead an item with a headline like the one for this piece. If there's one thing I've learned about politics, it's the infinite capacity for stupidity and weirdness from the fringes on the far right and far left.
The New Democratic Party Socialist Caucus has a manifesto.
How could they not?
Other political organizations and groups have Constitutions, Charters, Policy Papers, Mission Statements, Founding Principles.
But how disappointing would it have been if the NDP Socialist Caucus had anything but a manifesto? And as Libby Davies has recently reminded us, the Looney Left rarely disappoints in that regard.
Some quotes from their considered document tells us how the state should control all means of major production, all banking, distribution and exchange, or basically, everything except the vegetable patch you grow in your back yard. Although that would soon be the collective back yard, since along with Capitalism and Free Enterprise, private property would likely be the next thing on their lengthy list of things to abolish.
In their own words:
The global capitalist system is today in the throes of a massive economic, political, environmental and social crisis. If the capitalist system continues to exist, growing poverty, violence, war and repression and environmental degradation will be the fate of working people across Canada and around the world. The Socialist Caucus of the NDP does not believe that it is possible for working people anywhere to achieve significant and permanent social and political progress without transcending the limits of capitalism. A prerequisite is the establishment of Socialist governments all across the country, federally and provincially.
By a socialist system we mean the replacement of the private ownership of the major means of production, distribution, banking and exchange with social ownership under workers' self-management and democratic government. A socialist NDP government would as a first order of priority institute a system of economic planning with the objective of satisfying human needs rather than private profit.
And we know it's a great idea, because it worked out so well for the USSR and Communist Albania.
You can look at the NDP Socialist Caucus Manifesto for yourself here.
I've read about the Workers' Paradise the NDP Socialist Caucus has planned for us. It was in George Orwell's 1984. And it wasn't pretty.
This is part of the NDP the Liberal Party was considering merging with. The Libby Davies fiasco has done the country a tremendous service by focusing the spotlight on the lunacy that would edge closer to the halls of power if that merger were to occur.
On the bright side, it's not like they don't have any fun in store for us. The NDP Socialist Caucus website also has a prominent header titled Cuba Tours.
There you can see glorious life as dictated by their other inspiration....
If you have about 1 3/4 hours to kill, here's a chance to watch the life the NDP Socialist Caucus would build for us, given the chance (This remarkable production includes a young Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasance):