The most successful far left party in all of North America (excluding Mexico) is, without a doubt a provincial party in Québec called Québec Solidaire.
As of tonight, QS has become the only party in North America containing various sub-party groupings which openly identify as: Anti-Stalinist Marxist, radical, pacifist, anarchist, socialist, environmentalist and feminist, to hold a seat at the state or provincial level.
Unfortunately, the Québec Solidaire candidate in my riding (Hull), Bill Clennett, only placed third after the Parti Québécois and the Liberals. Clennett, for those of you who don’t know, rose to fame in that quintessentially Canadian way: he was once literally strangled by then Prime Minister Jean Chrétien on national television.
While I strongly disagree with Québec Solidaire’s sovereigntist leanings, the victory tonight in the provincial riding of Mercier is nothing short of one of the most important victories for the far left in the industrialized world. This is one of the first times that I’m aware of since 1872 where anarchists and Marxists did that which commentators of all stripes had long claimed to be impossible: They worked together within a single party structure and they succeeded.
If you want to see democracy in action, look no further than Québec Solidaire.
If you want to see the kind of anarchist/Marxist/social democratic co-operation that must characterize 21st Century struggle, look no further than Québec Solidaire.
If you want to see victory in the riding of Mercier, look no further than Québec Solidaire and Amir Khadir.
“Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communist revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose, but their chains… Workers of the world unite!”
————————————
See also:
Is socialism violent or is liberalism hypocritical?
Marx on religion: Dispelling more myths about socialism
Paulitics 
Good show! The QS is part of a trend, as with Der Linke in Germany, the new party in France whose name I can’t recall, and a number of left-social democratic groupings in Greece, the Scandinavian countries that totally reject the neoliberalism adopted by the old line social democratic parties.
For sure congratulation goes to the QS.But then again the people of Quebec have always been more open to the radical left than many other parts of Canada(post WW II Canada).
As for the QS sovereignty part,that doesn’t bother me one bit.I see it,as more of a reaction to those Canadians and the state it self that can not imagine Canada as anything other than a monolithic entity.i.e tyranny of the majority,and or a mono-cultural country.
It would be sad if the people of Quebec decided to break away,but in the end the will of the people must be respected.
Another way to look at the sovereigntist’s,is as a reminder,i.e…that Canada is a country of multiple nations/founding peoples.And as such, we must constantly work at building a sense of communality while at the same time respecting diversity and the multi-cultural heritage of Canada .In fact I believe this tension between the national and the regional is what’s makes Canada the place it is.
In order to build/govern the country,we are obliged to look at thing’s from more than one cultural and historical perspective.
Diversity is a beautiful thing.
Good show!
What’s wrong with indpendence? QS’s vision of a soveriegn Quebec differs from that of the PQ in that it is contingent on a transformative political project. Sounds good to me.
Hi Uncorrected Proofs.
I don’t have anything against independence from an academic perspective per se. But it’s just purely for selfish reasons (I live on the gatineau side of the Ottawa river but work for an employer on the Ottawa side of the river). Independence would just really screw up my life in the short term.
i have no website as yet. i am battling with photoshop and dreamweaver, any help?
when i create my web, i will destroy the capitalist education structure, any mit machers?
That’s the great thing about politics – anyone can have a chance with a bit of dedication and support.
I got what you intend, appreciate it for putting up.Woh I am
happy to find this website through google. “Being intelligent is not a felony, but most societies evaluate it as at least a misdemeanor.” by
Lazarus Long.