In October 2000, the press commemorated the 30th anniversary of the October crisis. In autumn 1970, the state passed the “War Measures Act” suspending various “civil liberties” to put down an imaginary “state of apprehended insurrection” by the radical nationalists of the Front de Liberation du Québec (FLQ). Since then, the ‘progressive’ milieu in Canada has understandably been denouncing this disgusting episode and the repression of “democratic rights” that it engendered.

However, in the month of October 2000, thirty years after the “War Measures Act”, “democratic rights” were again suspended in Montreal’s streets. But this time there wasn’t a ‘war’ to stir the “progressives” into action... The occasion was the famous Marche Mondiale des Femmes on October 14th. The feminist, union, and community group bureaucrats’ decided to ban any distribution of literature during the demonstration. The only message the marshals would tolerate was that of the march’s organizers.

Halfway along the route, the goons of the bureaucrats marshalling squad surrounded the Internationalist Notes’ sales team, trying to prevent us from selling our material. Subsequently, we were told that distribution of all literature was illegal and that we must cease and desist. Following our refusal, the marshals put themselves between the demonstration and us. When some people approached to get our bulletin, the ‘community’ cops surrounded them, shouting that it was forbidden. All the while, the squad leader on her walkie-talkie kept reporting the sequence of events as she judged them. That’s when we heard her feverishly telling her unseen superiors that our bulletin, whose headline was “Reform or Revolution”, promoted “violence and aggression”...

We should point out that from the start, we kept to the corner, on the sidewalk, near the Sherbrooke subway entrance, and that at no time had we sought to disrupt the demonstration’s progress.

Furthermore, other distributors associated with the bourgeois left had been free to distribute their junk. For instance, a short way off, Castroites of the Ligue “Communiste” had their literature table up and were left alone by the marshals.

After about 20 minutes of physical and verbal harassment, these clowns, somewhat embarrassed, finally left, allowing us to continue with our work. It’s worth pointing out that several people asked for our literature in spite of their attempts at intimidation.

Nearly 70 copies of the bulletin were sold! But these “war measures” employed against the distribution of internationalist communist publications don’t bode well for the future. The union bosses have already announced their intention “to geographically isolate revolutionary militants during the demonstrations in Quebec 2001” (see the FTQ’s André Leclerc’s declaration on this subject). Faced with the new recession and forecasting a certain fightback by workers, the unions want to prevent any outbreak of revolutionary ideas amongst their membership. In response to this real threat to our legitimate activity, Internationalist Notes denounces all the repressive manoeuvres of the bureaucratic reformist scum, active accomplices of capitalist domination.

Finally, far from invoking some supposed “democratic right” to distribute (in reality, workers have no rights the moment their activity threatens the established order), we appeal, instead, to the working class to actively defend and support the distribution of our literature, and to adopt the promotion of genuine communist ideas and activity.