The New Socialist Group is a network of revolutionary socialists in the Canadian state committed to the self-emancipation of the working class, internationalism and opposition to imperialism and all forms of oppression. We reject bureaucratic and authoritarian visions of socialism and look instead to the radical tradition of socialism from below, which believes that liberation can be achieved only through the activity and mobilization of the exploited, and oppressed themselves. Our goal is workers’ power; a socialist democracy that is far more democratic than any capitalist society, and that has nothing in common with Stalinian concepts of socialism from above.
We support the struggles of all the oppressed and exploited, including the self-organized and autonomous movements of women, people of colour, lesbians and gay men, bisexuals, transexuals, intersexed and transgender people, young people and people living with disabilities. These struggles are necessary to bring about unity and equality amongst the working class and the oppressed and are central to the fight for a socialist society. We support ecological struggles and work to develop an ecological socialism from below.
In the Canadian state, we support the right to self-determination for indigenous peoples and the people of Quebec up to and including the right to choose independence. Around the world, we support struggles against national oppression and imperialism.
Socialist revolutions cannot succeed without mass organizations of workers’ democracy and the leadership of organizations of revolutionary workers and the oppressed. However, no current organization in the Canadian state is the basis for such an organization. We are a network whose aim is to contribute to the development of a stronger socialist movement in this country and internationally.
The New Socialist Group only organizes within Anglo-Canada, and as such has no official organization in the province of Quebec. Rather we in the New Socialists have a sister organization type relationship with Gauche Socialiste, the section of the reunified Fourth International in Quebec. Outside of Canada we have sister-to-sister organizational relationships with Solidarity in the United States and Taller de Formación Política in Puerto Rico.
This is a list I compiled upon suggestion from the good Freedom Road/El Camino affiliated folk over at the blog Fire on the Mountain a few months ago. The main motive force behind its suggestion and eventual creation was that I had recently been discussing with some comrades from the U.S. (Freedom Roaders and others) about the differences between how the revolutionary left in Canada and the U.S. have handled the question of indigenous liberation. As has so often been my complaint, most Marxist-Leninists and revolutionary socialists tend to only pay us lip-service when it comes to our struggles. We get a few shout outs of support about Leonard Peltier, or more recently about the demand that the United States government return the remains of Geronimo, but overall U.S. revolutionaries show a lacklustre level of support overall for our cause, something I have summed up in the past with the phrase “Free Peltier…and stuff.” However, once one crosses the settler-colonial border in what is now called Canada, the situation changes, almost like a transition from night to day. Whether it is the Grantian-Woodsian Trotskyist Fightback!, which is the Canadian section of the International Marxist Tendency, or former Hoxhite Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) native issues are paid attention too, and real support for our struggles is given.
I have my own pet theories about why Native solidarity is so front and centre amongst the left here in Canada (namely the lack of a historic black liberation struggle), but nevertheless, it is because of this difference in both analysis and support that I have set about dialouging with comrades south of the settler-colonial border, with the aim of expanding their horizons when it comes to indigenous struggles. In doing so I have developed relationships with several American leftist groups, ranging from the New Socialist Group’s sister organization Solidarity, to the Freedom Road Socialist Organization/El Camino, to the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and others. And a large part of my outreach on the issue has involved the usage of the large number of articles that have been published by the New Socialist Group on the the subject of Native resurgence. It is from this that this list is compiled, though it has now been updated to include a few articles from other radical, revolutionary and socialist groups working in Canada.
Over the last few years we in the NSG have made it a major part of our organization to support the stuggles of Native peoples across the Americas, and I think they do the best job of all the revolutionary groups in Canada at analysing the situation (It was actually their analysis and support that drew me to them, rather than an opinion I formed post-joining). Below are links to articles to various issues of the New Socialist, the publication of the NSG, dealing with Native issues in Canada. Most articles are HTML ones on the NSG site, but some others will open PDFs to actual issues, and in which case I will provide the page numbers of the suggested article for easy finding.
Anyway, I hope through this I can provide a bit of a look for my comrades, both Canadian and American alike, into the situation here in the great white north.
The articles and issues are in chronological order, from oldest to newest.
New Socialist Issue # 50, February to April 2005
- Grassy Narrows and the 1872 Treaty: State treachery, by Dave Brophy
- Sun Peaks Aboriginal Land Dispute: Land, Freedom and Decolonization, by Harold Lavendar
New Socialist Issue # 51, May to June 2005
- Grassy Narrows: Activists Speak Up, by Dave Brophy
New Socialist Issue # 52, July to August 2005
- Grassy Narrows: Anti-Racist Struggle and Solidarity Work, by Dave Brophy
New Socialist Issue # 53, September to October 2005
- The Legacy of Residential Schools, by Nicole Dzuba
New Socialist Issue # 54, November 2005 to January 2006
- Colonialism and Aboriginal Resistance in Canada, by Deborah Simmons
New Socialist Issue # 55, February to March 2006
- Indigenous Resurgence and the New Warrior, by Taiaiake Alfred
New Socialist Issue # 56, April to June 2006
- ‘A New Kind of Movement’ Decolonization and Revolution, by Taiaiake Alfred
New Socialist Issue # 57, July to August 2006
- Reclaiming the Land at Six Nations, by Kahentinetha Horn
New Socialist Issue # 58, September to October 2006
- What Are Warrior Societies? by Taiaiake Alfred and Lana Lowe
- Final Communique of the West Coast Warrior Society
- Indigenous Peoples and the Politics of Recognition by Glen Coulthard
- Socialism From Below and Indigenous Peoples by Deborah Simmons
- Indigenous Feminism Without Apology by Andrea Smith
- Canadian Capitalism and Dispossession of Indigenous Peoples by Todd Gordon
- Wasase Statement of Principles
- Voices From the Indigenous Leadership Forum
- A Young Warrior’s Perspective on the Conflict at Six Nations by Taiaiake Alfred
- Anarchist-Indigenous Solidarity at Six Nations by Richard Day & Sean Haberle
- Labour-Indigenous Solidarity at Six Nations by Rolf Gerstenberger
- Nuu-Chah-Nulth Struggles Against Sexual Violence an Interview with Na’cha’uaht & Chiinuuks
- Indigenous Labour Organizing in Saskatchewan by Brock Pitawanakwat
- Nunavut: the Party’s Over by Jackie Price
- To Be Ungovernable by Jeff Corntassel
- Why Are Indigenous Soldiers Serving in Iraq? by Michael Yellow Bird
New Socialist Issue # 59, Winter 2006-07
New Socialist Issue # 60, Spring 2007
- To Steal A Mountain by Adam Barker (pp 22-23)
- Graphic Story from Red Flags Red Skins Series by Tania Willard (pp 24-25)
- Anti-Colonial Responses to Gender Violence by Andrea Smith (pp 31-32)
New Socialist Issue # 61, Summer 2007
- Indigenizing Revolution by Na’cha’uaht
- Socialism, Solidarity and Indegenous Liberation by Deb Simmons
New Socialist Issue # 62, Fall 2007
- AFN Day of Action: Can We Eat Money? by Wendy Hart-Ross (pp 18)
- AFN Day of Action: Launching a Sustained Campaign by Dave Brophy (pp 19-20)
- The Indian Act and the McIvor Case by Martin Cannon (pp 22-23)
- Women and the Indian Act by Deborah Simmons (pp 23)
- 2007 Wasase Gathering by Lana Lowe (pp 24-25)
New Socialist Issue # 63, 2008
- Indigenous Traditions in Freedom by Deborah Simmons (pp 16-19)
- For the Land!: Roots and Revolutionary Dynamics of Indigenous Struggles in Canada
- The Indian Nation
- The Onkwehonwe Democratic Agenda
North Eastern Federation of Anarchist Communists
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