There has been a four-week long strike by teaching assistants and sessional lecturers at York University. This strike by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) local 3903, which is made up primarily of graduate students as well as sessional lecturers, had the effect of inspiring a movement among undergraduate students. The strike is going through a challenging period, and now a witch-hunt by secrtarian elements, aimed against our comrades at York, threatens the entire movement.
The strike is at a crucial juncture, as university administration have kept classes going from the beginning, and are now pursuing a state-administered ratification vote to end the strike. There has been a series of mobilizations, picket line visits, information pickets and rallies organized by undergraduates, and Fightback has been at the forefront of this movement. Fightback is the left-wing organization with the largest membership and support among the undergraduate students, which reflects the growing interest in revolutionary Marxist ideas. We have been seen as inseparable from solidarity activities related to the strike.
This undergraduate student movement was starting to gain momentum, with efforts to establish an undergraduate coalition, pushing the undergraduate student union to enter the struggle, and finally initiating a sit-in occupation of the Senate chambers. The Senate occupation had particular significance since elected faculty and student representatives had voted to shut-down the entire university. This vote was undemocratically blocked and deemed as “consultative” by the top administration.
A university shut-down would have significantly increased the leverage of the striking workers. The teaching assistant and sessional lecturer strike was facing difficulties and elements of demoralization, especially as the administration was able to keep the university and a significant percentage of classes running.
An opportunity opened up when the strike movement of teaching assistants and sessional lecturers began to coalesce with the developing undergraduate movement. A strong momentum developed around the sit-in occupation. This was a golden opportunity and a potential turning point for the movement, which could have had a big step towards winning the strike and spreading support to the broader student population.
This fantastic opportunity to strengthen the movement was undermined and cut across by a vicious censorship campaign directed against Fightback. A Stalinist witch-hunt has been launched against Fightback, which must be called out for what it is: an anti-democratic political attack. It originated from a tiny Stalinist-anarchist clique of undergraduate activists, but has since been spread into the leadership and a thin layer of activists in CUPE 3903.
This censorship campaign has only served to weaken, divide and redirect the energies of the undergraduate movement and academic workers strike in a damaging manner when all forces should be directed against the university administration and provincial government. This tragic situation needs to be properly examined, the lessons drawn and the harmful effect of these methods and ideas exposed.
Undergraduate coalition sabotaged by sectarians
With a looming strike developing, there were attempts to form an undergraduate student coalition in support of CUPE 3903. Fightback enthusiastically engaged with this effort, while launching efforts to bring students to the picket lines starting on the first day of the strike on 5 March. In the past, Fightback has initiated or participated in setting-up strike support coalitions.
The ‘Students for CUPE 3903’ coalition was set up in a suspicious manner from the beginning. The Socialist Fightback Club at York University was not notified or reached out to in the setting up of the coalition. We only found out about it through public posters and social media posts. As Socialist Fightback is the largest, most organized activist base of undergraduates on campus, this seemed like a significant oversight for a coalition meant to unite students supporting CUPE 3903. We assumed that this was simply incompetence, and immediately communicated with those involved that we would be participating.
We quickly found out that the main organizations behind the coalition were the Revolutionary Student Movement (RSM), which is a tiny Maoist/Stalinist sect at the university, and the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG), which is a social justice hub funded by student dues and which has been dominated by activists influenced by anarchism and identity politics. Fightback and the Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) joined up with this coalition, along with a small handful of non-affiliated students.
From the first weeks of the strike, we found that the RSM-OPIRG clique of Stalinists and anarchists were trying to use bureaucratic, exclusionary measures against Fightback. It was clear that a successful coalition should operate with full democratic rights. All pro-CUPE 3903 students should have the right to democratic participation, voting and to express their opinions, vocally or through written material.
Disgracefully, the tiny Maoist-Identity Politics clique wanted to have complete control of the coalition and was prepared to repress democracy to that end. Seeing that Fightback had a large base of supporters, and moreover, that our ideas and proposals were extremely popular, they decided to use the tactic of bureaucratic exclusion. Fightback represented half the people at the coalition meeting, and this was only a partial mobilization of our membership and base of supporters. It should be stated that a clear majority of active pro-strike undergraduates were organized with Fightback.
This sectarian RSM-OPIRG clique proposed a ‘basis of unity’ [a condition for participation in the coalition] that would ban leaflets, newspapers, posters, banners, placards and recruiting by different political organizations. They specifically attacked Fightback for our organizing methods, particularly promoting Marxist ideas. Their restriction on recruitment was particularly disgusting and insulting, as it treats workers and students as children who are easily manipulated. It is obvious that in the student, labour and social movements, politics are going to be discussed. A child of six can understand that. Naturally, if a student or worker agrees with particular political ideas and strategies for struggle, they will be attracted to those organizations that stand for them. It is a positive thing that students and workers can be politicised through a strike or social movement and inspired to get active as a result.
The purpose of adopting such undemocratic and silencing measures was clearly to prevent Fightback from organizing. Those that put the undemocratic measures forward constantly attacked Fightback in the course of such discussions for producing posters, having banners, selling newspapers or for people being attracted to our organization. This clique demanded that Fightback completely dissolve ourselves in the movement and cease to function as a revolutionary organization and cease promoting our ideas and program. This sectarian, undergraduate clique had even tried to actively police students and workers on the picket lines from selling, buying and reading newspapers. Notably, they could not convince a majority of the coalition.
We can expect the police, the state, the university authorities and even perhaps the trade union bureaucrats to adopt methods against the distribution of socialist newspapers and the promotion of revolutionary ideas. We are quite prepared to fight this repression. That such methods are used by organisations that claim to be revolutionary and to fight against oppression is simply scandalous.
Failing to win a majority with such anti-democratic and exclusionary measures, what did the RSM-OPIRG clique do? They held a secret and anti-democratic meeting excluding Fightback where they tried to pass these measures. This first secret meeting was held at the OPIRG office at York University on 14 March, which we found out about after the fact entirely accidentally. Unfortunately for this sectarian clique, even at that secret meeting they could not win a majority.
They then held a second, even more secret meeting, later that same day. This second meeting excluded even more people, including activists from Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA). It was only at this ‘secret-secret’ meeting where they could gain a ‘majority’. What they decided at that meeting was the total expulsion of Fightback from the coalition, which was the largest, most active and most organized force mobilizing students to the picket lines. We then received an email on 16 March, from an unnamed and unelected group of individuals calling themselves “the organisers of Students for CUPE 3903” stating that while the “Points of Unity have not yet been ratified”, they were excluding us from the coalition.
This was a clear Stalinist censorship campaign against the Marxists in order for this self-appointed clique to have total control of the undergraduate coalition. This decision clearly lacked even an inkling of legitimacy. Furthermore, this unelected and bureaucratic clique kept the decision secret and did not post it publicly anywhere.
The result of this was to totally undermine the coalition, turning it into a complete farce with extremely low participation. There were far more undergraduates involved with Fightback than in this undergraduate ‘coalition’ as a whole!
The anarchists and Stalinists were sabotaging the undergraduate movement, and therefore also the strike movement, for entirely sectarian reasons. Their purpose was to ban the Marxists from promoting our ideas, program and strategy, so that they could control the movement themselves. And to do this they were prepared to employ every manoeuvre possible, regardless of whether it harmed the movement.
The aforementioned letter from this clique ended with an accusation that sexual misconduct was occurring in Fightback, along with a list of criticisms, including that we are, “racist, sexist, homophobic.” There were no details in these allegations, leaving us completely unable to react to or rectify this alleged misconduct.
For more details, see appendices here.
Rumours of sexual misconduct
We had previously heard rumours being spread during the strike that sexual misconduct had been engaged in by Fightback activists. When we heard such rumours, our immediate reaction was to ask for information, details, names and evidence so that we could get to the bottom of it. Fightback takes the issues of harassment, abuse and sexual assault very seriously. Abusive behaviour in our organization is not tolerated. Moreover, it is vital to organize efforts against such behaviour in the labour and student movements, and in society as a whole.
Whenever we asked for such details, we received no information. It is obviously impossible for us to deal with second-hand and vague accounts. It is impossible to investigate a rumour with no information regarding who could be involved, what occurred, when it occurred, etc., and it is impossible to hold anyone accountable for misconduct if we don’t even know who is accused.
Fightback has a robust democratic process for dealing with abusive behaviour that is well-respected in the organization, and that has been strengthened and sharpened over the years. While we have not had any major issues in our organization, we have always investigated and addressed all complaints and instances of inappropriate behaviour in a timely and accountable fashion. We have a tradition of discussing these things politically and organizationally on a regular basis, in order to educate our membership on these important issues and so that our policies are known by all members
While our conditions of membership clearly state all activists organized with us are expected to treat each other with mutual respect and abide by our zero-tolerance policy for harassment and discrimination, we are not always privy to new members’ histories – whether it be in their previous involvement with other left-wing organizations, unions, or interaction with the court system. We therefore always keep an eye out for any possible abusive behaviour, so that we can deal with it appropriately and build a healthy and strong organization that can wage the needed revolutionary struggle against exploitation and oppression.
While hearing these vague, unsubstantiated rumours, we continued to carry out our solidarity activity, maintaining our readiness to respond to any concrete complaints we might receive. Given we had only received rumours, we consistently requested details, names, dates, etc., so that we could properly address any incidents of misconduct. Given that no concrete allegations were forthcoming, we understood that this was simply an attempt to smear, harm and stain the name of our organization. This view was compounded by the negative experience that we had had with the ‘organizers’ of the undergraduate coalition, who were trying to bureaucratically suppress us.
It was precisely during the Stalinist-anarchist campaign to ban Fightback from the undergraduate coalition for promoting newspapers, banners, placards and recruitment, that vague accusations were raised of there being problems of transphobia, racism, sexism, ableism and even sexual violence in Fightback. We consistently explained that we have always been committed to fighting against all forms of oppression and discrimination. Regarding sexual or other types of violence, we always asked that concrete allegations be made so that it could be properly addressed. This was never done, and still has not been done.
Senate occupation: a perfect opportunity to turn the tide
On Thursday 22 March, there was a meeting of the York University Senate. At this meeting, the majority of the faculty voted to shut down classes, which is a major demand of undergraduate students and is raised by the striking academic workers. That vote was deemed ‘consultative’ in a clearly undemocratic manoeuvre, denying the Senate’s right to make that decision, which had been made in the past. Fightback had mobilized for a rally of about 100 students and workers outside the Senate chambers.
This undergraduate solidarity movement initiated a sit-in occupation at the chambers of the Senate at York University beginning on the night of 22 March. Fightback participated from the first night of the sit-in and helped to develop the momentum around the strike. Our ideas and demands were quickly adopted during the sit-in, and feature prominently in the first statements, appeals and the general approach of the sit-in.
We raised the demand for undergraduates to join the fight for good jobs and free education, we insisted on the need for democratic control of the university by workers/faculty/students, and also insisted that the undergraduate student union must mobilize its full resources to the sit-in and in support of the strike. We connected the fight for free education to the fight against capitalism, and the need to expropriate the capitalist class to finance education. We pushed for democratic rights for both undergraduates and any other participants in the sit-in. All these demands passed at the meetings of the sit-in.
An equity committee was also set-up to ensure that appropriate conduct occurred during the sit-in, and that any complaints could be properly dealt with. Once again, the clique of Maoists and anarchists began to manoeuvre to completely dominate the sit-in and exclude any political views disagreeing with their own. Fightback activists participated in the sit-in through the night. A secret meeting was held by this clique at some point early in the morning, which decided to roll back all the decisions taken by the sit-in assembly, including restricting voting rights. Voting would now be restricted to those who had occupied the senate chambers from the very beginning, which would have meant approximately 10 people. This would clearly discourage participation. Dozens and dozens of students and workers joined the occupation within the first 24 hours.
It was around this time that we again heard vague accusations of sexual misconduct in Fightback, yet none of us were approached with concrete allegations. The equity committee that had been set-up during the first night, which included elected representatives from CUPE locals 3903 and 3902, was not approached to investigate any issues. These vague accusations were clearly being spread by the RSM-OPIRG clique. All of this was done behind the scenes, without any chance for us to respond or resolve these issues transparently. It is clear to us that the aim of such rumours was not to actually respond to concrete instances of misconduct, nor to protect the participants in the sit-in, but rather to use them as a convenient stick with which to hit political opponents.
Soon after this secret meeting, two of our young women activists were bullied while giving a television interview for CP24. During the live interview, one of the individuals associated with the Stalinist-anarchist clique interrupted the interview saying that Fightback wasn’t welcome at the sit-in and that Fightback was, “co-opting the movement.” It should be noted that on the first day of the occupation up to 5-6 interviews were given by representatives of the RSM-OPIRG clique. Given Fightback’s numerical weight at the sit-in, and that we only gave a single interview, our engagement with the media was far lower than would have been proportional.
It was at this point – given the secret meetings, the attempts to ban us, bully us, spread slanders about Fightback as a whole (without proffering any concrete allegations and avoiding the equity committee established to deal with complaints), the intimidation and demands that we cease to promote our ideas and materials – that we decided to raise these issues at a general assembly on 23 March in an open manner. We support hashing out differences openly and democratically. We called again for an end to intimidation, repression and bullying of different political trends, and insisted that all participants and groups should have full democratic rights at the sit-in. This, our activists explained, was necessary to advance the goals of the student occupation and the strike movement.
These motions passed at the assembly by a clear majority. It was at this stage that Fightback was directly and openly attacked with a whole slew of vague allegations by an ex-member who is now associated with the Stalinist-anarchist clique. These included accusations of racism, sexism, ableism, transphobia, sexual harassment, sexual assault, paedophilia; and of being a cult and a drug-den. It was claimed that these accusations apply to all Fightback members, or at least that all of our members are apologists for these attitudes and behaviours.
Fightback was attacked with a slew of vague allegations by the Stalinist-anarchist clique / Image: Fightback
Fightback activists were taken completely aback by these extreme accusations but explained that we have always had procedures in place for addressing misconduct in the organization. We also raised our involvement in the various struggles against oppression, which is clearly reflected in the composition of our activists, who are a diverse group of people from a range of marginalized backgrounds.
We again asked for concrete allegations so that they could be dealt with. We openly advocated for a proper democratic and accountable procedure to be put into place to examine the allegations and hold appropriate parties to account. Fightback is confident in dealing with problems internal to the organization, but given the nature of the movement, we believed such a process, with representatives from the trade unions, would have greater authority. However, by spreading rumours throughout the first night and then attacking us with amorphous and unsubstantiated allegations at the assembly, while not having made use of the previously established equity committee to address any grievances, it was clear that this clique was only interested in a show trial and not an accountable process.
Unfortunately, this slew of unsubstantiated attacks created enormous tension and division at the sit-in. Many students and members of CUPE 3903 left the occupation. Our activists felt intimidated. Whenever they responded, they were bullied with booing, shaming and yelling by those from the Stalinist-anarchist clique, as well as a handful of sectarians in CUPE 3903. Our young female comrades stressed the need for a proper procedure for investigating allegations, that the equity committee established for that purpose should be used to resolve the issues and that concrete allegations would need to be given. These comrades were accused of “victim blaming” and were shouted down.
It was clear that the movement was being undermined by bureaucratic manoeuvres, repression and vague accusations, and no procedure was forthcoming. We clearly expressed our commitment to participating in a procedure, and temporarily our comrades decided to withdraw from what was clearly a hostile environment.
Within a couple days, we were notified that we had been expelled from the sit-in. Once again, no concrete allegations were provided. There was no process for holding individuals accountable. Fightback was simply undemocratically banned from the sit-in by this sectarian clique, without the right of defence.
Stalinist censorship campaign
It is worth noting that the student occupation is now completely dominated by sectarians linked to the Revolutionary Student Movement (RSM). This is an openly Stalinist organization, that puts forward and defends the ideas and methods of Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong. The handful of others involved in the occupation are linked to the York chapter of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG), who stand for a mix of ideas of anarchism, identity politics and intersectionality. These people are decidedly against the ideas of Marxism and revolutionary Marxist organizations.
This, in itself, would not be a problem. Activists with different political points of view can certainly unite in a common endeavour to support a particular action or strike. The problem is when these groups use undemocratic methods to silence those they disagree with or to expel them when they cannot be silenced.
The attacks on Fightback are nothing new. The RSM called for banning Fightback newspapers, placards and banners during the 2015 strike at York University, but at an open-assembly meeting, the undergraduate students overwhelmingly voted against this Stalinist measure. OPIRG York, which claims to be a social justice hub, has repeatedly also refused to allow Fightback the status of a working group. The student funds that automatically go into OPIRG are kept in the hands of this tiny unaccountable clique, who use bureaucratic methods to maintain control of their significant funds and large office on campus. It should be noted that the openly Stalinist RSM, which is a miniscule organization at the campus, was immediately granted working group status and access to these funds.
Despite banning other political groups' materials, RSM banners are prominently displayed at the Senate occupation / Image: fair use
The goal of all of this is clear. They purged us from the movement so that they could rule the roost. This could not be any clearer now than by taking a look at what has become a sham of an occupation, which has been reduced to just 8-10 people according to their own figures. While criticizing Fightback for having our own banners and materials at the strike, the entire occupation is now covered in RSM banners, most notably a big “RSM HQ” on the outside of the senate chambers. The RSM also distributes its own Partisan newspaper and literature openly at the sit-in, after having pushed its Stalinist campaign against the Marxists. This small clique of people has effectively destroyed an entire occupation so that they could claim it for their own.
The sectarians of the Maoist RSM have a lot to answer for when it comes to their own history. Maoism is a form of Stalinism. The Maoists claim Stalin as their own and criticise anything in the Soviet Union that came after Stalin as ‘revisionist’. It is worth remembering just a few not unimportant points about Stalinism and oppression.
When Lenin and Trotsky were leading the Bolshevik party, in 1922 the criminalisation of homosexuality was abolished in the Soviet Union. Abortion was free on demand. Women were granted full equality and divorce was easily available. In 1934 Stalin re-criminalized homosexuality and thousands of gay men were sent to the labour camps in the following decades. Abortion was banned and divorce was made less accessible.
As a result of these developments in the Soviet Union, homophobia was spread throughout the Communist International. When Mao came to power in China, the same homophobic policies were applied. Homosexuality was only finally decriminalised in China in 1997. Therefore, throughout the Maoist period, homosexuals in China risked arrest and imprisonment.
This is the real record of the Stalinists and Maoists! And yet, today, they strut around pontificating about LGBT rights. They have nothing to be proud of, while the Marxists stand confidently on the traditions of the early years of the Russian Revolution.
At the same time, all dissent was clamped down upon. This repression culminated in Stalin’s purge trials of 1936-1938. Anyone defending the genuine traditions of the 1917 October Revolution was hounded out of the party, slandered with false accusations, sent to the labour camps and then shot. Hundreds-of-thousands of revolutionaries met their ends in this fashion. The bureaucracy stood as judge, jury and prosecutor in these trials. In the Stalinist show trials, the accused were denied their rights to know the accusations, to respond to the accusations, or to defend themselves. Anything and everything that was said in response to the vague allegations would only be used as further evidence of guilt.
The RSM openly defends Stalin and stands on the traditions of the Stalinist show trials. We have seen here that instead of politically debating in the movement, they resort to repression and political bans, and produce vague allegations over which they alone preside.
The sectarian witch-hunt spreads to CUPE 3903
The sit-in occupation was a source of significant enthusiasm among striking teaching assistants and sessional lecturers. Dozens of picketers attended the occupation, and at its high-point, during the second day of the sit-in, attendance approached 100 people. The union was even planning on holding its meetings in the occupation. Momentum was spreading.
It was just at this moment that this clique went on a public tirade against us at the sit-in, presenting a long list of extreme and unsubstantiated accusations against Fightback. Needless to say, this poisoned the mood at the occupation and many workers left in disgust. Some were confused, but many had accepted what had been presented as an established fact – that Fightback has a problem with sexual violence, paedophilia, rampant drug usage, racism, homophobia, etc. These are extremely serious accusations which would require legal action, that is if any of this were true. The fact that our accusers have systematically refused to provide names or evidence speaks volumes about the true nature of such accusations.
Despite all this, our activists maintained communication with leading members of CUPE 3903, including representatives of the campus trade unions who were supposed to oversee a process in the sit-in regarding these allegations. When we had a meeting on the Monday, 26 March with a representative from CUPE 3903, CUPE 3902 and from the RSM-OPIRG clique at the sit-in, we were told that we had simply been expelled from the sit-in.
We explained clearly that we had not yet received any concrete allegations against us. We explained that we have a robust democratic procedure for dealing with any complaints internally. We repeatedly put forward that we wanted a union-run procedure with which we would fully cooperate to investigate any complaints. We clearly stated that we would take interim measures against any named individuals to protect people from potential abusers.
Our proposal would have allowed for a strong strike and solidarity movement, while holding any potential abusers accountable and ensuring safety in the movement. We presented our proposal to the strike committee meeting of CUPE 3903 that same evening, which was as follows:
Be it resolved that CUPE 3903 oversee the setting up of a remediation process to examine the issues and hold the necessary parties accountable,
Be it further resolved that CUPE 3903 institute any interim measures it sees fit to address concerns of safety,
Be it further resolved that CUPE 3903, not approve a condemnation or ban on any organization or undergraduate student club, without having access to details, allegations or opportunity to investigate, especially given that in this case:
- Fightback is prepared to fully cooperate with a union-overseen procedure,
- Fightback has not yet been presented with any concrete allegations, including regarding which individuals may be concerned, and even if they are members of Fightback,
- Fightback is prepared to accept interim measures, under the direction of the CUPE 3903 (such as non-participation in the senate occupation, or exclusion of particular concerned person(s) from solidarity activity), while the procedure is underway.
Unfortunately, a witch-hunt was being pushed by a layer of activists in the union, especially the leadership, who are associated with the ideas of identity politics, intersectionality, academic ‘Marxism’, anarchism and Stalinism, who allied themselves with the tiny undergraduate clique.
Representatives from Fightback and our undergraduate movement were not allowed to speak to the accusations. The RSM-OPIRG clique was allowed to lead the discussion. Our resolution was ruled out of order. The chairperson of CUPE 3903, Devin Lefebvre, refused to even read our proposed resolution for a union-run procedure, to which we had committed our full cooperation.
At the Special General Membership Meeting that was held on 28 March, we were not notified that this important matter would be discussed and therefore were not at the meeting to speak to this. Our resolution was completely ignored and omitted from the discussion. Vague allegations were presented as fact. An entire political organization was banned from the picket lines and 3903 spaces. Fightback was denied our basic democratic right to speak on these accusations, and any due process was disallowed. Up until this point we still have not heard a single concrete allegation or name of an abuser from the undergraduate clique or from the CUPE 3903 leadership!
It must be noted that only about 80-100 people out of a membership of nearly 3,700 people were present at this Special General Members meeting, which occurs weekly during the strike. The entire membership of CUPE 3903 was not made aware in advance that this was to be discussed, it was instead kept a secret until the meeting.
This is a complete sham. It flies against the traditions of trade union democracy. It is even more baffling that the ban on Fightback does not include ‘individuals’. Individuals from Fightback are still welcome to participate in the picket lines and CUPE 3903 spaces. What that means is that the ban is specifically a political ban against Fightback leaflets, newspapers, placards, banners, and the right to identify as, speak on behalf of, or organize for Fightback.
The ban does absolutely nothing to protect members of the union or undergraduates organizing solidarity from the alleged abusers. Those ‘individuals’ would still be able to participate and would not be held accountable. Their fellow workers, classmates and comrades would be left completely ignorant and open to victimization. This is irresponsible in the extreme and is a complete affront to the labour movement.
The entire result of the ban passed by CUPE 3903 (through a scandalous, undemocratic process) is a political ban and attack on the Marxist movement at York University. The same is true of the previous bureaucratic manoeuvres and expulsion organized by the tiny Stalinist-anarchist clique in the undergraduate solidarity movement. We are baffled that people who claim to be fighting oppression would treat serious matters like sexual assault and misconduct in such an utterly irresponsible and off-hand manner.
The result of this political attack against the Marxists is nothing but reactionary and damaging to the movement at York University. The undergraduate solidarity movement is now in shambles, with around 8-10 people at the sit-in, openly dominated by the proudly Stalinist RSM group. At a decisive time when CUPE 3903 is facing vicious attacks, the classes are kept open, scabbing is being encouraged, picket lines becoming demoralized, and a state-administered ratification vote is being pushed, the leadership of CUPE 3903 directs its energies towards a political witch-hunt against the Marxists!
The sit-in occupation could have been a turning point in the struggle, bringing striking workers, faculty and undergraduates together in the struggle for good jobs, access to education and against the undemocratic university administration. Instead, the sectarians among the undergraduates and in the CUPE 3903 leadership have turned to harming the movement through a political censorship campaign against the largest left-wing undergraduate organization - Fightback - which has been the most consistent defenders of CUPE 3903 and other campus unions.
Full details of this decision, including our response are here.
Hypocrisy of identity politics
We see here in practice how the ideas of postmodernism, identity politics and intersectionality play out in the movement. Far from playing a progressive role, these ideas are used to divide and weaken the movement. A core outcome of this individualistic and subjective lens for understanding and fighting oppression is a fatally misguided belief that different layers of the working class and oppressed have mutually antagonistic interests, and therefore that some have an interest in maintaining oppression over others.
This detracts from the real economic and social roots of oppression and encourages endless infighting and division instead of the unity and solidarity required to fight capitalism and all the oppression it entails. It also equips a layer of sectarians and bureaucrats with an arsenal of weapons for bureaucratic and Stalinist manoeuvring in the name of fighting oppression and discrimination.
This is not at all to suggest that individuals in the organizations and movements of the working class and oppressed cannot wield harmful discriminatory attitudes and abusive behaviours and that this should not be combatted tooth and nail. Revolutionaries fight all instances of oppression and discrimination because it divides and weakens the movement. We support democratic and accountable methods of doing so. However, this is not what we are seeing with the hypocritical actions of the RSM-OPIRG clique at York. The ideas of identity politics and “safe spaces” have been used to organize a political ban against revolutionary working-class politics. This has been nothing short of a Stalinist witch-hunt and censorship campaign.
Fightback's diverse membership and leadership were scandalously attacked through the langauge of identity politics, revealing the hypocrisy of these ideas / Image: fair use
While asserting they are acting in the interest of the movement by taking a stand against sexual violence and adopting what they claim is a survivor-centric approach, their actions have the opposite effect. If there were really instances of abuse or discrimination by members of Fightback, concrete allegations and details need to be provided to hold the offenders accountable and protect fellow activists, students, and workers in the movement. They have claimed that we have failed to take accountability and have a “history” of ignoring sexual violence, yet they refuse to engage with our attempts to be accountable, transparent and to take appropriate action against alleged abusers. This shows clearly that their actions are not motivated by a desire to hold abusers accountable, but rather to politically attack Fightback.
While claiming that Fightback has a “history” of racism, sexism, transphobia and other forms of discrimination and oppression, and asserting that we are dominated by white men and have “patriarchal structures”, this identity politics clique has completely overlooked the participation and role played by many of our members who come from some of the most oppressed and marginalized layers of the working class. The activists of Fightback at York University are overwhelmingly working class. The vast majority are also from racial minorities, are women or are LGBTQ.
The leadership of our group is also overwhelmingly composed of women and members of racial minorities. A number of our activists have experienced and lived with the impacts of violence and trauma as well. The matter of abusive and predatory behaviour is not taken lightly in our ranks. Actually, our serious approach to these matters and the ideas and methods we espouse to address and challenge them, continue to attract wider layers of activists from marginalized backgrounds.
For all their talk about representing and supporting oppressed identities, it is clear that the sectarians in the CUPE 3903 leadership and the RSM-OPIRG clique are prepared to weaponize accusations of sexual violence and discriminatory behaviours for their own political and personal leverage, organizing a complete Stalinist witch-hunt against those with different political ideas and methods in the movement, which they view as threatening their own position and rank therein. This has created an environment of intimidation, abuse, censorship, bullying and insults against the diverse activists of Fightback – all in the name of fighting oppression! This is the pinnacle of hypocrisy and makes their true intentions clear as day.
It is evident that these accusations are being used for the sole purpose of smearing Fightback. Their methods, which are a logical outcome of identity politics, are both harmful to the fight against oppression, and to the strike currently underway. With these methods, they divide the movement and weaken solidarity. We will never win the fight against capitalism and all the oppression that it breeds with such methods.
How to move forward
It is tragic that the strike movement and undergraduate solidarity campaign have been undermined by these cliques of sectarians through their anti-democratic witch-hunt. Fightback has done its duty to support this struggle. We continue to support this struggle, but have been pushed back at the moment due to this political ban.
We can see the pernicious role played by the methods of Stalinism and identity politics in the movement. What could have been a turning point for the struggle with the enormous momentum and enthusiasm that was being generated through the sit-in, among students, faculty and the striking workers (and beyond), has now become a complete mess. The movement has become divided, and the most consistent supporters of the trade union movement among the undergraduates are being censored, bullied, intimidated and victimized. This is entirely the fault of the sectarians.
We must expose these methods far and wide, and combat those who would sacrifice the movement for their own petty interests and positions. Fightback has shown its willingness at each stage to investigate any complaints. We have made it abundantly clear that we would fully cooperate with a democratic union-run procedure. We have nothing to hide and wish to hold any abusers accountable for their actions. Unfortunately, this is not true of the sectarian clique among the undergraduates and in the CUPE 3903 leadership whose actions are directly opposed to holding people accountable. To be perfectly clear, their actions enable predatory and abusive elements in the movement. The student and trade unions on campus must establish democratic and accountable processes for addressing grievances and allegations of harassment in the movement. The Stalinist witch-hunt must be defeated and all political bans lifted.
Fightback continues to unequivocally support the striking workers in CUPE 3903. The strike is facing a serious challenge with a forced ratification vote administered by the state. Our comrades who are members of CUPE 3903 will be voting against the forced ratification, and we call on all members of the union to do likewise. We encourage everyone to keep up the solidarity around the core demands put forward by CUPE 3903. A victory for this union is also a victory for the wider labour movement.
Fightback wishes to continue to play its role at the forefront of organizing solidarity efforts by students and non-3903 workers. We wish to continue to strengthen and bolster the picket lines and reach out to greater layers of undergraduate students. Unfortunately, this undemocratic and Stalinist witch-hunt has had the effect of paralyzing the activities of a large layer of undergraduate students, campus workers and non-campus workers affiliated with Fightback.
We are appealing to the broader labour and student movement to work towards rectifying the current situation and ending the political ban on Fightback. This would allow for the strengthening of the movement against the university bosses and the provincial Liberal government.
End the Stalinist political censorship campaign!
No witch-hunting of trade union and student union activists!
For democratic processes and accountability to address allegations of abuse!
For full democratic rights for different political trends in the labour movement!
Unity is strength! Strike to win! Victory to CUPE 3903!