Communist Candidates in the 1988 Canadian Federal Election - Miguel Figueroa, Communist Party Candidates, 1988 Canadian Federal Election (Paperback)

Chapters: Miguel Figueroa, Communist Party Candidates, 1988 Canadian Federal Election, Dan Goldstick, Naomi Rankin. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 26. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Miguel Figueroa (born July 29, 1953) has been the leader of the Communist Party of Canada since 1992 . Figueroa was born in Montreal, and has been a member of the CPC since 1977. He has held many positions within the CPC, including party organizer in Vancouver from 1978 to 1985, and leader of the party's Atlantic branch (based in Halifax) from 1986 to 1992. While leader of the Atlantic branch, Figueroa chaired an organizing committee that signed up 800 part-time seasonal professors and teaching assistants at Dalhousie University, ultimately leading to membership in the Canadian Union of Public Employees. The implosion of the Soviet Union led to internal party weaknesses within the CPC. Under the leadership of general secretary George Hewison (1988-91), the leadership of the CPC and a segment of its general membership began to abandon Marxism-Leninism as the basis of the Party's revolutionary perspective, and ultimately moved to liquidate the Party itself, seeking to replace it with a left, social democratic entity. The protracted ideological and political crisis created much confusion and disorientation within the ranks of the Party, and paralysed both its independent and united front work for over two years. Ultimately, the Hewison-led majority in the party voted to abandon Marxism-Leninism. An orthodox minority, led by Figueroa and former leader William Kashtan, resisted this effort and, after being defeated at the party's 1992 convention, were expelled from the party. As a result, they took the Communist Party to court. An out-of-court settlement resulted in the Hewison leadership relinquishing t...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=50359