Communist Party of Canada
The Pandemic Exposes the Crisis of Capitalism and the Need for Socialism
The public health crisis brought on by the pandem- 21 ic exposes, and exacerbates, all of the deep-seated and intractable contradictions of capitalism in its imperialist stage - the class contradiction, marked by increasing centralization of capital and growing social disparities, both between and within countries; the ever-worsening environmental crisis, the food crisis, and the rise of racism and neo-fascism, to name but a few. It brings home, with greater intensity and urgency, the need to vanquish capitalism and to win a socialist alternative for all humanity. The pandemic has killed over 9,000 people in Canada and infected 145,000 others, by the end of September, with numbers rising rapidly as a second wave descends. Over a million have died around the world, including 200,000 in the US, with whom we share a 5,000 mile long border. More than 80% of deaths were of elderly people living in long-term care (LTC) facilities, and the healthcare workers who attended to them. Most of these LTC facilities were owned and operated by private, for-profit corporations which operated with minimum standards and part-time staff. This is the main reason why so many in died in long-term care. The virus spread quickly through these LTC “homes” in large part because healthcare workers were forced to work part-time, in multiple long-term care facilities, in order to make a living wage. Poor working conditions were coupled with poor and deteriorating living conditions for the residents. At one point the military was brought in to tend to sick and dying patients as a large number of healthcare workers in LTC became sick, and the appalling conditions were detailed in a report made public. Until then, LTC facilities had been locked-down, only accessible by workers and management. The Communist Party warned that the LTC crisis was caused by private, for profit care, and campaigned with statements, posters, and public online meetings for long term care to be taken over and made part of Medicare, Canada’s public healthcare system, with Canada-wide standards of care, and staffing. We also campaigned for PPE to be made available to all frontline healthcare workers, and to all frontline workers interacting with the public. We campaigned for employer-paid sick days to be made part of Canadian labour laws. Most of our campaigning was on-line with statements, commentaries, speakers and discussions, and in our press, with postering in public places, and some leaflet distributions where
