Marxist-Leninist Party candidates, 1997 Canadian federal election

The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) ran several candidates in the 1997 federal election, none of whom were elected. Information about these candidates may be found on this page.

Manitoba

Rubin Kantorovich (St. Boniface)

Kantorovich is an electronics technician, and has campaigned for the Canadian House of Commons in the elections of 1988, 1993 and 1997. His was listed as a non-affiliated candidate in 1988, as the Marxist-Leninist Party was not registered with Elections Canada.

There is a Canadian musician named Rubin Kantorovich, although this may not be the same person. [http://www.farpointfilms.com/servicessoundproduction.asp]

Ken Kalturnyk (Winnipeg—Transcona)

Kenneth (Ken) Kalturnyk is an activist based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He has been a candidate of the Communist Party of Canada - Marxist-Leninist on five occasions, and is a member of its Manitoba Regional Committee. [ [http://www.socialistproject.ca/relay/relay15.pdf Ken Kalturnyk and Karen Naylor, "A proposal for discussion on party building"] , "Relay: A Socialist Project Review", January/February 2007, p. 4, accessed 9 March 2007.] He is the editor of "Modern Communism", the MRC's journal. [ [http://www.modern-communism.ca/modcom.htm Modern Communism: Home Page] , accessed 9 March 2007.] Kalturnyk is also a member of the "Canadian Dimension" editorial collective, and has written occasional articles for the paper. [ [http://www.canadiandimension.com/about/ Canadian Dimension: About Us] , accessed 9 March 2007.] He is active in labour issues, and was a founding member of Winnipeg's Workers Organizing and Resource Centre. [ [http://www.yorku.ca/julabour/volume1/jl_bickerton.pdf Geoff Bickerton and Catherine Sterns, "The Struggle Continues in Winnipeg: The Workers Organizing Resource Centre"] , "Just Labour", Vol. 1 (2002), 50-57.]

Kalturnyk helped to organize Winnipeg's "Structured Movement Against Capitalism" in 2000-01. The organization included members from several activist movements, and placed an emphasis on "reforms which are achievable under capitalism, but which weaken the system, while developing people's organizational capacities". [Ken Kalturynk, "Winnipeg's SMAC: A Promising Beginning", "Canadian Dimension", 1 March 2001, p. 10.]

He wrote an essay entitled "Reflections on Violence" for "Canadian Dimension" in 2001, examining the questions of "whether violence is a necessary and effective tactic in the conditions prevailing in Canada in the beginning of the 21st century" and "whether violence should be employed as part of a protest". He argued that armed resistance is justifiable in some circumstances, such as the defense of burial grounds by the Mohawk people of Oka in 1990, but concluded that it was not a justified tactic for Canadian activists at the present time:

The use of violence is a tactical issue and not a matter of principle, and while the use of violence by the movement as a response to the violence of the state may ultimately prove necessary, we are not yet at that stage of the struggle. Furthermore, the tactics of violence should be used with extreme caution, as the people are invariably the main victims. [Ken Kalturynk, "Reflections on Violence", "Canadian Dimension", 1 July 2001, p. 26.]

In 2003, Kalturnyk published an essay in "Modern Communism" arguing that the Holodomor was a hoax perpetrated by right-wing American newspapers and sustained by anti-Soviet propaganda during the Cold War. The article posited that Ukraine was caught up in a "virtual civil war" between Kulaks (rich peasants) and the Soviet system in 1933-34, and argued that food shortages only occurred in the limited areas where peasants took up the Kulak call for an "agricultural strike". [ [http://www.modern-communism.ca/mc43803.htm "The Famine That Never Was", "Modern Communism", 8 December 2003] , accessed 8 March 2007.] This article has been the source of some controversy.

Kalturynk has also written in defense of James Bay Cree land rights, and against the Quebec government's plans for hydro-development in the region. [Ken Kalturnyk, "James Bay agreement", "Canadian Dimension", 1 May 2002, p. 8.] He wrote a piece on the Left and Canadian nationalism in 2002, [Ken Kalturynk, "Canadian nationalism and the struggle for popular sovereignty", "Canadian Dimension", 1 September 2002, p. 40.] and a work on the future of Stelco in 2006. [Ken Kalturnyk, "Seeking a steel solution", "Canadian Dimension", 1 May 2006, p. 43.]

Footnotes