- Hardial Bains
Hardial Bains (
August 15 ,1939 –August 24 ,1997 ) was the founder and leader of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) until his death.Born in
India into a communist family in the Punjab, Bains became a member of the youth wing of theCommunist Party of India (CPI). He was dismayed by the revisionism ofNikita Khrushchev following the death ofStalin , and he broke with the CPI when it supported Khrushchev's criticisms of Stalin.In 1961, he founded "the Internationalists", an
anti-revisionist organisation that supportedMao Zedong 'sCommunist Party of China in theSino-Soviet split . This organisation (in Canada) ultimately became the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) (CPC-ML), of which Bains was the founding leader.Bains was a leader of the anti-revisionist movement internationally, and assisted in establishing Marxist-Leninist parties around the world, such as the
Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist) , theCommunist Party of Ireland (Marxist-Leninist) , and theCommunist Ghadar Party of India . Bains was also responsible for the founding of theHindustani Ghadar Party (Organisation of Indian Marxist-Leninists Abroad). He held a leading influence in theMarxist-Leninist Party, USA in the 1970s. (This party was dissolved in 1993.)Many of these parties originally held a "Maoist" position in the 1960s and 1970s, and Bains was often identified as a Maoist. More precisely, they were Marxist-Leninist, and held that "Mao Zedong Thought" was a development of Marxist-Leninist theory.
However, following Mao's death in 1976, they would later reject Mao Zedong Thought, particularly through the experience of the
Sino-Albanian split . Following the leadership ofEnver Hoxha and theAlbanian Party of Labour , Bains' anti-revisionism deepened in the sense of opposition both to the European revisionism (Khruschev,Tito andEurocommunism ) and to the Chinese revisionism.A memorial was erected in the honour of Bains and other CPC-ML "fallen comrades" in
Ottawa 's Beechwood Cemetery.Bains wrote several books, including "Necessity for Change!", "Modern Communism", "Visiting Cuba", "If You Love Your Class" and "Thinking About the Sixties", as well as many more articles, pamphlets and speeches.
Sandra L. Smith , his widow, is the current leader of the CPC-ML.External links
* [http://cpcml.ca/ Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) Website]
* [http://www.cgpi.org/pv150902.htm#1 Article on Bains from the People's Voice, paper of the Communist Ghadar Party of India]
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