by Daniel Nolan Hamilton Spectator
Sept. 30, 2008

Communist Party Leader Miguel Figueroa visited town yesterday to help boost the campaign of Hamilton Centre candidate Ryan Sparrow.

The Toronto resident, 56, has been a party member since 1977 and leader since 1992. The party has candidates in 24 ridings, including St. Catharines. It once held seats in the federal, Ontario and Manitoba legislatures, but not since the 1950s. It has about 700 members.

How did you get involved with the Communist Party?

“I was an anti-poverty activist. I was also active in the student movement back in the early ‘70s. That is when I first started getting politicized. Of course, the Vietnam War was going on and that’s when I first met Communists. I joined the party in 1977 and haven’t looked back.”

How relevant is the Communist Party today?

“We think left ideas are making a comeback, precisely because what we are seeing is that capitalism is in a deepening crisis. Certainly, what is taking place in the U.S. economy ... is a stinging indictment of neoliberalism and the whole prescription of right-wing, pro-business policies. We are quite confident the left will grow again here in Canada, and our party will grow.”

How do you get over the bad face communism had in Russia the last century?

“It’s important to have a historical perspective on this. The Russian experience and that wave of socialism was the first attempt to break from capitalism and build a fundamentally different society, and they made a lot of mistakes.

“If you look at the early period of capitalism, they had child labour, the slave trade. We think the next wave of socialism will be better, certainly in a country like Canada. We have had the benefit of learning a lot of lessons from the earlier attempts to build socialism.”

What would be the first thing you would do if you became prime minister?

“The first thing would be to reverse the erosion of Canadian sovereignty through NAFTA and Canada’s involvement in NATO. All of these treaties are orientated to further undermining the sovereign right of the Canadian people to decide our own policies, whether it’s labour standards, environmental standards or social policies. We must regain genuine Canadian sovereignty over our economy, our social life, immigration, defence and foreign policy.”