The purpose of Common Front is to bring together members of trade unions, student unions, public service unions, and unorganized workers as well, in an effort to coordinate the struggles that have so far been fought separately.

A look at our recent history in Quebec shows the need for a common front. Trade unions, public sector unions, and student unions have all had recent confrontations with the government, but many rank-and-file members of these organizations are disappointed with the results.

In late 2003, an effort to build a one-day general strike in protest of the Charest government's policies gradually fizzled - in spite of a full mandate from CSN locals, and 90 percent ratification from FTQ locals. The FTQ leadership refused to follow through on the mandate received from below, paralysing the strike before it happened. Workers who had voted for the strike had to swallow their resentment and go back to work.

In response to attacks by the Charest government on the education system, and partly because of the militant mood that was still present after the general strike initiative, the student strike took place in early 2005. After a month of striking, once again, divisions between the CASSE and the FECQ/FEUQ student unions allowed the Charest government to adhere to the minimum possible of demands.

Just after this dramatic episode, Quebec's teachers went on strike. The student population, exhausted from its own recent confrontation, didn't assist the teachers with the numbers that it had fought its own battles.

All of us are facing worsening conditions, imposed by a government that is unified and will always exploit our divisions to its advantage. Employers and school administrations both find an ally in the Charest/Dumont government, who is itself the employer of the public service. Our unions are the best defense we have against their unity. But we can't accomplish everything we need to if we remain divided.

Each of these setbacks happened because there was little recognition of the common interests at stake. There was no organization in place to bridge the divisions within and between the unions of workers, teachers, and students. It is clear that such an organization can only be successful and gain legitimacy if it appeals to people across the divisions that now exist, and draws political conclusions from the day-to-day battles we have all fought.

That's why we're organizing a Common Front: to allow communication, coordination, and solidarity between workers, students and teachers - with the goal of a better society for us all.

To join or to get more information, please email us: info(-at-)commonfront.org

COMMON FRONT ORGANIZING PRINCIPLES

Common Front takes its name from the Front Commun that organized the Quebec General Strike of 1972.

Principles

1. Common Front is an organization dedicated to social change based in the principles of anti-capitalism and union solidarity.

2. Given the fundamental position of workers in the production of wealth and their role in the functioning of capitalism, Common Front takes as its starting point the necessity of an organized working class in achieving any concrete social change.

3. Common Front works side by side with all movements which seek to improve the condition of those whom capitalism exploits. We recognize that this includes not only the working class, but also disenfranchised sectors within the middle class, national minorities, the student population, and the unemployed. However, as capitalism is at the root of each of these forms of oppression, workers are the only ones with the power to build and unify all of these into a movement strong enough to create lasting change.

4. The stripping away of social reforms such as universal health care, public education, and the social safety net is evidence that capitalism in Canada and around the world can no longer function while providing the living standards which working people fought for and pay for. While corporate salaries and profits increase, social programs are gutted, wages fall, unemployment rises, and debt is a reality for the majority of people.

Common Front therefore understands that reforms to capitalism are increasingly unrealistic. The struggle for reforms is part and parcel of a greater struggle to overcome the problems of capitalism through a rational, socialist re-organization of society.

5. In light of these realities, Common Front concludes that the only way to achieve such a transformation is through the political empowerment of the working class, through democratic control of the wealth they produce, with the support of all other disenfranchised people.

Tactics and Programme

We realize that these are large-scale problems which require large-scale solutions and a great deal of patient day-to-day work to achieve them. Increasing militancy among rank-and-file workers, the student strike of 2005, and the formation of Quebec Solidaire are separate expressions of a common resistance to the agenda of the ruling class and its government allies. Our interests would be better defended by unity among all of these movements. In this regard, Common Front works towards the following major goals:

1. The development of links between Quebec Solidaire and the Quebec labour movement by means of official union affiliation. This will give workers a party with which to fight for their own interests as a class.

2. The creation of a unified and democratic Quebec Student Union, which will put an end to the government tactic of divide and conquer.

3. Revisiting and reviving the traditions of unity between workers', students' and teachers' unions in Quebec. Common Front stands for an alliance between student and labour unions which would allow them to support and defend each other.

Common Front does not believe in dividing workers, students, or any other movement by setting up rival organizations. A strong, unified movement to change society must be formed by workers and students themselves, through the unions and associations which they fought to build.