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Hardial Bains | |
|---|---|
 Bains in 1979 | |
| First Secretary of theCommunist Party of Canada (Marxist–Leninist) | |
| In office 1970–1997 | |
| Succeeded by | Sandra Smith |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1939-08-15)15 August 1939 Chak 6,Punjab,British India |
| Died | 24 August 1997(1997-08-24) (aged 58) |
| Party | Communist Party of Canada (Marxist–Leninist) |
| Spouse | Sandra L. Smith |
| Alma mater | University of British Columbia |
| Profession | Lecturer ofmicrobiology |
Hardial Bains (15 August 1939 – 24 August 1997) was a Canadiancommunist leader who founded a number of leftist organizations, foremost of which was theCommunist Party of Canada (Marxist–Leninist) (CPC(M-L)). Presenting himself as ananti-revisionist Marxist–Leninist until his death, Bains acted as the spokesperson and ideological leader of the CPC(M-L), known in elections as the Marxist–Leninist Party of Canada. During his lifetime, Bains's outlook was initially heavily influenced byMaoism until theSino-Albanian split, where he then became closely aligned withHoxhaism and the government of thePeople's Socialist Republic of Albania. Shortly before he died, while never having reneged on his anti-revisionist stance, Bains shifted his focus to issues of the "democratic renewal" of the Canadian electoral system. This perspective was shaped within the context of theCharlottetown Accord Referendum and Bains' perception of the "retreat of revolution" after the collapse of theEastern Bloc states by the early 1990s. Spending most of his life inCanada Bains was also politically active inEngland,Ireland,United States, andIndia. Initially, he was alecturer ofmicrobiology by profession.
Bains was born inBritish-ruled India (in what is nowPakistan) to a communistSikh family in thePunjab. Bains' family later moved to their ancestral villageMahilpur, India after the 1947Partition of India. In India he became a member of the youth wing of theCommunist Party of India (CPI). He was dismayed by what he saw as therevisionism ofNikita Khrushchev following thedeath ofJoseph Stalin. He broke with the party when the CPI, during an underground period, supported Khrushchev's criticisms of Stalin.[1] Shortly after, Bains immigrated to Canada and enrolled as a graduate student inmicrobiology at theUniversity of British Columbia (UBC) from 1960 to 1965, where he was an elected student leader.[2]
In 1963, he helped found "The Internationalists",[3] which evolved from a UBC political discussion group into ananti-revisionist student organization influenced byMao Zedong Thought. The Internationalists became the basis of CPC(M-L) with Bains as its founding leader.[3][4]
In 1965, Bains founded the "Internationalists in Ireland", while he was working as a lecturer inmicrobiology atTrinity College, Dublin.[5] In 1970, they renamed themselves theCommunist Party of Ireland (Marxist–Leninist).[6][7]
In 1967, Bains held a small conference of students in London with the express objective determining the future of the anti-revisionist movement, the "Necessity for Change" conference. While theIrish Communist Organisation disagreed with the other delegates and walked out of the meeting,[8] Bains became known as a leader of the anti-revisionist movement internationally,[9] and assisted in establishingMarxist–Leninist parties around the world.
In addition to founding the CPC(M-L) and CPI(ML), Bains is regarded as a major influence on theRevolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist–Leninist), theCommunist Party of Trinidad and Tobago, and theCommunist Ghadar Party of India.[10] 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, although it later split from the CPC(M-L) and dissolved in 1993. Some remnants of the MLP USA loyal to Bains formed the US Marxist-Leninist Organization in the 1980s. Left publications such asModern Communism have written articles on his legacy.[11]
As a young man, Bains was a member of theCommunist Party of India, but after the party acceptedNikita Khrushchev's speech, "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences", he apparently quit, adopting a pro-Stalinist viewpoint.
Later, following theSino-Soviet split, Bains' groups and parties held a strident Maoist position from the 1960s and into the 1970s. This was in line with the broaderNew Communist Movement, which until 1976 universally viewed Mao Zedong as the primary alternative to the deemed revisionism of the USSR. CPC(M-L) was the first significant Maoist organization in Canada, although it was eventually joined by two other Maoist groups, In Struggle!, andWorkers' Communist Party, in the mid-1970s. Each of the groups actively hostile to each other. Both In Struggle! and the Workers' Communist Party parties had collapsed by the early 1980s, leaving CPC(M-L) alone as the only major self-identifiedanti-revisionist party in Canada.
WithMao Zedong'sdeath in 1976 and the subsequent Sino-Albanian split, Bains renounced Maoism. Following the leadership ofEnver Hoxha and theParty of Labour of Albania (PLA), he became a prominent advocate of the PLA's line internationally, agreeing with the conclusion that Albania stood alone as the only socialist state in the world, withChina, theSoviet Union, and all other self-identified socialist states falling intorevisionism.[12]
After the overturn of socialism inAlbania, Bains again re-appraised his ideological outlook. He visited Cuba and announced he had changed his outlook towards the country and now viewed it as an example of socialism. The CPC(M-L) also re-appraised its view ofNorth Korea into a positive light. By the end of his life, Bains' writings made fewer and fewer references to anti-revisionism, and developed the theme of democratic renewal and the self-empowerment of the people due to the perceived "world-wide retreat of revolution".
Bains died after a prolonged battle with cancer in Hull, Quebec, on August 24, 1997.
After his death, a memorial was erected in honour of Bains and other CPC(M-L) "fallen comrades" inOttawa'sBeechwood Cemetery. PoetGeorge Elliot Clarke published a poem titled "Homage to Hardial Bains" in 2000 in theOyster Boy Review.[13]
Bains wrote several books, includingNecessity for Change!,Modern Communism,Visiting Cuba,If You Love Your Class andThinking About the Sixties, as well as many articles, pamphlets and speeches.
Sandra L. Smith, his widow, also served as leader of the CPC(M-L).[14]
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