The Red Review | Issue #18 (March 2025)
Trade War Means Class War
by John Clarke
There can be no doubt a major trade war with the US would have a devastating impact on the Canadian economy and there is every indication that such a situation is looming over us. Though Trump agreed to delay his specific tariff on Canadian exports, he has since announced a general tariff of 25% on steel and aluminum products from which Canada would not be exempted.
Clearly, the Trump administration has taken a major turn towards protectionism on a global scale and this brings with it the prospect of severe consequences that include considerable job losses and increased consumer prices. Obviously, a country as heavily dependent on trade with the US as Canada is would be particularly hard hit.
However, with this severe situation looming over us, it would be an enormous mistake to enter into an alliance with Canada’s capitalists in the supposed ‘national interest.’ On the contrary, there is an acute need for an independent working-class strategy based on mobilization, resistance and cross-border solidarity with working-class people in Mexico and the US.
Book Review of “The Left in Power: Bob Rae’s NDP and the Working Class”
by Tom Baker
This book is much more than a post-mortem of Ontario’s only NDP government. Professor Steven High has used his exceptional abilities as an expert in oral historical research to interview many of the key protagonists and analyze recently released archives from the 1990-1995 Bob Rae government in Ontario. In contrast to the numerous self- serving memoirs and critiques of the Rae government, this book objectively assesses the economic context, the party’s unexpected victory and its five years of confusion, compromise, arrogance and working class betrayal.
The author meticulously examines the “heartbreaking years of Bob Rae’s Ontario NDP government” —from their historic and unexpected 1990 victory, to their rightward policy shifts that left working-class voters and party members feeling betrayed, to their landslide defeat in 1995—to uncover what we can learn from one social democratic party’s mistakes about how to govern from the Left. As a participant in the internal ONDP party struggles of that time, in particular supporting MPP Peter Kormos’ fight for the leadership, I found High’s account rang true to my recollections of that period.
Amazon’s Quebec Closures are a Wake-up Call for Canada’s Labour Movement
by Niall Harney, Jon Milton
Amazon’s January 22 closure of all seven of its warehouses in Quebec is a shocking and unprecedented attack on North American workers. Not only does this decision leave as many as 4,500 workers suddenly without a job, but it marks a major escalation in Amazon’s decades-long fight against its workers’ attempts to collectively organize. There is every reason to believe Amazon will use this tactic to prevent union drives elsewhere in Canada. This escalation calls for a coordinated fight-back from unions across the country. Despite Amazon’s claims to the contrary, the decision to close all of its warehouses and sorting centres in Quebec is clearly a union-busting tactic.
Amazon’s primary tactic to prevent unionization at its North American facilities (pockets of Amazon workers in Europe are unionized) has been to delay, delay, delay. Workers at Amazon’s JFK8 warehouse in New York City were the first North American Amazon workers to form a union recognized by the U.S. National Labour Relations Board (NLRB) in April 2022—the culmination of years of organizing. Since then, Amazon has refused to even come to the table to bargain a collective agreement with the Amazon Labour Union, which is now part of the Teamsters. In December 2024 workers at JFK8 went on strike in an effort to bring Amazon to the bargaining table, however an agreement has yet to be reached.
On the 114th Anniversary of IWD: For Feminism and Socialism!
by Socialist Action Canada
A women’s conference of the Socialist International in Copenhagen in 1910 launched International Women’s Day. In 1978, Trotskyist parties, including the predecessor organization of Socialist Action / Ligue pour l’Action Socialiste in the Canadian state, re-launched the annual IWD.
Women’s oppression as well as heterosexism, transphobia, racism, environmental destruction and war are rooted in the capitalist system’s relentless pursuit of profits. Reactionary conservatism and religious fundamentalism seek the further subjugation of women to uphold their archaic patriarchal power structures.
Trans women are women! Our most vulnerable community members must be defended not shunned; leaving sisters behind serves only to divide us! Gender diverse people, however they identify, suffer too under the yoke of misogyny. The struggles for women's liberation and queer liberation will be fought together and won together.
Dune Part 2 and the Legacy of Nazi Propaganda
by Imogen Xavier
Dune Part 2 (2024) directed by Canada’s Hollywood darling Denis Villeneuve, is the second half of his adaptation of Frank Herbert's 1965 novel. A third film Dune: Messiahbased on the book’s sequel of the same name is on the way. While I am loathe to speak on the messaging of an artistic work that remains incomplete, Dune Part 2 bears some discussion as an independent work, as it is lauded with praise surrounding this year's Academy Awards.
There has been much talk of the film in parallel to Lawrence of Arabia (1963) and indeed there is much to compare. The two pieces bear remarkably similar narrative structures, and have both received the label of “white savior story.” This labelling describes an archetypal narrative structure with three precepts, though there is of course room for variation. 1) A racially white member of a colonizing entity becomes enamored by, integrates themselves with, and eventually leads to liberation of a non-white population. 2) The liberatory struggle of the colonized group serves to advance the character development of the white protagonist, centering a white, colonial worldview. 3) The white protagonist’s contributions to the liberatory struggle are uniquely effective, enlightening, often messianic or prophetic, and (most importantly for this analysis) materially advance the interests of the colonized group in good faith.
Resilient Roots: Fight for Black Labour Rights in Canada
by Balqees Jama
In 1734, Marie-Joseph Angélique, an enslaved Black woman, was accused of setting fire to her enslaver's home in Montreal, allegedly to escape forced labour. Whether she started the fire remains unclear to this day – she confessed, albeit under torture, and was executed for her supposed crime. Regardless, Angélique’s story symbolizes both the exploitation and racial violence that have deeply influenced the socio-economic realities faced by Black workers in Canada along with the fierce resistance, resilience, and pursuit of justice that have characterized the Black labour experience from the early 20th century to now.
When we hear triumphant stories of workers successfully unionizing, within these narratives the contributions and struggles of Black workers remain largely invisibilized, buried under the weight of systemic racism and economic exploitation.
From the early 1600s, European colonizers forcibly brought Black people to North America as enslaved labourers, subjected them to dehumanizing conditions, and stripped them of their basic rights. North America’s economy was built on this forced Black labour and the colonization of Indigenous lands.
Understanding DeepSeek AI in Context
by John Wunderlich
On Monday, January 27 headlines like DeepSeek tech wipe-out erases more than $1 trillion in market cap as AI panic grips Wall Street popped up on financial and tech press sites. Hardest hit were tech companies like Nvidia a Silicon Valley manufacturer of the kinds of processors used for artificial intelligence (AI) systems behind OpenAI. Also affected were the power companies planning to invest billions in electricity projects. DeepSeek has introduced a significantly more power-efficient and effective AI at a substantially lower cost than the Silicon Valley versions. In addition, the DeepSeek code is open-source, not proprietary, making it available to anyone who cares to build their version.
The latest form of artificial intelligence (AI) has dominated the technology and business news since OpenAI’s ChatGPT launch in 2022. It is the latest, and most significant, boom in capital investment without a clear path to profitability. AI models are based on data obtained on shaky legal, and dubious moral, grounds. The training data and AI model development are based on work done in data sweatshops, generally in the Global South. The data is processed in data centres that consume enough power to make building a nuclear power plant dedicated to the data centre a ‘reasonable’ possibility. If, and it’s a big if, this resource-intensive industry could benefit humanity (as claimed by some) how can this be done?