Le Front de Libération du Québec

Second Manifesto (June 1970)

Source: FLQ: Un Projet Révolutionnaire, texts assembled by R. Comeau, D. Cooper, P. Vallières. VLB Éditeur, Montreal 1990;
Translated: for marxists.org by Mitch Abidor;
CopyLeft: Creative Commons (Attribute & ShareAlike) marxists.org 2004.

Originally published in Québec-Presse June 23, 1970, this was the second of the FLQ’s three manifestos.

I. Objectives

  1. We want to respond to the provocation that the established order constitutes. We want to respond to the blackmail of businessmen who think they can maintain the current political and economic system by inculcating fear of change in the populace. To the bombs of the Royal Trust type we oppose real ones. We do nothing but respond to their violence with counter-violence. We defend ourselves against the permanent attacks of the anti-worker and anti-Québécois forces that are the financial syndicates, the big companies, the chamber of commerce, and others, all of which are supported by the Liberal Party of Trudeau-Bourassa.
  2. We attack the economic organisms that the puppet French-speaking politicians (in the style of Trudeau-Bourassa-Drapeau) use to protect their interests, and with which the people believe they periodically enter into dialogue thorough a fake electoral democracy.
  3. We fight that clique of exploiters that the big capitalist bourgeoisie dominated by Anglo-American financiers constitute, and with which several Francophone parvenus collaborate
  4. We fight all forms of exploitation, the most glaring of which is linguistic segregation: the need to speak two languages because we are Québécois. The colonialist bosses are those most responsible in this area.
  5. We fight all forms of racism, discrimination and segregation. We are in solidarity with all the struggles carried out by peoples victim of American imperialism. We support the struggle carried out by the first exploited of the continent: the Amerindians. We are in solidarity with Black Americans and Puerto Ricans who fight Yankee capitalism.
  6. We are with all the immigrant workers in Quebec, and it is alongside them that we want to fight the common enemy: Anglo-American capitalism. It’s with all workers that we want to lead to success the struggle for national liberation.
  7. In solidarity with union struggles, the FLQ wants unionized workers to throw themselves more vigorously into the second front. It’s necessary that as soon as possible the representatives of the workers replace the false representatives of the people in parliament. When the worker’s party will have been created, the Front de Libération du Québec will no longer have a reason to exist.
  8. The FLQ fights the big companies who are owners of the means of information and who attempt to make people believe that the current government is in the service of all of society. The current government can only be in the service of those who finance it. We fight those capitalists who monopolize all the great means of communication of the people of Quebec. It’s up to free intellectuals to denounce this monopoly of information.
  9. The FLQ is in solidarity with all Québécois movements that act for the true economic liberation of the workers of Quebec, and who work for the political emancipation of Quebec. There will be either independence or destruction.

II. Means of Action

  1. To effectively fight the reactionary forces that work against the Québécois people it is urgent that we form a COMMON FRONT off all the progressive forces of Quebec. An end must be put to our isolation, which only aids the establishment. It is together that we must carry on the fight: our enemy’s enemies are our friends.
  2. This COMMON FRONT will unite the many movements, committees, and popular associations that currently work for a true democracy, a true economic liberation, a cultural revolution, or openly for an independent and socialist Quebec.
  3. The leaders of all these movements, in coordination with the political committees of the unions, must meet to establish together a consensus at the base, to participate in the writing of a Manifesto, and to elaborate a global strategy that will respect the particular character of each of its movements.
  4. The COMMITTEE of the Common Front that will unite delegates of different movements, associations, or “groupuscules” must GUIDE action, COORDINATE AND MOBILIZE IT; it can:

 

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