"Our aim is to win everything from that system (capitalism) we can, then end it." -William Kashtan

When William Kashtan, leader of the Communist Party of Canada, publicly debated Freedom Party president Robert Metz on the Wayne McLean Hot Line program (CFPL-AM Radio 98, London) on June 20, 1986, the open-line switchboard was fully lit from the outset of Southwestern Ontario's highest-rated talk show. The central theme of the debate was "Communism versus Capitalism", though much of the discussion's focus was on the issue of free trade, since Kashtan was in London on an anti-free-trade crusade.

In true Communist fashion, Kashtan's tactics revolved around evasion, denial, name-calling, and a show of contempt for anyone who disagreed with his viewpoint --- which included virtually every caller to the program during the two-hour debate.

Kashtan was clearly not prepared and quite unable to deal with the laissez-faire capitalist point of view, as presented by Metz. When he had been booked as a guest on the open-line talk show, he was aware that there would be an "opposing point of view" presented, but the last thing he expected was a consistently rational and principled opposing point of view.

During the commercial breaks, Kashtan and his campaign manager vented their anger and frustration on McLean for having booked Metz opposite him. Metz was "too politically naive" for their liking; he had no government "programs" that they could criticize and he did not understand "political economy," they argued. It was beyond their understanding that Metz was, in effect, opposed to any concept of political economy at all! (it was a free economy that Metz was arguing in favour of.) They would have preferred to debate someone from the traditional parties in power who, ironically, shared their viewpoint that government has an important role to play in manipulating national economies.

Which, of course, was central to the entire premise of the debate: in a laissez-faire society, politics has no place in economic affairs. Kashtan's own arguments proved the case: virtually every criticism he levied against the West's "capitalistic" system was a criticism of a government's failure at intervention (i.e., "state-monopoly capitalism"). The contradictions in his arguments were glaring.

"Free enterprise doesn't exist!" argued Kashtan (an argument which, much to his surprise, Metz agreed with), yet he blamed this "non-existent" free enterprise system for everything that was wrong in Canada and even used the argument to contend that Metz had no grounds to promote a system that doesn't exist, since, assumably, there was thus no way to prove its worth.

Of course, this line of reasoning didn't stop Kashtan from promoting Communism, which he equally argued didn't exist --- even in the Soviet Union! The Soviet Union, argued Kashtan, was only "socialist", and would not be Communist until there was "sufficient abundance" flooding the land. And of course, again, the fact that no socialist country has ever created such conditions meant nothing insofar as Kashtan's promotion of Communism was concerned.

Kashtan's debating tactics were astonishing: not only did he accuse callers of being C.I.A. or R.C.M.P. fronts, he totally denied that those who experienced suppression under Communist dictatorships ever had those experiences. But his abrasive and offensive approach to discussion served a purpose: it deflected attention from the issues to his abrasive personality.

Nevertheless, Metz pressed the point that many of the "issues" raised by the Communist Party were the very issues pursued by Liberals, Conservatives, and New Democrats: job security, cultural sovereignty, economic independence, American "domination" of the economy, nationalization, and of course, the ever-popular myth of private "monopoly" control.

But the true worth and value of the capitalist system was ultimately expressed by Kashtan himself during a press conference which followed his debate with Metz: "Our aim is to win everything from that system that we can, then end it."

The hypocrisy inherent in wishing to reap the benefits of a social system that one despises speaks for itself. Thus, in his own way, Kashtan has paid tribute to capitalism and freedom --- an acknowledgement that even transcended his own blind hatred of the "system."

We sincerely hope that Mr. Kashtan continues his Communist crusade in the manner he has adopted: No other testimonial could be more effective or convincing as to the merits of capitalism.

Audio cassettes of this debate are available by contacting Freedom Party.

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Page last updated on April 28, 2002