The practical communist

By Dan Hilborn
Published June 5, 2004


Peter Horvath doesn't fit the stereotype of a communist candidate - he owns his own business and isn't expecting a revolution any time soon

Peter Horvath probably doesn't fit into most people's stereotypical vision of a communist.

First off, Horvath is a small businessman. He owns and operates the Mama's Donair shop on 12th Street in New Westminster, just three blocks away from his home in Burnaby.

The next most surprising thing - at least for anyone who hasn't taken a college-level political science class - is that Horvath doesn't really believe that communism will be achievable in Canada any time in the near future.

Horvath, who immigrated to Canada from Hungary almost 20 years ago, said he's lived under both systems of government, and he believes there is much to be learned from the Eastern European model.

And that's why Horvath is one of two Communist Party candidates running in Burnaby in this federal election. Horvath is running in the Burnaby-New Westminster riding, and Hanne Gidora is running in Burnaby-Douglas.

"I grew up in a socialist society," Horvath told the Burnaby Now. "I've lived in both systems and I know which one is more human and better for the people."

Horvath said North America has a huge disconnection between what principles it teaches to children and how adults behave. "Think about it," he said. "You teach your children to share and love and help each other, and then they finish school and we teach them to forget about those things, that their career is the most important thing, and you can put your parents into an old-age home.

"There's no family values here anymore. Everyone is just for himself. I can't believe it anymore," he said. "I've always believed in people sharing. That's the only way we can fix this."

And borrowing the definition of the dialectic straight out of Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto, Horvath explained that it is only after many years of socialism that the world will be ready for communism.

Gidora, who is running in Burnaby-Douglas, is married to party organizer George Gidora, who is the Communist candidate in the nearby Coquitlam-Port Moody riding.

"I want to put forward issues that are facing the working people of Canada," Gidora said. "The main issue, in our view, is the economy. Over the last few years there have been a lot of examples of workers and unions being attacked and forced to take cutbacks. Those people have to bear the brunt of poor management decisions."

Gidora said that other political parties may talk about social justice, but they take little action on it.

"They don't really get to the root of the problem because they want cosmetic changes. Sure they want some reforms, but they don't deal with the basic problems."

The Communist Party of Canada has probably published more policy papers than any other political party running in this election. Each day during the campaign, about half a dozen new papers are uploaded onto their website, which can be found at http:// election2004.communist-party.ca.