"The success of our convention will be measured by the extent to which the YS turns out towards the working class and its struggles, getting revolutionary books and the Militant into the hands of fighters such as striking city workers in Vancouver and workers on strike against Fletcher Challenge," a pulp and paper company in British Columbia, added Victoria Marshall from Toronto. "The YS in Toronto got out to the picket lines of the strike against PC World, who just scored an important victory against the company's attempt to use scab labor. We will now start doing regular sales of the Militant at the plant-gate there," she added.
Young Socialists chapters in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver, as well as at-large members in Quebec City and Woodstock, Ontario, have begun building the convention among young workers on strike, students, and others. Maria Isabel LeBlanc, a leader of the YS from Montreal, said that "YS members from Montreal and Toronto participated in the annual general assembly of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, held in Hull, Quebec, September 19 - 21. This was an important opening to build the YS and meet dozens of fighters for women's rights who were interested in getting subscriptions to the Militant and buying Pathfinder books that put forward a working-class perspective." In total, eight subscriptions to the Militant and a number of Pathfinder books were sold at the event.
Young Socialists from Toronto and Montreal will also join in the Days of Action organized by the Ontario Federation of Labour in North Bay, Ontario, September 26 - 27 against bill 136, which would prevent public sector workers from being able to strike. Fearing a growing confrontation with the labour movement, the Ontario government of Michael Harris announced September 18 that it would not go ahead with the antiunion legislation.
On September 27 municipal workers from throughout Quebec will demonstrate in Quebec City against attempts by the provincial government to take $500 million in cuts from their salaries. Conetl Tonatiuh García Ramírez, a high school student who just joined the YS in Quebec City, said, "It's good that the workers are saying enough is enough - not everyone understands that the problem isn't just in workers' salaries but in the economic system." YS members from Montreal plan to participate in the protest along with Ramírez and other youth.
In Vancouver, YS members are going to picket lines of workers on strike at Fletcher Challenge, and to the Yakima Valley, in Washington state, to meet up with farm workers. Jacob Gavin, a YS leader from Vancouver, said, "The Young Socialists is participating with others in protests against the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), which will hold a series of meetings of leaders from several imperialist countries in Vancouver and elsewhere this fall. The next event against APEC is the International Youth and Students Oppose Imperialist Globalization conference on the weekend of September 19. We've invited some of the activists we're working with on this to the convention."
At the August leadership meeting, YS leaders discussed the importance of the international campaign by the communist movement to sell subscriptions to the Militant, Perspectiva Mundial, and issues of New International in building the upcoming convention and recruiting young fighters to communism. The meeting decided to lead the YS in taking these publications to picket lines, factory plant gates, campuses and social protest activities, and at the same time to bring other young fighters to these political activities. The leadership meeting concluded that this is a key part to winning youth to understanding the revolutionary potential of the working class.
As part of building an organization that includes youth who are Quebecois, English-speaking, and of other nationalities, the meeting discussed the importance of having revolutionary books in French. These books are essential tools to reach out to revolutionary minded youth and workers who are Quebecois, which is one reason why the YS is participating in the fund drive for Pathfinder Press. This drive is raising funds to keep Pathfinder books in print and publish new titles, including translating communist books into French. The French translation of The Changing Face of U.S. Politics: Working-Class Politics and the Trade Unions is scheduled to be out by the time of the YS convention, and the agenda will include a celebration of the book's publication.
To prepare for the founding convention, chapters are discussing proposed political principles, rules of membership and organization, and a security policy that will be put before the convention for adoption. This will be the most important part of the convention, where the YS can adopt a political program and organize itself to be able to effectively build a communist youth organization. The pre- convention discussion also includes a series of complementary readings on the place and weight of the struggle for Quebec independence in Canadian politics, not just as a struggle for justice and equality, but a key part of the line of march of working people in Canada towards taking political power out of the hands of the capitalists. Other topics include the need for a revolutionary communist youth organization and communist party as part of struggling for a socialist revolution in Canada; the struggle for a workers' and farmers' government; the Cuban revolution and its importance in world politics; the fight for women's rights; and the struggles of Quebecois and other oppressed nationalities.
The upcoming convention will elect a Central Committee, responsible for leading the YS between conventions. There will also be a YS fund drive following the gathering.
For more information on the Young Socialists in Canada or the convention, call (514) 284-5547 in Montreal, (416) 588- 8591 in Toronto, or (604) 872-8343 in Vancouver.