Vol.64/No.19 May 15, 2000
Young Socialists around the world
YS joins in working-class battles in Canada
BY BILL SCHMITT
TORONTO — Young Socialists from Detroit went to Toronto the third week of April to help build the Sixth Convention of the Communist League and to learn more about and participate in working-class politics in Canada. While there, the Young Socialists joined picket lines put up by striking workers and discussed politics at two universities, a truck stop, a factory plant gate, while going door-to-door in working-class neighborhoods, and on a street corner where we sold a subscription to the Militant.
Wherever we went, the main issues people wanted to discuss were the Toronto municipal workers strike, which was recently settled, the Canadian rulers' assault on national health care, and the continuing struggle of the Quebecois for independence.
The picket lines we joined were at Toromont Industries, where workers are striking to defend their wages and cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), and at Maxim, a company that makes plastic gloves, where members of the Canadian Auto Workers are on strike. At both places many workers were interested in broader politics and wanted to discuss the ideas of Malcolm X, the Cuban revolution, and what imperialism is. Several workers bought copies of the Militant.
A number of youth from Detroit, Toronto, and Montreal, who were interested in communism and the Young Socialists, participated in a forum on Saturday night.
The team provided the Toronto and Detroit Young Socialists chapters a good opportunity to collaborate more effectively with each other. Both organizations are fresh out of the experience of helping to build the congress of the Continental Latin America and Caribbean Students Organization (OCLAE) in Cuba, where they had the chance to meet young people from throughout the Americas, stand in solidarity with the Cuban revolution, and aim to win youth to a communist perspective. This spirit of activity continued right through the Communist League convention. The Canadian Young Socialists participated in a regional team that spanned from Vancouver to Toronto, and in another that went to the maritime provinces. At the end of the trip, the Young Socialists jointly held a raffle that raised Can$200.
Bill Schmitt is a member of the Young Socialists in Detroit.