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   Vol.66/No.10            March 11, 2002 
 
 
Rally participants buy 230 copies of the 'Militant'
 
BY MARCEL CHARBONEAU
VICTORIA, British Columbia--As tens of thousands of workers and young people gathered here February 23 to protest cuts to the social wage by the Liberal Party government of Gordon Campbell in British Columbia, 18 communist workers and Young Socialists put in a fruitful day of talking socialism with hundreds at the protest.

Members of the Communist League, Socialist Workers Party, and Young Socialists, along with other supporters from Vancouver and Seattle, sold 230 copies of the Militant and 14 Pathfinder books. One young Palestinian met by the team members had first run into the Young Socialists at the 15th World Festival of Youth and Students in Algiers, Algeria, in August.

There was quite a bit of interest in the Militant's coverage of the struggle of working people in Argentina against the devastating impact of the capitalist economic crisis there. Nurses and other hospital workers were keen to learn about the strike by nurses in New York that was featured on the front page of the Militant. The fact that the nurses had been on the picket lines for 83 days struck many as quite an accomplishment, especially since the British Columbia government has deemed all strikes by nurses to be illegal.

A number of workers and youth said they supported the signs on the socialists' literature tables calling for solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for self-determination and for Israel to get out of the occupied territories. Among the crowd were members of the Canada Palestine Network, who were also campaigning to get out the truth about the battle for Palestinian liberation in the midst of the escalation of Israel's assaults. Two members of the group decided to attend a Militant Labor Forum on Argentina the next day in Vancouver.

Among the Pathfinder titles purchased by rally participants were From The Escambray to the Congo: In the Whirlwind of the Cuban Revolution by Víctor Dreke; Cuba and the Coming American Revolution by Jack Barnes; Socialism On Trial by James P. Cannon; New International no. 9 titled "The Rise and Fall of the Nicaraguan Revolution"; To Speak the Truth, by Fidel Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara; and the Communist Manifesto.

Communist workers and YS members found abundant opportunities to talk about the need for revolutionary struggle by working people to fight to replace the capitalist government with one of their own. They were able to point out that it is the capitalist system that is the source of problems workers confront today.

By the end of the day, 15 protesters had signed up to receive more information on the Young Socialists, to receive Pathfinder catalogues, or to be on the mailing list for Militant Labor Forums.  
 
 
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