PLAYS BIG ROLE IN FIGHT FOR YOUTH NEEDS

Young Communists mark
fourtieth anniversary

By WILLIAM TURNER

T has been said that history is
| made by people. In the course
of events people by their actions
determine the direction in which
the course of history will travel.
Whatever is the end result it is
the sum total of human exper-
jence that may span a century,
a decade or a generation of time.

The past 40 years is the history
of one generation that experienc-
ed the boom and bust of the Gold-
en Era of the 1920’s, the Great
Depression that followed 1929 and
ended in the Second World War. A
generation that saw the forma-
tion in 1923 of the Young Workers
‘Party which later became the
Young Communist League, the
first Marxist-Leninist youth or-
ganization in Canada.

The Young Communist League’s
early years were eventful ones.
The economic crisis of the 1930’s
burst with full fury amongst the
young people. Everywhere thous-
ands of young workers became
unemployed, those who were em-
ployed -were victimized by low
wages and subjected to speed-
up in many industries.

In those days trade unions were
numerically small, mainly of the
craft form of organization with
most of the mass production in-

~ dustries unorganized. The Young

Communist League directed its
efforts towards assisting in organ-
izing the unemployed youth
through the Relief Camp Workers
Union and the Single Unemployed
Protective Association.

Members of the League actively
patticipated in cganizing ‘the
unorganized youth into The Work-
ers Unity League which differed
from the A F of L in that it was
formed for wage increases in
spite of the economic depression.

_ They succeeded when the AF of L

said it couldn’t be done.

* * *

. Young Communists were proud
of the fact that the official paper
of the League, The Young Worker,
had a circulation of 1500 copies
a week in B.C._ through street

sales and_ subscriptions. Later
publications popular amongst the
youth were the magazines Champ-
ion and’ Advance that reflected
the broad youth movements active
in The Canadian Youth Congress.

This mighty congress of youth
voiced the aspirations and de-
mands of young Canada from
coast to coast. It was represent-
ative of the many religious, trade
union, fraternal, cultural, sports
and political movements, and in-
deed was a broad democratic
youth movement united around a
common program known = as

Youth’s Bill of Rights.

WILLIAM TURNER

In British Columbia, as in other
provinces, the Young Communist
League was officially represented
by delegates on the B.C. Youth
Congress. The contribution of the
YCL delegation in the debates
and discussions around a youth
program invariably met with the
approval of the other youth
groups. The leader of the YCL
delegation at the time was the
B.C. secretary, Maurice Rush.

* * *

One of the achievements of the
B.C. Youth Congress was the
adoption by the Liberal govern-
ment of the demand for a Youth
Director to be appointed to the
provincial cabinet.

Some of the earlier struggles
of the YCL was the campaign for
the repeal of the notorious Sec-

tion 98 upon which the Commun-
ist Party had been declared il-
legal and its leadership impri-
soned. It was an unforgettable
experience after the campaign
had been successful when 5000
people met Tim Buck at the CPR
station after his release from
Kingston Penetentiary. In the
evening hé spoke at the Old Arena

to 15,000 people who afforded him ~

a standing ovation after he was
escorted to tne platform by mem-
bers of The Workers Sports As-
sociation and the childrens group,
the Young Fioneers. ‘

During the Spanish Civil War
the League was actively engaged

in organizing support for the Loy-

alist cause. Public meetings were
held, comforts for the Mackenzie-
Papineau battalion were raised
and the Girls Brigade and their
colorful uniforms were a familiar
sight at many public gatherings.

One must also remember the
work undertaken by the YCL in
mobilizing support during the
Longshoremen’s strike in 1935. In
addition to helping on the picket
lines, the League appealed to
students to participate in the May
Day parade in support of the
locked-out Longshoremen. if

To this end, YCL’ers and mem-
bers of the Young Socialist Lea-
gue (with which a form of unity
was then in effect) covered the
citys’ schools with leaflets and
held meetings on the _ school
grounds. On May Day 5,000 Van-
‘couver school children were part
of a parade of 20,000 that marched
to Stanley Park.

In 1937, the Mothers Council or-

’ ganized a mammoth Mothers Day

picnic in the park for the unem-
ployed youth from the relief
camps who were on strike. The
highlight of the picnic was a liv-
ing Mother’s Day Heart formed
by 20,000 mothers and youth on
the grassy slopes facing the Mal-
kin Bowl. :

Members of the YCL and young
people who belonged to the many
national youth groups in the city
participated in many cultural un-
dertakings. A stage play produced
by the Progressive Arts Club

DO You FEEL A PECULIAR »
SORT OF RUMBLE P

FRED WRIGHT in UE News

overnight became a_ sensation.
“Waiting for Lefty’? opened a new
type of theatre performance that
besides being a play of social
significance directly involved the
audience with the cast. This
story of a taxi drivers’ strike be-
came real as the actors, most of
whom were unemployed, lived the
parts.

The young members of the cast
played “Waiting for Lefty’ in the
B.C. Drama Festival and won
first place honors, and the right
to represent B.C. at the Dominion
Drama Festival in Ottawa. The
public responded to the appeal
for funds to finance the trip to
Ottawa where the group placed
second and became front page
news.

* * *

Looking back to that generation
in which the Young Communist
League was born it was one of
sharp political struggle for a Can-
adian Marxist-Leninist youth
organization.

The league fought against the
attempt by the government to
declare it illegal and secured the
release of Mike Golinsky who had
been arrested with national lead-
ers of the Communist Party. Mike
was the first secretary of the

YCL in British Columbia and his
early death was a great loss to
the progressive movement.

There are many comrades who
will not be able to share in the
observance of the 40th annivers-
ary of the founding of Canada’s
Marxist-Leninist youth organiza-
tion. Young fighters like Vi McRae
whose warmth and communist
modesty was exemplary; Nick
Tatoff who died of wounds suffer-
ed in the Span'‘sh Civil War; Kit
Livingstone, George Henderson,
and many more that you and I
remember through the years.

This article has only touched
upon one peviod in the history of
the YCL in British Columbia —
mainly that of the 1930’s. It does
encompass the critical years of
a generation that was to write
further history in World War II
in the fight against fascism.

The generation of today, with
the eagerness and fresh vitality
of youth, is a challenging one ~
that knows the world of today is
a changing world. In Canada the
Young Communist League will
be an integral part of its genera- .
tion in seeking and working to
organize young men and women
in order that future generations
may live their lives in peace, se-
curity and lasting happiness.

THE MEANING OF BIRMINGHAM

Gus Hall is the leading Com-
munist spokesman in the U.S. The
following remarks were included in
@ speech made at a dinner honor-
ing Louis Weinstock, general min-
ager of the U.S. Worker, on his
60th birthday.

By GUS HALL

The events of Birmingham have
exploded on to the stage of
history a new stage in the strug-
gle to end Jimcrow once and for
all time.

The struggles of Birmingham
are of the greatest possible sig-
nificance for America because
without victory over the forces
of backwardness and reaction in

~ the South, our nation would for-
ever be stuck in the quagmire of
bigotry and prejudice.

This roadblock of racism has
to be removed before our nation
ean continue along the path of

democracy and progress.

This is the process of unifying
our nation. This is the process
of shaping and moulding a new
and betey nation. The remnants
of slavery have poisoned the life-
stream of our nation for more
than a century. ;

The struggle of Birmingham to
rid our land of the shackles on
freedom is revitalizing and giving
an injection of new strength to
all of our democratic institutions.
It is broadening the popular base
of democracy in our land.

These struggles are purifying
and cleansing the political and
social atmosphere in our land.

eR

The political air we all breathe is
fresher and healthier because the
swamps of bigotry and the source
of reactionary filth are being
cleansed away.

These struggles make it pos-
sible for us to re-establish our
self-respect as a people and
nation. These struggles are wip-
ing out 100 years of shame and
disgrace.

No American has been able to |

hold his head high with a clear
conscience as long as this fester-
ing malignancy has been a part
of our life.

This struggle is unifying our
working class. It opens up the
South for unionization and makes
it possible to eliminate the wage
differential.

Birmingham signals the end to
second class citizenship, brings
new health, new vote, new offi-
cials into our democracy. :

This is

bad news for the
monopolists

and for the de-
cadent piuntation owners.

This signals the end of the
bigoted, anti-Negro, anti-labor,
anti-democratic, vabid, empty-
headed defunct Klagherns. The

end of Jimcrow in Birmingham
undermines the foundation of
the ultra-right, reactionary Re-
publican-Dixiecrat coalition in
Congress.

This is the best thing that could
have happened for the USA.
That’s why the hoodlums now try
to destroy victory. The fact is
that gradualism and tokenism are
dead.

Again, we have the example of
mass struggle as the cureall. We
are an independent nation be-
cause of mass struggles. We have
a Bill of Rights and democratic
institutions because of mass
struggles.
men’s suffrage, unemployment
insurance, old age pensions—all
because of mass struggles. In the
tradition of these mass struggles

. the Negro people are making a

tremendous mass struggle for a
better, decent America.

In these struggles, the leader.
ship of the movement in Birming-
ham is brilliant in the use of cor-
rect tactics. These tactics were
difficult and complicated.~ The
leadership under Rev. Martin Lu-
ther King had to reject tokenism

We have unions, wo-

June 7, 1963—PACIFIC

and gradualism; they had to re-
ject reliance on only legal man-
oevres; they rejected the advice
of the extremists, the adocacy of
violence; of the diversive policy of
separation as directed against all
‘white Americans. : :

Birmingham shows all policies —
and practices of second class
citizenship can be ended now.

These successful policies and
tactics can continue only in the
mass. struggles on the path of
unity of Negro and white, and
only if the white Americans fully
realize that this is their fight,
this is a fight for a better Amer-
ica, and give it their full sup-
port,

And only if the federal govern-
ment will use the constitutional
authority invested in it to guar-
antee the full  coustifutiona
rights of the Negro citizens.
TRIBUNE—Page °

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