ee ee ee THE YCL IN CONVENTION A bill of rights for youth The Young Communist League’s 19th Convention in To- ronto, Sept. 30, Oct. 1-2 brought together 61 delegates from across Canada, almost evenly divided between men and women. About half were from French Canda. With responsibility these young workers, university and high school students, unemployed and ~ others, laid out a plan f action for coming to grips with the agonizing problems of Canadian youth to- day. Our article by David Gutnick offers a few glimpses of the way the YCL analyzes and challenges youth’s real problems. ek * By DAVID GUTNICK ‘*The resolutions which we will be dealing with in this convention, our call for youth rights: for the right to a job, for the right to a full and democratic education, for the right to sports, leisure and cul- ture, for the right to live in a peaceful world — these are all rights which the socialist coun- tries guarantee their young citizens.” SS # General Secretary of the Com- munist Party, William Kashtan ad- dresses convention delegates. It was with these words that Mike Gidora, general secretary of the Young Communist League of Canada opened that organiza- tion’s 19th Convention in Toron- to, September 30. The three day convention, the fourth since the League’s refounding in 1970, gathered young people from all parts of Canada to decide upon and map out YCL policy for the next three years. : ‘*In Canada we can note the be- ginning of a new spirit in the young people of our country, ina rejection of the policies of gov- ernments,”’ said Gidora in his opening remarks. *“On one hand, this new at- titude is manifested by a rejec- tion, pure and simple, of the gov- ernments and political institutions in Canada. It takes the form of a development of cynicism, in dis- trust and disbelief in authority and institutions. On the other hand it is reflected in a certain growth of the organized youth movement, in an upsurge of sorts in the ac- tivities of youth groups, student organizations, on the part of im- migrant youth, groups of ethnic and religious young people. ‘‘In these conditions (of economic and social depres- sion),’’ said Gidora, ‘““there are a number of tasks before us as an organization and before us as a convention. During the next three days we will reaffirm our com- ‘mitment of support to the youth and people struggling against im- perialism, fascism, colonialism and apartheid. We will come out of this convention firmer than ever in our determination to help defeat the imperialism per- petuated against other peoples by forces within Canada.” Gidora emphasized the need for delegates to fully explore and debate the convention documents which, he noted ‘‘detail the major problems facing youth today.” The need for a strong and un- ited youth movement was recog- nized and emphasized in the key- note speech, in the debate of the delegates and was implicit in the Charter of Youth Demands ap- proved by the convention. ‘‘When we speak of a united youth movement, we do not speak of an abstract notion....” said Gidora, ‘‘but of an alliance based on agreement on a number of fundamental questions, based on agreement to fight for our basic rights as young people ...”” The convention recognized the increased militancy among youth since the last (18th) convention and delegates pledged to working with a youth that ‘‘has shifted to the left politically.”’ ‘**More and more,”’ the conven- tion delegates noted, ‘‘the or- ganized youth movement is seek- ing ways of cooperating in and supporting the struggles of the working class.’’ The. National Union of Students (NUS) in En- glish Canada and L’ Association National des Etudiants du Québec (ANEQ) have consoli- € dated themselves into organiza- : ¥, tions capable of moving students towards political action. ‘*All in all,’’ read convention documents ‘‘the student move- ment has made great advances in the past three years, and though it still has a long way to go before it becomes a real force in the politi- cal life of Canada, as long as its maintains its present orientation of political action and of seeking alliances with the trade union movement and -other forces, it should be possible to overcome most difficulties.” William Kashtan, general sec- retary of the Communist Party of Canada, greeted delegates and noted the reasons for the increas- ing political consciousness of youth in a speech on the opening day of the convention. ‘*They (the bourgoisie) are be- reft of any coherent, sensible, ra- tional approach as to how to come to grips with the problem of the unemployed young people be- cause they are unable to come to grips with the problem of the un- employed generally. Because you can’t solve the problem of the youth without solving the prob- lem of unemployment and capital- ism, young people are bound to increasingly come to the conclu- sion that. capitalism is unable to give them a future and a perspec- tive of development and ad- vance.” - Kashtan approved the YCL’s call for a united youth movement and said it is “‘tied in with the whole perspective of how the world is to move forward and 3 whether the drive of imperialism PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 14, 1977—Page 8 OTO — FRED WEIR can be checked and defeated... .”’ He hoped, Kashtan said, that the YCL would ‘‘associate itself’ with the work for peace and ‘‘do all that it can to help to unite the qi young people of this country fora § policy of peace, for a policy of § détente, and for policies of dis- armament... leading toward nuc- lear disarmament.” A major result to come out of a the convention was A Charter of Youth Demands, enthusiastically hailed by the delegates. The Charter’s first concern is full em- ployment. Recognizing that one identi- fiable section hit hardest by un- employment is young people — one in five is unemployed — and realizing that economic penalties imposed on these young people are greater the YCL emphasized the need for all progressive forces, including the trade union movement to work together on a common program in the fight for jobs. The YCL proposes the fol- lowing points of unity. e a massive coordinated pro- gram of federal and provincial public works programs to provide jobs for youth and students at in- dustrial rates of pay. e the adaption by the federal government of policies of full em- ployment. Such policies would include the immediate withdrawal of any form of wage controls, a commitment to the shortening of ‘the work, week to 30 hours with- out loss in pay, the nationalization of the major resource industries and the independent development of Canadian resources under pub- lic ownership and democratic control, the nationalization of the major credit and banking sys- tems, the construction of 400,000 new housing units under govern- ment sponsorship each year for the next two years, and the development of a government capital investment program to build secondary industry espe- cially in economically depressed - areas. ea massive expansion in Canada Manpower training pro- grams to provide vocational re- training for all those who wish to learn a trade, with the guarantee of a job at the end of the training period. e The guarantee of adequate unemployment insurance for the full period of unemployment. Resolutions concerning the Charter of Youth Demands on bigceas Anna Larsen reports to the co Mike Gidora general secretary of the Young Commun livers opening address to the convention. : such topics as sports, culture, lei- sure (which emphasized the need for much increased government subsidization and an increase in. the number of available facilities) and education (the need for demo- cratic access, democratic control: and democratic content within the education system) were also dis- cussed and approved. In a resolution entitled “‘For a Bi-National Canada — United and Democratic,’’ the YCL rec- ognized the right to democratic participation of all peoples as a major part of the Charter of Youth Demands. ’ **The ‘crisis in confederation’, ‘that is the refusal of the Canadian state to acknowledge the bi- national character of this country, can only be solved by the intro- duction of a new constitution based on the principles of a volun- tary and equal partnership be- tween the two nations of Canada, the English-speaking and the | French, with the right to self ‘ determination, up to and includ- ing the right to separation guaran- teed to each nation.””’ As well, the convention voi- ced the need for a Canadian Bill of Rights which will ‘‘outlaw racism and discrimination in any form.” and guarantee the full democratic rights of all Canadians, including . full labor rights. Editor of the Young Worker, Fred Weir, presented a report which emphasized the need for a strong and vibrant ‘“‘communist paper for youth. The problems of inconsistency, both in the cover- age, financing and distribution must be overcome if the YCL is going to improve its position among young Canadians’, Weir said. ‘‘The importance of media cannot be underestimated.” Convention delegates sup- ported Weir’s recommendations and pledged to work for the estab-_ lishment of a regular Young Worker. to them. nvention for the central council o' Greetings from fraternal youth organizations from around the world punctuated the discussion and pointed to the bonds of inter- nationalism which the YCL has with other youth organizations. Greetings were received from more than 20 organizations of communist youth from all around the world. Representatives from the World Federation of Demo- cratic Youth (WFDY), the Union of Young Communists of Cuba, and the Young Workers’ Libera- tion League (YWLL) from the United States, brought greetings from their respective or- ganizations. ‘The youth in North America all benefit from organizations of communist youth,’’ said Daniel Rosenberg, ‘‘because the youth of both Canada and the United States are suffering through the ills of a capitalist crisis that can only be answered by Marxist- Leninists. If youth are to truly have an opportunity to enjoy all. the fruits of life they are going to be put in the position of having to fight for them. And only the policies of a youth movement with clearly defined goals and priorities such as those of the Young Communist League of Canada is able to lead them in such a direction so as to make those aims achievable.” Other guest speakers at the convention represented progres- sive organizations of varying na- tures. Speakers representing the African National Congress, the Canadian Peace Congress, the Progressive Youth of Chile, the People’s Patriotic Front of Zim- babwe were all welcomed by delegates. In his closing remarks to the convention, Mike Gidora noted the enthusiasm with which dele- gates had performed their work and hoped that delegates realized the responsibility that now belong ist League de-