‘Milk prices, minimum wage top YCL issues Shane Parkhill, 21-year-old Central organizer for the Young Communist League, arrived in B.C. last week as the first stop in a Cross country organizing tour. Parkhill is scheduled to spend 10 days in B.C. before leaving for Calgary and other Prairie points €n route back to Toronto. In an interview this week, Parkhill told the Tribune that the Purpose of the tour is to deal with Organizational matters within the League and to promote the three Major campaigns that the YCL is Currently sponsoring. The first of these campaigns is One against the continuing in- Creases in the price of milk. Parkhill pointed to this campaign. 8S a unique contribution of the League in the battle against in- “lation. ‘‘There are problems with Inflation generally,” he said, “‘but We thought we would focus on a Single aspect. Milk is'a staple food nd particularly important to the rowth and development of young People.” Parkhill said that ~milk is _ °“Coming a luxury item for many young families and that all sorts of anadians were switching from Whole milk and butter to lower ot priced substitutes such as powdered milk and margarine. “The real problem is a process of concentration in the dairy in- dustry,’’ Parkhill said. “The large dairy monopolies are wielding increasing power to the extent that they can fix their own prices.” The federal government subsidy “thas done little or nothing to offset this process,” he said. According to Parkhill, the five cent per quart federal subsidy that has been in effect since October of 1973 has benefited mainly processing companies. The consumer and the farmer, he said, get only one cent while the processor gets three cents. He added that the subsidy is presently being phased out and will be completely removed this March. “We can expect still further price increases,” he stated. ‘‘The YCL is using the dairy industry to show how the monopolization of the economy is the main cause of in- flation today.” : A second major YCL campaign, that Parkhill termed of ‘urgent importance for young people” centres around the question of minimum wages. “Most provinces in Canada have ee aw —Sean Griffin photo lower minimum wages for young people than for adult workers,”’ he said. ‘‘For example, in B.C., a person 18 or over cannot be paid less than $2.50 per hour. But a person under 18 can be paid a minimum of $2.10 per hour. This of course is just a form of discrimination since in most cases they do the same work as adults but for a substantially lower wage. Young people are exploited as cheap labor.”’ The YCL organizer said that for the most part, younger workers who work for a lower wagé are employed by large corporations such as McDonald’s Hamburgers, corporations that make huge profits. “The YCL intends to wage a long-term campaign on this issue,”’ he stressed. ‘‘Because it is here that discrimination against young people in capitalist society is ob- vious.” The third YCL campaign that Parkhill noted is not one that is a League campaign alone. Rather the YCL is a participant in an initiating committee that will launch the campaign to secure Canadian aid and solidarity for the construction of a children’s school in a liberated zone of South Viet- nam. ° The campaign is a world wide one, he said, sponsored by the World Federation of Democratic Youth, and will in some ways be similar to the campaign of a few years ago to build a children’s hospital in North Vietnam. The school will be a technical school with a capacity for 1,500 students, but because of continuing danger of military attack, it will be built in two sections to avoid a high concentration of students. “‘Weare very confident about the YCL’s growth in the near future,” Parkhill said pointing to recent successes in the current recruiting drive to gain 100 new members across the country. “There is a new mood growing among young people, they are questioning the status quo and searching for an- swers. The YCL has some of those answers.” COALIN B.C. British Columbia has more coal reserves than any other province in Canada. A recent survey showed that the province has about 75 billion tons of coal, most of which is suitable for generation of elec- Shane Parkhill, central organizer for the Young Communist League, IN tricity and gasification. “©. this week as part of a national tour. ‘Support democratic forces in Portugal ’ “Canadians have a respon- sibility to help the democratic forces in Portugal eliminate the remnants of fascism and to establish a democratic society in accordance with the wishes of its people,”’ PT editor Maurice Rush ‘told the Bethune seminar in - Vancouver’s AUUC Hall in a lecture last Wednesday. “Democracy in Portugal needs the international support of progressive people all over the world to block the U.S. and other reactionary forces _ from pressuring Portugal to abandon its present course toward building a- democratic society. “There are still powerful reactionary forces inside Portugal who are counting on support from imperialist and monopoly circles to create an internal crisis in the country, divide the progressive forces, and justify attempts at turning back the clock,”’ said Rush. ' Pointing to serious economic difficulties faced by the new Portuguese government, Rush said that Canada should extend long- term credits without strings at- tached and expand its trade with Portugal. ‘‘Nor should Canadians allow their government to join with the U.S. and other imperialist states in plots aimed -at un- dermining and_ destroying democracy in Portugal,” said Rush. Pointing to the events on April 25, 1974 in Portugal, which saw the overthrow of the 48-year-old fascist dictatorship, and the events in Greece a few weeks later which saw the toppling of the military dictatorship in Greece, Rush said these two events indicate the new relationship of world forces which favor the forces of peace, democracy and socialism in the world, and against the forces of imperialism and reaction. “Who would have thought it possible a few months ago,” he asked, ‘‘that these two military dictatorships — one with an empire in Africa dating back 500 years — would collapse so quickly and with so little violence and bloodshed? “The turnover which came with almost no violence, and saw the door open to democratic progress, shows how advanced the processes toward fundamental change in the world are becoming.” Rush said despite the outward appearance of strength by reac- tionary dictatorships such as Portugal, Greece, Chile, Spain, etc., they are made particularly vulnerable today by the con- tradictions in the imperialist camp, and the growing strength of the forces for democracy, in- dependence and socialism. He said all the contradictions afflicting the imperialist world assumed sharp proportions in Portugal with the attempt of the fascist dictatorship to continue its colonial war in Africa despite the growing revolt in the colonies, the economic crisis at home, mass desertions from the army, and the rising demand from the population for an end to the colonial war and the fascist dictatorship. “Portugal reached the point of crisis in which the majority of Portuguese, including large numbers in the armed forces, decided the time had come to act since they could no longer continue to live in the old way. The fact that the decisive role in the overthrow of the dictatorship was played by the Movement of Armed Forces, an organization of anti-fascist officers and men, showed that the main pillar of the dictatorship, the army, had eroded and that large numbers of men in the ranks of the services’ no longer supported the old policies and wanted a fun- damental change.” “The most significant change that has taken place since April 25 in Portugal has been the growing unity of the Movement of the Ar- med Forces and the democratic forces, including the Communist Party, trade unions and other democratic organizations. The continued unity of these forces is the surest guarantee of success in carrying through the program of democratization going on in Portugal,”’ said Rush. Pointing to the fact that the economy of Portugal is still dominated by seven multinational corporations mainly based in the U.S., Britain, Belgium and West Germany, Rush said _ these monopolies pose a constant threat to democracy in Portugal. “Ultimately, to ensure unimpeded advance in Portugal, the democratic forces will have to take anti-monopoly measures to take away the power of _ these monopolies. Reaction in Portugal today holds very weak political positions, but very powerful economic positions,’’ he said, and pointed to the warnings issued by the Por- tuguese Communist Party that these monopolies will manoeuvre to aggravate economic problems and attempt to block democracy and open the door once again to a right wing dictatorship. Rush said Portugal is un- dergoing a national democratic revolution which will establish the right of choice to the Portuguese people, and open the door to ad- vance toward socialist solutions to fundamental problems facing the people. ‘‘The leading role of the working class and the Communist Party in Portugal — together with the alliance with the anti-fascist armed forces movement — are the surest guarantee that reactionary plots will be defeated and_ that Portugal will continue along the path of democratization and fundamental change.”’ The Bethune classes are con- tinuing in Vancouver and New Westminster. Vancouver classes are held each Wednesday at 8 p.m. at the AUUC Hall, 805 E. Pender, and each Sunday at 7:30 p.m. at Douglas College in New West- minster. VALENTINE’S DAY FILM FESTIVAL FEATURING 3 SOVIET FILMS Depicting — Culture, Sports and Environment Protection in USSR also Selected Comedy Shorts FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14 - 7:30 pm LADNER FISHERMAN'S CO-OP HALL Spons. Surrey YCL For Information Phone 946-9902 — 946-6188 PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1975—Paae 3 '