May Day 2020: The Youth will not pay for Capitalism’s Crisis

YCL-LJC Central Executive Committee, May 1, 2020

This statement was originally published on the Young Communist League of Canada - La Ligue de la jeunesse communiste du Canada homepage

On the occasion of May 1st 2020, International Workers Day, the Young Communist League of Canada salutes healthcare workers who are on the frontline in the struggle against the COVID-19 Pandemic. We also wish to express our solidarity with those who must continue to work despite the risks of the Pandemic. To all these workers, we reiterate our demand that they be provided at no cost all personal protective equipment and that their health is guaranteed on their workplace. Would that not be the case, their right to refuse to work has to be enforced. We also the more than 10 million people who have lost their job or seen their work hours slashed.

For a People’s Recovery, NOT A Corporate Plunder!

YCL-LJC Central Executive Committee, March 2020

This statement was originally published on the Young Communist League of Canada - La Ligue de la jeunesse communiste du Canada homepage


We salute the immense efforts of healthcare workers to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and provide their essential services in a state of emergency. For over 30 years public sector unions and community organisations have struggled against privatisation, job loss, and closures in the healthcare sector. Our public healthcare system was overwhelmed before the outbreak of the global pandemic. Decades of cuts and austerity will leave working people, Indigenous peoples, the unemployed, the elderly, and the poor severely exposed unless emergency action is taken. 

Organisation, politics and theory

By Adrien Welsh 

Can one be a good organiser without understanding theoretical elements of Marxism-Leninism, and vice-versa? This is an interesting question that touches different topics. In other words, the question refers to consider what is a political cadre or, to use more contemporary words, a political organiser in the way we, communists, understand it and this, no matter what their responsibility is.

Can we organise a club without knowing the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism? Can we be a good unionist, a good student leader without having read What is to be done or any other classic? Or, to the opposite, can we have read all classics without having recruited one person to the organisation and identify as a « cadre »? Can we identify as a « communist theorist » without having distributed one leaflet only once? Or can we be a revolutionary simply because of vibrant speeches without being so vibrant when it comes to send an e-mail or to achieve administrative tasks?

Your list to the climate strikes on Friday, September 27th

Special to RY 

In a statement released at the beginning of September, the Young Communist League – Ligue de la jeunesse communiste du Canada calls for an active support of the “youth and workers around the world fighting for a sustainable future and their right to a clean, sustainable and safe environment” and calls “on all progressive people and organisations (including student unions) to take an active part in local activities during the Climate Strike.” This is an appeal that Rebel Youth wishes to bring to its readers while literally hundred of actions are being organised in the lead to what is likely to be the biggest worldwide strike for environment on Friday, September 27th.

Why remain a communist?

By Peter Miller 

We often are asked what made us become communists, but I think the more interesting question we should ask is why we remain communists? Becoming a communist is not as hard as remaining one, and the latter question is more critical to our struggle against imperialism and for socialism.

I joined the Young Communist League of Canada as a left social democrat involved in campaigns for free education. I realized that the Young Communist League on my campus was the most organized, and I wanted to become a member to have more support in my work in the student movement. As often expressed by fellow activists, the communists work the hardest in the union movement, and this is true in the student movement as well.

Anti-communism and Vice Media : is all alternative media really progressive?

Special to RY 

This article is a response of the YCL-LJC Canada to an article published on July 24th by Vice Media.

In an article published online on July 24th, the so-called alternative media reported on two young men, Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky, both researched by the RCMP in relation with two murders that occured in BC on July 14th. Reporting on facts revealed by the Globe and Mail linking these two individuals to ultra-right, neonazi and violent groups especially, the Vice article also states that « on Facebook, Schmegelsky also liked the Young Communist League of Victoria page » before continuing to enumerate his gun loving activities.

Successful New Members School held in London in June

Group photo of the participants to the school

Newsflash by Rowan Morris - London 

The London club of the Young Communist League, for the first time since its formation in 2017, held their first school for new members on June 1st, 2019.Central Executive Committee member and co-chair of the Ontario Council Peter Miller attended and talked about the structure of the YCL and the 100th anniversary of the Winnipeg General Strike. Club organizer Clara Sorrenti gave a presentation on YCL democratic centralism and YCL policy and procedure, and treasurer Mohammed presented on the history of our organization. Local activist Yeyatalunyuhe George (Six Nations, Oneida) talked about Indigenous sovereignty, environmental rights, and actions against national oppression. We had a wonderful lunch served to us by members of the London Vegan Foodbank, with special thanks to Cassidy Jordyn, LVFB founder and YCL Member.

The YCL-LJC Concludes a Successful Central School

By Clara Sorrenti 

From May 19-22nd, the Young Communist League held a successful Central Committee school in Toronto, Ontario attended by comrades from across the country.

This was an interesting time for the school to be held, as it coincided with the 39th Central Convention of the Communist Party of Canada. The 39th Central Convention celebrated the 98th anniversary of the Communist Party of Canada and elected a new central committee to continue forward with the work of building the Party and the struggle for Socialism.

Rebel Youth remembers Stephen Endicott

Special to RY

Rebel Youth remembers and salutes Stephen Endicott who passed away on May 4th as a giant for the Communist movement in Canada.

Stephen wrote impressive books and articles adding to our collective struggle against Capitalism and Imperialism, the details of which can be found here: http://www.yorku.ca/sendicot/.

10 Tips for Leftist Organizing

Peter Miller

I have been involved in organizing for the Young Communist League - Lique de la Jeunesse Communiste (YCL-LJC) and also worked on campaigns for free education since I was 19 years old. I recently spent two years finishing my Bachelor of Education degree at the University of Windsor and organizing a YCL club as well as helping with the student movement there. I haven't followed all the advice below as well as I would have liked over the years, but if I was talking to myself ten years ago, this is what I would say. Here's my advice to you on how to be a lead organizer as a leftist on your campus.

95th Anniversary of the YCL-LJC celebrated by the World Federation of Democratic Youth

Special to RY

This article was published in the Bulletin of the Commission of Europe and North America of the World Federation of Democratic youth. The bulletin can be found here. In addition to this article on the 95th Anniversary of the YCL-LJC Canada, you can read articles about the 100th Anniversary of the November Revolution in Germany, the rise of repression against popular movements in Spain, a well-informed picture of the situation of the youth in Russia and many other topics related to the youth struggles written by anti-imperialist and communist youth organizations of Europe and North America. 

This year, as we celebrate the 95th anniversary of the Young Communist League, it is important to outline the relevance of this organization. The YCL-LJC is a unique organization that aims to convince the young generation of the urgent need to fight for a better world, a socialist world. Today, we can say that it is the first time since 1945 that youth face a more precarious future than their parents, and all this is to say why we need to organize youth as an entity of its own. Lenin said “frequently the middle aged and the aged do not know how to approach youth in the proper way. Youth must come to socialism in different ways by other paths, in other forms under other circumstances than their parents.”

"Free speech policy" is an attack against democracy, says the YCL-LJC Canada

Special to RY

The Young Communist League – Ligue de la jeunesse communiste (YCL-LJC) issued a statement last week, which denounces the so-called “free speech” directive passed by Doug Ford’s provincial government and urges all progressive and democratic students to oppose and resist this directive by all means possible. It also encourages young people and students across Canada to show support and solidarity with their Ontarian counterparts.

'Capitalism & Patriarchy are inseperable!': Young Communists speak on IWD

Rebel Youth presents a translation of a speech by Marianne Breton Fontaine on behalf of Young Communist League of Quebec (LJC-Q) on March 8th, International Women's Day, at a march in Montreal organized by Women of Diverse Origins.

Hello everyone,

As a comrade told me, there is not a single struggle, not a single social advance that has been won without the sacrifice and work of women. Yet they are constantly trying to erase us from history, to erase and ignore our demands, and to tell us to be patient.

Building Camaraderie in Western Canada: Preparing for the 27th YCL-LJC Convention

Special to RY

Nearly forty members and close friends of the YCL-LJC from all over Alberta and British Columbia united for the holiday weekend of February 18, 2017. The unceded territories of the Syilx people in Kelowna served as a scenic backdrop for important discussions between comrades in preparation for the 27th Central Convention of the Young Communist League-Ligue de la jeunesse communiste du Canada (YCL-LJC) in May. The purpose of the Kelowna retreat was to allow comrades in Western Canada the opportunity to create bonds, to participate in educational sessions, and to be familiarized with, discuss, and to expand upon the political line of the YCL-LJC.

Women's Marches attract millions against Trump [photos from Canada]

Special to RY

On Saturday, January 21st, more than 600 US cities and several million people participated in marches against the new US President Donald Trump and his racist, mysoginist, pro-corporate agenda.

The Women's March on Washington, which initiated the organizing for January 21st, released a common platform which goes beyond just condemning Trump. The platform calls to end violence against women, against racism in policing and incarceration rates, for reproductive rights, against misoginy in culture, for LGBTQIA rights, higher wages and better paid leave for women, equal pay, migration as a right, and more.

The Right to Education vs. Capitalism

Drew Garvie

We students have the “privilege” of going to school in capitalist Canada in 2016 – an imperialist country during an economic crisis. Globally and at home, Capital is trying to rollback the gains of working people, built up over the last century, in order to place the burden of the crisis on the backs of the vast majority.

“Austerity” currently defines the policies used by the capitalist state to restructure itself and the economy. Corporate lobby groups and bankers hired by governments to write reports all say the same thing: “we can’t continue with the welfare state.” The goal is to privatize everything – to commodify and increase direct corporate control over all aspects of our society, in order to extract the maximum amount of profit. “This is the only path to recovery.” A recovery for who is the question! Certainly not for the millions that will be denied access to health and education, to decent paying jobs, to housing, to a life of dignity. Also, as this process takes place domestically, the same class responsible for it expands their wars and environmental destruction. This bigger picture explains a lot of what we’re seeing in the attack on post-secondary education (PSE) today.

Young Communists around the world mobilize for IWD 2016

Special to Rebel Youth

Rebel Youth looks at the actions of young Communists around the world to commemorate International Women's Day and struggle for the rights of women globally. Here's a snapshot of some of the activities that took place in honor of March 8th, 2016.

Britain

Meet the Communists on McMaster campus

Ajit Singh & Mike Van Arragon

While tabling on campus, and being active in the student movement, the YCL Hamilton noticed that some students have unfounded anti-communist prejudices.

At the same time, when engaging with students the comrades in Hamilton found that many students are concerned with many of the same political struggles as the young Communists; against climate change, war, inequality and exploitation, racism, sexism, transphobia and homophobia, for example.

This opinion piece was prepared for the student press in order to fight anti-communism on campus and give the YCL Hamilton a space to describe themselves in their own words.

The following article is republished from McMaster’s student newspaper the Silhouette.

International Day of Migrants 2015: behind migrant crisis, there is the capitalist crisis

This article was written in support of the World Federation of Democratic Youth's (WFDY) joint actions on the International Day of Migrants. WFDY's Commission on Europe and North America has launched a campaign for migrant rights and against imperialisms displacement of people.

Adrien Welsh, chair of the Young Communist League of Canada's International Commission

On the International Day of Migrants, 18 December 2015, the Young Communist League of Canada joins with thousands of others around the world to express its solidarity with the millions of women, men and children forced every year to leave their country, family, home and job because of war, economic need or climate change.

YCL-LJC Canada in Havana for the 19th General Assembly of the WFDY

Picture from the 19th General Assembly of WFDY
taking place now in Havana

Special to RY

Despite the historical messaging put forward by the hawkish celebrations of our pro-war and pro-business governments, 2015 does not mark the 70th anniversary of a military victory, but a victory of the people against Nazism and fascism. These were not regular armies who routed the Nazi armies, but largely resistance movements, including communists and the people in general, who fought fascist barbarism which had as its main aim the end of communism.

It is in this vein that several organizations were formed with the aim of ensuring world peace and especially to end the system which, as stated by Jaurès, "carries within it war just as rain clouds carry the storm". This system is capitalism, and more specifically, its highest stage: imperialism. Women united under the banner of the Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDF); workers within the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) and the peace movement joined the World Peace Council (WPC). Meanwhile, young people, with the slogan "Youth unite! Forward for lasting peace!", formed the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY). WFDY’s actions for the liberation of oppressed peoples and for friendship among the people was advanced notably through the World Festival of Youth and Students, which brought together thousands of young people.