The Young Communist League of Canada salutes the hard work of its members and friends during the year of 2014 and looks forward to the advancement of the struggles of the youth and student movement in 2015.

For the ruling class and their governments at the federal and provincial levels, 2014 was a year of continuing down the dangerous path of austerity and war. We saw the Conservative Party reach new lows in terms of fomenting occupation and reaction abroad; supporting a neo-Nazi backed government in Ukraine, wholeheartedly defending Israel’s massacre of more than 2000 Palestinians during the summer and joining in on the third invasion of Iraq this fall.

At home, the Harper government launched a renewed attack on civil liberties and democratic rights this year; bringing in the ‘unfair elections act’, renewed racist attacks on immigrants by giving the Immigration Minister new powers over citizenship rights, using the Canada Revenue Agency to harass progressive organizations, and expanding the powers of political policing in Canada through CSIS.

The assault on youth has continued, as governments across Canada do very little to curb youth unemployment rates that push 20% in many cities. Tuition fees continue to rise steeply in the vast majority of provinces. What the austerity agenda means for Canada’s youth was expressed clearly in the “advice” given by the Bank of Canada’s governor this fall: youth should work for free at unpaid internships while living in their parents’ basement.This government has launched a new ideological offensive against history, pledging millions of dollars and prime real estate in Ottawa to build a “monument to the victims of communism’. This move comes in the same year that Canada shamefully became one of three countries that voted against condemning the glorification of Nazism at the UN.

All this paints a bleak picture of 2014, but it was also a year of struggle, resistance and even victories. On this continent we saw an expansion of the campaign to raise the minimum wage, with victories in many US cities, and even in Ontario where a small increase was conceded after labour and community groups, including the YCL-LJC, mobilized for more than a year. Ontario also saw a victory in the defeat of the Hudak Conservatives and their anti-labour, ‘right-to-work-for-less’ agenda.

The movement against racism, racist policing and police murders has swept the US in the wake of the murder of Mike Brown in Missouri.  Under the slogan of “Black lives matter” this movement has also been fighting back in Canada, where racialized communities also suffer disproportionately from police impunity. We remember all those that died this year in Canada at the hands of police forces. To name a few: Jermaine Carby was a Black man shot dead in Brampton after a traffic stop in September, Phuong Na Du, was killed by Vancouver police in late Fall, and Alain Magloire, was shot 4 times and killed in Montreal this February. We reiterate the YCL-LJC’s demand for real civilian control over police forces, for anti-racist and de-escalation training for police, and the immediate disarmament of regular police.

The environmental movement won an important victory in Burnaby with the disruption of development plans for the Kinder Morgan pipeline. After withstanding heavy police repression and arrests, the people of British Columbia remained resistant and the courts were pressured to halt construction.

The struggle of Indigenous peoples in Canada also advanced in 2014. Last June saw an important legal victory for Tsilhqot’in First Nation against one of the biggest tar sands corporations, Enbridge. The legal case had been going on for almost 25 years as the Tsilhqot’in were fighting for their right to self-determination over their ancestral territories, territories, which were right in the middle of a pipeline’s path. The Supreme Court conceded victory to the First Nation after struggles and pressure from social movements throughout the country. As the Tsilhqot’in outlined, the ruling was a direct consequence of the Idle No More mobilizations.

Despite the widening pay-equity gap, and the Harper Conservatives’ connections to religious reactionary anti-women groups, the women’s movement managed to raise awareness of violence against women. Partially due to the high profile revelations of sexual and physical assault by CBC radio show host Gian Gohmeshi, women across Canada organized on twitter using the hashtag #beenrapedneverreported. The women’s movement was able to push forward issues of rape culture and violence against women, which are often masked by the systemic sexism perpetuated by the right-wing and inequality in the capitalist workplace.

At the end of 2014, socialist Cuba’s 55 years of resistance to US imperialism led to a ground-breaking advancement with the release of the three Cuban heroes remaining in US prisons, and a thawing in the embargo against Cuba. This victory demonstrated the power of the international solidarity campaign to ‘Free the Cuban 5’, the strength of a new sovereign unity being built by progressive governments in Latin America, and the revolutionary spirit of Cuba, a small island next to Florida, to resist heroically and win. We join the Canadian Network on Cuba and democratic forces around the world in demanding the full dismantlement of the unjust blockade on Cuba.

The Young Communist League of Canada is prepared to fight alongside the youth and student movement in 2015. There is an urgent necessity for 2015 to be the year of defeat for the Harper Conservatives. We need to build up and unite labour and peoples’ movements in order to advance an anti-austerity, pro-people program for Canada that can win victories on the streets, without relying on a simple parliamentary victory of the Liberal Party or the NDP. The YCL-LJC looks forward to campaigning with the Communist Party of Canada during the next Federal election, in order to advance the idea that fundamental change is needed and that a socialist Canada is possible and urgently necessary.

We pledge our full support to making the year of 2015 the year where an inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women is finally declared and that we move closer towards ending racist and sexist violence. The YCL-LJC plans to continue to work with allies to advance our demand for a living minimum wage across Canada. We call for full solidarity with the labour movement and students in Quebec who are building a powerful movement against austerity and attacks on public sector workers. We look forward to visiting Cuba with friends this spring through the 2015 Che Guevara Volunteer Work Brigade, in order to build solidarity with socialist Cuba. We pledge our support to making 2015 a year of great advancement for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israeli Apartheid, a movement that has continued to grow steadily in recent years. For student activists across Canada, 2015 provides us with new opportunities to join struggles and move towards a united and militant student movement for free, public, quality, accessible, and emancipatory education.

In short, the YCL-LJC and its membership stands in full solidarity with all those fighting for a better world. We wish all our friends and allies great success in this new year of struggle!