Peace! Jobs! Universal Education! Independence! Socialism! These are the issues that unite youth across Canada into a fighting organization -- the Young Communist League of Canada (YCL).

The YCL defiantly stands against user fees on education, exploitive jobs, chronic unemployment, imperialism and the constant threat of war.

We fight against the control of our country by a capitalist monopoly. We oppose the efforts of private banks, corporations and multinationals to jeopardize our future through their ruthless drive for profits. We believe that a socialist Canada, where the major means of producing and distributing the wealth will be the common property of Canada's working people, holds the real future for our generation. Under socialism, the fullest development of individuals will occur because collective solutions will be found to problems such as unemployment, poor education, and the constant threat of war.

As part of our goal for socialism, the YCL fights for the interests of youth in Canada today. We struggle for youth unity around a platform as put forward in our policy for a Charter of Youth Rights.

The YCL struggles for a Canadian constitution that will guarantee the right to self-determination for all nations in Canada, in addition to the social and economic rights of working people and working youth.

Employment is a right for youth in Canada. We need new economic policies to process our natural resources and to develop the manufacturing industrial sector to produce the goods we need. Decent pay and working conditions as well as the opportunity for further training must be guaranteed as well as the development of the resources in the interests of the people.

We want more and better -- instead of fewer and worse -- schools, colleges and universities. Instead of enormous tuition fees, progressive tax-funded education and a living stipend should make education accessible to all. We demand that Canada regard the education of youth as a collective investment rather than a personal privilege of the rich.
We fight against racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, ageism, class oppression and all forms of discrimination against native and immigrant youth. We understand that these practices undermine the unity needed to change society.

We pledge to fight for a world free of war. All of the other rights we fight for depend on the survival of humankind.

The YCL works to build solidarity between the young workers and young students, both in Canada, and abroad. We think that the future of Canada is tied to winning peace and the success of movements to free maldeveloped countries from the domination of the transational capital and imperialism. We also rally support and solidarity for the youth of those countries where youth now have a future -- the socialist countries.

The YCL provides hands-on experience in the class struggle for youth. We realize that youth alone can't fundamentally change society. We recognize the leading role of the working class in this struggle and the importance of organizing the unorganized.
The YCL is an independent mass youth organization. We are united in the revolutionary struggle under the political guidance of the Communist Party of Canada, and its program. We study and apply the philosophy of Marxism-Leninism, the revolutionary theory of the working class. The YCL is a school where young people can learn to become communists as well as learn through current struggle.

The YCL, accepts as its own, the task of working unceasingly for the establishment of a socialist society, where exploitation, want, poverty, and insecurity shall be ended forever. A lofty goal indeed! - but a goal which can be won through struggle. The task is ours as young workers, and there’s no time like now to ORGANIZE!