Opening a Path ForwardThe political excitement in Montreal in the summer of 1968 was palpable. Every week demonstrations, meetings and discussions raged on the issue of national liberation for Quebec. The world was in flux. Myself from Toronto and my close friend from Chicoutimi went to as many of the actions as possible when we were not working at our summer jobs. He was a student at the Université de Montréal on the other side of the mountain while I was at Sir George Williams University in the downtown. We had met during the transit strike in 1967 when he picked me up on his motorcycle while hitchhiking and had become great friends. A poster caught my attention for an August seminar at Sir George organized by The Internationalists. We decided to attend, and my goodness did that ever make a change in our lives that neither one of us anticipated. The main speaker Hardial Bains spoke with such clarity and conviction we joined with others after the speech to speak to him personally. He enquired as to our activities and expressed an interest to meet again to exchange views. We met a few days later and told him that Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was coming to Montreal and activists were busy organizing to denounce his strident opposition to Quebec independence. Hardial said that a contingent from The Internationalists would be there and asked if we were going as an organized force. We said with some embarrassment that we were not organized as yet but were interested in doing so. He suggested that we should put our views on the issue of national liberation into the form of a leaflet for distribution and discussion. He mentioned that the motion and political life in Quebec was what drew him to Montreal earlier in the year as the place to reorganize The Internationalists as a Marxist-Leninist youth and student movement. He said one photograph in the imperialist media in particular had caught his eye showing Quebec youth militantly confronting the RCMP. We met again a few days before the Trudeau demonstration and showed him a draft in English and French of a leaflet entitled "Long Live the National Liberation of Quebec!" To our surprise he only made a few suggestions including one to at least have a way for readers of the leaflet to contact us. He then inquired how we were going to print and pay for the leaflet. In our excitement to put our thoughts down on paper, we had not even thought of those details. He told us The Internationalists had means to do so and would assist us on that front. Hardial said we should meet again after our action to sum up the activity. We did so and soon began attending the Marxist-Leninist discussions at the meeting room on rue Jeanne Mance. What followed was intense political activity that saw The Internationalists organize Les Intellectuels et Ouvriers Patriotes du Québec (Marxist-Leninist). Those who participated in the IOPQ worked tirelessly to expand the influence of The Internationalists throughout Quebec. They played a role in building a string of bookstores across Montreal called Les Livres et périodiques progressistes, attended the Regina and Vancouver youth and student Conferences, discussed in detail the necessity for the formation of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) and in sum played a positive role in the founding of the Party on March 31, 1970. All glory to Hardial Bains and The Internationalists for mobilizing the Quebec youth to participate in such a historic development and opening a path forward! Long live the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist)!
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