Being a Trotskyite at 15 in 1965 in Toronto meant going to meetings in the back room of the Vanguard Bookstore, which was on Yonge Street just north of Bloor. As a Young Socialist, I also got to attend the general meetings there as well. I remember a guy once standing up in the middle of a meeting and shouting ‘We should send all our wheat to Cuba!’. It also meant going to some of the first big demonstrations against the Vietnam war. We stood out as a highly organized and disciplined contingent, and there was always someone with a bullhorn leading the chants and giving directions. I remember one time when, in front of the US Consulate on University Avenue, mounted police, swinging billy clubs, walked their horses- which seemed enormous seen from below- right in amongst the us. I am sorry I lost touch with some of those people- they were in interesting bunch. I supposed most of them were carried off, as I was, in the maelstrom of the late sixties.
Young Socialists
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