Young Communist League (UK)

The Young Communist League (YCL) is the name of both the youth wing of the former Communist Party of Great Britain and the current youth wing of the Communist Party of Britain (CPB); an organisation that sees itself as the successor to the Communist Party of Great Britain.

Original Young Communist League

The original YCL organisation was founded in 1921 as the youth wing of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) by the merger of the Young Workers' League and the International Communist Schools Movement. The League grew slowly, reaching a peak of 16,000 members in 1943. While organisationally independent, the group was always closely linked to the CPGB and its activities and fortunes broadly followed those of its parent organisation.

A recruitment drive started in 1966 around the slogan "The Trend - Communism" associated the group with wider cultural trends in society. Pete Townshend of The Who was a prominent but short-lived member and the "The Trend" campaign emphasised the power of music in social change. Throughout this period YCL membership grew to over 6,000 members and a generation of young members - led by Barney Davis (national secretary), George Bridges (London secretary) and others challenged the political approach of the parent party.^{[citation needed]}

The YCL took a lead in condemning what it defined as the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia (the Party called it at the time an intervention) but the position was only adopted by a 60:40 vote. Some members who favoured a pro-Soviet line, including John Chamberlain (Jack Conrad), left the YCL to join the New Communist Party of Britain in 1977. Chamberlain was to become head of the NCP's youth section but was shortly later to attempt to rejoin the CPGB.

According to some historians of the CPGB's history, the YCL was fundamental in reshaping the parent party's attitudes (and thus had influence on the wider left). In particular, from 1975, the YCL emphasised the importance of cultural politics as distinct from class politics. YCL leaders linked with Communist students such as party organiser Dave Cook - and feminists such as Beatrix Campbell, Sarah Benton and intellectuals Martin Jacques and later played important roles in the parent party: all of them opposing the then dominant strain of trade union, working class-orientated politics in the party.

1968 proved the start of a long decline in membership, characterised by competition between different tendencies. The leadership tended to be eurocommunist, but opposition was stronger than in the CPGB. In 1979, its congress adopted a new programme, Our Future, which did not commit the group to Marxism and removed the policy of democratic centralism. The new programme exacerbated divisions in the group, and in 1983, with membership down to 510, democratic centralism was re-imposed. By 1987, the league had only fifty members.

Current Young Communist League

See also: Challenge (Communist journal)

After the founding of the Communist Party of Britain in 1988 (and the dissolution of the CPGB), the YCL was re-established in 1991, based on the CPB Youth Section. The YCL is organisationally autonomous and decides its own activities and priorities^{[citation needed]}, but is constitutionally tied to support for the CPB's programme, Britain's Road to Socialism.

By following Britain's Road to Socialism, the goals of the YCL are almost identical to the CPB's, but with particular emphasis on various topics. For example, the slogan of the CPB is Peace and Socialism, whilst the slogan of the YCL is Peace, Jobs and Socialism. The YCL is particularly concerned with issues specific to young people such as the inequalities between the minimum wage categories and student tuition fees.

In their own words:

"The YCL is a revolutionary youth organisation committed to achieving a socialist society based on public ownership and democratic control. Based on the principles of Marxism-Leninism the YCL aims to develop and encourage the political consciousness of young people and to increase their involvement in the class struggle at a local, national and international level.

The YCL works to build and strengthen the unity of the progressive youth movement and calls upon young people to work together to defend their rights, at work and in education, and to struggle for peace, jobs and socialism".

The YCL organises in the Student movement under the name of Communist Students.

The YCL publishes a bimonthly magazine, called Challenge (Communist journal), recalling the historic name used since the early 1930s. The journal consists of contributions from YCL members and sympathisers, and succeeded the title Young Communist as the chief organ of the organisation some years ago.

The YCL is a member organisation of the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY).

National Secretaries

1923: William Rust

1920s: Wally Tapsell

1935: John Gollan

1940:

1946?: Bill Brooks

1950?: John Moss

1958: Jimmy Reid

1964: Barney Davis

1970: Tom Bell

1979: Nina Temple

1983: Douglas Chalmers

1985: Mark Ashton

1987:

External links

• Web site of Young Communist League
• Web site of Communist Party of Britain
• Web site of World Federation of Democratic Youth
• YCLGB history in 1960s and 1970s