Introduction
The Party deems it necessary to issue this statement at the present time for three main reasons:
- The second world imperialist war, and the interventionist activities against the USSR, place before us, as never before, the task of winning the majority of the young workers to the path of active revolutionary struggle against the old order of society and for the new socialist order.
- To break through the slow rate of growth of the YCL to build it into a genuine mass League.
- The confusion, and quite considerable lack of understanding, as well as speculation which has existed in the ranks of the Party for some considerable time as to the role and nature of the YCL and the basis of its membership, the relations and responsibilities of the CP for youth and the YCL, is a main contributory factor to the slow growth of the YCL and must be cleared up without further delay. This is especially important in view of the new tasks before the working class presented by the war.
This confusion has been particularly great in the factories where even hostility has existed in factory groups towards the YCL and particular attention is directed in this statement to the task of building strong organisation of the YCL in the factories where masses of youth are exploited. In this statement only the main basis of the role and nature of the YCL is dealt with and not the detailed immediate tasks of the YCL In the main, it is a reiteration of Marxist-Leninist principles of the youth movement already laid down and not any "new" set of principles. The Party stresses upon every member the need to study the writings and speeches of Lenin and Stalin on the question of youth as a vital part of their Communist education.
The YCL is a Communist League of Youth
The YCL is a Communist League of Youth, openly proclaims itself for Communism and Communist policy, and supports the Communist Party. It teaches the Marxist-Leninist theory and science to the youth; it pledges its devotion to the USSR, the Socialist Fatherland.
The Communist Party and the People
The Communist Party arises from and is based upon the working class. There is only one working class (young workers are part of this class), therefore there can only be one party of the working class, and only one Marxist-Leninist theory and science. The YCL, therefore, is not a "youth party."
The Party consists of the vanguard of the working class, men and women (and not a few young men and women). It gives leadership to other mass organisations of the working class in which it has influence.
It is a disciplined, centralised organisation, the highest form of working-class organisation possible. Such an organisation cannot be sectionalised; it must be monolithic, a fighting whole. Therefore the YCL is not a youth "section" of the Party.
Not being a party nor a section, the YCL is therefore a League of Youth—but a Communist League of Youth.
It follows therefore that the YCL is open to large masses of youth—not only the vanguard; the YCL should be even larger numerically than the Party.
Why does the Party require a youth league of a mass character?
Youth is a special problem for the working class and therefore for the Party
- Youth is a specially exploited section of the working class. This is to be found in the nature of capitalism, particularly in its imperialist stage and especially since the last war, with the changes in the productive forces resulting in blind alleys for the youth, masses of unorganised labour, transference, girl labour, divisions between skilled and craft sections of the workers and youth.
- The bourgeoisie has considerable influence and organisation among the youth.
- Social democracy, having basically the same attitude to youth as the bourgeoisie, endeavours to "keep the youth out of politics," i.e., out of the class struggle, to relegate youth activities to so-called "cultural and educational" activities in the bourgeois sense. At the same time, youth are not under the influence of reformism to the same extent as adult workers, because the basis for the aristocracy of labour has withered and there are not so many crumbs from the colonial dinner table that can be thrown to the youth. Youth are not so steeped in reformism; they are often more willing to struggle. Lenin called them "seething, turbulent and enquiring youth."
- The physical and mental make-up of youth, as well as their place in industry, is such that only a section of them will qualify to enter the ranks of the vanguard, i.e., of the Party. Therefore the Party requires a particular kind of organisation for the youth, an organisation which, while not being a party, is nevertheless spiritually bound to the Party.
Therefore the YCL is an organisation in which masses of youth, especially the working-class youth, can find a place, and therefore the YCL is not limited to Communists, but is broader.
The Primary Rôle and Character of the YCL is Educational
The YCL must educate masses of youth and be a school for Communism. It is a reserve and trains reserves to enter the ranks of the Party. It educates the youth in the spirit of the Party and all it stands for. It is the best assistant to the Party. It is the closest ally, it is the transmission belt from the Party to the masses of youth, and is the vehicle of Party influence among the youth. The YCL develops extensive educational and propagandist work among the youth.
Education Linked With Struggle
Communist education is not only concerned with classes, books and other forms, but is only complete if linked with the struggle of the workers for emancipation and the smashing of the old social order. Lenin in his famous address to the Russian Youth League (1920), dealing with how the young generation would learn Communism, said:
It can learn Communism only by linking up every step in its studies, training and education with the continuous struggle the proletarians and the toilers are waging against the old exploiting society.
Therefore the education of the YCL is linked with the struggle. It takes part in the class struggle not separately, but in alliance with, and as a special part of the whole working class.
Because of this, and because of the special exploitation of youth, the YCL fights for all the interests of the young workers—political, economic and social—and develops special programmes of struggle for youth.
Therefore the YCL strives for unity among youth for the demands and interests of youth, and also supports the mass organisation of youth in Trade Unions and encourages association of youth of different organisations for common ends. Therefore the YCL makes mass work its main method.
The Fight Against the War is the YCL's Main Concern
Youth, above all, are most vitally affected by the war and have most to lose, and the main attention of the YCL in the coming period is the developing of the struggle of the youth against the war and to assist the working class and the Party in fashioning this struggle and its outcome.
Who Can Be a Member of the YCL?
All who want to struggle against the imperialist war, to support the USSR, and who would like to learn about Communism and the struggle for a Socialist Britain, and pay their dues may join. This means a mass organisation of tens of thousands of youth, organised in all parts of Britain, but, above all, in the most decisive places.
How is the YCL Organised?
The main unit of organisation is the branch, and leading the branches are city, federation and district committees and councils, the National Council and Executive Committee. The branch is the centre in a given area for education and propaganda, and is the centre from which is organised mass work.
Further, the branch organises special work and establishes special groups of youth in such places as the factories and the youth organisations, but these groups are part of the branch and are lead by the branch committee.
Of greatest importance is the struggle of the YCL to defend the interests of youth in the armed forces. Now, when such a huge proportion of the young workers are mobilised in the forces, the YCL raises the banner of solidarity with its brothers there.
Relations With the Party
The Party gives political leadership to the YCL and guides it in all its work. In every section of the Party special efforts should be made to establish the most comradely relations of the Party members towards members of the YCL, to discuss their work and problems, and to advise them and help develop their cadres. The most advanced members of the YCL are encouraged to join the Communist Party but to carry out their Communist Party work in the YCL Likewise, younger Party comrades should be encouraged to go into the YCL as their Party job. The Party branches should select one older person who can work as a friendly aid to the YCL where required. In considering the work of the young Party members, the YCL must be given first consideration. It is desirable to encourage and ensure that leading members of the YCL are on all leading committees of the Party, from the branch committee to the central committee.
Relations especially important in the factories
It is on this point that most of the confusion in the Party exists. There cannot be a mass YCL performing its proper function unless it is rooted in the factories where the youth are exploited. Therefore the YCL aims to develop groups of members in every possible factory, and the Party assists them in doing this
The YCL group does not decide matters of factory policy for the youth without consultation and agreement with any Party group which may exist in the same factory. Likewise, it endeavours to rally support among the young workers for any policy decided by the Party factory group. It aims at conducting special education and propaganda work, and building mass organisation of youth in the factories (Trade Union and other forms), deals with all the interests of the youth in the factory, as well as developing or working in existing social, cultural and sports organisations in the factory. It endeavours to recruit to the YCL and carry out work in the factory on behalf of its own local branch. Where Party and YCL groups exist in the same factory, it is desirable that one of the leading YCL members should attend factory group meetings, and from time to time, when the Party group organises an enlarged meeting on any special question, it should invite all the YCL members to attend as being the closest sympathisers of the Party in the factory.
Special Problem of Girls
The influx of girls into industry in recent years will be enormously intensified as a result of the war and the mobilisation of male youth for the armed forces. Special attention must be paid to the problems of girl labour, and the best methods of developing organisation and struggle among the girls, especially in the factories. The Party now has an opportunity of tackling a problem which will be decisive in ending the war after the fashion of the working class; in fact, there cannot be a successful outcome to the struggle unless the question of girl labour is tackled.
Girls must be encouraged to take responsibilities for the leadership and organisation of the YCL, and must be given special help in their Communist education.
The Need of the YCL to Develop Its Paper, "Challenge"
"Challenge" is the only legally functioning paper, outside the USSR, in Europe which is produced by the Communist Youth Movement, and therefore is of exceptional importance at the present time. By considerable sacrifice, the youth have managed to maintain their paper as an eight-page weekly, and it deals with the demands of youth, assists in the development of the struggle for Socialism, and helps in building a mass League.
Therefore all Party organisations, which work among youth (i.e., factory groups) where there is not yet a YCL, must utilise "Challenge" in approaching youth and build its circulation among youth as a special step towards building the YCL wherever possible.
Conclusions
The conclusions to draw from this statement are that the Communist Party, in every locality and factory where it exists, places as an issue of outstanding importance the building of the Young Communist League.
To this end all Party organisations should systematically check up on how the following points are being dealt with:
- Study by Party members of the writings and speeches of Lenin and Stalin on the youth.
- Regular comradely discussion, criticism, and help to the YCL branches, factory and other groups; similar assistance by responsible Party Trade Union workers, bureaux, etc., to the YCL workers in the Trade Union youth organisations and committees.
- Appointment of politically developed and efficient Party members as advisers and helpers to branch committees and factory groups of the YCL
- Drawing of leading YCLers into leading organs of the Party as an essential part of their training, and to obtain a closer understanding of youth problems in the Party.
- Assistance in the educational work, especially in the training of cadres, in the YCL
- Assistance in developing "Challenge" into a mass revolutionary youth paper.
Finally, the Central Committee urges the study of this statement by the widest possible number of Party and YCL members, and constant reference to its contents, as a basic statement on the attitude of the Party towards its best assistant in the revolutionary struggles ahead, the Young Communist League.