YCL convention to unite youth in struggle

By YCL National Coordinating Council

This article was reprinted from the March 21, 1998 issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits.

The Young Communist League USA's 6th National Convention, June 5-7 in Philadelphia, will bring together hundreds of progressive and Communist youth from across the country to unite youth and students in the fight for jobs, education, equality and peace today and to win a socialist future tomorrow. The Convention will help build youth and student fightbacks against the ultra-right attacks on public education, welfare, housing, healthcare and worker's rights. The Convention will help defend affirmative action, civil and reproductive rights, fight U.S. militarism and unfair trade and environmental destruction. These tasks are great, but they can be won with unity and mass struggle and with organization.

Take a stand for decent jobs.

In cities all across the U.S. we see the same thing: young people without job opportunities. Cuts in welfare, low wages and unemployment mean millions of working class families pushed to the edge. Among the hardest hit are youth, especially youth of color and immigrant youth. The future of our young generation depends on fighting for jobs at good pay with benefits and union protection.

Stand up for the right to an education.

Overcrowded, crumbling school buildings, budget cuts, privatization ... If we let them, the right wing will destroy public education brick by brick. In some states, more money is spent on prisons than education. When they attack public education, the right-wingers are saying "forget you" to a whole generation. We say not one person should be forgotten. Free, quality public education is a right!

Fight racism. Stand up for equality

The "powers that be" want workers and poor people to fight each other, not them. The right wing fans the flames of division using race hatred, immigrant bashing, sexism, gay bashing, etc. Our only hope is unity: multi-racial, male/female, young/old, straight/gay, international unity. When we unite together, stand up for equality and defend affirmative action, we are fighting for our future.

Take a stand for peace.

The Cold War is over, but there is no peace. Giant corporations and banks exploit the world's workers and markets and wreck the environment. The U.S. military and the CIA protect and serve big business - as seen in recent wars to keep U.S. corporate control of the Panama Canal and oil in the Gulf. We demand drastic cuts in the military budget, an end to the inhuman and illegal U.S. blockade against Cuba. Fair trade, disarmament, global justice and working class unity are the best way to achieve peace.

The "system" is to blame.

Watching TV you'd think that all the problems facing youth are our own fault, that we are criminal-minded and lack "family values." Youth and other oppressed people are not to blame. We know the unemployment crisis, education crisis, housing crisis, environmental crisis, racism, sexual abuse, drugs, violence, gambling, suicide, etc. all spring from the dog-eat-dog capitalist system where the dollar is king. Capitalism is corrupt and it has got to be replaced.

Young people are fighting back.

All over the country, young people have taken up the fightback against corporate greed and the ultra-right. Young organizers poured into the AFL-CIO's Union Summer program. High-schoolers were bold on the front lines fighting against California's racist Prop. 209 and 187. In Philadelphia, public school students stormed city hall demanding full funding for schools. In Connecticut and Maryland, students fought the privatization of their public schools and won. Last summer, 850 U.S. youth traveled to Cuba, in defiance of the U.S. blockade, to attend the 14th World Festival of Youth and Students, standing together for peace and solidarity with 13,000 youth from more than 130 countries.

The Young Communist League

In the past year, almost 1,000 young people joined the YCL from almost every state. Joining the YCL is a good way to fight for a decent life for all and to join the struggle for a socialist future. The YCL is a place to learn how to struggle, to take action, and socialize with progressive youth.

The 6th YCL National Convention

At the 6th National Convention, hundreds of young people will come together, including many of our 1,000 new members from the past year, veteran YCLers and friends, national and international guests from the youth and student movement. It will be an event for all young people - Blacks, whites, Latinos, Asians and American Indians, men and women, straights, gays, lesbians and bisexuals, students, workers, unemployed and homeless.

We call on you to join us. Let's celebrate and debate, socialize and organize. Let's stand together for a common vision, sending a message of protest that our generation is ready to rise up to the challenges we face ... militant, united and on the move.

June 5-7 in Philly ... Be there!

This convention is the place for young people to unite for jobs, education, equality and peace.

We can win jobs for youth at livable wages. We can win free, quality, public education. We can win equality and end racism. We can win peace and preserve our planet.

It won't be quick and easy, but together these struggles move us closer to socialism, a society fit for humanity, a future worth fighting for. Join us.