Action Plan of the Young Communist League, USA
Approved by 2006 National Convention
Amended by National Council October 2006
INTRODUCTION
In the years following the last National Convention of the Young Communist League, the Bush administration and the most extreme elements, the ultra-right, have been ruthless in their attacks on youth and our quality of life. They have shown us that capitalism offers no real future for youth. We know that it is only with socialism that we can secure real, lasting democracy, equality and peace. But in order to move forward on the road to socialism we have to first defeat the most reactionary, right wing policies that threaten all we have won in the past few decades. It is this decisive victory that will put the youth and our allies in a better position to fight for and win a real people’s agenda. In order to fight for our future, we must fight for our rights and livelihoods today, making it clear that we cannot have one without the other!
Young people have an important role to play in joining with the labor movement, people of color, women, immigrants, the peace movement and others in challenging the current power structures and helping change the world that we live in. The Young Communist League is an active participant in the struggle for youth rights and in building unity within youth movements and between youth movements and the broader movement for democracy. A stronger YCL can only lead to a stronger youth movement and broader unity against the ultra-right. The Action Plan of the Young Communist League, USA serves as a framework to guide YCL clubs and leadership, in both strategic action and organization, between now and our next convention in 2010. The Action Plan will help us to determine worthwhile demands, campaign priorities, and other programs and activities that will help to build our organization and the broader youth movement given the current political and economic situation.
The Action Plan is separated into 2 distinct parts, the Youth Bill of Rights and our Areas of Struggle.
The Youth Bill of Rights consists of demands that must be guaranteed to ALL youth. The Youth Bill of Rights allows us to present an alternative to the exploitive economic and social policies associated with capitalism and demand a shift in U.S. policy-making. This component of our Action Plan also provides us with a basis to seek unity and guide the struggles we are engaged in with the broader youth and student movement and our allies including, especially the labor movement.
Given the circumstances facing youth in the world today, we have chosen 3 areas of struggle that we believe most immediately and drastically affect the lives of youth: peace, education and jobs. The current administration’s consistent use of military aggression over diplomatic, democratic approaches to foreign policy-making has only made things worse for us. These policies consistently deny youth - especially young people from racially and economically oppressed communities - equal access to quality education and good jobs sending them instead to fight in unjust wars. Upon return, they join the bulk of youth who are searching in vein for affordable, accessible education and quality jobs. Though this does not indicate an abandonment of other rights and guiding principles, we believe that the achievement of goals associated with these areas will allow us to make advances in the struggle to defeat the ultra right wing and improve the actual lives of young people.
The YCL Action Plan highlights the importance of equality and democracy in securing a real future for young people. We believe that our three areas of struggle also allow us to make concrete advances in the struggle for equality and against discrimination and exploitation based on race, nationality, citizenship status, disability, religion, sexuality, and/or gender expression in all areas of our lives.
The issues included in the Youth Bill of Rights and in our Areas of Struggle are not new to the Young Communist League. We have been working in each of these movements consistently throughout the past decades in many forms. In specifying our approach and goals we hope to be more coordinated, efficient, and ultimately more effective in our contributions to these efforts given our resources and our capacity. The YCL Action Plan allows us to be flexible and engage in a variety of tactics from the ballot box to the streets in the fight back against the ultra-right.
The Action Plan is a work in progress and will be updated as necessary by the National Council. Needless to say, it may not specify the tactics that the YCL will utilize to carry out the overall program. The Action Plan is not a checklist of activities. It will serve as a framework to develop our program and campaign priorities and guide our day-to-day work until our next convention.
YOUTH BILL OF RIGHTS
As a generation of youth that have grown up during the rapid ascendancy of the ultra-right wing, we recognize clearly the inherent flaws of capitalism. Within our lifetime, capitalism has only offered us decreased funding for our schools, lower wages and fewer benefits for our work—all the while filling the pockets of the rich with more and more profits. If things stay the same, the future for young people looks bleak. Capitalism means more war abroad and more inequality at home. There is an alternative.
We believe that we can live in a world of equality, democracy, and peace. As young people, we must build broad unity to demand a shift in US policy-making that puts people before profits, books before bombs, and jobs before war and occupation. This is the fight of our lifetime, and we demand a future.
The Youth Bill of Rights gives us a framework to promote the demands of our generation, to build unity among the great majority of youth forces, and to define the policies and changes we seek on all levels. These are the inalienable rights we demand for all youth regardless of race, nationality, citizenship status, disability, religion, sexuality, and/or gender expression.
1. PEACE: The right to live in peace at home and with the people of the world—including the abolition of nuclear weapons, the right to military-free schools, and the right to live free of police intimidation and state sanctioned violence.
2. EDUCATION: The right to free, fully-funded quality education from nursery to university that gives youth an active voice in decisions related to our schools and promotes affirmative action -- equality in recruitment/retention policies.
3. JOBS: The right to a job at a livable wage, the freedom to form a union, affirmative action programs and other aggressive measures to ensure full access to jobs including training, apprenticeship, recruitment and retention.
4. HOUSING: The right to quality, affordable housing, safe communities, and equality in lending/zoning practices.
5. HEALTH CARE: The right to free, quality public healthcare—including full access to reproductive healthcare and addiction treatment centers.
6. MEDIA: The right to democratic publicly owned and controlled media and press accessible to youth.
7. LEISURE: The right to recreation, arts, cultural, and sports activities.
8. VOICE: The right to youth representation in public entities from school board to the legislature.
9. ENVIRONMENT: The right to a healthy, clean and sustainable environment, food and water.
10. EQUALITY: The right to self-determination and full equality in every area of life.
We invite all youth – individuals, organizations, networks and coalitions - to join us in fighting for the Youth Bill of Rights!
AREAS OF STRUGGLE
The YCL recognizes that the struggle against racism and oppression is of paramount importance of youth all over the world. We are determined to fight racism, sexism and other forms of oppression in all its many manifestations by organizing to win concrete victories in the areas of peace, education and jobs. It is in the areas of peace, education and jobs that all young people are feeling the sharpest attacks by the ultra-right. It in these three areas that we have the greatest possibility of creating unity among young people to beat back Bush and the ultra-right.
PEACE
The ultra-right, the most reactionary sections of the ruling class, intensifies capitalism’s control of the wealth and natural resources of the world and will stop at nothing, including war, to secure profits. Thus, the struggle for peace and justice are extremely important in the fight to defeat the ultra-right. Around the globe the Bush administration and the first-strike war policy of the ultra-right has shown a callous disregard for human life, the environment and national sovereignty. Meanwhile at home our domestic programs are attacked and under funded, unemployment continues to rise and militarism continues to breed violence against women and LGBT people. They steal money from our school lunches and health care from the elderly in order to line the pockets of corporations like Halliburton, Bechtel, and Exxon-Mobile. They use racism and xenophobia to justify their illegal detention, deportation and spying on immigrants in the U.S. and the tracking of immigrant students on college campuses. Military recruiters exploit immigrants by promising citizenship if they serve in the military. Our schools are becoming increasingly militarized with metal detectors placed on the school doors, armed security guards are patrolling the hallways and military recruiters fill our cafeterias. A poverty draft has been created that forces young people into the military as the only viable option for employment and/or education. Under capitalism young people, especially young people of color and working class youth are criminalized and brutalized by the police at home and then sent off to fight in war abroad.
EDUCATION
Education should be a right not a privilege but young people are finding access to quality education increasingly difficult. Local school boards, state legislatures, and Congress continue to slash funding for public education and promote privatization policies that put public funding and control of education in the hands of private corporations. By turning a public good into a source of profit, corporations are able to limit access to quality education and curb the rights of school-based workers to join and form unions. Right-wing religious fundamentalists in coalition with the extreme right are testing the boundaries of the separation between church and state by pushing abstinence only sex education, anti-science curriculum and their concepts of “morality” in our classrooms. Universities continue to raise tuition at exponential rates while the federal government slashes grant based financial aid. The Bush Administration’s blatant disregard for education pits funding for schools against funding for war. This is leading more and more youth to associate the lack of educational access with the ultra-right’s policies of imperialist military aggression. Under capitalism limited access to education and training for youth make access to good jobs and a secure future even more difficult for our generation.
JOBS
As youth, we have inherited working conditions that are grossly exploitive, denying us democratic rights at work through unions and refusing us basic benefits such as healthcare, social security and pensions. Low wages and long hours make access to quality higher education for young workers nearly impossible. In the past 2 decades we have seen capitalism in the form of corporate domination, aided by its radical right wing political arm, expand into a global beast, affecting us domestically through extreme loss in jobs, wages, and rights, and affecting workers worldwide through a never-ending race to the bottom with low wages and poor conditions. We know that people of color, women, immigrants and youth face these problems disproportionately. Older workers are pitted against younger workers and unions are forced to accept contracts with two-tier wage and benefit structures.
PEACE
OUR APPROACH
We believe that only through socialism can we achieve real and lasting peace and justice for the world’s people. Just like it is not possible to achieve peace around the globe while the ultra-right promotes imperialist military aggression, it is not possible for us to achieve justice and equality for youth at home in the U.S. without fighting to secure similar rights for youth abroad. The peace movement must include demands that address the anti-democratic program of the Bush administration, and it must demand alternatives—forcing decision-makers to provide job training and education instead of more military recruiters and prisons. In order to build a peace movement that reflects the broad pro-peace and justice sentiment that exists we must promote the active and visible participation of youth, young people of color, young workers and other youth forces in the struggle for peace and justice. To do this, we outline national and local goals for this next period.
OUR PLAN OF ACTION
NATIONAL
We will continue to work with the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition (NYSPC) and other national formations that struggle for peace and justice to:
* End war and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, bring troops home immediately with access to health care, education and employment upon return, leave behind no permanent bases, and rebuild Iraq with labor rights for Iraqi workers,
* Pass Honda Bill (Student Privacy Protection Act) to amend No Child Left Behind military recruitment provision and to add “opt in” vs. “opt out”,
* Cut federal funding for other programs aimed at tracking young people into the military and instead fund programs which offer alternatives to the military, and
* Build stronger relationships between US based youth peace forces and international movements for peace with special attention towards youth in socialist countries and youth under attack or occupation by the United States.
We will define success by progress in each of these initiatives, an increased visibility/representative leadership of youth in the anti-war movement, an increased presence of new youth and student groups in the movement, broader participation within NYSPC, and increased coordination with international youth peace forces.
STATE and LOCAL
We will work with local peace coalitions and youth organizations working for peace and justice to:
* Pass school board, city council and student council resolutions to limit/end presence of military recruiters in schools and in communities, promote and fund alternatives to the military for youth, and support resolutions to end the war and bring the troops home,
* Build local youth peace coalitions and increase youth presence and participation in local peace coalitions/groups and actions,
* Support and elect pro-peace and youth candidates, and
* Establish civilian review boards, peace zones and other initiatives aimed at addressing issues of violence and police brutality and state sanctioned violence in our communities.
We will define success by an increased presence of youth and students in peace organizations, actions and coalitions, through the election of peace candidates, the development of youth peace groups, the establishment of civilian review boards and peace zones, and progress on other related initiatives.
EDUCATION
OUR APPROACH
We believe that education should be free and accessible to everyone! Education is a public good that should be controlled by the people, not by corporations. Taxation of corporations and the wealthy can provide the basis for full, public funding of our nation’s schools. We believe that a real, quality education includes and promotes the participation of students from diverse backgrounds and perspectives, provides democratic academic spaces where students have a clear and active voice, and ensures recruitment/retention programs for historically underrepresented students. We have to mobilize more students and potential students into bodies that are waging the fight to win back and expand equal access to free, quality education. We should pay special attention to building alliances between youth and labor, especially school-based workers, so that education becomes a more prominent demand in labor’s agenda and that the youth movement becomes champions of the fight and demands of the working class. To do this, we outline national and local goals for this next period.
OUR PLAN OF ACTION
NATIONAL
We will build and strengthen, and where necessary help to initiate, groups focused primarily on education from nursery to university and broaden the coalition of forces fighting for education in order to:
* Renew the Higher Education Act and increase funding for grant-based financial aid,
* Pass legislation that supports the right of immigrant students to equal access to education from nursery to university and
* Pass a real education bill to replace the No Child Left Behind Act, with the provisions included to allot full funding for education—including vocational education, special education, comprehensive sex education, community education, and alternative training programs.
We will define success by progress in each of these initiatives, and increased membership into organizations such as the United States Student Association.
STATE and LOCAL
We will work to build student coalitions with broad representation from local student organizations that agree and identify with the Youth Bill of Rights in order to:
* Directly influence campus/school policies inclusive of recruitment/retention programs, affirmative action policies, multi-cultural, anti-racist and anti-discriminatory curricula, and other student support programs for traditionally marginalized youth within the guidance office—promoting equality and equal access to education for all youth,
* Fight for funding for vocational education, special education, comprehensive sex education, community education and alternative training programs
* Run candidates for student government to influence the same {above} campus/school policies,
* To fight within state and local student associations for a local legislative agenda inclusive of increased funding for public schools and grant-based financial aid programs and to re-work school funding structures away from property taxes and more towards a structure not based on the economic (or ethnic) status of a community, and
* Support and elect youth and other candidates who agree with our vision of education.
We will define success by the quantity and quality of progressive student coalitions that include both students and school based workers we are able to establish, student government positions won, and by progress on the noted legislative initiatives.
JOBS
OUR APPROACH
We know that we cannot reach our goal of rights and dignity for working people without defeating the ultra-right and their agenda. Further, we know we cannot fight for jobs and equality at home without fighting for young workers worldwide, not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because their conditions directly impact ours. We must unite with labor to win equal access to good jobs for all youth and for our democratic rights at work both in the United States and around the globe. We must work to push working class demands to the forefront of the youth movement in order to bring youth to the side of labor, the force that must lead the struggle for progress and socialism. Conversely we have to work to bring more youth voices into the labor movement and work with labor to support and promote programs that address the special needs of young workers and the general needs of all youth. To do this, we outline national and local goals for this next period.
OUR PLAN OF ACTION
NATIONAL
We will work to build a national youth-labor coalition with broad representation from national young worker organizations, student-labor groups, and other youth to:
* Raise the federal minimum wage
* Support the passing/strengthening of workers' rights legislation, demanding fair wages and benefits for ALL workers regardless of country of origin, citizenship status, race, age, sexual orientation, gender expression or disability status.
* Oppose any free trade agreements that force workers to leave their home country if they would not have otherwise done so, in search of better wages
* Pass the Employee Free Choice Act
* Facilitate a more organized, representative and cooperative relationship between the youth movement and the US labor movement, incorporating more youth voice in labor, and pushing labor demands to the forefront of the youth movement
* Strengthen the relationship between young workers in the United States and young workers internationally
* To fight for federal funding of job creation, apprenticeships, job training programs and summer job programs for youth
STATE and LOCAL
We will work to build local youth-labor coalitions, and in particular Student Labor Action Project chapters, with broad representation from local young worker organizations, student-labor groups, and other youth forms to:
* Facilitate a more organized and cooperative relationship between the youth movement, local labor unions, central labor councils and state federations, and
* To fight for workers’ rights and the rights of young workers and all youth at the state and local levels, and
* Support and elect pro-labor and youth candidates and initiatives.
* Fight for living wages for local workers
In all areas of work, we will define success by an increased presence of youth affiliates in labor unions and federations; growth in young worker organizations; an active youth presence and victories in the fights for our state and local demands, growth of SLAP chapters on college campuses and increased labor involvement in the struggle for education and programs that address the special needs of young workers and the general needs of all youth.
BUILDING THE YCL
The YCL Action Plan is an ambitious program to increase our effectiveness and impact as an organization. In order for the Action Plan to come to life and produce results we need a strong organization and an increased membership base. Our organization must continue to grow and have a strong presence in the day-to-day struggles that youth face. Especially important in this initiative will be our ability to consolidate and increase the number of active YCL clubs. With an eye to building the YCL, we chose to highlight, and in some instances re-state, programs and activities that will help us to grow as an organization, specifically through our clubs. After the convention, our elected leadership will use this outline to develop a comprehensive recruitment program with more specific, numerical and geographic goals and concentrations.
YCL EDUCATION
* Coordination of YCL introductory and advanced schools based on the fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism and skills-based components,
* Strengthen relationships with local districts of the Communist Party, USA to develop ongoing educational classes and forums to engage YCL members locally,
* Develop workshops/materials targeted at specific youth bases and/or related to Areas of Struggle such as a traveling “how to obtain an apprenticeship” workshop for potential young workers or a “building alternatives to military recruitment” workshop for high school students OR “how to reclaim your student government” for college students.
* Select key YCL locations and targeted campuses/schools for speaking engagements/tours
* Establish clearer, well-outlined study resources for use with the Dynamic, the People’s Weekly World, and Political Affairs magazine
* Develop and strengthen website as a source of information and resources for YCL members
* Coordinate links between local YCL clubs and young communist organizations in other countries, specifically with affiliates of (WFDY)
ELECTIONS/LEGISLATIVE ACTION
* In consultation with the Communist Party USA, develop an approach to the 2006/2008 local and national elections including key races that will move us forward in our strategic approach to defeating the ultra-right, build the YCL, and leverage key policy action items
* Identify YCL members and youth allies to run for public office support candidates who openly support key sections of, or the entire Youth Bill of Rights
* Secure a strong, engaged YCL presence at relevant legislative conferences
MOBILIZATION
* Mobilize a strong YCL presence at major national and local demonstrations involving our Areas of Struggle
* Identify opportunities for YCL visibility (be it in person or from a distance) based on our capacity at any given time at demonstrations consistent with the Youth Bill of Rights
* Mobilize potential YCL members through creative campaigns and actions involving our Areas of Struggle
VISIBILITY/PROPAGANDA
* Develop and implement a distribution plan for Dynamic magazine and the PWW to increase the visibility and effectiveness of our publication(s)
* Develop pamphlets/statements on issues included in our Areas of Struggle for mass distribution.
* Develop and market YCL gear to be used at mobilizations, conferences, etc. and other promotional items including a possible YCL video
* Develop resources with local clubs focusing on the use of youth culture
* Have all documents where possible translated into Spanish
CLUB BUILDING
* Organize YCL clubs around key campus, community and workplace locations for the focused development of club activity, education and membership growth
* Develop a membership consolidation campaign which encourages the development of YCL clubs based on political activity, involvement with the broader youth movement, organizations and coalitions, and joint work with other youth struggling for the rights outlined in the Youth Bill of Rights
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