I dedicate this report to our YCL comrades in California and the western states who were instrumental in helping us make the National Council meeting happen in Oakland.
In October of 2006, the Coordinating Committee proposed a 2007 Plan of Work for the YCL in order to breakdown our Action Plan into phases that could be better implemented. As a part of that, we targeted California as a state for YCL growth and development. We felt that there were many voids we could fill within the youth movement here, and the demographics of youth present in the state would definitely strengthen our organization’s ability to better engage key struggles. California is an interesting state, governator and all, and I’m excited to share experiences and learn how we can better support each other’s work.
POLITICAL CLIMATE
Our country began 2007 on better ground than many have experienced in a very long time; than some of us have ever experienced in our lifetimes. The November Congressional Election yielded results even the most optimistic of us had not suspected with the ultra-right losing the majority in both the House and in the Senate. The day before the Election, the question in Congress was if to stop the war in Iraq. But on the day after, and within the 1st 100 days of the new Congress, the question was clearly when. The Congress took an initial step in the right direction on higher education by decreasing the interest rates on student loans, an improvement that will help many youth currently dependent on loans for school. The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which makes it easier for workers to form unions without employer intervention, could not see the light of day in October of 2006. Now, its only block is a veto by the Bush Administration. All over the country, new energy breathes itself into the lungs of movements long stunted by the ultra-right as coalitions for universal healthcare re-form, struggles for funding for education go on the offensive, and the movement for immigrant rights sparks the entire labor movement to strengthen worker unity and improve its positions on international worker solidarity. Smithfield workers in my home state of North Carolina won access to sanitary drinking and wash water, and the Immokalee workers of Florida won an extra penny per pound of vegetables picked—partial victories that go along way in setting us up for the next arena of struggle. Even issues once deemed unrealistic and too left for public debate are re-entering the mainstream discussion, with Congress already offering a bi-partisan bill to lift the travel ban on Cuba, H.R. 654 in the House (authored by Charles Rangel) and Senate Bill 721 (authored by Michael Enzi) .
Anyone who says that the 2006 elections offered no real change is not only asleep under a rock as the bandwagon marches by, but is in fact actively blocking the flow of movement traffic! Throwing the Democrats and Republicans into the same basket in our country in this current period is not only incorrect, but it also impedes our ability to navigate a clear path to a socialist USA.
Of course, we have no wet dreams about the Democrats. We know that they are a capitalist class. They are not a “people’s party”. In fact, their new position as a majority party is arguably more complex than their old role as a strictly opposition party in DC, opposition without any power to do much about it. Now that they can do something, the struggles for unity present themselves. Tactical debates around how to curb the Bush Administration abound, and could easily lead to gridlock and even regression. But their imperialist nature is not an excuse for us to stand on the sidelines and not defeat the ultra-right. Just like communists worked with certain imperialist powers to defeat fascism in World War II, so too must we take advantage of imperialist divisions to defeat the ultra right today. We know that this is not a permanent alliance or even an alliance at all. We know that this is simply a small step in preparing our own path to socialism.
Communists have a clear role to play.
We see the power in unity, and we see the larger goals. We know how backwards it is to base any action on emotions alone. As communists, we approach our tactics with an objective assessment of the current situation right here and right now. We ask the question, “What will move us forward, here and now?” What compromise will advance our position to a higher stage of struggle, and what compromises are damaging to our goals? Sam Webb says it best when he says that the Communist Party “combines radicalism with realism better than anyone else”. We have a scientific approach to every question, with our ultimate aims in mind.
Presently, we are needed the most in the struggle for peace…and in particular the fight to end the war in Iraq. There has been much debate within and between the peace movement, the broader forces for peace—which include organized labor and the women’s movement for example, and of course in the Congress itself. First we fought over whether or not it was okay to support a Congressional resolution against the war if it was didn’t bind the President to do it, inferring that only a binding resolution would really stop the war. Then we fought over whether or not to support a supplemental spending bill that would give the Bush Administration more funding for the war in Iraq—even if it had conditions on the money such as setting a date for troop withdrawal.
We waged these discussions within our own organization as well. But the difference is that we took a scientific Marxist approach. Militancy by itself is not a replacement for science. We know that it is not enough to simply support and pontificate on and on about the most advanced demands. It’s not enough for us to be the most radical people in the room. We actually want to end the war! Thus, we support partial demands and compromises when they move us forward. We support, and did support, the non-binding resolutions against the war because they mobilized more Congress people to oppose the Bush Administration and the war. It gave us leverage in getting these same conservative Democrats and moderate Republicans to vote for more binding legislation that would force Bush into a corner. We support, and did support, voting yes for supplemental spending because both the House and Senate bills put conditions on the money that would set a timeline for troop withdrawal. Bush is already threatening a veto, and this is stirring up opposition from even conservative Republicans—mobilizing even them to oppose the Iraq war where they may not have before, and strengthening our efforts to end the occupation.
Should we continue to demand, “Troops out now”? Of course! But slogans do not make a good substitute for a sound strategy. We have to build an atmosphere where “Troops out now” is common sense, where Congress is in fact demanding it. But we don’t do that simply by screaming, “Troops out now! Troops out now!” over and over again at a Congressperson’s house. We do it by combining strategic street heat with engaging directly in the various political struggles, pushing the partial demands that get us closer to our over all goals…in this case, ending the war in Iraq.
The Democrats are not our heroes. But the 2006 defeat of the ultra-right in Congress is our victory. And it wasn’t a “hold your nose and vote” victory either. We, along with more youth than have ever voted in a Congressional midterm election in recent history went into the voting booths last November and very purposefully kicked the ultra-right’s ass. Reuters reported that it was the largest youth voter turn-out in 20 years! Our victory helped to prioritize diplomacy over military aggression internationally, with Pelosi making a trip to Syria, peace talks re-igniting between Palestine and Israel, and we could even claim some credit for creating the environment for the diplomatic resolution between Britain and Iran. These things, though not an end goal in and amongst themselves, move us in the right direction. With Bush so bent on a war against Iran, just try imagining how the conflict with the British soldiers might have turned out if the Congress rubber-stamped aggression towards that country. Imagine how Bush might have “aided” Tony Blair if he didn’t have to worry about a Congressperson from his own party authoring a bill preventing a pre-emptive strike on Iran. In fact, that Congressman is Walter Jones, the Republican from North Carolina that had proposed changing French Fries to “Freedom” Fries after 9/11. Is this not proof that we are correct in our approach to building the broadest possible unity against Bush and the ultra-right?
This election seriously wounded the ultra-right, but they aren’t completely out of the fight. They are still the largest barrier to our struggle for socialism, and must be completely isolated and removed from power before the Communist Party can even think about changing its strategic policy—shifting our focus to monopoly capitalism in general. We must conquer the dunes before we can part the seas. One stands clearly in front of the other. It’s difficult for the people of the United States to see the Democrats as an enemy when the ultra-right lurks with such a large shadow.
We also have to know that things in Congress move extremely fast, and it’s important for us to stay on our toes and remain flexible. We have to think through what our next steps should be when he vetoes the supplemental spending bill or the Employee Free Choice Act. We should be prepared to push the Democrats on immigrant rights when the waffle or try to push the issue under the table, all while challenging the ultra-right’s vicious attacks on immigrant workers and families. We have to figure out what compromises move us forward, and what compromises set us back. We must be supportive of the Democrats when they move our broader movement forward and critical when they make damaging compromises, as they absolutely will. This is not only our contribution to the broader movements for change, but further builds our own legitimacy for when people begin looking for solutions that the Democrats cannot offer. After all, our Party is not the party of the left Democrats, nor is it the party of the left. Our Party is the party of an entire class, the working class, and we have to remain inseparable from the agenda of our class.
ROLE OF THE YCL
I’ve spoken a lot about the Communist Party, and its role. As you must know, many of us are members of the Communist Party, and if you are not I won’t be shy in asking you to join. No other party embraces socialism the way we do. No other party practices the science of Marxism so fervently and unapologetically. No other party has a strategic approach to socialism based on our own conditions, culture and traditions here in the United States. You will only find that in the Communist Party USA.
I’m glad that we have been able to consistently improve on how we relate to the Communist Party, not only within the national leadership but on the club and district levels as well. We are indeed the future of the Communist Party, and yet we are also its present. That said, I’d like to express my excitement around having a YCL member join the staff of the Labor Commission of the Communist Party, providing us with a more direct liaison to the Party’s efforts within the labor movement.
But this is not the meeting of the Communist Party. This is a meeting of the National Council of the Young Communist League. We have an entire collection of extra issues to deal with as youth. I’ve spent much time talking about the role of the Communist Party. But what about the role of the YCL? What is our contribution?
As a YCL, we have the task of building our understanding of the struggle for socialism through study and practice. We are challenged to bring the youth generation to our cause with our own culture and experience. We are allowed to make mistakes, and we have more space to take initiative—filling voids within the youth movement while strengthening the all people’s front over all.
In the past 6 months, have we met the requirements of a youth league?
At minimum, we’ve come fairly close. We kicked off the year on January 20th with a National Jobs Roundtable. This meeting brought together YCLers from a variety of backgrounds, including organized and unorganized young workers, union staffers, and student-labor activists, to begin a discussion around how the YCL could better engage youth-labor solidarity—particularly addressing the issues of young workers and class consciousness among young people. The roundtable produced 3 proposals for the National Council to discuss, including organizing activities to help strengthen young worker identity, engaging our membership in the campaign for the Employee Free Choice Act, and maintaining the collective established by the roundtable as a national work-group within the YCL to continue conversation on related issues.
Just a week later, the YCL hit the streets of DC in the first demonstration against the Iraq war since the elections. Over 75 YCL members from Wisconsin, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, DC & Maryland, Connecticut and Virginia joined marchers of a new kind in front of the Capital building. This demonstration had more delegations from organized labor than any before it, and over 1000 marchers stayed in DC through the following Monday to talk to elected officials about the war! As a part of the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition (NYSPC), which we helped to found in 2001, the YCL was a part of the action both inside and outside Capital Hill with our trademark chants that, according to a recent New York Times article, have even raised the eyebrows of New York police officials who find it most dangerous when youth put political chants to popular music. Even they recognize the power of pop culture in bringing the youth generation to our cause.
The YCL was also instrumental in broadening the youth voice of the peace movement, calling for NYSPC to host a meeting of unaffiliated youth organizations to adopt a youth agenda for the new Congress. The group included SEIU 1199’s young worker division and Campus Progress. The agenda aims to coordinate youth work around the issues of peace, the environment, workers’ and immigrant rights, healthcare, and of course education.
We stopped long enough to have an in person meeting of the Coordinating Committee in Chicago, where we laid the ground plans to raise the $7000 required to help fund this meeting and pay for half of our flight tickets, and we were successful.
I’d like to make a brief note regarding fundraising. In the past 2 years, our organization has established a strong culture of grassroots fundraising, having thrown events to send people to Venezuela for the World Festival of Youth and Students, then fundraising to send delegates to our National Convention, and now for our organization’s annual programs and events. This is a great achievement, and something we should continue to build. This will require us to re-visit how we pay for our work, and our own financial contributions. We must re-affirm the importance and significance of paying dues, while also encouraging club members to contribute more through the YCL sustainer program and other donations. Giving money to our organization is not just a charitable thing to do, but a statement of our political commitment to the work we’re doing. The Communist Party, which sustains much of our work by paying our staff, housing us, and contributing on the club and district levels, is having a similar conversation. The Party is increasing Party dues to $5 a month, $2 for youth and the unemployed. They are also implementing a sustainer system by which members can have a monthly amount automatically deducted from their accounts each month to maintain the organization on a daily basis. We are working with the Organizing Department of the Party to determine how we can relate our own sustainer program in a more productive way, and will keep the Council informed.
Moving back to our programs, the International Committee met shortly after the CC meeting, and has submitted 2 proposals for the National Council this weekend—including an educational conference call with Party leadership on their recent trip to China and Vietnam. We also sent 2 delegates to the General Assembly (convention) of the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) in Hanoi, Vietnam this past March. At the assembly, our organization was re-elected to the General Council and elected to co-coordinate the Commission on Europe and North America (CENA) along with our fraternal organizations from Spain (UJCE) and Cyprus (EDON). We remain committed to strengthening communication with our comrades in Canada and Mexico, having sent a delegate to the YCL-Canada’s re-founding convention last month. We were also successful in making an initial connection between the United States Student Association (USSA), the International Union of Students (IUS) and the Organization of Latin American and Caribbean Student Associations (OCLAE) as mandated by our 2007 Plan of Work.
The YCL had a small delegation at the Legislative Conference of the United States Student Association (USSA) in March, by the way, and we continue to build relationships with students we met there. Aside from our t-shirts, students were most excited about our magazine, Dynamic. Dynamic has moved on the plans approved at our October meeting, and is well on its way to doubling subscriptions. Whereas we used to have stacks of the magazine leftover after each issue release, we now often find ourselves sold out with 143 individual subscriptions, 8 bundle subscriptions, and a collection of library subscriptions, international exchanges, and 1-time promotional offers. We can’t distribute Dynamic fast enough, and that’s a good thing. Dynamic is not only one of the faces of our organization, it is a place where we can discuss and debate the various issues facing the youth movement. Youth read Dynamic not only to know our positions on various issues, but more and more to find out what the issues are.
While actively implementing the new distribution plan for the magazine, the Dynamic Committee has put out 3 issues, implemented its first ever fund drive, and in line with the 2007 Plan of Work has submitted a plan for a writers’ workshop to occur in June. With the help of staff from Dynamic, the People’s Weekly World and Political Affairs, this small workshop aims to build the base of contributors to the magazine while improving concrete reporting skills. Dynamic is becoming more of an organizing tool for the YCL, allowing us to go places where communists might otherwise be taboo.
Not to be outdone, the Education and Literature Committee has completed 4 of the 5 educationals promised to clubs this year, in addition to organizing the Midwest Regional School in Chicago barely 2 weeks ago. The school, graciously hosted by the Chicago YCL in the Unity Center, was a success with 17 people registering from Chicago, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, St Louis and Columbia, Missouri.
It is this committee’s intention to continue carrying out our 2007 Plan of Work, bringing to the National Council a plan for hosting the National School also in Chicago this August, and determining where to host a Northeastern Regional School later in the fall.
One committee that has not done as well is the Membership Committee. The Membership Committee has not met since the October National Council meeting. There could be a variety of reasons for this, but my assessment is that it lacks clear goals and purpose. So part of our discussion this weekend should be an exploration of this committee, why it exists, and what we need it to take up. I cannot foresee eliminating this committee when our membership is so small, our staff at maximum capacity, and the need for YCL growth so intense. Thus, it is important for us to better identify the work of this committee in a way that it can move forward.
Doing this brings us back to the question I asked before highlighting some of our recent accomplishments. Are we completely fulfilling our assignment as a Young Communist League; working to improve the lives of young people, filling key voids within the youth movement and taking on strategic initiatives? Although I think we’ve done quite a bit, there is room for improvement.
OUR SPECIFIC TASKS
I think we have done a lot since our National Convention nearly a year ago to consolidate our own organization internally. We have made some of our most basic programs and tools more systematic and regular—including our schools, our magazine, and even our meeting schedules. We have a clear role within established coalitions such as the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition (NYSPC) and the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY), and we also have a solid national working relationship with the United States Student Association (USSA) and the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP).
Imagine if it wasn’t simply a staff person representing the YCL at NYSPC meetings. Imagine if one of our club members from a local peace coalition participated. And how might our ability to influence and strengthen the work on campuses swell if we had YCL students working with USSA as members? We often take a lot of credit for founding the Student Labor Action Project, but it was not YCL staff that did it. It came out of a conversation of the YCL on youth-labor solidarity, and YCL members on various campuses that were also a part of the US Student Association made it happen.
Even our schools, our magazine, and our meetings and events require youth to have already taken a strong interest in the YCL. They aren’t necessarily the starting point. Although these programs provide a gateway into the YCL, I think we were wrong in identifying them as points of entry.
So what then are the entry points into the YCL?
The solution rests within our clubs. The bulk of our membership growth must occur through the clubs. Clubs are the forums through which young people can engage in tough conversations around things affecting us in our daily lives with people we can relate to the most. In order to have a strong YCL, we need clubs that are embedded in the strategic youth struggles. And we don’t have to guess at what these struggles are as our Action Plan lays them out quite clearly. We have prioritized the struggles for peace, jobs and education. The national discussions and roundtables we have around these issues are important because they help us to lay a general groundwork and game plan for how we will engage as an organization. But a game plan is meaningless without clubs to try it out, tell us what works and what doesn’t.
This requires a skill that has been historically difficult for our organization: focus.
The YCL not only needs new clubs that are focused on a specific area of struggle, it also needs existing clubs to re-evaluate their plans to ensure that we are being most effective in any given area of work. The club reports in the appendix of this document will demonstrate that our most successful growth stories come from clubs that have identified a focus and gone after it whole-heartedly.
Consider the Arkansas study group, soon-to-be-club which didn’t exist a year ago. It was built through focused work on the elections, and then follow-up work specifically around the war in Iraq. Consider the Uptown Club where one of our comrades was recently banned from the school where he teaches for challenging extreme policing measures with students. This club has focused almost explicitly on youth in high schools, dealing with the issues of military recruitment, police presence, and funding for public education in New York.
Focus gives us room to invest our energy in seeing something all the way through. Without focus, we easily overwhelm new members and burn out core club leadership. The annual club planning worksheets distributed in January were meant to serve as an initial guide for developing this, but clubs must have more conversations on how they can better focus their work in order for the YCL to experience more consistent growth.
We have a unique role.
In many areas, our organization can unite young people from different communities like no other. Let’s face it! No one else understands the necessity of building broad coalitions to win what we want like the YCL. We know that we need broad unity to accomplish our huge goals. We have to put this understanding and this skill to good use. What area of focus would allow the Chicago YCL to unite Latino youth in Pilsen to Black youth on the Southside? How could the Brooklyn YCL fill the void for a youth voice within the Brooklyn peace movement? What demands would help the Milwaukee YCL mobilize new faces to the struggle for immigrant workers or even engage immigrant youth in the struggle for peace? Our well-known knack for coalition building is muted if it goes unpracticed. Even worse, our ability to win concrete victories is dampened.
The saying is true that nothing succeeds like success. Even the smallest of victories—a new club member here, a penny more per pound for Immokalee workers, 3 more YCL clubs, a resolution passed by your city council or school board—all of these things build up momentum for the next battle, and even bigger battles. Youth are looking for answers to the vast problems of the world we live in. We want young people to be excited about the work we’re doing, and feel like they are a part of the solution. But the solution isn’t a 3-hour club meeting where no decisions are made. Our clubs must be actively and visibly building unity around a key struggle, using meetings to engage members in that work directly.
I think we can also take more initiative nationally, in particular around the education and jobs sections of our Action Plan. I think the Jobs Roundtable was a great success—sparking conversations that could lead us to larger projects around salting, improving young worker organization, and discussing how we can better engage immigrant workers who are often youth supporting families in their home countries. I also think we need more discussion and concrete next steps about how we relate to youth who are in the process of or will eventually seek citizenship in the United States. This question is in many ways at the core of our ability to lay out a clear approach to how we can build and strengthen the struggle for immigrant workers and immigrant rights.
Likewise, I hope that the proposed national discussions around education will give us even more guidance as to how we can strengthen our presence and our wor k at school and within the battle for public education, Kindergarten through College. In saying this, I agree with the Coordinating Committee’s requests to make some additions to the proposal for an Education Strategy. The CC noted that not every collective would be ready to build campus coalitions to challenge for positions within student government. In many cases, we need simply to help 1 or 2 YCL members on a campus build visibility for themselves, either through speaking engagements, campus ads and/or other events. Where this is the situation, we should be more focused on turning 1 YCL member into 3, and 3 into 5, forming YCL study groups and clubs that accomplish the task of meeting regularly. Not that YCL staff get much time at home, but after this national education discussion we should spend even more time in the field assisting clubs and laying the groundwork to build new ones.
We have a lot going for us right now. Our meeting is happening in one of the most exciting and dynamic periods of our lives. In just months, even the visibility of our organization has increased in mainstream media with hits in the New York Times, Associated Press, and…was that Lester Rodney, former sports columnist for the Daily Worker, on SportsCenter the other day?
If you haven’t noticed all of the hammer and sickle t-shirts at Urban Outfitters, crawl out from beaver den because we’re popular. It’s time for us to take full advantage of the climate we’re in, and build the YCL deep and wide!
APPENDIX
YCL MEMBERSHIP REPORT
CLUB REPORTS
UPTOWN YCL
Currently we are getting ready for our leadership weekend retreat where they will hold workshops to help develop leadership in NYC. We have held monthly open mics where members and friends can display talent and learn about important issues such as counter recruitment and the over-policing of schools. Our club is supporting and mobilizing to help a fellow YCLer in a fight over police in the schools. We look forward to sending some members to Cuba this summer.
HARTFORD YCL
Developing leadership and working in conjunction with the party on peace issues. They are building by binging in friends and family into the YCL and looks forward to planning their next steps.
NORTH JERSEY YCL
The New Jersey YCL is off to a good start. Currently we are working on helping getting a LGBT center built in Newark, NJ as part of a coalition effort with the Newark Pride committee. A fellow YCler will begin the process of starting a Rutgers campus club.We are organizing a NJ school to be held at Rutgers May 26th. Monthly meetings of the club will begin starting in June.
ORLANDO YCL
Our YCL club is currently active in the STOP Coalition (a coalition of local civic and religious groups fighting for the rights of the homeless), the local ACLU executive board, ACORN, the anti-war movement, and is holding a fundraising punk concert for Dynamic Magazine. We had a press conference Wed. March 21st at 2pm along with the ACLU, ACORN, Food Not Bombs, NAACP, NLOA(National Latino Officers' Association) to address police brutality and police accountability at the Orlando Police Department. As a result of the press conference and the arrest of a comrade, we are starting our own group to police the police with the participation of the aforementioned groups.
MILWAUKEE YCL
The Milwaukee Club's main task now is to find a solid meeting place where we can have consistent meetings. We have many interested people eager to learn more about the YCL. We have decided to move away from the peace movement dominated in our city by Peace Action. Our club is eager to get involved with the immigrant rights groups, which are actively struggling in the inner city. The organization Voces De La Frontera is organizing low income working class families in Milwaukee's south side. The urgency and organization felt in this struggle and the strong working class participation makes this movement a better candidate for building the YCL and general working class consciousness, including amongst the youth. We are optimistic about the future.
NASHVILLE YCL
The Nashville YCL club has been working hard this spring to build the YCL. We had a speaking event for Adam from the National Office in early March and a "Books Not Bombs" rally for the 4th Anniversary of the Iraq War on the Tennessee State University (TSU) campus. We have also been working with the Jobs With Justice coalition in Nashville on building student support at TSU and other universities for the living wage campaign at Vanderbilt University.
ARKANSAS YCL
Since the last NC meeting, work in Northwest Arkansas has focused on the 2006 elections and the war in Iraq. For our local Iraq fourth anniversary demonstration, Judith LeBlanc of UFPJ and Adam Tenney (for NYSPC) were able to come to Fayetteville to be our two main speakers. Hundreds turned out for a march and rally outside city hall. During Adam's visit, we also held a YCL recruitment meeting with some of the participants in our Marxist Study Group. Two new people joined the YCL, both of whom are leaders of the University of Arkansas LULAC chapter. With three members in the area, we are now in the process of consolidating ourselves as an official YCL club, and we hope to send at least one person to the National School in August. The work with the Marxist Study Group will also continue.
ST LOUIS YCL
The St. Louis club has run into a lot of issues with keeping the club active. Some of our more experienced members have stepped away from the YCL, and we've had difficulty staying organized. Jocelyn Cochran-Biggs stepped down as one of our NC reps. On the upside, in conjunction with the CP, we recently had a successful educational at Westminster College. At this point, the club is concentrating on recruitment.
BROOKLYN YCL “Claudia Jones Club”
Since the last NC Meeting the Claudia Jones Club has focused on re-engaging its' members through educationals, movie screenings, and a dynamic fundraiser. During the last four months our club has hosted 3 movie screenings, and 3 new members have joined the club leading up to the summer we will be having a club election, organizing other social and educational events with a focus on building political identity amongst current membership; recruiting new members, and strategizing on how we will be implementing the action plan locally during the remainder of the year.
MISSING CLUB REPORTS
Mizzou YCL
Tucson/Sierra Vista YCL
Phoenix YCL
Chicago YCL
Providence YCL
Buffalo/Hudson Valley YCL
San Jose YCL
Fresno YCL
Oakland YCL
Orlando YCL
DC YCL
Nashville YCL
UT-Knoxville YCL
Philadelphia YCL
Dallas (MWCC) YCL
COMMITTEE REPORTS
EDUCATION AND LITERATURE COMMITTEE
Since the NC in 2006, we have been working hard on putting together the educational series on peace, jobs, education, environment and immigrant rights. Right now, we have finished the educationals on peace, jobs and education and there are drafts of the environment and immigrant rights. These will be completed by the end of April.
We have also held one regional school in Chicago during the weekend of March 31st and April 1st.
We are moving ahead with our plans for the national school. We are going to have a national school August 4th- 12th in Chicago, IL.
SCHOOL DEMOGRAPHICS-
Attending: 17 people
Chicago- 9
NYC- 2
Indiana- 1
Milwaukee- 2
MO- 3
Men- 10
Women- 7
PoC- 5 (2 African American, 3 Latino)
High School- 3
College students- 4
Young worker 10
We will be working on developing the phone conference series of educationals in conjunction with the Education Commission of the Party. The Party is already having three phone calls at the end of April and beginning of May on political economy that will be presented by a Party leader. All members of the National Council are invited to attend the phone conferences and you will be getting the final details as soon as they are available.
We will be meeting with members of the Ed. Commission to discuss further how to implement a series of monthly Marxist educationals over phone conference in April and hope to get them started come May or
June.
The Ed/Lit Committee is also in the process of updating and revising the Communist Manifesto and should have a finalized updated version by the end of May.
DYNAMIC COMMITTEE
Since the last NC meeting in October the Dynamic Committee has:
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Put out two (fabulous) issues: ISSUE #14, WINTER 2006 & ISSUE #15, SPRING 2007
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Implemented the new production plan in conjunction with the PWW (furthering decreasing the overhead)
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Reached out to allies and sold ad space for each issue to help with production expenses.
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Launched the first ever Dynamic Fund Drive
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Sponsored and been involved with various progressive public events throughout the country.
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Increased the amount of subscriptions by almost double, with many of these new orders being annual bundle subs (with a plan to double this amount by the end of 2007 utilizing a set goal monthly goal).
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Continued to increasingly utilize, promote, and integrate Dynamic in YCL work and outreach
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Begin the initial planning for the upcoming Dynamic Writer's Workshop. The first one in years!
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GROWN significantly with an increasing number of talented and enthusiastic YCL'ers becoming part of the creative process
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And of course continues to be leaner, sleeker, and meaner.
INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE
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The International Committee has met once since the October National Council meeting, on February 18th. Out of that meeting came the proposals presented to the National Council along with preparatory discussion for the YCL-Canada’s re-founding convention and the General Assembly of the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY).
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We sent a representative to the meeting of the WFDY Commission on Europe and North America (CENA) in Spain the first week of December 2006.
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The YCL, subsidized by our fraternal comrades in Cyprus (EDON), sent a delegate to CENA’s conference on global capitalism in January.
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We sent 2 delegates to Hanoi, Vietnam to participate in the General Assembly of the WFDY in March. The YCL-USA was re-elected to the General Council and also to co-coordinate CENA with our fraternal organizations in Spain (UJCE) and Cyprus (EDON).
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We sent a representative to the YCL-Canada’s founding convention in March where we re-affirmed our commitment for improved collaboration within North America.
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The committee plans to meet again on May 6th to identify next steps on the decisions on the NC, current international events, and on our on-going efforts with the YCL-Canada.
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Separate from the committee, though dealing with foreign policy around Iraq, a peace workgroup has met twice via phone to update YCL peace activists on strategies to end the war.
MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE
Current situation
Since passing the suggested committee structure it has been difficult to pull together conference calls due to schedules and the like. The process of pulling together existing members and club membership coordinators is still a good model as more clubs shape their leadership. The work in our clubs can be greatly aided by the further development of this committee and we look forward to growth in problem areas.
Possible solutions
Standardize the meeting
At least one club member be on the committee already a goal
Formalize agenda
MISCELLANEOUS
CUBA LEGISLATION
Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act of 2007 (Introduced in Senate)
S 721 IS
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 721
To allow travel between the United States and Cuba.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 1, 2007
Mr. ENZI (for himself, Mr. DORGAN, Mr. BAUCUS, Mr. CRAIG, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. HARKIN, Mr. HAGEL, Mr. FEINGOLD, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, and Mr. BINGAMAN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
A BILL
To allow travel between the United States and Cuba. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act of 2007'.
SEC. 2. TRAVEL TO CUBA.
(a) Freedom of Travel for United States Citizens and Legal Residents- On and after the date of the enactment of this Act, and subject to section 3--
(1) the President may not regulate or prohibit, directly or indirectly, travel to or from Cuba by United States citizens or legal residents, or any of the transactions incident to such travel that are set forth in subsection (b); and
(2) any regulation in effect on such date of enactment that regulates or prohibits travel to or from Cuba by United States citizens or legal residents or transactions incident to such travel shall cease to have any force or effect.
(b) Transactions Incident to Travel- The transactions referred to in subsection (a) are--
(1) any transactions ordinarily incident to travel to or from Cuba, including the importation into Cuba or the United States of accompanied baggage for personal use only;
(2) any transactions ordinarily incident to travel or maintenance within Cuba, including the payment of living expenses and the acquisition of goods or services for personal use;
(3) any transactions ordinarily incident to the arrangement, promotion, or facilitation of travel to, from, or within Cuba;
(4) any transactions incident to nonscheduled air, sea, or land voyages, except that this paragraph does not authorize the carriage of articles into Cuba or the United States except accompanied baggage; and
(5) normal banking transactions incident to the activities described in the preceding provisions of this subsection, including the issuance, clearing, processing, or payment of checks, drafts, traveler's checks, credit or debit card instruments, or similar instruments.
SEC. 3. EXCEPTIONS.
(a) Special Circumstances- Section 2 shall not apply in a case in which the United States is at war with Cuba, armed hostilities between the two countries are in progress, or there is imminent danger to the public health or the physical safety of United States travelers.
(b) Importation of Goods for Personal Consumption- Section 2 does not authorize the importation into the United States of any goods for personal consumption acquired in Cuba.
SEC. 4. APPLICABILITY.
This Act applies to actions taken by the President before the date of the enactment of this Act that are in effect on such date of enactment, and to actions taken on or after such date.
SEC. 5. INAPPLICABILITY OF OTHER PROVISIONS.
The provisions of this Act apply notwithstanding section 102(h) of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996 (22 U.S.C. 6032(h)) and section 910(b) of the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7210(b)).
Export Freedom to Cuba Act of 2007 (Introduced in House)
HR 654 IH
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 654
To allow travel between the United States and Cuba.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 24, 2007
Mr. RANGEL (for himself, Mr. FLAKE, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. RAMSTAD, Mr. SNYDER, and Mr. MORAN of Kansas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
A BILL
To allow travel between the United States and Cuba.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Export Freedom to Cuba Act of 2007'.
SEC. 2. TRAVEL TO CUBA.
(a) Freedom of Travel for United States Citizens and Legal Residents- Subject to section 3, the President shall not regulate or prohibit, directly or indirectly, travel to or from Cuba by United States citizens or legal residents, or any of the transactions incident to such travel that are set forth in subsection (b). The President shall rescind all regulations in effect on the date of the enactment of this Act that so regulate or prohibit such travel or transactions.
(b) Transactions Incident to Travel- The transactions referred to in subsection (a) are--
(1) any transactions ordinarily incident to travel to or from Cuba, including the importation into Cuba or the United States of accompanied baggage for personal use only;
(2) any transactions ordinarily incident to travel or maintenance within Cuba, including the payment of living expenses and the acquisition of goods or services for personal use;
(3) any transactions ordinarily incident to the arrangement, promotion, or facilitation of travel to, from, or within Cuba;
(4) any transactions incident to nonscheduled air, sea, or land voyages, except that this paragraph does not authorize the carriage of articles into Cuba or the United States except accompanied baggage; and
(5) normal banking transactions incident to the activities described in the preceding provisions of this subsection, including the issuance, clearing, processing, or payment of checks, drafts, travelers checks, credit or debit card instruments, or similar instruments;
except that this section does not authorize the importation into the United States of any goods for personal consumption acquired in Cuba.
SEC. 3. EXCEPTION.
The restrictions on authority contained in section 2 do not apply in a case in which the United States is at war with Cuba, armed hostilities between the two countries are in progress, or there is imminent danger to the public health or the physical safety of United States travelers.
SEC. 4. APPLICABILITY.
This Act applies to actions taken by the President before the date of the enactment of this Act which are in effect on such date of enactment, and to actions taken on or after such date.
SEC. 5. INAPPLICABILITY OF OTHER PROVISIONS.
This Act applies notwithstanding section 102(h) of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996 (22 U.S.C. 6032(h)) and section 910(b) of the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7209(b)).
ENDNOTES
i. See appendix for full text of each bill and co-sponsors
ii.http://elections.us.reuters.com/top/news/usnN08342322.html
iii.http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40816FF39540C768EDDAA0894DF404482
iv.See appendix for more specific statistics
v.See appendix for demographic breakdown
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