"Youth are the Future." We have all heard it before, and as clichéd and ridiculous as it may sound, it's true. For the YCL, the future lies in its youngest members. These are the members who (hopefully) will be around for the longest. High school is a time to figure out what you want to do, what's important to you, and what you believe in. It is a time when people are usually open to new ideas. High school is a time for learning (or so I hear) and you certainly won't learn about class struggle, so it is the role of the YCL to teach the class struggle.
Organizing high school students is a challenge for any organization. Many high school students don't drive or don't have access to a car. Many depend on public transportation, which is fine in big cities, but in smaller cities and towns, high school students are at the mercy of their family members who drive. High school students are also very busy. Many work, go to school, and participate in extracurriculars like sports or music.
High school organizing presents many more challenges for the YCL than for other organizations. Most organizations found in high schools are sponsored and run by parents, teachers or school administration. One of the things that makes the YCL different is that it's not just an organization of youth, but it is youth-led. It is important to maintain this uniqueness in high school YCL clubs. YCL clubs must make sure that the people organizing and running high school clubs are high school students. While people with more experience organizing are sometimes eager to help new clubs, it is important for high school clubs to experiment and figure out some things for themselves. Organizing a club is also a form of political and organizational development, giving younger members an opportunity to practice their skills and learn the best way for them to organize. When I helped to organize a YCL club at my school I learned a lot about starting a club. For instance, if you cover your school in flyers that shout "Young Communist League" you should be prepared to have your meeting flooded with not only sincerely interested people, but every smart-ass in your school who wants to thoroughly disrupt your meeting and prevent you from getting much done.
Another major challenge to YCL organizing on high school campuses is the issue of being recognized by the school. When the most radical club at your school is the Spanish Language Club, it may be difficult to get your YCL club recognized. Many high schools require students to write bylaws for their organizations and also to get a teacher or administrator to sponsor the club and therefore attend all meetings and events. The issue of bylaws is easily surmountable; clubs can use the YCL constitution. However, getting a sponsor is a much more difficult problem. At my school it took three possible sponsors and about four months before we came up with someone suitable. The first possibilities were heavily pressured by administration not to sponsor the YCL and the teacher who finally became our sponsor hadn't wanted to at first, but when he heard of the trouble we had; he sponsored us because he believed in our right to have our own ideas.
The challenge of being a recognized club brings up another issue: how important is it for clubs to be recognized by their schools? High school clubs can function without recognition, right? I think this is an issue that is specific to each high school club. At my school, students come from all over the city. The only place it makes sense for the club to meet is in the school. Without recognition we can't get a meeting space. For high school clubs in neighborhood high schools this is not as big of an issue. All the students live somewhat near each other and other public spaces, like libraries, are just as convenient. It also depends on what the focus of the club will be. If the club is more focused on specific issues affecting high schools, then it is more important to be recognized than if the club is more of a chance gathering of YCLers who go to the same school but don't necessarily want to focus on high school issues. In the end I think all clubs should try to be recognized. While some may focus on recognition more than others the benefits that go along with being recognized make it important and very helpful to clubs.
Another question facing high school YCL clubs is what the focus should be. Is a high school YCL club's focus the same as a college club or a community club's focus? I don't think so. While there are certain specifications that all clubs should try to meet, I think each club may have a different focus. For high school clubs, I think the focus should be on culture and political development through educationals and political work. High school clubs should avoid meeting too often and stick more to having events. Everything that the club does should make some contribution to the political development of its members. Many people will join the YCL out of curiosity to find out what we're about and it's important for us to do what we can to build up the idea of class struggle.
High school YCL clubs should also work on the political development of students outside their club. At my school we had an annual Commie Day. We passed out literature and talked to people in the halls. It was a lot of fun and we had a lot of good political discussions. YCL can also bring awareness about issues that people would be interested in but just don't know about like the anti-sweatshop campaigns. Because of the openness of many high school students the high school YCL clubs should be focused on developing activists whether they be YCLers or not.
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