NEW YORK – For the past seven months, members of the Young Communist League USA (YCL) have been traveling around the country, organizing cultural events, doing election work, and forging alliances with youth organizers, all in preparation for the 7th National YCL Convention. The convention will be held in Chicago Nov. 22-24.
The YCL is very active in the youth and student movement, from organizing for peace to working on local elections. The convention is where young people can participate and strategize in workshops on many issues such as youth and labor solidarity, peace, voting rights, racism and oppression, sexual education, culture and media outreach, and other issues that affect young people and our struggles.
The convention will engage in a local Chicago action focusing on how priorities like housing are pushed aside by the Bush administration’s push for war. Young people and youth organizations have been playing leading roles in the movements against war, especially around Iraq. Representatives from the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition have been invited. The YCL was an initiator of this coalition that helped bring 100,000 people to Washington, D.C., on April 20 against the war abroad and at home.
YCL members from at least 20 states will be attending, as will youth and student leaders from around the world. Guest organizations will be hosting various workshops at the convention.
Grassroots work done by YCL clubs across the nation will be spotlighted. New campus and community clubs have developed in the past few months, including at Stanford University, Wesleyan, Borough of Manhattan Community College and University of North Texas among others across the nation.
At the convention the YCL will reaffirm itself by electing new leadership and beginning new campaigns, all to adapt to the new and changing political situation.
These young people, dedicated to fighting for social and economic justice, will help change the direction of our country. For more details on the YCL’s 7th National Convention, visit www.yclusa.org.
The author can be reached at ahassan@cpusa.org
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