14 May 2015

Young Communist League

Induction, Part 7c


Young Communist League


From the YCL Web site:

“The Young Communist League of South Africa is a Marxist-Leninist youth wing of the SACP.

“The YCL stands for Non Racism, Freedom, Equality and the socialisation of the ownership and control of the means of production.”



Preamble of the YCLSA Constitution:

We, the Young Communist League of South Africa founded in 1922, banned in 1950 and re-established in 2003, are a voluntary mass organisation of the youth in South Africa.

We are devoted to the interests of all young people and dedicated to the revolutionary cause of the working class of our country and the globe.

We are committed to and struggle for the transformation of South Africa from a capitalist society to a socialist society in which there is no exploitation of one person or group by another.

The YCLSA recognises the South African Communist Party (SACP) as the political party of socialism in our country and enjoys political and ideological guidance from the SACP.

Young Communists promote the unity of progressive young people of our country with the progressive peoples and youth of all countries.



Aims and Objectives of the YCLSA according to its Constitution:

The YCLSA shall:

(a) Serve as a preparatory school of the SACP, and shall rally young people behind the programme and policies of the Party and lead them in the struggle to advance youth development as an integral part of human and societal development.

(b) Strive to develop itself as a leading political force of the South African youth that derives guidance from Marxism-Leninism under the vanguard leadership of the SACP, and promote the interests of young people in the struggle to advance, deepen, defend, take responsibility for and complete the national democratic revolution which represents the shortest, most direct and suited road to socialism in the specific conditions of our society. 

(c) Strive to be the leading force among young people in the struggle for the achievement of socialism which represents a transitional society towards the realisation of complete political liberation and universal emancipation of both human society and nature under the ultimate goal of a classless communist society. 

(d) Struggle for the elimination of all forms of oppression, discrimination based on arbitrary grounds, and economic exploitation, and shall fight against capitalism, its highest stage imperialism and latest forms of manifestation. 

(e) Strive to develop communist, working class political and moral convictions and imbue the spirit of collectivism in our members in particular and young people in general. The YCLSA aims to achieve this by among others organising, educating and mobilising its members in particular and young people in general in support of its aims and objectives and taking active involvement in the day to day struggles of the working people and the youth. 

(f) Reject and fight against crime, corruption, the abuse of women, children, substances, drugs and alcohol.

(g) Fight for the equality of all young people, and against racism and patriarchy in all forms of their manifestation.

(h) Promote social, recreational and cultural activities among young people.

(i) Promote the understanding among the youth that the working class with a vanguard party is the only class capable of leading the people to socialism and that it is under socialism where for the first time it will be possible to achieve a better life for all. 

Please find attached, the Constitution of the Young Communist League of South Africa.



CU comment

As a voluntary mass organisation of the youth, the YCL gives experience of how voluntary mass organisations work and how they are structured. At the same time, as an organisation that is not separate from the SACP, the YCL imparts a sense of what the vanguard party is about.

The YCL educates its members politically, and it inducts them, organisationally, to the whole movement – the National Democratic Revolutionary Alliance.



This part 7 of the CU Induction course has been about the South African mass democratic movement as an environment or field within which the communist party operates.

The next part will be about the State environment in which the Party currently operates, locally, provincially and nationally.

·        The above is to introduce an original reading-text: YCLSA Constitution, 2013.

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