Young Communist League

2026-07-23T09:23:30Z

84.247.41.170: The URL was broken and author name was incorrect. I have updated both.

{{Infobox political party|name=Young Communist League|logo=Cropped-YCL-Website-Icon-2022.png|newspaper=Challenge|website=https://ycl.org.uk/|twitter=https://twitter.com/yclbritain}}

The '''Young Communist League''' (YCL) is a [[Communism|communist]] youth organization in the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|United Kingdom]]. It is the youth wing of the [[Communist Party of Britain]] (CPB), although is organisationally independent from that party. It is committed to the CPB's program, [[Communist Party of Britain#Britain's Road to Socialism|Britain's Road to Socialism]].

==History ==
The Young Communist League was originally associated with the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]] and was dissolved in 1989, two years before the party itself. It was later re-established as the youth wing of the Communist Party of Britain. It has grown from only 100 members in 2016 to over 500 in 2021.<ref>{{News citation|author=Tomasz Nowak|newspaper=Challenge|title=The eclipse and re-emergence of the Young Communist League|date=2022-02-11|url=https://challenge-magazine.org/2022/02/11/the-eclipse-and-re-emergence-of-the-y-c-l/|archive-url=https://challenge-magazine.org/2022/02/11/the-eclipse-and-re-emergence-of-the-y-c-l/|archive-date=2022-02-11|retrieved=2022-05-08}}</ref>

==Practical activity==
[[File:Ycl queen 2 minute silence.jpg|left|thumb|YCL protests the 2 minute silence for the Queen's death, Glasgow, 2022]]
The YCL involves itself in marches and demonstrations,<ref>https://twitter.com/yclbritain/status/1576630757560569856</ref> selling literature on stalls, and organising food collections.<ref>https://twitter.com/yclyorkshire/status/1574099004245397507</ref> It also defaces private property like that of energy companies and political party headquarters,<ref>{{Web citation|author=Hamish Morrison|newspaper=The National|title=Scottish Conservative Edinburgh HQ targeted by Make the Rich Pay campaigners|url=https://www.thenational.scot/news/23016097.scottish-conservative-edinburgh-hq-targeted-make-rich-pay-campaigners/}}</ref> and other such publicity stunts.<ref>https://twitter.com/yclbritain/status/1571923787968307206</ref><ref>https://twitter.com/ChallengeYCL/status/1584584372627574784</ref>
[[File:Ycl glasgow rmt march.jpg|thumb|YCL protest for the RMT, Glasgow, 2022]]
The YCL has crafted a distinct public appearance based on use of black clothing and red bandanas,<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Weekly Worker]]|title=A name that spells trouble|date=2022-06-23|url=https://weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/1400/a-name-that-spells-trouble/|quote=As is now de rigueur for the comrades, they dressed in black with red bandanas and carried red flags.}}</ref> and the deployment of flares. This [[Anarchism|anarchist]]-style apparel, in particular the masking of one's identity, has been criticised by some communists such as [[Breht O'Shea]], asserting that it creates an impression of violence, frightens ordinary workers, and creates an easy target for fascists (specifically, the allure of revealing the identity of the adversary).<ref>{{YouTube citation|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF0x0sH4pNM&t=2185s|channel=[[The Deprogram]]|title=The Deprogram Episode 15 - The Role of Alternative Media (Ft. RevLeft)|date=2022-03-02}}</ref>

Some have accused the YCL of LARPing, which is characterized by an obsession with a political ideology based on its use as an accessory to one's ''identity'', rather than a grounded commitment to and study of the theory of an ideology based on its ''merits''.

==References==

<references />
[[Category:Communist youth organizations]]

ProleWiki - User contributions [en]

Young Communist League