# Socialist Youth (Portugal)

Socialist Youth (Portuguese: Juventude Socialista) is the youth organisation of the Socialist Party of Portugal.
The Socialist Youth (JS) is a political organization that emerges as a youth party of the Socialist Party. It is integrated, politically and ideologically, into democratic socialism and social-democracy. It is made up of young people over 14 and under 30, Portuguese or resident in Portugal. Currently, the organization’s Secretary-General is Sofia Pereira, chosen in the XXIV National Congress of the JS that took place in December 2024.
It is a political organization of young Portuguese who accept the political platform approved in Congress, the Declaration of Principles and Program of the Socialist Party, with the aim of building a more just and solidary society in Portugal.
The Socialist Youth finds in this political and ideological current a progressive project of social transformation, centered on the values of Equality, Solidarity and Freedom.

## Values

Composed of young people who say they are dissatisfied with the world in which they live, this organization defends a society free of injustices, inequalities and poverty that knows how to respect and be tolerant of differences. They are fighting for a society where development is sustainable and therefore respects and protects the environment. It seeks a thriving and culturally advanced society capable of ensuring quality education, quality health care, social protection and rights-based employment for all. The young socialists are internationalists and radicals in the defense of peace. It is for this reason that the political intervention of this organization also goes through the search for and defense of an alternative to a world marked by inequality, poverty and war.

## Ends

The Socialist Youth is a political youth organization that strives for the implementation of the values of democratic socialism and of the Republic, aiming for a freer, fairer and more solidary society, respecting the principles of respect for the dignity of the human person, pluralism of expression and internal and external democracy.
The Socialist Youth strive to correct social inequalities by implementing a political platform that promotes the integration of individuals into the community in which they live, regardless of their ancestry, gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, language, origin, religion, political, philosophical or ideological convictions, education or economic situation. The action of the Socialist Youth aims at the internationalization of democratic socialism. The Socialist Youth contribute to the peaceful resolution of any international conflicts, as well as to safeguarding the right of self-determination of all peoples. The Socialist Youth condemns and fights against any form of armed aggression or terrorist practice, regardless of its ideological or political support. The Socialist Youth is committed to the construction of a European Union that takes international responsibility for the values and democratic principles that guide the Peoples of Europe and the Portuguese Republic. The Socialist Youth contribute to the formation, participation and political representation of the Portuguese youth.

## Structures of the Socialist Youth

Local and National Intervention
JS operates locally, through its Concelhias structures. These, in turn, are organized into 21 District and Regional Federations.

### Autarchic Intervention

In addition to these structures, the National Association of Young Socialist Authors (ANJAS) coordinates the work of local elected officials in the parishes and municipalities, disseminating good practices and assisting political coordination at the level of local power.

### Organization of Socialist Students

The National Organization of Socialist Students (OES) is the representative structure of all students affiliated to the Socialist Youth and organizes itself in school, federative and national structures. As a result of the statutory changes introduced at the end of 2014, the structure merges into the same organization the former National Organization of Socialist Students of Higher Education (ONESES) and the National Organization of Socialist Students of Basic and Secondary Education (ONESEBS).
The OES is responsible for pronouncing on the general lines of orientation and political intervention of the JS in the areas of Educational Policy, contributing to the articulation of the national intervention of the JS in Educational Institutions, namely through the formulation of proposals to the other organs of the Socialist Youth and manage the national network of Federations and Nuclei of Socialist Students.
The Nucleus of Socialist Students (NES) aims to represent the Socialist Youth in the institutions of Education where they are inserted, namely by stimulating the political debate and the diffusion of the program and decisions of the Socialist Youth. On the other hand, each NES is free to promote the activities that it deems appropriate, as well as to pronounce itself on the subjects related to the Establishment where it is inserted, in articulation with OES and with its Federation, when it exists.

### Trade Union Intervention

More recently, JS has created its Young Socialist Tendency, seeking to integrate into a national structure the nuclei in the area of employment and trade unionism.

## International intervention

On the external front, JS is a founding member of the European organization of young socialists ECOSY (now called YES - Young European Socialists), and is particularly committed to deepening the European project and strengthening its democratic and social components.
Working in support of an international order based on the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, JS is also a member of the IUSY - International Union of Socialist Youth and has reinforced its intervention in cooperation between organizations of Portuguese-speaking countries and the Ibero-American space .

## List of secretaries-general

| No. | Name | Start | End | Secretary-general of PS |
| 1 | Alberto Arons de Carvalho | 16 February 1975 | 3 December 1978 | Mário Soares |
| 2 | José Leitão | 3 December 1978 | 11 January 1981 | Mário Soares |
| 3 | Margarida Marques | 11 January 1981 | 5 February 1984 | Mário Soares |
| 4 | José Apolinário | 5 February 1984 | 29 April 1990 | Mário Soares |
| 4 | José Apolinário | 5 February 1984 | 29 April 1990 | António de Almeida Santos (interim) |
| 4 | José Apolinário | 5 February 1984 | 29 April 1990 | António Macedo (interim) |
| 4 | José Apolinário | 5 February 1984 | 29 April 1990 | Vítor Constâncio |
| 4 | José Apolinário | 5 February 1984 | 29 April 1990 | Jorge Sampaio |
| 5 | António José Seguro | 29 April 1990 | 6 March 1994 | Jorge Sampaio |
| 5 | António José Seguro | 29 April 1990 | 6 March 1994 | António Guterres |
| 6 | Sérgio Sousa Pinto | 6 March 1994 | 14 May 2000 | António Guterres |
| 7 | Jamila Madeira | 14 May 2000 | 18 July 2004 | António Guterres |
| 7 | Jamila Madeira | 14 May 2000 | 18 July 2004 | Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues |
| 8 | Pedro Nuno Santos | 18 July 2004 | 20 July 2008 | Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues |
| 8 | Pedro Nuno Santos | 18 July 2004 | 20 July 2008 | José Sócrates |
| 9 | Duarte Cordeiro | 20 July 2008 | 18 July 2010 | José Sócrates |
| 10 | Pedro Delgado Alves | 18 July 2010 | 4 November 2012 | José Sócrates |
| 10 | Pedro Delgado Alves | 18 July 2010 | 4 November 2012 | António José Seguro |
| 11 | João Torres | 4 November 2012 | 18 December 2016 | António José Seguro |
| 11 | João Torres | 4 November 2012 | 18 December 2016 | Maria de Belém Roseira (interim) |
| 11 | João Torres | 4 November 2012 | 18 December 2016 | António Costa |
| 12 | Ivan Costa Gonçalves | 18 December 2016 | 16 December 2018 | António Costa |
| 13 | Maria Begonha | 16 December 2018 | 13 December 2020 | António Costa |
| 14 | Miguel Costa Matos | 13 December 2020 | 15 December 2024 | António Costa |
| 14 | Miguel Costa Matos | 13 December 2020 | 15 December 2024 | Pedro Nuno Santos |
| 15 | Sofia Pereira | 15 December 2024 | present | Pedro Nuno Santos |