The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-02-06

The Unsatisfactory Situation in the YCL.
III. Although the League can record certain
achievements in the period since its 9Th Ma
tional Convention: active participation together
with the Party in the struggle against the
Lovestone renegades and the complete elimina-
ton of Lovestone agents in the League; GER
tain beginning of the struggle against oppor-
tunsm in practice as it expressed itself in the
daily work of both the Party and the League;
the final liquidation of the long standing fac
tional struggle in the League and decided pro-
gress in the proletarianization of the Leagues
leadership; active participation with many
shortcomings in a number of important
strikes and political demonstrations; the build
ing of the League in new sections of the coun-
try, especially in the South; first beginning
at the Trade Union Unity Convention and in
some of the new unions in creating the pre-
requisite for putting our youth work on more
concrete basis, basicaly the League situation
remains extremely unsatisfactory and entirely
out of proportion with the tremendous posi-
bilities produced by the developing crisis and
the growing militancy of the young workers.
The YCL still is, as characterized by the
YCI and our 9Th National Convention, "a small
organization largely isolated from the masses
of young workers with unsatisfactory ma
tional and social composition-its development
strongly tagging behind the growing class con-
seriousness of the young workers." The League
failed to show the necessary political activity
in connection with the economic struggles of
the young workers; anti-militarist work; the
struggle against opponent organizations, etc.
The struggles of the young workers were often
allowed to pass unobserved and when we did
participate in these struggles we too often
failed to give independent leadership or to de-
veop the necessary new forms of struggle,
New York, Boston, Kansas City, etc.,, and to
build the League. AS result the League fire.
quenty remained "at the tail of events, Jagged
behind the general political development" The
League has failed to utilize the good oppor-
tunites for the building of the new trade
union center. We have very few organized
League fractions in unions AMI are very slow
in building the youth sections as well as econ
omc youth associations. The League has
failed to show sufficient consistency in de-
veloping the every day work in the factories
preparatory work in connection with the
struggles Of the young workers.
Along with serious opportunist mistakes,
tendencies of isolation and narrow sectarian-
ism, encouraged by the historical development
of our League an organization of the i'm
migrant youth and by its bad composition,
have been especially marked. The continued
existence of such an unsatisfactory situation
in the League despite certain slight but abso-
lutely insufficient improvements during the
past periods due to the fact that the turn
to mass work correctly outlined for the League
by the 5th World Congress and our own 5th
National Convention has not been carried out
while the decisions aiming at an improvement
in the League situation have not even been
popularized or fully understood by the leader
ship or the membership
The Right and the Left" Danger.
". The Right danger is the main danger
confronting both the Party and the League.
1t finds its clearest organized expression in the
group of anti Communist renegades around
Lovestone and among elements taking up a
concliatory attitude towards these opportun-
lists. But the Right danger is by no means
confined to these groups 1t is ever on the
increase as the growing struggles of the work
ers brighten more and more opportunist ele-
ments away from the Party and League 1t
is kept alive by illusions about capitalist pros
perity, by the pressure of reformism and ex-
presses itself in tagging behind the quickly
developing events and in the persistence of
opportunist mistakes in the practical work of
the League and the Party, which must be ener-
getically combatted
AS expressions of the Right danger in the
youth movement which have shown themselves
with special clearness during the past period,
it is necessary to enumerate the following ten
denotes: underestimation of the rehabilitation