The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-02-20

the report of COmrade F. Brown,
made at the Central Committee
Plenum of the Party, on Party
and Young Communist League re-
latiOns. Todays article deals with
the work of the various districts.
TOmOrrOw's article will deal with
the building of Young Communist
Shop nuclei and the role of the
Party:
CHECKING on the control
Y task of the Party conven-
ton regarding the Y. G. L.,
we must state from the out
set that very little progress
has been made in aiding the
Y.C.L. in carrying out the
task that the Party has set. It was
decided to make the Party more
conscious of youth work, to give the
YCL. more attention and guidance.
to assign young Party forces to the
YC.L. for the purpose of strength
ening its cadres, to aid the Y.C.L.
in becoming q mass organization,
by carrying on an increasing and
more systematic recruiting of young
workers for the Y.CL., and mainly
to build the Y.CL. shop nuclei
where Party nuclei exists.
New York has set an example for
all districts. Immediately following
the Convention, New York took this
decision seriously. A good number
of young Party members were as
signed to strengthen the Y.CL. 1t
threw all its forces into making the
National Youth Day demonstration
OF last year the largest ever held
in New York. The young workers
could see in the thousands of Party
members and workers participating
in that demonstration the solidarity
of the adult workers. AS a result
of this Party aid and the impetus
that was given by the demonstra-
ton to youth work, there has been
a steady growth of the YCL.. The
Y.CL. in New York grew from an
organization Of LOO members at
the beginning of last year to more
than 5000 today. 1t almost tripled
its membership. Today in New
York City, between adults and
young, we have a membership of
over 1000.
THIS is not the case in the other
l districts. In the concentration
districts the YCL. lags behind the
Party as much or even more than
before the Convention. In Cleve-
land, for example, while the Party
is improving steadily and today
registers 1000 members, the Y.CL.
has only a membership of 225,
which means one-Seventh of the
Party. 1t has only three shop
nuclei; there is no conscious re-
cruiting for the Vel. No Party
forces are assigned to strengthen
the Y.CL. cadres.
The Chicago District, which set
itself series of tasks for building
the Y.CL. only partly fulfilled them.
The plan was to bring the League
to 1000 members by Sept. l. But at
present there are only 500 members.
The Party has f1fty-seven shop nu-
clei, while the Y.CL. has only seven.
1t is true that forces were assigned
there, yet the results show the lack
of follow-up.
IN Pittsburgh there Is very sharp
l disproportion between the Y.CL.
and the Party, not only numerically,
but In the number of shop nuclei.
While the Party has a number of
mine and steel nuclei, the Y.CL.
has none. The fact that the Party
Is weak is no excuse for not giving
any aid to the Y.C.L., especially
when struggles are approaching in
two basic industries of the district.
and the role that the youth will
play in these struggles is known.
Strengthening the Y.C.L. means
strengthening the Party. That is
one of the handicaps that the Party
faces today for example, in Detroit.
and in other districts, especially in
the East, its foreign-born compost
ton and its weak contract with the
large number of American born
workers. Especially in Detroit. re-
Gently, the Y.CL. supplied a num-
Der of young cadres to the Party
which are of real help.
Where will we get the cadres if
not from the American born. from
the American young workers. The
Party will receive forces from the
Y. G. L., yes! But that means
strengthening the cadres Of the
Y.CL., to build it up to mass or
ganization if we want to get results
later. The capitalists know that if
they want to get dividends, they
must invest first. We must invest
forces in the Y.C.L. now to get
results.