The 52nd Congress of the Young Communist League will be upon us very shortly. Branches have now submitted their own motions, along with their amendments to the Central Committee draft motions, the Constitution and Standing Orders. These will be reviewed by the Congress Working Committee and Central Committee in time for Congress at Ruskin House, 30-31st August 2025.
The theme of the 52nd Congress is ‘Rise Like Lions: Build the United Front’. This article is co-written between Emma (Central Committee Chair) and James (Congress Working Committee Chair) to explore why it is our Congress’ theme.
This year’s Congress marks Emma’s third and James’ second Congress as a member of the YCL, and we are proud to have helped plan and be chairing this Congress. We are looking forward to meeting comrades old and new and raising a lemonade to those who are no longer with us.
The Young Communist League is the only Marxist Leninist youth organisation in Britain, a fact we should be incredibly proud of. League policy is decided at Congress, the sovereign body of the YCL
Congress is the most important event on any young communist’s calendar. Experiencing Democratic Centralism in action is a defining experience of being a member: comrades deepen their understanding of the organisation, our line and what it means to be Marxist Leninist in the process.
All members have a duty to take part in policy formation discussions about the YCL. This opportunity arises in the pre-Congress discussion period, where branches provide feedback on the discussion document and then suggest amendments to the Constitution, Standing Orders and draft Political and Organisational Motions.
Members of the League also have the constitutional right to either attend Congress themselves or be represented by other members of their branch attending as a delegate. Congress decides League policy for the next two years and elects the Central Committee, which leads the organisation in-between Congresses. Importantly, as Democratic Centralists, the minority must accept democratic decisions around our policy, and ensure they understand and fight for it – even if they do not agree.
Congress is a time to come together and critique, reflect and renew on our commitment to the Young Communist League. Of course, we cannot just rest on our laurels; Congress is an opportunity to evaluate the work we have done and identify our next steps. It is an opportunity to meet our comrades across the country – some of whom you may have met through online meetings.
A massive thank you should be extended to the rest of the Congress Working Committee, as they are working incredibly hard to put together hotel bookings, inviting delegates and compiling paperwork to ensure everything is ready.
Looking at the first half of our theme, Rise Like Lions, it comes from the Shelley poem The Masque of Anarchy – written in response to the Peterloo massacre. In the poem, Shelley criticises the ability of the rich to hold all power within the country and the destructive effect this has, a situation that has not changed to this day. Shelley ends the poem with a call to action from which the theme of our Congress is inspired:
‘Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number,
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you –
Ye are many – they are few.’
In more direct communist history, Rise Like Lions, the title for William Gallacher’s parliamentary memoirs, was inspired by Shelley’s line. Gallacher touches on a range of issues in the book but perhaps of interest to comrades today is Gallacher’s suspicion of the Zionist movement, its relationship to the labour party, and its attempt to be an outpost for Western Imperialism. A pertinent issue that persists unfortunately to this day, and one that will surely be on comrades minds throughout Congress. Comrades arriving in London on the 29th in advance of Congress are invited to attend an educational on William Gallacher, put on by our All-Britain Organiser, Josh Morris. Details to come.
In recent years the poem took another form, with then Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn using it during the 2017 general election – a point of inspiration for many young communists who, in search of the other Britain Corbyn promised, were led to develop into Marxist-Leninists.
The second part of the Congress theme is ‘Build the United Front’, inspired by ‘The Fascist Offensive: Unity of the Working Class’, a speech given at the 7th Communist International Congress in 1935 by Georgi Dimitrov.
The United Front is a national and international movement, aiming for unity in action focused on fighting against fascism on a mass front.
This speech was made at a time where fascism was on the rise across Europe. Hitler was already chancellor, the far-right had clashes with the police in France, and in Spain clashes between the right and the trade unions were common.
Dimitrov identified in Britain that whilst the brownshirts were in retreat because of mass-action from the workers, the National Government’s policies against the working class and with the interests of capital, alongside the appeasement of Hitler’s Germany, were setting the stage for a potential capture of the state by fascists. There are some parallels that can be drawn between the National Government that Dimitrov spoke of and the current Labour government. Labour has succumbed to the demands of monopoly capital, increasing defence spending whilst attempting to cut welfare, and continued the appeasement of the Israeli Government as it carries out a genocide in Gaza.
In Britain today, whilst there is no mass fascist organisation like Mosley and his Blackshirts in the 1930’s, we must still build the united front against monopoly capitalism and war trumpeted by Reform, Labour and the Conservatives.
Building a United Front requires a non-sectarian approach and working with a range of organisations that aren’t necessarily communist. This is not in the interests of weakening our line or resigning ourselves to social democratic reformism. Instead we must work to transform community organisations to win campaign efforts – not through co-option but through campaigns that build local power, reflect the community’s needs and engage a broad range of people affected by the problem.
It is through our work as communists in working class organisations that we demonstrate to the youth that reformism is not the way, that communists get the work done, and we do it well.
Following on from the defeat of Corbynism and from Covid, recently the working class has started to stir again: since 2022 there was an increase in industrial disputes in this country, the minimum service bill was defeated in high court, there has been support for the Birmingham waste workers, who recently were able to shut down a key depot at Lilford Lane with their mega picket, and the country has seen national mass demonstrations in excess of 500,000 people in London against the genocide in Gaza.
Now is the time for us to rise like lions and understand that we are many and they are few.
James Hughes is Chair of the YCL’s Congress Working Committee
Emma Richards is Chair of the YCL’s Central Committee
