After a busy Congress weekend, making the long train journey home from Ruskin House, it is important to reflect and consider the progress that we have made in recent years.
As members of the outgoing Central Committee, and having served nearly a decade in the leadership of this organisation, it is inspiring to see the new generations of young communists following in our footsteps, more effective than we ever were, raising the class consciousness of young workers and students, leading class struggle and looking to bring us closer to achieving socialism in Britain within our lifetime. This is not a scientific analysis, but an immediate reflection on the progress that we have lived and seen in our time in the League.
We both attended our first Congress in 2016, with fewer delegates than we now have branches. Nearly ten years on, our last Congress before we age out of the League had nearly 100 other inspired and dedicated young(er!) communists from all across Britain, capable of meaningfully engaging in the highest democratic body of the League and bringing a calibre of debate to this 52nd Congress that far outshone all previous iterations.
Reflecting on our 52nd Congress specifically, the growth in ability over the last two years is evident. A lengthy debate on amendments to the standing orders (which didn’t even exist when we first attended a YCL Congress!) exemplified to us that, from an organisational perspective, our membership is clear in their vision of what needs to happen if we are to continue growing and improving.
Significant attention was given to the outgoing Central Committee’s report of work, with comrades feeling confident in their ability to critique the work of the leadership and ask challenging questions. For those of us who contributed to this report, this criticism is not a weakness, but a vital strength, and indicates that no one is willing to rest on their laurels or accept anything but utmost dedication and diligence in performing their duties to our League.
From a political perspective, many of the same issues arose (such as the oxford comma!), as they have done in previous Congresses, but this year we both commented on how debate was not only more respectful and more comradely, but also more meaningful and more robust. Comrades engaged at a very high level with the material that was in front of them, and responded to discussion with an open mind and a willingness to learn.
To quote my comrade Matthew Miller from the Congress floor, “we either win, or we learn”; it would be folly to say that the last ten years have been smooth sailing, and that we haven’t made mistakes. There have been many, and at times, the challenge we face in overhauling the capitalist system feels insurmountable. A few decisions that were made over the course of the weekend perhaps will turn out to be the wrong ones, and in two years, delegates at the next Congress will be able to reflect and consider those decisions, just as we are doing now.
Considering the League’s role in the wider movement, the industrial fringe meeting held on the Saturday night at Congress, where we heard from members organising in education, the care sector and in hospitality, was another example of how our organisation has developed in the last two years. We can say with sincerity and clarity that many of our comrades are at the heart of the trade union movement, with members at all levels of major unions across Britain, building a new generation of young workers fighting for a decent life, for their democratic rights and what they deserve.
As we look towards the Communist Party’s 58th Congress in November, it’s an honour to know that so many of the dedicated and talented comrades who we met this weekend will be joining us in Sheffield, not as junior or ‘young’ members, but as full members of the Communist Party, capable of continuing to build the Party in the 21st century and recognising that their role there is just as important as their role in the YCL as the combative voice of Britain’s young workers and students.
Our relationship with the Communist Party has never been stronger than under current leadership, and we are confident that with changes ahead, this relationship will only grow to be stronger and more effective, as more and more comrades from the YCL take up roles within the Party, as both of us have done.
We know that our retirement from the leadership of the League indicates the end of an era for us, but it is by no means the end, and we are proud to continue the struggle to build the communist movement in Britain as members of the Communist Party, and as Friends of the YCL for the rest of our lives.
While we are grateful to all those comrades who expressed appreciation for our long service to our glorious League, or who noted some small but significant impact that we had on them as an older supportive comrade, it is in fact us who must express appreciation to the League and all those who fill its ranks. Everything that we are, all of the opportunities that we have had, all of the things that we have learnt in the course of the past decade, we owe to the League and to its many outstanding comrades, both old and new. Knowing we might have made some small contribution to helping others, many far more promising and impressive than ourselves, become capable and dedicated present and future leaders of class struggle, trade union reps and community activists – and find the road ahead for a YCL that more and more can organise young people in Britain to fight for a better life – is the greatest honour that we might ever know.
Good luck to the incoming leadership, there is much to do and we face many challenges, but we have every conviction in your ability to overcome any obstacle and achieve.
Stay true to the lofty cause and principles of our League as these will stick with you for a lifetime.
Long live the YCL! Long live the Communist Party!
Long live the cause of peace, jobs and socialism in our lifetime.
Peter Stoddart and Robin Talbot are members of the YCL’s outgoing Central Committee
