Young People's Socialist League
| Young People's Socialist League | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Chairman | Various |
| Founded | October 1989 |
| Preceded by | Young People's Socialist League (1907) |
| Dissolved | November 2010 |
| Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Mother party | Socialist Party USA |
| International affiliation | None |
| Website | |
| http://socialistparty-usa.org/ypsl/index.html | |
The Young People's Socialist League (YPSL), founded in 1989, is the official youth arm of the Socialist Party USA. The group comprises party members under the age of 30.
In its 1972 Convention, the Socialist Party changed its name to "Social Democrats, USA" by a vote of 73 to 34. The change of name was supported by the two Co-Chairmen, Bayard Rustin and Charles S. Zimmerman (of the International Ladies Garment Workers' Union, ILGWU), and by the First National Vice Chairman, James S. Glaser; these three were re-elected by acclamation.
Renaming the Party as SDUSA was meant to be "realistic". The New York Times noted that the Socialist Party had last sponsored Darlington Hoopes as a candidate for President in the Presidential Election Of 1956, who received only 2,044 votes, which were cast in only 6 states. Although, two other Socialist candidates also received votes in this election, Eric Hass the Socialist Labor candidate with 44,300 votes and Farrell Dobbs the Socialist Workers candidate with 7,797 votes.
Because the Party no longer sponsored candidates in Presidential Elections, the name "Party" had been "misleading"; "Party" had hindered the recruiting of activists who participated in the Democratic Party, according to the majority report. The name "Socialist" was replaced by "Social Democrats" because many American associated the word "socialism" with Soviet communism. Also, the Party wished to distinguish itself from two small Marxist parties.
The Convention elected a national committee of 33 members, with 22 seats for the majority caucus, 8 seats for Harrington's coalition caucus, 2 for the Debs caucus, and one for the "independent" Samuel H. Friedman, who also had opposed the name change.
The convention voted on and adopted proposals for its program by a two-one vote, with the majority caucus winning every vote. A Vice Chairman of the Young People's Socialist League (YPSL), Carl Gershman introduced the international program that was approved. It called for "firmness toward Communist aggression". However, on the Vietnam War, the program opposed "any efforts to bomb Hanoi into submission" and to work for a peace agreement that would protect Communist political cadres in South Vietnam from further military or police reprisals. Harrington's proposal for an immediate cease fire and an immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces was defeated. Harrington complained that, after its previous convention, the Socialist Party had endorsed George McGovern with a statement of "constructive criticism" and had not mobilized enough support for McGovern.
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