*YCL convention to unite youth in struggle**

(Reprinted from the March 21, 1998 issue of the People's
Weekly World. May be reprinted or reposted with PWW credit.
For subscription information see below)

By YCL National Coordinating Council

The Young Communist League USA's 6th National Convention,
June 5-7 in Philadelphia, will bring together hundreds of
progressive and Communist youth from across the country to
unite youth and students in the fight for jobs, education,
equality and peace today and to win a socialist future
tomorrow. The Convention will help build youth and student
fightbacks against the ultra-right attacks on public
education, welfare, housing, healthcare and worker's
rights. The Convention will help defend affirmative action,
civil and reproductive rights, fight U.S. militarism and
unfair trade and environmental destruction. These tasks are
great, but they can be won with unity and mass struggle and
with organization.

Take a stand for decent jobs.

In cities all across the U.S. we see the same thing: young
people without job opportunities. Cuts in welfare, low
wages and unemployment mean millions of working class
families pushed to the edge. Among the hardest hit are
youth, especially youth of color and immigrant youth. The
future of our young generation depends on fighting for jobs
at good pay with benefits and union protection.

Stand up for the right to an education.

Overcrowded, crumbling school buildings, budget cuts,
privatization ... If we let them, the right wing will
destroy public education brick by brick. In some states,
more money is spent on prisons than education. When they
attack public education, the right-wingers are saying
"forget you" to a whole generation. We say not one person
should be forgotten. Free, quality public education is a
right!

Fight racism. Stand up for equality.

The "powers that be" want workers and poor people to fight
each other, not them. The right wing fans the flames of
division using race hatred, immigrant bashing, sexism, gay
bashing, etc. Our only hope is unity: multi-racial,
male/female, young/old, straight/gay, international unity.
When we unite together, stand up for equality and defend
affirmative action, we are fighting for our future.

Take a stand for peace.

The Cold War is over, but there is no peace. Giant
corporations and banks exploit the world's workers and
markets and wreck the environment. The U.S. military and
the CIA protect and serve big business - as seen in recent
wars to keep U.S. corporate control of the Panama Canal and
oil in the Gulf. We demand drastic cuts in the military
budget, an end to the inhuman and illegal U.S. blockade
against Cuba. Fair trade, disarmament, global justice and
working class unity are the best way to achieve peace.

The "system" is to blame.

Watching TV you'd think that all the problems facing youth
are our own fault, that we are criminal-minded and lack
"family values." Youth and other oppressed people are not
to blame. We know the unemployment crisis, education
crisis, housing crisis, environmental crisis, racism,

sexual abuse, drugs, violence, gambling, suicide, etc. all
spring from the dog-eat-dog capitalist system where the
dollar is king. Capitalism is corrupt and it has got to be
replaced.

Young people are fighting back.

All over the country, young people have taken up the
fightback against corporate greed and the ultra-right.
Young organizers poured into the AFL-CIO's Union Summer
program. High-schoolers were bold on the front lines
fighting against California's racist Prop. 209 and 187. In
Philadelphia, public school students stormed city hall
demanding full funding for schools. In Connecticut and
Maryland, students fought the privatization of their public
schools and won. Last summer, 850 U.S. youth traveled to
Cuba, in defiance of the U.S. blockade, to attend the 14th
World Festival of Youth and Students, standing together for
peace and solidarity with 13,000 youth from more than 130
countries.

The Young Communist League

In the past year, almost 1,000 young people joined the YCL
from almost every state. Joining the YCL is a good way to
fight for a decent life for all and to join the struggle
for a socialist future. The YCL is a place to learn how to
struggle, to take action, and socialize with progressive
youth.

The 6th YCL National Convention

At the 6th National Convention, hundreds of young people
will come together, including many of our 1,000 new members
from the past year, veteran YCLers and friends, national
and international guests from the youth and student
movement. It will be an event for all young people -
Blacks, whites, Latinos, Asians and American Indians, men
and women, straights, gays, lesbians and bisexuals,
students, workers, unemployed and homeless.

We call on you to join us. Let's celebrate and debate,
socialize and organize. Let's stand together for a common
vision, sending a message of protest that our generation is
ready to rise up to the challenges we face ... militant,
united and on the move.

June 5-7 in Philly ... Be there!

This convention is the place for young people to unite for
jobs, education, equality and peace.

We can win jobs for youth at livable wages. We can win
free, quality, public education. We can win equality and
end racism. We can win peace and preserve our planet.

It won't be quick and easy, but together these struggles
move us closer to socialism, a society fit for humanity, a
future worth fighting for. Join us.

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