History repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. In the case of the Young Communist League, however, it just goes on happening, becoming more farcical on each occasion. After purging the supporters of Leon Trotsky and Mao Tse-Tung in the early '60s, the YCL has now started to take disciplinary measures against the supporters of ... Joseph Stalin!
THE NATURE OF THE SPLIT The split inside the YCL follows closely that between the Communist Party leadership and the Surrey district led by Sid French. The critique of the official line by the "French tendency" revolves around Party policy at home and abroad. At home the French tendency stress the importance of industrial work as opposed to electoral work. This view has been strengthened by the appalling debacle of the C.P. at the 1970 General Election. The C.P.'s General Secretary John Gollan explained at the London District C.P. Conference that the failure of the C.P. at the General Election was due to the "failure to relate day-to-day work to electoral work". In other words Gollan wants more electoral work!
The French tendency originated from a group which supported the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia, repeating the Russian argument that it was made necessary by the "counterrevolutionary" nature of the events of the spring and summer of 1968. They also invoke the good works and heroic actions of Stalin in building "socialism" in the USSR.
Is the split then a useless split from the point of view of revolutionaries? For a number of reasons we think not. First, the French tendency are correct in their criticism of the electoral cretinism of the C.P. leadership. Second, the fact that they realise the contradiction between the C.P. line on Czechoslovakia and its line on Hungary in itself is bound to raise awkward questions. Third, it is important to understand that the French tendency see their critique of electoralism and support for the USSR as connected. They consider themselves, for all their Stalinism, to be more revolutionary than the C.P. leadership. Apart from the fact that such attitudes aid the disintegration of the C.P. (which can only be welcomed by revolutionaries) such splits inevitably offer opportunities for dialogue with the dissidents.
TROUBLE IN THE YCL In 1968, the YCL leadership, guided by Barney Davies the National Secretary, took an exceptionally hostile line on the invasion of Czechoslovakia in its publication Challenge. Further, under the Davies regime, the discussion journal Cogito became increasingly liberal, spending vast amounts of space on discussing Christianity, Johnstone's "analysis" of Trotskyism.
But all this, as the pro-French minority correctly saw, was a response to liberal, rather than revolutionary, pressure. As a result the minority since 1968 has been going from strength to strength inside both the YCL and C.P. student section. Whole districts, formerly abjectly loyal to King Street, were won over, including the Kent, Surrey, Essex, West Middlesex and Hants ana DorseL distriCt The split in the YCL reached boiling poin at the bi-annual conference held in Scarborough year. in May of this year. The conference itself was an extraordinary affair. The first hour and a half of the conference was taken up by minority accusations that delegates from some branches had been refused admission. But the real hatchet job was done on the minority in the Elections Preparations Commissions, which despite promises that the "recommended list" would be produced to reflect the differing views in the organisation, in fact produced a list which all but excluded minority representatives. Through- been undergoing some growth lately and still out the voting, approximately 40% of the delegates supported the minority, including several members of the National Committee.
But the most significant aspect of the conference was the organisational report which revealed that the YCL's formal membership is now down to 2,900-half the 1965 figure. The circulation of Challenge is down to 6,000-7,000 -substantially less than the 10,000 target. THE PURGE AND THE PARTY The latest purge has taken the subtle form of King Street telling C.P. members that they should cease work in the CL. Thus the minority being "expelled". The depth of the YCL crisis can be seen from the fact that amongst the victims are people like Morning Star reporter Mike Ambrose (West Middlesex), who in the past has himself been engaged in expelling the "ultra-lefts". The Stalinist chickens are coming home to roost. The YCL has another two years to wait for its next conference, so the leadership can be confident that things will have blown over by then. The really decisive action will take place at the C.P. conference later this In the Party the French tendency is much less influential than in the YCL. The leadership can always rely on the votes of the inactive and ageing majority. The situation at the conference will be complicated by the presence of other mo or less dissident groups, including the Cambridge "pro-Italian" group (Brian Pollitt, Bob Rowthor and a few ex-members of I.S.) and a small group Despite its ageing membership, the C.P. has contains the majority of political industrial militants. That is why the current events in the YCL and C.P. are important for revolutionaries. It is essential that revolutionaries find a way to the C.P. and YCL dissidents.
As for the YCL, there is a very real question mark.over its continued viability, given its organisational decline and internal problems. It may well be that as far as the youth radicalisation is concerned, the C.P. is already out of the game.