Young Communists - The Young Communist League and Eureka Youth League

The Communist Party of Australia had various youth-led organisations from the 1920s, including the Young Communist League (YCL) formed in 1923 and the Young Comrades Club (YCC) formed in 1927.  

The YCL published its own newspaper, The Young Worker, and by the 1930s the League was becoming more established, offering a range of activities for members and organising demonstrations.  

In 1937 Ken Miller launched a document called ‘A New Deal for Youth’ in Melbourne before an audience of 1,500 people. It was at this gathering that the YCL decided to change its name to the League of Young Democrats (LYD). In 1941, the same year that a National Youth Parliament was held in Sydney, the Menzies Government banned the LYD as part of its attempts to crush communist influences in Australia. Not to be defeated, following the ban, the Eureka Youth League (EYL) was established in December 1941 and within a year membership had grown to over 1,000 with groups in all states. The EYL increased its profile during the war, campaigning against fascism and organising Friends of the Servicemen committees. The League had its own newspaper, Youth Voice, and undertook many activities relating to the war, working and living conditions of the young, and the peace movement.       

Following the Second World War, membership of the EYL steadily declined but the League focused on developing an agenda for peace and youth employment. During the Korean War the EYL assisted in the development of the peace movement with the Peace Congress held in Melbourne. In 1952 a Youth Carnival for Peace and Friendship was organised in Sydney, and despite facing opposition from the government and the press, the event attracted 30,000 attendees. The introduction of National Service during the 1950s was strongly opposed by the EYL who campaigned against it and continued to call for improved training and employment opportunities for Australia’s young people.  

The League developed a closer relationship with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and assisted with its Youth Weeks. It also organised youth camps in all Australian states and these were attended by thousands of young people.   

The EYL was very active in protesting the Vietnam War, but facing declining membership and support, in 1968 the League changed its name to the Young Socialist League; however, this was short-lived.    

References

Blears, B n.d., The Eureka Youth League: some personal memories, Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, accessed <https://www.labourhistory.org.au/hummer/vol-2-no-4/eureka-youth/>

Davidson, A 1969, The Communist Party of Australia: A Short History, Hoover Institution Press, Stanford, California

Macintyre, S 1998, The Reds, Allen & Unwin, St Leonards, Sydney

Gollan, R 1975, Revolutionaries and Reformists: Communism and the Australian Labour Movement 1920-1955, Australian National University Press, Canberra