Report given by the National Organizer  for the Young Communist League to the National Committee of the Communist Party USA in October 2025.

National context

The youth and student movement is entering a new stage in the fight for their freedom and future. Across the country, young people are organizing defensively as well as offensively. “Know Your Rights” trainings, organizing skills workshops, and youth leadership summits are emerging not just to counter the MAGA agenda, but to build capacity, confidence, and clarity of a generation learning how to fight for its future. 

Another example is the re-emergence of the United States Student Association, which serves as a national student government representing college students around the country, just took steps to create a Student Bill of Rights calling for the right to education, safety and basic needs, affordability, and justice.

These efforts are unfolding as the Trump administration intensifies its attacks on campuses and cities. Yet, the rollout of Project 2025 and continued economic mismanagement is eroding Trump’s support among young people. Recent polling underscores this shift: whereas early in his second term over 90% of Trump voters under 35 approved of his performance, that number has now fallen to 69%.

Yet even as his support weakens, right-wing organizations like Turning Point USA are expanding their campus networks and have launched a fall college tour following the Charlie Kirk assassination.

Current situation

Within this shifting landscape, the Young Communist League (YCL) remains in an early, uneven stage of development. A handful of chapters exist, but there is not yet a cohesive national presence. Some local clubs are showing strong initiative — particularly in Washington, DC, Connecticut, New York, Philadelphia, and Michigan — while others remain too small to be stable, too disconnected from national guidance, or organized only loosely around a few individuals and narrow interests.

New York City has the largest membership on paper, with sixty-four in total, of whom about forty-eight are actively engaged, working on the No More 24 Hours Workday Campaign and Protect Trans Youth Coalition. 

Connecticut has twelve members and is working to develop stronger leadership within a demographically diverse base. Their main campaign is to save the Job Corps, which they are doing with student volunteers and the Connecticut CPUSA. 

Philadelphia has around thirty members and is steadily on-boarding new youth, with five added in the past two months, holding movie nights and educational events on ICE resistance and Marxist theory.

Michigan has close to thirty members. Their work includes graduate student union struggles and student solidarity work with Palestine. One YCL member is facing repression for speaking out for Palestinian rights and demanding the university end their complicity in genocide. They correctly view this struggle as a fight for the right to free speech and assembly on college campuses. 

Springfield, Mo., reports forty-two members, supporting the fight back against redistricting in Kansas City and fighting for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at Missouri State University. 

In Washington, DC, there are twenty-five active members, including young workers, college students, and high school students. The primary focus is on supporting the Free DC campaign to defend DC’s local democracy or home rule, working with the Fair Budget Coalition to advocate for taxing the rich to fund our future — youth jobs and child tax credits. They recently helped organize a Community Festival at the University of the District of Columbia, recruited 20 members while tabling at Howard University, and are preparing educational programs and recreational events for new members. 

Organizational questions

The challenge ahead is to move from scattered YCL chapters toward national youth unity, critical mass, and clear political direction and structure. In September, we convened a meeting with the CPUSA–YCL Collective to address two major questions.

The first is membership. We must clarify what level of commitment is required, what it means to accept the YCL’s politics, and whether dues should be established.

The second is the formation of an Organizing Committee to prepare for a YCL National Convention. This body would need to balance representation among chapters, decide whether votes are equal per chapter or proportional to membership, and identify leadership qualities needed to carry out the work. Its tasks would include fundraising, drafting a constitution, preparing political resolutions, handling security and media, and reaching out to fraternal youth leagues internationally. While temporary, this committee could lay the foundation for a future National Committee, and organizing the convention will require Party support with fundraising, lodging, food, transportation, and security.

Party support

To move forward, we recommend that the National Education Commission, District Leaders, and National Officers organize regional Marxist Schools bringing together both CPUSA and YCL members. These schools should focus on improving our understanding of the united front strategy and building the unity needed for a mass, inter-generational fight back against MAGA’s fascist agenda.

Images: YCL and party members march in NYC on May Day (CPUSA NY / NY YCL)