Young Socialist Alliance
Encyclopedia
The Young Socialist Alliance (YSA) was a Trotskyist youth group
of the Socialist Workers Party
(SWP) in the United States of America. It was founded in 1960, although it had roots going back several years earlier. It was dissolved in 1992. The membership peaked in 1971 at 1,434
, the youth group of an adult organization called the Independent Socialist League, led by Max Shachtman
.. The principal figures from the YSL were Tim Wohlforth
, Shane Mage, and James Robertson
, who joined with young members of the SWP (hence the word "alliance") to found the "Young Socialist" newspaper. A founding conference of the Young Socialist Alliance was held in April 1960 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, though local Young Socialist supporter groups had existed in several cities for a few years beforehand.
The initial YSA central leadership was comprised two rival groups: Wohlforth, Robertson, and Mage who had come over from the YSL, and SWP majority supporters represented by Nora Roberts
, Bert Deck, and others. In late 1961 at the second YSA convention, held in Chicago, the SWP central leadership arranged the removal of Wohlforth and Robertson from the YSA on age grounds and replaced the initial majority group with Barry Sheppard and Peter Camejo
from Boston, Sheppard as national chairman and Camejo as national secretary. At that time the Young Socialist Alliance had approximately 150 members nationally
An early activity of the YSA was a national campaign in defense of three of its members who were students at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, Tom Morgan, Ralph Levitt, and Jim Bingham, who were indicted in 1963 by local prosecutor Thomas Hoadley under a little used anticommunist statute. The students were eventually acquitted.
At the YSA's fourth convention, held over the 1964-65 New Year weekend in Chicago, Jack Barnes
succeeded Barry Sheppard as YSA national chairman. Barnes had joined the SWP in Minneapolis while a student at Carleton College
in upstate Minnesota. He in turn recruited a number of fellow students, including several who went on to become prominent in the Socialist Workers Party leadership of the next two decades.
The YSA achieved substantial influence in the anti-Vietnam War movement between 1965 and the early 1970s, including near complete control over the Student Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, a national campus organization with a peak membership of some 100,000.
The organization went into rapid decline with the end of the war in Vietnam in 1975. By 1980 its membership had fallen to 468, of whom only about 275 were not also members of the Socialist Workers Party. The YSA formally dissolved in 1992. Two years later the Socialist Workers Party created a new youth organization called the Young Socialists.
Youth group
Youth group may refer to:* Youth Group, an Australian band* Youth club, a social and activities club for young people* Youth ministry, an age-specific type of religious ministry...
of the Socialist Workers Party
Socialist Workers Party (United States)
The Socialist Workers Party is a far-left political organization in the United States. The group places a priority on "solidarity work" to aid strikes and is strongly supportive of Cuba...
(SWP) in the United States of America. It was founded in 1960, although it had roots going back several years earlier. It was dissolved in 1992. The membership peaked in 1971 at 1,434
History
The origins of the YSA were in a regroupment of younger members of the SWP with others in the aftermath of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. The principal other component was a group from the Young Socialist LeagueSocialist Youth League (US)
The Socialist Youth League was the youth group affiliated with the Workers Party, a splinter Trotskyist party led by Max Shachtman. The parent group changed its name to the Independent Socialist League in 1950. In February 1954, the Socialist Youth League merged with the a faction of the Young...
, the youth group of an adult organization called the Independent Socialist League, led by Max Shachtman
Max Shachtman
Max Shachtman was an American Marxist theorist. He evolved from being an associate of Leon Trotsky to a social democrat and mentor of senior assistants to AFL-CIO President George Meany.-Beginnings:...
.. The principal figures from the YSL were Tim Wohlforth
Tim Wohlforth
Timothy Andrew Wohlforth , is a United States former Trotskyist leader. Since leaving the Trotskyist movement he has become a writer of crime fiction and of politically oriented non-fiction....
, Shane Mage, and James Robertson
James Robertson (Trotskyist)
James Robertson is National Chairman of the Spartacist League of the United States, which is a section of the International Communist League , an international organization of small Trotskyist groups...
, who joined with young members of the SWP (hence the word "alliance") to found the "Young Socialist" newspaper. A founding conference of the Young Socialist Alliance was held in April 1960 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, though local Young Socialist supporter groups had existed in several cities for a few years beforehand.
The initial YSA central leadership was comprised two rival groups: Wohlforth, Robertson, and Mage who had come over from the YSL, and SWP majority supporters represented by Nora Roberts
Nora Roberts
Nora Roberts is a bestselling American author of more than 209 romance novels. She writes as J.D. Robb for the "In Death" series, and has also written under the pseudonym Jill March...
, Bert Deck, and others. In late 1961 at the second YSA convention, held in Chicago, the SWP central leadership arranged the removal of Wohlforth and Robertson from the YSA on age grounds and replaced the initial majority group with Barry Sheppard and Peter Camejo
Peter Camejo
Peter Miguel Camejo was an American author, activist and politician. In the 2004 United States presidential election, he was selected by independent candidate Ralph Nader as his vice-presidential running mate on a ticket which had the endorsement of the Reform Party.Camejo was a three-time Green...
from Boston, Sheppard as national chairman and Camejo as national secretary. At that time the Young Socialist Alliance had approximately 150 members nationally
An early activity of the YSA was a national campaign in defense of three of its members who were students at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, Tom Morgan, Ralph Levitt, and Jim Bingham, who were indicted in 1963 by local prosecutor Thomas Hoadley under a little used anticommunist statute. The students were eventually acquitted.
At the YSA's fourth convention, held over the 1964-65 New Year weekend in Chicago, Jack Barnes
Jack Barnes
Jack Whittier Barnes is an American Communist and the National Secretary of the Socialist Workers Party. Barnes was elected the party's national secretary in 1972, replacing the retiring Farrell Dobbs. He had joined the SWP in the early 1960s as a student at Carleton College in Minnesota and...
succeeded Barry Sheppard as YSA national chairman. Barnes had joined the SWP in Minneapolis while a student at Carleton College
Carleton College
Carleton College is an independent non-sectarian, coeducational, liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, USA. The college enrolls 1,958 undergraduate students, and employs 198 full-time faculty members. In 2012 U.S...
in upstate Minnesota. He in turn recruited a number of fellow students, including several who went on to become prominent in the Socialist Workers Party leadership of the next two decades.
The YSA achieved substantial influence in the anti-Vietnam War movement between 1965 and the early 1970s, including near complete control over the Student Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, a national campus organization with a peak membership of some 100,000.
The organization went into rapid decline with the end of the war in Vietnam in 1975. By 1980 its membership had fallen to 468, of whom only about 275 were not also members of the Socialist Workers Party. The YSA formally dissolved in 1992. Two years later the Socialist Workers Party created a new youth organization called the Young Socialists.
External links
- Young Socialist archive on the Encylopedia of Trotskyism On-Line
- University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections - Vietnam War Era Ephemera This collection contains leaflets and newspapers that were distributed on the University of Washington campus during the decades of the 1960s and 1970s. Includes ephemera from the Young Socialist Alliance.