Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade: Founded as the Revolutionary Student Brigade by the Revolutionary Union in the 1970's, the RCYB is the youth section of the Revolutionary Communist Party. Adhering to the ideas of RCP leader Bob Avakian (currently hiding in France from the FBI), the RCYB puts special emphasis on fighting racist groups and the police, as well as espousing the dogma of "Marxism-Leninism-Maoism." The Brigade also puts importance on taking a leading role in demonstrations supporting Mumia Abu-Jamal, minorities, and workers. They also, of course, try to sell subscriptions of the RCP newspaper, The Revolutionary Worker. For most radical youth, this group is far too militant and domineering a group to associate with.
Spartacus Youth Club: Founded in 1969 by the Spartacist League as the Revolutionary Marxist Caucus of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). Upon being expelled from SDS in 1971, the RMC became an independent group, Revolutionary Communist Youth and was later renamed the Spartacist Youth League in 1974. Also in 1974, the SYL began publishing a monthly paper, Young Spartacus. The SYL organized on college campuses and definitely was part of the student movement's far left. Though they considered the Weather Underground Organization "petty bourgeois," they defended the Weathermen against police intervention. Starting in 1979, along with the Spartacist League, the SYL (today known as the Spartacus Youth Club) began work in anti-fascist and anti-KKK mobilizations. Today, the SYC is still active on a number of campuses.
Young Communist League: Youth wing of the Communist Party. Founded in 1930 in New York City by Earl Browder and Max Wess (the CP-USA's educational director) for the purpose of following Lenin's decree: "He who has the youth has the future." The YCL's hope was to attract young victims of the Depression to Communism. The YCL's early years involved recruiting able men to fight in the Spanish Civil War on the side of the Communists against Fascist leader Francisco Franco. Later, during the 1940's, the YCL dissolved and its members supported Roosevelt's battle against Hitler and the Nazis. Following the war and through 1950's McCarthyism, the YCL went through several name changes. During the 1960's, YCL was renamed Communist Youth Organizing Committee (CYOC). Sometime during the 1980's, the YCL apparently regained its original name and began organizing. Members, who range in age from their teens to twenties, are encouraged to become very active in the Communist Party and its related organizations. Along with the Communist Party, YCL has been steadily growing over the past few years, especially among minority groups.
Young Democratic Socialists: As its name most obviously suggests, YDS was founded by Michael Harrington and the Democratic Socialists of America shortly after their departure from the Socialist Party in 1973. YDS is a member of the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY), a federation of social democratic groups affiliated with the Socialist International. Despite their high membership, most of their members are highly inactive — conferences for YDS chapters often include only a dozen members or so. Much like its parent organization, YDS suffers from severe disorganization. Hopefully, following DSA's 2001 national convention, however, this may soon change.
Young People's Socialist League: Founded in 1931 in New York City by Norman Thomas and the Socialist Party of America for the purpose of promoting the ideals of Democratic Socialism among the youth of Depression-era America. Originally named the Young Socialist League, it was renamed YPSL in 1960. Angered by what capitalism had done to the United States, many young adults joined YPSL. At one point, YPSL, in terms of membership, was neck-and-neck with even the Boy Scouts. Much like the entire American Left, YPSL's membership quickly dropped off following the economic boom of World War II. During the New Left movement of the 1960's, YPSL's membership picked up. Richard Roman, the head of YPSL, led many members to join Students for a Democratic Society. Unfortunately, Yipsels abruptly became a minority when numerous Maoist groups entered SDS, most notably the PLP, and SDS swiftly fell apart. During the 1970's, the neo-conservative Social Democrats USA took over control of YPSL, renaming it "Young Social Democrats." In this form, YSD quickly became moribund. In 1989, members of the Socialist Party USA reconstructed YPSL. Starting out with a membership of about 30, the leaders of YPSL have been successful in raising the membership up to 200. Though maintaining autonomy from the Socialist Party, many members of the new YPSL have gone on to be key SP leaders. Much like YDS, YPSL suffers from a small cadre and disorganization. If YPSL is to grow, this will need to change.
Young Socialists: Originally called the Young Socialist Alliance (YSA), the Socialist Workers Party's youth branch was founed in 1960 by Trotskyist James P. Cannon in New York. YS formed locals on college campuses and worked within larger protest groups during the New Left movement of the 60's. And the FBI took notice. Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, it was discovered that both the FBI and the CIA had been infiltrating and illegally monitoring the activities of YSA/SWP. YS sued the FBI and won, winning a heafty settlement that was passed on to the SWP's Political Rights Defense Fund. In the early 1980's, YSA (much like the SWP) switched its political ideology from Trotskyism to Castroism. From 1988-1996, YSA (renamed YS in the 1990's) members worked hard to free Mark Curtis, a meatpacker and SWP comrade who had been falsely arrested, tortured, and framed for raping an African-American woman. Curtis was finally released in 1996. YS has fluctuated in size throughout the 1990's, mainly due to debate concerning whether YS should follow the SWP and order members to take industrial jobs.
Youth for International Socialism: Group formed in the late 1990's by supporters/colonizers from the Socialist Appeal Group/UK to form a movement in the US. The adult section of YFIS is Socialist Labor, and neither group is very active in America. The only reason that YFIS is heard of at all is because many leftists manage to find their website online. The main reason I put them on this site is because I have received a number of questions about them. To be quite honest, I wouldn't be surprised if they had no US members at all.
Youth for Socialist Action: Founded by the Trotskyist group Socialist Action in 1997. Headed by Adam Ritscher, YSA seeks to return to the Trotskyist roots of the Socialist Workers Party, though they join the SWP in strongly supporting Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution. YSA's main mission has been to organize on campuses and educate students on the ideas of Marxism. Though small in number, they have been able to mobilize larger groupings, most notably a demonstration against the Cincinatti police that ended in YSA being kicked off the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Superior. They also organize for Mumia Abu-Jamal's release and against the war, though their members are mainly Wisonsin, Minnesota, and the Bay Area of California. Because many of the people who left Socialist Action to form the SWO were older comrades, YSA's supporters were left basically unhurt from the SA feud.