Young Spartacus
CONTENTS BY ISSUE
(1933)
Volume II, Number 1, January 1933 (Full pdf version)
Young Spartacus
Published by the National Youth Committee, Communist League of America (Opposition), New York, NY
Associate Editors:
- Martin Abern
- Joseph Carter
- George Ray
Follow Lenin, Liebknecht, Luxemburg The Left Opposition Youth Continues the Work of Our Revolutionary Martyrs
Northern China Taken by Japan
Help Save Our Press!
("The Militant" and "Young Spartacus" need financial assistance to survive.)
Military Prepares For the Jobless
(The federal government is preparing to use federal troops to put down unemployment riots in big cities this Winter, should they occur. Troops are being concentrated around New York and Chicago.)
With the American Communist Youth New York Y.C.L. District Meeting
(The main speaker was Joe Stachel from the Communist Party. He criticized the Y.C.L. as did various members. The article blames the Y.C.L. failures on Stalinist chiefs who have revised the work of Marx and Engels.)
League Liebknecht Meet
Chicago Stalinist Expulsions from Youth Organizations
(Describes various repressions by and expulsions from The I.L.D., the N.S.L. and the I.W.O.)
N.Y. Spartacus Youth Club
(An update on debates, meetings and conferences the club was involved with)
Rosa Luxemburg
(A quote that calls for "the arming of the workers and the disarming of the hitherto ruling class.")
Two Anti-War Youth Conferences Student Meet Repeats the Confusion of the Amsterdam Congress Chicago-
(The National Student Conference Against War was held at the U. of Chicago and attended by 680 delegates from the U.S. and Canada. It was called to discuss the problem of war and means of combating it. Called by the National Student League in response to a request from the earlier Amsterdam Congress Pacifists, Socialists, Stalinists and Left Opposition attended. The conference passed a number of watered-down compromise resolutions. A full report will appear in an upcoming Y.S.) Socialist Conference Spreads Treacherous Pacifist Dope
(This conference was dominated by Pacifists and Socialists who used steamroller tactics. Despite the call for a united front no concrete program of action was called for and the Y.C.L., N.S.L. and Left Communist Youth refused to participate in a "continuous committee" because of this.)
Debate Communism vs. Anarchism Resolved: That the working class needs a Communist party to lead it in its struggle for emancipation. Spartacus Youth Club: YES Vanguard Youth Group: NO
V. I. Lenin Organizer of World Revolution
(By George Clarke)
Karl Liebknecht Spartacan Leader and Martyr
(By Herbert Capelis)
Rosa Luxemburg: Revolutionary Marxian Fighter
(By Joseph Carter)
6 Trotsky on German Regime
(Excerpts from an article by Trotsky, written before the last German elections, analyzing the class forces at play in Germany.)
Greetings to the "Vanguard"
(Hails the arrival of the new Canadian Left Opposition publication and praises the first issue.)
Zinaide Trotsky
(Trotsky's daughter is reported a suicide.)
Pauline Gutringer
(A militant worker-fighter for over two decades and founding member of the American Left Opposition has passed away. We will remember her courage and sacrifice.)
Denver Wants Rain
(Short play, dialog between God, Gabriel and St. Peter, satire attributed to "C.C..")
Left Opposition Youth Statement to Chicago Anti-War Conference
What is Technocracy?
(The use of technological and engineering creativity to increase productivity which in a capitalist system increases unemployment exponentially.)
One Year of Young Spartacus
(This article describes the accomplishments of "Young Spartacus" and the Spartacus Youth Clubs and details aspirations going forward, especially participation in the struggle of young workers.)
Where is Rakovsky?
("Banner-bearer of the Ukrainian Revolution...lies somewhere in the far-off reaches of Siberia--dead or alive we do not know." He was exiled and deprived of medical attention by the Stalinists.)
Terror Hits Illinois Miners
(Terror unleashed by coal operator thugs and the National Guard. The UMWA and Peabody coal are working to suppress the Progressive Miners Union through strikebreakers, beatings and murders. The Progressive Miners Union has called a general strike to protest the brutalities.)
Book Notes
(Pioneer Publishers is issuing Marxist pamphlets. They include "Unemployment and the American Working Class," by Arne Swabeck, a pamphlet on The Left Opposition of the Comintern, Its History and Principles by Max Shactman, and another containing two articles by L.D. Trotsky on Soviet Economy in Danger and the Expulsion of Zinoviev.)
Volume II, Number 2, March 1933 (Full pdf version)
Young Spartacus
Published by the National Youth Committee, Communist League of America (Opposition), New York, NY
Associate Editors:
- Martin Abern
- Joseph Carter
- George Ray
Unite to Smash Fascism Forward to Communist Unity and Common Action of All Workingclass Organizations
Left Opposition Assaulted by YCLers
Has Rakovsky Been Murdered?
(By Stalin?)
50th Anniversary of Karl Marx
(The article is about how Stalinism has revised Marxism and
abandoned the tenet of proletarian internationalism.)
With the American Communist Youth Movement Spartacus Youth
Club Activities Chicago Statement of John Gregory
(Criticizes the YCL and the organizations it controls as "sectarian and opportunistic"...
"full of "Tuesday-Night Communists," Petty Bourgeois radicals, Careerists and adventurers."
Gregory is joining the Spartacist Youth Club and the Communist League of America (L.O.) New York
(A description of various club activities, especially the German campaign of the Left Opposition.) Toronto
(The club is actively supporting the German drive of the Left Opposition.)
On N.Y. District Y.C.L. Meeting
Call for Anti-Fascist Conference
(The article decries the Hitler government's savage attacks on workers, Jews, Communists and Socialists and calls for a united front against Fascism. The article calls for support from all leftist organizations and announces an organizational meeting of the United Front Committee to plan and prepare.)
Non-Aggression Pact or United Front
(The N.Y.C. Committee of the Y.P.S.L. has sent a letter to the District of the Y.C.L. calling for a united front on the basis of a "non-aggression pact." The article states that Communists cannot enter into such agreements because it implies giving up the right to criticize during the common action.)
Resignation from Anti-War Committee
(Among the reasons cited are confused positions, complete exclusion of the working class, exaggeration of the role of students, misunderstanding of the united front tactic, and lack of focus on specific actions. Emmanuel Geltman, the author and a member of the Young Spartacus Club of N.Y. feels that continued membership may lend a sanction to the Committee which he is opposed to giving and calls for a new, broader, conference to be organized.) A YCLer Speaks.
(And acknowledges the validity of the Left Opposition positions.)
Book Review: "The Only Road" – L.D. Trotsky
("Contains a refutation of the strategy and tactic of the Stalinists in Germany" and discusses bourgeois currents in Germany.)
The Workers' Revolutionary Paris Commune – March-May 1871
(A brief history discussing the mistakes and accomplishments of the Commune that Engels stated "was the dictatorship of the proletariat.")
Proclamations of the Commune To People of Paris, To the Soldiers of Versailles
Committee of Public Safety, Soldiers of the Versailles Army
Karl Marx's Confessions
(Likes and dislikes, mostly in jest.)
Stalinist Confusion United Front With Social Democrats The Slogan of the Young Pioneers So-Called United Front Proposal
German Socialists Support Capitalist Fatherland
In the International Youth Movement International Meet of Left Opposition
French Communist Left Youth in Action
(Proposals to workers and young Communists.)
Trotsky to Spanish Youth
(Hails the publication of their paper and urges them to unite Marxist theory with practice.)
9th Plenum of the Young Communist Int'l
(Criticizes policies, tactics and rapidly changing positions of the YCL and demands the reinstatement of the Left Opposition into the Communist Party and Young Communist League!)
Book Notes
(Workers' Pocket Series with works by Trotsky, his new work on Germany "The Only Road," and bound volumes of the "Militant.")
Tom Mooney Conference
Socialist Treachery
(Quotes from Socialist sources on the record of the German Social Democracy.) Never Against the Monarchy Fascism Defeated Social Democracy and Hindenburg Noske Defended by His Party
N.Y. Youth Organize Anti-Fascist Front
(Various Communist and Socialist groups work out their differences and agree to work together to organize a worker-student conference against Fascism.)
Toy Workers Union Drive
Young Spartacus Banned by Canadian Authorities
Homeless Youth Suffer Blows of Capitalist Crisis
German Campaign Needs Opposition Press
(Describes the activities of the "Militant" and "Young Spartacus." and the lack of attention to this issue by "Young Worker.")
Harry Simms Memorial
(Harry Simms was a young organizer killed by hired thugs of the coal operators while organizing miners in Kentucky.)
Volume II, Number 3, June 1933 (Full pdf version)
Young Spartacus
Published by the National Youth Committee, Communist League of America (Opposition), New York, NY
Associate Editors:
- Martin Abern
- Joseph Carter
- George Ray
Nazis Terror Rules Germany
(Fascists consolidate power, smash working class organizations, conduct anti-Semitic campaign.)
Fight Against War and Fascism Demonstrate on National Youth Day Against Roosevelt's Military and Hunger Program
(A review of responses to the capitalist crisis and the rise of German Fascism and Japanese militarism by the U.S. and other capitalist countries.)
Trial Exposes Mooney Frame Up
Workers Children Suffer in Slums
Doll Workers Strike in Trenton
The Reforestation Racket
(A criticism of New Deal programs for young workers, specifically "reforestation.")
Unify Unemployed Movement
(A conference was recently held in Chicago with all unemployed organizations which decided to join all of them into one national federation.)
International Left Opposition Statement to anti-Fascist Youth Congress 3 Scottsboro Boys Still In Shadow of Chair
New York N.Y.D. Conference
(National Youth Day)
Filipino Oppressed by U.S. Imperialism
News Snaps Workers Strike for Better Conditions
(A series of small strikes sweeps the country, the largest being 5,000 textile workers at the Amoseag plant in New Hampshire.) Morgan's Present
(In 1929 J.P. Morgan offered now Secretary of the Treasury W.H. Woodin 150,000 gold dollars as a present. When asked if he would accept Woodin said "who woodint?"
With the American Communist Youth Movement-
Activities of the Spartacus Youthg Clubs New Club Organized in K.C. New York
(The club held two mass meetings and has formed two new study groups.) Chicago
(The Chicago club was active in the National Youth Day united front and was very active in the student strike in Chicago.) Toronto The club has issued a mimeographed monthly paper "October Youth," as a local organ to reach the Y.C.L.ers.) Toy Workers Reject Yellow Dog Contract
Book Notes:
(Pioneer Publishers has obtained a batch of a documentary book from 1919 on the negotiations of Russia and Germany at Brest Litovsk,1918-1919. It contains terms of the peace and statements by leading Bolsheviks, including Lenin and Trotsky.)
More Expulsions from Y.C.L. 2 Excluded for "Trotskyism"
(New York District) Expulsions from Youth Club
(Joe Elliott, expelled a few months ago from the Brownsville Y.C.L. has been expelled from the American Youth Club, a Y.C.L. controlled organization.) Another Y.C.L.er Expelled
(Joe Davis expelled for questioning the correctness of the tactics of the German Communist Party.)
Youth Ant-Fascist Conf. Dissolved?
(No meetings have been called by the Y.C.L. chairman or Y.C.L. secretary of the Youth Committee.)
Volume II, Number 4, July 1933 (Full pdf version)
Young Spartacus
Published by the National Youth Committee, Communist League of America (Opposition), New York, NY
Associate Editors:
- Martin Abern
- Joseph Carter
- George Ray
Forward From '76 to Workers' Rule The Road of Revolution Is the Heritage of the Exploited and Oppressed
Toy Workers Win Strike
Demonstrate on August 1
(The outbreak of World War 1.)
Fight to Save Scot'b'ro Boys
With the American Communist Youth Movement-
Organization Notes: Spartacus Youth Activities
(A summary of activities in Chicago, New Haven, New York, Boston and Toronto, In Toronto seven Y.C.L.ers were expelled for Trotskyism.)
Youth Anti-War Meet
On Y.C.L. Theses
Militant Youth Struggle
(The carriers of the Bronx Home News struck and despite the use of strikebreakers they won the strike.)
On The Picket Line – Story of Textile Workers' Struggle
Traditions of American Revolution
(This article examines how the revolutionary movement in America laid the basis for the industry of the United States and for the development of the proletariat, the grave diggers of capitalism. It cleared the way for the liquidation of class society and the introduction of Communism.) 4 National Industrial Recovery Act
(The article delves into how the "the government offers its fake concessions to foster the idea of class collaboration as against militant action.")
Situation in Gov't Camps
(Describes difficult situations in the "reforestation" camps, foul food, fines for "offenses"
and mass desertions.)
American Socialists and World War
(Examines the change in position of American socialists from being against the war in 1917 to a position by the middle of 1918 where "important sections of the party were no longer seriously, if at all, opposed to the war.")
Aid Young Spartacus
(Funds are needed.)
Volume II, Number 5, September 1933 (Full pdf version)
Young Spartacus
Published by the National Youth Committee, Communist League of America (Opposition), New York, NY ... Endoresed by the Spartacus Youth Clubs.
"New Deal" Brings Marines to Cuba Roosevelt Sends Battleships to Protect Billions of Investments of American Bosses N.R.A. Brings Troops Against Strikers
(It squeezes out small capitalists in favor of larger ones, reduces the standard of living of the American working class and promotes the false idea that the government is impartial and "that to strike against the codes and the NRA means to strike against the American government," which means calling in the state militia and Federal troops against strikers. The way to defeat these moves is to organize real unions with a class struggle policy against against the slave wages of the codes.)
Y.P.S.L. Meet Expels Chicago Group
Aid Spartacus
(Write for the paper, sell and distribute it to the mass of youth.)
Bold Language
(A quote from an ex-leader of the Yipsels: "To you, young workers, who are yet aloof, the Young Peoples Socialist League says: Join, and join now! or forever be branded as a traitor to your own cause.")
With the American Communist Youth Movement Internat'l Youth Day
(The anti-war struggle hae been renounced by the Y.C.L. which fights war "in words alone." International Youth Day belongs to the revolutionary young workers of the Spartacus Youth Clubs.)
Organization Notes: Build Spartacus Youth Clubs
(A summary of Spartacus Youth Club activities and initiatives in Kansas City, Boston, Brownsville, New Haven, Chicago and New York.)
The Tasks of the Young Communists
(By G. Chicherin, reprint from an article written in 1923 by the one-time head of the Foreign affairs department of the Soviet Union on the fifth anniversary of the Young Communist League.)
Open Letter to the Members of the Y.P.S.L. Letter of the Provisional National Committee of Spartacus Youth Clubs to the Young Peoples Socialist League
(A call for revolutionary action and a united front.)
Big N.R.A. Parades Deceive Workers
(Together with police and U.S. Armed Forces of various kinds 1,500,000 workers marched in N.Y.C. together with employers for the first time since 1918. The workers who succumbed to nationalistic patriotism during the World War found that the war was not "to save democracy" but "to fight for new markets for their home capitalists." The sincerity of capitalists who have turned about and now support the N.R.A. and better conditions for workers after prior implementation of wage cuts and layoffs is questioned. $250,000,000 was appropriated for warships which will "hold workers who, if they are fooled again, will imagine that they are fighting a war for their country.") Who Gains From the C.C.C.?
(Answers that question and numerous others including what are its real aims and how are the boys treated.)
Capitalism Breeds Unemployment
(The article addresses the way that the unemployed are used by the bosses as a weapon against employed workers. This can be overcome by "the development of class consciousness and class solidarity of the unemployed and employed" and organization into trade unions and political parties.)
Fascism and the Jews
(The Nazis told an American newspaper correspondent that they shut down Jewish stores because "kosher killing is cruel.")
Volume II, Number 6, November 1933 (Full pdf version)
Young Spartacus
Published by the National Youth Committee, Communist League of America (Opposition), New York, NY
Associate Editors:
- Martin Abern
- Joseph Carter
- George Ray
For a New World Youth Movement Plans for Next Steps to be Discussed at the Coming Amsterdam, Holland Conference
Open Letter to the Yipsels
(The letter invites them to the world youth conference and offers to send speakers to their meetings so the organizations can exchange views on the matter.)
Lynchings Threatened in Scottsboro Case
U.S. Recognizes Russian State; Terms Endanger Soviet Union
(The Soviet government, as part of the negotiations for recognition agrees to "not permit the formation or residence on its territory of any organization or group which has as its aim the overthrow or the preparation for the overthrow of...the Unites States, its territories or possessions." ("New York Times," Nov. 18,1933.) By prohibiting organizations that fight American imperialism the Stalinists have betrayed the Soviet Union as a workers' state.)
With the New Revolutionary Youth Movement: Australian Youth Group Formed
(The group was formed by disaffected former Y.C.L.ers.)
Socialist Youth League of Holland Joins Our Ranks
(Along with the adult organization, the Revolutionary Socialist Party of Holland.)
Spartacus Youth Club Activities New Clubs Organized
(There are new clubs in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Montreal, Canada. Also a report on activities in Boston, New Haven, New York, Brownsville and Montreal.)
French Youth to Issue Paper
(A monthly youth paper "Octobre Rouge" (Red October) with the aim of organizing youth who are coming to Communism.)
I.L.P. Guild of Youth
(The Independent Labor Party Guild of Youth has rejected a call from the Young Communist International for an immediate unity conference but affirmed its position favoring joint action with the Y.C.L. It also took issue with the characterization of the Social Democratic organization as "social Fascist" taking the view that it was necessary to win the reformist youth and not antagonize them with name-calling.)
Anti-War Congress Misleads Workers
(The "American League Against War and Fascism" composed of Stalinist and Pacifist organizations met in N.Y.C. Sept.29 to Oct. 1. The article takes the view that it will be ineffective against imperialism and Fascism as were its "united front" predecessors composed of the same elements.)
16th Year of Workers' Russia
(This article examines, as part of an overview of the 16 years, how after the death of Lenin the officialdom of the party, soviets and trade unions developed their own caste interests and separated themselves more and more from the masses and limited the rights of workers. Those who criticized this course were removed, arrested, exiled or executed. The Left Opposition has issued a call for a new revolutionary international to create a new Communist Party based on the principles of Lenin and Trotsky.)
Japan Prepares War Against Soviets
Greet Fifth Anniversary of "The Militant"
(The paper has won many young workers and students to the movement and educated them in Communist Internationalism. Its new plan is to "appeal directly to the workers in the shops, mills, mines, and bread lines.")
Americanism and Communism
(To establishment figures "Americanism" means supporting the current institutions of capitalism and imperialism and any actions on behalf of worker's rights and economic justice are called "un-American." The methods needed to pursue the class struggle depend on the circumstances and may include violence, as they did during the American Revolution.)
The Three Internationals of Labor A brief history of the three internationals and a call for a 4th one.
I Am the People
(Poem by Carl Sandburg extolling and supporting the working class.)
Pioneer Publishing Notes
(Bound copies of "The Militant from July 4, 1931 to the end of 1932 are available, as well as Trotsky's autobiography, "My Life" and "Russia and Germany at Brest-Litovsk" by Judah L. Magnes.)
Song of the Slaves
(Poem by Thomas C. Auld.)
L.D. Trotsky and the Soviet Revolution
(This story examines Trotsky's role in the Revolution of 1917 and states that the ideas of Lenin live on through Trotsky and the Left Opposition.)
Eugene V. Debs American Fighter
(Debs was known for opposing the World War and fighting for labor emancipation. He opposed the collaborationist policies of the Samuel Gompers and the A.F.L. and founded the Industrial Workers of the World.)
Book Review: In Defense of the Russian Revolution
(A review of the book by Leon Trotsky, calling it a powerful defense of the Russian Revolution and a clear exposition of its meaning, summarizing its causes and lessons.)
N.R.A. = Promises = Results
(Examines the effects of the N.R.A. Profits have gone up but inflation has outpaced any wage gains which have lagged productivity increases, caused largely by increased mechanization. The article calls for unemployment insurance and increased relief.)
Science Notes-
(The paper is starting a science column to look at how scientific developments will affect the future.)
On The Rocks
(An article the editors believe may be apocryphal which describes a N.Y.C. Spartacus Youth Club hike in 1892 discussing glaciation and rock formations and differing layers of rocks.)
"The Human Body"
(By Logan Clendening, book review. The review says the book is a well written study of the healthy functioning of the various organs of the body as well as the breakdown of normal functioning, known as disease. The review comments that the book has the limitation of viewing its subject only on the individual level and not examining the effect of social organization has on individual health.)
Poem
(Untitled, by James Russell Lowell, concerns freedom of speech.)
Looking at the Stars
(A celebration of the joys of stargazing and star lore.) Endnote-
(A comment on the similarity of Karl Marx and Charles Darwin in that they both laid the basis for the development of scientific study in his field and are intellectual giants in the world of science.)
Lenin on Ethics
(Excerpt from a speech, "we deny all morality taken from superhuman or non-class conceptions. We say that this is a deception, a swindle, a befogging of the minds of the workers and peasants in the interests of the landlords and capitalists...we deduce our morality from the facts and needs of the class struggle of the proletariat.")
Two Views On Private Property Karl Marx – The Pope
(Marx from the "Communist Manifesto," 1847, and Pope Leo XIII, encyclical letter "On the Condition of Labor," 1891. To Marx property, in terms of capital, exists to widen, enrich and promote the existence of the laborer. The pope sees it as "according to nature's laws.")
The Bible God
(By Mark Twain, a listing of the contradictions and shortcomings of the biblical God who nonetheless invites man, "this poor, abused slave" to worship him.)
Rosa Luxemburg
(An excerpt from a letter to Sophie Liebknecht, discussing the dying out of songbirds in Germany because modern farming, horticulture and forestry has cut them off from their nesting places and food supply. She compares this to the dying-out of the Redskins in North America who "have been gradually driven from their hunting grounds by civilized man.")
How to Organize a Spartacus Youth Club Pan-Amer. Conference Meets
(The conference is expected to express the conflict between the the United States and England in Latin America. American imperialism has been getting the upper hand in these countries. "Following the Conference one can expect an even more open imperialist course in Cuba and the nations south of the United States.")
Cuban Workers Revolt Against U.S. Imperialism
(Strikes at sugar plantations owned by foreign banks, Roosevelt sends 30 warships off coast, changing governments suppress strikes.)
Free Our Class War Prisoners!
(Lists class-war prisoners and calls on all of the Left to take action to free them.)
Young Spartacus to Celebrate 2nd Year
A Mad World
(Discusses how agricultural commodities are being destroyed and houses sit empty because of capitalist profiteering while people are hungry, homeless and unemployed. If this does not "actively disturb the worker who thinks at all, then this is a mad world indeed.")
From Our Readers-
(Praise from Minnesota and Australia.)
Communists Framed in Reichstag Trial ----------------------
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Last updated on 26 December 2010