YOUNG COMMUNIST LEAGUE OF SOUTH AFRICA (UFASIMBA)

7th National Congress — Congress Base Document (Discussion Paper 1)

STRATEGIC PERSPECTIVE

& IMMEDIATE TASKS

On the Strategic Tasks and Programme of Action of the YCLSA

Prepared for delegates of the YCLSA 7th National Congress

10-12 July 2026

Theme: “Youth to the Front: Rescue the NDR. Advance Towards People’s Power!”

Ref: YCLSA/PR/7NC/DISC-001

Policy & Research Committee | Office of the National Secretary

Draft v1.0 | 7 July 2026 | INTERNAL - FOR DISCUSSION

YOUNG COMMUNIST LEAGUE OF SOUTH AFRICA Office of the National Secretary | COSATU House, 110 Jorissen Street (4th Floor), Braamfontein, Johannesburg Tel: 011 339 3621 | yclsaheadquarters@gmail.com | www.yclsa.org.za

Glossary of Terms and Acronyms 3

Abstract 5

Key Proposals at a Glance 6

1. Introduction 7

2. The Character, Mission and Historical Role of the YCLSA 8

3. The Present Conjuncture 10

4. South African Youth in 2026: Conditions and Possibilities 13

5. Working-Class Youth as the Strategic Centre of the League 16

6. Rescue the NDR: The Meaning of the Theme 17

7. Theoretical Foundations: The Struggle for Socialism 19

8. Assessment of the Outgoing Term 22

9. Building the YCLSA in the New Period 23

10. Cadre Development and Political Education 25

11. Mass Work and Strategic Sites of Struggle 27

12. The Strategic and Immediate Tasks of the YCLSA 29

13. The Youth Manifesto: The 12 Popular Youth Fronts 31

14. The International and Anti-Imperialist Tasks 34

15. Programme of Action (2026-2030) 35

16. Risk Analysis 37

17. Draft Resolutions to Congress 38

18. Alignment to the Congress Theme 40

19. Monitoring and Evaluation Framework 41

20. Conclusion 42

Annexure A - Historical Timeline 43

Annexure B - Constitutional Extracts 44

Annexure C - The 12 Popular Youth Fronts (Detail) 45

References 47

GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND ACRONYMS

This glossary assists all delegates to engage fully with the discussion. Terms are defined as used in this document and the broader movement.

ANC: African National Congress — the leading partner of the Tripartite Alliance.

BRICS+: An expanded bloc of major emerging economies (originally Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) advancing multipolarity.

Cadre: A member developed through political education and active struggle into a conscious communist.

Conjuncture: The specific combination of conditions and contradictions characterising a particular political moment.

COSATU: Congress of South African Trade Unions — the trade union federation; an Alliance partner.

Democratic centralism: The organisational principle combining freedom of discussion with unity of action; decisions of higher structures bind lower structures.

GNC: Government of National Coalition — the post-2024 arrangement including the ANC and DA among others.

GBV: Gender-based violence.

IEC: Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa.

Imperialism: The highest stage of capitalism; the system of domination by which powerful capitalist states and multinational corporations subordinate weaker ones.

LGE: Local Government Elections.

MK Party: uMkhonto weSizwe Party — a political formation that emerged from 2024, drawing on the legacy of the ANC’s armed wing.

NDR: National Democratic Revolution — the struggle to complete national liberation and advance towards socialism.

NEET: Not in Education, Employment or Training — a measure of youth disengagement.

People’s power: The organised capacity of the people, especially workers and the poor, to shape their social and political conditions actively.

PRC: People’s Red Caravan — the SACP’s community development programme.

Preparatory school: The constitutional role of the YCLSA as the formation ground for future communists of the SACP.

PYA: Progressive Youth Alliance — a coalition of progressive youth organisations.

SACP: South African Communist Party — the vanguard party; the YCLSA derives its existence from and guidance from the SACP.

Socialist-axis: The strategic project of building unity among socialist and left forces.

SARS: The South African Road to Socialism — the SACP’s programme.

Vanguard: The most conscious, organised detachment of the working class; the role of the SACP.

WFDY: World Federation of Democratic Youth — the international federation of progressive and communist youth organisations.

Youth Manifesto: The YCLSA’s declaration of intentions establishing 12 popular youth fronts for advancing youth development.

YCLSA: Young Communist League of South Africa (Ufasimba) — the youth wing of the SACP.

ABSTRACT

This discussion paper is prepared for the delegates of the 7th National Congress of the Young Communist League of South Africa (YCLSA), convening from 10 to 12 July 2026 under the theme “Youth to the Front: Rescue the NDR. Advance Towards People’s Power!” As the Congress Base Document, this paper provides the Marxist-Leninist analysis of the current conjuncture, the condition of South African youth, the crisis of the National Democratic Revolution, and the strategic tasks and programme priorities for the new term.

The paper argues that South African youth face one of the deepest crises of exclusion, unemployment and social insecurity in the democratic period. With youth unemployment at 45.8% for those aged 15-34 and 60.9% for those aged 15-24, and the NEET rate at 45.6% and rising, the material suffering of working-class youth cries out for organisation. This crisis is not accidental; it is the concentrated expression of the crisis of South African capitalism — itself located within the wider crisis of imperialism and the global order.

Drawing on the constitutional mission of the YCLSA as a communist youth formation and preparatory school of the Party, and on the theoretical traditions of Lenin, Marx and Engels, Gramsci and Sankara, the paper advances the Congress theme: to rescue the NDR is to recover its transformative content against capture, dilution and stagnation; to advance towards people’s power is to build the organised capacity of workers and the poor — including and especially the youth — to shape their conditions actively. The paper sets out the strategic and immediate tasks of the YCLSA, including the strengthening of the SACP’s 2026 elections campaign, full participation in the People’s Red Caravan, the deepening of political education, and the rollout of the Youth Manifesto’s 12 Popular Youth Fronts. It concludes with a Programme of Action, draft resolutions, a risk analysis and a monitoring framework.

KEY PROPOSALS AT A GLANCE

For delegates who wish to move quickly to the action points, the core strategic tasks and proposals of this paper are:

Strengthen the SACP’s 2026 Local Government Elections campaign — the YCLSA as the organised youth instrument of the Party’s independent electoral project.

Fully participate in the People’s Red Caravan — cooperatives, community infrastructure, food security, tailored to youth needs.

Build and strengthen the YCLSA and the youth movement — in South Africa and abroad, rooted in communities, campuses and workplaces.

Build unity in action within the PYA and WFDY — convene an urgent PYA Provincial Summit.

Build the socialist-axis — unity among socialist and left forces.

Lead named campaigns — the Joe Slovo Right To Learn Campaign and the Right To Work Campaign at centre stage.

Deepen political and ideological work — “The task of the youth is to learn, learn and learn” (Lenin) — in communities, campuses and workplaces.

Fight for the renewal of the Party — guided by the SACP’s 5th National Congress and the last Augmented Central Committee.

Roll out the 12 Popular Youth Fronts — the Youth Manifesto’s programme, prioritising young women, youth with disabilities, rural youth and poor working-class youth.

Build a powerful socialist movement of the workers and the poor — the foundation on which all objectives depend.

1. INTRODUCTION

The 7th National Congress of the Young Communist League of South Africa convenes at a moment of significant social, political and organisational consequence. South African youth continue to face severe pressures in the form of unemployment, exclusion from education and training, insecurity of livelihood, rising living costs and weakening access to public goods. At the same time, the broader political terrain is shifting, placing renewed demands on youth organisation, political clarity and organisational capacity.

The purpose of this discussion document is to provide a structured basis for Congress discussion on the current conditions facing youth, the role and character of the YCLSA in the present period, and the strategic tasks and programme priorities that may shape the new term. It is intended to assist delegates in debating and clarifying priorities, identifying areas of continuity and change, and considering the organisational implications of the current conjuncture.

The document draws on the YCLSA Constitution, earlier organisational and political discussion materials of the League, current labour market data, and the strategic tasks list developed by the National Secretariat. It proceeds from the understanding that the strategic tasks of a communist youth formation must be rooted in the lived realities of young people, informed by historical and ideological clarity, and translated into practical organisational work.

The Congress theme — Youth to the Front: Rescue the NDR. Advance Towards People’s Power! — frames the document’s central concern: how the League should understand its responsibilities in the present period, how it should position itself organisationally and politically, and what programme of work is required if it is to remain relevant, effective and rooted among the masses of young people.

2. THE CHARACTER, MISSION AND HISTORICAL ROLE OF THE YCLSA

The strategic perspective of the YCLSA must begin with a correct understanding of its character and mission. According to its Constitution, the YCLSA is a voluntary mass organisation of youth in South Africa, devoted to the interests of all young people and dedicated to the revolutionary cause of the working class in South Africa and globally. It is committed to the transformation of South Africa from a capitalist society to a socialist society and recognises the South African Communist Party as the political party of socialism in our country from which it derives political and ideological guidance.

2.1. A Communist Youth Formation, Not a Symbolic Platform

The Constitution further clarifies that the YCLSA is an autonomous youth wing of the SACP and a Marxist-Leninist youth formation. It exists to develop young cadres into communists, to act as a preparatory school of the Party, to organise and conscientise youth, to fight capitalism and all forms of oppression, to promote working-class political and moral convictions, and to ensure that young people are mobilised in support of the struggle for socialism. The League cannot be reduced to a symbolic youth platform, a commentary structure, or an electoral appendage. It is a communist youth formation with a specific political function.

This constitutional role gives the YCLSA a dual responsibility. It must be rooted in the daily lives and struggles of young people, while also serving as a school of political formation, ideological struggle and cadre development. It must not merely register youth anger; it must organise that anger into class consciousness and disciplined political action. If it loses touch with the masses of youth, it becomes hollow. If it loses touch with its communist mission, it becomes directionless.

2.2. Historical Continuity

The historical continuity of the YCLSA sharpens this responsibility. Founded in 1922, banned in 1950 alongside the Communist Party, and re-established in 2003 following an SACP resolution, the League has occupied an important place in the communist movement and in the broader democratic struggle. At different moments in history, communist youth have acted as agitators, organisers, educators, defenders of the working class, and nurseries of future leadership. The historical role of communist youth is never automatic. It has always depended on organisation, discipline, theory and strategic clarity.

Figure 1: YCLSA historical timeline, from founding (1922) through banning (1950) and re-establishment (2003) to the 7th National Congress (2026).

3. THE PRESENT CONJUNCTURE

The present conjuncture is shaped by the ongoing crisis of South African capitalism. The democratic transition achieved important political gains, but it did not abolish the core structures of unequal ownership, racialised accumulation, uneven development and labour market exclusion inherited from colonialism and apartheid. South African capitalism continues to generate wealth for a minority while reproducing mass deprivation for the majority.

Figure 2: The current conjuncture — how global and national contradictions concentrate on working-class youth.

3.1. The Global Context: Crisis of Imperialism

Internationally, the crisis of capitalism remains unresolved. Debt regimes, coercive trade relations, geopolitical rivalry, war, climate injustice, food insecurity and the dominance of multinational capital continue to constrain the developmental options available to the global South. The rise of right-wing populism and fascism — most sharply expressed in the Trump project and its global minions — represents a dangerous offensive against working people, migrants, women and progressive movements. At the same time, a multipolar transition is underway, with BRICS+ expansion opening new, if limited, possibilities for sovereign development. Youth conditions in South Africa cannot be understood outside this wider framework. The local labour market, public finances, industrial strategy, energy transition and development path are all shaped in part by the wider global order.

3.2. The National Context: Crisis of the NDR

The national terrain is marked by deepening political flux. The ANC’s electoral decline has produced a fragmented political landscape. The rise of the MK Party has split the liberation-movement vote, drawing on the legacy of uMkhonto weSizwe while charting an uncertain ideological course. The post-2024 Government of National Coalition — which includes the ANC and the DA — represents a rightward shift in governance, with the DA advancing its longstanding programme of neoliberalism, privatisation and the erosion of the public sector. Policy pressures in favour of austerity, market adjustment and private-sector solutions continue to shape state responses.

Within this flux, the SACP has taken the historic decision to contest elections independently, beginning with the 2026 Local Government Elections. This is a strategic repositioning of the Party, rooted in the recognition that the Alliance — in its current configuration — has failed to advance the interests of the working class. The YCLSA, as the youth wing of the Party, must give practical meaning to this decision. The Tripartite Alliance itself is marked by deep tensions, and the Progressive Youth Alliance is effectively collapsed, with some components reduced to foot-soldiers for the neoliberal programme of the political elite.

These contradictions create confusion, but they also create space for organisation and for ideological work. The old certainties have weakened; new contradictions are sharpening. For a communist youth formation, this is not a moment for retreat but for clarity, organisation and advance.

4. SOUTH AFRICAN YOUTH IN 2026: CONDITIONS, CONTRADICTIONS AND POSSIBILITIES

The current condition of South African youth must be approached concretely. According to Statistics South Africa, the working-age population in the first quarter of 2026 stood at 42.2 million, of which 21 million, or 49.7 percent, were youth aged 15 to 34. Yet only 5.6 million youth were employed, while 4.7 million were unemployed and 10.6 million were outside the labour force. The unemployment rate stood at 60.9 percent for those aged 15 to 24 and 40.6 percent for those aged 25 to 34. The overall youth (15-34) unemployment rate was 45.8 percent — more than twelve times the global rate estimated by the International Labour Organisation.

4.1. The Empirical Picture

Indicator (Q1 2026)	Figure
Working-age population (15-64)	42.2 million
Youth aged 15-34	21.0 million (49.7%)
Youth 15-34 employed	5.6 million
Youth 15-34 unemployed	4.7 million (+181,000)
Youth 15-34 outside labour force	10.6 million
Unemployment rate, 15-24	60.9%
Unemployment rate, 25-34	40.6%
Overall youth unemployment, 15-34	45.8%
NEET rate, 15-24	37.6% (3.9m of 10.3m)
NEET rate, 15-34	45.6% (rising +0.5pp y/y)
Female NEET, 15-24	39.2% (vs male 36.0%)
Absorption rate, 15-24	10.1%
Long-term unemployment	Over 50% of job-seeking youth
Discouraged work-seekers	~2 million in the youth cohort

Source: Statistics South Africa, South Africa’s Youth and the Labour Market in Q1:2026 (12 May 2026); QLFS P0211, Q1:2026.

4.2. The NEET Crisis and Its Consequences

The NEET crisis deepens the severity of this picture. In Q1 2026, 37.6 percent of youth aged 15 to 24 and 45.6 percent of those aged 15 to 34 were not in employment, education or training. This means that millions of young people are cut off both from the labour market and from structured educational progression. The consequences are severe: such exclusion weakens social confidence, undermines life planning, deepens dependence, and creates fertile ground for alienation, anti-social survival strategies, psychological stress and political disorientation. The NEET rate is rising year-on-year — the crisis is structural and worsening, not cyclical.

4.3. Unequal Burdens

These burdens are not shared equally. Young women face a heavier NEET burden than young men (39.2% vs 36.0%), reflecting a broader structure of gendered inequality, care burdens, patriarchy and violence. Rural youth continue to face underdevelopment, weak local economies, poor access to services and limited opportunity pathways. Township youth confront overcrowded and under-resourced environments marked by high unemployment, transport burdens, social violence and weak infrastructure. Students from working-class backgrounds face debt, exclusion, poor accommodation and uncertain returns on education. Unemployed graduates confront a painful contradiction between educational achievement and labour market rejection — graduate unemployment stands at 40.3% for those aged 15-24. Even education is no shield against the crisis.

4.4. Youth as a Category of Struggle

For the YCLSA, the political significance of these conditions is two-sided. On the one hand, they demonstrate the depth of the crisis and the failure of the current social order to integrate the youth meaningfully. On the other hand, they reveal the strategic importance of youth as a social force. Youth are not only a category of need; they are also a potential category of struggle. Any serious programme of action must begin from these material realities and from the need to organise them politically. The Freedom Charter declared that ‘the doors of learning and culture shall be opened’ and that ‘the people shall govern.’ More than seven decades on, these pledges remain materially unfulfilled for the youth of the working class — and that unfinished promise is the objective basis for a fighting communist youth league.

Questions for Congress

How should the YCLSA characterise the current conjuncture — is this a crisis of capitalism, a crisis of the NDR, or both, and how do they relate?

What is the League’s assessment of the MK Party phenomenon and the Government of National Coalition?

How does the SACP’s independent electoral project change the strategic terrain for the YCLSA?

Given that even graduates face 40.3% unemployment, what does ‘rescue the NDR’ mean in concrete material terms for the youth?

5. WORKING-CLASS YOUTH AS THE STRATEGIC CENTRE OF THE LEAGUE

While the YCLSA is committed to the emancipation of all young people, its strategic social centre must remain working-class youth. Youth are not homogeneous. They are stratified by class, race, gender, geography and institutional position. Yet it is working-class youth who bear the heaviest burden of unemployment, poor schooling, social insecurity, precarious work and weak access to mobility. It is among these layers that the violence of South African capitalism is most directly felt.

This orientation is fully consistent with earlier League-building traditions, which correctly identified young workers, students and unemployed youth as the bedrock of the organisation. It is also consistent with the constitutional mission of the YCLSA as a communist youth formation devoted to the working class. To place working-class youth at the centre is not to ignore other strata of youth. It is to ensure that the League always acts from a clear class standpoint and resists the temptation to dissolve the youth question into vague generalities.

This means the YCLSA must consciously deepen its rootedness in communities, workplaces, campuses, rural areas and townships where working-class youth are concentrated. It must understand not only the broad trends affecting youth, but the actual lived conditions of young workers, unemployed matriculants, TVET students, university students from poor households, young farm workers, informal youth traders and rural youth whose futures remain geographically and economically constrained. The task of the League is to provide the political education, organisational tools and collective discipline through which working-class youth can become active participants in the struggle for socialism and people’s power.

6. RESCUE THE NDR: THE MEANING OF THE THEME IN THE PRESENT PERIOD

The Congress theme places before the organisation a serious political challenge. To say ‘Rescue the NDR’ is to acknowledge that the democratic and transformative project remains incomplete and vulnerable. The social and economic structures inherited from colonialism and apartheid remain deeply entrenched. The post-1994 period has produced important democratic gains, but it has not broken the back of racialised inequality, capitalist power or social exclusion. To rescue the NDR therefore means to recover and advance its transformative content.

Figure 3: The strategic path — from the democratic transition, through NDR drift, to the moment of rescue and advance towards people’s power.

6.1. The NDR as an Ongoing Process

The NDR cannot be reduced to historical rhetoric or to ceremonial references to liberation. It must be approached as an ongoing process of transforming the social, economic and political legacy of colonialism and apartheid, deepening democracy, overcoming racialised class inequality, and creating conditions for socialist advance. It means defending the project against stagnation, dilution and capture. It means confronting the reality that the democratic transition left the core structures of economic power intact — and that three decades of neoliberal policy drift have deepened, rather than resolved, the contradictions the NDR was meant to overcome.

6.2. People’s Power

The phrase ‘Advance Towards People’s Power’ gives practical meaning to this. People’s power is not a vague populist slogan. It refers to the organised capacity of the people, especially workers and the poor, to shape their social and political conditions actively. It requires mass participation, local organisation, ideological clarity, confidence among the people, and structures through which democratic initiative can be exercised. For the YCLSA, this means building youth organisation not merely for visibility, but for sustained struggle and transformative agency. Lenin’s State and Revolution remains indispensable here: the state is not a neutral instrument but an organ of class rule, and genuine people’s power requires the transformation of state power, not merely participation in its existing forms.

6.3. The Relationship Between the Two

The two halves of the theme are dialectically related. Rescuing the NDR is the precondition for advancing towards people’s power — because a captured, diluted, neoliberal NDR cannot deliver people’s power. And advancing towards people’s power is the content of rescuing the NDR — because the NDR is not an end in itself but the shortest road to socialism, and socialism is the rule of the working class and its allies. The YCLSA’s role is to organise young people as a conscious, fighting detachment in this strategic project.

Did You Know?

The YCLSA was founded in 1922 — one year AFTER the SACP (1921). It is older than the ANC Youth League, which was founded in 1944.

Questions for Congress

What does ‘rescuing the NDR’ mean concretely — what must be recovered, and what must be confronted?

How does the YCLSA understand ‘people’s power’ in material terms, and how does it relate to state power?

Is the NDR still the shortest road to socialism, or does the current conjuncture demand a strategic rethinking?

7. THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS: THE STRUGGLE FOR SOCIALISM

The strategic perspective of a communist youth league cannot rest on sentiment or pragmatism. It must be grounded in the theoretical traditions of Marxism-Leninism, applied to the concrete conditions of South Africa. Without revolutionary theory, as Lenin insisted, there can be no revolutionary movement. The following theoretical foundations anchor the strategic tasks set out in this document.

7.1. Marx and Engels: Class Struggle and Historical Materialism

The starting point of communist theory is the materialist conception of history: that the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle. As Marx and Engels declared in the Manifesto of the Communist Party:

“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another.” - Marx and Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848)

This insight is not a historical curiosity. It is the analytical key to the South African condition. The youth unemployment crisis, the racialised structure of wealth, the gendered burden of exclusion — these are not policy failures or technical glitches. They are the expressions of class struggle, of a society in which a capitalist minority continues to accumulate at the expense of the working-class majority. Historical materialism teaches us to locate the youth question not in moral terms but in the structure of capitalist social relations.

7.2. Lenin: Theory, Vanguard and State Power

Lenin’s contributions are foundational to the theory and practice of communist organisation. In What Is To Be Done?, Lenin argued that revolutionary consciousness does not arise spontaneously from the struggle of the workers alone — it must be brought to the working class through sustained political education and theoretical work. This is the theoretical basis for the YCLSA as a school of communist formation, not merely a mobilisation machine.

In The State and Revolution, Lenin developed the Marxist theory of the state: the state is an organ of class rule, a product and manifestation of the irreconcilability of class antagonisms. Genuine emancipation cannot be achieved by simply taking over the existing state apparatus; it requires the smashing of the bourgeois state and the construction of new forms of popular power. This is the theoretical foundation for the Congress theme’s call to ‘advance towards people’s power’ — people’s power is not the capture of existing institutions but the construction of new, democratic, working-class organs of power.

And in his address to the Third All-Russian Congress of the Russian Young Communist League in 1920, Lenin issued a call that remains the charter of communist youth organisation:

“The task of the young generation is to learn. The task of the youth is to learn, learn and learn.” - Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Speech at the 3rd All-Russian Congress of the Russian Young Communist League (1920)

Lenin’s insistence that the youth must ‘learn, learn and learn’ is not a call for passive study. He immediately clarified that young communists must learn communism not merely from books but from participation in the practical struggle, from the fusion of theory and practice. This is the theoretical mandate for the YCLSA to deepen political and ideological work in communities, on campuses and in workplaces — the third strategic task set out in Section 12.

7.3. Engels on the Class Party

“If the proletariat is to be strong enough to win on the crucial day, it is essential that it constitute a party of its own, distinct from and opposed to all the rest, conscious of itself as a class party.” - Friedrich Engels, Principles of Communism

Engels’s insistence on the proletariat constituting itself as a class party, conscious of itself, is the theoretical basis for the distinct existence of communist organisation — and for the YCLSA’s role as the preparatory school of such a party. The League is not a generic youth body; it is the communist youth organisation, and its distinct class standpoint is a precondition of its effectiveness.

7.4. Gramsci: Hegemony and the War of Position

Antonio Gramsci’s theory of cultural hegemony illuminates the ideological dimension of class rule. The ruling class maintains its dominance not only through coercion but through hegemony — the shaping of common sense so that the exploited accept the terms of their exploitation as natural and inevitable. In our communities, this hegemony manifests as xenophobic, patriarchal, consumerist and anti-political explanations of suffering. The YCLSA must conduct what Gramsci called the ‘war of position’ — the long, patient struggle to contest and build hegemony, to develop organic intellectuals of the working class among the youth, and to provide class-conscious explanations of the conditions young people face.

7.5. Sankara on Political Formation

“A soldier without ideological training and political formation is a potential criminal.” - President Thomas Sankara

Sankara’s warning speaks to the danger of mobilising young people without ideological formation. A League that mobilises but does not educate produces foot-soldiers vulnerable to manipulation, factionalism and the lumpen impulses the League exists to combat. This is why cadre development and political education (Section 10) are not optional extras but the essential content of the preparatory school function.

7.6. The South African Road to Socialism

These theoretical traditions converge in the SACP’s programme, The South African Road to Socialism, which locates the NDR as the shortest, most direct road to socialism in the specific conditions of our society. The YCLSA derives its strategic horizon from this programme: the organisation and mobilisation of young people behind the NDR, understood not as a stage to be indefinitely prolonged but as a road that must be travelled with revolutionary urgency towards socialism and ultimately communism.

8. ASSESSMENT OF THE OUTGOING TERM

The outgoing term should be assessed honestly and soberly. The organisation has sustained continuity, maintained a national presence, and accumulated important political and organisational experience. In several areas, structures remained active, interventions were made, and the League preserved its identity as a communist youth voice within a changing political environment.

8.1. Successes

Structural continuity. The YCLSA maintained its national, provincial and district presence across the term.

The Youth Manifesto. The League launched the Youth Manifesto, establishing 12 popular youth fronts — a significant programmatic advance.

Survival of the preparatory function. The League continued to produce cadres who serve the Party and the broader movement.

[INSERT: Specific achievements of the outgoing term — campaigns conducted, membership growth, provinces congressed, etc. — to be populated by the Policy & Research Committee.]

8.2. Shortcomings

Uneven branch development. Branch development has remained uneven; servicing has often been inconsistent.

Weak political education. Political education has not reached the level required to produce a uniformly strong cadre corps.

Administrative weakness. Administrative systems, records, reporting and communication still need substantial strengthening.

Uneven mass work. Work among strategic constituencies — young workers, unemployed youth, students — remains uneven.

8.3. The Key Lesson

The key lesson is that correct political positions do not automatically translate into organisational strength. A League can speak well and still remain weak in structure. It can intervene politically and still fail to reproduce branch life, leadership development and mass rootedness. The new term must therefore be approached as a period requiring deliberate organisational consolidation and ideological sharpening.

Questions for Congress

What were the specific achievements of the outgoing term, and how should they be built upon?

Why did the gap between correct positions and organisational weakness persist, and what will close it?

How much of the 6th Congress mandate was implemented, and what does that teach the 7th Congress about enforcement?

9. BUILDING THE YCLSA IN THE NEW PERIOD

The YCLSA must build itself in the new term as a functioning communist youth organisation whose internal life matches the seriousness of its political tasks. The branch remains the central building block. Without functioning branches, there can be no meaningful district, provincial or national life. A branch must be more than a name on a register; it must be a living unit of organisation, discussion, political education, recruitment, local work and sustained struggle.

9.1. Servicing and Support

Districts and provinces must play a more active servicing role. They must support branches, coordinate campaigns, identify weaknesses, monitor activity, and ensure that plans are implemented. National leadership must provide direction, education materials, reporting systems and practical support. Uneven development will not disappear spontaneously; it must be confronted through deliberate organisational work.

9.2. Quality Membership

Recruitment must be approached as a question of quality as well as quantity. The League should grow, but growth without political integration weakens the organisation. Every recruit should be inducted, politically grounded, organisationally placed and drawn into active work. Systems must be built so that membership is not nominal, but living and functional. Organisation-building also requires seriousness about administration, finance, records, communication and internal accountability. *(See the League Building & Organisational Redesign discussion document for the detailed treatment of structural redesign, branch reconfiguration, the Political Commission and constitutional engagement.)

This document cross-references the League Building paper rather than duplicating its analysis. Congress delegates are directed to read the two documents together.

10. CADRE DEVELOPMENT, POLITICAL EDUCATION AND LEADERSHIP FORMATION

Cadre development must stand close to the centre of the new term. The League does not exist merely to mobilise youth sentiment. It exists to develop communist cadres. A cadre is not just a visible activist; a cadre is ideologically grounded, disciplined, rooted among the masses, able to work collectively, and capable of linking theory to practice.

10.1. ‘Learn, Learn and Learn’

Lenin’s call — ‘the task of the youth is to learn, learn and learn’ — is the charter of this section. Deepening political and ideological work in communities, on campuses and in workplaces is a strategic task of the YCLSA. Young people are constantly exposed to anti-political cynicism, consumerism, misogyny, xenophobia and capitalist individualism. The League must intervene in the ideological terrain with greater confidence.

10.2. The Curriculum

Political education should cover Marxism-Leninism, the history and programme of the YCLSA and SACP, the youth question, socialist transition, the NDR, anti-imperialism and current struggles. It should be systematic and not occasional. The League must establish political education and training schools at provincial, district and branch level, led by qualified, experienced and seasoned cadres. Every branch should become a site of study and political explanation.

10.3. Leadership Formation and Communist Ethics

Leadership development must be intentional. The League needs leadership collectives that are politically clear, close to the membership, accountable, disciplined and able to carry organisational responsibility. Leadership must not be understood as prestige, entitlement or personality; it must be understood as service, example and collective work. Cadre development also includes communist ethics: anti-corruption, honesty, anti-sexism, solidarity, criticism and self-criticism, and service to the people.

Questions for Congress

How will the League make ‘learn, learn and learn’ a living programme, not a slogan?

What curriculum and what structures (schools at every level) will deliver systematic political education?

How will the League develop leadership collectives rather than personality-based politics?

11. MASS WORK AND STRATEGIC SITES OF STRUGGLE

The YCLSA must be located where young people actually live, study, work, survive and struggle. Communities, campuses, workplaces, townships, rural areas and the digital ideological space remain central sites of youth politics.

11.1. Sites of Struggle

Communities — unemployment, service failures, social distress, local underdevelopment, violence and social protection concerns;

Campuses and training institutions — debt, exclusion, accommodation, quality education and graduate insecurity, including through SRCs;

Workplaces — deepening work among young workers, especially those in precarious, low-paid and insecure sectors;

Townships and rural areas — consistent strategic attention to the youth who bear the heaviest burden of underdevelopment;

The digital ideological space — contesting the battle of ideas through publications, digital work, local forums and political education.

11.2. The Battle of Ideas

The League must take the battle of ideas more seriously. Young people are constantly exposed to anti-political cynicism, consumerism, misogyny, xenophobia and capitalist individualism. The YCLSA must intervene in the ideological terrain with greater confidence — this is the practical meaning of Gramsci’s war of position. Mass work in the new term must combine struggle, education, organisation and communication, making the League visible, useful and politically clear in the lives of young people.

12. THE STRATEGIC AND IMMEDIATE TASKS OF THE YCLSA

The new term requires an integrated set of strategic and immediate tasks. These are drawn from the strategic tasks list developed by the National Secretariat and presented for the endorsement of Congress. They constitute the core of the Programme of Action.

12.1. The Ten Strategic Tasks

The strategic and immediate tasks of the YCLSA for the new term are the following:

Strengthening the SACP Elections Campaign for the 2026 Local Government Elections. The YCLSA must become the organised youth instrument of the Party’s independent electoral project — mobilising young people behind the Party, running a massive youth voter registration campaign, and assisting in community-level campaigning. (See Section 16 and the Elections Strategy discussion document.)

Fully participating in the SACP People’s Red Caravan. The YCLSA must officially adopt the PRC, tailor it to the needs of young people, and roll it out in communities — cooperatives, community infrastructure, subsistence and commercial farming, food security.

Building and strengthening the YCLSA and the entire youth movement in South Africa and abroad — rooted in communities, campuses and workplaces, with functional branches and districts meeting constitutional thresholds.

Building unity in action within the Progressive Youth Alliance and the World Federation of Democratic Youth. An urgent PYA Provincial Summit is necessary. The YCLSA must play a leading role in rebuilding the PYA on anti-neoliberal foundations.

Building and strengthening the socialist-axis — the strategic project of building unity among socialist and left forces, in the spirit of the Conference and Council of the Left.

Building campaigns with youth mass-based organisations, progressive NGOs and progressive unions. The Joe Slovo Right To Learn Campaign and the Right To Work Campaign must take centre stage.

Deepening political and ideological work in communities, on campuses and in workplaces. ‘The task of the youth is to learn, learn and learn’ (Lenin). The League must establish political schools at every level and contest the battle of ideas.

Building and fighting for the renewal of our Party. This must be guided by the resolutions of the SACP’s 5th National Congress and the last Augmented Central Committee. The YCLSA, as the preparatory school, has a direct interest in a renewed, strengthened, class-conscious Party.

Rolling out the Youth Manifesto and its 12 Popular Youth Fronts — a declaration of intentions, motives and views for advancing youth development. (See Section 13.)

Building a powerful socialist movement of the workers and the poor. Recognising that all the key organisational and socio-economic objectives are dependent, for their realisation, on building this powerful socialist movement, in line with the Party’s South African Road to Socialism Programme.

12.2. Integration, Not Silos

These tasks must be integrated, not treated as separate silos. Strengthening the Party’s elections campaign requires deepening political education; the People’s Red Caravan requires functional branches; the Youth Manifesto requires mass work. The challenge of the new term is not simply to do more activity — it is to become stronger, clearer, more rooted and more disciplined as an organisation, combining all layers of work into a coherent strategic project.

Questions for Congress

Are these ten strategic tasks the right priorities for the term, and are any missing?

How should the tasks be sequenced and integrated rather than treated as separate silos?

What resources, structures and accountability mechanisms are needed to implement them?

13. THE YOUTH MANIFESTO: THE 12 POPULAR YOUTH FRONTS

The Youth Manifesto, launched by the YCLSA, constitutes a declaration of intentions, motives and views of advancing youth development by establishing 12 popular youth fronts. Young women, youth with disabilities, youth from rural areas and poor, working-class youth are prioritised across all 12 fronts. These fronts do not only seek to address the immediate challenges facing the youth; they also contribute meaningfully to building a powerful socialist movement of the workers and the poor, in line with the Party’s South African Road to Socialism Programme.

13.1. The 12 Fronts

1. Youth Front for Jobs — Mobilising young people for employment, against the structural unemployment crisis, and for public works and job creation.

2. Youth Front for Youth Service — Building youth service programmes that combine skills, community development and political formation.

3. Youth Front for the People’s Data Economy — Democratising access to data and digital infrastructure; positioning young people in the data economy as producers, not mere consumers.

4. Youth Front for Access and Success in Education — For free, decolonised education; against NSFAS corruption, student debt and exclusion; for success, not only access.

5. Youth Front for Social Cohesion and Nation Building — Against racism, xenophobia, tribalism and division; for a non-racial, non-sexist, united South Africa.

6. Youth Front for a Healthy Lifestyle — Promoting physical and mental health, nutrition and wellbeing among young people.

7. Youth Front against Alcohol and Substance Abuse — Organising young people against the scourge of drugs and alcohol that devastates communities.

8. Youth Front for the Environment — For climate justice, environmental protection and a just transition that does not sacrifice workers and the poor.

9. Youth Front for Sports and Recreation — Using sports and recreation as tools for development, discipline, cohesion and youth mobilisation.

10. Youth Front for Mentorship — Connecting young people with experienced cadres and professionals for guidance, development and intergenerational continuity.

11. Youth Front for Enterprise and Cooperative Development — Building cooperatives and youth enterprises in the logic of collective ownership, against individualistic entrepreneurship rhetoric.

12. Youth Front for the Unity and Solidarity of the Popular International Youth — International solidarity — with Palestine, Cuba, Venezuela, Western Sahara, Swaziland and the global anti-imperialist youth movement.

13.2. Prioritisation

Across all 12 fronts, four categories of youth are prioritised: young women, who carry the heavier burden of exclusion; youth with disabilities, whose marginalisation is structural; youth from rural areas, who face geographic and economic underdevelopment; and poor, working-class youth, who are the strategic social centre of the League. This prioritisation ensures that the Youth Manifesto is not a generic youth programme but a class-conscious, feminist, inclusive and geographically grounded instrument of working-class youth organisation.

13.3. From Declaration to Programme

The Youth Manifesto is a declaration of intentions. Congress must translate it into a programme of action — assigning each front to a responsible structure, setting targets, and building monitoring into the implementation. The fronts must not become twelve separate bureaucratic projects; they must be integrated into the branch, district and provincial Programmes of Action, and connected to the strategic tasks set out in Section 12.

Questions for Congress

Are the 12 Popular Youth Fronts the right framework, and should any be added, merged or redefined?

How will each front be assigned, resourced and monitored?

How will the four prioritised categories (women, disability, rural, working-class) be ensured across all fronts?

How do the fronts connect to the strategic tasks (Section 12) and avoid becoming separate silos?

14. THE INTERNATIONAL AND ANTI-IMPERIALIST TASKS OF THE YCLSA

Youth conditions in South Africa are shaped by the wider structures of global capitalism. Imperialism, debt, coercive trade relations, climate injustice, war and the power of multinational capital all affect the terrain on which young people seek work, education, development and dignity. The YCLSA must therefore cultivate among its members a clear anti-imperialist and internationalist consciousness.

14.1. Solidarity Campaigns

The traditions of the communist movement require solidarity with progressive youth and peoples across the world. The League must conduct sustained solidarity work with the peoples and youth of Palestine, Cuba, Venezuela, Western Sahara and Swaziland, among others. These are not symbolic gestures but concrete expressions of internationalism — the recognition that the struggle of the working-class youth of South Africa is part of a global struggle against imperialism.

14.2. The WFDY and International Coordination

The YCLSA must deepen its engagement with the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY), of which the National Secretary serves on the General Council. The League must build unity in action within the WFDY, contribute to the construction of a Progressive Youth International Front, and use the international platform to build solidarity, exchange experience, and coordinate campaigns against imperialism and war. The 12th Youth Front — for the unity and solidarity of the popular international youth — is the organisational vehicle for this work.

14.3. Anti-Imperialist Education

International work must not be ceremonial or symbolic only. It must be part of political education, solidarity practice and ideological development. Communist youth in South Africa must understand both the national and international dimensions of the struggle in which they are engaged.

15. PROGRAMME OF ACTION (2026-2030)

The following Programme of Action translates the strategic tasks (Section 12) and the 12 Popular Youth Fronts (Section 13) into concrete tasks, with responsible structures, indicative deadlines, and resource considerations.

15.1. First 100 Days

Communicate Congress outcomes to all structures and align plans with the adopted perspective.

Activate structured political education — begin establishing provincial political schools and the common curriculum.

Rapid assessment of branch functionality, membership quality and organisational gaps (structural audit).

Convene an urgent PYA Provincial Summit to begin rebuilding the PYA.

Did You Know?

South Africa's youth unemployment rate (60.9% for ages 15-24) is more than 12 times the global average of 4.9%.

Launch the youth voter registration campaign ahead of the 4 November 2026 Local Government Elections.

15.2. Year 1 Priorities (2026-2027)

Ref	Task	Responsible	Deadline
POA 1.1	National structural audit against constitutional thresholds	NC / National Organiser	First NC 2026
POA 1.2	Provincial political schools established; common curriculum adopted	1st DNS / Political Education	By end 2026
POA 1.3	Youth voter registration campaign for 4 Nov 2026 LGE	Elections desk / Provinces	Oct 2026
POA 1.4	Design and launch youth-centred People’s Red Caravan	NC / 2nd DNS	Q1 2027
POA 1.5	PYA Provincial Summit convened	National Secretary	Q4 2026 / Q1 2027
POA 1.6	Joe Slovo Right To Learn + Right To Work campaigns launched	Campaigns desk	Q1 2027
POA 1.7	Rollout of the 12 Popular Youth Fronts begins	NC + Commissions	Throughout 2026-27
POA 1.8	Membership database and communications platform built	Treasurer / Admin	By end 2026

15.3. Medium-Term (2027-2029)

Political schools at district and branch level rolled out; campaigns institutionalised in every functional branch.

YCLSA Red Caravan scaled; cooperative enterprises established; 12 Youth Fronts operationalised.

New left youth alliances and the socialist-axis built in communities.

International solidarity deepened; Progressive Youth International Front consultations advanced.

15.4. Long-Term (2029-2030)

A self-reliant, rooted YCLSA with functional structures meeting constitutional thresholds.

A mature cadre pipeline feeding prepared communists into the Party.

An established programme of Youth Fronts and Red Caravan contributing to a powerful socialist movement of the workers and the poor.

15.5. Budget

[INSERT: Detailed budget breakdown to be developed by the incoming National Committee and National Treasurer. Key costed areas: political schools; the YCLSA Red Caravan; elections campaign; the 12 Youth Fronts; digital infrastructure; administration. To be presented to the first National Council.]

16. RISK ANALYSIS

A paper that proposes a comprehensive programme must honestly anticipate what could go wrong. The following risks are identified for the consideration of Congress, with proposed mitigations.

Risk	Likelihood	Impact	Mitigation
Implementation gap repeats (as in past terms)	High	High	Build M&E into the mandate; mid-term National Council; reporting cycles
12 Youth Fronts become 12 separate bureaucratic silos	High	Medium	Integrate into branch POAs; assign integrated responsibility; review quarterly
Political schools lack resources and facilitators	High	High	Phase rollout; draw on SACP cadre resources; common curriculum first
Elections campaign collapses under IEC distrust and youth apathy	Medium	High	Pair registration with political education; address distrust organisationally
PYA renewal stalls because components refuse anti-neoliberal foundations	Medium	High	Build minimum-programme consensus; proceed with willing components
Red Caravan strains provincial capacity	Medium	High	Pilot first; partner with SACP PRC; co-fund with unions and cooperatives
Party renewal work oversteps YCLSA autonomy	Low	Medium	Guided by SACP 5th Congress + Augmented CC resolutions; respect mother-body relationship
League loses touch with working-class youth base	Medium	High	Root in communities/campuses/workplaces; prioritise four marginalised categories

17. DRAFT RESOLUTIONS TO CONGRESS

The following draft resolutions are presented for the consideration, enrichment and adoption of Congress as the binding mandate of the 7th National Congress.

RESOLUTION 1: ON THE STRATEGIC PERSPECTIVE

This Congress notes that:

1. South African youth face a deepening structural crisis of unemployment, exclusion and social insecurity.

2. The NDR is incomplete and vulnerable to capture, dilution and stagnation.

This Congress believes that:

1. The YCLSA must be a thinking and fighting communist youth organisation, rooted in working-class youth.