YOUNG COMMUNIST LEAGUE OF SOUTH AFRICA (UFASIMBA)

7th National Congress Discussion Document

LEAGUE BUILDING AND

ORGANISATIONAL REDESIGN

Building a Thinking and Fighting 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-003

Policy & Research Committee (League Building Commission)

Draft v2.0 | 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

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Glossary of Terms and Acronyms 3

Abstract 4

Key Proposals at a Glance 4

1. Introduction and Background 5

2. The Youth Question: Material Basis for a Communist League 6

3. Constitutional Character and Historical Mission 8

4. Theoretical Foundations: Why a Communist Youth League? 10

5. Assessment of the Mandate of the 6th National Congress 12

6. Current State: Contradictions and Organisational Drift 13

7. The Constitutional Form versus Lived Reality 15

8. Branch Reconfiguration and the Local Rooting of the League 17

9. Internal Leadership Design and the Political Commission 18

10. A Thinking YCLSA: Political Education 20

11. A Fighting YCLSA: Campaigns, Mass Work and Rootedness 22

12. Membership, Cadre Development and Reproduction 23

13. Democratic Centralism, Discipline and Organisational Culture 24

14. Administration, Finance and Material Capacity 25

15. Alliance Work, PYA Renewal and Youth Fronts 26

16. Elections, State Power and the Municipal Question 28

17. Internationalism and the Progressive Youth International Front 29

18. Programme of Action (2026-2030) 30

19. Risk Analysis 32

20. Draft Resolutions to Congress 33

21. Alignment to the Congress Theme 35

22. Monitoring and Evaluation Framework 36

23. Constitutional Amendments Implications 37

24. Conclusion 38

Annexure A - PYA Coordination Framework 39

Annexure B - Youth Conditions Snapshot (Q1 2026) 41

Annexure C - Constitutional Extracts 43

References 44

GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND ACRONYMS

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

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

ANCYL: ANC Youth League — a component of the Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA).

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

COSAS: Congress of South African Students — high school learners’ formation; a PYA component.

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.

Good standing: The condition of a member who has renewed, pays fees/levies, and participates actively; the basis for delegate allocation to congress.

GBV: Gender-based violence.

Hegemony: (Gramsci) Ruling-class dominance maintained through shaping common sense and culture; contested through the ‘war of position’.

IEC: Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa.

ILO: International Labour Organisation.

Lumpen: (Marx) ‘Lumpenproletariat’ — those driven by capitalist crisis into despair and survivalist, often anti-social activity.

NC: National Committee of the YCLSA — the highest decision-making body between congresses/councils.

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.

NOB: National Office Bearer — one of the six elected leaders of the YCLSA.

NSFAS: National Student Financial Aid Scheme.

Organisational drift: The distance between the constitutional form of the YCLSA and its lived reality — the central diagnosis of this paper.

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.

SASCO: South African Students Congress — tertiary students’ formation; a PYA component.

SUCA: Student Union Christian Association — faith-based youth formation; a PYA component.

Unit: A YCLSA formation of at least six members, the first step towards a branch; must launch into a full branch within six months.

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

War of position: (Gramsci) The long, patient struggle to contest and build hegemony within civil society.

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

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!” The paper concerns itself with a single, difficult question: how does the YCLSA rebuild itself organisationally to become equal to the present conjuncture — a thinking and fighting League of, by and for the young people of the working class?

The paper argues that the objective basis for a communist youth organisation has never been stronger. With youth unemployment at 45.8% for those aged 15-34 and reaching 60.9% for those aged 15-24 in the first quarter of 2026, and with the NEET rate climbing to 45.6% for the broader youth cohort, the material suffering of young people cries out for organisation. Yet the YCLSA is held back by serious contradictions: weak and uneven structures, an absence of ideological production at provincial, district and branch level, a thin campaigns programme, a collapsed Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA), and an unresolved relationship to the Party’s independent electoral project.

Drawing on the organisational theory of Lenin, the class-party thesis of Engels, Sankara’s insistence on political formation, Marx’s analysis of the ‘lumpen’ condition, Tabata’s demand that an organisation justify its existence, and Gramsci’s theory of hegemony, the paper locates the League’s weakness as a problem of organisational drift. It proposes a programme of rebuilding organised around stronger branch life, functional political schools at every level, rooted campaigns, the institutionalisation of a youth-centred People’s Red Caravan, a massive youth voter registration drive, the renewal of the PYA on anti-neoliberal foundations, new left youth alliances, and a Progressive Youth International Front. The paper concludes with a Programme of Action, a risk analysis, resolutions, an M&E framework, and the constitutional implications.

KEY PROPOSALS AT A GLANCE

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

Structural audit and reconfiguration — a national audit of all branches and districts against constitutional thresholds within 90 days, with units formed as bridges to full branches.

Political education at every level — one political education and training school per province, district and branch, led by qualified cadres.

A fighting campaigns programme — organised campaigns in every community (service delivery, jobs, anti-crime, anti-drugs, anti-GBV, anti-corruption, education).

Institutionalise a youth-centred People’s Red Caravan — cooperatives, community infrastructure and food security, tailored to youth needs, launched within the first year.

Massive youth voter registration — targeting the final IEC registration weekend ahead of the 4 November 2026 Local Government Elections.

Rebuild the PYA on anti-neoliberal foundations — with the YCLSA leading the ideological and political training sector.

Build new left youth alliances — in communities, in the spirit of the Conference and Council of the Left.

Build a Progressive Youth International Front — against imperialism and for socialism globally.

Enforce the 40% gender floor — across all structures as a matter of discipline.

Functional portfolios within the Political Commission — clear responsibility for each area of work, with reporting and accountability.

Each proposal is elaborated in the relevant section and translated into the Programme of Action (Section 18) and draft resolutions (Section 20).

1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

The Young Communist League of South Africa (YCLSA) will convene its 7th National Congress between 10 and 12 July 2026, under the theme “Youth to the Front: Rescue the NDR. Advance Towards People’s Power!” Consistent with the praxis of communism globally and within the YCL itself, Congress is the highest platform through which the organisation must take stock of work done in relation to the resolutions and mandate of the 6th National Congress, reflect on the current situation of young people of the class, and produce a renewed mandate equal to the present conjuncture.

1.1. Purpose of this Document

This document serves as part of the body of discussion documents prepared for delegates of Congress, in their pursuit of conceptualising and producing a new mandate in relation to how to build a thinking and fighting communist League of and by young people of the class — one capable of dealing productively with the immediate challenges of unemployment, crime and substance abuse, whilst mobilising young people behind the strategic class vision of building socialism.

This particular document, which concerns League Building and Organisational Redesign, takes as its task the building of the necessary structures and cadreship required in the collective endeavour to construct a Thinking and Fighting YCLSA. Such a League must respond to the immediate situation of young people of the class and journey with them in building socialism. Philosophically, the document draws lessons from the classical interventions of the foremost leaders of the global revolutionary movement on the necessary conditions for organising the working class to fight for socialism.

1.2. Scope and Method

To achieve its objective, the document deals with the following issues, among others:

The constitutional character and historical mission of the YCLSA;

The state of YCLSA structures, with a sharp focus on challenges and contradictions;

The theoretical foundations for a communist youth league in the present period;

An assessment of the mandate of the 6th National Congress;

Organisational redesign — branch reconfiguration, leadership design, political education;

Campaigns, mass mobilisation and the institutionalisation of the People’s Red Caravan;

Alliance work, PYA renewal, elections and state power, and internationalism;

A Programme of Action, risk analysis, resolutions, and a monitoring and evaluation framework.

The document proceeds from the understanding that the YCLSA cannot be reduced to a ceremonial youth formation or a symbolic political brand. It must be a real instrument of organisation, political education, mobilisation and class struggle. To build that kind of organisation requires both honesty about current weaknesses and confidence about the possibilities that remain open before us.

2. THE YOUTH QUESTION: MATERIAL BASIS FOR A COMMUNIST LEAGUE

The necessity of a communist youth organisation in South Africa must be judged against the actual condition of the youth. The young people of the class in South Africa are arguably the most affected by the triple contradictions of unemployment, poverty and inequality. The data is unambiguous and damning.

2.1. The Labour-Market Picture (Q1 2026)

Statistics South Africa reports that in the first quarter of 2026, young people aged 15-34 made up 21.0 million of the 42.2 million working-age population — nearly half (49.7%) of all working-age people. Yet only 5.6 million of these young people were employed, 4.7 million were unemployed (an increase of 181,000 from the previous quarter), and 10.6 million were outside the labour force entirely. The overall youth (15-34) unemployment rate stood at 45.8%, while for those aged 15-24 it reached a staggering 60.9% — more than twelve times the International Labour Organisation’s estimated global rate of 4.9%.

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

2.2. Beyond Unemployment: The Full Material Condition

The youth question cannot be reduced to the labour market alone. The material condition of young people of the class extends across education, health, housing and the spatial geography of underdevelopment. These dimensions compound the crisis of unemployment and demand a holistic organisational response.

On education, the Constitution’s pledge that ‘the doors of learning and culture shall be opened’ (Freedom Charter) remains unfulfilled for the majority of young people. Graduate unemployment stands at 40.3% for those aged 15-24 — even qualification is no shield against the crisis. The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) is plagued by corruption and dysfunction, and a student-debt crisis blocks access and progression. The YCLSA must organise on campuses and in school communities for free, decolonised education and against the commodification of learning.

On health and social crisis, young people face an epidemic of gender-based violence, substance abuse, mental ill-health and gang violence. These are not private pathologies but structural outcomes — the human costs of a system that cannot absorb its own young, and that offers despair as the only horizon. A League that does not organise against GBV, drugs and criminality in its communities is absent from the lived struggle of the youth.

On the spatial dimension, the crisis is geographically uneven. Youth unemployment and exclusion are concentrated in former bantustans, townships and rural areas — the geography of colonial and apartheid underdevelopment that the NDR was meant to overturn. The League’s organisational footprint must therefore reach where the crisis is deepest, not only where it is most convenient.

These young people, denied a future by capitalism, find false refuge in what Karl Marx characterised as ‘lumpen’ activities: drugs and alcohol abuse, violent crime, and other expressions of despair. The year-on-year comparison reveals rising vulnerability: the NEET rate increased by half a percentage point between Q1 2025 and Q1 2026. The crisis is structural and worsening, not cyclical. Crucially, the burden is gendered: in Q1 2026, 39.2% of young women aged 15-24 were NEET, against 36.0% of young men — a gap of 3.2 percentage points that is widening.

2.3. The Freedom Charter and the Objective Basis for the League

The Freedom Charter declared that ‘the people shall govern’ and ‘the doors of learning and culture shall be opened.’ More than seven decades on, these pledges remain materially unfulfilled for the youth of the working class. The objective basis for the existence of the YCLSA therefore remains strong — indeed, stronger than at any point since re-establishment. The unfulfilled Charter, the deepening youth crisis, and the strategic necessity of a preparatory school for the Party all converge to demand a rebuilt League.

However, the existence of youth suffering does not automatically justify the League in practice. As I.B. Tabata cautioned in his letter to Nelson Mandela, an organisation must not exist for itself; it must justify its existence in relation to what role it plays, or intends to play, in the class struggle. In the current conjuncture, the YCLSA is struggling to justify its existence as cadre Tabata cautioned.

Questions for Congress

Is the YCLSA organising young people in the communities, campuses and workplaces where the crisis is deepest?

How should the League connect immediate struggles (education, GBV, drugs, services) to the strategic vision of socialism?

What does it mean, in practice, for the YCLSA to justify its existence in the current conjuncture?

How must the gendered character of the youth crisis shape our organisational priorities and structures?

3. CONSTITUTIONAL CHARACTER AND HISTORICAL MISSION OF THE YCLSA

The organisational redesign of the YCLSA must begin from the constitutional and historical character of the League itself. According to the 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 of our country and the globe. It is committed to the transformation of South Africa from capitalism to socialism and recognises the South African Communist Party (SACP) as the political party of socialism in our country, from which the YCLSA derives political and ideological guidance.

3.1. The Constitutional Character

The Constitution further defines the YCLSA as an autonomous youth wing of the SACP, a Marxist-Leninist youth formation, a preparatory school of the Party, and an organisation tasked with developing young cadres into communists, organising youth, fighting capitalism and all forms of oppression, and building working-class political and moral convictions among its members. Of particular importance is the constitutional framing of the National Democratic Revolution as ‘the shortest, most direct and suited road to socialism in the specific conditions of our society.’ These are not symbolic descriptions. They define the mission, class standpoint and organisational obligations of the League.

The Constitution commits the YCLSA to democratic centralism — a combination of freedom of discussion, unity of action, centralism on the basis of democracy, and unity in thinking and action. It commits the League to the principle of accountability and control, to the rejection of factions and personality cults, and to a unitary organisational form in which the National Congress is the supreme authority. Any honest assessment of organisational drift must measure the lived reality of the League against these exact constitutional commitments.

3.2. The Historical Mission

Historically, the League has always had a role larger than itself. Founded in 1922, banned in 1950 alongside the Communist Party, and re-established in 2003 following an SACP resolution, the YCLSA has repeatedly served as a school of communist formation, a nursery of future cadres, and a vehicle for linking youth militancy to the strategic interests of the working class. The current organisational question must be judged against that historical role, not merely against present weakness.

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

Comrades such as Moses Kotane, J.B. Marks, Yusuf Dadoo, Joe Slovo and Chris Hani exemplify the communist militant forged through discipline, study and struggle. Their example is a standing indictment of organisational shallowness. The League must draw on this lineage, not as nostalgia, but as a standard against which to measure and rebuild itself.

4. THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS: WHY A COMMUNIST YOUTH LEAGUE?

A discussion of organisational redesign that is not grounded in Marxist-Leninist theory will collapse into mere administration. The YCLSA is not a non-governmental organisation, a service delivery contractor, or a youth club. It is a communist youth formation, a preparatory school of the Party, and an instrument of class struggle. Its organisational forms must therefore flow from the theory that gives it purpose. As our leader Vladimir Lenin cautioned:

“Without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement. This idea cannot be insisted upon too strongly at a time when the fashionable preaching of opportunism goes hand in hand with an infatuation for the narrowest forms of practical activity.” - Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, What Is To Be Done? (1902)

4.1. Lenin on Theory and Organisation

Lenin’s insistence that revolutionary theory precedes and animates revolutionary movement is the foundational argument for a thinking YCLSA. The League cannot be merely an organisation of activity — protest, campaign, mobilisation — without the theoretical capacity to analyse conditions, explain them in class terms, and chart strategy. Where activity is severed from theory, it degenerates into spontaneity, and spontaneity surrenders the working class to bourgeois ideology. Lenin’s theory of the vanguard party of a new type is the theoretical basis for insisting that the YCLSA, as the youth detachment of the vanguard, must itself be organised with discipline, continuity and ideological purpose.

4.2. 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. The YCLSA is not a generic youth body; it is the communist youth organisation, and its distinctness — its class standpoint, its socialist horizon, its subordination of personal to collective interest — is not a luxury but a precondition of its effectiveness.

4.3. Sankara on Political Formation

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

Sankara’s warning speaks directly to the dangers of mobilising young people politically without ideological formation. A League that recruits and mobilises but does not educate produces not communists but foot-soldiers — vulnerable to manipulation, to factionalism, and to the very lumpen and anti-political impulses the League exists to combat. This is why the proposal for political schools at every level (Section 10) is not optional.

4.4. Gramsci on Hegemony and the War of Position

Antonio Gramsci’s theory of cultural hegemony illuminates why the absence of the YCLSA from the theatre of ideological struggle is so dangerous. The ruling class maintains its dominance not only through coercion but through hegemony — the shaping of common sense, the naturalising of its worldview, so that the exploited accept the terms of their exploitation as inevitable. In our communities, this hegemony manifests as right-wing, ethnonationalist and xenophobic explanations of suffering that target the vulnerable while exonerating power from accountability.

Gramsci distinguished between the ‘war of manoeuvre’ (open confrontation) and the ‘war of position’ — the long, patient struggle to contest and build hegemony within civil society. Where the YCLSA is absent from the war of position — where it produces no perspectives, no analyses, no local political notes — it concedes the ideological terrain entirely to the class enemy. As Marx taught, ‘the dominant ideas of any society are the ideas of the dominant economic class,’ and communists must continuously contest the ideological terrain.

4.5. The Vanguard and Its Youth Detachment

The SACP is the vanguard party of the working class. The YCLSA is not a rival to the Party but its youth detachment — autonomous in its organisational life, but deriving its political and ideological guidance from the Party, and constituting the preparatory school from which future communists are formed. The constitutional framing of the NDR as the shortest road to socialism binds the two: the League’s organisational work is, in the final analysis, a contribution to the Party’s strategic project of leading the working class through the NDR towards socialism and ultimately communism.

5. ASSESSMENT OF THE MANDATE OF THE 6TH NATIONAL CONGRESS

A congress that does not honestly assess the implementation of its predecessor’s mandate cannot formulate a credible mandate of its own. The 7th Congress must therefore take stock of what the 6th National Congress resolved on organisation and league building, measure what was implemented, and draw lessons for the period ahead.

5.1. The 6th Congress Mandate on Organisation

[INSERT: The specific organisational resolutions and mandate of the 6th National Congress on league building, structural redesign, political education, campaigns, and membership. To be populated by the Policy & Research Committee from the 6th Congress resolutions record.]

Notwithstanding the precise resolutions, the assessment below draws on the evident state of the organisation and the recurring organisational weaknesses identified across provincial reports and the national audit. Congress delegates are invited to enrich this assessment with their concrete experience.

5.2. Balance Sheet: Successes

Structural continuity. The YCLSA has maintained its national, provincial and district presence across the term, holding the organisational framework together despite resource constraints.

Survival of the preparatory function. The League continues to produce cadres who enter the Party and the broader movement, sustaining the historical role of the preparatory school.

[INSERT: Specific organisational achievements of the 6th NC term — provinces congressed, membership growth, campaigns conducted, etc.]

5.3. Balance Sheet: Shortcomings

Uneven implementation. The mandate was implemented unevenly across provinces and districts, reflecting the very structural weakness it was meant to address.

Persistence of dependency. The culture of reliance on national leadership persisted through the term rather than being reversed.

Weak ideological production. The production of perspectives, political notes and analytical documents from lower structures remained thin.

Thinning campaigns footprint. The League’s presence in practical community struggle remained inconsistent.

5.4. Lessons for the 7th Congress

The central lesson is that a mandate without organisational machinery to implement it remains ink on paper. The 7th Congress must therefore not only adopt a new mandate but explicitly address the implementation gap — by strengthening branch life, assigning clear functional responsibilities, resourcing political education, and building monitoring and accountability into the Programme of Action.

Questions for Congress

What did the 6th Congress specifically mandate on organisation, and how much was implemented?

Why did the culture of dependency persist despite the mandate, and what will reverse it now?

What enforcement and accountability mechanisms must the 7th Congress adopt to prevent another implementation gap?

6. CURRENT STATE: CONTRADICTIONS AND ORGANISATIONAL DRIFT

The conditions necessary for the existence of a communist League continue to exist. However, the YCLSA, which must be a platform and fighting tool for and by young people of the class, is characterised by serious contradictions which prevent it from playing its historic and revolutionary role. These contradictions must be named honestly if they are to be overcome.

6.1. Weak Provincial, District and Branch Structures

Whilst the YCLSA has structures in provinces, districts and branches, there is an overreliance on national leadership. There are few provinces, districts and branches with functional structures, clear programmes and communication platforms. Most of the visible work of the YCLSA is seen through the work done by national leaders. This reflects a problematic culture of dependency, wherein provinces and districts outsource their responsibilities to national leadership rather than taking initiative at the local level where the masses of young people actually are.

[INSERT: Current branch/district/provincial baseline data from the credentials audit to quantify this diagnosis.]

6.2. The Absence of Thinking Structures

YCLSA structures in provinces, districts and branches are evidently absent from the theatre of ideological struggle and contestation. There is an evident absence of perspectives, reports and policy documents from structures at these levels. Thus, the emerging right-wing, ethnonationalist and xenophobic thinking in our communities — which targets the vulnerable while exonerating power from accountability — remains largely uncontested by YCLSA structures. The absence of the YCLSA from this contest concedes the field to the class enemy.

6.3. The Absence of Campaigns

YCLSA structures are not engaged in campaigns aimed at changing the material situation of young people of the class. Young people are not organised in communities to fight for better schools, functional healthcare facilities, jobs, education and training opportunities, against drugs and criminality, against the lack of service delivery, and against the privatisation of water and electricity.

Notably, in the People’s Red Caravan — where the SACP is working with communities to build and rebuild infrastructure, establish community stores, and engage in subsistence and commercial farming organised in the logic of cooperatives — the YCLSA in provinces, districts and branches is largely absent. Young people could seriously benefit from a YCLSA version of the People’s Red Caravan.

6.4. The Collapse of the PYA

The YCLSA has not done sufficient work in relation to shaping the politics of the Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA). The PYA in its current state is effectively non-existent, with some of its components reduced to foot-soldiers defending the interests of the political elites of this country, particularly in their programme of neoliberalism, austerity and privatisation. This collapse deprives the progressive youth movement of a coordinating instrument.

6.5. On State Power and the Party

The YCLSA has failed to give practical meaning to how it will programmatically implement the resolution of the Party to contest elections independently, beginning with the upcoming Local Government Elections on 4 November 2026. There is no clarity on what strategic role the YCLSA will play in mobilising young people behind the Party — including the many young people who, according to polling by Ipsos, do not trust the Independent Electoral Commission to deliver free and fair elections.

7. THE CONSTITUTIONAL FORM VERSUS LIVED REALITY

A major task of this Congress is to compare the constitutional form of the YCLSA with its actual organisational life. The Constitution speaks clearly on democratic centralism, active membership, branch-based organisation, criticism and self-criticism, accountability of structures, political education and cadre development. The issue is not the absence of constitutional form. The issue is the practical distance between that form and the lived reality of the organisation. This distance may be understood as organisational drift.

The table below sets the constitutional standard against the observed reality, exposing the gaps that this paper asks Congress to close.

Table 1: Constitutional standard versus observed reality — the anatomy of organisational drift.

7.1. Democratic Centralism (§5.1(d))

The Constitution defines democratic centralism as freedom of discussion, unity of action, centralism on the basis of democracy, and the constant striving for unity in thinking and action. It commits the League to collective leadership and individual responsibility, to the binding character of decisions once taken, and to the prohibition of factions and personality cults. Rebuilding means making these principles lived, not merely recited.

7.2. Gender Representation and Inclusivity (§13, §4)

The Constitution requires that YCLSA leading committees comprise a minimum of 40% gender representation, and that all congresses, councils and conferences comprise a minimum of 40% gender representation. This is a constitutional floor, not a soft target. The empirical reality of the youth question — where young women carry the heavier burden of exclusion (NEET 39.2% vs 36.0%) — makes the gender question a matter of class. A League that fails to meet its own constitutional gender floor betrays both its constitution and the masses it claims to organise.

Beyond the gender floor, the Constitution commits the YCLSA to oppose ‘all forms of discrimination based on arbitrary grounds such as but not limited to disability and sexual orientation.’ A rebuilt League must therefore be genuinely inclusive of young people with disabilities and of LGBTQI+ young people — not as an add-on, but as an expression of the non-sexist, non-discriminatory character the Constitution demands. Congress must assess compliance with the 40% floor across all structures, and must address the inclusivity of comrades with disabilities and LGBTQI+ comrades in the life and leadership of the League.

7.3. Demarcations and Thresholds (§11)

The Constitution sets: a branch of not fewer than thirty members in good standing, ward-based, per campus or per workplace; a unit of at least six members as the first step towards a branch, which may not exist for more than six months without launching; and a district of at least fifteen branches or 450 members in good standing, from not fewer than eight branches. Where structures fall below these thresholds, the constitutional response is not to abandon them but to rebuild them — through disciplined recruitment, units as bridges, and consolidation of weak districts.

7.4. The Political Commission and Leadership Design (§7.3-§7.4)

The Constitution provides for a National Committee of not more than thirty members (twenty-six directly elected including six National Office Bearers, plus up to four co-opted), and a Political Commission elected by the National Committee to exercise its powers between plenary sessions. The six NOBs are the National Secretary, National Chairperson, National Treasurer, 1st Deputy National Secretary, 2nd Deputy National Secretary (campaigns and international work) and the Deputy National Chairperson. Organisational redesign must work with, not around, this constitutional architecture (see the structure diagram in Section 9).

7.5. Good Standing and Delegate Allocation (§6.1, §7.1)

The Constitution links good standing directly to organisational life: a member who fails to renew within three months of lapse ceases to be a member. Critically, branch delegates to Congress are allocated proportionally to membership in good standing. Good standing is therefore the constitutional hinge of representation itself — and the integrity of this Congress depends on it.

Questions for Congress

How widespread is non-compliance with the 40% gender floor, and what enforcement will guarantee it?

Which structures fall below the constitutional thresholds, and what is the reconfiguration plan?

How will the League make inclusivity (disability, LGBTQI+) real rather than rhetorical?

What must change so that good standing and delegate allocation are protected as the hinge of representation?

8. BRANCH RECONFIGURATION AND THE LOCAL ROOTING OF THE LEAGUE

The branch question lies at the heart of the league-building debate. Congress must ask whether the current branch design is equal to the tasks of the present period. The Constitution is clear: the base structure of the YCLSA is the branch, to be formed at a residential area, an institution of learning, or an industrial area. The branch must be ward-based, per campus, or per workplace, and must comprise not fewer than thirty members in good standing. A unit of at least six members may serve as the first step towards a branch, but may not exist for more than six months without being launched into a full branch.

8.1. The Lesson of the SACP’s Local Logic

This is where the lessons from the SACP’s stronger, voting-district-based local logic become relevant. The Party’s branch and sub-district model — systematically serviced, geographically rooted, and linked to the lived communities of members — offers an organisational discipline the League would do well to study. The League should not copy the Party mechanically, but it can and must learn from more localised and more systematically serviced forms of organisation. The branch must not be a name on a list; it must be a living site of recruitment, study, political education and struggle.

8.2. Proposals for Congress

Congress should consider the following measures to rebuild and reposition branches and districts:

Units as bridges. Where branches fall below thirty members, districts must form units of six or more members, with a binding six-month deadline to launch as full branches.

Operating centres. Every functional branch and district must have an operating centre — a regular meeting point, a communication platform, and a visible presence.

Programme of Action per branch. Every branch must adopt a simple, concrete Programme of Action tied to the immediate struggles of its locality.

Reporting and accountability. Branches must report upwards; districts and provinces must service and oversee downwards.

District consolidation. Districts below the fifteen-branch or 450-member threshold must be supported to reach threshold, or be consolidated.

[INSERT: Current branch and district numbers per province, from the credentials audit, to quantify the reconfiguration task.]

Questions for Congress

What concrete plan will rebuild branches that fall below the thirty-member threshold?

How will the League learn from the SACP’s VD-based local logic without mechanically copying it?

What reporting and accountability cycles will bind branches, districts and provinces together?

9. INTERNAL LEADERSHIP DESIGN: FUNCTIONAL PORTFOLIOS AND THE POLITICAL COMMISSION

If the League is serious about becoming a thinking and fighting organisation, Congress must confront the adequacy of its internal leadership design. The current period places multiple demands on the organisation at once: it must think, write, educate, organise, campaign, communicate, coordinate and report. Where these responsibilities remain too diffuse, the result is weak follow-through, overburdening of a few comrades, and poor continuity of work.

9.1. The Constitutional Architecture at a Glance

The figure below depicts the constitutional organisational structure of the YCLSA, from the supreme authority of National Congress down to the base unit. Organisational redesign must work within this architecture, strengthening functional portfolios and the day-to-day work of the Political Commission rather than creating parallel or unconstitutional structures.

Figure 2: YCLSA organisational structure per the 5th Congress Constitution (National Congress → National Council → National Committee → Political Commission; Provinces → Districts → Branches/Units).

9.2. Working Within the Constitutional Architecture

The Constitution provides for a Political Commission, elected by the National Committee, to exercise the powers of the NC between plenary sessions. The six National Office Bearers serve as the Political Commission, with the 2nd Deputy National Secretary constitutionally mandated to focus on campaigns and international work. The issue is not a deficit of constitutional form, but the need to ensure that functional portfolios are clearly assigned, serviced and held accountable within the Political Commission and the National Committee.

9.3. Functional Portfolios

Congress should direct the incoming National Committee and Political Commission to ensure clearly designated responsibility — through assigned convenors or portfolio desks — for the following areas of work, while preserving collective leadership:

Organisation and league building (membership, branches, districts, structural audits);

Political education and cadre development (schools, study circles, curricula);

Policy and research (perspectives, discussion documents, submissions);

Communications and publications (media, social media, the battle of ideas);

Elections and state power (the Party’s independent electoral project, voter registration);

International relations and solidarity (WFDY, solidarity campaigns, the Progressive Youth International Front — aligned to the 2nd DNS mandate);

Youth fronts and alliance work (PYA renewal, new left alliances);

Membership systems, administration and finance (data, good standing, levies, reporting).

Portfolios must be assigned with clear mandates, reporting cycles, and measurable deliverables — and reviewed at every Political Commission and National Committee meeting. [Constitutional note: the functional-portfolio model operates within the existing Political Commission architecture and does not require amendment; it is a matter of internal discipline and delegation under §7.3(d)(xiii) and §7.4.]

Questions for Congress

How will functional portfolios be assigned, held accountable, and reviewed?

How will the 2nd Deputy National Secretary’s constitutional mandate (campaigns and international work) be operationalised?

What mechanisms will prevent the overburdening of a few comrades and ensure continuity of work?

10. A THINKING YCLSA: POLITICAL EDUCATION AND THE STRUGGLE OF IDEAS

A thinking YCLSA is one that develops collective political capacity. It is a League whose members can analyse conditions, explain them in class terms, contest hostile ideas and educate others. The present conjuncture makes this urgent because young people are constantly exposed to liberal, xenophobic, patriarchal and anti-communist explanations of their suffering. If the League is absent from the struggle of ideas, it leaves the terrain open to class enemies.

10.1. Political Education at Every Level

Congress should place political education at the centre of organisational life. The League must establish a systematic political education programme: one political education and training school per province, one per district, and one per branch. These must be led by qualified, experienced and seasoned cadres of the movement, drawing on the SACP’s own cadre development resources and the classical texts of Marxism-Leninism.

10.2. The Curriculum of Communist Formation

The political schools must build a common theoretical foundation across the membership. At minimum, the curriculum should include:

Classical Marxism-Leninism — Marx and Engels (the Manifesto, Principles of Communism), Lenin (What Is To Be Done?, State and Revolution), and the theory of the vanguard party.

The South African road to socialism — the NDR, the SACP Programme, the Freedom Charter, and the strategic relationship between the NDR and socialism.

YCLSA history and constitution — the founding of 1922, the underground, re-establishment in 2003, and the constitutional obligations of membership.

Political economy of the present conjuncture — unemployment, neoliberalism, austerity, the socialisation of key monopolies, and the material conditions of the youth.

Contemporary theory and the battle of ideas — Gramsci on hegemony, Sankara on political formation, and the contestation of right-wing, ethnonationalist and xenophobic ideology.

10.3. A Writing and Reflection Culture

Every branch should become a site of study and political explanation. Every district should produce some level of structured reflection. Every province should be expected to carry political education as part of normal work. The League must rebuild a writing culture — the regular production of local perspectives, branch analyses, and ideological interventions — so that it returns to the theatre of ideological contestation. This is the practical meaning of Gramsci’s war of position.

Questions for Congress

What curriculum should bind the political schools at every level?

How will the League measure whether it is producing thinking structures, not just hosting events?

How will experienced cadres be deployed to lead political education without overburdening them?

11. A FIGHTING YCLSA: CAMPAIGNS, MASS WORK AND ROOTEDNESS

A fighting YCLSA is one that is rooted in practical struggle. It must be found in local campaigns around jobs, education, local services, anti-drug work, anti-GBV, public healthcare and community accountability. There must not be a community where the YCLSA exists, and young people are not organised and fighting.

11.1. Core Campaign Areas

Service delivery — demanding functional services and opposing privatisation of water and electricity;

Jobs and the economy — youth employment, the socialisation of monopolies, cooperative development;

Anti-crime and anti-drugs — reclaiming communities from substance abuse and gangsterism;

Anti-GBV — organising young people, especially young men, against gender-based violence and patriarchy;

Anti-corruption — holding political and business elites accountable;

Education — for better schools, free education, and against NSFAS corruption and the student debt crisis.

11.2. The Institutionalisation of the People’s Red Caravan

The YCLSA must officially adopt the People’s Red Caravan, tailor it around the needs of young people of the class, and roll it out in every community across the country. The PRC — through which the SACP works with communities to build and rebuild infrastructure, establish community stores, and engage in subsistence and commercial farming organised in the logic of cooperatives — is arguably the most sustainable and progressive intervention available to deal with the existential crisis of unemployment facing the youth. A youth-centred PRC could combine cooperative formation, skills development, community infrastructure, and food security, directly addressing the lumpenisation of the youth through productive, collective work.

Questions for Congress

What should a youth-centred People’s Red Caravan look like in practice?

How will the League ensure there is no community where the YCLSA exists but young people are not fighting?

What resources and partnerships (with the Party, unions, communities) are needed to sustain campaigns?

12. MEMBERSHIP, CADRE DEVELOPMENT AND THE REPRODUCTION OF THE LEAGUE

Congress must treat membership as a strategic issue. Recruitment must be linked to induction, branch placement, political education and active participation. The Constitution makes induction mandatory for all new members, and links good standing to renewal within three months of lapse, to the payment of fees and levies, and to active participation in a branch, cell or unit. Good standing must be treated as a living organisational condition rather than a mere technical label.

12.1. From Recruitment to Integration

Systematic induction — every new member undergoes induction, signs the constitutional declaration, and is placed in an active branch, cell or unit;

Clear expectations — members understand their duties: study, activity, payment of dues, adherence to the Code of Conduct;

Active branch life — members are drawn into study circles, campaigns and the Programme of Action, not merely added to a list;

Retention through development — members are developed into cadres through political education, mentorship, and deployment to responsibility.

12.2. Good Standing as a Financial and Organisational Question

The Constitution empowers the National Committee to set membership fees and levies. The financial self-reliance of the League depends on disciplined collection. Good standing is therefore both an organisational and a financial condition. The National Committee should review the fee and levy system to ensure it is systematic, collectable, and sufficient to resource the League’s work.

13. DEMOCRATIC CENTRALISM, DISCIPLINE AND ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE

Democratic centralism must be treated as a living organisational method. It implies accountability, criticism and self-criticism, and the rejection of factionalism and personality cults. The current weaknesses of the League suggest that these principles are not always being lived with consistency.

13.1. Discipline as a Weapon of the Organisation

Discipline is the overall responsibility and prerogative of the National Committee. The Constitution provides for Disciplinary Committees of not fewer than five members, with the National Disciplinary Committee appointed by the National Committee. The Political Commission may direct that proceedings be heard at a higher level. Notice must be given at least fourteen working days before a hearing, with due process. Discipline should not be used to stifle debate, nor as interference in private lives unless conduct constitutes a violation. Expulsion may be imposed only by the National Committee; lower structures may only recommend.

13.2. Anti-Factionalism and Collective Culture

The Constitution forbids all forms of factions, factionalism and personality cults. The Code of Conduct lists the sowing of factionalism, racism, sexism or tribalism as a serious offence. Congress must discuss how to strengthen discipline, implementation, criticism, anti-factionalism and collective organisational culture — building a culture in which criticism and self-criticism are valued as instruments of collective improvement, not weaponised for factional ends.

13.3. Internal Resolution of Disputes

The Constitution is clear that the YCLSA reserves all rights and the ultimate say over internal organisational, political and ideological matters. A member who approaches a court over such matters is deemed to have automatically separated from the YCLSA. This underscores the principle that disputes within the movement must be resolved within the movement, through its constitutional structures.

Questions for Congress

How will the League make criticism and self-criticism a lived practice rather than a slogan?

What is the balance between discipline and the freedom of discussion that democratic centralism requires?

How will factionalism be combated structurally, not only after it has caused damage?

14. ADMINISTRATION, FINANCE AND MATERIAL CAPACITY

The League’s crisis is also material and administrative. Weak records, weak reporting, weak communication systems, weak servicing and fragile membership data all become political problems because they weaken branch life and organisational continuity. Congress must therefore treat administration, finance and material capacity as integral parts of organisational rebuilding rather than as secondary technical concerns.

14.1. The Political Importance of Administration

Administrative weakness is not a neutral failing. Where membership data is unreliable, delegate allocation — which the Constitution ties proportionally to membership in good standing — is compromised, and the legitimacy of congress itself is threatened. Where financial records are weak, the League cannot account to its members or its congress, and cannot plan or sustain campaigns. Where communication systems are weak, the political line does not reach the branches, and the branches cannot feed reality upwards. Administration is, in this sense, the connective tissue of democratic centralism.

14.2. Financial Self-Reliance

The National Treasurer is constitutionally responsible for the safe keeping and administration of the assets and finances of the YCLSA, and for presenting audited financial statements and a Financial Report to Congress. The League must build financial self-reliance through the disciplined collection of membership fees and levies, transparent financial management, and the cultivation of fundraising capacity that does not compromise political independence. The incoming National Committee must present a credible financial plan to the first National Council.

14.3. Digital and Communications Infrastructure

Congress should direct the building of basic digital infrastructure: a reliable membership database, a national communications platform linking all structures, and a publications and media capacity capable of contesting the battle of ideas. The commitment to a paperless e-conference through QR-coded discussion documents is a welcome step toward modernisation, and should be extended into the routine administration of the League.

15. ALLIANCE WORK, PYA RENEWAL AND YOUTH FRONTS

The YCLSA cannot confine itself only to its own internal life. It must think strategically about the wider youth terrain. The PYA framework, developed by the National Secretary’s office, raises useful lessons about coordination, leadership roles, communication, summit review and anti-neoliberal youth politics. These lessons should inform the League’s approach to broader youth-front and alliance work.

15.1. Rebuild the PYA on Anti-Neoliberal Foundations

The PYA in its current state is effectively non-existent, with some components reduced to foot-soldiers for the political elites’ programme of neoliberalism, austerity and privatisation. The politics of the PYA must be updated to the current conjuncture. More importantly, the PYA must cease being a tool for the political elite of the former liberation movement and become a fighting force of young people in the country and globally. The YCLSA must play a leading role in this renewal.

The PYA must be rebuilt on clear anti-neoliberal foundations: the rejection of the commodification of education, health and social services; the defence of public ownership of key sectors; the demand for a developmental state that centres people over profits; and the advancement of the NDR. The YCLSA’s designated role within a renewed PYA is the leadership of the ideological and political training sector — coordinating political education, study circles and campaigns across all PYA components (see Annexure A).

15.2. The Tension with the SACP’s Independent Electoral Path

The renewal of the PYA must reckon honestly with a new strategic reality. The SACP has resolved to contest elections independently, beginning with the Local Government Elections on 4 November 2026. The PYA was historically ‘united under the banner of the ANC.’ A renewed PYA cannot be rebuilt on blind loyalty to a governing party in drift, nor can it ignore the strategic repositioning of its own mother body, the SACP. The renewal of the PYA must therefore be grounded in the anti-neoliberal, pro-NDR content of the alliance — in the spirit of the Conference and Council of the Left — not in mechanical allegiance to any single party. This is the practical meaning of ‘rescuing the NDR.’

15.3. Build New Alliances

The YCLSA must purposefully build new alliances with other youth organisations and mobilise them behind the struggle for socialism. Consistent with the idea of the Conference and Council of the Left, the YCLSA must establish similar structures in communities that agree with the building of socialism as the only alternative to the domestic neoliberal tyranny and the global imperialism of the present period. The League must be present wherever young people are organised — in faith-based structures (such as SUCA), in student formations, and in the young workers’ structures of COSATU-affiliated unions.

Questions for Congress

On what political foundations should a renewed PYA be built, given the SACP’s independent electoral path?

What is the YCLSA’s concrete role in leading the PYA’s ideological and political training sector?

Which new youth alliances should the League prioritise building, and how?

16. ELECTIONS, STATE POWER AND THE MUNICIPAL QUESTION

The YCLSA has failed to give practical meaning to how it will programmatically implement the resolution of the Party to contest elections independently, beginning with the upcoming Local Government Elections on 4 November 2026 — now approximately 120 days away. This terrain must not be left abstract. The League must translate broad political positions into local youth work around democratic participation, local government accountability and state power in everyday life.

16.1. A Massive Youth Voter Registration Campaign

The YCLSA must set up election structures and give them targets on voter registration, with each programme and target consistent with the concrete situation of that community. This programme must specifically target the final Voter Registration weekend scheduled by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). The League must engage the many young people who, according to polling by Ipsos, do not trust the IEC to deliver free and fair elections — addressing their scepticism through organisation and political education, not by abandoning the electoral terrain to the right.

16.2. The YCLSA’s Role in the Party’s Electoral Project

The question is what strategic role the YCLSA will play in mobilising young people behind the Party. As the youth detachment of the SACP, the League must become the organised youth instrument of the Party’s independent electoral project — mobilising on campuses, in taxi ranks, in workplaces and in communities. Congress should direct the incoming leadership to develop, jointly with the Party’s elections command, a clear YCLSA programme of action for the 2026 Local Government Elections, with targets, deployees and accountability mechanisms.

16.3. Local Government as a Site of Struggle

Beyond elections, the League must treat local government as a continuing site of struggle — holding councillors and municipalities accountable, opposing privatisation and austerity at the local level, and organising communities around the People’s Red Caravan and cooperative development. State power is not only won at the ballot box; it is exercised and contested in the wards, clinics, schools and service-delivery points where young people live the consequences of neoliberal governance.

Questions for Congress

What concrete programme of action will the YCLSA run for the 4 November 2026 Local Government Elections?

How will the League engage youth who distrust the IEC, rather than abandoning the electoral terrain?

How will local government be treated as a continuing site of struggle, beyond elections?

17. INTERNATIONALISM AND THE PROGRESSIVE YOUTH INTERNATIONAL FRONT

The youth question in South Africa is inseparable from the wider structures of global capitalism, imperialism, war, debt and anti-worker restructuring. The YCLSA cannot and must not confine itself to domestic struggles; it must assume a progressive internationalist posture. This is also a constitutional duty: the 2nd Deputy National Secretary is mandated to focus on campaigns and international work.

17.1. Anti-Imperialist Solidarity Campaigns

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 young people of the class in South Africa is part of a global struggle against imperialism. The League must build anti-imperialist education into its political schools, so that members understand the global system that produces local suffering.

17.2. The World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY)

The YCLSA must deepen its engagement with the World Federation of Democratic Youth, of which the National Secretary serves on the General Council. The WFDY provides a platform for international coordination with communist and progressive youth organisations globally. The League must use this platform to build solidarity, exchange experience, and coordinate campaigns against imperialism and war.

17.3. Build a Progressive Youth International Front

The YCLSA must seek to build a Progressive Youth International Front, which will fight against imperialism and struggle for building socialism globally. Drawing on the traditions of international communist youth solidarity — the historical Komsomol, the Communist Youth of Greece (KNE), the Young Communist League of Britain, and the broader anti-imperialist youth movement — the League must contribute to the construction of a coordinated global youth force against imperialism. This is the international dimension of ‘advancing towards people’s power.’

Questions for Congress

Which international solidarity campaigns should the League prioritise, and how will they be sustained?

How will the League use its WFDY General Council representation to build the Progressive Youth International Front?

How should anti-imperialist education be built into the political schools?

18. PROGRAMME OF ACTION (2026-2030)

A mandate without a programme of action is merely a statement of intent. The following Programme of Action translates the analysis and proposals of this document into concrete tasks, with responsible structures, indicative deadlines, and resource considerations. It is organised by horizon. A monitoring and evaluation framework follows in Section 22.

18.1. Year 1 Priorities (2026-2027)

18.2. Medium-Term Tasks (2027-2029)

Political schools at district and branch level rolled out systematically, with a common curriculum and trained facilitators.

Campaigns institutionalised in every functional branch — a minimum Programme of Action per branch, tied to local struggles.

The YCLSA Red Caravan scaled to multiple provinces, with cooperative enterprises and community infrastructure projects.

New left youth alliances established in communities and sectors, in the spirit of the Conference and Council of the Left.

International solidarity campaigns (Palestine, Cuba, Venezuela, Western Sahara, Swaziland) sustained and deepened.

Progressive Youth International Front — initial consultations and platform-building with fraternal organisations.

18.3. Long-Term Tasks (2029-2030)

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

A mature cadre pipeline feeding prepared communists into the Party.

An established YCLSA Red Caravan as a recognised programme of youth-centred socialist construction.

A functioning Progressive Youth International Front contributing to global anti-imperialist coordination.

18.4. Indicative Budget Considerations

[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; digital infrastructure; and administration. The budget must be presented to the first National Council for adoption.]

19. RISK ANALYSIS

A paper that proposes major organisational change must honestly anticipate what could go wrong. The following risks are identified for the consideration of Congress, together with proposed mitigations. Naming these risks is an act of political maturity, not pessimism.

Table 2: Identified risks of the proposed programme and their mitigations. The single greatest risk is the repetition of the implementation gap; the M&E framework (Section 22) is the primary safeguard against it.

20. DRAFT RESOLUTIONS TO CONGRESS

The following draft resolutions are presented for the consideration, enrichment and adoption of Congress. They are formatted to enable delegates to debate and adopt them as the binding mandate of the 7th National Congress.

RESOLUTION 1: ON ORGANISATIONAL REBUILDING AND STRUCTURAL AUDIT

This Congress notes that:

1. The YCLSA suffers organisational drift, with weak and uneven structures and a culture of dependency on national leadership.

2. Many structures may fall below the constitutional thresholds for branches and districts.

This Congress believes that:

1. A rooted, self-reliant League requires functional branches and districts meeting constitutional thresholds.

This Congress therefore resolves to:

Direct the incoming National Committee to complete a national structural audit within 90 days, and to develop and implement a reconfiguration plan with measurable targets.

Mandate the formation of units as bridges to full branches where structures fall below threshold, with binding six-month launch deadlines.

Require every functional branch to adopt a local Programme of Action tied to the immediate struggles of its community, campus or workplace.

RESOLUTION 2: ON POLITICAL EDUCATION AND CADRE DEVELOPMENT

This Congress notes that:

1. The YCLSA is absent from the theatre of ideological struggle and contestation.

2. There is an absence of perspectives, reports and policy documents from lower structures.

This Congress believes that:

1. Without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement, and without ideological formation a soldier is a potential criminal.

This Congress therefore resolves to:

Establish political education and training schools at provincial, district and branch level, led by qualified, experienced cadres.

Adopt a common curriculum covering classical Marxism-Leninism, the South African road to socialism, YCLSA history and constitution, and the political economy of the present conjuncture.

Require every branch and district to produce regular perspectives, reports and political notes as part of normal work.

RESOLUTION 3: ON CAMPAIGNS, THE PEOPLE’S RED CARAVAN AND MASS WORK

This Congress notes that:

1. The YCLSA is not consistently present in practical community struggles.

2. The League is absent from the People’s Red Caravan.

This Congress therefore resolves to:

Officially adopt a youth-centred People’s Red Caravan, tailor it to the needs of young people, and roll it out across the country, with a launch within the first year.

Mandate organised campaigns in service delivery, jobs, anti-crime, anti-drugs, anti-GBV, anti-corruption and education in every community where the YCLSA exists.

RESOLUTION 4: ON THE PYA, ALLIANCES AND THE PROGRESSIVE YOUTH INTERNATIONAL FRONT

This Congress notes that:

1. The PYA is effectively non-existent and some components serve the neoliberal programme of the political elite.

2. The SACP has resolved to contest elections independently.

This Congress therefore resolves to:

Play a leading role in rebuilding the PYA on anti-neoliberal, pro-NDR foundations, taking leadership of the ideological and political training sector.

Build new left youth alliances in communities, in the spirit of the Conference and Council of the Left.

Initiate the building of a Progressive Youth International Front against imperialism and for socialism globally.

RESOLUTION 5: ON ELECTIONS, STATE POWER AND THE MUNICIPAL QUESTION

This Congress notes that:

1. The YCLSA has not given practical meaning to its role in the Party’s independent electoral project.

2. The Local Government Elections are scheduled for 4 November 2026.

This Congress therefore resolves to:

Direct the incoming leadership to develop, jointly with the Party’s elections command, a clear YCLSA programme of action for the 2026 Local Government Elections.

Launch a massive youth voter registration campaign targeting the final IEC registration weekend.

RESOLUTION 6: ON GENDER REPRESENTATION AND INCLUSIVITY

This Congress notes that:

1. The Constitution requires a minimum of 40% gender representation in leading committees and in congresses, councils and conferences.

2. Young women carry a heavier burden of exclusion (NEET 39.2% vs 36.0% for young men).

This Congress therefore resolves to:

Enforce compliance with the 40% constitutional gender floor across all structures as a matter of discipline; commission a compliance audit at the first National Council.

Ensure the genuine inclusion of young people with disabilities and of LGBTQI+ comrades in the life and leadership of the League, in line with the constitutional commitment to oppose all forms of discrimination.

21. ALIGNMENT TO THE CONGRESS THEME

The Congress theme — “Youth to the Front: Rescue the NDR. Advance Towards People’s Power!” — is not a slogan but an organisational instruction. The table below maps each cluster of proposals in this paper to the two strategic imperatives of the theme, demonstrating that league building is itself the practical work of rescuing the NDR and advancing towards people’s power.

Table 3: How each proposal cluster advances both imperatives of the Congress theme.

22. MONITORING AND EVALUATION FRAMEWORK

A mandate that cannot be measured cannot be implemented. The following framework provides the basic architecture for monitoring implementation. The incoming National Committee must operationalise and resource it.

22.1. Reporting Cycles

Branches report to the District Committee at least monthly, including membership, good standing, campaigns and political education activity.

Districts report to the Provincial Committee at least monthly.

Provinces report to the National Committee / Political Commission quarterly.

The National Committee reports to the National Council and to Congress, including a consolidated implementation report against the Programme of Action.

22.2. Key Indicators (Illustrative)

22.3. Accountability

The National Committee, as the highest decision-making body between congresses and councils, is the custodian of the implementation of the Congress mandate. The Political Commission must monitor implementation between NC plenaries and escalate failures for action. A mid-term National Council should be convened to assess implementation and take corrective action where required.

23. CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS IMPLICATIONS

Most proposals in this paper can be implemented within the existing Constitution through internal discipline, delegation and the operationalisation of the Political Commission. However, several proposals touch on constitutional questions that Congress may wish to refer to the Constitutional Amendments Booklet. These are flagged here for coherence between the two documents.

Table 4: Constitutional implications of the proposals. The principal finding is that organisational redesign does not, in the main, require constitutional amendment — it requires the discipline to implement the Constitution as written. Where Congress wishes to go further (for example, raising the gender floor beyond 40%), that becomes an explicit amendment requiring two-thirds support and three-month prior circulation (§14).

24. CONCLUSION

The central question before the 7th National Congress is whether the YCLSA will consciously rebuild itself in order to become equal to the present conjuncture. The objective basis for a communist youth organisation has never been stronger: with youth unemployment at 45.8% and the NEET rate at 45.6%, the suffering of the young people of the class cries out for organisation. Yet the League is held back by organisational drift — the distance between its constitutional form and its lived reality.

To become a thinking and fighting YCLSA requires more than words. It requires stronger branch life, clearer functional responsibilities, deeper political education, rooted campaigns, the institutionalisation of a youth-centred People’s Red Caravan, a renewed PYA on anti-neoliberal foundations, new left youth alliances, a massive youth voter registration drive, and the construction of a Progressive Youth International Front. It requires honesty about weakness, confidence about possibility, and the discipline to measure implementation.

The Congress theme — Youth to the Front: Rescue the NDR. Advance Towards People’s Power! — is not a slogan. It is an organisational instruction. If the youth are to be placed at the front, the League must organise them. If the NDR is to be rescued, the revolutionary content of youth work must be rebuilt. If the movement is to advance towards people’s power, the organisational forms of the League must become rooted, disciplined and effective. That is the task before the 7th National Congress.

Forward to the 7th National Congress! Youth to the Front: Rescue the NDR, Advance Towards People’s Power! Socialism is our lifetime! Amandla!

Comradely Always,

Cde Mzwandile Thakhudi National Secretary Young Communist League of South Africa (Ufasimba) On behalf of the Policy & Research Committee (League Building Commission) Ref: YCLSA/PR/7NC/DISC-003 | Draft v2.0 | 7 July 2026

ANNEXURE A: PYA COORDINATION FRAMEWORK — ORGANISATIONAL IMPLICATIONS

This annexure summarises the key organisational lessons and implications of the PYA Coordination Framework (drafted by the National Secretary’s office, September 2025) as they bear on League building. The full framework is presented as a separate document for PYA consideration and adoption.

The Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) is a strategic coalition of progressive youth organisations, formed to advance the National Democratic Revolution. The framework outlines coordination mechanisms, structures, roles and protocols to enhance unity, efficiency and impact across the alliance.

A.1. Components of the PYA

A.2. PYA Structures and Meeting Rhythms

Alliance Secretariat — operational hub; convenes at least monthly; ensures gender parity (at least 50% women).

Alliance Political Council — strategic oversight; convenes quarterly.

PYA Summit — highest decision-making forum; convenes annually to adopt resolutions and set the agenda.

A.3. The YCLSA’s Designated Leadership Role

The framework designates the YCLSA to lead the PYA in the ideological and political training sector. By virtue of its emphasis on ideological education, class consciousness, anti-imperialist struggles and socialist principles, the YCLSA has a duty to coordinate political training programmes, study circles, workshops and campaigns that deepen understanding of the NDR, workers’ rights and anti-capitalist perspectives across all PYA components. This is the organisational bridge between the League’s internal league-building work and its alliance responsibilities.

A.4. Anti-Neoliberal Programme of the PYA

A renewed PYA must be grounded in a clear anti-neoliberal programme: the rejection of the commodification of education, health and social services; the defence of public ownership of key sectors; progressive taxation; the prioritisation of youth employment through public works and skills development; and the critique of neoliberal globalisation through solidarity with international progressive movements.

ANNEXURE B: YOUTH CONDITIONS SNAPSHOT (Q1 2026)

This annexure presents the key youth labour-market and NEET figures for Q1 2026, together with a short interpretive note on their significance for youth organisation. All figures are verified against Statistics South Africa primary releases.

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

B.1. Interpretive Note

These figures confirm that the youth question is structural and worsening, not cyclical. The NEET rate is rising year-on-year. Young women carry the heavier burden of exclusion. South Africa’s youth unemployment is an extreme global outlier. Education is no shield — even graduates face high unemployment. The material basis for a communist youth organisation is therefore overwhelming; what is lacking is the organisational capacity to act on it.

ANNEXURE C: CONSTITUTIONAL EXTRACTS RELEVANT TO ORGANISATIONAL REDESIGN

The following extracts from the YCLSA Constitution and Code of Conduct (as amended at the 5th National Congress, Alice, 2018) are the provisions most directly relevant to the organisational redesign proposed in this document. Delegates are advised to read them in the context of the full Constitution.

C.1. On Character (§5)

“The YCLSA shall be an independent and voluntary youth formation of young people from the age of 14 to the age of 35 that derives its organisational existence from and functions as an autonomous youth wing of the SACP... a Marxist-Leninist youth formation that derives political and ideological guidance from the SACP, and shall take its own decisions and shape its own policies and programmes which shall not be in conflict with the major policies and programmes of the SACP.”

C.2. On Democratic Centralism (§5.1(d))

“Democratic centralism involves freedom of discussion, unity of action, and it is a combination of democracy under centralised guidance and centralism on the basis of democracy... the decisions taken shall be binding on all individual members, the decisions made by higher structures shall be binding on all lower structures.”

C.3. On Demarcations (§11)

“A District shall comprise of at least fifteen branches or four hundred and fifty members in good standing who shall not come from less than eight branches in good standing.” “The YCLSA branch shall comprise of not less than thirty members in good standing... The branch of the YCLSA shall be ward-based, per campus or workplace.” “A unit of the YCLSA consisting of a minimum of six members [may be formed] as the first step towards the establishment of a branch, provided such a unit may not be allowed to exist and function for more than six months.”

C.4. On Gender (§13)

“YCLSA leading committees shall at least comprise of a minimum of 40% gender representation. All congresses, councils and conferences of the YCLSA shall at least comprise of a minimum of 40% gender representation.”

C.5. On Quorum and Amendments (§12, §14)

“The quorum for all YCLSA meetings or structures or committees shall be fifty percent plus one (50% + 1).” “The YCLSA constitution may be amended by two thirds of the delegates at a National Congress or National Council provided the proposed constitutional amendments to be considered have been circulated within the organisation at least three months prior.”

REFERENCES

1. YCLSA Constitution and Code of Conduct, as amended at the 5th National Congress, Alice, 06-09 December 2018.

2. Statistics South Africa (2026). South Africa’s Youth and the Labour Market in Q1:2026. Released 12 May 2026. Available: www.statssa.gov.za

3. Statistics South Africa (2026). Quarterly Labour Force Survey, Q1:2026. Statistical Release P0211. Released 13 May 2026.

4. Marx, K. and Engels, F. (1848). Manifesto of the Communist Party.

5. Engels, F. (1847). Principles of Communism.

6. Lenin, V.I. (1902). What Is To Be Done?

7. Lenin, V.I. (1917). The State and Revolution.

8. Gramsci, A. Prison Notebooks (selections on hegemony and the war of position).

9. Sankara, T. Selected speeches on political education and ideological formation.

10. Tabata, I.B. Letter to Nelson Mandela (on the necessity of organisation).

11. SACP Constitution.

12. SACP Programme: The South African Road to Socialism.

13. Freedom Charter (1955).

14. YCLSA Political Report to the 7th National Congress (forthcoming).

15. Draft National Coordination Framework for the Progressive Youth Alliance (YCLSA, September 2025).

16. Building an Effective and Exciting YCL (YCLSA organising material).