League of Young Communists USA
The League of Young Communists USA is a radical-left political activist group that recruits young people to support Marxism-Leninism. It is the youth wing of the Party of Communists USA (not to be confused with the Communist Party USA). 1 The League opposes the European Union (EU), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and any Western policy it considers to be rooted in “imperialism.” 2
Contents
Although it offers little information about itself online, the League of Young Communists USA endorses protests for left-of-center causes, including the 2023 and 2024 Palestinian nationalist and anti-Israel demonstrations in Washington, D.C. 3
Initiatives
The League of Young Communists USA teaches youth to support Communist policies and how to engage in radical-left political activism. 4 The League requires its members to be at least 18 years old, or to obtain parental approval to join the League. 1 In its “Guide to Activism,” the League of Young Communists USA warns its members to “never setup [sic] in a dominantly right-wing area where the possibility of being jumped is high.” 4
The League of Young Communists USA hosts a virtual congress for socialist and communist youth movements, the second of which took place in August 2022. During the congress, international communist or socialist groups provide an update on the state of the communist movement in its region. 5
The League of Young Communists USA portrays communist political theorists and dictators in an honorable fashion, including Soviet dictators Vladimir Lenin and Josef Stalin and German political theorist Karl Marx. 6 7 8
In June 2024, the organization cleaned and refurbished a bronze statue of Lenin that sits in Seattle, Washington and declared in a social media post: “Lenin lived, Lenin lives, and Lenin will live!” 9
Network
The League of Young Communists USA is connected to the Peoples School For Marxist-Leninist Studies, an online communist propaganda resource. The League also works with The Daily Worker USA, an online publication that publishes news related to the communist movement. The League supports the New Outlook Publishers, the official publishing house of its parent group, the Party of Communists USA. 10
The League of Young Communists USA also claims to have expanded its influence within the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY), a global communist youth coalition. 11
Protests
The League of Young Communists USA endorsed the 2024 “March on Washington for Gaza,” a Palestinian nationalist and anti-Israel protest in Washington, D.C. that was sponsored by the American Muslim Task Force for Palestine, whose members include American Muslims for Palestine, the Muslim American Society (MAS), the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Muslim Legal Fund of America, and other pro-Palestinian groups. 3 12 Other groups that endorsed the protest include the Arab American Civil Rights League, the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center, the Palestinian Youth Movement, and Within Our Lifetime. 3 The League also endorsed a 2023 pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protest in Washington, D.C. in opposition to American aid for Israel. 13
The League of Young Communists USA endorsed the 2023 “Peace in Ukraine” protest in Washington, D.C. The march was in opposition to wars, including the Ukraine War, in which participants argued the United States has unnecessarily involved itself. Other groups that endorsed the protest include the Palestinian Youth Movement, Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, and other radical pro-Palestine groups. 14