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Young Socialist League and Young Socialist Club of Wayne County collection
HLL.2019.032
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Contributing Institution:
Holt Labor Library at CSU Dominguez Hills
Title: Young Socialist League and Young Socialist Club of Wayne County collection
Creator:
Young Socialist League (U.S.)
Identifier/Call Number: HLL.2019.032
Physical Description:
1 box
Physical Description:
.42 Linear Feet
Date (inclusive): 1954-1961, undated
Abstract: The collection contains bulletins, newsletters, pamphlets, programs, constitutions, press clippings, and flyers published
by or relating to the Young Socialist League and the Young Socialist Club of Wayne County.
Language of Material: Collection material is in English.
The Young Socialist League and Young Socialist Club of Wayne County collection, 1954-1961, undated, contains one copy of the
Young Socialist Review, the Information and Discussion Bulletin of the Young Socialist League, as well as the
Left Wing Bulletin and one collection of writings published by the Young Socialist League. Also included is one file of press clippings as well
as one program, constitution, and pamphlet regarding the Young Socialist Club of Wayne County. One file of flyers concerning
the Youth Committee Against War and Anti-Fascism is present as well.
The collection is alphabetically arranged in one series.
The collection was processed by Allison Ransom in December 2020.
For information about citing archival material, see the
Citations for Archival Material guide, or consult the appropriate style manual.
The Young Socialist League and Young Socialist Club of Wayne County collection was donated to the Holt Labor Library in San
Francisco, California between 1992 and 2019, and were acquired by the Gerth Archives and Special Collections at California
State University, Dominguez Hills, in 2019.
There are no access restrictions on this collection.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Archives
and Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical
materials and not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Young Socialist League (YSL) Historical Note
The Young Socialist League (YSL) was established in February 1954 when the Socialist Youth League (SYL) merged with a faction
of the Young People's Socialist League (YPSL) in an effort to regroup socialist youth in the United States. The Socialist
Youth League was the youth chapter of the Workers Party, which was led by Max Shachtman and changed its name to the Independent
Socialist League (ISL) in 1950. The Young People's Socialist League was founded in 1907 and was the youth chapter of the Socialist
Party of America, until the Socialist Party forbade the YPSL from working with the SYL. In 1957, the National Executive Committee
of the YSL proposed joining the Socialist Party, which had merged with the Social Democratic Federation to become the Socialist
Party-Social Democratic Federation (SP-SDF). This led to the development of a left-wing caucus within the YSL that was opposed
to the merger, due to the SP-SDF's support of labor bureaucracy and the Democratic Party. The left-wing caucus was then forced
out of the YSL due to their dissenting opinion. In 1958, the SP-SDF recreated the YPSL, and the YSL merged with the YPSL in
August 1958.
Young Socialist Club of Wayne County Historical Note
The Young Socialist Club of Wayne County was established in August 1957. It was the only socialist youth group in the Detroit,
Michigan area at the time, and was formed in an attempt to group all left-leaning youth tendencies around the
Young Socialist magazine, the magazine of the Young Socialist Alliance, the youth arm of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). The Club held
public forms and business meetings in a SWP hall and sold the
Young Socialist magazine at Wayne State University, which defined the Club as Trotskyist. The Club attracted members from Detroit who had
become interested in socialism after the city experienced a period of unemployment.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Socialism -- United States