18th Jan 1963.
Th» four nembers of the committee, R. Gillespie, Scotland, J.Barnes, North-VYest, M. Tallantire, London, and A.Jones, Wales, resizned on Saturday afternoon an hour after the start of the com mittee's normal quarterlymesting, at Transport House. Two other members, Miss J. Dugdale, Bastern region, and lire D. Ablitt, East Midlands, also walked off the comnittee refusing to take part in its activity. They are consicering thzir position. The last straw, according to the six members was the expulsion from the National Com= mittee by the tabour Party last month of three other members, which was carried out without any consultation with the No. Oniy two mom bers @f the original NC of the YS elected at thei: annual conference last Haster remait, although Transport House is attempting to find and appoint replacements for the missing seven members.
Ihe trouble of the YS bezan shortly after last Haster's con ~ ference which elected nine left-wingers out of a total of eleven. There folloved an'investigation' into the unofficial YS paper 'heep Left' and also ‘Young Guard', and ths investigation of the seven nen bers alleged to have been associated with these two papers. whe ine vestigation resulted in the proscription of 'heep Left' and the suspension of the three members of the NC associated with it. After representations to the NEC of the paper ‘Young Guard' was not proscribed although ea committees member associated with it was suspended for a time before being reinstated. During all this period the NC was cever fully representative of all areas. Tus expelled members represented in fact, one third of all Ys branches. At ths Autumns Labour Party Conference re-eated attempts were mace by delegates to get the whole matter aired. Not one single minute was found for the YS end suspiscions were rife that the platform had not beon enthusisatic to have th matter discus _sed. Throughout the whole year the main resolutions for political action passed at the YS conferences have not been acted upon and all attempts by the NC to implemnt then obstructed. In particular the repeated demand for the right of .olitical discussion at all leveld of the YS and for cemocratic control of their ‘official’ paper "New Advance" have been refused and the editorial control has remained in the hands of 47 year old National Youth Officer, Mr. Reg. Underhill. In their statem¢entthe four members who resizned yesterday pointed out that it was worse than useless to continue sitting on a committee which is entirely enrepresentativ? of the YS and is powerless to act on decisions of the YS.
The great danger as they sea it is tha. large numbers of Young eocialists, disgusted at the treatment of their national elected commit~ eé, Will leave the party at a time when it is vitally important for the th® party to be attracti™ as many young people as possible. The men bers who have resigned will continue to work as hard as ever for the iabout Farty in their branches and thcoir constituency partics. They sce, however, the bursoaucratic sabotag>s of the YS as part of a the campaign being waged by a section of the NEC and the leadership to whittle away democracy in the party and to undermine th: class and socialist basis of the party. They belicve that if the attack on the YS is successful then tho anti-socialist and anti-democratic elements in ths party will be immeasurcably strength ned. the YS are a vital foree for good within the perty. Inereasinzly in Council and Parliamentary elections it is thsy who are carr ying ths burden of work and it is they who are re,viving the Party's Organisation at all levels, from the Ward upwards. A party with little tolcrance for youth is ons which can have no confidence in the future. The ex=n-mbers of th: NC are convinced however that the mass of the party's rank and file will rally to the aid of the Yo and see that they eet full recognition of their grievances.
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