dy John Strauther (Stoke Newington Y.S.)
Over 250 Young Socialists attended the meeting on Sunday, September 5th, in the Mahatma Gandhi Hall, London, organised by the "Save the Young Socialists” campaigne The Campaign is protesting against proposed constitutional changes in the Young Socialists organisation. These would allow the Young Socialists' National Committee to be appointed by regional Labour Party executives instead of being elected by the Y.S, conference, abolition of the regional federations, and reduce the scope of the conference to discussing youth and organisational matters and documents prepared by Transport House on "Rebuilding Britain" end "Industrial Training for Youth",
Although several M.P.s supported the meeting, none was unable to attend. The main speakers were Mike Pilfram, John Palmer, Peter Taaffe and Mike Caffoor. All stressed that the attack on the Y.S. was a result of its political stand in relation to the Labour Government and its record, Because of its political ideas and criticism of the Labour Party in office, the Young Socialists movement had become an embarrassment to the Labour leaders. Many of those present were not willing to accept the new restrictive framework imposed on the Y.S. and intend to challenge it at the Labour Party and Young Socialists conferences. If the framework was accepted the political nature of the Young Socialists movement, established over the last five years would be lost, and no democratic national organisation remain.