MONOPOLY CAPITALISM is causing worsening crises for young people across Britain. From the exploitation of the working class, oppression of large sections of the population, the removal of democratic rights, the drive to militarism and war, to the future of the planet and humanity hanging in the balance.

The ruling capitalist class is beleaguering young people, who face their own specific problems whether as young workers or students, including precarious employment, unemployment, underemployment, lack of decent affordable housing, low pay and climate change.

Lack of contact with the labour and progressive movements results in the frustration and disillusionment that some young workers and students feel, who have no direction to challenge the issues they face.

Socialism is the only alternative that can meet the needs of young people, the working class, humanity and the planet. Britain’s Road to Socialism (BRS) proposes the Alternative Economic and Political Strategy (AEPS) to challenge and ultimately defeat the ruling capitalist class in Britain.

As part of the AEPS, the labour movement must build and lead the united front to fight for a Left-Wing Programme (LWP) of policies that challenge monopoly capitalism and imperialism in the interests of the majority of the population.

The Young Communist League (YCL), as the youth wing of the Communist Party, needs to provide a vision for socialism and a practical way of achieving this to young people. One way of building mass support for this is by uniting left trends that have an actual, sustained base in the labour movement around policies that raise the confidence, consciousness and combativeness of working-class youth.

The YCL’s Youth Charter provides a set of immediate demands that appeal to the interests of young people, drawing them into the political class struggle alongside organising in the workplace.

It is a tool to recruit, organise and educate young workers and students on BRS to achieve peace and socialism in Britain, a tool for working class youth to get involved and organised beyond elections for a progressive alternative to monopoly capitalism.

An aim of the Youth Charter is to maximise support for progress and socialist revolution. A coherent Youth Charter and LWP are vital components of the AEPS, giving direction to those fighting against austerity and war, adding to young people’s confidence and combativeness as the working class wins realisable advances.

Young workers and students are up to the task of fighting for key demands in the Youth Charter, as evidenced by their massive contributions to the anti-war, anti-imperialist, peace, environmental and anti-austerity movements. The Youth Charter should unify organisations and campaigns for fair pay, terms and conditions, decent, affordable housing, education and environmental security, with the labour movement at the core of this activity.

A successful example of this strategy is the Charter for Women, launched by the Communist Party in 2003 and later adopted by the National Assembly of Women. The charter’s steering group had the aims of working “across the labour and women’s movements to publicise the charter, engage in debate, challenge bad practice, oppose the oppression of women and to encourage organisations to affiliate to the charter.”

This is to inspire a new generation of women activists and build the fight for women’s liberation through the trade unions and progressive women’s organisations discussing, adopting and promoting the charter. By 2012, 27 trade unions, several trades councils, as well as the People’s Charter in Britain, the forerunner of the People’s Assembly, had adopted the charter either in full or in principle.

The YCL can emulate the success of the Charter for Women and use the Youth Charter effectively in the labour and progressive movements to recruit, organise and educate a new generation of young communists and allies in fighting for the AEPS, LWP and BRS.

The overwhelming majority of the population must fight for and win their own liberation, therefore the trade union movement is crucial for building the united front against monopoly capitalism and imperialism.

Trade unions should unite workers around key demands for secure, fairly paid jobs, free jobs training and educational opportunities, plus decent affordable housing, which are central demands of the Youth Charter.

The Youth Charter should be promoted in young members’ networks and at young members’ conferences to ensure the trade union movement represents the paramount interests of young workers in Britain.

The LWP necessarily addresses economic, environmental, social, cultural, financial, democratic and foreign policy questions that challenge monopoly capitalism on every front. On top of this, the Youth Charter wins support of working-class youth to key points of the LWP.

This lays the groundwork for even more advanced left-wing policies to be debated, adopted and fought for at every level of the labour and progressive movements, building a popular youth movement and the mass struggle required for victory over the ruling capitalist class.

The liberation of the working class and youth can only be achieved by the working class and youth themselves. The Youth Charter’s demands for fair pay and terms and conditions, free education, and environmental security represent the fundamental interests of young people in Britain.

By uniting around the LWP, we can build the united front against monopoly capitalism and imperialism, rallying young workers and students to fight for peace, jobs and socialism in our lifetime.