18/11/2014
The African National Congress Youth League is founded
Date; 2 April 1944
The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) is the Youth wing of the African National Congress. It was formed in 1944 by members of the ANC who believed in African Nationalism, and wanted to follow an active policy focused on the mobilisation of the masses.
The President of the ANC at the time, Alfred Xuma was initially rather sceptical of the ANCYL and their ideas. The leaders who formed the ANCYL were among others, Anton Muziwakhe Lembede, Ashby Solomzi Mda, Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Oliver Tambo.
Anton Lembede became the first president of the ANCYL, which developed a manifesto in 1944 and published a program in 1949 which implemented by James Moroka and Walter Sisulu.
Below is an excrat from the official ANCYL website;
"Many more people moved to the cities in the 1940s to work in new factories and industries. They began to from their own community organizations - such as the Squatter's Movement - and trade unions. The militant ideas of the Youth League drew up a PROGRAM OF ACTION calling for strikes, boycotts and defiance. It was adopted by the ANC in 1949, the year after the National party came to power. The Program of Acion led to the Defiance Campaign of the 1950s"