Discover 21st Century Socialism for Bridges of Unity
History of the Young Social Democrats
- 1905: The Intercollegiate Socialist Society is founded for "educating Americans about the need to extend democracy to every aspect of our society".
- 1907: Young People's Socialist League (YPSL) is founded as a youth circle in Chicago, IL. Individual groups form an organization called the Young People's Socialist Federation.
- 1913: YPSL becomes the youth affiliate of the Socialist Party of America (SPA).
- 1919: In October, the New York Young People's Socialist League splits from the SPA, declaring itself to be "an integral part of the international communist movement".
- 1921: The Intercollegiate Socialist Society changes its name to the League for Industrial Democracy.
- 1931: The Student League for Idustrial Democracy is formed.
- 1932: There is infighting between two factions in the SPA: the 'Left Wing' Militants vs the 'Right Wing' Old Guard. The Young People's Socialist League (whose membership has grown to about 2,500) sides with the militants. The Old Guard decides to leave the SPA and form Social Democratic Federation.
- 1935: The Student League for Industrial Democracy splits from the League for Industrial Democracy and, together with the National Student League, forms the National Student Union.
- 1936: The Worker's Party of the United States entered the SPA as part of the Trotskyist' 'French Turn'.
- 1937: This same Worker's Party of the United States is expelled from the SPA and form the Socialist Worker's Party. Most of the YPSL members left with them.
- 1945: The League for Industrial Democracy again constituted a Student League for Industrial Democracy, although the group remained small through the nineteen-fifties.
- 1952: The YPSL has 134 members, 62 of which were recruited in this year.
- 1953: The youth affiliate of the Independent Socialist League, formerly the Worker's Party, the Socialist Youth League makes overtures to the YPSL. In August, YPSL disaffiliates from the SPA.
- 1954: In February, YPSL mergers with the Socialist Youth League and form Young Socialist League.
- 1958: The Independent Socialist League dissolves, and the YPSL is reconstituted.
- 1959-1964: YPSL helps to form Student Peace Union. The YPSL divides into factions. The 'Left Wing' wants to create a mass labor party. Meanwhile, the 'Right Wing' wants realignment in the Democratic Party.
- 1960: The Student League for Industrial Democracy is renamed Students for a Democratic Society and becomes the largest and most influential left wing student group in the history of America.
- 1964: The 'Left Wing' gains control of the YPSL but later becomes itself broken into factions; the YPSL dissolves.
- 1965: The League for Industrial Democracy severs ties with Students for a Democratic Society.
- 1966: The Young People's Socialist League is reconstituted, although there is deep division in the organization over the Vietnam War. Dissidents, calling themselves the 'Coalition Caucus', back an immediate withdrawal. They identify themselves with a similar movement within the Socialist Party USA.
- 1969: Students for a Democratic Society is dissolved, due to internal fighting between factions.
- 1972: The 'Unity Caucus', another faction of the YPSL, reform the Young People's Socialist League as a youth group of the Social Democrats USA.
- 1973: The Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee is formed. Many of its leaders are former members of YPSL. They form their own 'Youth Section'. (After the 1983 merger with the New American Movement, this group will be called the Young Democratic Socialist.)
- 1976: YPSL changes its name to Young Social Democrats, while still incorporating the name Young People's Socialist League and maintaining its bank account in that name. Many former Young People's Socialist leaders, such as Carl Gershman (founding director, National Endowment for Democracy) and Joshua Muravchik (American Enterprise Institute), become neo-conservatives.
- 1989: Social Democrats USA continues using the name Young People's Socialist League for organizational reunions; another YPSL (YPSL.org) is reconstituted as an autonomous youth affiliate of the Socialist Party of the United States of America.
- 2006: On Martin Luther King, Jr's birthday, a new Students for a Democratic Society is declared. It has numerous high-school and college chapters. Many original leaders of Students for a Democratic Society, along with leaders of the Direct Action Tendency of the Socialist Party of the United States, are active in the organization. It is allied with the group Movement for a Democratic Society, in an effort to resurrect an organization of the same name developed in the late nineteen-sixties, for radicals older than students. There is also an organization called Foundation for a Democratic Society, which seeks to link the work of both Movement for a Democratic Society and Students for a Democratic Society.
- 2007: In June, YPSL.org holds a national convention with seven members in attendance. The convention calls for the formation of regional organizing committees and support for a joint project between the YPSL and the Socialist Party of the United States of America entitled "No War But Class War".
- 2007: Former members of YPSL hold a reunion on Labor Day weekend.
- 2008: The Young Social Democrats is reconstituted as a youth group of the Social Democratic Party of America/Social Democrats USA/Socialist Party of America.
