On Friday, during a UK Youth Parliament sitting of the House of Commons, members of UK Youth Parliament sang rounds of “Oh Jeremy Corbyn”. With an average age of 15 in the Youth Parliament, we once again see the incredible impact of the Corbyn movement on winning over young people.
By promising to seriously tackle issues affecting those under-18, including better and free education, ending low-wage, low-skill employment, lowering the voting age, fighting for LGBT rights, and investing in public transport through nationalisations, it is no surprise that the Corbyn movement is able to energise young people. More than anything it’s Corbyn’s bold, anti-establishment ideas that have won the youth over to his side.
This support from the UK Youth Parliament comes after years of campaigning by right-wingers to impose strict penalties on charities, like the Youth Parliament, if they promote political ideas. The fact that the UK Youth Parliament is legally not allowed to promote political ideas is the kind of nonsense only a right-winger could dream up. any Any hint of politics on the part of a charity can be met with huge attacks on funding and the loss of charitable recognition.
The fact is, though, that any serious attempt to defend the rights of young people cannot help but be political. The UK Youth Parliament is clearly radicalised, and this radicalism needs to be translated into the building of an organisation capable of carrying out Corbyn’s programme by breaking with capitalism and fighting for socialism, if it is to be effective. Young people, even as young as 12 in the case of the Youth Parliament, find themselves on the same side as the working class and must fight with the mass organisations of that class against the Tories and the capitalists to achieve socialist change. Link up with the Unions, link up with the Labour Party and let the young join in with the fight for socialism!
