Issue date: 23 May, 2006

JUVENTUD Y DEMOCRACIA

CONSULT RATES

JUVENTUD Y DEMOCRACIA

HISTORY

This issue commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Socialist Youth in Spain, a century of activity of this youth organisation through which the young socialists have participated in the changes and social and political processes which have taken place in our country throughout the last century.

The Socialist Youth was established on initiative of Tomas Meabe, after the I Congress of the National Federation of the Socialist Youth of Spain, Federacion Nacional de Juventudes Socialistas de España (FNJSE), which took place in April 1906. The Socialist Youth publishes an informative bulletin twice a year called Renovación which was first printed in 1907. In 1908 the Socialist Youth joined the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Party) and in the following years, from 1910 to 1914 strongly opposed the war against Morocco. During a brief period of time, they split from the PSOE and when they merged again overcame the Republic, a key historic and political moment in which the Socialist Youth had a spectacular growth. From 1,500 members in the Congress of 1929, the number rose to 12,000 in the Congress of 1932, and in 1934, after the rise to power of the conservatives they reached the 21,000 members according to the V Congress. With the triumph of the left wing in the General Elections of 1936, the merging process between the FJS and the UJC was left uncompleted due to the difficulties that arose during the war. After the Civil War many young socialists exiled to France where on the 22nd April 1945 they established in Toulouse the Federación de Juventudes Socialistas. The struggles and opposition to the dictatorial regime caused the democratic alliance between the Socialist Youth, the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) and the UGT (the Labour Trade Union). In 1975 after the death of General Franco, the Socialist Youth as did all democrats, actively took part in the instauration of Democracy and its support to the 1978 Constitution. The Extraordinary Congress of 1981 and the XV Federal Congress of 1983 ratified the political project of the Socialist Youth of supporting the changes introduced by the governing Socialist Party. Both in the 1982 and in the 2004 general elections, the Socialist Youth contributed to the socialist triumph seeking the vote for the PSOE. From its beginnings, the story of the PSOE the UGT and the Socialist Youth has gone together. The recent Extraordinary Federal Congress of Baracaldo, which took place from the 7 to the 9 of 2006, has advocated for the need of acting globally to defend a sustainable world that may progress equally. The stamp depicts the silhouette of the faces of two young people besides the star of the 110th anniversary.