- Great Depression
- Student Rebels
- CCNY Rebels
- Protest ROTC
- Protest Fascism
- Protest War
- President Robinson
- Students Fight Back
- Spain
- Faculty Activists
- Teacher & Worker
- Bertrand Russell
- Rapp-Coudert Committee
- Rapp-Coudert & CCNY
- Firing Dr. Yergan
- Imprisoning Schappes
- Protests
student rebels
The student rebels of the Depression era rank among the most effective radical organizers in the history of American student politics. They built a large and influential student protest movement, organized America’s first national strikes, and shaped political discourse on campus for the better part of a decade. No college generation before them and only the New Left insurgents of the 1960’s after them ever had as much impact on student politics in twentieth-century America.
-Cohen, When the Old Left Was Young, 1993
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National Student League (NSL) is formed in 1931 as a Communist-led coalition
of radical and progressive students to create a nationwide, militant student
movement that seeks solutions to the double-barreled crisis of the Great
Depression at home and war and fascism abroad. The impetus for this organization
comes from student activists at CCNY.
The American Student Union (ASU) is established in December 1935 when the
National Student League merges with the Socialist Student League for Industrial
Democracy. The ASU becomes the largest national student organization ever
created to that point in time, with over 20,000 members. ASU leaders champion
federal aid to low-income students and would later ally themselves with
the New Deal.
The Student League for Industrial Democracy (SLID) is the student section
of the League for Industrial Democracy, which can be traced to the Intercollegiate
Socialist Society, founded in 1905 by CCNY graduate and popular writer/activist
Upton Sinclair. Here, SLID members demonstrate to encourage office workers
to support their union during the summer of 1935 in NYC’s garment
district.
The Young Communist League (YCL) is the youth division of the U.S. Communist
Party. Its program includes support for unemployment insurance, full racial
equality, no funding for militarism, training programs for young people,
and a workers’ government in the United States, based on the model
of the Soviet Union.
The Young People's Socialist League (YPSL) is the youth affiliate of the
Socialist Party. Its main rival on campus is the Young Communist League.
This flyer advertises an anti-war meeting in Harlem.
