Youth Life: A Short History of Youth Voice

Georgekutty M V

Since the foundation of All India Youth Federation (AIYF) in 1959, the organisation has felt the need to start a journal that should act as a collective propagandist, agitator, and organiser. The dream materialised in the early days of AIYF in 1961, with the publication of the New Generation, “a Youth & Students Monthly Journal”. A very modest and bold political initiative: Vol. 1, No. 1 of the New Generation was released in April 1961. The journal was printed at People’s Publishing House, Delhi, and a single copy cost 30 paisa, with an annual subscription rate of 3 rupees. The physical copies of New Generation are preserved in the Ajoy Bhawan library and Archive, CPI party headquarters in Delhi.

New Generation, January 1962

The idea of starting New Generation, a combined journal for Youth and Students, arose following the suspension of The Student (1944-1954), the pioneer journal of the All India Students Federation (AISF), which played a significant role in the history of the student movement in India. Hence, the AISF had no mouthpiece of its own since 1954, and the newly established AIYF felt the need to start a journal since 1959; both aspirations materialised in the form of a combined journal for Youth and Students in 1961. Under the leadership of Sarada Mitra, the founding general secretary of AIYF, P. K. Vasudevan Nair, vice-president and chairman of the executive committee, and editor Sadhan Mukherjee, the journal developed and reflected in its pages the major movements and struggles led by the Youth and Students in the 1960s. The journal volumes of 1962 contain reports and beautiful images of Indian delegates marching in the World Festival organised by the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) in Helsinki (1962), reminding us of the global anti-imperialist solidarity and cooperation between the newly liberated global south and solidarities in the metropolitan centres in Western capitals.

The New Generation had an irregularly regular existence from 1961 to 1969, when it ceased publication altogether. Since 1969, the AIYF and AISF had no organ of their own, until the new Youth and Students journal, Youth Life (YL), came into existence under the leadership of C K Chandrappan, Bant Singh Brar and S Gunalan. In its first issue, released on February 28, 1973, the editorial, titled “About Ourselves”, describes beautifully the objectives of the journal and its firm belief in the capacities of Youth to imagine and dream of a better world.

First issue of Youth Life, February 28, 1973

It is rightly assessed that, “It is characteristic of the young to dream, to look forward, to revolt, to love, to defy, to struggle, to aspire for new, to conquer the unconquered, to be thirst for knowledge to look for new meanings in life, to be unconventional, to cherish new values and to look boldly for a new and bright future. They are generally idealistic and they dedicate themselves to the cause they believe in, with a spirit of sacrifice. It would be the endeavour of youth life to educate our youth in Marxism and Leninism for making them more conscious, so that they will play a more significant role in the revolutionary transformation of our society.” It is also declared that, “Youth Life will stand firmly with all anti-imperialist forces, for socialism, peace, solidarity and social progress…it would strive to draw our youth to the ranks of militant anti-imperialist solidarity movements by providing them a scientific outlook.”

S Gunalan, the founding editor of Youth Life

The Youth Life was a fortnightly journal printed at the New Age printing press, with a single copy costing 20 paisa and an annual subscription rate of 4 rupees.

Amidst all the difficulties, Youth Life came out regularly, reflecting in its pages the struggles of Youths and Students against the series of assaults on the democratic foundations of the Indian republic by the Indira Gandhi regime, as well as the complexities of the various currents involved in the JP movement. With the completion of one year of its publication, on February 27, 1974, the YL issue notes, “it was with hardly any investment, men and resources at its disposal that Youth Life came into existence last year…when small newspapers are crushed by the newsprint crisis and increasing cost of production, Youth Life could survive because of the support and help rendered by thousands of its patrons and well-wishers.”

Yuva Vedi, Hindi magazine of AIYF

Interestingly, the continued support was not enough, and in the February 1974 YL issue, there was a special announcement for the readers informing them that, due to the “acute newsprint crisis” and an almost ‘doubled printing charges', YL is raising per copy charges from 20 to 25 paisa. On October 30, 1974, YL got a sister publication, Yuva Vedi, the Hindi journal “to devote its columns to give a proper world out look and perspective to militant youth and student activists.”

In the post-emergency period, celebrating the sixth year of YL publication, its editor N Chidambaram notes in the March 15, 1978 issue that YL “clearly understood the revolutionary role of a youth journal and framed clear-cut objectives. It is unique among Youth Life in having had a clear, definite perspective since its inception. He also reminds the responsibility of the Youth Life journal by quoting V I Lenin, who strongly believed that, “a newspaper is not only a collective propagandist, a collective agitator, but also a collective organiser.” In its eighth year of publication, on April 9, 1980, YL issue, the editor notes, “In this short span of its life, Youth Life had witnessed unprecedented political events in India and abroad and could report these to the young people with the purpose of making them aware of the revolutionary potential of our times.”

Youth Life magazine editor Chidambaram receives 500 subscriptions from an AIBEA leader in Hyderabad [source: August 22, 1979]

Due to organisational and financial reasons, the YL publication ceased in 1981, only to resume on November 15, 1983, which notes, “after a rather long interruption, we are renewing our publication” and urged to ‘enrol hundreds of new subscribers to take Youth Life to thousands of new readers.” According to available copies in the Ajoy Bhawan Archive and Library, the YL was published continuously till 1986. After that, several copies were published till 1989. Rajaji Mathew Thomas edited YL from 1984-86 and Jaydeep from 1986-89. Certainly, YL publications might have continued irregularly, but due to the unavailability of records, it is difficult to comment authoritatively. After a long gap, another effort to restart the YL occurred in January 2012, under the leadership of P Sandosh Kumar, reproducing old pictures and memories from YL's past issues. These efforts continued under the leadership of R Thirumalai and the then-editor, Harish Bala, with several online editions of YL magazine released through 2024.  

Special Edition on the occasion of World Youth Festival, Havana, Cuba, July 1973

Even though Youth Life existed irregularly over the last 53 years, there is no doubt that the published YL issues deeply reflected the organisation's political positions on various national and international issues. The continuous publication of YL was hampered; however, it is commendable that serious efforts were made to revive it amid organisational and financial constraints.