Declaration of the CC of the CJB
Last year, on false pretences, the Dutch Communist Youth Movement (CJB) was excluded from the introduction period for students in Utrecht. Meanwhile, the Utrecht Introduction Time (UIT), Utrecht University (UU) and Utrecht University of Applied Sciences (HU) have evaluated the decision and apologized to CJB. This year the CJB will be present at the introduction period.
The reason given for the decision to exclude the CJB was revealed to be, after inquiry,
that the CJB “does not [fit] the character at the UIT, where everyone should feel free and at home. Given your stated views in addition to current social developments, it does not feel right to allow you to take part in the info market,” referring to “current conditions in Ukraine.”[1]
The University has now acknowledged that the reason for exclusion was unfounded. After all, the CJB condemns the imperialist war in Ukraine and the role played by the various imperialist powers – Russia and its allies on the one hand and NATO, the US and the EU on the other side. The CJB consistently states that the people are victims of the struggle for markets, resources, transportation routes and spheres of influence, between Russia and its allies on the one side, and NATO, US and EU on the other. In all our statements we call for peace.
More specifically, the UU and HU state in their apology: “It is hereby noted that this choice, on which there was coordination between the UIT management and project leaders of the university of applied sciences and the university at the time, was made on the basis of an erroneous assumption. This assumption was that the CJB supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine. When the CJB pointed out that this was incorrect, the decision was not adequately reconsidered.”
In our view, it is not entirely correct to attribute this wrong decision solely to the erroneous assumption that the CJB supported the Russian invasion. After all, we clarified that and it did not lead to a different decision. So other considerations seem to have played a role as well.
Perhaps it is our struggle for free and accessible education for all that bothered people, our struggle for good and affordable housing, struggle for education and for science to serve the people instead of the demands of the market, or the struggle for the liberation of the working class, which includes most of the students. Points that do not suit the ruling class, but are most certainly in the interest of the vast majority of students.
In our view, the exclusion of the CJB cannot be separated from anti-communism promoted both in the Netherlands and in the European Union, with the unscientific and unhistorical equation of communism with fascism. Throughout the EU, communist youth organizations and parties are being gagged, falsification of history is being committed and repression against communists is increasing in all forms. Communists are excluded from elections, demonstrations are suppressed with police brutality, communist press and members of communist parties are being persecuted. Even the war in Ukraine is being used as a pretext to target communists, while it is not communists but rather imperialists who are waging imperialist wars, in which thousands die and millions are displaced.
Therefore, despite the fact that we do not think the reasoning behind the apology is entirely correct, it is of great importance that thanks to our protest against the decision to exclude the CJB, the UU and HU now recognize that the decision was unjustified.
This is of great importance for the students in Utrecht, and ascertains that no wrong precedent is set. After all, the CJB is not an organization that speaks to students from the outside. The CJB is an organization of communist youth; young people who are in the heart of society, including young people who study, as in Utrecht. We are part the students themselves. At the introduction periods in other cities where we were welcome, we, as students, talked with our fellow students without problems- there was a lot of interest in our approach to the problems that working class youth face every day. We also talked to students about the imperialist war in Ukraine and many students agreed with our analysis. Thus, the idea that the CJB would not fit the character of an introduction period or that students would not feel “free and at home” because of our presence is not at all reflected in reality.
In any case, we as communist youth will also be present at the introduction markets throughout the Netherlands, including Utrecht, in the coming introduction period, to engage in conversation with our fellow students, to introduce them to the CJB and the principles we stand for, with an organization that really fights for the interests of students. A struggle that we fight together with the working and student population, a struggle for socialism-communism!
[1] The info market is a part of the introduction period meant to inform students of student and youth organizations of all kinds, including political youth organizations.