Braving uninterrupted heavy rain and bad weather, over a thousand youth from different parts of West Bengal proudly marched through the streets in the heart of Kolkata city in a colourful procession carrying banners, posters and placards on the afternoon of September 11, 2004 to mark the beginning of the First State Conference of Progressive Youth League (PYL).

The two-day State Conference was organized and held on September 11-12, 2004 at Taltala High School in Kolkata with the calls – “Work to all, food to all”, “Central government take responsibility for providing employment to all unemployed” and “Build youth movements in the stream of Naxalbari”.

The procession started from College Square and concluded at Dharamtalla in a mass meeting in front of Dharamtalla Metro-Railway Station. The meeting was addressed, among others, by Com. Paltu Sen, State Secretary of CPI(ML)-New Democracy – as the main speaker. He, in his address, highlighted the issues facing the youth, their links with the present sociopolitical order and stressed on the role to be played by the youth in changing the order.

Several youth presented progressive songs and other cultural activities in the meeting. A documentary film, “A Letter to my Daughter”, based on state-terrorism in Manipur, was projected in the evening for the delegates of the Conference at the venue of the Conference.

The delegate session of the Conference commenced on the morning of September 12. It was formally inaugurated by Prof. Saibal Mitra, a rebellious student and youth leader of the bygone days of 1960s and 1970s, and presently the Head of the Department of Bengali, Maulana Azad College. Several fraternal delegates – Com. Saifuddin from CPI(ML)-New Democracy, Com. Dilip Chakravorty of West Bengal State Committee of IFTU, Com. Sibu Giri of West Bengal State Committee of AIKMS, Com. Ramesh from Naujawan Bharat Sabha in UP – addressed the Conference. All these speakers stressed the need for building up workers’, peasants’, youth and students’ movements in the country.

A group of 110 delegates, representing almost all the districts of the state, discussed and deliberated upon the General Secretary’s political and organizational report, which was later unanimously passed by the Conference after a few alterations. The Conference finally elected a 21 member PYL State Council and a 9 member Executive Committee, with Com. Chandan Pramanik as General Secretary and Com. Amar Sharma as President.

The Conference decided to build statewide struggles against on-line lottery, massive licensing to wine and beer shops and cultural degradation of youth, for demanding unemployment allowances, for constitutional recognition of right to employment as basic right and for filling up of vacant posts in governmental organizations.

Prolonged sloganeering by the delegates marked the successful conclusion of the Conference. Delegates went back to their areas of work with renewed conviction to build up the organization through struggles and movements.

As a preparation for the Conference, a statewide membership drive was taken up, followed by several district-level conferences, where district committees were formed.