The National League of Young Liberals (YL) was the official youth wing of the Liberal Party, the precursor to the Liberal Democrats, from 1903 until 1990.
YL was reported on across an extended period, between 1968 and 1983, by Special Branch. They were more closely monitored via the infiltration of SDS officer HN298 'Michael Scott' between 1972 and 1975.HN298 'Michael Scott'‘Michael Scott’ is the assumed name of a former SDS undercover officer who infiltrated the Putney branch of the Young Liberals, Croydon anarchist group Commitment, the Little Ilford branch of the Workers Revolutionary Party and the central London branch of the Anti-Internment League between 1972 and 1976. In 1972, he did not reveal his true identity to the court when convicted alongside three anti-apartheid activists, leading to their convictions being overturned in 2023. The reliability of his testimony about the Young Liberals was challenged in the Inquiry by core participant Peter Hain.
Despite their links with the Liberal Party, members of the YL considered themselves to be socialists, appropriating for themselves the name 'Red Guards' from Mao's Cultural Revolution.
According to Peter Hain, former President and leading activist for the YL, they were just as opposed to capitalism as to Stalinism: 'Neither Washington nor Moscow' was their slogan for a 'bottom-up' socialism rather than a 'top-down' one. Peter Hain, Outside In. , Biteback Publishing, 2012.
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Some Young Liberals were involved in disrupting the 1969-70 South African Rugby Tour,
As a group, the YL frequently employed Non-Violent Direct Action (NVDA), including blocking main roads in protest of the 1971 Immigration Bill, the public burning of Census forms, and proposals to divert effluent-ridden river water back into the factories that had polluted it. The YL were heavily involved in the anti-apartheid Stop the Seventy TourStop The Seventy Tour (STST)Stop the Seventy Tour (STST) was an anti-apartheid group active from 1969 to late 1970, specifically aimed at preventing or disrupting a South African cricketers’ tour of England. It was started by members of other anti-apartheid campaigns, including Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM), South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee (SANROC) and the Reading Joint Anti-Apartheid Committee. STST was spied on by HN135 Michael Ferguson, HN298 'Michael Scott', HN336 'Dick Epps', and HN346 Jill Mosdell.Full page: Stop The Seventy Tour (STST) against the South African rugby team's tour of Britain.
Sources
Peter Hain. Radical Regeneration: Protest, Direct Action and Community Politics. Peter Hain, Peter Hain. Radical Regeneration: Protest, Direct Action and Community Politics., Quartet Books, 1975.
Peter Hain. Outside In. Peter Hain, Outside In. , Biteback Publishing, 2012.
First Witness Statement of The Right Honourable Lord Peter Hain of Neath.First Witness Statement of Lord Peter Hain, given in the UCPI, Tranche 1, Phase 2, 3 Mar 2020.View Document
Report that Tariq Ali will be addressing Havering Young Liberals on 'Will Britain see a Revolution?', to be held at 1A Westland Avenue, Hornchurch on 21 May 1968
Report that a member of the National Executive of Young Liberals is secretly working for International Socialists and trying to get YL to support the VSC ‘Autumn Offensive’ demo on Oct 27
Report on a private meeting of the Irish Civil Rights Solidarity Campaign discussing an upcoming NICRA demo of 22 June 1969, held at the Grafton Arms NW3 on 4 June 1969
Report on a meeting of Putney Young Liberals which accepted a motion on a forthcoming environmental conference, held at the parental home of Peter Hain on 13 Jan 1972
Special Branch letter to MI5 enclosing minutes of meeting of MI5, Commander Rodger, Dixon, Saunders, HN294 and DS Smith to discuss coverage and overlap, inc names of targeted groups and problem areas, held at New Scotland Yard on 13 Jan 1972
Report on general meeting of Putney Young Liberals in which attendees elected members to executive posts inc HN298 as Membership Secretary, held at 90 Fawe Park Road SW15 on 20 Jan 1972
Report on the West Cross Action Group demo from Shepherd's Bush roundabout along the proposed route of an urban motorway, 24 June 1972, inc leaflet with map
Report on the possible use of stink bombs by members of the Anarchist Workers Association at a Young Liberals counter-demo against Royal Navy recruitment, to be held in Kingston on 20/21 Sept 1975
Report listing participants (7 pages, almost entirely redacted) in a demo commemorating 10 years of British troops in Ireland organised by the National League of Young Liberals, held at Speakers Corner on 12 Aug 1979
Report on 'Voices for Withdrawal Forum on Northern Ireland' held by Liberal Party's Committee for Withdrawal from Ireland, held at Conway Hall on 14 June 1980
