JF Ptak Science Books Post 1728
In the wide and deep collection of social history pamphlets and ephemera that exists here cheek-and-jowl with the history of science material I have found one of the truly great pieces of cover art/design–it stands easily in the top percentile for overall design, and it does get its message across very quickly. It is also evidently rare, as I can find no other copies of the thing. It certainly seem to be the first time it has appeared on the intertubes.
The pamphlet was aimed at the “under 30” crowd, as we are warned right up front, in the first paragraph of the pamphlet, that if you are over 30, “we suggest you pass it along to someone under 30”–which is where the “Young” must come into play.
The essence of the Young Communist League is “ACTION EDUCATION RECREATION” and of course to teach their “Comrades” to “help understand the world we live in”.
The bait was set for the young and restless–and probably unemployed–youth in the midst of the Great Depression of 1937. War in Spain, a big war that not that many people were hearing about in China, a failing economy, falling prospects, and the rise of Fascism in Italy and National Socialism in Germany may have contributed to the growth in interest in this movement among the under-30 set in the great state of Illinois to attend the YCL state convention in Chicago. There were a number of odd businesses located at “208 N. Wells St” in Chicago (the Loop), though fewer were less unusual than the Young Communist League in Room 310. I’m sorry to say that I cannot determine how long they lasted there, though my guess is that Room 310 was occupied by someone else in 1942.
