The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.61/No.8           February 24, 1997 
 
 
Join Fights, Sell 'Militant,' Build YS Convention  

BY MEG NOVAK
This column is written and edited by the Young Socialists (YS), an international organization of young workers, students, and other youth fighting for socialism. For more information about the YS write to: Young Socialists, P.O. Box 14392, St. Paul, MN 55114. Tel: (612) 644-0051. Compuserve: 105162,605

ST. PAUL, Minnesota - Members of the Young Socialists National Committee met here February 8-9 to discuss the tasks ahead of the revolutionary socialist youth organization and the organization and building of the upcoming YS convention.

Young Socialists leader Jack Willey gave the main report at the meeting. He described the recent strike wave in south Korea, as well as the upsurge in protests by working people in the Balkan workers states against the devastating social conditions they face. The protests in Yugoslavia, Albania, and Bulgaria make clear the problems imperialism faces in its attempts to restore capitalism in that part of the world. These events provide openings for Young Socialists members to go out and talk politics with young fighters who are looking for revolutionary answers. "The struggles we see happening around the world today are just a dress rehearsal for the much larger fights to come," he explained.

Willey also pointed to the attacks on social entitlements that the ruling class in the United States is waging right now, and the attacks on democratic rights that come hand in hand with the inroads being made against the social wage. "This is the epoch in which we are building a revolutionary socialist youth organization," he stated. Recent developments in the auto industry show the class tensions brewing, he noted. Just months after negotiating "landmark" contracts with the United Auto Workers, the big auto bosses find themselves facing outbreaks of resistance, from the three-day walkout by General Motors workers in Moraine, Ohio, last month to the strike by parts workers at Johnson Controls that forced Ford to halt production at some assembly plants.

In this context National Committee members mapped out a plan for the next six weeks leading up to the second national convention of the revolutionary socialist youth organization, to be held in Atlanta at the end of March.

The 'Young Socialists Organizer'
A draft of the "Young Socialists Organizer" was placed in front of the National Committee for discussion and ratification. This will be the central document used in pre- convention discussion in YS chapters leading up to convention.

The document explains the organizational structures the Young Socialists are working to implement, including holding weekly chapter meetings and electing leadership bodies, called executive committees, or in smaller chapters, organizers, to lead the political work of the chapter. Several National Committee members spoke to the centrality of weekly chapter meetings to organize the Young Socialists' work. Brock Satter from Newark, New Jersey, put it simply: "Unless our chapter meets on a weekly basis, we don't have a chapter."

The Young Socialists Organizer will be published and made available to all Young Socialists members on February 12, opening the pre-convention discussion period. The YS National Executive Committee will produce a discussion bulletin, open for all YS members to submit written material to for about six weeks prior to the convention. All YSers will receive the discussion bulletin. The chapter discussions on the YS Organizer and the written bulletin will be the basis for vote and election of delegates.

The National Committee discussed the fact that the upcoming international campaign by supporters of the Militant newspaper to go out to college campuses, working- class communities, and factory plant gates in an effort to win new readers, is a way of bringing young people to the convention. Joining in the subscription drive will be a step toward implementing the decision adopted at the last NC meeting to make propaganda -talking socialism - the axis of the Young Socialists' political work. Chapters from around the country are discussing and taking on goals of how many new readers they can win through out the drive.

In Athens, Georgia, YS members are discussing the best way to reach out to workers at a poultry processing plant near the campus where the chapter is based. The YS chapter in Spokane, Washington, receives a weekly bundle of the Militant to sell at factory plant gates and political events in their area. These were pointed to as examples of what Young Socialists chapters can do to maximize participation in the subscription drive.

Diana Newberry related how four young people came into the Pathfinder bookstore in Morgantown, West Virginia, one night after a concert to see if they could get a consignment of books to sell in the area where they live. "They said, 'We think that people really need to read these kind of books, they need to know about these ideas,' " she reported.

Getting out into the streets and selling the socialist press is the most effective way to recruit to the Young Socialists and build the upcoming convention in Atlanta. Education within the chapters has to become a priority during these kind of campaigns, so the YS members will be best equipped to go out and discuss socialist ideas with young fighters they meet.

YS speaking tours
Giving the Young Socialists a public face by speaking in the name of the organization was also projected as one of the main ways the convention will be built. The NC adopted a plan for YS leaders to travel around the country, working with chapters to set up speaking engagements at different colleges and high schools. These tours will also have an international side. Joshua Carroll, a leader from the YS in Washington D.C., will be touring Sweden and Iceland February 11-25.

Some chapters have already begun to organize for YS members to speak on campuses in their local areas. Last week, a member of the Twin Cities chapter spoke at Robbinsdale Armstrong High School. As a result of that speaking engagement and work of YS members who went, three students from Robbinsdale attended the Militant Labor Forum February 8, and are discussing organizing a group for students interested in socialism at their high school.

The Twin Cities chapter will be a part of "The Battle of the Parties" at the University of Minnesota on February 18. Verónica Poses, a leader of the YS from the Twin Cities chapter, said, "Usually it's just the College Republicans and the Young Democrats who do this, but this year we fought to be included in the debate. This shows the possibilities that exist today for us to give the Young Socialists a public face." Brock Satter was also invited by the Africana Student Cultural Center at the University of Minnesota to speak at a February 25 forum entitled "Liberation in the 21st Century." The chapter here is also organizing to go to Ashland, Wisconsin, where the YS has been invited by a campus organization to speak about the Cuban revolution and the need for a revolutionary socialist youth organization today.

Members of the National Executive Committee will be going to California and Texas in February, and will be working in conjunction with the national leadership of the Young Socialists in Canada to do tours on the East Coast and Appalachian coal mining region in March, in an effort to reach out as broadly as possible to young people interested in coming to the convention.

As well as tours that are organized nationally, local chapters will be working up until the convention - and afterward - to go on regional teams in their areas to college campuses and high schools to speak on political issues, build the convention, and participate in the Militant subscription drive. Chapters will be using the Young Socialist column to report on these trips.

YS members are involved in a range of other political activities over the next couple months. Young Socialists will be attending a conference in Washington, D.C., February 15 organized by the National Coalition of Afrikan Tri-State Students (CATS), a group of young people that have started an organization to fight against police brutality. Also in February, YS members will be going to the regional educational conferences in Vancouver and Montreal to work with the YS chapters there on bringing people to the convention in Atlanta.

In April, YS members will be among the youth participating in a Young Feminist Summit sponsored by the National Organization for Women this April in Washington, D.C. The meeting here discussed the opportunities to work in local NOW chapters and with college-based organizations to go to this event.

All of these activities will be part of building toward the convention of the Socialist Workers Party this June in Oberlin, Ohio.

NC members discussed the Young Socialists' work in defense of the Cuban revolution, and participation in the 14th annual World Festival of Youth and Students in Havana this July as a part of that. Willey explained, "The center of our work in defense of the Cuban revolution is propaganda and recruitment." Participants at the meeting spoke about opportunities in their areas to speak in defense of the Cuban revolution, such as the speaking engagement in Ashland, and the opportunities to build the festival by working with people in local Cuba coalitions.

The National Committee also began an initial discussion on a Young Socialist fund drive that will be launched at the convention, as well as the best way to raise money to make sure that every YS member and contact can participate in the March convention.  
 
 
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