Vol. 71/No. 33      September 10, 2007

BY EMILY PAUL  
NEW YORK—Young Socialists from the Northeast region attended an educational weekend here August 18-19 entitled “The Second American Revolution: Marx and Engels on the U.S. Civil War.” The weekend included a special forum on “A Hidden Chapter of the Civil Rights Movement: The Lowndes County Freedom Party.” More than 80 people participated in the weekend, which was put together jointly by the Young Socialists chapter and the Socialist Workers Party in New York.

“Going back and studying history in class terms, reading it from the perspective of Marx and Engels, puts it into the perspective of the line of march of the working class and why the overthrow of slavery was a necessary and significant step for the advancement of our march,” said Young Socialist Maura DeLuca, in her class on “The Revolutionary War to Overthrow Slavery.”

“This led to the creation of the gravediggers of capitalism—the working class, the class that can lead the next, socialist revolution in the United States, she said.”

Dave Prince presented the first class, “Slaveowners’ Rebellion and the Constitutional War Against Secession.”

Many participants appreciated the Marxist analysis of the Civil War and its meaning for today. “This is new to me. I had never thought about it in class terms,” said Tom Marvit, a student at the University of Pittsburgh.

“Instead of a simplistic view, you understand what’s behind the war: a class, a movement that has its own purpose,” said Camilo Matos, who is active in the Puerto Rican Nationalist Youth.

“It’s such a different perspective from what you learn in school,” said Casey Logan, a YS member in New York and student at SUNY Albany.

The educational weekend is part of a dynamic summer Marxist educational program, still under way. Some of the readings covered in the syllabus are The Structure and Organizational Principles of the Socialist Workers Party, The Revolution Betrayed and The Transitional Program for Socialist Revolution by Leon Trotsky, and the two-volume Revolutionary Continuity series by Farrell Dobbs. Young Socialists, along with Socialist Workers Party members and others, have been successfully combining this study with political activity.  
 
 
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