This column is written and edited by the Young Socialists, an international organization of young workers, students, and other youth fighting for socialism. For more information about the YS or to join, write P.O. Box 2396, New York, NY 10009. Tel: (212) 475-6482, Fax: (212) 388- 1659.
BY MEGAN ARNEY
MINNEAPOLIS - Young people around the country have experienced the crisis of capitalism and all the irreconcilable divisions and hatred it perpetuates. Small layers of young fighters are attracted to the Young Socialists, a revolutionary youth organization. Throughout the country YS chapters have been recruiting new members.
The Young Socialists have been building study groups and becoming known as activists in fights in their area. Throughout the country people are joining the YS because of its politics not just one issue. They are being recruited to communism and are actively engaging in learning those politics.
Bloomington, Indiana
Young Socialist member Tom Alter is building a YS
chapter at the University of Indiana at Bloomington.
"Students here are interested in `what is socialism?' So
we've had two classes on the Communist Manifesto," said
Alter. They have also traveled to Chicago to participate in
Militant Labor Forums, to pickets lines in Detroit
supporting the striking workers at the Detroit Free Press
and the Detroit News, and to New York to protest the U.S.
embargo against Cuba.
The Young Socialists is a recognized student organization on campus. It has gained a reputation as a student political group that is "doing something." "Most people are attracted to the activism. We don't just talk, we act," Alter explained. Every week supporters of the Militant and Pathfinder books set up tables on campus to sell socialist literature.
Atlanta, Georgia
Salm Kolis, a supporter of the Militant and member of
the United Auto Workers and the Socialist Workers Party in
Atlanta, reports on their success in attracting young people
to the Militant Labor Forum there. "Last week four students
from the University of Georgia at Athens, three students
from Georgia Tech, as well as two other young people came to
a forum on Youth in Cuba," she said. "And over 20 of the 50
new subscriptions to the Militant sold by the supporters in
Atlanta have been to young people."
Los Angeles, California
In Los Angeles the Young Socialists have been a part of
the fights against Proposition 187 and other anti-immigrant
legislature. Ahmet Ali, who recently joined the YS there, is
a young worker from Chiapas, Mexico. He met the YS at an
immigration rights march October 15. He was there, he said,
because "I wanted to help my people, the working class, and
defend their rights and defend my rights as an immigrant
worker."
With Spanish-speaking members like Ahmet Ali, the Young Socialists chapter there holds all its meetings with complete translation.
Alex Rebeles, a 16-year-old high school student, sees her participation as "part of the movement. As more people join the movement it becomes stronger. I truly believe the working class can dominate the U.S. As we see in Cuba, it is possible for youth and the working class to do it."
Seattle, Washington
In Seattle two new members became interested in
socialist politics around the Socialist Workers campaign of
Meg Novak, a leader of the Young Socialists in Seattle who
ran for City Council, Position 1.
Two other new members, who moved to Seattle from Oregon to be part of a warehouse union organizing campaign by the Teamsters, were recruited through classes organized by the YS.
The YS has studied The Second Declaration of Havana, Trotsky's "A Strategy for Revolutionary Youth" in The Transitional Program for Socialist Revolution, and Socialism on Trial by James P. Cannon. The Seattle chapter has also been involved in actions, including the rally for striking Boeing workers on November 12 as well as a rally for framed- up Native American fighter Leonard Peltier.
Twin Cities, Minnesota
Here in the Twin Cities the Young Socialists have
recruited two new members. Victor Avis, 26, first met the YS
at a reportback on the Cuba Lives international youth
festival in his Spanish class at Normandale Community
College in Bloomington, Minnesota. "I've been interested in
socialist politics for a long time, but didn't know there
was an organization," Avis explained.
Cindy Deichman, 22, first heard YS members speak at another Cuba Lives reportback at the Resource Center for the Americas in Minneapolis. Both traveled to Chicago October 14 for a protest against the U.S. embargo against Cuba with the Twin Cities Cuba Network (TCCN). The TCCN has organized 10 reportbacks in the area. Deichman then participated in a Militant sales team to her school, Mankato State University. She explained why she was attracted to socialism this way: "I want everyone to have a fair chance, and with capitalism it's impossible. So I want to fight for socialism. It's an alternative, there is hope."
The YS here holds educationals at weekly chapter meetings, reading Lenin's Final Fight and State and Revolution.
Manhattan, New York
Two people have joined the New York YS since July. Mara
Geller, 24, explained why she became a member. "It's an
active organization and a thinking organization," she said
in an interview. "It's active in that it goes out into the
streets and participates in protests, sells socialist
literature, does politics on the job and at school. We are
always learning, studying, processing, and evaluating
political events."
Step by step the YS is building a communist youth organization. Most YS chapters are relatively small, but members are growing politically very fast through experiences. "It's exciting to be part of an organization that is new, because you can play a part in shaping it. Through working with the YS in organizing ourselves for the Cuba Lives youth festival last August, I saw how the organization functions, and I decided to join," Geller explained.
Another new member, Sarah Katz, 24, was "attracted to the YS because it's fighting to change the world, not concentrating on just one issue. I wanted to get involved in politics, and I was for Black rights, pro-choice, and antiwar - but I didn't know there was an organization that fought for all of these things."
Megan Arney is a member of the Young Socialists in the Twin Cities. Young Socialists members Joya Lonsdale in New York and Vanessa Knapton in Los Angeles contributed to this article.
BY HILARY JURETIC AND TOM ALTER
BLOOMINGTON, Indiana - About 25 people demonstrated here in protest of the executions of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other environmental and human rights activists in Nigeria.
The demonstration was held at a local Shell Oil gas station located at the corner of one of the busiest intersections in Bloomington. It was organized by the Indiana University student groups Conscious Oppressed Unified People (COUP) and African Griot. Participating in the demonstration were Indiana University students and faculty, members of the Bloomington community, the African Students Association, and the Young Socialists.
Critics of the Nigerian military regime say Royal Dutch Shell, a corporation that has caused massive environmental pollution in the Niger Delta, fingered Ken Saro-Wiwa to the cops and then offered two key witnesses bribes to testify against the activist. Ken Searcy, an Indiana University graduate student and demonstrator, said, "Shell believes in people over profits. Capitalism is not a system concerned with human rights. It is out to make a buck. It will exploit people; that's what I think capitalism is about."
During the demonstration, flyers were distributed to passing cars, and the protesters were met with waves, smiles, and honks of approval. After the demonstration, nine protesters met and a committee was formed to unify diverse organizations across the country in protest of Shell Oil and the Nigerian military regime.
For more information send E-mail to: coup@indiana.edu or write to P.O. Box 1304, Bloomington, IN 47402.
Hilary Juretic and Tom Alter are members of the Young Socialists and students at Indiana University.