BY JOSHUA CARROLL
ATLANTA - "Clearly there is a lot of potential to get young people interested in revolutionary ideas to this convention," said Patricia O'Beirne, a leader of the Young Socialists in Canada. O'Beirne has been on tour in the United States for the past two weeks, building the organization's second national convention taking place here in Atlanta March 28-30.

Young Socialists and communist workers of all ages are using the next two weeks to meet with young fighters interested in attending the convention and firming up plans for the trip to Atlanta.

They are setting up speaking engagements at high schools and college campuses, reaching out through the campaign to win new readers to the Militant newspaper and Perspectiva Mundial, and presenting public forums.

Among other activities, YS members are meeting with leaders of youth and student groups involved in protest actions around the country, encouraging them to join in the efforts to build a delegation to the 14th World Festival of Youth and Students this summer. Many of these same people will want to attend a convention of revolutionary youth.

O'Beirne, who has been to Boston and Newark, New Jersey, so far, was the featured speaker at a March 14 forum organized by the Newark YS. Her talk was titled, "Youth and the Struggle for Socialism Today." Afterwards, Megan Greene, a high school student from Honesdale, Pennsylvania, who had traveled two and a half hours to come to the event, said she plans to come to the convention. The forum raised $90 for Newark's "Countdown to Atlanta" fund, bringing the total to about $200.

Delegates at the YS convention will be discussing some of the key questions of world politics - from opposing Washington's war drive against the workers states in Russia, Albania, and Yugoslavia, to fighting the bosses' attacks on working people in the United States and elsewhere - and how to build a youth organization that is a component of the communist workers movement. Many of the convention sessions will be open for all members of the Young Socialists, Socialist Workers Party, and other guests to observe. There will also be classes, special book sales, and socials.

A special feature during the convention will be a reportback from Albania and Yugoslavia by Militant staff writer Argiris Malapanis, who will have just returned from a 10-day reporting trip to the Balkans.

Jack Willey, the organizer of the National Executive Committee of the Young Socialists, explained that one of the central themes of this convention will be the question of how the YS organizes itself. "At our first national convention, almost a year ago, we adopted a set of political principals. We said that we wanted to help build an international movement that will lead working people to overthrow capitalism and establish workers and farmers governments.

"As we have taken steps forward since then, we have become more conscious of the need to organize ourselves in a democratic, disciplined, and centralized way -one that is suited to carrying out our stated goals, Willey added."

Another point that the YS convention will discuss is the role of propaganda in educating and recruiting to the revolutionary movement. Over the past six weeks, chapters of the Young Socialists have been organizing discussions on these and other questions. Based on these discussions, each chapter will elect delegates to the convention.

Sarah Katz, a leader of the YS in Twin Cities, explained that her chapter organized a list of all the young people they had met who had expressed interest in the Young Socialists. "We realized that we had about 15 people around us interested in our politics. Our goal is to set up meetings with all of these contacts to discuss the Young Socialists and the importance of coming to our convention."

Katz was the main speaker at a March 13 meeting that the Young Socialists organized at Macalester College, titled "Women's Liberation and the Fight for Socialism Today." Katz explained that while this meeting was modest in size - six people attended - it attracted a politically conscious group of young people. Of the six, three are interested in attending the YS convention.

By reaching out to young women and others interested in fighting for women's rights, the YS is preparing to attend and bring other young people to the Young Feminist Summit taking place in Washington D.C. April 11-13. The conference is being organized by the National Organization for Women.

Speaking tours of YS leaders
In the final weeks before the convention, national leaders of the Young Socialists have been speaking at public meetings around the country to explain the importance of building a communist youth organization right now. On Saturday, March 15, for example, Brock Satter, a member of the YS National Committee, spoke at a Militant Fund rally in Cleveland on "Black Liberation and Socialism: Prospects for Freedom in the 21st Century." A dozen student activists who had been attending a national conference in Cleveland, hosted by the Campus Outreach Opportunities League (COOL), attended the rally. They had met members of the YS and the Socialist Workers Party who had set up a table to publicize the Militant Fund rally at the COOL conference. Two members of the group had, in fact, already worked with the Newark YS previously when Satter spoke at a Black and Latino youth conference called Umoja `97, which students organized. After the fund rally, two people said they wanted to go the YS convention.

YS leader Meg Novak has also been touring around the country. She just finished a trip to Washington, D.C., where she spoke at a Militant Labor Forum. Leading up to the convention she will be in Greensboro and Miami.

This reporter will be giving a forum in Atlanta March 21 titled "Winning Young Fighters to a Revolutionary Perspective: Building a Communist Youth Organization." Doug Nelson, a leader of the Atlanta chapter, explained how having a forum like this just before the convention will both help to win young people to attend the convention, "and will also introduce many of them to some of the discussions that will be central to it."

Nelson further explained that Young Socialists in Georgia are putting an extra effort into setting up convention- building tables at the University of Georgia in Athens. Last week they sponsored a successful meeting there with Mámud Shirvani, the co-author of the introduction to the Pathfinder book, To See the Dawn: Baku, 1920 - First Congress of the Peoples of the East. At the meeting, Shirvani explained why working people and youth around the world should defend the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, and should support their struggle against Israeli occupation and expansion. Shirvani also talked about the recent armed rebellions against the pro- capitalist government in Albania. At this meeting, Young Socialists in Atlanta met two people who wanted to attend the convention.

YS chapters are working hard to raise money in their local areas to help pay for the costs of travel to the convention. Many chapters have held fund-raising dinners and raffles to collect money from supporters of the organization. Young Socialists in Seattle and Spokane, Washington, will be teaming up to hold a luau on Saturday, March 22.

The Young Socialists will also launch a national fund drive at their convention.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home