BY REGGIE MILLER
ST PAUL, Minnesota - Young Socialists in this area are now engaging in a series of campus speaking events to build for the upcoming Young Socialists National Convention. On February 5, Meg Novak, a member of the Young Socialists National Committee, was invited to a "Political Spectrum" at Armstrong High School in Robinsdale, which about 100 students attended.

Other political organizations represented at this event included the Reform Party, Libertarian Party, Republican Party, Democratic Party, and a supporter of rightist Lyndon La Rouche. Novak, the youngest panelist and only woman speaking, was directed a disproportionate share of the questions. Students posed questions ranging from, "What is your stance on immigration?" to "Why do we hear the health care system is going bankrupt and why can't the government fix it?"

One student, Ralph Strickter, who bought the pamphlet, Fascism: What It Is and How to Fight It by Leon Trotsky and was interested in joining the YS, asked Novak, "Capitalism seems so firmly grounded in America...what can be done to overturn it?"

Novak replied, "What I do as a member of the Young Socialists is go out and talk to young people, like today, and speak with those who are looking to fight for real social change; that could mean speaking here or at a protest against police brutality or on a picket line. The Young Socialists is made up of young workers and students who are willing to actively stand up against capitalism and offer a way forward for humanity."

After the panel session, students had the option to talk informally with the speakers. The Young Socialists discussed politics and answered questions for the remainder of the class period, while the other speakers headed for the door. Rob, a senior at Armstrong High School, after speaking with a YS member, said, "I've really had a change of opinion today after listening to the speakers. Socialism and Cuba aren't at all what I've heard they were.... I'd like to learn more about the socialist movement." Rob was one of the students who expressed interest in the YS National Convention.

BY STEVE GORDON

KEENE, California - On the weekend of February 7-9 the United Farm Workers held their second annual student conference at the UFW Headquarters to build an April 13 march for strawberry workers in Watsonville, California. The march is to support the rights of the strawberry workers and to protest their super-exploitation by the growers.

There are over 20,000 strawberry workers in the Watsonville-Salinas area of California. Working 10 to 12 hour days, the workers suffer from chronic back pain and injuries, lack clean drinking water and bathrooms, and end their work days in overcrowded apartments or dilapidated shacks. Many also face sexual harassment from the bosses as well as intimidation and physical assaults for suspected union activity.

Over 100 students from all over California met to discuss ways to build the march on their respective campuses, and how to raise money to get the largest number of students possible to come to support the farm workers.

Young Socialists from Fresno, Los Angeles, and San Francisco participated in the conference, and were able to introduce students there to the Militant, socialist literature, and socialist ideas. One student from the University of San Diego who was interested in women's liberation and the history of Native Americans purchased the pamphlets Women's Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle by Thomas Sankara, the leader of a revolution in Burkina Faso in the 1980s, and Genocide Against the Indians by George Novack.

Another student from the same campus explained, "I always wanted to read the Communist Manifesto," and purchased the Manifesto and a pamphlet by Che Guevara. Students from Fresno State discussed the Soviet Union and the role of Stalinism in its development. The Cuban revolution was also a major topic of discussion, especially as an example to the rest of Latin America.

The April 13 demonstration is projected by the UFW to include 20,000 demonstrators, 10,000 of which will be farm workers organized by the UFW. YS members and others should join in building the march in Watsonville.  
 
 
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