BY MARK GILSDORF
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, 1573 N. Milwaukee, P.O. Box #478, Chicago, Ill. 60622. Tel: (773) 772-0551. Compuserve: 105162,605

STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania -Four students here at Penn State have formed a chapter of the Young Socialists (YS). Martin Austermuhle, Adam Levenstein, Dave Lieberner and Jaimie Yurick form the newest unit of the communist movement. The group has been getting together regularly over the last few months and organizing a variety of activities.

On February 26 they helped to organize a protest against the U.S. war moves on Iraq. "There were three groups of students organizing a protest for the same day against war with Iraq, independently of each other: Anti-Racist Action, the Young Socialists, and a coalition of unaffiliated youth," said Adam Levenstein, the organizer of the chapter. "So we called a meeting of the three groups and decided to organize a joint protest. About 30 people turned out and we're having a planning meeting March 3 to organize further actions."

The protest was covered in the campus newspaper, The Collegiate, and the local Center Daily News ran a photo of a YS member and other youth carrying a big banner that said "Hands Off Iraq!" The local NBC affiliate also ran a short story on the protest with an interview with Levenstein.

After the protest, members of the Young Socialists and Socialist Workers Party set up a literature table on the campus and sold 13 single issues of the Militant, and got three names of people interested in the YS and protests against the war drive.

The Young Socialists chapter at Penn State gets a small consignment of Pathfinder books and a bundle of five Militants. Last semester they set up literature tables two times a week. Austermuhle, who was born in Switzerland and grew up in Latin America, explained that what attracted him to the YS was reading its Political Principles, "in particular the parts about Cuba. I read a lot of Karl Marx and Che Guevara and when I met Adam I decided to join."

"We've organized a class on the The Communist Manifesto, and are projecting continuing with the class and tabling once classes resume after spring break," reported Austermuhle. Lieberner was attracted to a sign that said "U.S. Hands Off Iraq! No blood for Oil!" on the front of a literature table last November and bought a copy of the Militant. Later he sat down with socialists at a local coffee shop and discussed joining the YS and the possibility a picket line protesting the war threats against Iraq.

Yurich, the most recent member, met the YS while the other three were tabling on campus and jumped on board in building the protest against war with Iraq. Levenstein had been a member of the YS in Pittsburgh and regularly helped socialists from Pittsburgh set up tables on campus. "We have four official members and a couple more people have asked to join," he reported.  
 
 
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