The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.63/No.15           April 19, 1999 
 
 
`Stand Up, Fight, And Be Counted'  

BY BETSEY STONE
SAN FRANCISCO - Much of the discussion at the Socialist Workers Party Convention in San Francisco April 1-3 focused on the need to take advantage of growing openings for winning new forces to the communist movement.

The potential was reflected in the convention itself, in the number of participants attending an SWP convention for the first time, and in the participation of young people, many of them members of the Young Socialists, in convention discussions, classes, and workshops. In the course of the convention, five Young Socialists decided to join the Socialist Workers Party and its sister communist leagues in Sweden and New Zealand.

The YS in the United States also added to their ranks during the convention, with four people asking to join - a young worker and three students. Other Young Socialists, including high school students graduating this spring, discussed plans to become part of the industrial workforce and unions so they can begin to participate directly in the working-class resistance that is growing today.

Elena Tate, a high school senior and member of the Young Socialists from Boston, explained why involvement of youth in workers' struggles is key to building the socialist movement. "There is a force that can change society - the working class - and it is a very important thing when you begin to think of becoming part of that force," she said.

She commented that seeing workers in action on the UPS picketlines in August 1997 first won her to join the Young Socialists. Later she got involved with health-care workers on strike for a better contract in Boston.

Tate emphasized, "One thing that echoed in the convention was the idea that what you do makes a difference in the world. The name of one of the reports was `Stand Up, Act, Fight, and Be Counted.' If there is a job action, or strike, you can make a difference."

Ana Chávez, a student at the University of California at Santa Cruz, has been a member of the Young Socialists for eight months. She reported that the YS chapter at the University of California in Santa Cruz organized to discuss "A Sea Change in Working-Class Politics," one of the convention documents that describes the growing resistance by working people and the end of the near-decade of working-class retreat in the l990s.

"I have not been part of the retreat, so I don't see the change so much," she said, "I just see what's happening now."

Chávez pointed to the activism of students in support of the strawberry workers in the region around Santa Cruz and against California state propositions attacking bilingual education and affirmative action.

Rick Walker, a former Eastern Airlines striker who is now a baggage handler and member of the Transport Workers Union at American Airlines, met with some of the youth at the convention to discuss the changes he has seen in union struggles since 1991 when the 686-day strike at Eastern ended. "I think it's accurate that we see more fights today," Walker explained. "Nobody could have anticipated the American Airlines pilots' sickout. An action like that would not have happened five years ago."

Another convention participant, César Guerrero, is a member of the International Association of Machinists working for a contractor at the Los Angeles airport. He first approached airline workers in the Socialist Workers Party a few months ago as a struggle at his own workplace began to heat up.

He is anxious to get more deeply involved with all the activities of the Socialist Workers Party. He was impressed by "how serious the delegates were, how well-organized, and that people came from all over the world." He added he especially liked the point on the agenda about the importance of accurate translations in building an international socialist movement.

Gustavo Herrarte joined the Young Socialists at Iowa State University two months ago. He pointed out that the convention discussion will help the Young Socialists to organize more effectively against the U.S. and NATO assaults on Yugoslavia and for the national rights of Kosovar Albanians. He concluded, "The most important thing for me coming out of the convention is that I'm convinced that building communism is a necessity."

Emily Fitzsimmons contributed to this article.

 
 
 
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