BY SAMANTHA KERN
CHICAGO - Members of the Young Socialists National Committee
and other YS leaders from across the country met here May
29-30. This was a working meeting, where the leadership of the
Young Socialists discussed the summer schools and campaigns
necessary to build the YS on the road to the August 5-7 Active
Workers Conference in Oberlin, Ohio (see ad on page 11).
In her opening report Cecilia Ortega, a member of the YS National Executive Committee and a meatpacker in the San Francisco Bay Area, laid out a regional perspective for chapters and members. "Part of making our summer schools a success is working with other chapters and members in our area to organize joint classes, campaign together against Washington's war in Yugoslavia and for self-determination for Kosova, and join the regional sales teams to coal mines, packinghouses, and factories outside of our cities. This is an important way Young Socialists can work together, get to know each other politically, and help each other recruit in our different cities."
Ortega pointed to the lead taken by the YS chapters and branches of the Socialist Workers Party in California in putting together a syllabus for the summer school that will be used in both Los Angeles and San Francisco. The plan includes several joint weekends of study. Readings focus on Capitalism's World Disorder: Working-Class Politics at the Millennium and several books on the history of the Socialist Workers Party: The History of American Trotskyism and The Struggle for a Proletarian Party by James P. Cannon and In Defense of Marxism and The Transitional Program for Socialist Revolution by Leon Trotsky.
The California socialist summer schools will kick off in San Francisco after a weekend of activity, including participating in a West Coast demonstration to demand the end of U.S.-NATO bombing in Yugoslavia and a YS-sponsored forum "Youth and Struggle Today," which will raise money for the YS National Fund Drive (see article below).
Eight Young Socialists so far have agreed to move to designated "summer school centers" - in Los Angeles, Chicago, Birmingham, or Atlanta - for the summer to help strengthen and build chapters there. This will be key in carrying out the regional perspectives in the Midwest, South, and West Coast.
"Every chapter should see as their responsibility to make sure not one regional team goes out without a young socialist on it," Ortega added. A number of YS members spoke during the leadership meeting about their participation in such teams, selling the Militant and Capitalism's World Disorder, and learning more about the class struggle in the United States. Chapters in the Midwest have especially taken the lead, with Young Socialists taking part in teams to the Powder River Basin in Wyoming to talk with coal-miners; to St. Louis, Missouri, to talk with car haulers at Chrysler and TWA workers leading up to possible strike deadlines; and a recent week- long team to Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota to talk with meatpackers. This is an important part of strengthening the Young Socialists' orientation to the working class, and will lay the ground work for building new chapters across the country.
During the discussion, Paul Pederson, a National Committee member and volunteer at Pathfinder Press's printshop, said that in preparing the summer schools "we are putting something together that will combine a schedule of intense study of the traditions and lessons of 150 years of the communist movement and political activity.
"This will include getting out to picket lines and social struggles like the fight to free Puerto Rican political prisoners and demand independence for Puerto Rico." The YS National Committee decided to endorse and build the July 7 demonstrations to demand the release of Puerto Rican political prisoner José Solís at federal buildings across the country and the national demonstration on July 24 in Washington D.C. demanding the release of all 16 political prisoners in U.S. jails. There are also local opportunities to join in this struggle, such as the June 13 Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City, which has been dedicated to calling for the release of the prisoners. "Young people will be extremely attracted to this summer package," Pederson said.
"We definitely want people who are considering joining the YS to participate in every aspect of the summer school," added Luis Rivera, a member of the NC and an electrician here in Chicago. "It's a great way they can participate in the work of the YS and gain a better understanding for our political views."
The meeting also heard an evaluation of the recent tour of Cuban youth leaders Itamys García and Luis Morejón that YS members helped organize. Olga Russi, a student and leader of the YS in Los Angeles, reported. "The tour was a success for the Young Socialists as a national organization. We came out of it more politically confident, with more experienced members, and with a layer of young people who are attracted to the Cuban revolution and the Young Socialists."
The YS recruited two new members during the tour and developed stronger relationships with other organizations we worked with on the project. This was also an important part of carrying out a campaign that was decided on at the national convention last December, and one of the central principles of the Young Socialists: defense of the Cuban Revolution.
The meeting also discussed the upcoming conference on "Youth and Neoliberalism" to be held August 15-18 in Havana, Cuba, hosted by youth organizations there. In addition to sending a delegation, Young Socialists will encourage other groups and activists met through the tour to participate in the conference.
Luis Rivera contributed to this article.