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Vol. 73/No. 24      June 22, 2009

 
Socialist conference to discuss
world politics, workers’ struggle
(front page)
 
BY PAUL MAILHOT  
The 2009 Socialist Education and Active Workers Conference will draw workers and young people from throughout the United States and several other countries. They will participate in three days of political talks, classes, workshops, and discussions on the central questions of world politics and working-class struggle. The conference, sponsored by the Socialist Workers Party and the Young Socialists, takes place June 18-20 in Oberlin, Ohio.

The main presentations will include a political report by Socialist Workers Party national secretary Jack Barnes and a talk on “Political Leverage and Defense of the Cuban Revolution” by Mary-Alice Waters, editor of New International magazine and a member of the SWP National Committee. Norton Sandler, also a member of the SWP National Committee, will give a talk on “Skills Orientation and Campus Work: Life or Death for a Proletarian Party.”

One class series will take up the themes of an upcoming international conference on Benito Juárez, José Martí, and Abraham Lincoln, scheduled for Monterrey, Mexico, October 15-17. These classes will draw on the writings of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels on the rise of capitalism in the Americas, the U.S. Civil War and overthrow of chattel slavery, and its effects on revolutionary developments in Mexico and Cuba, including the war against European intervention in Mexico in the 1860s.

Other classes will focus on the place of the national question in the struggle for the dictatorship of the proletariat; Iran today in world politics; and the frame-up and imprisonment of the Cuban Five and the assault on the rights of U.S. workers that it represents. Classes will also be given on two Pathfinder titles—Is Socialist Revolution in the U.S. Possible? and Capitalism and the Transformation of Africa.

Discussions will take place following viewings of Juárez, a film about the life and times of Benito Juárez; Half Moon, a film depicting the troubles of a legendary Kurdish musician who attempts to stage a concert in Iraqi Kurdistan with a female singer from Iran; and The Doctors of Tomorrow, a documentary on East Timorese students studying medicine in Cuba and Cuban medical volunteers in East Timor. There will also be dances and other activities where conference attendees can relax and socialize.

On Saturday evening a wind-up event will focus on the July petitioning campaign to put the SWP ticket on the ballot in New York City, the financial campaigns of party supporters to help fund the SWP’s ongoing work, the accomplishments and future work of the project to keep revolutionary books in print, and the international work of the communist movement.

Following the conference, supporters of the communist movement will hold a series of workshops on Sunday, June 21, to advance their skills in producing revolutionary books. That day the Young Socialists will also meet to make projections for its work over the summer and fall.

For those who are interested in the conference, contact members of the SWP and YS at the addresses listed on page 6.
 
 
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