BY KEVIN JOHNSON

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, P.O. Box 14392, St. Paul, MN 55114. Tel: (612) 644-0051. BY KEVIN JOHNSON

NEWARK, New Jersey - The Young Socialists chapter here has now conquered weekly meetings to lay out plans for doing politics in the coming week. Every meeting is kicked off with an educational on today's politics taken from articles in the Militant. The YS chapter here took two of its weekly chapter meetings to come up with a game plan on how to implement the nationwide campaign to recruit 80 new members to the revolutionary youth organization by the end of November.

Coming on the heels of YS participation in the U.S.-Cuba Youth Exchange and demonstrations at the Republican convention in San Diego, the YS laid out plans to set up Pathfinder book tables at local high schools and colleges and do weekly class series.

The YS here is beginning to see results. YS members campaigned for the Socialist Workers Party candidates at a Puerto Rican festival where several books and copies of the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial were sold.

A week later, after visiting the Pathfinder bookstore in Newark, New Jersey, two young Black men who are members of the Teamsters union and work at United Parcel Service became interested in the Young Socialists. Each bought Episodes of the Cuban Revolutionary War by Ernesto Che Guevara. After that the YS and their supporters organized a dinner and discussion, a tour of the Pathfinder building in New York that houses the editorial offices and printing plant of the publisher, went to a Cuba report-back meeting and a video showing - all in one five- day period. Coming out of the weekend of activities, Charles Williams decided to join the YS.

"We responded to the young people who were around us. Now, we are organizing to hit college campuses and high schools as soon as they open," said Megan Arney, YS coordinator in Newark.

At a Militant Labor Forum on August 30, where YS member Stefanie Trice gave a presentation on "Capitalism's decline looms over '96 elections," Fuquan Battle asked what young people can do to involve others now in revolutionary politics. Battle has now decided to go to Vermont to help put the Socialist Workers ticket on the ballot there.

The YS is also organizing to visit the strikers at Farmland Dairy picket just outside Newark and is studying the history of the labor movement and social revolutions - from the speeches and writings of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels to James P. Cannon, Che Guevara and Thomas Sankara. BY TAMI PETERSON

CHICAGO - On August 26, some 20 young people attended a discussion here called "Cuba Today" sponsored by the Young Socialists. The discussion was held after a day of protests outside the Democratic National Convention (DNC) that included a demonstration against the attacks on same sex marriage.

Participants in the recent U.S.-Cuba Youth Exchange took part in the discussion circle by telling about their experiences. The meeting lasted for two hours and included youth from Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, New York, and California. Topics ranged from the question of prostitution and women's rights in Cuba to freedom of the press and the example of the revolution for young people today.

Sarah Katz, who came down from Minneapolis to participate in the protests around the DNC, passed around pictures from the Youth Exchange and recounted the experience of visiting the Cuban army barracks at Guantánamo where the U.S. government continues to occupy a navy base on Cuban soil. She said that those volunteering on the Cuban side were in the front lines of the battle if the U.S. government should start a shooting war.

All of those who went on the Youth Exchange told of how Cuban president Fidel Castro addressed them in a surprise visit and how they were able to ask questions of Roberto Robaina, Ricardo Alarcón, and other Cuban leaders. They spoke of how one of the repeated topics throughout the trip was getting young people to the 14th World Festival of Students and Youth that is to be held in Cuba in the summer of 1997. At this meeting, leaflets for the festival were distributed and many of those in attendance expressed interest in going to Cuba.

Tom Alter from the Young Socialists in Chicago recounted the experience of Youth Exchange members upon returning to the U.S. through Chicago O'Hare airport, where they were harassed and searched for having traveled to find out the truth in Cuba.

Those in attendance were invited to an event co-sponsored by the Young Socialists and Socialist Workers Party where Frank Forrestal, Socialist Workers candidate for U.S. Senate in Illinois, spoke. Two members of the Young Socialists are his running mates. Aislinn Pulley is running for Congress in the 9th district and Tami Peterson is running in the 5th district.

Throughout the rest of the week, the Young Socialists sponsored a discussion on Malcolm X and a video showing of Portrait of Teresa, which is a Cuban film on the fight against sexism in that country.

These events were built throughout the convention protests and many of those involved in the "Cuba Today" discussion returned for other activities throughout the week.  
 
 
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