AS OF THE DEADLINE OF JUNE 30, THE YOUNG SOCIALISTS HAS RAISED $4,483.16, SURPASSING THE NATIONAL FUND DRIVE GOAL OF $4,400. BY MAKING AN EXTRA PUSH IN THE LAST WEEKS, MOST CHAPTERS WERE ABLE TO REACH THEIR GOALS. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO CONTRIBUTED TO MAKING THE FUND DRIVE A SUCCESS. BELOW IS AN ARTICLE DESCRIBING HOW THE FUND HELPED STRENGTHEN ONE CHAPTER.

HOUSTON - On June 30 the Young Socialists chapter here completed a successful fund drive. That same evening our chapter, which was formed last fall and started out this year with four members, recruited its eighth member. These gains reflect the significant advances we've made in the last several months.

Members have been taking an active part in various struggles unfolding in the region. The bipartisan attack on immigrant rights has been acutely felt in Houston, where large Latino and immigrant populations live. Most recently, a series of protests were organized against the federal anti- immigrant legislation that went into effect in the middle of last year.

Anti-death penalty activity has surged in the face of this year's stepped-up pace of executions in Texas, including that of Mexican immigrant Irineo Tristán Montoya. Protests have taken place both in Houston and outside the prison in Huntsville, some 70 miles away, where death row inmates are held and executed. The YS has participated alongside the Socialist Workers Party in these fights and others, bringing its communist politics and propaganda. "These protests are great opportunities for us to get across our ideas and win others to our point of view," said YS member Alejandra Rincón. "People want to know why we're there."

The fund drive promised to be a litmus test of the YS's ability to be an independent, self-financed organization. The Houston chapter adopted a goal of $600, based mainly on aggressive pledges made by each member. Just as the fund drive was about to kick off, however, Lieff Gutthiudaschmitt accepted an assignment on the YS National Executive Committee in Chicago, and the chapter was forced to withdraw his pledge.

In this situation, the response might have been to lower the chapter's goal accordingly. Instead, we decided to leave the goal intact and find a way to compensate for the lost pledge. In addition to an ongoing YS food sale, members voted to hold a YS forum on gay rights in late June, timed with Gay Pride activities taking place at that time. Members began building a panel for the forum and distributing leaflets around the city. Also, YSers joined SWP members in leafleting the crowd at the June 15 showing of the documentary film Gay Cuba and in staffing a Pathfinder table at Houston's Gay Pride Parade on June 28, the evening before the forum.

As the end of the fund drive approached, however, a new challenge emerged: it became clear that some members would not be able to fulfill their pledges, which they had based on income assumptions that did not pan out. Faced with the prospect of falling well short of its goal, the chapter decided to hold a garage sale on short notice. In spite of limited time to prepare, the June 28 garage sale proved crucial to the success of the fund drive, bringing in nearly $200.

The YS forum on gay rights took on an even more timely nature when a young thug, convicted for his role in last year's stabbing death of a gay man in Houston, received only a probated sentence on June 27. Speaking on the panel were Ray Hill, longtime gay rights and prisoners' rights activist in Houston; Lori Dietzler of the Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce; and Paul Coltrin of the Young Socialists.

The forum and dinner raised nearly $100 for the fund drive, and even more importantly, allowed the YS to reach new people with its politics.

The money raised from the garage sale and forum was added to the $260 collected in member pledges. Including money from the food sale and donated by YS supporters, the Houston YS chapter raised a total of $616 - ratifying its decision not to lower the original goal of $600.

On June 30 - the last day of the fund drive, coincidentally - two YSers met with Nicole, a high school student who has been attending forums and reading the Militant and various Pathfinder books. She first attended a YS forum on women's liberation, held prior to the YS national convention in March, and said that the discussion at that forum sparked her interest in the YS and its ideas. Following a broad discussion on the YS and on politics in general, including a careful review of the YS pamphlet, she said that she would like to join.

This is just one example of the seriousness with which members have taken the task of attracting other young people to socialism. "Socialism not only offers young people an explanation of the everyday problems they face, from the youth curfew to conflicts at home, it offers a solution as well," said YS member Robert Guerrero. "Young people can see that we don't have to live in the dog-eat-dog world that we know today."  
 
 
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