Dear Comrades,
Last week, the National Committee (NC) of the Young Socialists met during the convention of the Socialist Workers Party. The NC decided on several campaigns that would guide the organization's work nationally leading up to the Active Workers Conference in Oberlin, Ohio, this August.
At the heart of every chapter's and at-large member's work should be the organization of a working-class campaign against the U.S./NATO-led war on Yugoslavia. In collaboration with the SWP we can organize educationals and picket lines to expose U.S. imperialism's motives in Yugoslavia, and sell the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial at plant gates and door to door in working class communities.
The NC voted to kick off a campaign parallel to the SWP's to sell Capitalism's World Disorder, a handbook needed by all young fighters, young socialists, and allies that we meet on the job, campus, and in the mass work we are doing. Every chapter and at-large member should take on a goal and report it to the NEC (National Executive Committee) by April 18.
Although the Cuban Youth Tour is well under way, each chapter should discuss how it can participate and help build the tour, even if it is not coming through the city you live in. Comrades can organize to drive to the closest city where the tour is headed. Chapters should also organize classes on the Cuban revolution. The NC proposes that a YS column be written by every chapter where the tour visits. The YS column will be an important tool to build the tour in other cities, and attract young fighters to the Young Socialists.
A central topic discussed at the SWP convention was the opportunities for recruitment to the party. We should expect that the SWP branches will be fighting for a culture of recruitment in their weekly rhythm. This may translate in an increase with meetings with co-workers, pre-forum diners, heightened activity in mass work, regional teams, and an overall higher level of attention paid to working-class fighters who have shown interest in our movement. We should expect that this level of political activity will increase the opportunities to recruit to the YS also. Leadership attention in all areas will be necessary to win all contacts to the politics and program of the YS that we have conquered through our previous conventions.
We raised $500 at the SWP convention and have $8,500 to go by June 1. It is critical that chapters rapidly get their goals into the National Office, so we can establish a weekly chart in the Militant. Chapters should discuss setting dates for fund-raising events. All areas should pursue possibilities of gaining honoraria at college campuses, and inviting YS speakers from other areas to speak at events along with any other creative events that are possible. The funds will be used to allow us to rapidly respond to political openings and to maintain a national office in San Francisco.
The new mailing address is:
Young Socialists National Office
P.O. Box 40393
San Francisco, CA 94140-0393
s/ Samantha Kern
for the YS National Committee
ST. PAUL, Minnesota - Members of the Young Socialists and other young activists in Minnesota have participated in several activities to protest the U.S. imperialist assault against Yugoslavia. On April 16 several students, young workers, and members of the Young Socialists participated in a speak-out against the war held at the Pathfinder Bookstore. A young airport worker related discussions with her co- workers about Clinton's announcement that thousands of reservists would be called upon and commented that the military's ranks are largely made up of workers. She asked how we can respond to this contradiction on the job.
Andrea Algiers, a freshman at the University of Minnesota, came to the forum after meeting socialist workers campaigning against the war at a Young Socialists/Socialist Workers Party table at the university earlier in the week. After the forum she bought a copy of the Militant newspaper because of its coverage on the Cuban revolution.
After the forum five of us, including Algiers, two members of the Young Socialists, a young worker who attended the YS convention, and a member of the SWP headed over to Macalester College in St. Paul to talk to students involved in a "Peace Encampment" there. The students we met at Macalester explained they organized the encampment because they felt they needed to do something about the war in Yugoslavia. They have been camping out in tents on the campus grounds for almost two weeks. The four students we talked to agreed that their protest was over the U.S./NATO bombing in Yugoslavia. We discussed different perspectives on the political goals of the U.S. government, the United Nations and its "international tribunals," and if we should support independence for Kosova.
One student opposed independence for Kosova, asserting that further dividing Yugoslavia wasn't warranted. Another student disagreed. "I support self-determination for Kosova in whatever form it takes," he said, "independence included."
Several students looked through the Militant newspaper and the current editorial that includes an internationalist perspective explaining why workers and youth should oppose the U.S.-NATO assault on Yugoslavia, as well as support independence for Kosova. We also shared the Pathfinder title, The Truth about Yugoslavia: Why Working People Should Oppose Intervention. Before leaving we invited the campers to a broadly sponsored demonstration taking place Saturday morning and an afternoon class sponsored by the Young Socialists to continue the discussion on how to oppose U.S. imperialism in the Balkans. Four young people came to the class, including two students from the University of Minnesota, one of whom attended Saturday's demonstration. The next class will be held on Saturday, April 24, at 6:30 p.m. at the Pathfinder Bookstore in St. Paul. For more information, call (651) 644- 6325.