BY MAURICE WILLIAMS AND MANUEL GONZÁLEZ
OBERLIN, Ohio - "The forums I've been attending are like
different pieces in a puzzle. But here I got the whole
picture, with the work of the [Socialist Workers] Party and
the Young Socialists stretching across the country," said
Bobbi Negrón, a 19-year-old student at Rutgers University in
Newark, New Jersey. She was among those who were attending
their first Active Workers Conference.
About 450 people attended the conference, including members of the Socialist Workers Party, Young Socialists, and communist leagues in several countries; vanguard working people involved in struggles; supporters of the communist movement; and young people interested in socialism. Many Young Socialists and other participants converged on the conference in several car caravans-from the West Coast, Minnesota, Texas and Alabama, Georgia, and other points-that stopped along the way to pick up conference participants, join strike picket lines, and sell the Militant at plant gates and mine portals.
The conference included a rolling panel discussion, held each of the three days, that pulled together the threads of work of the party, YS, supporters, and fellow fighters over the last year. Talks by Mary-Alice Waters, editor of the Marxist magazine New International, and Jack Barnes, national secretary of the Socialist Workers Party, generalized and reinforced the lessons of the experiences described on the panels and in discussion from the floor. Themes of these discussions continued in classes based on questions that had come up during socialist summer schools over the last two months (more coverage from the conference will appear in the next Militant).
Visiting picket line on the way
On the way to the conference, Negrón and other socialist
activists visited the picket line of United Steelworkers of
America Local 3355, whose members have been waging a hard-
fought strike at Demag Delaval near Trenton, New Jersey, since
September 1998. "This was my first strike picket line. I was
impressed by how proud the strikers were in sticking together
and turning down the company's lousy contract offer."
After the conference Negrón joined the volunteer brigade of socialist workers, young socialists, and supporters to work on various projects to improve the Pathfinder building.
Romina Green from Fresno, California, joined the YS at the conference and said she is moving to another city to build the Young Socialists and to get a job in industry. She had participated in socialist summer school classes held in the weeks before the conference, which discussed political questions in Capitalism's World Disorder: Working-Class Politics at the Millennium and other Pathfinder titles. "The summer school answered a lot of questions," she said. "One of the classes [at the Active Workers Conference] was based on a question I had."
Participants in the conference also included workers and students from other countries. Pierre Lavine, 37, an auto worker near Paris, joined the Communist League in France at its founding convention in March. Since meeting communist workers on the job three years ago, he has been reading a number of Pathfinder books including the French translation of The Changing Face of U.S. Politics: Working Class Politics in the Trade Unions. After attending a class, Lavine stated, "I liked the discussion on the need for discipline in a party of revolutionary workers."
Another worker attending the meeting, Robert Shields, 59, who works at an auto plant in Hapeville, Georgia, commented, "When I get back, I plan to talk to younger workers and help get them prepared for what's coming down the tubes. Corporate greed is turning things up another notch, trying to make people work more for less money and pushing to raise the retirement age." Shields, a Militant subscriber who has also purchased a copy of the Pathfinder title Capitalism's World Disorder: Working-Class Politics at the Millennium, had participated in several farm actions this year.
Jim Horn, a 46-year-old worker from Floyds Knobs, Indiana, got involved in supporting a strike by United Food and Commercial Workers Union members against Tyson Chicken in Corydon, Indiana, where he organized to bring firewood to the picket line and a collection by his local union. "Through the experience of the Tyson strike I see an optimism today among working people that I haven't seen in my working career over the past 23 years," he remarked.
Young fighters seek out YS
Several other youth from across the country where there is
not yet a chapter of the Young Socialists attended the
conference and a few expressed interest in joining the
organization.
Willie Cotton, a 21-year-old student at the University of Arizona, launched a socialist study group with other students when ultrarightist Patrick Buchanan announced his campaign for U.S. president. "We organized classes on the pamphlet Fascism: What It Is and How to Fight It, by Leon Trotsky. We also did a class on State and Revolution by V.I. Lenin to discuss the role of the police and the state," he said.
Maya Anderson, 20, from Santa Cruz, California, pointed to her participation in one of the caravans of socialist workers, members of the Young Socialists, and other youth that traveled across the country as excellent preparation for the conference. "Even though I had done sales before, I had never sold at plant gates," she said.
Alfonso García, a high school student in Atlanta and member of the YS there, noted the importance of both reading and participating in the class struggle. "It really makes you think because it's about discussing and understanding and doing things, not just reading, he asserted. "It gives you the confidence that we can make a revolution."
Olympia Newton contributed to this article.