We are going to read six books, starting with The History of American Trotskyism by James P. Cannon in its entirety. Then we'll read selections from The Struggle for a Proletarian Party by Cannon, In Defense of Marxism by Leon Trotsky, Capitalism's World Disorder and The Changing Face of U.S. Politics by Jack Barnes, and from New International no. 11 the article titled, "U.S. Imperialism Has Lost the Cold War." Our first class will be Sunday, July 8.

Recently the chapter here has been doing a weekly class on Socialism on Trial by Cannon. At the last class, a young woman came for the first time. She is a student at the University of Pittsburgh who has been involved with the Second Cuba-U.S. Youth Exchange--an upcoming visit to Cuba in late July by a group of young people from the United States--and also attended the recent Active Workers Conference. Her presence at the class added a lot and she came prepared with a list of questions from the reading that were all discussed.

Socialism on Trial explains the basic ideas of socialism through Cannon's testimony during the 1941 trial of 18 leaders of the Minneapolis Teamsters and the Socialist Workers Party who were framed up and imprisoned because of their opposition to Washington's moves to enter the second imperialist world war. Cannon was one of the 18 and a founding leader of the SWP.

We talked at great length about what it will mean to make a socialist revolution. We discussed the fear expressed by some people that a socialist government run by workers and farmers might make decisions based on prejudice. That led into topics such as race and racism, the fact that capitalism needs racism to survive, and that a workers and farmers government has no interest in racist discrimination but in fact would work to fight against it. Another line of discussion was about how workers and farmers would use their revolutionary government to defend the gains of their revolution.

We also discussed the distinction between the working class, working farmers, the middle class or petty bourgeoisie, and the bourgeois class. That led into what the working class comprises today.

We learned that Socialism on Trial provides a good overview of the SWP's political foundation. We also discussed the fact that since the events described in the book the working class has become further transformed by the integration of more Blacks, other oppressed nationalities, and women into its ranks.

In addition, members of the YS chapter in Pittsburgh have been busy working as part of a local delegation to the Second Cuba-U.S. Youth Exchange on fund-raising events. Those going on the trip and their supporters have raised $300 from donations and a car wash, which has given us enough to buy supplies for making T-shirts, which should bring in close to $1,000. We will begin printing the T-shirts immediately and will have them ready by the same weekend our summer school starts.

We also planned a fund-raising event at a local club, with bands and other entertainers performing, and all the proceeds will go to fund our delegation. Besides our delegation's individual contributions, we hope to raise the rest of the money through at least one more fund-raising event. One YS chapter member has also submitted an application to participate in the U.S. delegation to the 15th World Festival of Youth and Students in Algiers taking place in August.  
 
 
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