González, who is from El Salvador, was one of a number of first-time participants interviewed here by the Militant. He told of participating in a victorious effort to organize a union at the meatpacking plant where he works, and of building solidarity with the strike by fellow meat packers at Tyson Foods in Wisconsin.

Several youth said they had first met the Socialist Workers Party and Young Socialists at actions protesting the Washington-led war against Iraq. In the case of Nicole Salgado, who is from Miami, this was followed the very next day by a trip to Georgia to meet Cuban revolutionary leaders Víctor Dreke and Ana Morales and the Black farmers who were hosting them.

“Dreke taught us about the gains of the revolution, including its agrarian reform,” Salgado said. She joined the Young Socialists in March and recently got a job as a garment worker.

Ryan Scott, 20, had been involved in building antiwar actions at California State University, Monterey Bay, in Seaside, California. “The conference gave me a better understanding of the Socialist Workers Party in relation to labor battles,” said Scott. “My favorite thing was the classes, especially the one on the The 1931-39 Spanish Revolution and Civil War.”

Juán, who was born in Mexico, appreciated the working-class “analysis of the political situation in the world” presented by conference speakers. He first bumped into Militant supporters at a meeting to protest attempts by immigration authorities to deport Róger Calero, he said. Like González, he had been involved in union-organizing efforts in his native country.

Diego Negro Guerra met socialists at the University of South Florida in Tampa. The conference discussions persuaded him that his hopes of reforming the education system were not possible. “It’s going to take a revolution,” he said.

Pete Musser, a 23-year-old line cook from Pittsburgh, said that the conference discussions were “intense.” He was very interested in the delegates’ contributions on their experiences as union fighters and socialists.

“I attended the classes on Marx and Engels on the United States, and The Final Political Contributions of Frederick Engels,” said Zulema, who is originally from Peru. “Now that I have a better idea of the communist movement, I want to participate, to help in the election campaign of the SWP.”

“I don’t think I’ve talked this much politics in my life,” said José Velásquez, a 20-year-old construction worker from Los Angeles. “I’m learning a lot and it’s making me think about joining the Young Socialists.” He said the classes showed that “I need to read more, learn more, and be more disciplined.”
 
 
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