LOS ANGELES-In the short amount of time that Students for Socialist Action has been here on the UCLA campus, we’ve been able to establish a presence as the largest and most active youth socialist group in the area.
Since October, we’ve taken up issues that affect the student population, from the struggle of the Teachers Assistants (SAGE) to become unionized in the face of administrational opposition, to the fight to save Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Our meetings and activities reach up to 40+ students, and we are optimistic that the future holds more progress for building a revolutionary youth group.
We have been holding consistent forums on campus, with an average attendance of about 25 to 30 people. Topics of these events have ranged from Mumia to Malcolm X, from the environment to SAGE, and we have planned forums on “Art and Revolution”and on capitalism’s effect on education.
At the beginning of this winter quarter, we initiated a student coalition to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal. It has developed into a broad organization of vibrant youth; participants and sponsors are from USAC (the undergrad student government), RAZA women, the Environmental Coalition, and more.
Our first event for Mumia, a showing of the film “A Case for a Reasonable Doubt?”, drew a crowd of nearly 50. We are bringing a delegation to the March 6 Mumia conference in Berkeley, which we will be actively participating in, and we are working with the common goal of bringing an army of youth to San Francisco on April 24, the national day of protest.
We organized an undergraduate march to the picket line of SAGE earlier this year, and we are continuing to work with them. Our members are active in other social issues that effect working people and youth, such as the Bus Riders Union and the Affirmative Action Coalition.
We are planning a trip this summer to Cuba, where we can communicate with our fellow brothers and sisters there and commend them on upholding their revolution for a 40th year (any donations for this trip, which we are in need of, can be sent to the national headquarters of Socialist Action).
Now that we have a dedicated core of youth, we are able to table every day of the week, giving us the opportunity to actively recruit every day. Our organization is becoming more experienced and larger in numbers, and we have bigger plans for the future.
We urge all youth to get involved in the revolutionary struggle. If you have a Students for Socialist Action branch in your area, then contact them and get active; if you don’t, get in touch with our national office at (415) 821-0458.
We here in LA, as well as our other youth groups in other cities and campuses are actively engaged in the historic struggle for a socialist society that satisfies the needs of all-not the greed of a few. We need a potent leadership composed of strong, hard-working young people to embrace the upcoming radicalization of the youth.
