The Horizon, a student-produced newspaper at Indiana University Southeast, in New Albany, Ind., reported on a recent forum sponsored by the campus Youth for Socialist Action (YSA) chapter.
The writer, Steve Nichols, noted, “For now, the YSA is a study group. However, Christian Litsey, English sophomore and one of the founding members of YSA, said their main focus is to educate people on the theories of Marxism with the hope to come together and form a cohesive disciplined youth organization that can help lead the working-class revolution. …
“‘[Socialists] want a true equality for all people,’ Litsey said. ‘It’s not everyone making the same. Equality is everybody getting what they need.’
“The YSA also stands for full liberation of workers and oppressed people, opposition to any discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation and jobs for all by advocating a labor party based on the unions.”
During the forum, Levi Groenewold, history sophomore and YSA member, explained why the YSA is trying to build a revolutionary socialist youth organization:
“‘You can go out and take some kind of direct action—standing up against the capitalist system—but because you don’t have a plan or an organized method of resistance, it’s just kind of doomed to just be a heroless act,’ Groenewold said. ‘At the same time, if you have a revolutionary theory, such as Marxism, and you don’t implement it, then there is really no point to that theory, and you won’t be able to change society for the better unless you have action.’
“Bronson Rozier, organizer for Socialist Action in Southern Indiana and Northern Kentucky, has been an active member of the socialist movement for 47 years. Rozier said he attended the forum to support his comrades. ‘In a socialist society, there will be some differences, but it won’t be like this, where 2 percent of the country owns 80 percent of the wealth,’ Rozier said. ‘It’s going to be the [working-class] majority that is in control of it all.’”
> The article above first appeared in the January 2012 print edition of Socialist Action newspaper.
