Vietnamese freedom fighters was voiced at the seventh national convention of the Young Socialist Alliance held in Detroit February 9-11. The delegates denounced U.S. intervention in the civil war in Vietnam and demanded the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops.
Pointing out how the war in Vietnam had sparked a wave of radicalization such as has not been seen in the United States since the thirties, Lew Jones, the national chairman of the organization, voiced the feelings of the delegates in pledging the YSA to do its utmost to erystallize this sentiment among the youth in the coming period in the form of an expanding revolutionary socialist youth movement.
With some 350 young people present from 45 different cities and towns in the United States, the convention was the largest in the history of the organization. The size and enthusiasm of the gathering reflected the deepening political radicalization in the U.S. and the opportunities opening up for building a strong revolutionary socialist youth movement in the main bastion of world imperialisn.
It was reported that the YSA has already registered a sharp increase in membership in the first six weeks of 1968.
For the first time at a YSA convention, delegates were present from well-established chapters in the South. In addition, for the first time, a significant number of high-school students participated in the deliberations.
The delegates decided to mobilize the YSA for an intensive campaign in support of the Socialist Workers party slate of Fred Halstead for president and Paul Boutelle for vice-president of the United States. In her political report, National Secretary Mary-Alice Waters projected winning thousands of young campaigners for Halstead and Boutelle.
After discussing perspectives for the growing international movement against the Vietnam war, the YSA voted to help build the international student strike for April 26 and to do everything possible to make the April 27 demonstrations around the world a success.
One of the most important contributions to the discussion on the antiwar
movement was made by Pfc. Howard Petrick,
a YSAer drafted into the army who was
threatened last spring with court-martial
for discussing his antiwar and socialist
views with other GIs. Petrick described
the strong sentiment against the war in
the army and said that one of the most
important tasks of the antiwar movement
is to "bring this out into the open
where people can see it."
In the resolution on the Afro-
American liberation movement, the YSA's
support of the progressive features of
black nationalism was reaffirmed.
Derrick Morrison, a member of the
National Committee, reported on the reso-
lution. "The awakening of thirty million
Afro-Americans to nationalist conscious-
ness," he said, "represents a necessary
stage in the development of the American
socialist revolution."
The convention decided to help
build the Afro-American movement through
such activities as defending militants
under attack from the government, build-
ing campus Afro-American clubs, and cam-
paigning for the formation of an inde-
pendent black political party.
During the convention, the YSA
sponsored a rally with Farrell Dobbs,
national secretary of the Socialist
Workers party, as the main speaker.
Dobbs described the present political
situation in the United States as "the
opening stages of a new developing pro-
cess of radicalization in this country
that shows more and more promise of
becoming very broad in its scope."
Gary Porter, the executive secre-
tary of the Canadian Young Socialists --
Lique des Jeunes Socialistes, told the
convention about the encouraging growth
of the socialist youth movement in Canada.
A new National Committee, elected
by the delegates, met briefly. It chose
as officers of the YSA: Lew Jones, na-
tional chairman; Mary-Alice Waters, na-
tional secretary; and Charles Bolduc,
national organizational secretary.
The convention closed with the tra-
ditional socialist song, "The Interna-
tionale."
At a press conference after the
convention, the YSA announced its de-
cisions on building the April 26 inter-
national student strike and supporting
the SWP presidential campaign.
FRED