The Kids Will Be Alright
By Ian McClure and Kayla Sharpe
Nine student organizers from the Detroit area attended YDSA’s Winter Conference April 1–3 at the Chicago Teachers Union headquarters, with five from Wayne State and two each from Lawrence Tech and Oakland University. Panels, workshops, and breakout sessions combined political education and practical skills to foster the next generation of American socialists. Members learned about labor organizing, both on and off campus, as well as electoral work and efficiently running their chapters.
Throughout the weekend, students learned how to organize within active fields of struggle. They also learned how not to organize, with examples kindly provided by disruptive and antagonistic sects. In the end, they returned to their chapters reinvigorated to build a mass organization with a robust structure and clear, winnable priorities.
Student-Led Education
The workshops were hosted primarily by students who shared what did and did not work in their campaigns. In the “Identifying a Target and Power Mapping” workshop, chapter leaders from Oakland University and the University of Michigan not only taught student organizers how to power-map a campaign but also provided a space for attendees to converse among themselves and with the presenters about their campaigns. Organizing in YDSA will always be made more difficult with the quick turnover rate, but being able to share strategy advice and have conversations with members from all around the country is one of the best ways to combat this.
The value of these workshops was not lost on YDSA members. Lilac, a first time conference-goer from Oakland University, said, “I can use the strategies learned from the unionizing campus workshop to help promote worker solidarity amongst undergraduates and student workers.”
Few speakers stood out as much as Chicago DSA’s Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, who gave the keynote address, and the labor panel featuring worker leaders from strategic industries.
The former was an uplifting speech, equal parts energizing and informative, about the importance of building a movement behind politicians. Comrade Ramirez-Rosa spoke about how an organized community of supporters led to the defeat of a gentrifying real estate development in favor of fully affordable housing.
The labor panel was just as exciting. Workers from logistics, nursing, and teaching unions told stories of how they organized on the shop floor to fight against greedy bosses, austerity measures, and racial discrimination. A YDSA alumna encouraged listeners to follow in her footsteps, becoming a nurse and working as a rank-and-file union member to build the labor movement and fight for socialism.
Misleading by Example
However, the workshops were not the only educational aspect of the weekend. Members of ultra-left sects, both as dual-carders and in their own conferences, showed YDSAers the importance of outward-facing actions, strategically targeted to build power and support.
Socialist Alternative members spent their weekend handing out flyers in the conference hall, asking that YDSA members leave the conference on Saturday and attend an abortion defense street action instead. When panelists talked about building a militant labor movement from the ground up, working to reform unions from within, SA members were more curious about what they could do from outside. Rather than taking the time to build working class power and win union elections, they sought to feel righteous.
YDSA members intuitively saw that these tactics had no leverage to make any sort of change, and that their time was better spent organizing to win power. Why would workers listen to outsiders with no skin in the game? Realizing SA had no clear demand or target, YDSAers knew their time would be better spent at the conference learning about one-on-one conversations or strike solidarity. It was clear that over a long term, the abilities learned at the conference would allow socialists to build the strength necessary to win power and achieve greater victories, such as enshrining abortion rights into law and building a powerful, class-conscious labor movement.
Meanwhile, the Platypus Affiliated Society held its national conference elsewhere, at the University of Chicago. Instead of focusing on developing cadre into skilled organizers, they focused their energy inwards, with hours-long debates. A few of their newspapers were secreted into the CTU hall, filled paragraph after paragraph with meandering, self-important rhetoric, lacking any call to action or insight as to the path forward.
Once again, the flaws of this strategy were immediately apparent to the student organizers. Few if any were willing to dedicate the immense time and energy needed to read a Platypus article. Hailey from Wayne State said, “I want to focus on one-on-one conversations between those involved in YDSA and those who are interested in being involved but aren’t quite sure how to,” and elaborated that, after returning from the conference, she has done so, leading to more students attending YDSA meetings.
Reinvigorating DSA
As YDSA strengthens itself, the strength of DSA grows as well. “When DSA invests in YDSA, they are investing in on-campus activities that are meant to recruit,” Hailey said.“Those who join YDSA can also become dues-paying members of DSA, so they are investing in the new generation.” The skills that young organizers learn at Winter Conference and bring back to their chapters stay with them, equipping them to seamlessly transition into DSA and/or the labor movement. Lilac from Oakland echoed this sentiment: “It gives opportunities for younger people to build up skills that will help them in DSA, as well as focus on issues such as campus organizing.”
In a time of rising tensions and political disagreements within DSA, at least online, the YDSA conference was a lighthouse illuminating the path forward. While some would have you believe that DSA contains irreconcilable contradictions, or that a special convention is necessary to restore faith in the leadership, student organizers have shown the opposite.
Our priorities of organizing labor, winning office at the state and federal levels, and growing DSA are correct — and by remaining focused on educating and agitating towards our goals, we will win. With a focus on organizing the working class through militant, democratic unionism and class struggle elections, the socialist movement in the U.S. can continue to build itself and gain real, lasting power.
Kayla Sharpe is Chair of Oakland University YDSA and on the track to become a rank-and-file teacher.
Ian McClure is Chair of Lawrence Tech YDSA and Detroit DSA’s YDSA coordinator
