High School Comrades

[Dirty Commie]

I'm starting a Socialist party at my high shcool and need some help. I have been having unnoficial meetings after school and I have a teacher willing to sponsor the club.

I need to know of any ideads that would help me out with what to do, I'm undecided whether or not to allow anarchists and liberals. I am also trying to write a mission statement for the party. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Brendan Mannion :che:

[commie kg]

Originally posted by Dirty [email protected] 8 2003, 01:04 PM
I'm starting a Socialist party at my high shcool and need some help. I have been having unnoficial meetings after school and I have a teacher willing to sponsor the club.

I need to know of any ideads that would help me out with what to do, I'm undecided whether or not to allow anarchists and liberals. I am also trying to write a mission statement for the party. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Brendan Mannion :che:
What kind of party is it? I'm guessing a Marxist-Leninist one, from the "anarchists and liberals" line.

I'd suggest that you do let in leftists of another ideology, simply to promote unity.

[Dirty Commie]

please delete, something weird happened.

[Dirty Commie]

I'm not a Marxist-Leninist, but I'm not a hige fan of allowng liberals and anarchists in because I don't want the entire "left of center" political spectrum represented in this group.

I'm going to be vague and not align with any one version of socialism, to cast a wider net.

The worst part is that most of the people who are at my school have this idea lodged in their brain since they were concieved that communism is evil, and even the socialists here are anti-communist. I don't align myself anywhere, If anything, a communist, but have some very differnt views than "mainstream" communists.

[Blibblob]

You bastard, how dare you find a teacher, no fair that I can't...

It depends mostly on the club, if you are just trying to start a commie club to discuss only communist theory, then only communists should be allowed. But if you want one to discuss news with a leftist outlook, try whoever will join. Trying to make a purely communist club will get you, and your best friend in.... It would be quite small. At my school I know only one person that knows anything about any form of politics. And then theres this freshman kid that I've seen wearing a shirt with the hammer and sickle on it, probably only to look cool. So, you suck, finding a teacher is strange though... Let me guess, an english teacher?

[Dirty Commie]

Law studies.

Don't you live in St. Pete?

[Blibblob]

Law studies, damn, that was going to be my.... um, other guess, later on...

I live in Seminole, go to school in south St. Pete though. Hmm, I don&#39;t think my school even has law studies... <_< stupid school.

[Dirty Commie]

Where do you go? Boca Ciega?

[RevolucioN NoW]

What sort of a &#39;socialist party&#39; are you starting? a discussion group or otherwise?

How many people are in the group?

Sounds promising, keep us posted on developments

[RevolucioN NoW]

What sort of a &#39;socialist party&#39; are you starting? a discussion group or otherwise?

How many people are in the group?

Sounds promising, keep us posted on developments

:ph34r:

[Dirty Commie]

The main objective is to educate the students at my high school and to disprove old myths and lies about socialism. Along with that, I am planning to have a walk out for tenth graders to protest the FCAT testing, protesting the Bush administration, neo-conservative fascism, and I am attempting to start a Socialist Party newspaper at my school.

As of now, I don&#39;t have the number of people who are going to join, but I&#39;ve got half a dozen people who would definatly join.


Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[YKTMX]

Good luck comrade. I wish I had been more pro-active about my politics at high school.

[RevolucioN NoW]

Seems you have big plans, a newspaper is hard to circulate (I tried at my school) and can be expensive to produce if done in anything but black and white. I would circulate it for free at least at first and focus on a few broad issues that students can either relate to or would have at lest minow knowledge.

For instance in Australia the Howard Junta wants to increase Uni fees by 30% and this effected a good amount of fellow students. Smaller articles on Iraq and the like should be included but not in a very technical way (try to dumb it down :lol: ).

Initial attempts at organising such as the walk out you mentioned should focus on broad issues as well. Meetings can be called after you have distributed the newspaper so as to get as many people interested as possible.

You may experience harrasment from higher authorities (principal, Headmaster) so try to be as undergrond as possible in the first few weeks. When you have a following it will be harder for them to shut you down :D .

Keep up the good work comrade

:ph34r:

[RED FIRE]

Good luck comrade.
I also wish that I was more pro-active about politics while I was at High school.

[Dirty Commie]

The hardest part is going to have the principal approve, students can start almost any club as long as they have administrative approval.

[Blibblob]

I thought I posted something earlier, something screwed up...

Good luck comrade. I wish I had been more pro-active about my politics at high school
I need to be...

Where do you go? Boca Ciega?
Lakewood

Along with that, I am planning to have a walk out for tenth graders to protest the FCAT testing
Be careful with that, if they don&#39;t pass it, they don&#39;t graduate. It would be better if my aunt(on the school board) did what she did last year, attempted a FCAT boycott. Didn&#39;t work, and now many people hate her :D. Although, I heard that somepeople are sueing(or something like that) the Florida school system about the FCAT not being fair to those with disabilities, like those on special diploma.

The hardest part is going to have the principal approve, students can start almost any club as long as they have administrative approval.
You need administrative approval, I thought that you could start any club, about anything, as long as you found a teacher sponsor. So technically, somebody could start a Nazi club if they could find a teacher, or even an Al Qaeda one :D. If your administrator gives you troubles, tell me, I&#39;ll use my special power of having an aunt on the school board and do anything to help you :D.

[Dirty Commie]

Your aunt is on the school board? awesome.

I need to finds out what type of rules there are on student led and circulated papers on school.

[Blibblob]

Um, try calling the school board office(or asking somebody at school to get you a copy of board policies), my mom doesn&#39;t know off the top of her head, and my aunt would give me a weird look if I bugged her about it. I mean, I definately would call my aunt if they were trying to censor you, but they have hardcover copies of rules and regulations. Sorry on that part :(. If your newspaper works, tell me how you did it and me and the two others that know anything about politcs might give it a try :D. See how lazy I am(but you have more people, so there&#39;s my excuse), no wonder I&#39;m almost failing, still have higher than a 2.75 though, hehe...

[Dirty Commie]

Things are piecing together slowly, we&#39;ve got to fill out the paper work and write out a statment about why we need a Socialist Party, but things are looking up.

[Comrade Marcel]

I don&#39;t mean to be an ass, but lets be realistic here.

You are not starting a "Party", you are starting a club. Being a Party means that you have a large base, with members that pay dues, and host what you are doing (clubs) in their neighbourhoods and schools. Starting a party takes months or even years of planning, and sometimes they emerge from mass organizations.

Our group Young Left does not consider itself to even be an organization yet (realistically, we are a commitee for the building of an org) and Rebel Youth Network is still an Organizing Committee, not a fully developed body. You can&#39;t just build an organization &/or a United Front overnight, and you most certainly do not build a Party overnight.

An organization should have a membership of around 15 dedicated people (atleast) that pay dues or membership fee, and there should be a written program and different campaigns that the org takes on.

A Party should have members in the 100s. with all of the above criteria, plus a written constitution, etc. etc.

Starting a club is a simple task and could lead to starting an Organizing Committee. I would suggest to you that if you can get atleast 2 people then you have a start. If you have a teacher that sympathizes, even better.

Have planned activities that the club will take on (i.e. workshops, study groups, discussion forums, debates, film viewing, whatever..) and campaign in your school for people to get involved. You should also consider having club activities off school grounds as well (school can be limiting) so that you can invite more people out and do other things that you can&#39;t in school.

Learn how to chair meetings and be a public speaker. It is something essential if you want to become a good organizer.

Good Luck.

[RedTiger]

I just wanted to say that i admire what your doing, and hope you are successful. And me and a couple of close friends are thinking of also starting a group like yours, any help would be greatly appreciated.
Best of luck comrade