College Leftist requesting Advice

[Gormanilius]

Hello comrades!
I hail from a university in North Carolina. The past year I worked with a few others to create a campus Green Party, but we have had inconsistent leadership (president left for Dems), as well as there being a lack of people who attend. The area is very Libertarian, in the American sense, and they largely seem to control the homosexual group on campus as well.

Now I am the leader of the group, which says little due to very low attendence. I am thinking about broadening ourselves. Instead of a campus branch of the virtually non-existent NC Green Party, I am thinking of making the group some sort of United Left Alliance. In this way I can broaden it. It will not be some pawn of any particular political party, as I see many actual leftists giving up and voting Democrat. Instead, I believe our focus will be more of a multi-tier group, hosting educational talks and documentaries.

Any advice or criticism?

[Lyev]

Any advice or criticism?Get out of the green party.

[Dunk]

Try to start a Students for a Democratic Society chapter.

[Gormanilius]

Get out of the green party.

Why do you suggest that? In terms of politics, they seem pretty spot on. I mainly want them to unite with the socialists.

Oh, I do know that SDS has a chapter in Chapel Hill, the only really politically active place in NC. I will have to consider going through with that. Thanks =]

[Zanthorus]

Why do you suggest that?

If they US Green party is anything like the UK Green party (And I'm fairly sure it is), they are a reformist party with absolutely no connection or relevance to working-class struggle whose politics cater to middle-class radicals.

[black magick hustla]

make a communist beer club works better trust me

[Tim Finnegan]

Hello comrades!
I hail from a university in North Carolina. The past year I worked with a few others to create a campus Green Party, but we have had inconsistent leadership (president left for Dems), as well as there being a lack of people who attend. The area is very Libertarian, in the American sense, and they largely seem to control the homosexual group on campus as well.

Now I am the leader of the group, which says little due to very low attendence. I am thinking about broadening ourselves. Instead of a campus branch of the virtually non-existent NC Green Party, I am thinking of making the group some sort of United Left Alliance. In this way I can broaden it. It will not be some pawn of any particular political party, as I see many actual leftists giving up and voting Democrat. Instead, I believe our focus will be more of a multi-tier group, hosting educational talks and documentaries.

Any advice or criticism?
Well, just to be picky, use "LGBT", "LGBTIQ" or "queer", rather than "homosexual", when referring to such groups. That term paints both a narrow picture of these groups, and is rather more clinical language than would be ideal in reference to a movement which is trying to humanise queerness.

[Zeus the Moose]

Hello comrades!
I hail from a university in North Carolina. The past year I worked with a few others to create a campus Green Party, but we have had inconsistent leadership (president left for Dems), as well as there being a lack of people who attend. The area is very Libertarian, in the American sense, and they largely seem to control the homosexual group on campus as well.

Now I am the leader of the group, which says little due to very low attendence. I am thinking about broadening ourselves. Instead of a campus branch of the virtually non-existent NC Green Party, I am thinking of making the group some sort of United Left Alliance. In this way I can broaden it. It will not be some pawn of any particular political party, as I see many actual leftists giving up and voting Democrat. Instead, I believe our focus will be more of a multi-tier group, hosting educational talks and documentaries.

Any advice or criticism?

As far as already existing groups go, my guess is that hooking up with SDS would be your best bet, as they are a fairly broad left-wing student group. Formally I'd say their orientation is somewhat revolutionary (though not necessarily socialist, which leads to some odd contradictions), though their practise on the ground can be somewhat mixed as they're a very decentralised group. They also mirror a lot of the things that the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (Fight Back!) does, as the FRSO (FB!) has a fair amount of influence in SDS.

[ellipsis]

Get in contact with a former revleft user, reclaimeddasein and the group he helped to start, the revolutionary student union at university of utah (http://www.uvursu.com/). they would be happy to help you move towards a more radical format. He has been organizing in a very conservative area, using this college-based student group as a platform for a non-tendency anti-capitalist organization which is active both on and off campus.

[Gormanilius]

I checked out his group, as well as that group's many videos on political theory. I think that in forming an organization, I will have some mix of the two organizations.

You know, I looked at the old SDS constitution of the 1960's, and it included being "against communism", which I think might have helped create disunity. Where as the RSU your friend helped to create seems more of a Communist organization, and excluding those with a social democratic tendency (well, democratic socialist). If I am to create a new organization, I would like to do my best to support all tendencies of left thought.

I am really glad RSU has an online version of its constitution. Writing one of those seems to always be hard, because I am afraid I might leave something out of it and cause the group to fall.

[Ele'ill]

You can always organize/co-organize assemblies/council meetings without labeling yourself- especially if there are issues at the school and in the community that need to be addressed- you don't need a group to do this.

Rather than worrying about writing a 'constitution' why not rely on 'autonomous communiques'? A statement weekly/monthly/annually etc released by yourself and a core group of other people who share similar beliefs but who don't identify with a 'party line'.

[Zeus the Moose]

I checked out his group, as well as that group's many videos on political theory. I think that in forming an organization, I will have some mix of the two organizations.

You know, I looked at the old SDS constitution of the 1960's, and it included being "against communism", which I think might have helped create disunity. Where as the RSU your friend helped to create seems more of a Communist organization, and excluding those with a social democratic tendency (well, democratic socialist). If I am to create a new organization, I would like to do my best to support all tendencies of left thought.

I am really glad RSU has an online version of its constitution. Writing one of those seems to always be hard, because I am afraid I might leave something out of it and cause the group to fall.

The old SDS took out the anti-communist clause of their constitution in 1964-65ish, so I don't see how that's necessary relevant. Besides, the new SDS doesn't use the old organisation's constitution anyway. Honestly, they don't have that much of a formalised national structure as far as I know (though I could be wrong on this?)

EDIT: what are you thinking of in terms of the political composition of this group? Are you aiming for something with a specifically socialist character, or trying to include non-socialist elements as well (such as the Greens)? If the latter, how might you go about dealing with the near-inevitable clash of politics between those who would want to go in a more explicitly socialist direction, and those who want to stay as "broad left" (especially if the "broad-left"ists are in a minority)?