What should I do for my Rev club meeting tommorow?

[OneBrickOneVoice]

the RCP NYC has started an iniative in communities and schools all over the city to build Revolution clubs similiar to the soviets of Russia. Tommorow I'm going to be having my schools first rev club meeting. The people who are going to attend largely, have never been politically active, are high school students who don't know much about Revolution and Communism, and are mainly just interested in the topic, not sold on anything.

What do you think I should do to hook them. Right now, all I have planned is to just say shortly what we're about, get people's contacts, distribute a few papers and stickers, but I don't know really what else.

Anyone got any suggestions?

[RedAnarchist]

Maybe ask them about their opinions of communism and answer any questions they may have?

Refute common misconceptions of the revolutionary left?

[apathy maybe]

Convert them all to anarchism? After all, anarchists have more fun...


Seriously, explain to them the problems of capitalism, explain how 'all the things in your life, homework, etc. are caused by capitalism' (or whatever the quote is).

You know the problems, it is just a matter of explaining how the problems that people have are directly (often) related to the political and economic system we live in.

And the solution? Well, the solution is change, obviously revolution is what you prefer, but others might be a bit worried about violence and so on. What is the biggest cause of violence in the world? Government, police and military. Etc. etc.

[Y Chwyldro Comiwnyddol Cymraeg]

refer them to this glorious website

if theyre interested do something fun like murder or vandalisation :ph34r:

[Pawn Power]

If you want people to come back you have to offer them something they want or something captivating, not just an issue of Revolution. Creating any enviorment where students can discuss politics, history, ect might be useful.

[which doctor]

Don't bore them (ie. don't pass out papers or even talk about the RCP).

[bolshevik butcher]

Talk about the basic principles of socialism, try and get the best most advanced and interested ones and give them the communist manifesto, you want to reach out to as many as possible but some will be more advanced than others and its them you want to reach first.

[OneBrickOneVoice]

Don't bore them

thanks now I know exactly WHAT to do. thanks for this constructive post :rolleyes:

[bezdomni]

Don't talk like you are the RCYB website from the 1980s.

[OneBrickOneVoice]

we had a website in the 1980s?

[Taboo Tongue]

Give them an upcoming event to get involved with. Think of something basic maybe leafleting about the Rev Club, and see who can distribute (whether post up, hand out, or whatever) the most leaflets with the most creatively and most efficiently. And at the bottom of the leaflet make another meeting date and place. If new people come ask the people them where they saw\got the meeting info from, and if no one comes then ask them who they think did the best, and how you all can do better.

[bezdomni]

Originally posted by Fight-For-Revolutionary-War!@May 22, 2007 08:54 pm
we had a website in the 1980s?
No...but all of the stuff on the RCYB Atlanta site was written in the 1980s, it was just (obviously) not on the internet.

[Rawthentic]

Talk to the them about the greatest lie in history, that Stalinism=Communism.

Thats an important aspect I would say.

But on the other hand, would you mind telling me how you made these school clubs and got peoples attention to attend?

[Ander]

Give them some basics on why capitalism is hurting society and the world at large. Explain to them the basics of communism and carefully refute the ignorant misconceptions about our ideology.

Do NOT start plugging organisations or personal politics into it, that will just fuck it up.

Also, if you're going to give them something to read, give them Principles of Communism, not the boring, archaic Manifesto. If you want to throw something off of learning about communism, give them the Manifesto.

[Bilan]

Make sure to keep it inclusive.
Try to make sure everyone is heard; try to incite discussion, etc.

Definatley confront misconceptions about communism/socialism. And make sure you get people to ask questions, etc.

Make sure it's a comfortable environment, perhaps bring food or something?

And...yeah.
Hope this helps,
Nick.

[which doctor]

Mobilize them around issues that they can relate to, such as issues regarding school. In fact, completely forget "politics" entirely.

[Idola Mentis]

Yeah. What Fob said. Haven't talked to large crowds, but been in plenty of spontaneous debates.

Of course, issues which they can relate to can later be related to the bigger picture. Where do your money go after you've paid for something? When you bought that banana, were you unwittingly chipping in for a Chiquita death squad? Wouldn't you rather have a say in where those money went?

The sheer absurdity of the state of the world today works well as comic relief. Pick out a few of the silliest things money has come up with and use them. (Who starts death squads over *bananas*? Only neoliberalist capitalism.)

Stress complicity. If you do not oppose this system, aren't you an accessory to its atrocities? The anti-globalization movement is just an oil slick on the surface of the real opposition. And so on.

[Pawn Power]

So...how it go?

[Ander]

...So?

[People's Councillor]

I've actually wanted to do this for some time. I was wondering...if I wanted to set up an independent educational organization, how to go about it?

[OneBrickOneVoice]

went alright it was really short. We decided we'd pick it up next year. all in all some 8 people showed up which was pretty good considering that I didn't really do any promotion at all, and we were banned from the school

[OneBrickOneVoice]

Originally posted by [email protected] 24, 2007 12:22 am
Give them some basics on why capitalism is hurting society and the world at large. Explain to them the basics of communism and carefully refute the ignorant misconceptions about our ideology.

Do NOT start plugging organisations or personal politics into it, that will just fuck it up.

Also, if you're going to give them something to read, give them Principles of Communism, not the boring, archaic Manifesto. If you want to throw something off of learning about communism, give them the Manifesto.
i see where you're coming from wit the reading. Of course I don't think the manifesto is boring or archaic, I just think that its a tougher read then the people who are there are willing to go for. Same with even the Principles.

I ended up just saying what we're about and saying we'd pick up next year and try to get it legitimized in the school

[People's Councillor]

You tried organizing through the school?

I'm not even bothering; my school resisted the formation of a youth rights club, let alone a revolutionary leftist organization. Needless to say, I have not tried the latter.

[Kurt Crover]

I never had a youth revolutionary club when I was at school, so this seems interesting. You had 8 people turn up? That's 8 more people that I would've ever got. Your on the right trail :D

[bolshevik butcher]

Eight people, that's not bad at all mate. By the way if you make your fight for legalisation in school you can use it to propagandaise and spread ideas.

[OneBrickOneVoice]

that's the idea. Without legitimacy from the school, I can't post fliers, use a school room, or hand out or post any fliers which make reference to anything on the school facility. I had nowhere to meet with the club. I ended up just being like "lets meet accross the street and then sneak into a classroom"

On the downside, say we wanted to organize a walkout or something, say we wanted to do ANYTHING the school deemed it didn't like. We would be banned. Also we need a faculty advisor to reign over all our clubs, fuck we can't even post up fliers that have a picture of a guy with a gun.

So yeah I don't know what path to take exactly, either way is fucked.

[People's Councillor]

Originally posted by Light Up The Sky!@June 04, 2007 08:31 pm
So yeah I don't know what path to take exactly, either way is fucked.
<_<

[bolshevik butcher]

Well fight for recognition and in the meantime hand out propaganda out on the sly, put some flyeres up on walls etc that&#39;s what i&#39;ve done when organising in schools without permission before. Hand them out at the gates of the school where the school cant move you legally if necessary.

[Ander]

Just say you&#39;re the Stamp Collector&#39;s Club.

[OneBrickOneVoice]

ha no i wish i could but the school bureacracy already know my intentions, plus if I got a faculty advisor and then lied to him about the intentions of the club some shit would go down.

[Rawthentic]

Hmmm..fuck bureaucracy. Direct student control&#33;

[phoenixoftime]

The fact that the school won&#39;t even allow your existance is very controversial - they&#39;ve handed you your first issue to organize around&#33; Stick up posters at night, organize meetings in public areas and/or in areas not under school juristiction. You don&#39;t need some teacher to &#39;allow&#39; you to voice your opinion and build up your movement - they can only try to stop you. So what if they ban you? Go tell the media. Protest outside with a sign. Just don&#39;t give in, comrade&#33;

[Kurt Crover]

phoenixoftime has a good idea, you should meet outside of the school buildings and land. They&#39;ve already handed you a sword by not letting you meet. You could should stab them (by getting people on your side) :D

[Idola Mentis]

They won&#39;t let you organize? Sweet Zombie Jesus what a bunch of hypocrites.

Is this a public school? If so, they have no fucking business censoring political organizations unless their "political" goal is overtly illegal, violent or racist. (And, no, being a revolutionary is not illegal in most places which pretend to be democracies.) If this is legal in the US, your problems are bigger than I imagined. If it&#39;s not a public school, shouldn&#39;t they still be worshipping that constitution of yours, like good little patriots?

[People&#39;s Councillor]

But remember, kids, this commie club is a clear and present danger to the government of the United States.

The Smith Act is so broadly defined that the school is well within its rights to restrict the formation of such a club. Further, a public school has the right to restrict the rights of its students if it believes that there is a danger to one or more other students. And given the lie that leftists are automatically violent, they would have a strong case in court, especially the Roberts Court.

I&#39;m not saying this is good, it&#39;s not. But it is true, and it is one more nail in the coffin of the lie of American democracy.

[OneBrickOneVoice]

Originally posted by Idola [email protected] 05, 2007 11:10 am
They won&#39;t let you organize? Sweet Zombie Jesus what a bunch of hypocrites.

Is this a public school? If so, they have no fucking business censoring political organizations unless their "political" goal is overtly illegal, violent or racist. (And, no, being a revolutionary is not illegal in most places which pretend to be democracies.) If this is legal in the US, your problems are bigger than I imagined. If it&#39;s not a public school, shouldn&#39;t they still be worshipping that constitution of yours, like good little patriots?
they reserve the right to ban anything that "isn&#39;t in line with school guidelines"

what this translates too is if they do agree to let the club go forward. They&#39;ll have a faculty member watching over us every second, intervening if we do plan a walkout or something like that, it means that if we want to organize for any event of any sort, it has to be under their permission, if we want to post a flier on campus or refering to anything on campus then they tear it down and punish the people involved with it if they disagree with anything it says like for example I but a picture of a man with a molotov cocktail and immediatly they tore it down. So yeah. Yes it is a public school, while I would do what you&#39;re saying Pheonix, I fear that the student body is completely oblivious to anything political and that they are mostly absorbed in just surviving high school. So it might backfire.

On the otherhand if I do what voz de la gente advocates, I&#39;d have no place to meet and I could only advertise outside of the campus, so its really fucked both ways.

[Rawthentic]

Dude, you don&#39;t have to make it an official club, just meet somewhere at lunch, outside where you are not fettered with admins or teachers. It doesnt have to be formal, you can post propaganda and all that.

[Hegemonicretribution]

Good that you have this going.

I would personally go at it next year with a basic intro to surplus labour...quick simple and mathematical demonstration of why workers get fucked so the capitalists can benifit. Leave it there though, don&#39;t go technical.

Then I would deal with "human nature" next, 5 minutes and you can destroy any criticisms that any faculty member could bring up, let alone students (as long as you prepare).

Perhaps after that explanation of USSR et al...don&#39;t dwell, just show the fallacy of mislabelling with reference to DPRK for example.

Highlight socially progressive attitudes in their entirety...comment on the problems with restricting rights of individuals, of any state etc. Depednding on how you dealt with human nature you might need to explain interdependency and the benifits of co-operation.

Then perhaps contemporary class struggle, activism vs lifestylism etc

I would probably conclude with general but relevant points: relation to sex, drugs, free speech, education...actually Marxist perspectives on education are great at inspiring disenchanted students.

Of course you know your student base best and what would work for them, this is merely the order that I think I would try and appeal in.

[People&#39;s Councillor]

The DPRK doesn&#39;t even bother calling itself socialist anymore, so that example goes out the window as soon as they try to bring it up.


Dude, you don&#39;t have to make it an official club, just meet somewhere at lunch, outside where you are not fettered with admins or teachers. It doesnt have to be formal, you can post propaganda and all that.

The trouble is, at least in my experience, you can&#39;t post propaganda in the school unless you&#39;re an official club.

[Hegemonicretribution]

Originally posted by People&#39;s [email protected] 06, 2007 03:05 pm
The DPRK doesn&#39;t even bother calling itself socialist anymore, so that example goes out the window as soon as they try to bring it up.

Well not exactly, people will and do assert that it is states such as the DPRK, USSR etc that are communism. Just look anywhere in the political education of students, the view of the uneducated populace, the media as a whole or even the opposing ideologies forum here for proof of this.

This is an obvious stumbling block for any discussion. This is because whilst the relationship between the reasoning of a peer and the "application" of this reasoning contributing to the formation of an authoritarian state is still blurred; it becomes very difficult to accept the arguments proposed no matter how plausible, as either not being propoganda, or being a viable theory at least (in virtue of the lack of actual application).

I stated this is just how I would do it to relate to people best; I have established this over several years of such discussion, but that is just what works for me and this may not be the case universally, or even in any other instances.

The reason I would use the DPRK is to demonstrate that although it once claimed to be socialist, and was viewed as such (generally by those it suited and their followers); ut also claimed to be democratic, yet no one accepted this. There is an inherent hypocricy there that even the most closed mind would struggle to miss. This is also a good point I find, for follow up examples if required. It is because this prooves the basic point that I would have sought to establish; that the failings of "communism" are not inherent to the theory but rather are the result of mislabelling on the behalf of those that had a vested interest to this effect; that I do not generally find the need to follow up on this unless it is for in depth purposes or in response to a particular objection.

In essence I just find that the main problem with introducing such theories is explaining away misconceptions to the sceptic.

I feel that I could fairly concisely explain most objections to Marxism, at least when compared to my explanations of the point I was raised in response to your comment. I am afraid I am less practiced in such responses consequently I imagine they can be pretty heavy going...Probably wondering whether or not this post is going to end so I will stop :P :lol:

[Question everything]

Originally posted by [email protected] 22, 2007 07:45 pm
Don&#39;t bore them (ie. don&#39;t pass out papers or even talk about the RCP).
Call the Teachers Reactionary Fucks who will be purged, at least half the School will rally to your side. :P

[arielle]

Originally posted by People&#39;s [email protected] 05, 2007 03:47 pm
But remember, kids, this commie club is a clear and present danger to the government of the United States.

The Smith Act is so broadly defined that the school is well within its rights to restrict the formation of such a club. Further, a public school has the right to restrict the rights of its students if it believes that there is a danger to one or more other students. And given the lie that leftists are automatically violent, they would have a strong case in court, especially the Roberts Court.

I&#39;m not saying this is good, it&#39;s not. But it is true, and it is one more nail in the coffin of the lie of American democracy.
Wasn&#39;t the smith act revoked a long time ago?


edit--

next meeting bring cookies and juice.
In a few instances in my school we could have clubs but yes they would need faculty advisors and everything that we do has to be pre-approved by the board. We just moved to the local library and every once and a while put posters in the bathrooms and high up in places where the teachers can&#39;t reach during the night.

It&#39;s amazing that they leave windows unlocked in computer rooms too... and doors open from the inside out so it&#39;s really easy to get into my school.

Try to use stickers also. They are a little bit harder to get off of the walls or if your hell bent use spray paint and get some stencils. I&#39;ll take some pictures next time there&#39;s no one around near the political graffitti in my school. But if we&#39;re caught with cameras or phones in the school we get it taken away and need a guardian to pick them up :(

^^ But try organizing off school property, or on it and just not in the school. Exhaust all of your possibilities.

[Ultra-Violence]

Light Up The Sky&#33;

good job u got some peolpe thats cool i feel for you about the school shit its fucking riducouls that my school can have a fucking christian club but no commie club......hey but you got some people you have a foundation good luck and best of wishes