PL College Conference: Youth Welcome ‘Rising Flames’ of Communist Ideas

BROOKLYN, November 9 — In 1968, guitar virtuoso and songwriter Jimi Hendrix wrote the line, “Look at the sky turn hellfire red…” He was referring to the rising flames of black workers’ rebellions in major U.S. cities after nonviolent struggle seemed futile.
In 2013, his words could easily describe the revolutionary excitement felt at the two-day Progressive Labor Party College Conference to Smash Imperialism. Some participants came from the rally against the repression of student fighters [see front page] and greeted communist ideas and practices as a welcome alternative to the fascism we experience daily on campus.
Creeping Fascism and International Fightback
The conference, 60 people strong, boasted a multi-racial crowd from across the U.S., along with others from as far away as Mexico and Switzerland. It was an important step toward building an alliance of students, professors and college workers. It strengthened a new leadership of PL youth while rejuvenating the fighting spirits of more veteran comrades.
The conference took place as attacks on students and faculty have sharpened. From Haiti to Los Angeles to New York City, college campuses are becoming breeding grounds for fascism. This is a period when U.S. bosses, in preparation for war with inter-imperialist rivals like China, can no longer rule in the old way. In their desperate effort to hold on to state power, they must intensify their repression of students and workers. The City University of New York’s reinstallation of the Reserve Officer Training Corps, integrating generals Colin Powell and David Petraeus into the curriculum, is one sign of creeping fascism. Another is the shutdown of student centers, a move that hinders student organizing [see CHALLENGE 11/13].
Many students involved in fightbacks are wondering, Why is this happening now? Another crucial question: Is communism possible? Our conference was a positive move to build confidence in the working class that we can indeed win. Moreover, the workshops used the Marxist method of dialectical materialism to investigate how capitalism is headed not only toward war but also toward its own inevitable decay and death.
Students Passionate About Communism
Many were passionate in opposing racism, sexism, nationalism and other divisions among working people. In workshops and larger gatherings, students demonstrated a serious desire for a renewed movement to change the dark future capitalism has in store for them [see page 6].
A keynote speech by a student leader of the PLP college work reflected the revolutionary optimism mood shared by many. “Capitalism is a system that’s dying and the working class has glimmers of hope. The glimmers are happening in this very room. There are glimmers of hope when we fight back, when we choose the side of communism. We will win! Choose communist revolution and raise that blood-red flag high. Never let it come down!”
In one workshop, a young woman student talked about the role of universities under capitalism.  She said she felt targeted by her right-wing professor for openly challenging his backward ideas in class. By the end of the day, she said the conference gave her confidence she wasn’t alone, and that PLP has her back in the struggle against anti-working-class ideas. This student was a shining example of an engaged, vocal and focused thinker, the opposite of the media caricature of apathetic youth.
Comrades from Haiti drafted a sharp solidarity letter about an incident four days earlier, when students faced “hundreds of tear gas canisters…fired by the State Police, and students were passing out around us as rubber bullets as well as live bullets rained down on us.”
The conference promoted a discussion on the importance and use of CHALLENGE in our fightbacks. We expect more students to write for, read, and distribute our revolutionary paper.
The college conference is one step in a long fight against imperialism. We must bring our revolutionary optimism back to our campuses, be they in Switzerland or Indiana. If we do our jobs, the bosses will have a bigger problem than the threats to their control over their oil resources. They’ll be up against an organized, international working class.