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camp class struggle
Let's be honest with one another and admit that the
following is
true: throughout our childhoods - which with our cute
little
outfits, plush toys and doting parental attention was
a time of near
unadulterated bliss - with one glaring exception.
Already I bet you
know where I'm going with this; you'd be sitting in
your sandbox
enjoying the start of your summer vacation when IT
would come - bible
camp time! Bible camps, girl scout/boy scout retreats,
'vacation
bible school', 4-H camp, summer school - whatever the
incarnation it
came in it was all the same - dull, indoctrinating
hoo-hah! Maybe
you were a victim of one of these camps yourself, or
maybe your
summer was negatively affected by knowing a poor
friend or sibbling
who got shipped off, whatever the case I'm sure we all
remember
wishfully thinking: "wouldn't it be nice if there were
a commie
summer camp for wee workers like me . . ."
Well throw those memories into the dustbin of history,
because low
and behold Youth for Socialist Action has come to save
the day with Camp Class Struggle! In the first of
what will hopefully become an annual event, over the
weekend of May 30 & 31 YSA’s Camp Class Struggle
brought together two dozen young people from across
the upper-Midwest for socialist story telling,
bolshevik barbecues, commie sing alongs by the camp
fire and of course - more Commie Sporting League games
and events than you can shake a stick at!
The camp was held in Brimson, MN – an area in rural
northern Minnesota with a long history of militant
labor struggles in mining and lumbering. Keeping in
that tradition, Camp Class Struggle brought together
young activists from the local labor, anti-war, queer
liberation and socialist movements. We talked about
the Russian Revolution, about Cuba, about Iraq, about
how long to cook the chicken – all under the rippling
glory of a giant red flag! And while we didn’t reach
as many people as the bible camps and other various
reactionary retreats, we made a good beginning at
turning summer camp into the type of socialist shindig
that every red blooded young red needs and deserves!
I’d like to thank everyone who helped make this year’s
Camp Class Struggle a success, and encourage everyone
to start planning and preparing for next summer!
The article above was written by Adam Ritscher of Lake Superior YSA.
