New YCL Club

As you probably know if you read this blog with any frequency, we recently had some speakers from the Young Communist League come to Butte to give some presentations. Overall, this was pretty successful. I’m going to be honest, we didn’t blow the roof off the joint. The atmosphere was intimate, you might say. But there is some good news.

We are in the process of founding the newest Young Communist League club right here, in Southwestern Montana. Our roster is small at the moment — 3 members — but that’s enough to start an officially chartered club and we’re going to go for it. Our first meeting will be on March 15, so we haven’t decided on a name, structure, or any concrete goals yet, but from our discussion last night we established one very optimistic goal: raise enough money to send one of our members to Cuba in 2008 with the Venceremos Brigade.  This will take a pretty ambitious fund raising campaign, and we’ll probably hammer some more goals out in our inaugural meeting.

If anyone is interested in possibly joining the club just give me a shout!

The End of an Era

So today is a day that will go down in history. As one friend put it, “the old man is hanging up his hat.” Here’s what Fidel Castro had to say in his latest “Message from the Commander in Chief”:

To my dearest compatriots, who have recently honored me so much by electing me a member of the Parliament where so many agreements should be adopted of utmost importance to the destiny of our Revolution, I am saying that I will neither aspire to nor accept, I repeat, I will neither aspire to nor accept the positions of President of the State Council and Commander in Chief.

So there you have it. Fidel Castro will not be re-elected to his position of President of Cuba.

What does this mean? Well, first of all, a possibility to give a big middle finger to all those who thought of Cuba as a one-man dictatorship, and assumed that as soon as Castro was off the scene socialism would be destroyed and the people would rise up to accept capitalism, privatization, poverty, preventable disease, and all those wonders of the western world. This has already partially been accomplished due to the fact that his role in Cuban government has been more of an “outside consultant” (though obviously a very influential one) recently. I look forward to delivering more middle fingers in the future.

Who will be the next Cuban President? Who knows. Obviously Raul Castro is a favorite since he is first Vice-President and has been running the roost in his brother’s absence. But he’s getting up there in years also, and it’s my understanding that the Presidency has been sort of a collective leadership since Fidel stepped aside. Here’s something else important from Fidel’s message (emphasis added):

My elemental duty is not to cling to positions, much less to stand in the way of younger persons, but rather to contribute my own experience and ideas whose modest value comes from the exceptional era that I had the privilege of living in.

So does this mean there are younger comrades waiting in the wings? I guess we’ll just have to find out. This is all just speculation. It’s up to the Cuban people to decide now.

Personally, I’m sad to see a man that I admire so much officially step down. He is someone I truly consider to be the last great leader. But at the same time, we’re turning a new page, and it will be interesting to see what becomes of this.

YCL in MT Update

Alright, I’ve got all the info hammered out and set in stone. Adam and Docia from the YCL will be flying out from NYC to give the presentations I mentioned earlier. Here’s the specific stats:

What: presentation, “Youth and the 2008 Elections”, sponsored by MT Peaceseekers Club
Where: Montana Tech Campus – ELC room 203
When: Wednesday, Feb. 20 – 7:00 PM

What: presentation, “Report Back on 2007 trip to Cuba” still sponsored by Peaceseekers
Where: Montana Tech Campus – ELC room 203
When: Thursday, Feb 21 – 7:00 PM

What: Breakfast for those interested in the Young Communist League, USA
Where: TBA
When: sometime Friday

Punch and Pie.*

And here’s a flyer! YCL Butte Event Flyer

*Punch and Pie not included.

UPDATE: YCL comes to Montana!

I have an update on the story I posted yesterday about speakers from the Young Communist League coming to Butte for a presentation. It looks like it IS going to happen! Here’s the little preview of what it’s all about:

I. Youth and the 2008 Elections
* What’s at stake for youth and students in the 2008 elections
* Why should young people care about and get involved in the ‘08 elections
* What would it mean for youth and students if there was a huge Democratic victory in 2008?

II. Reportback on Trip to Cuba
* A presentation and slideshow on trip to Cuba with the 38th Contingent of the Venceremos Brigade- reviewing what the trip is about, what happened while we were there, different organizations we met and different events that we participated in
* Current overview of the struggle to end the travel ban and economic embargo against Cuba
* Discussion on the fight to free the Cuban 5

Adam Tenney is the National Education Coordinator for the Young Communist League, USA. The Young Communist League, USA is a 87 year old organization that has been fighting for the rights of young people, against racism and for equality and socialism. He is on the Coordinating Committee of the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition (NYSPC) and was a member of the Steering Committee of United for Peace and Justice (UfPJ) from 2006-2007. He went to Cuba in 2007 with the 38th contingent of the Venceremos Brigade.

So there you have the what, how about the when in where? The presentations will take place in Room 203 of the Engineering Lab (ELC) building of the Montana Tech campus at 7 PM on Wednesday the 20th and Thursday the 21st of February. The only thing I can’t tell you right now is which night will be which presentation, but I will edit this post when I know more. Anyway, we’re also planning on having a YCL breakfast if anyone is interested in the Young Communist League, probably on Friday, so if you are interested at all please let us know.

So please, if anyone wants to help spread the word, go for it. Adam and Docia, the two comrades giving the presentation, are flying all the way out from NYC just to spread the good word in Montana, so let’s show them a warm welcome!

Young Communist League hits MT?

OK, so nothing is set in stone yet….but I thought I’d help spread the pre-word that a couple young comrades from the Young Communist League (the youth arm of the Communist Party, USA) is interested in coming to Butte for a couple speaking engagements, and I’m about 99% sure we’ve got it locked up. The topics of their presentation will be their trip to Cuba last summer, and the 2008 elections. We’re looking at the end of this month, the 21st and the 22nd, and we’ll probably have something like a YCL breakfast on the 23rd for anyone who is in the YCL/Party to meet with people who are curious or are interested in joining.

Again, this isn’t a 100% thing, but I’ll let you all know more if and when the exact details come out. Then, if any of you want to help spread the word, I’d appreciate it!