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Camp Class
Struggle
Camp Class
Struggle is an annual late spring/early summer gathering
sponsored by Youth for Socialist Action and the Lake Superior branch of
Socialist Action. It's a place where activists, both young and old, can come
together to share ideas and experiences, hear some great political
presentations & skits, do some camping and play some sports! Below is
some info about past and upcoming Camp Class Struggles.
2007 Camp
Class Struggle
 
 
 
Camp Class Struggle 2007 was held on May 19 and
20th on the Kurki farm near Highbridge, WI. Despite some cold and rainy weather a
hearty bunch of comrades kept the annual tradition alive with commie
soccer, a pot luck supper, some wisdom sharing by the finger puppet “Uncle
Leon”, a skit of lesser evil politics, a film showing and a camp out
featuring the inevitable round of cheesy jokes and story telling.
2006 Camp
Class Struggle
 
In a scene reminiscent of the type of events that
the socialist movement held a century ago, a group of hardy young
socialists came together on the weekend of May 21-22 for the 4th annual
Camp Class Struggle. Sponsored by Youth for Socialist Action, this year's
camp was held on a farm in northern Wisconsin near the tiny hamlet of
Highbridge.
Amid wooded rolling hills, farm fields, and on
the shore of a beautiful lake, comrades gathered for a variety of games,
political presentations and an over night camp out.
This year's Camp featured a grueling 4 hour match
between the two YSA soccer teams, the Red Star Luddites and Skeleton
Breath. It was hard to tell who won
though, since in commie soccer you don't keep score!
There was also a sock puppet presentation on the
immigrant rights movement, a parable explaining the Marxist analysis of
capitalist economics, a bonfire and a scrumptious potluck featuring
everything from vegan corndogs to homeade cheese cake!
The first Camp Class Struggle was held in 2003 at
Brimson, MN. Camp Class Struggle
2004 was held at the Mesaba Coop Park on Iron Range. And last year's Camp
was held just north of Grand Marais, MN.
So far all Camps have been held at locations that have a long and
rich socialist and labor movement history, keeping in the spirit of our
goal to connect today's young activists with the lessons and traditions of
the past. Special thanks to
everyone who helped make this year's Camp a success!
2005 Camp
Class Struggle
The 2005 Camp was held over
the weekend of August 27-28 on a beach north of Grand Marais, MN (near the
Canadian border) along the beautiful North Shore of Lake Superior.
YSAers from the Midwest
gathered for a performance of a play by Lucas Dietsche on the pitfalls of
electoral politics, some commie cartoon presentations, a report on the World
Youth Festival that was held in Venezuela, swimming, hiking and hanging
around the campfire!
2004 Camp
Class Struggle
2004 Camp Class Struggle was
held on May 22 & 23 at the Mesaba Coop Park. The Mesaba Coop Park is an
historic working class retreat located on Minnesota's Iron Range that was
founded and continues to be maintained by socialists and peace &
justice activists. It's located at 3827 Mesaba Park Road Hibbing, MN 55746.
The park is about an hour drive west of Duluth, two and a half hours drive
south-east of International Falls, four hours north of Minneapolis and two
and a half hours drive west of Ashland.
Despite several hours of rain and drizzle, comrades persevered and managed
to get in several games of soccer and volleyball, listen to a riveting sock
puppet presentation on the history of the working class, spend plenty of
time in the sauna, and of course there was that episode of midnight skinny
dipping in the lake! Here is a link to the website for the http://www.mesabapark.us/ if you
ever want to check out the campsite for yourself.
2003 Camp
Class Struggle
In 2003 we hosted the first
Camp Class Struggle. 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!
Special thanks to Rose Helin for volunteering the use of her family's cabin
for the camp, and to Jeff Mackler for traveling all the way from San
Francisco to be with us!
Issues From 1996-2003:
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