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Starting a YSA Chapter: Below is a brief guide to starting up a YSA
chapter. For more info contact our
National Office at mnsocialist@yahoo.com
Most members join YSA through existing chapters, but
since we're still a small organization, if there isn't a YSA chapter in
your area you'll have to join as an at-large members. As an at-larger we
will try to work with you to come up with a personalized reading list and
education plan, and help you in any way we can to pull together a new YSA
chapter around you.
Here is a check-list we’ve put together of some of the things you can do to
start a YSA chapter in your area:
1. Get in touch with the nearest YSA branch or the YSA National Office.
We can help you in setting up a local group by doing things such as:
 Putting you in touch with other YSA
members and contacts who may live in your area.
Helping answer any questions you may
have.
Letting you know what actions are coming
up and what campaigns YSA is currently engaged in for you to help organize
around and promote.
And, we can send you out an organizers’
package of bulletins from YSA, and our predecessor, the Young Socialist
Alliance, that contain lots of useful information about organizing and our
politics.
2. Find some people who are willing to help you:
You may already know some people who are
interested in getting active in with a group like YSA. That's a start.
Call them up, ask them if they're
interested in helping, organize a chance to meet them.
Put up a flier saying you’re interested
in starting up a YSA chapter with an email address or phone number for
people to contact you.
Set up a literature table with a banner,
some YSA & Socialist Action literature (contact the N.O. for some
brochures, etc.) and a clipboard.
Order a bundle of Socialist Action newspaper to hawk
on campus or at a demonstration. It can be a great way to meet people as
well as introduce them to socialist politics.
Organize a study group on socialism with
some friends.
Call a meeting and see who shows up.
3. How to organize a meeting:
At your school/college, pick a convenient
time to call a YSA meeting.
Reserve a room or pick a quiet spot where
people can sit and talk. Some schools let students reserve rooms
themselves, others require a teacher. If nothing else meet in a lounge or a
part of the cafeteria. You might even try holding it at someone's house.
Get the word out: tell people that you
know and ask them to tell others; put out a leaflet to post up and hand
around. Use every medium you can, phone, email, bulletin boards, fliers,
word of mouth, the U.S. Post Office, anything and everything.
4. The first meeting:
Tell people why you've called the meeting
and a little bit about YSA and the kind of things we do. Talk about ongoing
campaigns or local activist issues.
Allow time for people to ask questions or
raise their own ideas. Discussion is a good thing.
From there, you can discuss what the
group should do and work out how it can be done. A good collective
discussion will leave everyone excited and with something to do.
If you like, we might be able to send a
speaker to come out and answer questions.
Get everyone’s name and phone number. Set
a time and place for the next meeting.
5. Putting the “action” into Youth for Socialist Action:
There are all sorts of ways to plug your new group into activism. The
best way is to focus your attention on a particular issue or upcoming
action. Pick something that is of concern to people. Here are some general
tips for promoting an issue or publicizing an event.
Put up posters everywhere you can.
Hand out leaflets or fact sheets to other
people at your school/college, at other nearby schools/colleges, and at
public places.
Organize a coalition around specific
demands and slogans if one doesn’t already exist, or plug into the existing
coalition.
Try to get a broad array of speakers for
any event.
Organize a YSA or school contingent for
the action, make up picket signs.
6. Learning about the “socialism” of Youth for Socialist Action:
We believe there can be no revolutionary action without revolution
theory, therefore YSA places a great deal of emphasis on education. Each
chapter should try to organize study groups and presentations to educate
its members.
Make sure everyone has a subscription to Socialist Action newspaper.
Print out the “ABCs of Socialism” essays
from the Theory page on the Socialist Action
website and distribute to all new YSA members.
Find out what issues people are most
interested and organize a study group or class. Materials are available
from the Theory page, and from the YSA National
Office.
Encourage members to use the YSA
Recommended Reading lists.
Organize presentations at chapter
meetings on the positions that YSA holds (the 10 Point Program or What Socialists Stand For essay would
be good source material).
7. Co-ordinate with the YSA National Office:
Keep the National Office up to date about
your progress.
Find out what YSA & Socialist Action
literature is available.
Plug into any national YSA meetings,
conferences or campaigns.
Write for and help distribute Socialist Action newspaper, and the
YSA website.
Don't hesitate to contact us with any
questions.
Links to Coalitions Worth Plugging Into:
United for Peace & Justice
Campus Antiwar Network
National Organization for Women (NOW)
Chicago Anti-Bashing Network
United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS)
Jobs With Justice
Labor Party
Student Environmental Action Coalition
Downloadable Literature To Distribute:
YSA Membership Handbook
YSA Organizing Handbook
YSA Political Education Handbook
A
Split in the AFL-CIO?
Evolution vs. Creationsim
Twin Party Shell Game: Bush Trumps Look Alike Kerry
Black
Self-Determination & Socialist Revolution
The
Origins & Nature of Women's Oppression
History
of Haiti
Lessons
for Today From the Vietnam Anti-War Movement
20
Years of Socialist Action
Strategy
& Tactics in the New Anti-War Movement
Socialist Action Membership Handbook
Socialist Action's 2004 Political Resolution
National Farm Crisis
Why You Should Join the Socialists Brochure
SA Newspaper Brochure
YSA Membership Brochure
Was Russia Socialist?
Advertising: A System of Sexist Oppression
Who Was Karl Marx?
Who Was Rosa Luxemburg?
Who Was V.I. Lenin?
Who Was Leon Trotsky?
Critique of the Movement for Sustainability
YSA Full-Sheet Promo flier #1
YSA Full-Sheet Promo flier #2
YSA Half-Sheet Promo flier #1
YSA Half-Sheet Promo flier #2
YSA Quarter-Sheet Promo fliers
YSA Public Meeting flier
Communist Manifesto Study Group flier
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