International Youth and Students for Social Equality at SDSU
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The IYSSE will be meeting this Spring 2020 semester on Tuesdays at 7:00 PM in the Metztli Suite of the Aztec Student Union (2nd Floor).
Resolution on the International Youth and Students for Social Equality:
Build the International Youth and Students for Social Equality!
1. The fight to build a socialist movement of the working class requires a struggle to educate a new generation of students and working class youth in the history and principles of Marxism and the Fourth International.
2. The crisis that began in 2008 has creat
ed intolerable conditions in the United States and internationally, pushing millions of young people into political struggle. Young people are among the most deeply affected by the rise of mass unemployment. Since 2000, the US economy has lost more than 25 percent of all full-time jobs for those under 25. Only 16 percent of youth who graduated from high school between 2009 and 2011 but did not go on to college have found full-time work. Regardless of education, only 47.3 percent of Americans between the ages of 16 and 24 who are not in school have full-time jobs.
3. All over the world, the youth face no future. Young people are barely able to make enough to stay alive, while they are menaced by war, police brutality and state repression. According to the International Labor Organization, one in eight young people between the ages of 15 and 24 are unemployed. In Greece and Spain over half of all young people are without work. In the Middle East and North Africa, one in four is jobless.
4. The Obama administration, carrying out the general policy of the ruling class, has sought to drive down the living standards of young workers in order to use them as a battering ram against the living standards of the entire working class. It was to this end that the administration insisted on the expansion of two-tier wages as a precondition of the auto bailout.
5. Students have likewise suffered a drastic erosion in their living standards. The possibility of a moderately priced higher education for working class youth is being destroyed. A decent public education is becoming the exclusive purview of the capitalists and the upper strata of the middle class. Students from less privileged backgrounds who seek an education are forced to incur debts that they will not be able to pay off for decades, even as they work themselves to the point of exhaustion just to survive.
6. The dismal economic prospects facing young people are compounded by unprecedented cuts to public education. In just the past 14 months, 470,000 local government education staff have been laid off in the US. Throughout the country, state and city governments are slashing K-12 budgets, leading to the shutdown of schools, increased class sizes, and the elimination of key components of a decent education. Year after year, states are slashing assistance to secondary education, forcing colleges to raise tuition.
7. Soaring tuition has forced an ever-growing amount of debt onto young people. The total amount of student loan debt in the United States has mushroomed to more than $1 trillion, surpassing the total debt on both auto loans and credit cards. The class of 2010 graduated with an average student loan debt of $25,250, up 29 percent from $19,646 for the class of 2006. Meanwhile, wages for college graduates have fallen. The hourly income for college graduates age 23 to 29 has fallen by more than 6 percent since 2000. This means that tens of thousands of young people face the prospect of never paying off their student loans.
8. The impoverishment of the younger generation is a global phenomenon, as is the entry of youth into political struggle. Significant social movements have emerged among young people, including mass protests to defend public education in Canada, Britain, Mexico, Chile and the United States. More than one worried official commentator has noted that the masses of unemployed young workers and college graduates are a social basis for revolutionary upheaval.
9. In addition to economic disaster, the younger generation faces a future of endless war, in which they will be forced to serve as cannon fodder in the drive by the imperialist powers to conquer the world, or will be the principal targets of these wars of conquest. As the United States pursues endless war in every region of the world, military and political officials are once again raising the need for a draft.
10. No section of the political establishment in the United States offers a way forward. In 2008, the Obama administration appealed to young people in particular on the slogan of “change.” However, the past three and a half years have only demonstrated that the Democratic Party, no less than the Republican, is a tool of the corporate and financial elite. The revolutionary potential of the younger generation can be realized only through a turn to the working class as a whole. Students and youth must be armed with a political program that articulates the independent interests of the working class, fighting for the establishment of workers’ governments to carry through the socialist transformation of the world economy. Only the total reorganization of society can secure the right to free public education through university level, the abolishment of student debt, and the guarantee of decent-paying jobs for young people.
11. The IYSSE insists that the working class is the principal revolutionary force in society. An orientation to the working class and working class youth means a relentless struggle against the reactionary, subjective, idealist and irrationalist political philosophies that dominate pseudo-left politics and are widespread on college campuses. Theoretical tendencies associated with the Frankfurt School, the varieties of post-modernism, neo-anarchism and identity politics are all rooted in their rejection of Marxism and the revolutionary role of the working class. Building the IYSSE requires a struggle for Marxism and the appropriation of the entire revolutionary heritage of the international socialist movement. Through this struggle, the IYSSE will win to its banner working class youth and the best layers of the middle class who adopt the standpoint of the working class in the struggle for socialism.
12. The turn of students and youth to the working class can be carried out only through a systematic struggle for socialist consciousness. The younger generation has grown up in the midst of a decades-long suppression of the class struggle. This makes it all the more urgent that this generation be educated in an assimilation of the lessons of the great historical struggles of the twentieth century and the experiences of the international working class, above all the significance of the Russian Revolution and the nature of Stalinism. The theoretical heritage of Marxism and the Fourth International must be brought to a new generation of youth.
13. This SEP Congress calls for the building of the International Youth and Students for Social Equality, the youth movement of the Socialist Equality Party and the International Committee of the Fourth International, to fight for this perspective among young people.
05/05/2025
Join us on Tuesday, May 6th for our last meeting of the semester!
Since his first day in office, Trump has worked to establish a presidential dictatorship, following a blueprint drawn by his fascist advisors. On January 20 his series of executive orders attacked free speech, undermined birthright citizenship, expanded military and executive powers, and launched a broad assault on immigrants and political opponents.
His administration has focused on seizing students for opposing the Gaza genocide, deporting immigrants under the Alien Enemies Act to concentration camps in El Salvador. He now threatens to deport en masse US citizens-whom he refers to as
“homegrowns”-and is carrying out an unprecedented assault on the judiciary, most recently with the arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan.
Threats to annex Greenland, seize Canada and retake the Panama Canal aim to secure US domination of the Western Hemisphere in preparation for conflict with China. Furthermore he is deepening the Gaza genocide-now in its final stages of ethnic cleansing and mass starvation.
Trump’s first 100 days have set into motion the machinery of counter-revolution and criminality. Inflation and the crippling effects of his trade war tariffs loom. Anger is boiling over, but what is the way forward? How do we fight back and why is a revolutionary socialist perspective required?
04/22/2025
Join us for our next meeting on Tuesday!
Four students at SDSU have just had their F-1 visas revoked, they are part of the over 1000 students who have been targeted as part of Trump’s crackdown aimed at dismantling the First Amendment and Free Speech-using immigrant students as the spearhead of the attack.
Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil is being persecuted for “thought crimes.” Secretary of State Mark Rubio said in a memo his deportation was justified because of his “past, current, or expected beliefs, statements, or associations that are otherwise lawful.” Rubio indicated that views which are contrary to “compelling US foreign policy interests”-constitute grounds for deportation.
The Trump administration is openly defying a Supreme Court ruling, and refusing to return Maryland father Kilmar Abrego Garcia, from a mega-prison in El Salvador. Trump recently told the El Salvadoran dictator Nayib Bukele, “you’re gonna need to build 5 more of those” and pledged to send “home-grown” alleged criminals to El Salvador. The US government is paying its client, the Bukele dictatorship, some $6 million to detain him and others in El Salvador’s concentration camps.
The fight requires a socialist political perspective, and must be aimed not only against Trump, but also the Democratic Party which is fully complicit in the assault on international students and the broader campaign of political repression. Biden led the slander campaign calling all opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza “anti-Semitic.” The IYSSE calls on students, youth and the working class to mobilize in opposition to the Trump administration’s escalating campaign of terror targeting international students across the country.
04/05/2025
Join us for our next meeting on Tuesday, 4/8 at 7pm in Storm Hall 101!
The situation must be stated with absolute clarity: The Trump administration is moving systematically and deliberately to establish a dictatorship. It is implementing a carefully crafted fascist program aimed at abolishing basic democratic rights, consolidating unchecked executive power, and crushing all opposition.
On college campuses across the country, a reign of terror is already underway. Peaceful protesters are being surveilled, seized, detained, and deported for opposing the US-backed genocide in Gaza.
What is taking place is the violent restructuring of the American state to align it with the nature of American society, defined by staggering inequality, rampant criminality at the top, and relentless war. Trump presides over a government of, by, and for the oligarchy.
The ruling class has a plan: dictatorship, war and repression. The working class must have a plan too: to take power, end capitalism, and build a socialist future based on genuine democracy, economic planning and the ending of imperialist war!
Take up the fight! Join the lYSSE and attend our meeting to discuss the perspective for the way forward against Trump and Capitalism.
03/22/2025
Free Khalil! Please join us for our next meeting this Tuesday at 7pm in Arts and Letters Room 204.
Mahmoud Khalil, student activist against the genocide in Gaza, was abducted and disappeared by Trump’s government stormtroopers; the administration is moving to have him deported, and admits they are not claiming he committed any crime, but that Khalil’s political speech was contrary to policies of the Government.
The abduction of Khalil and the repressions in academia are only the spearhead of the broader coming assault. This is a dangerous development. It has been two months since the inauguration, Trump, Elon Musk, and the fascist cabinet have taken a wrecking ball to democratic rights, the Constitutional framework, and any limited social program intended to benefit the population.
Behind these attacks is the operation to transform the United States into a presidential dictatorship, a product of the vast social inequality produced by decaying capitalism. The working class and young people must be armed with an understanding of developments and a fighting perspective, to oppose these attacks and overturn the system which has produced this crisis.
02/25/2025
Last week we had a chance to share our perspective with students protesting deportation, centering a need to turn to the working class to stop deportations and defend democratic rights!
02/21/2025
Join us for our first regular meeting of the semester this Tuesday! We’ll be discussing Trump and Musk’s efforts to gain unprecedented access to a vast trove of data on every individual and organization in the United States.
This includes seizing control over the millions of tax records collected by the IRS, including Social Security numbers, employment records, political donations and other information on every taxpayer, business and nonprofit organization in the country.
The broader aim is to create an Al-driven database that can be used to track, monitor and suppress political opposition.
The mass firing of federal workers and the transfer of extraordinary powers to Musk and DOGE is part of a broader assault on the entire working class. The Democrats have revealed their complicity and cowardice, and rubber stamped nearly every one of Trump’s cabinet nominees to sail through confirmation hearings. This pro-genocide, capitalist, and anti-immigrant party cannot be entrusted with waging a fight against dictatorial rule.
The only force capable of stopping the transformation of the US into a dictatorship is the working class. The IYSSE and the Socialist Equality Party is spearheading the fight to mobilize the working class against the drive toward dictatorship. We call on for the formation of independent rank-and-file and neighborhood committees in every workplace and city across the country.
01/31/2025
Join the International Youth and Students for Social Equality at our public meeting next Tuesday, February 11 at 7pm at Templo Mayor in the Aztec Student Union (second floor)!
is returning to the White House on as the head of a government of, by, and for the . From its composition to its agenda, the new administration embodies the brutal priorities of a capitalist ruling class determined to escalate war, environmental destruction, and the assault on democratic rights.
This meeting will examine the character of the new regime, the historical and international context of Trump’s re-election, and the role of the in paving the way for this political debacle-from Biden’s policies of war, and austerity to the Democrats’ rapid accommodation to Trump’s return.
Join us to explore the causes, consequences, and necessary strategy to oppose Trump’s oligarchic regime.
Speaker: Joseph Kishore (.kishore) has been the national secretary of the since 2008 and has played a central role in the development of its political program and the building of the SEP.
He ran recently as the SEP’s presidential candidate in the 2024 US elections.
Meeting Guidelines: The IYSSE takes the risk of COVID transmission. We encourage all attendees to wear an N95 mask at meetinas to protect yourselves and others.
11/30/2024
Join us for the last meeting of the semester this Tuesday at 7!
We will have a broad discussion about the crisis of world capitalism, in its various manifestations: the escalation of war globally, the attacks on the living standards of the working class, the consolidation of executive power with the election of Trump, to name only the most pressing issues.
Serious political issues require a serious political perspective. Please feel free to come with questions.
11/16/2024
Join us this Tuesday for our next meeting on the Trump election and the way forward in Arts & Letters 204! The time for serious politics is now!
The night of the US election sent shocks throughout the world with the victory of Donald Trump. The election of Donald Trump takes place 4 years after the attempted coup d’état on January 6th, 2021. The aftermath of the coup attempt, which came deadly close to succeeding, Joe Biden declared he wanted a “strong Republican Party”. Biden got his wish. The electoral victory of Trump was not the product of mass support for his fascistic policies, but a product of the bankruptcy of the Democratic Party and the dead-end of Liberal-Capitalism.
A Trump presidency represents a serious danger to the working class. Trump is preparing for unprecedented attacks on democratic rights and the living standards of the population. Trump donor Elon Musk declared, economic “pain” is coming. Fascist and Trump surrogate Steve Bannon declared there will be “Rough Roman Justice”, which is a promise of violence against political opponents. Undoubtedly, the first target of the violence will be anti-war protesters. The time for serious politics is now. The working class will not accept the evisceration of its living and working conditions without a fight. There exists a deep conviction for democratic rights within the working class. The decisive question is one of perspective.
Join us as we discuss the perspective of a real fight against Trump and the threat of dictatorship. Take up the fight for Socialism. Join the lYSSE.
11/05/2024
Join us on Election Day to talk about the election from a socialist perspective!
10/19/2024
Next meeting this Tuesday (10/22) in the Arts & Letters Building Room 204!
One year since the launch of the Genocide against Gaza, the Israeli military, funded, armed, and organized as the attack dog of American Imperialism in the Middle East, has invaded Lebanon and is threatened to provoke a wider war against Iran. American Imperialism is descending into the abyss of Barbarism.
The past year has also seen mass opposition to the Genocide, culminating internationally in mass protests, particularly among students. After a year of protests the genocide has not ended, but expanded. Outraged youth who seek to end the genocide must ask, why is this the case? What lessons must be drawn from this political experience? What is the perspective that must be developed that will guide the opposition to genocide and war towards a successful abolition of barbarism?
The International Youth and Students for Social Equality contends that only the international working class has the power to force an end to the genocide, and such an anti-war movement must be guided from a socialist-international perspective, which we seek to elaborate in our meeting.
10/16/2024
Join us on campus at 7pm on Wednesday, October 23! World Socialist Website writer Tom Carter and independent scholar Paul Street will be on campus to discuss American democracy, the 2024 elections, and the threat of fascism. The discussion will be moderated by Political Science Professor Emanuele Saccarelli.
05/05/2025
04/22/2025
04/05/2025
03/22/2025
02/21/2025
01/31/2025
11/30/2024
11/16/2024
11/05/2024
10/19/2024
10/16/2024