NEWS FROM
THE FOURTH
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FOURTH INTERNATIONAL NEWS vember 12 in London. Speakers will include Ernest Mandel, Catherine Samary,
Heather Dashner and Charlie
USA: the Fourth Internationalist Tendency are planning a rally in October with
INTERNATIONAL WESTERN EUROPE Fifth summer camp HEAVY rainfall greeted the participants at the fifth summer camp for youth organizations in solidarity with the Fourth International, which was held in France at the end of July. Luckily, for the rest of the week the weather didn't stay that way! But the downpour in no way dampened the enthusiasm of the 650 young people who came from 16 different European countries, and also from Canada and the USA.
For more than half the participants, this was their first camp. Veterans of previous camps were pleased with the overall organization of the event this year, which seems to grow better with each camp that
The political programme included fortyodd workshops that discussed around the themes of each morning's plenary forums: Europe and the crisis, youth struggles, feminism and women's oppression, antiracist struggles, ecology, bureaucracy and glasnost and anti-imperialism. The discussions on ecology and the USSR were particularly good.
As in past years, a day was given over to discuss feminism and women's oppression. There were more young women than ever participating this year, representing 40% of the participants, with many playing a central role in the camp leadership (elected from each delegation). The average age of those at the camp was 20-21 years.
A third of the young people were not
INTERNATIONAL Fourth International anniversary celebrations THIS YEAR sees the fiftieth anniversary of the Fourth International, founded in 1938 by Leon Trotsky. A number of activities have been held already this year to celebrate the event - we will have reports of the most recent events in the next issue. Meanwhile, there are a number of events planned for this autumn:
Mexico: the comrades of the Revolutionary Workers Party (PRT) are planning three days of activity from September 1416 around the anniversary of Mexico's independence from Spain, which will include a rally to celebrate the anniversary of the Fourth International. Ernest Mandel will be one of the featured speakers.
Britain: supporters of the journal Socialist Outlook will be holding a rally on No-
Notebooks for Study and Research
New:
Livio Maitan.
Italy: comrades of the Italian section of the FI, the LCR, are planning an event in Milan in November.
France: the LCR, French section of the FI, will be holding a celebratory event on December 10 in Paris. From 2pm to midnight, the event will include a rally, workshops, exhibitions, music and a dance. The central themes of the event are the work of Trotskyists today and the rehabilitation of Trotsky by the Soviet Union. Among others, two already confirmed speakers will be Esteban Volkov, Trotsky's grandson, and Rosario Ibarra, ex-deputy for the Mexican PRT. *
THE FORMATIVE YEARS OF THE members of the youth organizations repre-
FOURTH INTERNATIONAL (1933-1938)
sented at the camp. The educationals held each day on basic Marxism by Daniel Bensaid very successful, with a high
Why the movement for socialist democracy founded an independent international or-
Three big rallies were held, including ganization in the 1930s. Unravels the historical reasons, conjunctural prognoses and one with a comrade from the Mexican secorganizational choices, showing in particular that the founding congress of 1938 contion of the Fourth International, the PRT, who spoke about the situation in Mexico cluded a broad regroupment approach towards anti-Stalinist and anti-imperialist currents begun in 1933. Includes articles by opponents and supporters of this approach
But the summer camp was also an op-
(Walter Held, Jean van Heijenoort, Henk Sneevliet, George Breitman, Hersch Menportunity to relax in the magnificent site in the mountains of Saint Beauzire in Auverne. There were a variety of sports, in-
A note to our subscribers:
cluding football, jogging and swimming,
Many NSR readers have a sub running from issue 1 to issue 9. It is now time to reoutings to visit local beauty spots, a bar new. We hope the new subscription rate below will make it easier for you to get the and a disco on site. In addition, an excellent rock concert was organized on the Fri-
5 issues: 100FF, £10, $16 (airmail add 20%)
day evening in Brioude, with groups playing rock, reggae and Moroccan music.
Everyone is looking forward to an even better camp next year — see you in the
Spanish state! * notebooks regularly:
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