May 30th, 2015 at Left Forum in New York

Most workers today have little contact with revolutionary organizations or ideas. Is it still possible to carry out revolutionary activity in the working class without waiting for periods of mass upheaval? Is it possible for revolutionaries to have a regular day-to-day activity other than simply participating in the unions? The panel will discuss the efforts of Speak Out Now, a revolutionary group in the San Francisco Bay Area, and L’Etincelle, a revolutionary organization in France. We build networks of revolutionary activists in workplaces. We participate in daily struggles. We maintain regular revolutionary workplace publications that reflect the day-to-day concerns of workers and raise questions about the nature of capitalism. We organize political classes, discussions, and social gatherings for workers and their families. We have been successful even in these times. The panel will share practical experiences in carrying out our work in the US and France, and our experience in organizing in a broader movement against cuts to education and social services, and in organizing a neighborhood response to street violence in Oakland, California.