Report to the National Committee

The newly formed national education commission has begun to meet and has attempted to respond to the needs of the party organization. The most immediate tasks are to:
1. facilitate the completion of district schools by every district where possible.
2. organize a 7 day national school for new and potential national and district cadre.
3. prepare monthly Marxist educational articles for the PWW.
4. and, facilitate the regularization of quality club educationals.

It goes without saying that we need the help of the national committee and district organizers to cover these areas of work properly. Your input evaluating what has been developed and contributing to what will be developed in the future is not only welcomed but encouraged. In your opinion, what do we need to do to adequately respond to the educational needs of the various levels of our party’s organization? We are eager to know how you would answer that question.

Too, let me interject that every district needs to identify a person who will be responsible for educational work. Where possible clubs should elect educational directors and districts should elect educational directors. The district and club educational directors would constitute an educational commission for the district. We realize though that every district cannot sustain such a structure at this moment, but every district should be able to identify a person who will be responsible for educational work.

The phrase ‘district school’ is somewhat of a misnomer for what you are actually being asked to do. This is especially directed toward district organizers. Basically, as the guide and outline suggest, the district school is really simply an opportunity for district leaders and potential leaders to discuss questions at greater length than allowed in regular meetings. For this reason, the district school is a very useful exercise in strengthening the collective district understanding of the challenge of the issues related to the fight for peace, the party’s strategic outlook, and the role of the party.

As a district, all you need to do is select your dates, and let us know your schedule so that a representative from the national center can make arrangements to participate. The national center representative will be eager to participate in the district school by leading one of the sessions. You need to make sure that people have the three basic readings (Sam Webb’s reports to the national convention and October national committee meeting and on the Role of the Party), select discussion leaders and provide them with a copy of the district school guide, make the outline available to participants at the first session, provide some very nice snacks, sit back, relax, and that is it. Just going through the process will put your district on a better footing in terms of responding to the challenges of the present moment.

The national school idea is to ask people who are new national or district leaders or potentially such for both the party and YCL to take vacation time to participate in a 7 day school. The national school will provide the participants with an overview of Marxist concepts including political economy and the strategic line and role of the party. We are trying to see if April 13- 19 will work for at least 15 people who could take off work during that period. We need to know who are the potential participants form each district and if April 13-19 will work for any of those people.

The education commission is also giving some thought to 800 word educational articles which can be written on a monthly basis for the PWW. If there are topics about which you would like to see articles written, now is the time to let us know.

Lastly, we are taking steps toward preparing guides for club educationals including a guide on how to include educationals in a well put together club meeting. The idea is for the national education commission to start by preparing discussion questions for major reports and Political Affairs articles.

In summary, we have invited you as national committee members and district organizers to participate in:

1. suggesting educational work which will help advance the party at its various levels of organization.
2. offering ideas for educational articles for the PWW.
3. selecting the dates for your district school and letting us know so that a representative from the national center can be scheduled to participate with you.
4. determining who from your district should participate in a national school and of all of those people, who can participate if such a school is held April 13-19.

You can contact the national educational commission at this email address: ddmiles@msn.com. We eagerly await hearing from you. The national educational commission simply wants to help our party position itself to fulfill its historic mission; you can call on us for any assistance required.

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