Young people from five countries attended REVOLUTION’s summer camp

REVOCAMP 2007 took place from July 23 to 28, with young activists from five different countries. Of the more than 40 young people, many were members of the independent youth organization REVOLUTION, others had found us in different ways and marveled at the full program.

During the day there were talks, discussions and workshops. But the giant students’ dormitory in the Czech city of Liberec buzzed every day until late at night, because after all the discussions, the young revolutionaries also wanted to drink, dance, and sing revolutionary songs.

Wake up!

On Monday at 10 o’clock sharp, the camp began officially with an opening plenary meeting including a short round of introductions, rules that were absolutely necessary to follow (“Lights out at 10 pm and not a drop of alcohol!” – which was recognized as a piss-take pretty quickly) and the distribution of food tickets for the cafeteria where we ate.

An introduction to Marxism was offered in the first talk to present concepts that were used during the entire camp. After that, a practical workshop introduced the concept of the “camp paper”. The rest of the week, every evening a new editorial team met up to bring onto paper the best camp rumors, swimming tips and speculation about the composition of Czech food. Especially for the first issue this lasted until late at night.

Lots of new stuff

Roughly 20 meetings were distributed over four days, so that the diversity of talks, discussions and workshops offered something for everyone. Talks were held by many young comrades and the topics were, among other things: fascism and “anticapitalism” from the right, the difference between Marxism and anarchism, the roots of women’s oppression, school under capitalism, the tradition of Trotskyism, the work of Bertolt Brecht and much more.

Between the meetings there was lunch and a few brave comrades used the nearby lake for swimming exercises before the program continued. People will remember, besides some very good talks, the practical workshops: performing street theater, practicing tactics for demonstrations, painting a banner, surfing anonymously on the internet, etc. The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was re-enacted in a simulation game to experience the struggle of the workers against the Stalinist bureaucracy personally – the insurgents even arrested a few Stalinist functionaries with cable ties and “executed” them!

Long-term perspective

REVOCAMP took place in the Czech Republic for the fifth time. Many camp participants were there for the first time – but the people who had already been to a few camps agreed that this camp wasn’t just bigger but also better organized than last year.

During the camp, several young people decided to join the independent youth organization REVOLUTION, because the struggle against capitalism can’t be limited to one week in the summer! This week of REVOCAMP is important to think and to discuss, to be better prepared for the struggles in the other 51 weeks in the year.

For this reason, this unique meeting of anticapitalist youth will continue.

by Susen, Revo Plauen, and Wladek, Revo Berlin, August 11, 2007