Interest in revolutionary politics is on the rise, with up to 20% of young people describing communism as their ideal economic system.

When the Minnesota Daily published a hit piece, we –– Students for Socialist Revolution –– were shocked to find no trace of our political ideas in it. Instead, the article was full of lies backed up by social media and blog posts.

Instead of a story on why communism is surging in popularity with college students, the Daily chose to publish a piece that would not look out of place at TMZ or some other gossip rag.

One of the main criticisms levied against the International Marxist Tendency, our parent organization, was that it charges money.

The fraternities and sororities on campus charge students thousands of dollars a semester to affiliate. Out-of-state tuition at the University of Minnesota is $33,818 a year. The University of Minnesota Foundation has an endowment of $3.3 billion. How that money is distributed is unclear. Meanwhile, students with loans after a four-year degree from the University have an average student debt balance of over $25,000.

At least in our student group, unlike everywhere else under capitalism, we all vote how things are run. 

Who does it really serve to attack a left-wing student organization?

The Daily has joined the right-wingers in saying our student group “should not be allowed to operate on campus.”

This is a political attack on communist students.

The Daily took at face-value the accusations from students, two of whom went on record, that the International Marxist Tendency supports rapists. It references an incident of abuse that was investigated by the Canadian section, over a year ago. The abuser was expelled within eight days of the complaint.

A public statement by the Canadian chapter was published at the time, responding in full to these allegations and detailing the concrete steps taken. While the Daily linked this statement in the original online version of the column, none of its contents were directly quoted in the opinion column itself. Thus, important context was de facto left out, and a one-sided picture was presented.

The International Marxist Tendency takes cases of abuse very seriously. Can the same be said of the University or any other capitalist institution?

In 2017 fewer than half of sexual assault cases were investigated by Minnesota colleges and universities. In 2016, the University paid off a settlement of $500,000 to protect the football team from allegations of rape. 

Students for Socialist Revolution fights against all forms of oppression –– including transphobia, for an end to sexual harassment and the liberation of all of humanity. No one should be able to bribe their way into a sexual act or get out of the consequences of being found out by handing their victims a wad of cash or a promotion. 

Millions of youth in the U.S. are realizing there are no small solutions to these big problems and that humanity has the resources, science and technology to provide a dignified existence to every human on this planet. A better world is possible and we must organize to make it a reality. Vandalized posters will not stop us from working towards this goal.

The building of a mass communist party is necessary. We invite all students who feel the same to get in touch with us.

Cal Zeman is a member of Students for Socialist Revolution and submitted the letter on behalf of SSR.