As it does every year, the Fourth International organised an international youth camp at the end of July. This year, it was organised by our Swiss comrades from the MPS in Germany.
A long week comes to an end and even though most comrades are already exhausted, many block the buses of the delegations leaving already. Others have the biggest party of the whole week after many comrades put the resting camp money together and bought everything left in the bar and made it free for everyone. At the same time, there are comrades still figuring out how they can travel the next day to get to the airport.
The camp slowly comes to an end and over 300 comrades will have to return to their everyday lives after a week of lived solidarity with young comrades from many different countries. It is sometimes hard to come back to the much colder world outside of the camp which is a bit sad but also makes us look forward to next year’s camp in France!
Development of the camp
Over the past three years, the youth camp of the Fourth International has recovered steadily after covid, this year more than 320 comrades from over 23 countries attended, about twenty more participants than last year. The steady increase of the participants once again shows our common dedication in the fight against capitalism, fascism and all kinds of oppressive systems.
The last time the camp took place in Germany was in 1984, which was also the first time. This was of course in a totally different political context. At that time the cold war was ongoing, and the divide between east and west Germany was present. The Nicaraguan revolution was still a source of hope for an alternative to the stalinist model to many leftists. Back in 1984, a comrade from Nicaragua was denied a visa at first, but managed to get to the camp nonetheless. Today’s challenges in Germany are different: the AfD is leading the polls, and the governing coalition is already enacting policies that echo its platform.
Program of this year’s camp
The camp program featured a wide range of activities, workshops, educationals, rallies and other events where political discussions were encouraged in many formats. We discussed deep theoretical analysis but also participated in workshops where we learned how to lead a demonstration. Every day had a certain topic, namely: anti-imperialism, antifascism, feminism, queer liberation, ecosocialism, antiracism, labour/unionism and strategy/party.
When we needed a break from the intensity, we had the chill tent. When we had the need to connect with people affected by similar oppressive systems, we had spaces for that. The disabled and neurodivergent space, trans, feminist, LGBTQI+ and the racialized space. Even as we worked hard to make these areas inclusive, discriminatory systems, uneven access to resources, and lingering hierarchies continue to be reproduced within the camp, hence the spaces.
The rallies were the inspiring and mobilising part of the camp, unfortunately we had to cancel the feminist rally. We made some mistakes in the planning and prioritizing it, which is an example of the structural problems in our organisations regarding sexism. It is telling that we thought a lot about organizing the opening rally with so many speakers and didn’t even realize that the feminist rally had no real space to be prepared or wasn’t prepared beforehand. Other rallies demonstrated the wide array of ongoing struggles like the fight against G7, a free West Papua, and the fight against the deadly rise of transphobia worldwide.
The permanent commissions were well prepared and resulted in a very well appreciated theater at the closing rally, interesting discussions around the Ecosocialist Manifesto of the Fourth International and exchange on how to build youth organizations and how to deal with their challenges.
The youth camp again was composed of many different other formats from meetings between delegations, singing night, parties, etc. which are all very important in some or another way for a successful youth camp.
Overall, the program as always was very dense and inspiring but also exhausting especially for neurodivergent comrades. For dealing with this challenge, we still are struggling to find ways to make the camp a more inclusive place for all comrades.
While comrades rightfully regret that our lack of resources means that the camp remains a European initiative, the presence of comrades from across the globe, including Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Latvia, Philippines, Turkey and Ukraine, enriched our program. We made lasting connections, as we know that international solidarity is the main thing keeping us together.
Organization of the camp
Of course, the organization of such a big camp comes with its challenges. The more than 30 volunteers from different countries as well as the self-organized nature of the camp ensured that things went as smoothly as they could. The volunteers helped us with driving countless comrades to train stations, preparing breakfast at 6 in the morning, providing medical care, security, construction, deconstruction, translation, sound technics, coordinating cleaning, etc. Of course we had problems, and things didn’t always go smoothly, but things were dealt with to the best of our capabilities, and problems were mostly resolved quite well.
There were also things we didn’t have control over like the weather that made us freezing and in the night let us feel like winter or the rain in the beginning but as the week passed by it started feeling more like summer day by day.
As the organization team we were sometimes overwhelmed by the tasks of organizing such a youth camp as since we have never done this before. The help of comrades from different delegations made possible that we somehow managed to organize this camp. Many comrades were extremely exhausted and stressed out during the camp and showed how central for revolutionaries it is to be there for each other and that caring for each other is a central part of comradeship.
Bewegung für den Sozialismus/Mouvement pour le socialism/movimento per il socialismo (BFS/MPS) delegation found the camp to be an incredible learning experience. Because many of us were attending our first 4th International youth camp, the sense of inspiration was intense. It is amazing to look back at where we started just two years ago: we only had three participants, and very few of us had been to more than two camps. Living in a country where progress can feel stagnant even while the world seems to be on fire, connecting with so many comrades from all over was a huge boost. Seeing that we are all fighting in the same tradition, especially those coming from much harder political situations, was deeply empowering.
In general it was still a camp we all enjoyed, gave us hope, motivation and brought us closer together as comrades from different delegations but also within our own organization.
Hoch die internationale Solidarität! – Long live international solidarity!
01 September 2026
Emil Schneider and Eylem are members of the Movement for Socialism (Bewegung für den Sozialismus in German). The MPS/BFS is a socialist organisation active in Switzerland. It is a permanent observer organisation of the Fourth International.