Question: Hi, Mr. LaRouche. I've been an organizer for about four months now, and the more and more I study, the more I realize how serious this fight is. And, in organizing, I'd like to increase my energy throughput, in getting people a sense of this, that I've already kind of begun. And I think it goes through the simultaneity of eternity, and I'd like you to--I don't know--elaborate for the group, and myself, this idea.

LaRouche: First of all, the main thing is the group. The youth organizing, as I've defined it, does not work effectively--and in very rare individuals it may--but, you won't get a youth movement in a simple individual-by-individual case. You have to look at, and read, and study Plato's Socratic dialogues--not one at a time, but get the feel of all of them, and the topics they cover. One aspect you must watch closely, in studying these: I've told people, “Don't just read them.” I've recommended that people try to play the parts of the participants of the dialogue, as a Classical dramatic actor would; or as a cast of Classical dramatic actors. Try to re-create, in a way which is credible to you, and credible to onlookers watching this performance, that they are seeing a living performance of the type that existed in the mind of Plato, in writing these dialogues.

Because, then you see a principle involved: the principle of the so-called Socratic dialogue, the Socratic principle. It's when you have a social interaction, among a group of people, that you get the highest rate of fertility of development, of two things: first of all, of the knowledge, because you will always learn more, or in healthy situations, more by interchanging with other people. Yes, you have to have long periods of concentration by yourself. But, this has to be accompanied by an enriching exchange of the principled nature of ideas, among others. And so, you have a group of young people committed to this kind of dialogue. That's number one.

This gives you a sense, also, of how to communicate. See, you go out to a guy on the street, and you want to organize him. He's full of all kinds of nonsense. But, how do you get his attention? Sometimes, it takes a whole bunch of you--five or six--standing on a corner, to get one guy going through the hurdle that you set up there; and finally, they'll get an idea. You challenge them: You challenge their assumptions. You show there's a paradox, in what they think is a simple matter of belief, on their part. And they'll stop. They'll turn. They'll look at you--if you succeed. “You got my attention, buddy. What do you mean?”

So therefore, that demonstrates the power of communication. You get the same thing with a great playwright, and the great actors, in a Classical drama. You won't see much of that on a Hollywood screen, or the video screen, these days. But in Classical drama, you'll see it. And you have a sense, that what's being demonstrated to you there--once you see the idea behind the drama--what's demonstrated to you, is a method of communication.

Now, this is not simply a way of “getting your point across.” This is actually a way of transmitting knowledge to other people. And that is being effective, eh? Instead of yelling at them, or beating them up, or something, and saying, “Do as I tell you,” you're trying to get something in them, to understand what you're saying, to accept its veracity, to feed it back to you, and to practice it, and to improve their practice in society, because of that experience.

So, your two things are: Experience this role of cognition, the Socratic dialogue, as a method of digesting ideas, proposing ideas, solving paradoxes. That's number one. And you have to have people who get big into that. Number two: See through the eyes of the great dramatists and the great actors, actor-companies. See how this applies to a method of communication, of actual ideas, of ideas of principle. That's where the power comes from. That's how you accelerate your capability.

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