#frsos

[shittyclive]

is it still valentines. are we still rocking with valentines.

well some lovely wishes from vincent and ummmm....... uh... wh.. who invited this rat woman-

[all-things-are-nothing-to-me]

A must read for all of the kiddos getting into organizing rn. Read and print the whole thing here.

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

sry but do you know the general consensus of how communists feel abt deng xiaoping? ive been researching maoism and chinese communism lately but havent found a good answer on this

There is no general consensus as far as I know. Many folx who identify as Maoist believe Deng's coup after Mao's death amounted to a capitalist counterrevolution. Others like FRSO wholeheartedly endorse the path Deng took.

In the case of my org, the Socialist Unity Party, we view Deng's takeover as culmination of right-wing setbacks but still within the framework of the Chinese socialist state. Deng's accommodations with U.S. imperialism did much harm to the socialist camp in the decade+ before the overturning of socialist relations in Eastern Europe and the USSR, and nearly brought about counterrevolution in China in 1989 and again in the 1990s. The current centrist group around President Xi Jinping has continued a modest but important leftward turn that began in the late 1990s, and has strengthened the foundations of the workers' state, but has not reestablished a revolutionary communist perspective.

[feral-catgirl]

part of the reason american labor sucks so much is that most people are incapable of identifying and separating the revolutionary proletariat from the labor aristocracy.

this failure of analysis and investigation results in both the economism of the DSA and various ML orgs failing to actually lead workers and instill communist politics among them (bc they default to platforming yellow union leadership instead of acting as a political vanguard) on one hand, and the patent stupidity of third worldists abdicating the responsibility of trying to organize towards revolution in the imperial core at all (because they believe it impossible on the grounds that there is no revolutionary proletariat) on the other.

its patently obvious in the way people will take statements from union leadership as indicative of the voices and desires of the rank and file, whether its professing support for contracts that actually fuck over huge swathes of workers (as with the recent teamsters contract throwing part timers under the bus) or condemning reactionary positions as indicative of the positions if the rank and file (ie. people criticizing SEIU/workers united for both-sidesing palestinian resistance and israeli genocide but ignoring that statements from rank and file and small locals are overwhelmingly supportive of palestine).

it is fully impossible to build red unions and properly organize people towards a politically motivated general strike without acknowledging and understanding the composition of the unions and the contradictions between racist, anticommunist, antiworker union bureaucrats and the overwhelmingly dispossessed and disaffected rank and file workers who in many places are independently seeking out communist political education themselves that any large org fancying itself a “vanguard” would be providing already were they not incompetent and ineffectual.

[fakeoldmanfucker]

Props to Dan the 50-year-old lawyer for not only talking about socialism to like 9 college kids...but Also staying afterwards to talk to me and another guy for An Hour in a lecture hall. This guy is two degrees removed from Bill Kuntsler! (That's like three degrees from Phil Ochs!) And for asking my pronouns and being able to tell I'm some sort of genderqueer!

[mxinevitable]

Hey y'all you should read this if you're in the movement

Red Flags: Before You Join That Org…

You NEED TO READ THIS IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING JOINING A POLITICAL ORGANIZATION

[connorthemaoist]

By Ramón Mercader | kites-journal.org

1 April 2024

During a recent central committee meeting, held via zoom, leaders of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) discussed how to build off of the great success of their letter-writing campaign thanking pro-Israel Chicago mayor, Brandon Johnson, for his belated support for a nonbinding city council ceasefire resolution passed after more than 25,000 Palestinians had been killed by Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. While very proud of themselves for the letter-writing campaign, along with their advocacy for a toothless civilian police review board and other paltry reforms in Chicago, FRSO leadership was not content to run cover for the bourgeoisie at the local level, and wanted to do so on the national political stage. They saw an opportunity in the widespread frustration with the Democratic Party’s choice of Joe Biden as its 2024 candidate and fear that the far more energetic and popular Republican candidate, Donald Trump, would trounce Biden at the polls in November. In accordance with the mass line—or at least FRSO’s interpretation of it—FRSO leadership decided that the best course of action would be to unite with the broad criticism of Biden as being too old to run for a second term and propose a different candidate, one a year older than Biden and even more decrepit than him, but who would do a much better job steering rebellious Black proletarians and protesters for Palestine back into the fold of bourgeois-democracy: Jesse Jackson.

Putting Jesse Jackson on the ballot was a logical choice for FRSO, as they and their predecessor, the Revolutionary [sic] Workers Headquarters, had been ardent supporters of his 1984 and 1988 presidential runs, with the Jackson campaigns serving as a sort of 1980s after-party to their celebration of the 1976 counterrevolutionary coup that ended socialism in China. With Jackson, FRSO saw in the 1980s and sees today the ideal presidential candidate around whom to build a strategic alliance—of union bureaucrats, nonprofit organization activists, and local Democratic Party politicians—aimed at diverting protest and rebellion into electoral politics. FRSO considers replacing Biden on the ballot with Jackson an urgent task, given that so many people in the US right now have lost faith in bourgeois politics when police brutality remains rampant despite all the calls for and enactment of reforms and with even the most supposedly progressive Democrats in office failing to do anything to stop Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. In a quite good statement issued by its central committee, FRSO proclaimed that “given the present, growing crisis of legitimacy for the bourgeoisie, Jesse Jackson is the right stuff for US imperialism.”

[vilecrocodile]

personally i would stay away from PSL. im sure chapters vary, but its absolutely not just the top thats shit. though i had a few valuable experiences, for the most part i look back on my membership as a big waste of my time, energy, and money. i would not reccomend it, particularly to anyone young and financially/demographically vulnerable

ive found issue-based organizing to be by and large more valuable and productive, especially for meeting like-minded communists. just my personal experience.

also ok my followers are like more than half usa/canada— DOES ANYONE KNOW OF ANY GOOD ORGS? PLEASE? i wanna get organized for new years but all of them fucking suck

[marxistlesbianist]

I hear you, but most Americans have thick blinders on and absolutely refuse to question capitalism. They’re also cowards and will either comply with fascism or roll over and die. Truly a nation of beat dogs

I get where this is coming from, but it is simply not true. Class consciousness in the US is rising—rising slowly, and from such a low point that there is a long way to go, but rising nonetheless. The new workers’ movement has been growing steadily for years now, civil rights activists are making more aggressive demands with increased support, and the small handful of ML orgs operating here are all seeing rising membership. As with 2017, there is a large influx of new would-be activists in response to Trump, however unlike eight years ago the popular resistance movement has more ML leadership. Whereas in 2017 and 2020 protest movements were disorganized and largely captured by the liberals, groups like PSL and FRSO are taking a much more active role to-day (of course, PSL especially is a rather problematic organization, but its still better to have new activists funneled there than to the DSA or, god forbid, the DNC).

Further, as fun as it is to joke about Hitler particles, as dialectical Mlmaterialists we must recognize that the cowardly fascism of the majority of USAmericans is not something innate, but the result of our economic conditions within global imperialism. Economic conditions which are deteriorating rapidly! The US people are the way they are to-day because the global bourgeoisie has been paying them off; to imagine that their sycophancy will last so much longer after bourgeois payments end is idealism. We have seen from the early history of the 20th century that communist insurgency inside fully developed capitalist states is possible—surely they will be more successful when the position of global capitalism is so much weaker! The US may very well be the last region to overthrow capitalism. But make no mistake, capitalism here will be overthrown.

[shittyclive]

look at my guy.

[mesetacadre]

hi! I'm from the US trying to get organized -- do you have any thoughts on the PLP (progressive labor party) or FRSO (freedom road socialist organization)? I'm stuck between those two, thanks! PS sorry if this is a stupid question or too personal, maybe I could DM and we could talk more!

I'm not from the US but I have talked with people there, my impression is that the FRSO is relatively serious though they suffer from a semi-outdated program (in that the current one is a pastiche between their 80s program and today), but they still seem worthwhile in the context of US organizing. I have not heard of the PLP

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

New Orleans Eyewitness Report Back: LGBTQ Rights in Cuba

Thursday, June 22 - 6:00 p.m.

Parish Hall, 2533 Columbus St., New Orleans, LA

In May, a solidarity delegation organized by Women in Struggle traveled to Havana to bear witness to the achievements of the LGBTQ community there.

We saw the fruits of the new Families Code, a groundbreaking law advancing equality for all families, women, LGBTQ people, disabled people, and elders. Come learn about the country with us!

[thescoutgaymer]

Pffhsshhtt

Whorven is that?

WAITSEH CAN CUT MY PAY?? DJCJXK FUCM

Uhh ish fine... I got ma pals soldier ajdn emdoonmnan!

Wait

Wjeat are they?

Who needs sleepnwhen ya have toness of driksks andddddd

friends???

[big-ole-katydid]

Do you have any advice on how to actually... Do stuff... Like how to get involved and actually find places to volunteer and help out and stuff? I'm in philly so I'm sure there's people I just don't know how to find them

Sure! I'm glad you want to get involved. Organizing in the US is very city-specific, and while I love Philadelphia I'm not familiar enough with the organizing scene to say for sure who is legit or not. That said, I can give some general advice on feeling things out (and if any Philly-based friends have additions or corrections, please chime in)!

First off, download and make new accounts specifically for connecting with organizers on Instagram, Telegram, and Signal. I use an alias for this purpose, but that's up to you. I'm going to talk about a few different organizations, and all of them share information about their public events on Instagram, so that's where I'd recommend initial searches for local events. Most of these organizations use Telegram and/or Signal to coordinate internally, so having accounts on those platforms helps if you want to get more involved. Make sure your email address and phone number are not visible on all these platforms.

The central pillar of anti-imperialist organizing right now is the Palestine Solidarity movement, and every serious and principled organization will be supporting it. Support for Palestinian liberation is more critical than ever as the ceasefire in Gaza was broken and the genocide resumed, so I think that is a good place to get involved. Look up the Philly Palestine Coalition and go to some of their events if you can — you'll meet a lot of sincere and effective organizers that way. Decolonize Philly should also be a good place to get connected to that movement.

(Open support for Palestinian liberation is also kind of the litmus test in US politics right now for separating revolutionary organizing from empty fronts for the Democratic Party. For example, you may have seen how the "Hands off" rallies over the weekend conspicuously refused to speak on the Palestinian cause, and those rallies were empty bullshit put together by liberals whose only message was to vote and canvass for Democrats.)

All serious revolutionary organizing in the US must also prioritize Black liberation. Philadelphia is home to the wonderful Abolition School (officially the W.E.B. Du Bois Movement School for Abolition & Reconstruction), which you should definitely check out. The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement also has a big presence in Philly. The Philly Black Worker Project could also be good to connect with.

If you're asking me specifically for advice, I assume you are also some kind of communist. Right off the bat, I want to caution you to stay away from the "Communist Party of the USA (CPUSA)" and the "American Communist Party." They are grifters. There are legitimate organizations, but be aware that communist organizing in the US is EXTREMELY city-specific — most of the legit national organizations have some fantastic city branches doing real work and others doing basically nothing of substance. My city's branch of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) is serious and effective, but some of their branches are pretty bad. I know they have a branch in Philly but I have no idea what their deal is. Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) has the same sort of variation between branches. Both of these organizations are ideologically Marxist-Leninist and worth scoping out, and the PSL especially has a lot of good literature available, but I'd recommend going to some of their public events and meeting local branch members before joining up or anything.

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) also have a significant presence in Philadelphia, and while that organization has historically been aligned with the Democratic Party and empty liberal activism, there is a growing communist presence in a lot of its branches. I have no idea what Philly's branch is like, so much like PSL and FRSO, I'd scope them out before getting too involved.

Finally, I would also encourage you to read some theory and history in conjunction with organizing efforts. That's not just for its own sake — it can help you distinguish (and therefore prioritize) principled, historically informed, and useful organizing. Since this is already pretty long though, I'll hold off on giving recommendations unless you really want them.

I'll end this with a quote from Fidel Castro. "The duty of every revolutionary is to make the revolution. It is true that the revolution will triumph in the Americas and throughout the world, but it is not for revolutionaries to sit in the doorways of their houses waiting for the corpse of imperialism to pass by." Help us make the revolution, comrade. Glad to have you in the struggle.

[read-marx-and-lenin]

do you have any tips for someone who just joined an org (frso) for the first time ?

Your first priority should be to learn as much as you can from the organization. Listen, observe, and ask questions, and develop a strong understanding of the organization's activities and positions and how they relate to other parties and tendencies and to the broader context of working class organization in the United States.

[dizzymoods]

FRSO publishing an article against the primacy of settler colonialism in america. How shall we deal with them?