Yeesh
There are at least three ML parties in the United States:
FRSO
CPUSA
PSL
just saying: your options are open and they have been growing since the year 2020.
If not, you can check Facebook and Instagram since they’re good for finding orgs in your area, various leftist groups and the like.
Barring that, there are AFL-CIO unions, independent labor unions, and the IWW.
Like I said, there are options.
Just thought I’d tell you all this in case you were feeling hopeless or distraught.
I agree that the DSA is… not my first pick. I’ve defended them, but the “caucus system” is something I don’t agree with.
(I’m apart of CPUSA but I want to say that I’m formulating this post as impartially as I can.)
I am technically still a UFCW member and have seen firsthand how useless they are. I haven’t looked much into PSL but maybe they might have something nearby.
Hopeless is the word. I’m feeling very despondent lately and if not for places like this community I’d feel like my perceptions of the world are completely insane and I’d probably have given up by now.
I really have just come to expect nothing good to happen in my life and any efforts I make to improve it will be so counterproductive it’s better to do nothing
unions are part of the superstructure and as such class struggle can (and has to) only be struggled within them in proportion to the level of class struggle flowing around and through them. definitely get into local organizing every field needs work and organizer development!
Unions are not apart of the state, if that’s what you’re trying to say.
They’re only as good as they’re membership and it may depend on the type of union.
I really have just come to expect nothing good to happen in my life and any efforts I make to improve it will be so counterproductive it’s better to do nothing
if nothing good is gonna happen in your own life then you can at least do some good for others by dedicating yourself to serving the people. doesn’t need to be under the auspices of a particular organisation, just go engage with the masses somehow in a positive way and keep reading revolutionary thinkers and try to apply what they say to what you see in front of you. nihilism and defeatism isn’t good enough comrade, people are out there being massacred by our ruling classes and they don’t get the option to embrace nihilism.
It is probably best with an organization or collective and there are many good leftist orgs albeit too scattered; it is best not to encourage individualistic action in a country that already encourages individualism as it is.
CPUSA
dogshit supporters of the demoncrats since the mid 20th century, also feds
PSL
tailist sect who like to try and co-opt movements without doing the political work necessary to actually lead and organise them. also not fully sure but don’t they have an iffy line regarding queer ppl
FRSO
not as bad as the first two but they make a pretty crucial mistake in saying that the US is no longer a settler-colony, IIRC
FRSO does not officially believe that last part.
PSL are not tailist
Also, we at CPUSA are not feds or supporters of Democrats.
FRSO does not officially believe that last part.
if that’s the case then maybe i should reassess my view on them
all I’ve seen PSL doing is showing up to marches with placards but then running away as soon as things get spicy, and in general failing to actually engage with the masses and determine a revolutionary programme that will win their support. they had a strong presence in the 2020 uprisings and a strong presence in the present Palestine solidarity movement but I see non-communist organisers in those movements often critiquing PSL’s participation in them (perhaps, admittedly, the PSL organisers who did do this effectively back in 2020 were the ones who got murdered by the pigs)
and forgive me if i’m wrong but didn’t the CPUSA say that people should vote Biden in 2020 as a “vote against fascism” or something. i’m also not gonna suggest the CPUSA is entirely fed operated but there is a long history of successful infiltration there.
overall i’m not saying that none of these sects have any value or that they don’t have a lot of decent communists involved, but none of them are exactly the American Bolsheviks, and only the FRSO seems willing to admit that it’s not The Party in any way shape or form at present.
CPUSA does not classify as any Marxist party
They have no international solidarity and I’ve met multiple prominent CPUSA members who vocally support reformism and the police state
What type of party is it when leaders can say stuff like this and not get purged?
At least DSA doesn’t pretend to be anything they’re not and still accomplish more material good than CPUSA lol
This is why I moved to build a PSL branch in my area instead of a CPUSA branch
“They have no international solidarity and I’ve met multiple prominent CPUSA members who vocally support reformism and the police state”
Actually, the CPUSA has met several times with the Communist Party of China.
Also, we support prison and police abolition.
Also, we support prison and police abolition.
If CPUSA is an ML party and presumably, practices democratic centralism, can I ask why those CPUSA members in local branch has not been purged?
I’m not going to doxx them but their local branch only has ~4 members (and thus, have a complete control over that branch…) but it’s in a cultural major and very politically engaged metropolitan US city so I assume they should be aware of their existence
CPUSA does not classify as any Marxist party
Actually, CPUSA is a Marxist-Leninist party, per its constitution, party program, and several documents.
Not necessarily attacking the CPUSA, but documents are meaningless without enforcing them. According the multiple documents the US should be doing a LOT of things different.
FRSO is technically a pre-party formation, but yea they are a ML organization focusing on building a working class party
literally all I’ve ever seen on this site until now is how garbage CPUSA is and how assimilated it’s become.
PSL and FRSO definitely have promise, though PSL specifically has some weird shit going on with SA accusations
That’s because much of this website (Hexbear) hails from Reddit.
On Twitter and, I guess, Instagram, it’s much more positive and I’m pretty much a regular on “CPUSA twitter” or whatever we call ourselves.
Unfortunately, I’m the only CPUSA member I know here and so I’m the only one giving “the other side of the story,” so to speak.
It’s kinda lonely, ngl
Hey i justed wanted to let you know that even though I’m not part of CPUSA and through years of lurking I’ve also noticed you are one of the few, if not the one, who gives the “other side of the story”, wrt them, I still always appreciate and enjoy your comments and I am sorry if you feel lonely or isolated from others here. I’m sure I’m not the only one, either, who appreciates your presence here. Party differences aside. Maybe I’m being too sappy, just wanted to send good vibes to you
Why would a sentiment of CPUSA being liberal form on Reddit but not on Twitter or Instagram? Reddit trends towards being overly sympathetic to liberalism, not rejecting it too much
There are also many smaller orgs that do good work and are commie but they’re regional or city-specific.
A good question to ask when shopping for an org is to ask who is organizing? Not just attending an action, but doing real world organizing. Focus on those groups in your area.
Also make sure that you’re comfortable leaving or disagreeing with your org at all times. If something goes south, you want the option of supporting the right side. The stuff with PSL you mention is what happens when comrades make bad decisions in an attempt to save face and protect each other and would’ve been avoided if the chapters in question had discipline.
