Freedom Road Socialist Organization

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Freedom Road Socialist Organization
AbbreviationFRSO
Founded1985; 39 years ago (1985)
Merger ofRevolutionary Workers Headquarters (1985), Proletarian Unity League (1985), Organization for Revolutionary Unity (1986), Amilcar Cabral/Paul Robeson Collective (1988), Socialist Organizing Network (1996)
NewspaperFight Back! News
Membership~1000 general members (2021)[1]
Ideology
Political positionFar-left
Colors  Red
Website
frso.org
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The Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) is a Marxist–Leninist organization in the United States. FRSO formed in 1985 amid the collapse of the Maoist-oriented New Communist movement that emerged in the 1970s. The FRSO's component groups believed that ultraleftism was the US New Communist movement's main error. Merging under the FRSO banner, these groups hoped to consolidate the movement's remnants in a single organization and move beyond the sectarianism that marked the previous decades.[citation needed]

Membership[edit]

FRSO has two levels of membership. "General" members pay dues annually and must attend one online seminar per year. "Cadre" members must adhere to Leninist organizational norms.[2]

In December 2020, FRSO claimed "over 500" general members.[3] In March 2021, FRSO claimed almost 1000 members and "hundreds" of cadre.[1]

Publications[edit]

FRSO's main publication is the website and monthly paper Fight Back! News and its Spanish section Lucha y Resiste.[4] From 1985 to the mid-1990s, FRSO continued the Proletarian Unity League's Forward Motion.[citation needed] For a short period after 1993, FRSO continued the Socialist Organizing Network's Moving Forward.[citation needed]

Ideology[edit]

FRSO members at a pro-choice rally in 2022

The FRSO is a Marxist-Leninist and democratic centralist organization inspired by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, William Z. Foster, Mother Bloor, and Harry Haywood.[5]

In labor, FRSO advocates a strategy of the building of a "militant minority" within the unions and opposing "collaborating union officials".[6]

In elections, FRSO encourages members to tactically vote against the "most reactionary" candidate, usually Republicans.[7]

FRSO recognizes China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam as socialist countries.[5] FRSO "positively evaluates" Albania, the Soviet Union, and the Warsaw Pact countries, but argues they "gave up on Marxism".[5] FRSO also supports the United Socialist Party of Venezuela and Nicolas Maduro as "leading the masses of people in building a new society".[8] FRSO participates in the annual International Communist Seminar.[9] FRSO is Anti-Zionist.[10]

History[edit]

Origins[edit]

In 1985, the Proletarian Unity League and the Revolutionary Workers Headquarters merged to create FRSO. In 1986, FRSO fused with the Organization for Revolutionary Unity. In 1988, FRSO absorbed the Amílcar Cabral-Paul Robeson Collective.[11]

In 1993, FRSO merged with the Socialist Organizing Network (SON) and adopted the placeholder name "Freedom Road Socialist Organization / Socialist Organizing Network" (FRSO/SON). The SON was formed by former members of the League of Revolutionary Struggle (LRS), which had dissolved in the late 1980s.[11] The 1994 FRSO Congress, which formalized the merger, was called the "First Congress of FRSO/SON". However, no new name emerged, and FRSO/SON reverted back to FRSO afterwards.[citation needed]

1999 split[edit]

Previous FRSO logo

In response to Tiananmen Square and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, FRSO began to develop two distinct positions on socialist countries. The "Left Refoundation" group, aligned with democratic socialism, argued that these events resulted from a deep crisis of Marxism. The other group, aligned with Marxism-Leninism, argued that these events resulted from revisionism rather than failures within Marxism.[11] These divisions grew during the 1990s. In 1998, the Left Refoundation group wrote an internal document, "Theses on Left Refoundation", and requested an organization-wide discussion.[12] The FRSO National Executive Committee (NEC) unanimously rejected this discussion.[13] In 1999, the Left Refoundation group received a second hearing, at which the NEC and FRSO as a whole split in two.[14]

Both factions claimed the name "Freedom Road Socialist Organization". In 2006, the Left Refoundation group renamed itself to "FRSO/OSCL", combining the English and Spanish acronym. In 2019, the Left Refoundation group renamed itself to Liberation Road.[15]

FBI raid[edit]

On September 24, 2010, over 70 FBI agents raided homes of antiwar activists in Minneapolis, Chicago, and Grand Rapids, Michigan. The FBI claimed to be searching for evidence of "material support of terrorism".[16] FRSO formed the "Committee to Stop FBI Repression" and claimed that FBI agents left behind documents indicating that the raids were aimed at people suspected of FRSO membership, due to FRSO's Anti-War Committee (AWC), which politically supported the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).[17] FRSO further claimed that the FBI had placed informants inside its organization.[18]

On February 26, 2014, a federal judge unsealed the extensive documents the FBI collected during its nearly three-year surveillance of the FRSO.[19]

Congresses[edit]

FRSO has held post-split organizational Congresses in 2001, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2014, 2018, and 2022:

  • 2001: Third Congress: Two years after the 1999 split, FRSO delegates adopted a new version of the main Unity Statement, which explicitly identified Marxism–Leninism as the organization's political ideology. Previous iterations of the FRSO Unity Statement had not mentioned Marxism–Leninism by name, owing to the ideological divisions within the organization at the time.[citation needed]
  • 2004: Fourth Congress: FRSO produced a new unity statement laying out its line the national question in the U.S. In a statement released after the congress, the organization called this statement "a concluding step in placing our organization on a Marxist–Leninist basis", in contrast to the social-democratic-leaning ideologies embraced by the Left Refoundation group.[20]
  • 2007: Fifth Congress:
    • Unlike most communist organizations, the FRSO had historically not had a political program. FRSO adopted the first part of its organizational program, titled "Class in the U.S. and Our Strategy for Revolution", which outlines the various classes in the United States and the FRSO's general strategy for revolution. This document was released after the congress with the intention of integrating it into the final FRSO program upon its completion.[21]
    • The Fifth Congress also adopted and released "The Movement Against the War in Iraq: A New Period and Our Tasks", a document covering FRSO's approach to the antiwar movement under the George W. Bush administration and the U.S. occupation of Iraq.[22]
  • 2010: Sixth Congress: Took place before the FBI raids that year. It produced a statement from the organization, a main political report, and seven resolutions on different areas of struggle, including the immigrant rights movement.[23] A statement released after the Congress emphasized both unprecedented growth in membership and its developing work in the U.S. labor movement, the student movement and the movements of oppressed nationalities.[24]
  • 2014: Seventh Congress: FRSO called this Congress "in and of itself a victory" given that it came "four years after the FBI raids and grand jury subpoenas charging activists, including members of the FRSO, with material support for terrorism."[25] At the congress, delegates approved three reports outlining the FRSO's line on the domestic political situation in the U.S., the international situation and the economy.[26] The same statement summed up the congress as "a great success, in terms of defining current conditions, our growing capacity to lead and influence people's movements, deepening our understanding of Marxism-Leninism, and recruiting to and building the FRSO."[27]
  • 2018: Eighth Congress: FRSO approved three resolutions on the domestic political, international and economic situation, which "provide a basis for understanding basic conditions, the forces in motion in society, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the movements for social change and revolution." Sixteen months into Donald Trump's presidency, the FRSO saw the period as "very dynamic and fluid", marked by "major attacks and widespread, large-scale fightbacks...As communists, we must lead campaigns that attempt to win all that can be won. Fortune favors the brave and bold."[28]
  • 2022: Ninth Congress: FRSO adopted resolutions on Party Building and the formation of African American and Chicano commissions, as well as resolutions on Palestine and Ukraine. It adopted a Main Political Report, and FRSO also adopted new sections to its Program.[29]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "FRSO Spring Fundraising drive: $100,000-plus needed for great leap forward". Freedom Road Socialist Organization. March 15, 2021. Archived from the original on March 16, 2021. We have hundreds of cadre who are working day and night to build the people's struggle and we will soon have more than 1000 members.
  2. ^ ""JOIN"". February 4, 2018. "General Members are required to agree with the FRSO Program, pay annual dues of at least $20 annually, and commit to attending at least one online General Members meeting annually. These are the minimum expectations, but many General Members are more involved in various ways, such as attending our quarterly online meetings, participating in online study sessions, attending local district-level General Members meetings, and participating in local community organizing. General Members do not attend internal FRSO meetings and may not represent FRSO publicly unless directed to do so by FRSO local or national leadership."
  3. ^ "Trump is a loser. Join the Freedom Road Socialist Organization!". Freedom Road Socialist Organization. December 2, 2020. Archived from the original on January 24, 2021. Freedom Road Socialist Organization membership is now over 500 and growing at a good clip.
  4. ^ "Where We Stand". Fight Back! News.
  5. ^ a b c "Main Documents: Socialism". FRSO. June 22, 2022. Socialism is not a distant dream—it already exists in the People's Republic of China, Cuba, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Vietnam, and Laos. We are glad the socialist countries exist, and we stand with them.
  6. ^ "Class Struggle on the Shop Floor: Strategy for a New Generation of Socialists in the United States". April 28, 2019.
  7. ^ "A revolutionary view of the 2022 midterm elections". September 9, 2022. Our approach regarding the elections will take different forms in different places. Often, this will mean that those who are working in swing states must work to defeat Republican candidates. In places where the Republicans are very unlikely to win, organizers should vote against right-wing or centrist Democrats in favor of candidates with more progressive stances.
  8. ^ "Interview with Tom Burke of FRSO on Trump's war moves against Venezuela". FRSO. April 13, 2020.
  9. ^ "Workers, communist parties declare solidarity with FRSO in fight against repression". Fight Back! News. May 31, 2011.
  10. ^ "Demonstrators rally in support of Palestine". dailymemphian.com. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  11. ^ a b c "Unity Statement of Freedom Road Socialist Organization". Freedom Road Socialist Organization. May 6, 2001. Archived from the original on August 23, 2022.
  12. ^ "Theses on Left Refoundation". FRSO. October 3, 1998.
  13. ^ Saba, Paul (January 1999). "NEC Response to Left Refoundationist Proposal". Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism Online.
  14. ^ Saba, Paul (June 1999). "Public Statement on the Future of FRSO". Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism Online.
  15. ^ "What's In A Name: Liberation Gets Us To Freedom". Liberation Road. April 2019.
  16. ^ "Timeline of Events 2010". Committee to Stop FBI Repression. Archived from the original on February 20, 2020. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  17. ^ "FBI Interview Questions for FRSO" (PDF). Committee to Stop FBI Repression. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 17, 2013. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  18. ^ "Anti-War and International Solidarity Activists Denounce FBI Infiltration". Committee to Stop FBI Repression. Archived from the original on June 28, 2013.
  19. ^ Karnowski, Steve (February 27, 2014). "Documents Shed Light on 2010 Minnesota FBI Raids". Associated Press. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016.
  20. ^ "FRSO's 4th Congress: Building on Success, Preparing for the Future". Freedom Road Socialist Organization. June 26, 2004. Archived from the original on June 26, 2020.
  21. ^ "Class in the U.S. and Our Strategy for Revolution". Freedom Road Socialist Organization. August 3, 2007. Archived from the original on November 29, 2018.
  22. ^ "The Movement Against War in Iraq: A New Period and Our Tasks". Freedom Road Socialist Organization. May 15, 2007. Archived from the original on June 29, 2020.
  23. ^ "Documents from the Sixth FRSO Congress, 2010". Freedom Road Socialist Organization. May 10, 2014.
  24. ^ "6th Congress of Freedom Road Socialist Organization". Freedom Road Socialist Organization. May 10, 2010.
  25. ^ "FRSO 7th Congress and Main Political Report". Freedom Road Socialist Organization. October 24, 2014.
  26. ^ "FRSO 7th Congress". Freedom Road Socialist Organization. October 24, 2014.
  27. ^ "FRSO 7th Congress and Main Political Report". Freedom Road Socialist Organization. October 24, 2014.
  28. ^ "2018 Main Political Report — Resolution on the Domestic Political Situation". Freedom Road Socialist Organization. August 15, 2018.
  29. ^ "9th Congress of Freedom Road Socialism: Seize the Time, the Future is Bright!". Freedom Road Socialist Organization. June 3, 2022.

External links[edit]

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