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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 Edit this at Wikidata
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FRSO and new SDS protesters in January 2017 at DisruptJ20

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) is a communist political party in the United States. FRSO formed in 1985 as a merger of several Maoist-oriented New Communist movement organizations.

FRSO describes itself as a revolutionary socialist party, because capitalism "cannot be reformed out of existence", so socialists must "take the sledgehammer of revolution to the chains of oppression".[2]

Membership

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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.[3]

In December 2020, FRSO claimed "over 500" general members.[4] In March 2021, FRSO claimed almost 1000 members and "hundreds" of cadre.[1]

Associated groups

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In 2002, FRSO created the Anti-War Committee (AWC), which it leads.[5] In 2008, the AWC protested the 2008 Republican National Convention.[6]

In 2006, FRSO helped create the new Students for a Democratic Society (SDS or "new SDS"), which has significant FRSO leadership[7][8] and FRSO collaboration.[9][10]

Publications

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FRSO's main publication is the website and monthly paper Fight Back! News (FB!N) and its Spanish section Lucha y Resiste.[11]

History

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Origins

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In 1985, the Proletarian Unity League and the Revolutionary Workers Headquarters merged to create FRSO.[12][13][14] In 1986, FRSO fused with the Organization for Revolutionary Unity.[12] In 1988, FRSO absorbed the Amílcar Cabral-Paul Robeson Collective.[12][15]

In 1993, FRSO merged with the Socialist Organizing Network (SON)[12][13][16] 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.[15] 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]

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.[14]

1999 split

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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 "Fight Back!" group, aligned with Marxism-Leninism, argued that these events resulted from revisionism rather than failures within Marxism.[12][15] 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.[17] The FRSO National Executive Committee (NEC) unanimously rejected this discussion.[18] In 1999, the Left Refoundation group received a second hearing, at which the NEC and FRSO as a whole split in two.[19][20]

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.[21]

FBI raid

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On September 24, 2010, over 70 FBI agents raided the homes of 6 antiwar activists, 5 of which FRSO members, and the Anti-War Committee (AWC) headquarters. The FBI claimed to be searching for evidence of "material support of terrorism".[22][23] 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 the AWC's political support for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).[24] FRSO further claimed that the FBI had placed informants inside its organization.[25]

On February 26, 2014, a federal judge unsealed the extensive documents the FBI collected during its nearly three-year surveillance of FRSO.[26][27] The FBI never charged any person involved.[28]

Ideology

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FRSO is a Marxist-Leninist[29][26] and democratic centralist organization.[29]

In labor, FRSO advocates a strategy of the building of a "militant minority" within the unions and opposing "collaborating union officials".[30]

In elections, FRSO encourages members to tactically vote against the "most reactionary" candidate, usually Republicans.[31]

FRSO recognizes China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam as socialist countries.[29] FRSO "positively evaluates" Albania, the Soviet Union, and the Warsaw Pact countries, but argues they "gave up on Marxism".[29] FRSO also supports the United Socialist Party of Venezuela and Nicolas Maduro as "leading the masses of people in building a new society".[32] FRSO participates in the annual International Communist Seminar.[33] FRSO is Anti-Zionist.[34]

National conventions

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The table below includes only the "Fight Back!" majority faction, which retains the FRSO name.

Name Date Statement Main Political Report Program Notes
9th Congress Spring 2021 Seize the Time Three parts: 1, 2, 3 Program
8th Congress May 2018 Statement 2018 MPR Program
7th Congress 2014 Statement Three parts: 1, 2, 3
6th Congress 2010 Congress of Victory 2010 MPR before FBI raids
5th Congress May 2007 Period of Struggle 2007 MPR Program no program before 2007
4th Congress June 2004 Building on Success 2004 MPR
3rd Congress May 2001 2001 Unity Statement 2001 MPR after split, Fight Back! group explicitly gave FRSO "Marxist-Leninist" label
2nd Congress November 1997 FRSO Strategy before 1999 split
1st Congress 1994 1993 Unity Statement merged FRSO and SON
n/a 1986 ORU Merges merged FRSO and ORU
Unity Conference October 1985 1985 Unity Statement merged RWH and PUL

See also

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References

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  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. ^ "Program" (PDF). Freedom Road Socialist Organization. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 11, 2022.
  3. ^ ""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."
  4. ^ "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.
  5. ^ "The "Freedom Road" that leads to communism". American Experiment. March 6, 2024. Archived from the original on March 19, 2024. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
  6. ^ "Antiwar activists plan to march on '08 GOP convention in St. Paul". Star Tribune. November 15, 2006. Archived from the original on November 17, 2006.
  7. ^ "The Hundred Days campaign: the present and future of SDS: An interview with Rachel Haut". Platypus Affiliated Society. November 20, 2008. Archived from the original on November 20, 2008.
  8. ^ "SDS: Study and struggle, unite and fight!". FRSO. October 1, 2008.
  9. ^ Coleman, Jamiya; Kelley, Savannah (April 25, 2024). "Students protest Israel-Hamas war on FSU's campus". WCTV.
  10. ^ Casale, Christian (December 4, 2023). "FSU student group pushes back against university after pro-Palestine rally; demands changes". Florida Phoenix.
  11. ^ "Where We Stand". Fight Back! News.
  12. ^ a b c d e Metz, John (2002). "American Red Groups". Archived from the original on April 13, 2003.
  13. ^ a b Woodford, Maize (Spring 2006). "Glossary of Organizations in Essays by Authors, Vol. 36, No. 1". The Black Scholar. 36 (1): 63–69. doi:10.1080/00064246.2006.11413349. JSTOR 41069195.
  14. ^ a b Leary, Elly (May–June 2022). "On-the-line in Auto — 1970s-1990". Against the Current (218).
  15. ^ 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.
  16. ^ Saba, Paul (June–July 1993). "A step toward unity". Moving Forward.
  17. ^ "Theses on Left Refoundation". FRSO. October 3, 1998.
  18. ^ Saba, Paul (January 1999). "NEC Response to Left Refoundationist Proposal". Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism Online.
  19. ^ Saba, Paul (June 1999). "Public Statement on the Future of FRSO". Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism Online.
  20. ^ Holst, John D. (November 1, 2004). "Globalization and Education within Two Revolutionary Organizations in the United States of America: A Gramscian Analysis". Adult Education Quarterly. 55 (1): 23–40. doi:10.1177/0741713604268895. ISSN 0741-7136. Retrieved May 28, 2024.
  21. ^ "What's In A Name: Liberation Gets Us To Freedom". Liberation Road. April 2019.
  22. ^ "In raids, FBI seeks terrorist links; activists cry foul". MPR News. September 29, 2010. Archived from the original on February 25, 2015. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
  23. ^ "Timeline of Events 2010". Committee to Stop FBI Repression. Archived from the original on February 20, 2020. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  24. ^ "FBI Interview Questions for FRSO" (PDF). Committee to Stop FBI Repression. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 17, 2013. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  25. ^ "Anti-War and International Solidarity Activists Denounce FBI Infiltration". Committee to Stop FBI Repression. Archived from the original on June 28, 2013.
  26. ^ a b Gibbons, Chip (September 24, 2020). "Ten Years Later: FBI's Politically Motivated Sting Operation and Raid Still Unjustified and and[sic] Epic Fail". Defending Rights & Dissent. Archived from the original on September 29, 2020. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
  27. ^ Karnowski, Steve (February 27, 2014). "Documents Shed Light on 2010 Minnesota FBI Raids". Associated Press. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016.
  28. ^ "Why Are FBI Agents Trammeling the Rights of Antiwar Activists?". Newsweek. September 25, 2015. Archived from the original on September 27, 2015. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
  29. ^ a b c d "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.
  30. ^ "Class Struggle on the Shop Floor: Strategy for a New Generation of Socialists in the United States". April 28, 2019.
  31. ^ "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.
  32. ^ "Interview with Tom Burke of FRSO on Trump's war moves against Venezuela". FRSO. April 13, 2020.
  33. ^ "Workers, communist parties declare solidarity with FRSO in fight against repression". Fight Back! News. May 31, 2011.
  34. ^ "Demonstrators rally in support of Palestine". dailymemphian.com. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
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