The way I see it is that they use correct revolutionary rhetoric but funnel it into ineffective American protest culture, and while the national org may call themselves the vanguard or even Marxist-Leninist from time to time they don’t do these things in action (I personally don’t understand why a group would call themselves ML but not conform to a Leninist party structure) to that point where I’ve heard cadres say they aren’t either of these things
Regardless of what they’ll say as well, the real vanguard for the true American revolution will be the native and hyper exploited black/“illegal” populations, and in the era of imperialism the proletarian nations subjected to US rule and their movements. Something that Claudia and the Beckers are verifiably not a part of despite having oversized control over the party (thus not conforming to democratic centralism), and neither is their largely settler base.
IMO their worth is in the support they throw towards these vanguards which is legitimate and good but things like their plan for socialist reconstruction as detailed in their book are far too eurocommunist/“imperial marxist” to consider them a vanguard, even if they’re trying to place themselves in that place. A lot of this is informed by when the Red Nation split ties with them and the accusations of “adventurism” members have thrown around towards ppl that try and escalate the more toothless actions they have a large presence in as well
Leaders, sometimes democratically elected committee members and sometimes established cadre with connections to the party’s founder and source of funds the Becker family, often make decisions without informing cadres publicly or privately and they are expected to follow without discussion.
Or when they take unpopular stances like the Covid ad for the campaign they had to take down that heavily downplayed masking (with Claudia still not wearing masks at events) unfortunately I cannot find a re-upload of this.
The prohibiting of communications between branches except through leadership, the fed/badjacketing of people who don’t accept decisions made by leadership, the history of shutting ppl down when questioning national leadership in general, leading to more of a just centralism rather than any kind of democratic centralism
Contrast this with the PSL’s own publications, for example, this one regarding “Social media and democratic centralism” from an internal document circulated first in 2015, which has since been substantially rewritten and appears on the Liberation School website: “Communication between members in different branches that does not first go through the leadership bodies of the respective branches — which can be called ‘horizontal communications’ — is generally prohibited.”
Idk if I said it right, but I meant to communicate that they seem to consider themselves a vanguard party, not that I necessarily do.
I think this is a pretty good take, I’ve got a lot of reservations with PSL that I usually hold back on because they’re kind of the best of a bad lot here in the U$.
Makes sense. Seems to depend on who you talk to it seems. Also tons of people attack them for being ML at all or blame their problems on the inherent issues of Stalinism or some bullshit like that so I get you
I think they are, there was a lot of rhetoric a few years back about how they’re a “vanguard cadre”.
The way I see it is that they use correct revolutionary rhetoric but funnel it into ineffective American protest culture, and while the national org may call themselves the vanguard or even Marxist-Leninist from time to time they don’t do these things in action (I personally don’t understand why a group would call themselves ML but not conform to a Leninist party structure) to that point where I’ve heard cadres say they aren’t either of these things
Regardless of what they’ll say as well, the real vanguard for the true American revolution will be the native and hyper exploited black/“illegal” populations, and in the era of imperialism the proletarian nations subjected to US rule and their movements. Something that Claudia and the Beckers are verifiably not a part of despite having oversized control over the party (thus not conforming to democratic centralism), and neither is their largely settler base.
IMO their worth is in the support they throw towards these vanguards which is legitimate and good but things like their plan for socialist reconstruction as detailed in their book are far too eurocommunist/“imperial marxist” to consider them a vanguard, even if they’re trying to place themselves in that place. A lot of this is informed by when the Red Nation split ties with them and the accusations of “adventurism” members have thrown around towards ppl that try and escalate the more toothless actions they have a large presence in as well
In your view, how does the PSL’s structure differ from what you would consider to be a Leninist party structure?
Leaders, sometimes democratically elected committee members and sometimes established cadre with connections to the party’s founder and source of funds the Becker family, often make decisions without informing cadres publicly or privately and they are expected to follow without discussion.
This has been very evident and unfortunate in times when people are accused of abuse within the organization (https://commiewife.medium.com/a-brief-criticism-of-the-party-for-socialism-and-liberation-95923b8cae6)
Or when they take unpopular stances like the Covid ad for the campaign they had to take down that heavily downplayed masking (with Claudia still not wearing masks at events) unfortunately I cannot find a re-upload of this.
The prohibiting of communications between branches except through leadership, the fed/badjacketing of people who don’t accept decisions made by leadership, the history of shutting ppl down when questioning national leadership in general, leading to more of a just centralism rather than any kind of democratic centralism
Sources and more in-depth explanations:
https://web.archive.org/web/20191207211353/https://medium.com/@newdialectician/women-and-the-vanguard-party-why-im-resigning-from-the-psl-30453e819147
https://web.archive.org/web/20230216163459/https://peoples-voice.org/2021/01/04/psl-proletarian-feminism-weapon/
Idk if I said it right, but I meant to communicate that they seem to consider themselves a vanguard party, not that I necessarily do.
I think this is a pretty good take, I’ve got a lot of reservations with PSL that I usually hold back on because they’re kind of the best of a bad lot here in the U$.
Makes sense. Seems to depend on who you talk to it seems. Also tons of people attack them for being ML at all or blame their problems on the inherent issues of Stalinism or some bullshit like that so I get you