Been a part of PSL since last year. I’d highly recommend the party to any MLs living in the United States.
It’s probably the only party in the imperial core that doesn’t suffer from the same deficiencies as the majority of the Western left. Internet “Marxists” like to shut them down for bullshit reasons like not draping themselves in the communist aesthetic or supporting countries like Iran from further imperialist conquest.
First, how would you expect a potential vanguard party from being a vanguard if it’s not with the masses? Marching down the streets and waving hammer/sickle flags, while absolutely fucking cool, is not going to attract the masses in the US and could even push away people wanting to join who aren’t already 100% ML. Plenty of comrades personally sport communist aesthetic and the party is very much Leninist where it counts: theory and practice.
And second, it baffles me that communists would think it’s bad to support countries like Iran in the face of imperialism, saying we should support the Iranian people. Yes no shit Iran isn’t socialist, but calling for the overthrow of the Iranian government for the “people’s will” is an imperialist talking point. As communists living in the belly of the beast, we must critically support countries trying to escape the grasp of the empire. We’re not some Trot party who’s going to side with the US, hoping that further sanctions and acts of war will destabilize the country; that’s just the perfect avenue for color revolutions and making things worse.
So yes, join PSL if you’re a serious ML in the US. Even if there’s no branch in your city, you can contact the PSL and become an at-large member. They will help you set up and offer plenty of support and assistance as the branch gets built up.
Not taking away from anything you said, but please look at my earlier post: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/5334 Problematic leadership doesn’t necessarily mean PSL on the ground isn’t a valid and worthwhile organization, but just wondering if you were familiar with this. I am saying this as somebody who still pays DSA dues.
This demand for pure perfection is ridiculous amongst some comrades that are turned off organisations due to whatever problematic feature is in them.
“We are not utopians, we do not “dream” of dispensing at once with all administration, with all subordination. These anarchist dreams, based upon incomprehension of the tasks of the proletarian dictatorship, are totally alien to Marxism, and, as a matter of fact, serve only to postpone the socialist revolution until people are different. No, we want the socialist revolution with people as they are now, with people who cannot dispense with subordination, control, and “foremen and accountants”.”
― Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, The State and Revolution
These deficiencies could be corrected if enough decent comrades joined and became active.
That article is constantly reposted to try and smear PSL from an ultra-left standpoint and PSL members are constantly having shoot it down.
The view that PSL is “tainted” because someone’s day job is working on a podcast is really reaching. Loud and Clear isn’t a PSL podcast, PSL has no ties to it; it’s not a PSL-sponsored publication of any sort, it’s not even Marxist. It’s simply Comrade Becker’s job. Whenever a guest espouses reactionary views or even the main host, Becker calls them out on it. He’s simply using the platform he’s been given to hopefully give a more Marxist opinion on current-day events, push anti-imperialism, etc.
He’s been organizing for a while, there’s no doubt what his intentions and views are. Cancelling Marxists with a huge history of being dedicated communists because they work in reactionary environments is just counter-productive. It’s obviously not a 1:1 example, but working in reactionary environments is a must to continue to spread class consciousness and an ML viewpoint.
PSL has had their media arsenal grow now to include BreakThrough News alongside Liberation News, which is a direct PSL publication and supports the party’s line.
I think I’ve already brought up Prysner, if not here them somewhere, so the tl;dr is that there’s a huge gulf in class makeup between military and police. The military disgustingly preys heavily on vulnerable communities, especially PoC & minorities, with promises of a place to fit in the world, money, education, etc. So they get shipped off to serve the empire with a ton coming back with mental health issues and jaded. Revolutions are successful with military defectors and parts of that arm siding with the proletariat.
Now as for the “army brat,” the kids who go to military academies, and the ones that join to be “patriotic,” those are completely different.
For the other, I haven’t heard much of Ramsey Clark. He looks like he was a more “progressive” cog in the machine for a bit, but being head of the Justice Department is very far removed from the CIA, who are known to be very secretive and don’t divulge to anyone who isn’t in with them. He’s not a party member so not much more I can say, but he could’ve been a pipline to Becker becoming more radicalized. Becker’s been communist since like the early 90s, maybe the 80s idk. There’s nothing that portrays him as anything other than a dedicated revolutionary.
Remember, the vast majority of people, even with reactionary pasts, can be turned to communism. Some are hopeless cases (looking at you, fascists) that are 100% our enemies, but most people aren’t born and grow up with spotless records. It’s not making excuses for people, just reality. Like any proper ML party, if a member isn’t trusted, they won’t be voted to positions of power unless the party’s already on the road to opportunism (i.e. Bolsheviks post-Stalin). Nothing about the PSL hints that it’s on that road, so I just want my online comrades to know what’s up.
Not really. Sam Marcy was a member of SWP, yes, but he fought SWP leadership over their failure to support the USSR, PRC, and DPRK.
He and others developed the concept of “global class warfare” in which the international bourgeoisie will work to stifle and snuff out any people’s movement. Knowing this, already-existing socialism must be defended by socialists across the world. Criticism may be made, but we must stand against imperialism.
PSL split from WWP and is a Marxist-Leninist party.
Criticism may be made, but we must stand against imperialism.
Even this has to be done with the utmost caution these days. The liberals, shameless as ever, delight to turn our every word into weapons for their agendas. Just earlier this week, they wielded Angela Davis’ opinion on voting for Joe Biden against us, while also conveniently ignoring her positions (things she’s known for I might add) on abolition and of course communism.
I basically hold the view that if someone wishes to criticize AES states they should do it to my face offline in a private setting or behind closed doors between comrades (also offline). Give the libs an inch and they will take a goddamn light-year. We’ve all seen what the precious nuance of the DSA types have led us to with regards to VZ and Bolivia.
PSL split from WWP and is a Marxist-Leninist party
Is it though? They make no mention of “Marxism-Leninism” in their official documents, but instead prefer the term “revolutionary socialism”. That, and they still uphold the doctrine of Sam Marcy to some extent.
As former leaders and members of Workers World Party, we defend that group’s historical tradition and mission, particularly that of its founder Sam Marcy. Although we believe that the Workers World Party leadership is no longer capable of fulfilling that mission, we still consider it to be a progressive organization with many honest activists.
I don’t think they go into detail as to why they split from WWP though.
If I recall correctly, Gloria La Riva had said something along the lines of the PSL neither being “Stalinist nor Trotskyist”, and they hesitate to make mention of the more controversial socialist leaders of the past and present.
While there may be quite a few Marxist-Leninists in the party, I don’t think that’s the official line. Then again, I’ve heard from quite a few comrades that there’s a disconnect between PSL cadre and leadership.
I can’t speak to why the party leadership chooses to describe the party as “revolutionary socialist” instead of “Marxist-Leninist”, but I’d wager that it’s a conscious decision to appeal to accurately describe their position to the broadest amount of people by not using jargon.
The communist movement is the United States is experiencing a resurgence, but we’re still small. It is important to organize, get people on our side, and grow the movement. Building bridges instead of burning them is likely why the choose to not talk about Stalin nor focus on the split from WWP.
The history of Marcy (supportive of USSR, PRC, and DPRK) as well as the party’s existing position on PRC display a principled stance towards AES.
Been a part of PSL since last year. I’d highly recommend the party to any MLs living in the United States.
It’s probably the only party in the imperial core that doesn’t suffer from the same deficiencies as the majority of the Western left. Internet “Marxists” like to shut them down for bullshit reasons like not draping themselves in the communist aesthetic or supporting countries like Iran from further imperialist conquest.
First, how would you expect a potential vanguard party from being a vanguard if it’s not with the masses? Marching down the streets and waving hammer/sickle flags, while absolutely fucking cool, is not going to attract the masses in the US and could even push away people wanting to join who aren’t already 100% ML. Plenty of comrades personally sport communist aesthetic and the party is very much Leninist where it counts: theory and practice.
And second, it baffles me that communists would think it’s bad to support countries like Iran in the face of imperialism, saying we should support the Iranian people. Yes no shit Iran isn’t socialist, but calling for the overthrow of the Iranian government for the “people’s will” is an imperialist talking point. As communists living in the belly of the beast, we must critically support countries trying to escape the grasp of the empire. We’re not some Trot party who’s going to side with the US, hoping that further sanctions and acts of war will destabilize the country; that’s just the perfect avenue for color revolutions and making things worse.
So yes, join PSL if you’re a serious ML in the US. Even if there’s no branch in your city, you can contact the PSL and become an at-large member. They will help you set up and offer plenty of support and assistance as the branch gets built up.
Not taking away from anything you said, but please look at my earlier post: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/5334 Problematic leadership doesn’t necessarily mean PSL on the ground isn’t a valid and worthwhile organization, but just wondering if you were familiar with this. I am saying this as somebody who still pays DSA dues.
Literally every org has problematic leadership.
This demand for pure perfection is ridiculous amongst some comrades that are turned off organisations due to whatever problematic feature is in them.
These deficiencies could be corrected if enough decent comrades joined and became active.
That article is constantly reposted to try and smear PSL from an ultra-left standpoint and PSL members are constantly having shoot it down.
The view that PSL is “tainted” because someone’s day job is working on a podcast is really reaching. Loud and Clear isn’t a PSL podcast, PSL has no ties to it; it’s not a PSL-sponsored publication of any sort, it’s not even Marxist. It’s simply Comrade Becker’s job. Whenever a guest espouses reactionary views or even the main host, Becker calls them out on it. He’s simply using the platform he’s been given to hopefully give a more Marxist opinion on current-day events, push anti-imperialism, etc.
He’s been organizing for a while, there’s no doubt what his intentions and views are. Cancelling Marxists with a huge history of being dedicated communists because they work in reactionary environments is just counter-productive. It’s obviously not a 1:1 example, but working in reactionary environments is a must to continue to spread class consciousness and an ML viewpoint.
PSL has had their media arsenal grow now to include BreakThrough News alongside Liberation News, which is a direct PSL publication and supports the party’s line.
deleted by creator
I think I’ve already brought up Prysner, if not here them somewhere, so the tl;dr is that there’s a huge gulf in class makeup between military and police. The military disgustingly preys heavily on vulnerable communities, especially PoC & minorities, with promises of a place to fit in the world, money, education, etc. So they get shipped off to serve the empire with a ton coming back with mental health issues and jaded. Revolutions are successful with military defectors and parts of that arm siding with the proletariat.
Now as for the “army brat,” the kids who go to military academies, and the ones that join to be “patriotic,” those are completely different.
For the other, I haven’t heard much of Ramsey Clark. He looks like he was a more “progressive” cog in the machine for a bit, but being head of the Justice Department is very far removed from the CIA, who are known to be very secretive and don’t divulge to anyone who isn’t in with them. He’s not a party member so not much more I can say, but he could’ve been a pipline to Becker becoming more radicalized. Becker’s been communist since like the early 90s, maybe the 80s idk. There’s nothing that portrays him as anything other than a dedicated revolutionary.
Remember, the vast majority of people, even with reactionary pasts, can be turned to communism. Some are hopeless cases (looking at you, fascists) that are 100% our enemies, but most people aren’t born and grow up with spotless records. It’s not making excuses for people, just reality. Like any proper ML party, if a member isn’t trusted, they won’t be voted to positions of power unless the party’s already on the road to opportunism (i.e. Bolsheviks post-Stalin). Nothing about the PSL hints that it’s on that road, so I just want my online comrades to know what’s up.
Doesn’t the PSL have Trotskyist (Marcyite) origins?
Not really. Sam Marcy was a member of SWP, yes, but he fought SWP leadership over their failure to support the USSR, PRC, and DPRK.
He and others developed the concept of “global class warfare” in which the international bourgeoisie will work to stifle and snuff out any people’s movement. Knowing this, already-existing socialism must be defended by socialists across the world. Criticism may be made, but we must stand against imperialism.
PSL split from WWP and is a Marxist-Leninist party.
Even this has to be done with the utmost caution these days. The liberals, shameless as ever, delight to turn our every word into weapons for their agendas. Just earlier this week, they wielded Angela Davis’ opinion on voting for Joe Biden against us, while also conveniently ignoring her positions (things she’s known for I might add) on abolition and of course communism.
I basically hold the view that if someone wishes to criticize AES states they should do it to my face offline in a private setting or behind closed doors between comrades (also offline). Give the libs an inch and they will take a goddamn light-year. We’ve all seen what the precious nuance of the DSA types have led us to with regards to VZ and Bolivia.
Is it though? They make no mention of “Marxism-Leninism” in their official documents, but instead prefer the term “revolutionary socialism”. That, and they still uphold the doctrine of Sam Marcy to some extent.
https://www.liberationnews.org/04-08-01-party-socialism-liberation-html/
I don’t think they go into detail as to why they split from WWP though.
If I recall correctly, Gloria La Riva had said something along the lines of the PSL neither being “Stalinist nor Trotskyist”, and they hesitate to make mention of the more controversial socialist leaders of the past and present.
While there may be quite a few Marxist-Leninists in the party, I don’t think that’s the official line. Then again, I’ve heard from quite a few comrades that there’s a disconnect between PSL cadre and leadership.
I can’t speak to why the party leadership chooses to describe the party as “revolutionary socialist” instead of “Marxist-Leninist”, but I’d wager that it’s a conscious decision to appeal to accurately describe their position to the broadest amount of people by not using jargon.
The communist movement is the United States is experiencing a resurgence, but we’re still small. It is important to organize, get people on our side, and grow the movement. Building bridges instead of burning them is likely why the choose to not talk about Stalin nor focus on the split from WWP.
The history of Marcy (supportive of USSR, PRC, and DPRK) as well as the party’s existing position on PRC display a principled stance towards AES.
Shoot a message to PSL and ask them yourself! https://www.pslweb.org/join