FRSO statement on the split:
Freedom
Road Socialist Organization Loses Two Districts in Split
The Freedom
Road Socialist Organization has to report, with considerable regret,
that two districts, Minnesota and Chicago, have chosen to split
away from our organization. They have been joined by a handful of
individuals from other districts. This means the loss to Freedom
Road of some fine comrades, including three members of the National
Executive Committee, and of some outstanding political work, most
notably among the urban poor.
Splits
are rarely beneficial, however necessary they may appear at the
time. Some members of Freedom Road were active in organizations
of the new communist movement which arose in the US in the 1970s,
many of which experienced wrenching internal struggles and splits.
None of the groups born of these splits survived to become larger
than the original organization. In the current period, one in which
many practical and theoretical questions remain for revolutionary
socialists and Marxist-Leninists to tackle, weakening the organized
forces of the revolutionaries is a grave disservice to the struggle.
The group
which has split identifies itself as "the Marxist-Leninist
trend" within Freedom Road. In fact, it is a minority which
has refused to abide by the democratic centralism to which it claims
to adhere. It represents a minority on the leading body of the organization,
a minority of the districts in the group and a minority of the members
of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization. (This makes what appears
to be a claim by the comrades who are splitting that they have somehow
become the "real" Freedom Road not only opportunist but
frivolous.)
FRSO expect
that polemical statements from the split grouping will be forthcoming,
explaining their actions and laying out the story they will be telling
anyone interested--and themselves--about what happened. As is always
the case in such internal battles, the issues in the split in Freedom
Road are complex.
We will
make a few brief points on this matter. A basic issue which must
confront every revolutionary socialist and Marxist-Leninist organization
is the inevitable existence of different trends, different currents
of thought within a group’s ranks. FRSO chose to recognize
such trends in an effort to give them play and see what could be
learned from them. By harnessing them, we sought to avoid paralysis
and sharp division. We will have to engage in a deeper sum-up of
the reasons for the failure of this effort, but the idea that a
given trend must seek either to crush its opponents or split from
them holds little attraction for us.
The immediate
cause of the split was bitter opposition by the comrades from the
split grouping to an initiative by one of the other trends within
Freedom Road. This trend advocates a position called Left Refoundation--exploring
new approaches to party building and to cooperation with other revolutionary
and self-identified socialist forces in this country, both organizations
and unaffiliated individuals. Such exploration was denounced by
the split grouping as a "social democratic" betrayal of
Marxism-Leninism. (The split grouping has chosen to recast other
differences in FRSO’s history as ones between their "M-L"
line and "social democracy," such as different estimates
of the state of the labor movement and the best way to strengthen
the fighting capacity of the working class.)
A deep
underlying ideological difference which informs all of this concerns
how to sum up the crisis of socialism. Freedom Road adopted a "Statement
on the Crisis of Socialism" at our 1991 Congress and reaffirmed
it over the strenuous objections of several comrades from the split
grouping at our most recent congress, in 1997. In short, FRSO has
long held that there exists a crisis of socialism, based on actual
and deeply rooted internal contradictions in the model of socialism
established by the Russian revolution. Many of the most vocal of
the split grouping’s members deny that any crisis exists. They
uphold the idea that the Soviet bloc was socialist until its complete
collapse in the 1989-1991 period, in contradiction to FRSO’s
line and tradition, which are based in the Maoist critique of the
Soviet Union. And they say that all the critical and sobering developments
in the world socialist movement in recent decades call not for deep
analysis and new thinking but only for more rigorous application
of the classic texts of Marxism-Leninism.
What will
happen now? Both Freedom Road and the split grouping will face challenges
in building organizational structure and fighting erosion of morale
among comrades who find themselves members of a group significantly
smaller than the not-so-large one they were in just months ago.
For our part, we do not want a big ongoing political conflict with
the comrades of the split grouping. It would drain energies better
spent elsewhere and increase the level of antagonism which comes
with any split. FRSO comrades will surely find ourselves working
and fighting side by side with people from the split grouping and
we don’t want our differences to hurt the struggle.
The loss
of the comrades from the Chicago and Minnesota districts and their
supporters is a setback for the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.
In turn, the weakening of FRSO is a setback, though we cannot claim
it is a monumental one, for the struggle overall. As with any setback,
we will struggle to understand and overcome it. We have the line
and practice accumulated in the course of the 15 year history of
our organization to draw on. We will continue to dedicate ourselves
to building the popular movements against white supremacist US imperialism
and to winning the advanced fighters from those struggles to socialist
revolution.
A Luta
Continua!
The
National Executive Committee,
Freedom
Road Socialist Organization
June 1999
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"Fight Back" statement on the split:
Public
Statement on the Future of FRSO
Freedom
Road Socialist Organization is moving forward. We have put an end
to the period of political and organizational crisis which threatened
our very survival. Building on our best traditions and practice,
we have reaffirmed our commitment to building a revolutionary movement
in this country. As part of this we have reaffirmed that this movement
must have Marxism-Leninism as a foundation.
The handful of billionaires who dominate the political and economic
life of this country has no right to rule. They have built an empire
on the foundations of exploitation, oppression, and inequality.
We will continue to make our best contributions to the struggle
to break their power.
We will work to unite all who can be united against our rulers -
to build a united front under the leadership of the working class.
At the core of this united front is a strategic alliance, between
the oppressed nations within the U.S. borders on one hand, and the
multi-national working class on the other. It is the unity of these
two powerful forces that will ultimately overturn the exploitative
system we live under.
A hallmark of our organization has been, and will continue to be
our practical work to build the peoples' struggles and movements.
We will continue to do so, with the sprit of learning from others,
as we teach.
Our organization is not large. While we have had substantial successes
in our work, there is no reason to be arrogant or boastful. We have
always opposed narrow sectarianism, and will continue to do so.
The recent struggle in FRSO called into question both our identity
as revolutionaries and our very survival. Under the banner of building
a "new socialist party" a right wing section of our organization
adopted the standpoint of social-democracy and anti-communism, and
insisted that FRSO pursue this strategy. In an exercise of sectarianism,
the rightists said there was no socialist movement that met their
criteria of what a revolutionary movement should be (either in the
U.S. or internationally) so it was their task to "refound it".
They said that Marxism-Leninism was a failure, as well as an obstacle
to building socialism, and that a "new revolutionary theory"
was needed. They convened a meeting to solidify their strategy to
build an organization that corresponds to their thinking over the
next 5 years.
All this was contrary to the line, strategy, and plans we adopted
at our past Congress which is the highest decision making body of
our organization. It was also contrary to Marxism and democratic
centralism. Unfortunately another section of our leadership refused
to struggle for the decisions adopted at our past Congress, and
instead pledged FRSO support for this left refoundation strategy.
There was a real danger that Freedom Road would cease to be Freedom
Road.
The oppressed and exploited peoples of this country do not need
a reformist new social-democratic party. We need a Marxist-Leninist
one. While we were willing to make some space for the tactics advocated
by the left refoundationists in FRSO, we would not and do not support
a project that elevates social democracy to our main revolutionary
strategy.
Fortunately, many have rejected this road to liquidation and disintegration.
Our highest decision making body, the National Executive Committee
was almost evenly divided. We do not know what those who have left
Freedom Road by abandoning our strategy will do next, but we repeat
what we have already said. The train has left the station but we
have no intention of dynamiting the tracks behind us. We welcome
discussions with anyone about what has happened and how to move
ahead. This includes our friends in other organizations in the U.S.
and other countries.
FRSO realizes that the task of building communist organization is
by no means easy or simple. We have much work in front of us. That
being said we have every confidence in the future. In one of his
poems, the leader of the Chinese revolution, Mao Zedong noted "the
world cries out for things to be done." We will continue to
advance in the ranks of the doers and shakers. We will build on
our successes and do all that we can do to build revolutionary Marxist-Leninist
organization. The future is bright!
June 1999
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