Welcome, Freedom Road

Revolutionary unity is always precious, often elusive, and over the years U.S. socialists have had a good deal of trouble building and preserving it. The Marxist-Leninist movement of the early '70s, which initially showed great promise but by the end of the decade was essentially defunct, was not widely known for building unity among the people or on the Left. Yet two determined survivors of that movement—the Proletarian Unity League and the Revolutionary Workers Headquarters— have recently unified in the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

In different ways, both the RWH and PUL originated in struggle against the ultra-left orthodoxy which held sway over the Marxist-Leninist movement. A dominant ultra-left ideology and politics wreaked havoc on what had been the fastest-growing and most multinational section of the U.S. Left, setting the stage for an epidemic of disillusion, demoralization and defeatism which followed. The retreat of the mass movements and the decrease in militancy weighed especially heavily on the Marxist- Leninists. Born in a period of mass offensive, the new revolutionary organizations did not adjust well to a period of retreat. For many activists, particularly those from radical student backgrounds, the sacrifices, discipline and drudgery necessary to militant activity lost much of their rationale once the scale of struggle had shrunk. And when most of what they had understood as Marxist truth was revealed to be little more than left-wing posturing, many simply abandoned revolutionary politics altogether.

Both the PUL and RWH lost members during the final disintegration of that movement, but both survived as organizations. Both recognized changes in the period, analyzed the errors of the Marxist-Leninist movement, and opened discussion of the many issues raised by the international crisis of Marxism. And alongside these understandings, both our groups continued to believe that daily work in the people's struggles had to go on as the basis of any organization, and that revolutionaries should organize themselves now to take advantage of the opportunities which were sure to come. For the most part, the memberships of both groups kept on keeping on in the confidence that what we had to offer was something sorely needed in the peoples' movements.

Despite these similarities, our organizations had very different origins and developed along different lines. The RWH formed in a split within the Revolutionary Communist Party (formerly the Revolutionary Union), one of the dominant ultra-left groups of the '70s. The PUL, on the other hand, united a number of local collectives opposed to that dominant line during the heyday of founding Party Congresses. Corresponding to these different experiences were a number of differences in ideology and politics. In building unity we had our work cut out for us.

We agreed to focus serious debate and education on an issue central to any revolutionary strategy and tactics in our country—the struggle against white-supremacist national oppression. Since its inception, the PUL placed enormous emphasis on this issue, an emphasis reflected in labor and other organizing, publications, internal study, and recruitment. While the RWH came out of a tradition which downplayed and sometimes opposed the fight against national oppression, its leadership moved quickly to rectify that situation. They turned the attention of their entire group to the national movements, doing extensive collective study which led to a substantial publication, and carrying out a national campaign in support of the United League in Tupelo, Miss. as well as numerous local campaigns in support of Black struggles. The unity process between our groups led to considerable unity on the peculiar nature of national oppression in U.S. society, on the special role played by white-skin national privileges in the history of class struggle here, and on the centrality of these issues to the peoples' movements.

The other major focus of debate in the unity process had to do with organizational principles and methods. We reaffirmed our commitment to building strong revolutionary organization, to using that organization to help lead the peoples' struggles, and to persuading other activists to join us in that work.

Where We're Headed

Freedom Road will undertake a broad range of work. Both the PUL and RWH have had significant success in struggles for trade union reform and in winning local union leadership. Likewise both have made some real contributions in electoral struggles. The PUL also brings to Freedom Road its work in the Black liberation movement, its experience in fighting discrimination in the unions, its work in the gay and lesbian rights movements, and its work among women of color. The RWH brings significant activism in the contemporary student movement; it also brings broader experience in anti-imperialist and international solidarity work as well as its experience in conducting national political campaigns. With vital work in the unions, Black, women's and student movements, in electoral politics, for gay liberation, and in solidarity with Central America and South Africa, Freedom Road looks forward to making a much greater contribution than either the RWH or PUL could on their own.

The name "Freedom Road" calls to mind one of the greatest, most inspiring episodes of revolutionary struggle the people of our country have ever seen—the mass democratic upsurge in the South during and after the Civil War. It bears the mark of the Black movement, which in its centuries-old fight for freedom has always carried forward the demands of all progressive movements. And it unites with the aspiration of millions of people in the U.S. for freedom based on economic equality, political justice, and full popular participation in the exercise of political power.

With the disintegration of the 1970s U.S. Marxist-Leninist movement, a little world collapsed, and many people gave up on socialism altogether. The unification of our two organizations is a small blow against the demoralization so prevalent within the revolutionary Marxist Left. For demoralization could not be more short-sighted. If you wanted to fight along with the U.S. people for equality, peace and socialism, there has never been a better time to try your hand at it. More people are looking for new and if necessary radical alternatives. True, many are now looking Rightward, but many will also look Left. Some will go Left, some become their own Left. How many do either depends on what they see. The country has never needed a Left, including its small revolutionary Marxist contingent, more.

In uniting these two very different organizations, in wrapping up this long process and moving on to different challenges and wider growth, we are building a bridge. It is only a small bridge, but one worth building. It will help connect the last period of great upsurge in the U.S. class struggle—the period out of which both our groups arose—to the next. In so doing, we will cross some wide open spaces and rough terrain. We have to help tie in what is left of a generation of revolutionary activists with the leaders of today's new struggles in order to help prepare the resistance of tomorrow. And in putting behind us the movement which spawned our groups, we need to insure that the next generation of revolutionaries will benefit from our largely negative experience, not just by hearing the old stories from the old comrades, but by working closely with militants now adapting hard-won knowledge to new situations. The Freedom Road Socialist Organization has to grow and help build this bridge—and at the same time cross it to merge with what is new.

—Freedom Road National Executive Committee
December 1985