| Freedom Road Socialist Organization | |
| Abbreviation: | FRSO |
| Colorcode: | Red |
| Merger: | Revolutionary Workers Headquarters (1985), Proletarian Unity League (1985), Organization for Revolutionary Unity (1986), Amilcar Cabral/Paul Robeson Collective (1988), Socialist Organizing Network (1996) |
| Newspaper: | Fight Back! News |
| Membership: | ~1000 general members (2021) |
| Position: | Far-left |
| Colors: | Red |
| Country: | United States |
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 a revolution is necessary to end capitalism and imperialism.[1]
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.[2]
In December 2020, FRSO claimed "over 500" general members.[3] In March 2021, FRSO claimed almost 1000 members and "hundreds" of cadre.[4]
FRSO lead the Progressive Student Network (PSN) from its creation to its dissolution around 2008.
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), which has significant FRSO leadership[7] [8] and FRSO collaboration.[9] [10]
FRSO's main publication is the website and monthly paper Fight Back! News (FB!N) and its Spanish section Lucha y Resiste.[11] From 1985 to the mid-1990s, FRSO continued the Proletarian Unity League's Forward Motion. For a short period after 1993, FRSO continued the Socialist Organizing Network's Moving Forward.
In 1985, the Proletarian Unity League and the Revolutionary Workers Headquarters merged to create FRSO. In 1986, FRSO fused with the Organization for Revolutionary Unity. In 1988, FRSO absorbed the Amílcar Cabral-Paul Robeson Collective.[12]
In 1993, FRSO merged with the Socialist Organizing Network (SON)[13] 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. 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.
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.
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 other group, aligned with Marxism-Leninism, argued that these events resulted from revisionism rather than failures within Marxism. 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.[14] The FRSO National Executive Committee (NEC) unanimously rejected this discussion.[15] In 1999, the Left Refoundation group received a second hearing, at which the NEC and FRSO as a whole split in two.[16] [17]
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.[18]
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".[19] [20] 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).[21] FRSO further claimed that the FBI had placed informants inside its organization.[22]
On February 26, 2014, a federal judge unsealed the extensive documents the FBI collected during its nearly three-year surveillance of FRSO.[23] [24] The FBI never charged any person involved.[25]
FRSO is a Marxist-Leninist and democratic centralist organization inspired by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, William Z. Foster, Mother Bloor, and Harry Haywood.
In labor, FRSO advocates a strategy of the building of a "militant minority" within the unions and opposing "collaborating union officials".[26]
In elections, FRSO encourages members to tactically vote against the "most reactionary" candidate, usually Republicans.[27]
FRSO recognizes China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam as socialist countries.[28] FRSO "positively evaluates" Albania, the Soviet Union, and the Warsaw Pact countries, but argues they "gave up on Marxism". FRSO also supports the United Socialist Party of Venezuela and Nicolas Maduro as "leading the masses of people in building a new society".[29] FRSO participates in the annual International Communist Seminar.[30] FRSO is Anti-Zionist.[31]
The table below includes only the "Fight Back!" majority faction, which retains the FRSO name.
| Name | Date | Statement | Main Political Report | Program | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unity Conference | October 1985 | 1985 Unity Statement | merged RWH and PUL | |||
| n/a | 1986 | ORU Merges | merged FRSO and ORU | |||
| 1st Congress | 1994 | 1993 Unity Statement | merged FRSO and SON | |||
| 2nd Congress | November 1997 | FRSO Strategy | before 1999 split | |||
| 3rd Congress | May 2001 | 2001 Unity Statement | 2001 MPR | explicitly took "Marxist-Leninist" label | ||
| 4th Congress | June 2004 | Building on Success | 2004 MPR | |||
| 5th Congress | May 2007 | Period of Struggle | 2007 MPR | Program | no program before 2007 | |
| 6th Congress | 2010 | Congress of Victory | 2010 MPR | before FBI raids | ||
| 7th Congress | 2014 | Statement | Three parts: 1, 2, 3 | |||
| 8th Congress | May 2018 | Statement | 2018 MPR | Program | ||
| 9th Congress | Spring 2021 | Seize the Time | Three parts: 1, 2, 3 | Program |