This paper prepared collectively by the central leadership of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, and was presented by leading member of FRSO, Frank Chapman, at the Centennial Commemoration of the October Revolution, held in New York City, July 2017. The event was sponsored by People’s Response for International Solidarity and Mass Mobilization (PRISM) in cooperation with the U.S. member organizations of the International League of People’s Struggle (ILPS-US).
The cause of peace and justice suffered a blow in 2016 with the election of Donald Trump. Trade unions, Black community groups, immigrant right organizations, student activists and others joined a surge of protest designed to make sure that ‘business as usual’ would be impossible for Republican bigots taking office, while criticizing disappointing corporate Democratic Party politicians for their shortcomings. With the 2018 midterm elections quickly approaching, it is important for everyone to have a good analysis and plan of action.
Eight years ago, on Sept. 24, 2010, more than 70 FBI agents took part in a series of coordinated raids that were aimed at activists of the anti-war and international solidarity movements, and also members of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO). In a bogus investigation of “material support of terrorism” charges, seven houses and an office in Minneapolis and Chicago were raided. While the raids were underway, FBI agents approached and attempted to intimidate activists in Michigan, California, North Carolina and Wisconsin.
New York, NY – I was recently watching the documentary She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry, about the second wave of feminism in the U.S. In it, one woman said one of the main lesson that she's learned is that no victory is permanent, and that really struck me. No victory is permanent. And while I was watching this documentary, news hit my social media that Chelsea Manning had announced that she was going to take her own life. And I thought again how no victory is permanent.
To mark the April 22, 1870 birthday of Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, Fight Back News Service is circulating the following excerpt from his 1918 book, The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky.
Freedom Road Socialist Organizations condemns in the strongest possible terms, the cowardly attack on Syria carried out by the Trump administration, and accomplices in Britain and France. We demand that the missile and air strikes stop now!
To mark the anniversary of the publication of The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Frederich Engels, on Feb. 21, 1848, Fight Back! is reprinting the book’s first chapter. This anniversary comes in the context of a growing rejection of capitalism and a renewed interest in the science of revolution, Marxism-Leninism. Enjoy.Chapter I. Bourgeois and Proletarians
The Freedom Road Socialist Organization denounces the lies and exaggerations made by Major Marc Hamlin of the Tampa Police in an August 3, 2015 news article. We oppose police spying, police wrecking and political repression of the people's movements. It is outrageous that police claim they managed to “join” and “take over” activist groups at the protests against the Republican National Convention in 2012.
On June 29, the governor of Puerto Rico, Alejandro García Padilla, said that Puerto Rico’s debt was “not payable.” The government of Puerto Rico has a debt that is 70% of the islands Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This is more than three and half times as great as the next most indebted states, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, whose debt-to-GDP ratios are less than 20%. In addition, Puerto Rico’s electric utility also has major debt problems.
