The Spanish translation of the political program of Freedom Road Socialist Organization is now available as a paperback book. We hope that this new translation will help to bring revolutionary ideas to a wider audience, including the Chicano liberation and immigrant rights movement.
FRSO is an organization that recognizes the existence of the Chicano nation of Aztlán and sees its struggle for liberation as an important part of our strategy for revolution in the United States. The introduction to our program states,
“In 1846, the U.S. launched a war that resulted in the theft of northern Mexico and the extension of slavery into Texas. A result was the development of the Chicano nation. Located in what is now the U.S. Southwest, the Chicano people were robbed of their land, denied equal rights, including the right to equality of languages, and faced brutal national oppression. The Chicano nation has always resisted. This powerful record of struggle is a bright point in U.S. history.”
Many immigrants to the U.S. face super-exploitation and have a proud history of fighting back against oppression. It was through the massive marches to defend the rights of immigrant workers in 2006 that the labor movement again embraced International Workers Day in the United States. FRSO members are active across the country in building the immigrant rights movement
People’s struggle and organization
The program deals in a forthright manner with the enemy we are up against, the conditions we face, and most importantly what is to be done to move forward. FRSO is an organization that gets things done. We work hard to build the people’s struggle. Our experience leading struggle in workplaces and the communities, as well major mass mobilizations – including many of the mass protests during the George Floyd Rebellion – have given us a keen appreciation of the need for a crisp and clear statement of our views.
We are about building the people’s struggle. But we are also about building the kind of rganization that can overthrow capitalism.
The section of the program dealing with our strategy for revolution makes these points,
“For revolutionary change to take place in the United States, three conditions need to be in place. First, the broad masses of people – workers, the oppressed nationalities, and others who are held down by the monopoly capitalists – need to arrive at the conclusion that they are unable to live in the old way and need to be willing to fight to bring the old order to an end. Second, the ruling class needs to be in real crisis, where it is divided against itself and unable to continue with business as usual. And, finally, there needs to be a strong revolutionary organization, a communist party that is capable of navigating complex political situations and that can lead the fight to establish working class political power.”
Our strategy
The long-term plan for change in the U.S. is summarized in the program like this,
“Our basic strategy for revolution and socialism is building a united front against the monopoly capitalist class, under the leadership of the working class and its political party, with a strategic alliance between the multinational working class and the oppressed nationalities at the core of this united front.
“Identifying our real friends and our real enemies is a first step towards building a united front against monopoly capitalism. To carry out this analysis we need to understand the different classes, nationalities, and social groups in U.S. society, identify those forces whose interests are in the main opposed to the monopoly capitalists, and take a look at the specific features of our society.
“Of paramount importance is grasping the fact that the United States is a country where entire nationalities—African Americans, Chicanos and Latinos, Asian Americans, Native peoples including native Hawaiians, Arab Americans, and others within U.S borders—are bound by the chains of national oppression. Real and full equality, liberation, and self-determination become possible with the destruction of monopoly capitalism.”
The socialist goal
We have goals. We look at capitalism and say we can do better than this. Capitalism is a failed system.
The program talks about these goals, stating,
“Socialism is working class political power, and that power is the hammer to remake society from top to bottom. First and foremost, it is needed to break the resistance of the capitalists and their supporters. Over the long run, power is needed to guarantee that society continues to advance and develop, and that the working class can meet those who might challenge it—at home or abroad. We will continue the class struggle until there are no more classes.”
Let’s spread the word
The rapid growth of FRSO confirms the fact that we are in a period where many are looking for a serious revolutionary organization. We are exactly that. When we talk about revolution, we mean it. We are talking about our class overthrowing the exploiters and oppressors.
Our program is worth considering and we should get it into the hands of those who are fighting alongside us. Working and oppressed people have a bright future. This new Spanish translation of the FRSO political program is an important step in building a revolutionary movement in this country.
To get the program go to https://tinyurl.com/programaoscl
