To obtain a copy of the new FRSO Program book, reach out to your local FRSO organizers. If you are not in an area where FRSO has an organized district, you can order a copy at tinyurl.com/buyfrsoprogram
Comrades and friends,
The political program of Freedom Road Socialist Organization is being printed in book form. It is something that all revolutionaries will want to read and consider. It 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.
Members and supporters of FRSO should do everything possible and practical to promote it among the advanced activists we work side by side with, in the many movements we are working to build. We welcome feedback from anyone who is serious about change in this country.
Large sections of the program were adopted at the 9th Congress of FRSO which was held several months ago – including an up-to-date analysis of declining monopoly capitalism and our socialist future. Other portions of the program we adopted some time ago, and it can be added that we are still developing additional portions of program that deal with immediate demands of the people. As more of the program is completed, new editions will be published.
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.
This experience of collectively applying the science of Marxism-Leninism in the context of a real sharpening of the basic contradictions in U.S. informed the writing of the program. As we note in the program’s introduction, “The political program of Freedom Road Socialist Organization has grown out of a long process of waging struggle against the class enemy, building the people’s movements, and conducting study and analysis of the conditions we live under. The point of knowing the world is to change the world, and this program is a declaration of what this country’s working and oppressed peoples want and need, along with what it will take to get there.”
The tasks of revolutionaries
The program also addresses the relationship between reform and revolution, stating,
“This system of exploitation and injustice cannot be reformed out of existence. We want better lives – so we fight for exactly that. Every step of the way we try to win everything that can be won, raise the level of struggle, and organize our collective movement. But we are also doing something else: we are building an organization of revolutionaries to bring this monster down. The capitalists give with an eye dropper and take with an earth mover. We cannot reform our way to a better way of life. We need to take the sledgehammer of revolution to the chains of oppression.”
We are about building the people’s struggle. But we are also about building the kind of organization 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 into the hands of those we are fighting alongside of. Working and oppressed people have a bright future. The political program of FRSO helps to illuminate the path to arrive there. Let’s promote it!
