sigh
pay attention to […] their take on North Korea. Hopefully if you read that you’ll understand why you should not go near this organization.
Running a party costs money. If you don’t have any billionaires backing you, the obvious solution is to get it from your members. That’s pretty normal.
But nope. According to
ors, it automatically makes you a cultist. 
I gotta be fair though, one of the things that stopped me from joiningy local PSL branch is how high they dues are. It’s one full paycheck per year. I could survive that, sure, plus PSL seems very understanding when it comes to being impoverished or lacking money for dues. Seems like they frequently make exceptions or will materially support members
But I kinda came to the conclusion that in my personal case, that one paycheck per year could go towards other stuff I do (buying food for shelters, unionizing, supporting my friends/family, etc)
its literally how unions work
liberals have a lot of nerve accusing anyone of being in a cult the way they hit up people for money
Thanks for the chuckle. Those comments boiled down to
A “cult” that democratically elects its officers at every level and was letting me choose reading material for and run study groups before I was even a full-fledged member.
Holy fuck these comments are so annoying. This country’s “left” is allergic to having actual power or organization. I blame the lack of history on historical revolutionary movements and the constant lib warning of “power corrupts”.
Also the second any sort of anti-imperialist foreign policy is mentioned on one of the “bad” countries, every lib freaks the fuck out. Notice the comment on North Korea.
So many libs there complaining about the PSL’s stance on NK. Ok dude, what does it matter that the PSL thinks NK is good actually? Like how does it change anything about the world? Do you want a party that will put more sanctions on NK or something?
My theory is that they don’t think of countries from an imperialist and anti-imperialist point-of-view, but, like the West wants them to, from an “authoritarian” and “freedom” point-of-view.
If you like or support a country in the authoritarian category, that’s a warning that the org is authoritarian as well, which probably also supports their random idea that it’s a cult. Cults tend to worship some head figure in charge. PSL doesn’t really have that, though lol.
Ah yes, that guide that mixes in actual information on cults and then tries to paint political organization with the same brush
Doing things in an organized fashion is fascist actuallyEvil tankies forcing people to voluntarily pay membership dues what a cult
There are local anarchists who would be more than willing to help you plug into community organizing in a way that does not require you to actually accomplish anything
Yeah libs in my area also took issue with the PSL branch over the same things. They hate the idea of actual party membership where a member is expected to pass an interview and pay dues. They hate the idea that it’s an actual organization with a party line and members need to adhere to it.
I don’t know how it works in every city, but my local PSL branch does not give a shit if you’re in multiple organizations or if you work with anarchists or whatever. I was never a full PSL member, but I’ve worked with them closely around here and they’re frequently doing the same things as other orgs. In fact the previous local chairperson or whatever was also some kind of DSA coordinator at the same time. The current local PSL chair is like some kind of liaison with the Mexican MORENA party thing.
Oh but is it the tankie stuff? Did the mean scary tankies say normal things about the DPRK? Did they say China is socialist? Did your sensitive little cracker sensibilities crumble into pieces
PSL is incredibly small. They do good work despite this, but I’ve heard from a pretty good source that there are only around two to three thousand dues paying members. There are some affiliates and people they work with, but it’s not a huge operation by any means. Libs getting riled up over local branches of like 20 people at best.
cult: when you are in a group that does things
I’d say you can expect to see anarchists losing their shit and throwing around the cult accusations more and more frequently as
continues to grow into the vanguard party of the movement in the United States, and the anarchists realize their ideoligical commitment to disorganization leaves them on the outside of the movement, where they only had prominence because COINTELPRO promoted themNever thought of this but in the US it’s probably not as normal to have political parties come to protests with flags and banners. I get really angry when it’s a protest against the breakdown of a social service and a party shows up that was in a coalition that cut significant funds to that service.
I don’t mean to be rude to PSL or anything, I’ve had nothing but good relationships with my local branch. But I doubt they’d be the specific vanguard party in a hypothetical future, even in a best case scenario. Way more likely they’d be one contingent of whatever working class movement coalesces into a coherent socialist organization. If they’re still around by then.
Like you gotta remember PSL is a party formed by a split of a split of a split. It’s the way things go until something hits a critical point.
Like you gotta remember PSL is a party formed by a split of a split of a split.
So were the Bolsheviks
Not saying we’re definitely the next Bolsheviks or anything, but we have the key ingredients:
A) good political line that we never waver or waffle on
B) great strategic planning and analysis of conditions
C) momentum - we are growing very, very fast
Yeah our local anarchists have been complaining about us “hijacking” activist movements (e.g. for Palestine), but what it ultimately comes down to is that we show up. A lot. It turns out that going out there and getting shit done week after week, month after month is a shockingly effective recruiting tactic.
This gives me much hope. I plan to join soonish, once I’m secure in a job.
Hell yeah
Our local PSL branch seems mega chill and simply do not have beefs with seemingly anyone.
They seem super close to the Brown Berets around here, probably because every leftist org here is highly integrated within the Chicano movement. The Chicanos have been the biggest game in town for decades now, so a lot of progressive style politics ends up under that umbrella in these parts I guess.
Shame that people who are joining PSL actually went outside and talked to people and won’t see this reddit thread.
Anyone who is a regular on a local cities reddit page is probably already a fascist and definitely is stinky and poopy
Ah yes, requiring members to pay dues and follow the party line. Definitely cult behavior, certainly not how a political party should operate.
Our principled articles of agreenment, your cultist party line
this type of person is one publicly lost argument away from calling the cops on us at a protest
