What is the most active Socialist/Communist Party in the United States?

[ObZen]

I am possibly interested in getting involved with a political party.


I was wondering, what is the most socially and politically active, even lively, Socialist/Communist party?

I have already ruled out the CPUSA and RCP.

[BuddhaInBabylon]

ObZen is an amazing album. If you are a fan of meshuggah, you are cool with me.

as far as your question though....sorry can't help you. Though you are wise to stear clear of CPUSA. Let your own intuition guide you.

[Blackscare]

PSL is a pretty good choice these days, depending on where you are.

http://www.pslweb.org/site/PageServer

[Jazzhands]

Steer clear of the Sparts, RCP, and if the hate on here is accurate, SEP, but read the WSWS they put out as much as possible.

I recommend the SPUSA. Chegitz Guevara is a member, and we have a sizeable thread on them.

http://www.revleft.com/vb/sp-usa-t138131/index.html?t=138131

[Blackscare]

One thing you should know regarding the SPUSA is that they are not entirely revolutionary. They are multi-tendency, which in today's non-revolutionary period is perhaps the most healthy. They do have a sizable and growing revolutionary faction, from what Chegitz says.

[graymouser]

The SPUSA is not all that active, to be honest - outside of a few areas its membership is overwhelmingly only on paper.

The PSL is quite active where it is. So is the ISO. Politically I have major problems with either of those groups but in terms of real activity they are at the top of the list. A lot depends on what your politics are, and where you live.

[fa2991]

None of the above.

Join the Wobblies.

[Lolshevik]

The SPUSA is not all that active, to be honest - outside of a few areas its membership is overwhelmingly only on paper.

The PSL is quite active where it is. So is the ISO. Politically I have major problems with either of those groups but in terms of real activity they are at the top of the list. A lot depends on what your politics are, and where you live.

What kind of activity is Workers' Power involved in here in the U.S.? I'm not hating, by the way. Obviously I have disagreements with aspects of the L5I's politics but I am glad that they are established in the states.

[Nachie]

Please apply a critical discernment between "activity" and "effectiveness". For instance marching in the streets or selling newspapers are physical activities, but their effectiveness is quite questionable especially in terms of when you look at yourself several years down the line and you've gotten impossibly bored with the endless routine of political activism.

[graymouser]

What kind of activity is Workers' Power involved in here in the U.S.? I'm not hating, by the way. Obviously I have disagreements with aspects of the L5I's politics but I am glad that they are established in the states.
Workers' Power is involved with the anti-war movement and work around education (against cuts and privatization), basically. We're talking about a very small nucleus at this point.

[Hater of Dilettantes]

The most active US group is the International Socialist Organization.

[NewSocialist]

What are you people talking about?! Isn't the answer obvious? It's the Democratic Party!

http://thecollegepolitico.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/obama-communist.jpg

My totally awesome professor told me so..

http://s3.mediamatters.org/static/clips/2010/04/16/4583/fnc-20100416-beckaghud.jpg

[hemlock]

There is no real one. There is not even a progressive one. The democrats are called 'leftist' by the Republicans (the american equivalent to the BNP in post obama US), but in practice, they basically advocate the same stuff the Right wing republicans of the 80s and 90s wanted. Mainly thats because their pockets are lined by the same groups (Democrats are now anti-union, pro corporate, pro war, and silent on gay/womens/minority rights).


Someone needs to start a NEW Labor party. No Lyndon Larouche's quasi racist antisemetic ALP. A NLP, made for progressives to advocate progressive ideals.

Progressives constitute 77% of the population under 35 in America, and even moreso for the educated and skilled workers. However, we have no voice because the republicans/tea partiers are basically dixiecrat bigot reactionaries, and the democrats are weak knee'd 90's republicans with a new name.

[The Idler]

There is no real one. There is not even a progressive one.
...
Someone needs to start a NEW Labor party. No Lyndon Larouche's quasi racist antisemetic ALP. A NLP, made for progressives to advocate progressive ideals
What like the Progressive Labor Party (est. 1961) (http://www.plp.org)?

[chegitz guevara]

The two most active organizations are the Party of Socialism and Liberation and the International Socialist Organization. As graymouser correctly points out, the SPUSA is not terribly active, although we do have incredibly active locals, we have many that are nothing more than diner debating groups.

Really your question shouldn't be, which is the most active in the U.S., but which is the most active in your area? Furthermore, what is the quality of that activity. You could be doing organization work every day, selling newspapers whenever you aren't working or sleeping, but is it really important work?

[Zanthorus]

Someone needs to start a NEW Labor party. No Lyndon Larouche's quasi racist antisemetic ALP. A NLP, made for progressives to advocate progressive ideals.

This is just plain wrong. Communism is not about being 'progressive' and having 'progressive' ideals, it springs from the self-organisation of the working-class as a class-for-itself autonomously of capital. A 'labour party' which merely attempts to represent the working-class within bourgeois society is bound to crash on the rocks like the social-democratic and 'labour' parties of europe, and become another party for the labour lieutenants of capital to divert struggle away from adopting radical forms. The way forward is not the creation of such a 'labour' party, but the combination of all the Internationalist-Revolutionary forces of the proletariat in a political party whose line is based on the rejection of all forms of capital-state domination, and the political takeover of society by the working-class as the key step towards Communist transformation of society.

[Kassad]

Please apply a critical discernment between "activity" and "effectiveness". For instance marching in the streets or selling newspapers are physical activities, but their effectiveness is quite questionable especially in terms of when you look at yourself several years down the line and you've gotten impossibly bored with the endless routine of political activism.

Proposition 8 didn't magically overturn itself. It took activism, demonstrations and agitation. Immigrants won't win rights and we won't get the Arizona immigration law repealed without struggling in the streets. There have been major victories towards stopping utility shutoffs in Washington DC. The PSL has been instrumental in organizing a lot of these protests (often times by ourselves), participating in them and promoting a militant, socialist alternative.

Plus, we kicked the shit out of some Nazis in Los Angeles, if that floats your boat. I suppose waving black flags has done more though, right? :rolleyes:

[Os Cangaceiros]

Proposition 8 didn't magically overturn itself. It took activism, demonstrations and agitation.

I was under the impression that one man (a judge) overturned prop. 8

[Kassad]

I was under the impression that one man (a judge) overturned prop. 8

That's like saying that Congress is responsible for the progressive legislation in the 1950's and 1960's during the peak of the Civil Rights Movement. Things like that are won through struggle. If Proposition 8 passed and no one opposed it in the streets, it would still be in effect. Literally, do you have any concept of what struggle actually is?

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

"Never confuse movement with action." - Hemmingway

[Jimmie Higgins]

I am possibly interested in getting involved with a political party.


I was wondering, what is the most socially and politically active, even lively, Socialist/Communist party?

I have already ruled out the CPUSA and RCP.I think that you should look at the politics of the group and find the one you agree with and rest of your decision will follow from that.

Saying you want to be part of an "active" group is already a political statement - you are saying that it is important to you that a revolutionary group is actually doing something concrete and not just propagandizing or posturing or having reading circles or intellectual debates.

And now for some shameless boosterism: check out the ISO, if you like our basic politics, contact a branch if there is one in your area and find out if it's a good fit. We are active in many movements both national and local and I think are doing a good job having an outward focus and getting socialist politics to a wide audience in addition to working in movements.

[Nachie]

I suppose waving black flags has done more though, right? :rolleyes:

I wouldn't know, I don't wave black flags.