The following letter, written by young members of FRSO/OSCL, is an attempt to bridge the generation gap on the question of organization. In our years of work in mass movements and Left organizations, we have found that the questions, and the challenges, posed by young people are quite different from those of our movement elders. This letter is written as a supplement to Which Way Is Left? in the hopes that it will encourage more young people to participate in the conversation on organization and what we need to build a revolutionary movement. Please read it, distribute it, and let us know what you think of it by leaving a comment or emailing us.
A Struggle Paper. That’s what our elders in the movement would have called what you are about to read. But not a lot of young folks use the words “Struggle Paper,” so consider this a love letter. It’s a poignant prod at the sectarians and a come hither nod at the independents. It’s a potluck discussion and a midnight session, and if we could play something hot in the background while you read this, we would. It’s a challenge, because we love you, to think about what it’s going to take to actually start building a revolutionary movement in the belly of the baddest beast this Earth has seen. We’ve got some thoughts about ORGANIZATION, and we want to know what y’all think.
First Things First, Who We Are:
For the sake of transparency, we are young leaders in Freedom Road Socialist Organization/Organización Socialista del Camino para la Libertad, a revolutionary organization with members throughout the United States.
But more importantly, we are you…the Young and Left.
We claim ancestors and homelands from all over the globe, genders from across the spectrum, and, well, let’s just say our sexual identities are diverse and open for suggestions. Some of us grew up poor and know what it means to struggle; others never knew hunger but have a bad taste in our mouths from all the inhumanity of this system. We’re from the cities, the suburbs, and the country; from the cold and rainy to the hot and sunny.
We are young and Left and frustrated just like y’all. We work long hours in grassroots organizations working to end imperialism, war, and gentrification; fighting to abolish the prison industrial complex; building power for workers and immigrants; and creating a world free from sexual violence. But big wins are few and far between.
We are busting our tails building workers’ movements, but we’re burnt out by traditional union practices. We are in grassroots community struggles, in intense local fights, but feel disconnected from the broader movement because the day-to-day is just so consuming. Some of us organize for exciting non-profits and community organizations, but we know the revolution will not be funded. We are waiting tables, cleaning rooms, watching kids, and making stuff that somebody else is going to get rich off of, and having a hard time trying to win our co-workers over to fight against our bosses. We’re studying and teaching about really important stuff, but feel disconnected from the movements that feed us.
We are young and Left and have babies to feed, partners and family members to support, loans to pay off, and these gas, food, and rent prices are killing us. We’re not going to “grow out of this” and do something “more responsible” than trying to change the world. We know that there’s an island of trash twice the size of Texas that’s floating in the Pacific Ocean, and wonder when, how, and how hard the ecological crisis is going to come down on us, our children, and the generations that will follow. We love Hip-Hop, punk rock, feminism, YouTube, and some of us even go to churches, temples, mosques, and quiet parks on peaceful mornings.
We work and live here in the U.S. most of the time, but know that we are part of an international movement that is facing many of the same struggles.
We all got here differently, but we share one conclusion: this system we’re in cannot be reformed…it’s got to go.
Our Generation, Our Dilemma
This is a scary new world we’re in. The economic and political conditions around the world, as well as the state of people’s movements, are quite different than those that our elders faced. The ideas that we’re exchanging are constantly shifting; and the future looks a lot different from here than it did in the 60s, 70s, or 80s. Capitalism is shooting more steroids than the New York Yankees, and, despite inspiring and critical pockets of resistance to the Washington Consensus, neoliberalism is a force unlike any that people have ever faced.
We’re standing on the shoulders of our elders, and they continue to push and support us, but it’s time for us to recognize the unique position we find ourselves in. Chief among these differences facing our generation of the Left in the U.S. is:
There is no Left in the U.S.
Well, that’s not entirely true. There are lots of little Lefts. There are collectives here, study groups there; small Left organizations scattered about; pockets of revolutionaries working in unions, community organizations, non-profits, and schools. We have much more in common politically than we differ on, but we don’t have a consistent venue for sharing, for strategizing, or working on projects together.
Historically, that’s been the purpose of Left organization in the U.S. and across the globe: to pool the collective insights and resources of revolutionaries and build a fighting force. Identify and support new leadership from people’s movements. Study the problems, envision long-term solutions, and create a program to organize for the changes we need. In these organizations, everyone doesn’t have to be everything; cultural workers stand side by side with organizers and people who are talented administrators as everyone works to fill in each other’s gaps. Support and love each other. Coordinate and amplify. By creating a venue where revolutionaries can connect across diverse movements and geographies, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Revolutionary Voltron.
But our generation is scared of many types of organizations, and rightfully so. We’ve heard the horror stories from our older comrades. A lot of these organizations marginalized people of color and claimed that feminism and queer liberation were separate from, and should be subordinated to, the class struggle. Brutal criticism/self-criticism and crippling struggles over positions and power. They’ve pushed folks aside, and broken a lot of hearts: there’s a lot of healing to do.
Plenty of times, they’ve mimicked the worst of the dominant system and tragically eaten themselves up in orgies of hierarchy, competition, isolation, and violence. All centralism, no democracy. The state has exploited these weaknesses as they’ve wrought their deadly havoc.
Which Way Is Left?
But we have to differentiate between babies and bathwater. After all, as ugly as these movement organizations got at times, this is the generation that spawned the Black Power, Chican@, Gay Liberation, and Women’s movements, among others. And we’re standing on their shoulders. Avoiding the lessons of a sometimes painful past doesn’t do these histories any justice. We’re supposed to learn from the mistakes and move forward, armed with knowledge, to generate new solutions. If the conclusion that we draw from these stories is avoidance, we’re missing the picture.
The reality is: we need to be more connected. We need to be in regular dialogue about what’s going on in the world and how we can change it. We need to be sharing lessons and teaching one another. We need more strategy, more summing up and sharing, and more collective action.
And now more than ever, as this period is ripe with contradictions for our political picking. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; the neoliberal transformation of New Orleans, the whole Gulf Coast, and every major city in the U.S.; the attacks on immigrants; mass incarceration and criminalization of African-Americans and other people of color; looming economic crisis and a price pinch that is killing all of us; climate change and ecological catastrophe: each of these issues could catalyze major moves. And they are. There are surges here, breakthroughs there-like the Social Forum and growing projects like Right to the City. Then there’s the Obama campaign and what it may or may not represent. But what is out there to connect all of us in a sustainable movement? Where can collective analysis and strategy come from? There is no place to regularly debate and make decisions together. How do we make sure that we’re headed in the same direction?
The loose networks that we have right now just don’t facilitate that process. They are good for periodic bursts, but then recede as we go back to the daily grind of our local struggles. We need a mechanism to connect our fights and share analysis about what is working and what isn’t. We must use our limited resources and abundant technology to shrink the distances between East and West, North and South.
In other words, we need organization.
Without it, our vision will remain just that. Organization is key to making our vision a reality. There certainly are other components, but they are hard to develop AND sustain without organization and a means of bringing us together for collective action and struggle. We need theory, a program to match it, and the commitment and numbers to make it happen.
Whether it’s Marx or Marcos; Ella Baker or Anne Braden; Malcolm, Mao, or Che: the people who have influenced us have always stressed the need for oppressed people and freedom fighters to have organizations. Our local struggles, social movement organizations, unions, and non-profits are not enough. If we don’t start connecting the bigger dots, and connecting with each other, we’re going to keep on struggling in vain. We work too hard to keep doing this. There’s too much at stake.
So let’s take all of our mistrust for Left organizations, combine it with an ambitious hope for collective liberation, and talk about this together. Let’s talk about what we share and how we can work together. Let’s come up with 20-year dreams, 10-year plans, 5-year goals, and 1-year strategies. Let’s patiently rebuild what we’re all afraid of, but we all know is irreplaceable: organization.
We’re proposing any and all of the following five steps as a place to start. Try something out, and hit us back so that we can really start to make this thing move. Together.
1. Study. All over the world, people have been struggling with this question for generations. What was wrong with the Soviet approach? What structures did the South Africans have? What happened in China, when millions all over the world had been inspired by their revolution? What about the Venezuelans? Palestinians? Cubans? Zapatistas? What’s working and what isn’t? What about the history of the Left here? Get together with folks that you believe in and do some research.
2. Make spaces at regional/national/international gatherings for conversations about organization. How do we stay connected with each other and move towards our goals collectively even if we’re spread out in social movement organizations, community organizations, unions, schools, non-profits, and revolutionary organizations? What kinds of formations can help us coordinate and amplify our local and issue-based work into a coherent, unified, approach towards total liberation? Many of you attended the “Building Revolutionary Strategy and Organization in the 21st Century” and “Another Politics is Possible” workshops at the US Social Forum or elsewhere to have these very conversations. Continue these conversations in your home towns. Then get together nationally just to generate vision and strategy.
3. Build a common project or campaign with folks who are in social movement organizations, community organizations, unions, schools, and revolutionary organizations. Base the project on local investigation of issues that folks can develop and work on together. We need more base-building, more mass movement. That’s how we create space for people to change their own realities. Revolutionaries, together, have a big role to play here. Doing this kind of work with those that we haven’t before will help to build trust and lasting political relationships that can take us to a higher-level of struggle.
4. Join an existing Left collective, organization, or network. We might recommend one if y’all asked (www.freedomroad.org, in case you’re interested). Find a group that has good ideas and good work on the ground, and get your feet wet. Are they organizing, or just talking? Do you respect the people involved? Is there room for change? Bring other organizers and activists with you and push these organizations to be better. Hell, join them, transform them, and change their directions. Utilize the resources and networks that exist to create the structures we’re going to need.
5. Start a new collective, organization, or network. But be careful, one of the failings of the previous Lefts is that they were too fractured, too disconnected, too many. If you’re starting something new, think about why. Do you need to build a new house, or can you find one that is structurally sound, move in, and make the changes that need to be made? If you have to build something new, how will you connect with allied organizations? Have this in mind before you begin.
As young members of Freedom Road Socialist Organization/Organizacion Socialista del Camino para la Libertad, we believe that organization is absolutely necessary if we’re going to make these changes. We know that this is going to have to take new forms, and a variety of forms, but it has to happen soon. Think this over and get back to us. We’ve got some work to do together.
Peace and struggle,
Kim Deihl, Michelle Foy, Bryan Proffitt, and Claire Tran
download a printable PDF of this statement
Also posted at Hegemonik
I’m writing some initial thoughts and will post them later.
Comrades,
As another young and leftless revolutionary*, I appreciate the love letter. I definitely share enthusiasm for what I hear it calling for: greater cooperation among the existing small left organizations, developing theory and practice for revolutionaries in nonrevolutionary times, and a call for the un-organized revolutionaries to take seriously the idea of joining or creating an organization. We need so much more of all three.
Friends and I have been discussing this recently and identified some possible priorities (some of these are mine, some not). They are:
- (re)building bases of working class power (such as democratic unions, workers centers and community organizations)
- putting the struggle against neo-liberalism at the center of our work (including in Jobs with Justice, Right to the City network, public sector unions – also including immigrant solidarity and organizing the US south)
- strengthening the anti-imperialist movement and attempting ot overlap it with other movements – with a central focus on veterans and military families, immigrant rights
- maintaining principled independent political action (arguing against folding the movements into the Democratic Party at election time and supporting “movement” candidates where possible – like Maureen Taylor in Detroit)
- defense of civil liberties, voting rights, and immigrant rights
Harmony, a member of a study group in New York, has identified some justifications for left organization in this period as: leadership development, support of comrades in mass work, a space to collectively develop new theory, center of gravity for unity of the left, a place to develop the strategic capacity of movements. I think all of these are great, as well.
Finally, I feel strongly that our efforts to re-ground a Left in this period should include community building efforts. Anarchists have been a lot better than marxists, even if often overly focused on “subculture.” The social fabric of the country has changed so significantly since the 1930s or even 60s that some of the basic forms of social organization which existed and were ripe for “fusion” with political vision are gone. Small community churches in the Black freedom movement, GI coffeehouses, bookstores, women’s consciousness raising circles, and other such building blocks are vital. Although we must be highly strategic when prioritizing where we live, work, and other decisions, I think that revolutionaries should also cultivate a strong ethic of “build where you are,” recognizing the diverse political impulses that people have from our expierences of exploitation and oppression. Live in an apartment complex? Meet your neighbors and organize a block club! Work in an environment that mixes immigrants & refugees with USonian workers? Encourage people to sit together at lunch and share experiences of imperialism (maybe not using that word.) And so on.
Anyway, on “Young & Leftless” Moving along with the love letter analogy, my concern centers primarily with the, uh, post-breakup, “can’t we just be friends” feel to the whole thing a little condescending. There’s plenty of emotional appeal, but I don’t see many concrete goals spelled out. It would be a mistake for those of us in the tiny revolutionary organizations that exist to prescribe a “recipe” for social movements activists. At the same time, some openness about what the authors’ perspective on the state of the world, and what they believe to be the major tasks would continue the spirit of openness in which the letter begins, and provide more of a basis for discussion. After reading each of the bullet points at the end, I found myself asking “such as?” or “for what, specifically?” I am looking forward to this conversation.
I am also curious to know why the letter mentions two workshops that did not happen at the USSF, and ignores the one that actually did: a workshop FRSO sponsored, along with League of Revolutionaries for a New America, Bring the Ruckus, the Labor/Community Strategy Center, Solidarity, and study groups in New York and the Bay Area.
*I am a member of Solidarity, a group formed shortly after FRSO/OSCL provided the an inspiring example that revolutionaries could “regroup” and move past the sectarian divisions of the past.
Thanks for the comments Isaac. I’m new at figuring the blog thing out, so I’ll have to raise your point about the moderation with some of the more experienced folks, but I’m going to try to respond to some of your comments here.
First, I agree with all of your priorities. Those, along with a sense of family and home that it provides, are why I am a part of an organization. I would also add the importance of political education.
As far as concrete goals, a lot of us are kind of working that out as we go along, I think. Speaking for myself only, I am wrestling with the intermediate term: what happens between forum or study group and unified revolutionary organization(s). I’d like to see what would happen if we could get folks into a room in a more strategic way. I’m from the South, so I put a lot of stock in face time. The Social Forum was great in so many ways, but I left feeling like we didn’t have a mechanism to continue building with one another in a strategic way. I’d like to see more space to get beyond workshops and panels and conversations where we assess the political economy of the U.S., sum-up the state of different movements, and see some places that we can work together to build shared infrastructure and work on common projects. Let’s not try to build a new organization just yet. Let’s see if we can work together a little bit more closely in the near term.
Even that feels ambitious, but critical and do-able right now.
I think that the Summer School in New York could provide some space for some of us to get together (even if it’s just outside of the program of the weekend) and talk about how to move towards that.
Also, maybe I used the wrong titles for the workshops, but I actually attended both of the workshops that were referenced in the letter. One was the collaborative effort between all of the groups that you mention, and the “Another Politics is Possible” was organized by a collaboration of horizontalist groups to share best practices and challenges and discuss commonalities.
Again, thanks for the comments. Let’s keep talking.
Viva Revolutionary Voltron!
This is a cogent, ambitious argument. How can we bridge differences to sustain a long-term institution/movement? I had written something similar and a friend forwarded me your pdf. To read and comment on my thoughts about this, see http://www.louisesparza.net/rtl
While I generally support this letter, it seems the “Left”, whatever that is, maintains a certain illusion that subjectivity is all that’s required to achieve power. Generally, I used to support the principle of organization, but, has anyone discovered the reason why Left groupsicles exist, primarily in the United States? Has anyone discovered why most organizations have dissolved, become micro-sects, or entirely irrelevent after the fall of the Black Panther Party? Clearly, although it’s disheartening to think so, we are in a non-revolutionary situation. The objective situation is against us, regardless of how much we push for Refoundation or Organization. Instead, work should be done on how to do political work in our current situation (a non-revolutionary situation, where the labor aristocracy, I believe, constitutes the majority of the working class.) This means bringing people from all revolutionary backgrounds to the table and forming mass organizations. I also feel this is a bit US-centric. I forgot, for some time, that the working class is international, and while the Amerikkkan working class is primarily reactionary and within the labor aristocracy, the working classes of the oppressed world are moving forward. How do we advance the cause of the revolutionary section of the working class internationally, in order to foster our development at home? International events have a significant impact. I’m not strictly speaking of “solidarity”, but, of implementing the programme of the world’s working class, rather than our particular idea of what works in our mostly petite-bourgeois nation.
[...] Verfasst von entdinglichung am Juni 23, 2008 Eine Gruppe von jüngeren Mitgliedern der Freedom Road Socialist Organization/Organización Socialista del Camino para la Libertad (FRSO/OSCL) aus den USA haben mit The Young and the Leftless: An Open Letter on Organization ein interessantes Diskussionspapier zu den Themen “Jugendorganisierung” und “junge Menschen” in linksradikalen Organisationen veröffentlicht und dabei Probleme angesprochen, welche nicht nur die radikale Linke in den USA betreffen; es ist daher zu hoffen, dass das Diskussionspapier weite Verbreitung findet und eine rege Diskussion auslösen wird, nachfolgend ein kurzer Auszug, den vollständigen Text gibt es hier: [...]
Oules–I’m working on getting some time to sit with your writing. Hopefully I’ll have some thoughts soon.
Evan–
I agree with you near completely. We are in very backwards times, and the idea that we NEED revolutionary organization at this precise moment, because it is going to put us over the top or something, is silly. I think that what you said is right. Revolutionaries need to get together to work strategically on how to better build mass organizations and make real improvements on the ground. That’s how we’ll get towards a more revolutionary context.
In the meantime, however, the getting together of folks, the collective strategy development, the coordination of our work and summing up of our efforts, etc. requires a greater level of connection than we currently have.
So, yes, I think that the bulk of energy should go towards building mass organization, but we also need to put SOME energy into building our own collectivity, institution, etc. so that we aren’t just waiting until a yet-to-be-determined revolutionary moment to try to get stuff together.
I also agree about the international point, and I think it also points towards the same argument as above. If Venezuela is where its at; or if we need to be doing more collaborative work with Palestinians, etc., etc. that also requires some level of coordination. This thing where this small organization, or this individual connects with some folks that they travel to meet, or bring here, doesn’t help us build the lasting types of bonds to build real mutual support over the long term. There are lots of opportunities for this, and it seems like a better coordinated Left could better respond to, and initiate them. I haven’t studied it as much as I need to yet, but I’m sure that there are some great lessons from the Black Liberation movement’s support for national liberation movements in Africa, or the international anti-Apartheid movement, or the work in the 80s to support folks in El Salvador and other spots in Latin America. These were movements, as I understand them, that had coordinated support from the Left, and were responses to needs that people were expressing on the ground in those places, following the lead of the folks who were doing the work.
Just some thoughts.
Bryan,
I’m in a state of confusion regarding what to do. I see, as you stated, building mass organizations and revolutionary cells as a precusor towards achieving power when a revolutionary context approaches. On the other hand, given the disparity between workers in the Imperialist world and workers in the oppressed world, it seems nearly chauvenistic to pine for extra crumbs to a first world working class that is all ready fat from super-profits. I’m nearly at the point where I would tend to look outward at the development of international working class trends, rather than the domestic sphere which appears tainted with social-chauvenism in all aspects of political work. Given the theory of Imperialism and considering that the U.S. “working class” won a living wage, one has to consider where the extra downtrickling of profits comes from: primarily from the third world. If there is anything solid in strategy I could think of, it would be putting the union internationals solidly in third world command, such that the first world “workers” are dictated.
This is, in effect ,a very pessimistic, third worldist view, but, given all the concrete work all of us, including myself, have put into housing, wage and benefit increases, and anti-war work and seeing that the majority of our class and it’s leaders adapt these gains to social-chauvinism, it all most seems like our work towards reforms on the ground only increase corporatism–the marriage of the labor aristocracy and the Imperialist bourgeois.
I tend to subscribe to Lin Biao’s “Long Live the People’s War”, where he describes the oppressed world as the global country side, and the Imperialist world as the global cities.
I’m not dead set on this particular third-worldist analysis, but it seems to conform subjectively and objectively to reality. I’d like to think the first world “working class” has revolutionary potential, but, I’m really not sure.
I still, think, that building mass organizations and networks among revolutionaries is beneficial, even if these are dominated at first by reactionary elements, they can be utilized in better contexts for actual revolutionary work. Something I always wanted to see, as a youth myself, at 22, is a Revolutionary Organizing manual. I kind of had to feel my way around the situation, blundering and stumbling around meetings and actions, before I came to an appreciation of the mass line. Is there any way FRSO and other forces could build that kind of introduction to the mass line that is accessible to all?
One more thing- what I meant was given the U$ working class won a living wage I meant PRESUMING that the U$ working class won a living wage (hypothetically.)
I just finished reading the letter and others comments. The piece is a nice change from some of the chest-pounding “we are the vanguard, so follow us…” that you get across the left.
There definitely needs to be a lot of rethinking on the left (Trotskyist, Maoist, or what have you). Too many groups just want to redo the Russian Revolution or fight in the Spanish Civil War again. I think that when we actually read about past experiences, it seems that we’re reading idealized accounts and not the on-the-ground base work. For me, Paul Le Blanc’s Lenin and the Revolutionary Party showed how the Bolsheviks were able to gather up scattered groups of workers, activists and intellectuals and forge them into a mass organization.
Furthermore, many sects of small groups seem to think that they have the one true successor to Marxism from 1848 onwards. That thinking is going to hamper us immensely. None of us has a monopoly on Marxism and that means we have got to talk to each other. Common dialogue can go a long way towards overcoming barriers, common struggle can go even further.
Just my two cents, hope to see you in the struggle.
Thanks for your comments. Evan, I am a younger member of Freedom Road, and I wanted to respond a little to your post about the need for an internationalist focus. I believe it is necessary to look to the global south as leaders in the movement for liberation worldwide, but I think that there is something to be said about working from where you are.
We are living here, in the belly of the beast. Organizing can be monumentally challenging, but if we don’t do it here, (and connect to the global south while we are making the left stronger here,) we won’t succeed. I’ve travelled to Venezuela a few times in recent years. When I whine about how amazing it is to be in a country where change is happening and the people are the ones making it happen, they always tell me, “Well, we would love for you to move here, but as a North American, you have a responsibility to go back and struggle in your own country.”
While we might see the US working class as better off than those in other countries, we still have stagant wages, a large race/class wealth divide, and the highest rate of incarceration in the western industrialized countries, just to name a few things I thought of.
Thanks for really putting some thought into this discussion.
In general, I really appreciate the thrust of what you’re calling for here. I have to get one pet peeve off my chest. The language felt condescending to me. All of the “y’all” this and so forth felt *almost* like the RCP’s hipster jive talk. I associate Freedom Road with careful and thoughtful writing, not that kind of thing, so I wonder why you chose the tone you did. As a thirtysomething who still identifies as “young” in some way (there is an extended cultural adolescence for many of us), I felt condescended to, and it felt like you were trying too hard to be *young*. I know this seems like a minor point, but it feels significant – to trust someone as an ally, I need to know that they take me seriously. There are ways to talk about serious issues that are culturally removed from the stodgy, this-was-written-in-1918 feel that some Left tracts have that would feel a little more authentic. (I thought the STORM summation document was a good example.)
That said, I like your substantive ideas for the most part, and I’m wondering how you see possibilities for moving forward. Let’s assume that there are lots of us out here who are already taken by another group (I’m in Solidarity) or who are curious, intrigued, and open, but not ready to jump into a group immediately. Perhaps some kind of a discussion journal for members of different groups and independents?
Also, how do you see the significance of generation in the process of refounding or revivifying or whatever we want to call this process? I’ve often been struck, being in a multi-generational group, by what a different experience it is from most of my friends who are activists, who have mainly worked in groups where everybody is pretty much the same age. Or, for those who have worked for nonprofits or unions, there are weird generational power dynamics: the top leadership / board members are older, the frontline organizers might be mostly in their twenties or thirties, and the main rank-and-file / membership leaders might be older, oftentimes, except in the case of youth organizing. What opportunities and challenges do you think these generational dynamics present, within our own Left groups as well as among our generational cohorts, and how do we work through them in a comradely fashion?
Despite my being turned off by the tone of the original piece, I hope you see this as what it is: an engaged, positive response to your flirtation.
I very much appreciated the letter and it reflects much of the thoughts and concerns that come up in discussions with various leftists I know who came of age in the 80′s and 90′s.
Our experiences studying political history and listening to older folks have certainly tainted our generation’s view of mass organization, and this is certainly an issue that must be addressed first and foremost.
However, I am also haunted by the question of how our society in general has become more suspicious, or certainly less familiar with the principle of organization as a viable answer for community needs and problems.
When the people we look up to were coming of age, there was significantly more involvement in community and/or social organization. Through entities such as fraternal organizations, churches, military instiutions, etc. individuals had a greater understanding of how to function as groups towards a common goal. Thus when it came to operating within a leftist organization, much of these skills came along with people, making the logistics of organizational involvement more tenable.
I am interested to hear ideas from people about how to address and adapt to a social reality in which individuals from our generation have less organizational or group experience.
I’m dont know what you’ve been doing and this is the first i’ve heard of you but have you tried networking with existing leftist groups? There are plenty! There’s BAAM (Boston Anti Authoritarian Movement) NEAN (Northeast Anarchist Movement) and they are networkked with so many Boston and northeast based leftist groups and more anarchist movements throughout the country and they want to network just like you. find them i’m sure they would be happy to network with you as long as they agree with you and based off your letter they probaly do
BAAM.org
http://neanarchist.net/
are the young&the leftless going to post anything else? hoping to see more.