Thinking of joining an ml party. I’ve been doing little things with dsa and other orgs now and again but it gets tiring having to hold my tongue around liberal progressives all the time and I’d like to be part of an org where I theoretically don’t have to do that.
If you’re in one of these parties, why do you like it, why should I join? I’m also mainly interested in any reasons why I should not join any of these orgs. Like are any of them just full of cops, or are they political cults full of abusers or anything? Tbh right now I’m leaning towards frso just because I like their stance of national liberation struggles within the us and also the idea that they’re sort of a “pre-party” organization, since I recognize while I’m probably knowledgeable enough theory-wise to join an ml organization, I definitely still have a lot of learning I need to (and would like to) do. But it would be nice to have comrades and not just be reading alone in my room lol.
But that is by no means set in stone and I’m hoping someone can give me a rundown of the ml landscape in the USA and/or guide me away from any parties I probably shouldn’t join.
Out of those options I would recommend FRSO or PSL. I'd go with whichever is bigger or more active around things you care about. For opsec reasons I don't mention my own org(s) or past ones.
Did you use your real name when joining? Sorta feel weird doing that. Maybe I can just use a single first name, no last name
That's 100% fine to prioritize. If they don't let you do that (e.g. so they can contact you and get dues) you might want to consider a leftist group that is coherently focused on a single overarching issue like labor or imperialism or community defense against racists and transphobes. Many of those groups will either be fronts for parties like this or in a coalition with them and it can be easier and safer to participate in them with good infosec.
Yeah I’d of course give them contact info and everything. Literally just the name lol