The Young and the Leftless: An Open Letter on Organization

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:

“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.”