PSL: Who Gets to Write the “True Narrative”, from Marissa Sanchez
(theyeisblind.substack.com)
CutieBootieTootie [she/her]
ChapotraphouseFor whatever it means for you comrades, my former branch is absolutely falling apart. Leadership has had to be constantly engaged with comrades 1:1 to get them to stay or to not leave for other projects or lifeboat groups who're trying to keep party members; and it means a ton of people who wanted to do other things are just burning out like flies. My local branch has, I think, tipped right overboard into some extremely inexcusable tactics and behavior; and my disappointment is immeasurable.
I understand I'm posting about this a lot, so, Mods or Admins feel free to tell me to stop, I just want this to be on people's radars so bad. This hasn't really hit the mainstream "left" yet, I haven't seen people even locally who've taken an anti-party stance for a long time (correct or not) talking about this.
I can’t blame anyone for leaving, but the tendency for people to leave the party, instead of sticking around (even for a few weeks) and demanding accountability by struggling in the party, is the exact reflex that causes this shit to get worse. The party has grown rapidly, with many members who don’t have the patience or experience to see that that in itself was a herculean effort that wasn’t accomplished by the Beckers. And many people seem to both believe that there is an identifiable leadership clique responsible- and that there is no possibility of holding any of them accountable… But why not? Hundreds of thousands of human hours cadre have spent building the party and bringing people in- all just to throw it away over the unjust actions of a few people. Nobody seems willing to even try. Now, many of the people who care the most deeply and are the most principled about addressing patriarchy and SA are the ones who are leaving, or a great deal of them. With each exodus it gets worse and the party’s ability to address it weaker.
This shit is all pretty mind blowing to me too though, because my experience of local dealings with SA and abusers who have been exposed has basically been unceremonious removal and a focus on protecting our cadres and other organizers from them, without exception. and any involvement with national has also been incredibly principled and clear headed
the thing is quitting an org doesn't have to be final, and it also certainly doesn't mean you have to burn all the relationships and connections you made there which could reformulate into something new. sometimes membership bleeding rapidly is the only way rank and file can actually concretely communicate and enforce that there's a serious problem. with leadership that have conveyed a disinterest in internal democracy and a misogynistic, callous disregard for cadre safety any of the more acceptable forms of internal struggle are just way too easy to write off and misdirect from.
your perspective is a legit one, just offering a countervailing POV from my own experiences with PSL.
And many people seem to both believe that there is an identifiable leadership clique responsible- and that there is no possibility of holding any of them accountable… But why not? Hundreds of thousands of human hours cadre have spent building the party and bringing people in- all just to throw it away over the unjust actions of a few people.
I agree honestly, I really don't think the baby should be thrown out with the bathwater on these things. A party is an incredibly difficult thing to cultivate, not to mention the recruitment that's been necessary. I know how hard it has been for me at least, especially. However the impossibility to address this has been enforced by the central committee.
Discussion on this matter has been closed by the central committee. They're enforcing that there'll be no further discussion on this. They're enforcing that there'll be no Congress or recall of leadership over this. In fact, I know it's for operational security; but nobody has a list of who's on the central committee except for them, our party branches work with national via liaisons. So even if we wanted to trigger a recall of leadership over this; we have no mechanism or ability to do so. There is, as far as I understand, no mechanism except local leadership demanding it (and even then leadership has only been given promises AFAIK).
I'm really not a fool nor am I a wrecker. I understand how it's taken a herculean effort to build all this, I had my own part of it, but the central committee has made the explicit decision to leave this as something which can not be struggled through in any way other than acquiescing.
Edit: I think one mistake in all this is thinking that those who no longer believe the PSL is an avenue for struggle are simply burned. When I first joined the party I was aware of Steven Powers and what had occurred in Philadelphia, however, I'd been told that the party had evolved internally as well as cadre' understanding of these things. Its not that there was an initial incident, or a poor response immediately after the initial incident, or even the first years after the incident; however now the party's national bodies still affirm that they don't believe there is a need to evolve and struggle past this. There has been no consultation of cadre, and cadre have been told to suck it up and deal with it. If this had occurred but the party's response had been instead to evolve itself, I would not be here, I would be back in my branch. However, the central committee made the choice to say that this is not a point in which the party will evolve. That, I think, reflects extremely poor decision-making as well as a failure for internal democratic processes and consultation of cadre that altogether means the party is cooked and anybody with principles will be forced to work on something new and to then hopefully refederate and constitute a new national body
the party is cooked and anybody with principles will be forced to work on something new and to then hopefully refederate and constitute a new national body
this is my hope and is, i think, the best case scenario in all of this. in this case PSL would have simply served its historical purpose - as a gathering place and training ground for US marxist organizers during the nascent rebirth of the US socialist movement - rather than having been a waste or even a detriment to the movement. it's of course a horrible shame that it had to outlive its usefulness and implode in such a traumatic and damaging fashion, but it could still have served as a vital bridge to whatever comes next.
our part in that is to at the very least stay connected to the comrades we made if we can!
Yeah, I tried to make a lifeboat group and get as many comrades back on it as possible so that we can keep working, but the local SC made sure that didn't happen unmolested. I think I'm going to just want to keep a list of comrades I've worked with and talk to them 1:1 in the future as something develops here again, because I completely agree and think that has now been the historical role the party and party members have to take at this time. We have so many awesome cadre developed now, and I think this will and has hurt us all, but my hope and dream is that this won't keep us out of the struggle; and will mean we all have a little bit of seasoning and a little bit of wisdom for developing the next step in our historical journey
Edit: Further, constituting a national body of federating these organizations will probably need to occur in the future and those who've had to leave should keep this in mind. There's tons of party members all across the country who've come into contact with each other and we should continue to leverage our connections with this in mind going forwards.
I agree, but the structure to be able to struggle has to be there and there have to be other people willing to engage in that struggle. I live on the other side of the world so have no idea what is taking place on the ground but this whole story sounds extremely weird to me. Either no one knows how a centralised democracy should work (which would be a fault of PSL onboarding process, which should teach people), no is willing to struggle for the party or the party does not have a true democratic structure.
It is the latter, internal discussion has been closed on this and there is no mechanism to open it. There is no recall system, and in fact there is the mistaken belief by national that it is more turbulent for leaders to have to step down rather than to face issues like this.
belief by national that it is more turbulent for leaders to have to step down rather than to face issues like this
This is rather revealing of the nature of "leadership". You can either define it rigorously which means having specific roles that have expertise and commitment requirements, don't always overlap, and don't always rank themselves in a chain of command or pecking order, or you can allow the propensity for domination and deference to emerge, and "leader" just ends up becoming "that person who is above all these followers/members" and voilà, you have internally replicated a class dynamic.
A party/movement with a quorum of Parliamentarians, a quorum of Mentors, a quorum of Strategists, a quorum of Spokespeople, a quorum of Taskmasters, and a quorum of (diplomats, recruiters, negotiators, whatever you want to call external relations that's not just communication) is going to accomplish many things at once. It will not have a strong of a leader/follower dichotomy, it will allow more people to be involved in distinguished roles, it will allow people in each role to specialize better and not stretch themselves thin, it will limit the potential benefit of infiltration, it will make it a lot harder to try to blackmail or compromise or decapitate the leadership, and it will make the organization "fairer" to the rank and file while still keeping confidentiality.
You can still have a vanguard party with this model. You can possibly even have a DemCent party with this model too.
Super disappointing to hear. By the way that PSL has been praised on this platform before I’d expected that they had their democratic structures in order. I hope you found or can find another way to organize locally in a safer environment
We need a party and I intend to help ensure that's possible
But also thank you 🫶
This shit is all pretty mind blowing to me too though, because my experience of local dealings with SA and abusers who have been exposed has basically been unceremonious removal and a focus on protecting our cadres and other organizers from them, without exception. and any involvement with national has also been incredibly principled and clear headed
Same. That's kind of why it feels like wrecker behavior to me. Even if they made a mistake 6 years ago with one case, everyone is painting every local branch in every city across the country with this brush, when it's not the experience of any comrade I've met in the org who has to deal with the NDC or their processes on SA.
It sounds like OP had a bad experience with her local branch, and I get you can only work off your own experiences, but that's not what I've seen or heard from other local comrades in the party.
It sounds like OP had a bad experience with her local branch, and I get you can only work off your own experiences, but that's not what I've seen or heard from other local comrades in the party.
I can guarantee this is not just our one comrade on hexbear's experience and that the org is hemorrhaging members over this across many, many branches and across many, many levels of leadership and membership tenure. they're losing longterm local leaders, recent rank and file cadre & newer local leaders recruited as part of the PSL's growth spurt, as well as longterm, highly active rank and file. i was a member of one of its largest branches, the damage around this is extremely extensive.
Fully agree.
Friend it's fine to post a lot just always prioritize your personally identifiable info.
Sounds like PSL is finished. I knew the feds would do something to hamstring the org since they have been gaining momentum, but it turned out their COIN operation mostly amounted to finding the rug that PSL sweeps their SA under and airing out dirty laundry that PSL should've adequately addressed. The feds will now move on to hamstring DSA. Just like how their moles within PSL pinpointed PSL's weaknesses of having terrible internal processes for victims of SA along with a cultlike atmosphere surrounding the Beckers, moles within DSA have pinpointed DSA's weaknesses. The feds will move to push DSA's pressure points, and should DSA also fall, the US left is going to be completely set back just like how the disastrous fallout of Corbyn and YP completely set back the British left. I do not think it's a coincidence that YP and PSL imploding are happening so close to each other.
Not sure if they have to do much to the DSA because it's already hitched itself to the Democratic Party. They're not even really a threat to the existing systems like the PSL is.
I still need to read up on the fallout since Marissa Sanchez posted her article, but I've been sitting on this pun for too long: Brian Wrecker.
The fact that your branch leadership has to do damage control with members sounds alarming to me. I would expect within a well functioning centralised democracy, the branch would call a meeting to collectively decide their stance and further actions, rather than leadership already taking a position and trying to convince members to do the same. That doesn’t sound democratic at all.
I would expect within a well functioning centralised democracy, the branch would call a meeting to collectively decide their stance and further actions, rather than leadership already taking a position and trying to convince members to do the same
I didn't have a lot of context outside of the branch for a while, and I thought it was still evolving; but this is essentially how all of our group "discussions" went. Leadership made the decision on what would be right ahead of time, and it was membership's job to get on it
That is fucked up. I hope there are some branches that did handle this issue democratically. If not then I think the larger issue at hand is the lack of democracy, because that also explains the initial bad handling of SA cases.
The Party is falling apart. They will do whatever possible to publicly alter the truth that the Party is absolutely hemorrhaging cadre. Many branches are defunct but National is seizing social media logins from branches so they don't post a "we're closed" post like Anchorage. The sink is shipping because of a handful of narcissistic, incompetent idiots perverting the tenets of Democratic Centralist to mean unilateral commandism. All the homeys say: fuck the Beckers
Which branches have disbanded aside from Anchorage?
I'm going to let the comrades speak for their own locale. There may be ongoing complications and negotiations. I'm sure things will be public in due time
I'm really sorry this is happening to you and your comrades, I've only known PSL comrades as consistent fighters for left causes who def earned a place in our local struggles.
My group went through some strife in the last few years, and it def leaves a mark. I agree with calls for the membership to organize independently of leadership structures to right the ship. No positive way forward is going to come easy.
Best of luck and solidarity to you and your comrades.
Can I get the condensed version of what's going on? I know a comrade was sexually assaulted then the psl covered it up or handled it badly?
Marissa Sanchez came out recently about her being sexually assaulted by Eugene Puryear. Eugene Puryear was a longtime leader and founder of the party, and on the Central Committee. Marissa was a dedicated party member, beginning in 2015 and being on the Central Committee by 2020, at which time Eugene sexually assaulted her. The aftermath of this was essentially silencing and isolation by Ben Becker, and further after the publishing of that article a statement came out from the Central Committee re-affirming their treatment of Marissa, assassinating her character, and local branches have either acquiesced or are completely falling apart because the Central Committee has made it absolutely clear there will not be further discussion or engagement with this internally.
For me, I experienced many of the same tactics that Marissa did as a party member and I see myself in her. I recommend reading the original article here if you have the time.
I was surprised to see you post these articles because last time I was in a PSL struggle session I remember you being very committed to the org. (To be clear the struggle sesh had nothing to do with SA, I forget what it was but it was pretty benign) I'm so sorry you've had to deal with such shitty treatment too
Thanks comrade, I don't know what it was but yeah, I was putting my everything into it. I was always told that starting a branch was the hardest thing one could do and I took a lot of pride in all the work I did and the groundwork I'd laid hoping it would blossom into something truly wonderful; but now I'm just seeing that be completely squandered by a distant self-interested leadership and a local incompetent one.
Thanks, damn that sucks all around.
To say I'm gutted is an understatement
Didn't they kick Eugene out once Marissa said she wasn't comfortable with the way things had been handled? afaik the NDC didn't exist back then, but they did review the case again at some point. Of course, americans prefer killing stuff than trying to fix anything tho so I'm not too surprised that this is going down the way it is.
I hope the new party doesn't instantly implode once the get done trying to kill the PSL.
Edit: before I am accused of victim blaming, Marissa is well within her rights to further change her mind and decide that the way the PSL handled the situation was simply damaging and wrong. That doesn't change the fact that the Party did attempt to do right by her and eventually removed Eugene. She is under no obligation to accept that as enough.
Of course, americans prefer killing stuff than trying to fix anything tho so I'm not too surprised that this is going down the way it is.
I'm sorry that blatantly covering up sexual assault and then closing any discussion on it isn't a hard line for you
I'm opting to try and address the issues that the party has from within the party. You don't have to agree with me or be happy with my decision.
I don't have any reason to believe that y'all have the chops to build a new party that wouldn't do the same thing, if only by mistake. Either way, it sucks for everyone involved.
No, apparently. He resigned six years after the assault due to "health reasons"; leadership had nothing to do with terminating him. Read the article that this one is referring to. OP also expressed that they have experienced similar treatment while they were a member of PSL, before you posted this comment. What do you think that people should do when top leadership refuses to take sexual assault seriously for YEARS? Does PSL even have a process with which to recall leadership? Would it even matter when, even in the year 2026, nobody gives a shit about survivors?
The party constitution has been leaked multiple times. You can look up the process yourself!
Ah well maybe I'm mistaken. In any case, I tend to assume American leftists are a bunch of dipshits until proven otherwise (I'd put myself on that list despite how I ID). I'm a citizen, but I grew up partly in latam and part in the US so I've never really been from here. The PSL at least somewhat functions, which is more than I can say for most leftist orgs around here lol
Building effective organizations is a long and arduous process and I don't fault anyone for getting fed up with it. The PSL is held to an extremely high standard and that's a fair thing, but these things happen because of the material conditions that we're contending with. Tearing the party down doesn't change that. Its pretty audacious to assume that any new org wouldn't succumb to the same issues. Might as well fight the fight in something that already exists. I might be singing a different tune if it seemed like we had more time, but I've already been internally displaced and I'm tired of acting on impulse. We'll see what kind of traction these new kids get. I was not impressed by Walter's rhetoric, but maybe some amazing new leader will come up their ranks.
