FRSO has two levels of membership. "General" members pay dues annually and must attend one online seminar per year. "Cadre" members must adhere to Leninist organizational norms.[2]
In December 2020, FRSO claimed "over 500" general members.[3] In March 2021, FRSO claimed almost 1000 members and "hundreds" of cadre.[1]
FRSO's main publication is the website and monthly paper Fight Back! News (FB!N) and its Spanish section Lucha y Resiste.[10] From 1985 to the mid-1990s, FRSO continued the Proletarian Unity League's Forward Motion.[citation needed] For a short period after 1993, FRSO continued the Socialist Organizing Network's Moving Forward.[citation needed]
In 1993, FRSO merged with the Socialist Organizing Network (SON)[19] and adopted the placeholder name "Freedom Road Socialist Organization / Socialist Organizing Network" (FRSO/SON). The SON was formed by former members of the League of Revolutionary Struggle (LRS), which had dissolved in the late 1980s.[18] The 1994 FRSO Congress, which formalized the merger, was called the "First Congress of FRSO/SON". However, no new name emerged, and FRSO/SON reverted back to FRSO afterwards.[citation needed]
The FRSO's component groups believed that ultraleftism was the US New Communist movement's main error. Merging under the FRSO banner, these groups hoped to consolidate the movement's remnants in a single organization and move beyond the sectarianism that marked the previous decades.[citation needed]
1999 split
In response to Tiananmen Square and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, FRSO began to develop two distinct positions on socialist countries. The "Left Refoundation" group, aligned with democratic socialism, argued that these events resulted from a deep crisis of Marxism. The other group, aligned with Marxism-Leninism, argued that these events resulted from revisionism rather than failures within Marxism.[18] These divisions grew during the 1990s. In 1998, the Left Refoundation group wrote an internal document, "Theses on Left Refoundation", and requested an organization-wide discussion.[20] The FRSO National Executive Committee (NEC) unanimously rejected this discussion.[21] In 1999, the Left Refoundation group received a second hearing, at which the NEC and FRSO as a whole split in two.[22][23]
Both factions claimed the name "Freedom Road Socialist Organization". In 2006, the Left Refoundation group renamed itself to "FRSO/OSCL", combining the English and Spanish acronym. In 2019, the Left Refoundation group renamed itself to Liberation Road.[24]
FBI raid
On September 24, 2010, over 70 FBI agents raided the homes of 6 antiwar activists, 5 of which FRSO members, and the Anti-War Committee (AWC) headquarters. The FBI claimed to be searching for evidence of "material support of terrorism".[25][26] FRSO formed the "Committee to Stop FBI Repression" and claimed that FBI agents left behind documents indicating that the raids were aimed at people suspected of FRSO membership, due to the AWC's political support for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).[27] FRSO further claimed that the FBI had placed informants inside its organization.[28]
On February 26, 2014, a federal judge unsealed the extensive documents the FBI collected during its nearly three-year surveillance of the FRSO.[12][29] The FBI never charged any person involved.[30]
National congresses
The table below includes only the "Fight Back!" majority faction, which retains the FRSO name.
^""JOIN"". February 4, 2018. "General Members are required to agree with the FRSO Program, pay annual dues of at least $20 annually, and commit to attending at least one online General Members meeting annually. These are the minimum expectations, but many General Members are more involved in various ways, such as attending our quarterly online meetings, participating in online study sessions, attending local district-level General Members meetings, and participating in local community organizing. General Members do not attend internal FRSO meetings and may not represent FRSO publicly unless directed to do so by FRSO local or national leadership."
^ abcd"Main Documents: Socialism". FRSO. June 22, 2022. Socialism is not a distant dream—it already exists in the People's Republic of China, Cuba, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Vietnam, and Laos. We are glad the socialist countries exist, and we stand with them.
^"A revolutionary view of the 2022 midterm elections". September 9, 2022. Our approach regarding the elections will take different forms in different places. Often, this will mean that those who are working in swing states must work to defeat Republican candidates. In places where the Republicans are very unlikely to win, organizers should vote against right-wing or centrist Democrats in favor of candidates with more progressive stances.