A Guide to Local Socialist Orgs
- Lilith Kievskaya
- May 15
- 8 min read
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A guide to local socialist organizations.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
You feel hopeless. Posting on social media isn't enough for you. You want to get involved. You want to feel the sweat of your work and see the impact it has on your community. But, beware! One of capitalism's defense mechanisms is channeling radicality down revisionist pipelines that ultimately serve to maintain bourgeois hegemony. It is, as such, very important to remind the reader that Marxist-Leninist Communism is, and has been the prevailing scientific consensus of revolutionary theory, with history to back it up. All other "left" ideologies suffer from critical errors that would result in the resurgence of capitalism and its exploitation, whether it be through a matter of policy or force, regressing the upwards progression of history and destroying everything the revolutionary movement fought to achieve.
"Without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement." - Vladimir Lenin [source]
The Communist International (Stalinist-Hoxhaists) trace their history and leadership lineage directly back to the KPD/ML which fought against capitalism in West Germany and against SED-revisionist leadership in East Germany. The CominTern describe themselves as Stalinist-Hoxhaist, building upon the foundations of Marxism-Leninism. "Stalinism," a controversial word even within communist circles for various reasons; the change was born out of a pragmatic decision to distinguish
themselves from revisionist organizations that called themselves Marxist-Leninist. The local chapter lead is a degree-holding Soviet historian who is sure to never lose ideological clarity, ensuring that actions conducted during spontaneity are measured and contextualized. They are, above all other local organizations, the most true to the science of Marxism-Leninism. And, despite their above-ground legality, they are very secure with robust security protocols which prevents members from knowing any other member outside of their direct group. Lastly, their international leadership. national leadership, and the Madison chapter are made up entirely of the working class, with most members in light industry or construction. That said, their hard anti-revisionist stance can be criticized for their stance towards AES (Actually Existing Socialism) countries.
We trace our direct roots back to the KPD/ML, which fought against capitalism in West Germany and the SED revisionist leadership in East Germany. I would emphasize that the membership of the local unit (Wisconsin), as well as the national and international leadership, are all drawn from the working class. As for our unit, [...] members all work in light industry or construction. -- Local Chapter Representative
The most famous communist party within the United States, it has the distinct pleasure of being accused of espionage for the Soviet Union. Despite that based and grain-pilled history, the party is controversial among Marxist-Leninists due to a revisionist seizure of power that the party is still recovering from. The CPUSA focuses primarily on electoralism, which, itself, is not enough. Some communists get the impression that the party is ineffective due to the focus of playing within the electoral rules of the bourgeoisie. However, the brand new local chapter has a sizable percentage of Marxist-Leninists in leadership and in the general membership. Of all communist organizations within Madison, this is perhaps the most promising upstart.
I would say the Party only makes electoralism its main focus during election seasons, and even that is now being contested. Technically, the Party as a whole is still explicitly Marxist-Leninist according to its constitution. This was successfully defended from attacks in the 2010s, so at least a majority of the Party still viewed themselves as MLs at that time—and that has only become more the case since then. I would be interested to see who on the National Committee would say they are or aren’t Marxist-Leninists. That said, just because someone considers themselves an ML doesn’t mean they actually understand or practice dialectical materialism. I have seen some people use Lenin to justify campaigning for and running candidates within the Democratic Party. However, those people are becoming less common, and when you look at younger members of the Party, they are practically nonexistent. -- Chapter Organizer
"I would not say the Party focuses primarily on electoralism. While there was a period in which liberals in the Party influenced and even took hold of Party leadership, ironically enough, that resulted in a step away from electoral politics, at least in the traditional sense of running candidates and trying to implement policies. For this period, our Party, outside of some local areas, stopped running our own candidates. While the liberals that took power for a period of time would have liked the Party to turn into essentially an organ of the Democratic Party, supporting so-called "progressive" candidates, the majority of the Party remained Marxist-Leninist and would go on to successfully defend the Party's stated adherence to Marxism-Leninism before finally removing the liberals from the position of Party Chair in 2019. "During that time, this majority, with the Party no longer running our own candidates for the most part, would focus on other work that is essential for a ML vanguard style Party to maintain, such as labor organizing, community organizing, ideological education, and getting involved in and leading various struggles such as the peace movement, anti-racist struggle, women's struggle, queer struggle, etc. "Now days, the Party is starting to run our own candidates. The liberals within the Party are also still very influential, even if that influence is definitely still steadily decreasing. But while there is an argument to be made that the messaging from the National Party may seem heavily focused on electoralism at the moment, I think if you examined the actual action of the various organs of the Party as a whole, you'd absolutely find a different picture. And as Marxist-Leninists, practice is key." - Chapter Organizer
Our volunteers had the pleasure of meeting a small handful of their members at a Janesville protest that was under threat of reactionary terror. Members we met were friendly and happy to see other revolutionary organizations. This organization appears to be a wide-umbrella for socialists of all kinds. This can be great at what it is, just keep in mind that long-term revolutionary potential is likely to be sabotaged by the revisionist elements within the DSA.
I know nothing about this organization, so your research is as good as mine. But, a comrade does, so I will feature their quotation below.
"I can give testimony on the PSL in Milwaukee, at least. They are very good at organizing and mobilizing. The local members are all younger and are (or at least come across as) fairly Marxist-Leninist, despite the national organization still being technically “Marcyite” (a split from Trotskyism back to a more practical point of view that acknowledges that AES [editor's note: "actually existing socialism"] is at least better than capitalism, so it should be supported even if they don’t 100% agree with everything it does). From what I’ve heard, many of the older members are “Marcyites,” while the younger members are largely Marxist-Leninists. However, my main critique of them is that they’re too American in their framing. They emphasize “poor veterans,” and their messaging points to a “Socialist USA” without mentioning decolonization. The national level still mostly advocates for a “socialist USA”—there is at least occasional mention of decolonial goals and the Indigenous struggle. There is also a small but growing contingent within the Party that openly advocates for a complete end to the United States and fights for decolonization, largely made up of Indigenous members." -- Milwaukee Comrade, emphasizing an outside perception
The RCA is a political party with international presence and a fast-growing one. The reason for their success can be observed on the lowest unit level, as they do not suffer lazy membership; you're either a paid member or a paid supporter. There is a hard push to contribute. It is recommended that you pay a specific percentage of every paycheck to the party which comes with some benefits and access to their The Communist newspaper and Defending Marxism magazine. They understand that worker financials vary and can be tough, so ultimately, they appreciate anything you can give, but they will check that you are giving something as providing income to the party and its operations is a duty. They also sell their newspaper around Madison (I think for $5?), which is an introvert's worst nightmare, but all of their members are friendly & welcoming. Their paid-member status has drawn concerns from some other organizations. The current Cadre of the Madison branch is very well-versed in the ideology, friendly, and charismatic. That said, the organization as a whole is Trotskyist, which means revolutionary potential is limited and some theory may be flawed. Socialists in general have gained the stereotype of being mostly college-aged kids, which makes up the demographic of this organization. Despite this, they work very heavily in workers' environments, attempting to promote Trotskyist Communism and organizing workers in a way that is beneficial to the revolutionary movement as a whole.
"The Communist party is the memory of the working class." -- Local RCA Organizer
My only interaction with this organization is when I saw them at the Capitol, and they gave me one of their books; Socialist Feminism and the New Women's Movement, a fantastic read which exposes liberal feminism's Sonderkommando-esque adherence to patriarchy as unacceptable and hypocritical, uplifting only what women who are willing to girlboss their boots onto the neck of less privileged women. The book makes an iron-clad argument for socialist feminism and the liberation of all women everywhere. A visit to their website shows that they have a newspaper which they sell much cheaper than the RCA, with $25 annually. That said, my one interaction with a member saw them use the term "Stalinist," not only in general but in the derogatory which is always the wrong kind of red flag, so their revolutionary potential, along with most organizations listed here, is limited.
"You're not a STALINIST, are you? 🤨🔎"-- Socialist Alternative Activist
What if the National Rifle Association (NRA) was socialist? You get the Socialist Rifle Association (SRA). They have plenty of qualified firearms instructors. They are the best place to go if you want to learn how to use a firearm. As such, they are less of an activist organization and more of a gun club of like-minded individuals who may feel alienated in traditional conservative firearms spaces. Rumor has it that they have a soup kitchen, but rumors are often false in the Madison political environment. I am under the impression that the Madison SRA no longer exists, having been absorbed into the Liberal Gun Club, but the SRA's Madison website is still active, so it's worth... a shot! Badum tss!
"Not a militia!"-- SRA Disclaimer
The Wisconsin "branch" (in quotations because all branches are independent) of the John Brown Gun Club is one of the top three most popular chapters in the movement, and probably has the most internet traffic of all JBGCs. This has been due to our community defense efforts, armed activism, past willingness to interact with media, international attention brought to one of our members in August of 2025, and our SEO which funnels most people looking into the JBGC to us in order to aid them in finding local branches. If you took the template of the SRA and removed the instructors and added a focus on political work, that would be us. Our primary activity is bi-weekly range days, but we occasionally launch special efforts or propaganda campaigns in the name of promoting class consciousness and bringing attention to critical issues such as the genocide in Palestine. We welcome all who share our vision, but operate on a Marxist-Leninist operational framework.
"The Wisconsin John Brown Gun Club, based in Madison, was founded to combat the rise in reactionary violence perpetrated against the most vulnerable members of our communities. Revolutionaries & activists, our goal is to be proactive in inspiring our community to take their defense into their own hands."-- Found on WI-JBGC Website
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