Many think that fighting against capitalism feels a lot like throwing pebbles at a tidal wave. How can I, alone, do anything to stop all of the injustices I see being committed? We see our neighbors being picked up and deported by ICE, police murdering and imprisoning us, debts that lock us into indentured servitude, global surveillance of every minute detail of our lives, endless wars and imperialism, ecological destruction, and literal slave labor camps. Our rents, food costs, and debts are going up, and our incomes have stagnated. The media, and everything around us seems apathetic, complacent, and oblivious. Eight men currently control about half the world's wealth. Their share is growing daily, and will reach a conclusion obvious to anyone who's played monopoly before. With only our labor to sell, and the demand for that labor decreasing, things seem oppressively bleak.
Here's the thing: You are not alone. In fact, we wage workers are the majority. The ruling class of absentee owners makes up a tiny minority of your city's population. Often invisible to us, is the fact that we as wage workers are surrounded by comrades who share our same basic interests. Some hold more prejudices than others, but all are deserving of a comfortable life, free from fears about our health and living situation. We are impoverished by an imposed artificial scarcity, a mal-allocation of the things we need to survive. World food production and housing already surpasses global needs, yet 1 out of every 7 US citizens needs to visit food banks to survive. In the UK there are 10x more houses than homeless families. Our healthcare and other social services, which are in some cases ample, are increasingly being privatized and gutted. We know that by simply organizing and planning for human needs rather than private profit, we can solve our societal problems. We have but to shake off these mooching, leeching, capitalist parasites, like a dog shaking off fleas.
How do we get there, how do we win? We join anti-capitalist organizations.
Capitalists retain their power through the strategy of divide and conquer. Scapegoating hasn't gone out of style; the tactic has always been to blame certain races, sexes, religions, activists, and transform them into demons causing all the world's problems, so people won't point their fingers upwards. The isolating individualism upheld by them pervades all aspects of our lives: we often live in isolated housing, we're actively told not to organize or form unions, the news tells us to be afraid of our neighbors... everything (even human life) has value only as a unit of individual consumption. Their ruling-class worldview becomes the accepted, the natural, the inevitable norm that is good for all, rather than one them benefits the ruling minority only. Profit and the entrepeneurial capitalist innovator become our new Gods, hiding the truth about our material conditions. There is a finite number of hours of labor that can be done in a given day, and most of it is going to absentee owners. Or as Eugene Debs put it, that "millions of men and women work all the days of their lives and secure barely enough for a wretched existence."
Anti-Capitalist organization always has, and always will be, our only hope, and the only real threat to Capitalism. Malcolm X keenly stated that the hand becomes a weapon only when our fingers are joined together into a fist.
Our task is the same as it always has been: to agitate, educate, organize, and join leftist organizations in our cities.
Our pessimism or optimism is irrelevant: we have no choice but to organize for the overthrow of Capitalism; anything less results in a destruction of the environment and our lives. We have no time to waste, capitalists prefer our pacification and death, to our organized resistance. The police state is here, and no amount of pacifist resistance will threaten it.
Lastly, for those who think that broadcasting a list like this (potentially to our enemies) harms the cause of anti-capitalism. Note that:
- All of these organizations have (or should have) vetting processes in place for new members.
- These are all completely legal, above ground organizations. Many of them even do armed organizing where it is legal to do so.
- Socialists disdain to conceal our aims; Reactionaries are a vocal minority that are given a loudspeaker by the capitalist media, but workers and those that believe in worker power have always outnumbered them.
This list is a living document; it will be updated as necessary. Feel free to contact me to add to this, fork this list, or create your own versions.
| Name | Tendency | Contact | Locations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Party for Socialism and Liberation | Marxist-Leninist | FB Twitter | US - Baltimore, Maryland; Boston, Massachusetts; Miami, Florida; New Haven, Connecticut New Paltz and New York City (Harlem), New York; Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Sacramento, San Diego, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Los Angeles and the Inland Empire in California; Phoenix, Arizona; Seattle, Washington; Austin, Texas; Chicago, Illinois; Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and St. Louis, Missouri |
| Socialist Party USA | Multi-tendency | FB Twitter | US - New York City, New York; Washington, DC; Maine; Boston, Massachusetts; Montclair, New Jersey; Carrboro, North Carolina; Memphis, Tennessee; Los Angeles, Moorpark, California; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Puget Sound Region, Washington; Jackson, Mississippi; Golden Crescent Area, Rio Grande Valley, Houston, Texas; Salt Lake City, Utah; Green Bay Area, Wisconsin; St. Louis, Missouri; Red River Region, Minnesota; Michigan; Indianapolis, Indiana; Chicago, Sauk Valley, Illinois; Denver, Colorado; |
| Socialist Alternative | Trotskyist | FB Twitter | US - New York City, New York; Boston, Massachusetts; Tampa, Florida; Philadelphia, Pennslyvania; Oakland, California; Seattle, Washington; New Orleans, Louisiana; Madison, Mobile, Alabama; Austin, Texas; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Chicago, Illinois |
| Redneck Revolt / John Brown Gun Club | Armed Anti-Capitalist | Contact FB Twitter | US - Phoenix,Arizona;Los Angeles,California;San Diego,California;San Francisco,California;Colorado Springs,Colorado;Fort Collins,Colorado;Gainesville,Florida;Miami,Florida;Orlando,Florida;Tampa,Florida ;Nez Perce,Idaho;Wichita,Kansas;New Orleans,Louisiana;Brunswick,Maine;Grand Rapids,Michigan;Traverse City,Michigan;Ypsilanti,Michigan;Lansing ,Michigan;Eau Claire,Michigan;Minneapolis,Minnesota;Rolla,Missouri;Columbia,Missouri;Springfield,Missouri;Albany,New York;Palmyra,New York;Long Island,New York;Redwood,New York;High Point,North Carolina;Columbus,Ohio;Astoria,Oregon;Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania;Providence,Rhode Island;Chattanooga,Tennessee;Houston,Texas;Ogden,Utah;Montpelier,Vermont;Seattle,Washington; |
| Socialist Rifle Association | Armed Anti-Capitalist | Contact FB Twitter | US - Spokane, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Sacramento, California; Los Angeles, California; Flagstaff, Arizona; Northwest Kansas; Wichita, Kansas; Tulsa Oklahoma; Dallas, Texas; Northwoods, Wisconsin; Madison, Wisconsin; Pittsburgh, PA; Northeast Georgia; Charleston, South Carolina; Southwest Florida; |
| Industrial Workers of the World | Unionism | Contact FB Twitter | US - Every state |
| Workers World Party | Marxist-Leninist | FB Twitter | US - Boston, Massachusetts; Buffalo, New York, and Rochester, New York; Charlotte and Durham, North Carolina; Cleveland, Ohio; Huntington and Morgantown, West Virginia; Lexington, Kentucky; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Virginia; Washington, DC; Los Angeles and San Diego, California; Houston, Texas; Chicago, Illinois; Cleveland, Ohio; Denver, Colorado; Detroit, Michigan; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; |
| Black Rose Anarchist Federation | Anarcho-communist | FB | US - Austin Texas; Boston, MA; Burlington, Vermont; Central Illinois; Chicago, Illinois; Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; New York City, NY; Philadelphia, PA; Portland, Oregon; Providence, Rhode Island; Richmond, Virginia; San Antonia, Texas; Seattle, Washington; Denver, Colorado; Durham, North Carolina; |
| International Socialist Organization | Trotskyist | FB Twitter | US - CA, Los Angeles; CA, NorCal, Berkeley; CA, Northern California (District); CA, San Diego; CO, Boulder; CO, Denver; CT, New Haven; CT, New London; DC, Washington DC; FL, Orlando; FL, South Florida; GA, Georgia State University; IL, Chicago (District); IL, Chicago, DePaul; IL, Chicago, Loyola; IL, Chicago, University of Chicago; IL, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana; KS, Lawrence; MA, Boston; MA, Western Mass; MD, University of Maryland; ME, Portland; MI, Mount Pleasant; MN, Twin Cities; MO, University of Missouri; NC, Asheville; NC, Boone; NC, Greensboro; NC, Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill/UNC; NC, Winston-Salem; NY, NYC, Brooklyn; NY, NYC, Brooklyn College; NY, NYC, Columbia University; NY, NYC, Downtown Manhattan; NY, NYC, Hunter College; NY, NYC, Lehman College; NY, NYC, New York City (District); NY, NYC, New York University; NY, Potsdam; NY, Rochester; NY, Syracuse; OH, Athens; OH, Columbus; OH, Dayton; OH, Toledo; OR, Portland; PA, Philadelphia; PA, Pittsburgh; TX, Austin; TX, Denton; TX, Denton, Texas Women’s University; VT, Burlington/University of Vermont; VT, UVM; WA, Seattle; WA, University of Washington; WI, Madison; WI, Milwaukee; |
| Freedom Road Socialist Organization | Marxist-Leninist | Contact FB | US |
| Huey P Newton Gun Club | Black Empowerment | US - Dallas, Texas | |
| Trigger Warning Queer and Trans Gun Club | Queer / Trans Empowerment | FB | US - Rochester, New York |
| Party of Communists USA | Marxist-Leninist | FB | US - New York City, New York; Atlanta, Georgia |
| Maoist Internationalist Movement | Maoist | Contact FB | US |
| Red Guards of Los Angeles | Maoist | FB Twitter | US - Los Angeles, CA |
| Red Guards of Austin | Maoist | Contact | US - Austin, Texas |
| Red Guards of Charlotte | Maoist | FB | US - Charlotte, North Carolina |
| Red Guards of Kansas City | Maoist | FB | US - Kansas City, MO |
| Red Guards of Pittsburgh | Maoist | FB | US - Pittsburgh, PA |
| New Black Panther Party | Black Empowerment | FB | US - Atlanta GA |
| Green Party | Eco-Socialism | FB | US |
| American Party of Labor | Marxist-Leninist, Hoxhaist | FB | US |
| Progressive Labor Party | Marxist-Leninist | US | |
| Peace and Freedom Party | Eco-Socialism / Trotskyism | FB | US |
| Socialist Action | Trotskyism | FB | US |
| Socialist Labor Party | De Leonism | De Leon literature | US |
| Democratic Socialists of America | Democratic Socialism / Reformism | FB Twitter | US |
| Socialist Workers Party | Multi-tendency | about | US |
| Liberty Union Party | Multi-tendency | FB | US |
| Workers' Solidarity Alliance | Anarcho-Syndicalism | FB | US |
| Rose City Antifa | Multi-tendency | FB | US - Portland, Oregon |
| Revolutionary Communist Party | Maoist | FB | US |