this post was submitted on 19 Apr 2025
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I've attributed their success to three things. They aggressively weed out any potential cops or feds. I've never seen any organization take it this seriously. If they even catch a whiff of cop on you, then you're out.
The second part of it is probably money. Party dues are very high compared to other orgs, so they have a bunch of money to work with.
Third is how willing they are to work with other groups. I know PSL and Marxist orgs in general have a reputation for being rigid and controlling, but that hasn't been my impression at all. Branches are frequently in coalition with other local groups, like my local PSL coordinates with Mexico's MORENA and several indigenous/latino groups.
PSL coordinates with MORENA??? This is the first time I’ve heard that, extremely based
Yeah, at least the ones around where I live do that. I live in a very Latino large city.
PSL branches have a bunch of local autonomy and I'm not totally sure how they agree on who to coordinate with, but they do talk and plan stuff with other groups. Like one PSL member I used to know around here was also a Brown Beret (Chicano movement) and another was some kind of student group leader
Oh I’m sure there was brown beret integration where I tried to join, San Diego, I just didn’t know they were international. Insanely based though
PSL send a delegation to a Pan-Africanist conference in Niger. They definitely have international connections.
I would be quite interested in how they approach this, but I understand that some of it may be well guarded information. I think British orgs in particular have a very rough time with it. We have evidence of reading circles with as few as 4 members being infiltrated by full blown intel agency spies, let alone cops. The approach here seems to be to get in as early as possible so that they have early-bird trust.
Sorry I meant weed out cops/feds. My observation from the outside is they try to get to know the person well and put candidates through several layers of probation before letting them assume a leadership role. lots of reading and studying.
I'm not sure what else they do but it seems to work. Part of it might be an attitude thing. Like members always have it in mind to be cautious about cops that it makes cops wary about even trying.
We actively study COINTELPRO and other infiltration/repression tactics. And the way our decision making works and our meetings are structured means the "waste time on pointless arguments" tactic simply flounders and goes nowhere. If you derail our meetings with dumb arguments over the line, you're out of the party. We got shit to do.
Even with high security culture, it is extremely likely PSL is infiltrated at some level. I'm not saying that to discourage people from joining PSL or so members stop participating, but that should always be kept in the back of our minds as a possibility with ML organizations in this country. We shouldn't get too comfortably certain about having prevented infiltration. Even Stalin didn't catch Khrushchev, if Furr is right. Be cautious, Comrade.
Oh yeah I'm sure there are fed informants or cops. But that infiltration hasn't manifested into anything like arrests, splitting, leaks, or whatever typical stuff you'd expect. Yet.
Or at least, there's nothing public that I know about. There used to be a group of "Maoists" around here who would show up to PSL events to rip down posters or confiscate signs. I assume they were cops. And I'm guessing a lot of branches have problems with informant troublemakers who try to derail projects or stir the pot.
What's the evidence, or how was that found out? If you can say
Court cases with information about when the spies joined the groups. I don't remember the exact case right now, I suspect it was an environmental org that spun off a small marxist reading group, one of the big cases had spies sleeping with and even having children with members of orgs.
I remember listening to an interview with a guy who was spied on in one of those groups, I forget which podcast though... Maybe TrueAnon or QAA?