I originally wrote this partly in reaction over the internal split within the Socialist Workers Party in Britain months ago over a leading member going unpunished after multiple allegations of rape have been placed on the member. I then saw members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation laugh about the SWP controversy and I was shocked at the hypocrisy…since the PSL has its own skeletons in the closet relating to sexism as well.
I personally know this from the first internal branch meeting I attended on November 2010, in which branch leader, Ian Thompson led a 20-30 minute long character assassination explaining why it was such a good thing that a former leading member quit.
Although, there were no allegations of rape within the PSL, there were multiple cases of sexual harassment of a leading male member from the Los Angeles branch, Carlos Alvarez who ended up scaring several female members away from the party. This was after entering into several relationships with fellow members that would regularly end with bad breakups which eventually caused the branch leadership to sanction him and require that he not enter into another relationship with another member for at least three years, but he broke that rule right away.
Even after such backwards behavior, he was allowed to represent the party through an electoral campaign, running under the Peace and Freedom Party ticket for governor of California (the PFP is an organization the PSL would degrade themselves for in attempts to gain ballot status regularly). Alvarez was most likely chosen to run due to coming from multiple oppressed backgrounds, which was something they often liked to disproportionately exploit to portray themselves as the party of diversity.
While he did occasionally travel far for his campaign, he did show signs very early on that he would betray the party through laziness and often had to be forced to do anything for party’s campaign in which he was the face. The campaign ended up with months of inactivity from its own candidate. I know electoral campaigns for socialist organizations are just party building exercises, but that level of inactivity is just ridiculous. While there was a period in which he was very active, he just wasn’t contributing to the party most of that year.
He also got into a physical fight with a member from the D.C. branch and fell asleep on a table at the San Francisco branch while comrades were doing work on the campaign. Despite this behavior, the party tried hard to hold on to his membership and used national funds to fly in Brian Becker to talk some sense into him. Ultimately, Alvarez still didn’t want to be an active member so eventually someone from the L.A. branch leadership called him up and finally asked him directly, “Do you still want to be in the party?” Alvarez replied, “No.” The important thing to point out was that he was asked if he wanted stay. So technically…he quit. He was not expelled. They avoided a similar SWP controversy just because they lucked out and the leading member quit on his own.
When I attended this internal meeting, I felt like a ton of bricks were dropped on me. I was around the party for a long time before joining and had noticed that I wasn’t seeing Carlos around as much, but I figured he was out doing party work in another city or something. It was shocking to learn all of those details for the first time, at my first internal meeting. There were definitely other members who were shocked as well, as some of them were in tears.
I reconsidered whether I really wanted to continue on in this organization, but since he was gone, I thought the party was headed in a new and more disciplined direction. So much of the speech was emphasizing the misdeeds of Carlos, it was almost a verbal sleight of hand, almost making it seem as if it was the PSL expelling him. Plus, I had just recently joined at the time. When I commit to something, I’m all in. Joining something and then quitting a week later was just incomprehensible to me at the time. But I was wrong in staying because I wanted to believe in the party.
Conveniently, this internal meeting happened to be scheduled a week after the election for California Governor. I’m sure they would have trusted the rank and file members to vote for Carlos and the timing of these revelations must have been mere coincidence and nothing more.
The meeting was also a week before the National Conference on Socialism in which members from all over the country would travel to the event hosted in Los Angeles. We were told to keep it secret from members of other branches and never to speak of it or of Carlos again. If asked about his whereabouts from another member, to simply say that his politics have changed and we’ve gone our separate ways. This was also reaffirmed by Sarah Sloan, a very high ranking member from the D.C. branch. While this was a Los Angeles branch secret, Ian Thompson and Sarah Sloan are both high ranking members at the national level.
Honesty has always been very important to me and that requirement always left a lingering pain within me. This is another issue that socialist organizations should sincerely consider, especially if they’re aligned with the “mass line” approach. How are you going to organize masses of working class people from all walks of life, if requiring lies and deceit in any way is a regular part of your organization? I’m sure that a more convoluted definition of what constitutes a complete truth and what is a complete lie, may suffice for some, but if people will have to choose between their religion/personal values or and their micro-sect, that definition will likely get dismissed by most.
As Marxists and leftists in general, we’re not only supposed to be above sexism on an individual level, but it is absolutely paramount that we are above that on an organizational level. The PSL however, continues to regularly display deficiencies as a “vanguard” organization in responding to backwards behavior within its own ranks.
[…] By John Hernandez […]
I left PSL / was purged in 2008. You’re better off without them.
“Your mind is so narrow
That it’s no surprise
If you fell on a pin
You’d be blind in both eyes.”
–Steppenwolf
Thank you. My health has improved being free of their exploitation, that’s for sure.
I recently left the PSL this year after raising issues to national about a rape incident in Sacramento. They used racial stereotypes to assassinate my character and bullied me out of the party via an interrogation by Gloria La Riva and Sarah Sloan.
They lied to my comrades in Sacramento some of who I brought around the party and tried to alienate me from them even though some of those people had actually been victimized by the person I was reporting.
Since this incident, in January, many other women and even a few men have left the party after me. Having heard about the incident and wanting no part of a party that condones such behavior and responds to in in this manner.
The PSL is full of shit to put things bluntly.
Solidarity to the author of this post and many others who too joined the PSL thinking it would be a true force of revolution, only to leave disenchanted and a victim of abuse.
We can’t let a dysfunctional party alienate us from the fight for socialism, which is why we must do what we can where we can.
En solidaridad,
Autumn.
Wow. I had the foresight to know that the party would not have the infrastructure to handle a similar scandal as the British SWP, but exactly the same? Wow. I knew the potential was there, it’s still shocking to have it confirmed that it actually happened.
I’m so sorry you went through that. I know of other former members who went through similar types of character assassination. You’re not the first to experience it and unfortunately, considering the PSL’s revolving door of membership…you probably won’t be the last.
I am happy to see this post because it is always important to criticize our comrades. That being said, actions taken by an individual tht may cause undue harm to a national and powerful organization must be handled with utmost caution for the sake of everyone involved. I have been with the party for several years and in my experience, the PSL offers a resolute and necessary line on mass action and struggle… We don’t slander political organizations because of a lethargic/(unbeknownst) sexist member.
Honestly the PSL is guilty of so many crimes against our class that I see no legitimacy in that organization whatsoever.
There’s a stark difference in criticizing a party for the actions of one individual acting as an individual, it’s a whole ‘nother thing to dismiss an organization covering up rape on a national level and moving rapists/sexists from branch to branch INSTEAD of addressing the issue and putting together a protocol to address future incidents that stands with victims instead of re-victimizing them.
This is not slander. There is no room for rape apologism within a truly revolutionary organization.