The Main Political Report: An Analysis of the Moment
In the Main Political Reports (MPRs) that Liberation Road prepares before each of our triennial congresses, we outline major societal contradictions and complexities of a given moment, while trying not to get too bogged down in the particular. The 2019 report was written in the winter of 2018/spring of 2019, and while it does not include up-to-the-minute coverage of events since then, we believe that its major conclusions remain valid. The analysis in this report is the basis for Liberation Road’s strategy, which is presented in a companion document.
This MPR uses the united front framework to update our understanding of shifts in the balance of forces and in key trends and alignments, mainly in the U.S. but also internationally. (The United Front policy is a framework that allows us to methodically and in an organized way assess the political actions and relationships of various social sectors.) Our analysis of U.S. context will be followed by a shorter section analyzing “New Developments in Capital Accumulation and World Politics.” It will look briefly at rivalries among capitalists and global powers, hotspots for current and likely future U.S. aggression, and progressive movements globally.
The Basis for Our Strategy
The main focus of this document is on our common enemy, the New Confederacy, its agenda, and the emerging united front that is fighting the New Confederacy. We will examine how the New Confederacy has developed under the Trump campaign and presidency. In addition, we will look at how the people’s forces have risen to meet this threat: which groups have come together in resistance to Trump and his policies, with what challenges and outcomes so far. Who are the advanced elements, and how are they organizing to push beyond resistance to building power?
We invite you to share your response to this analysis. The full 2019 Main Political Report can be found here.
Liberation Road’s 2019-2022 Strategic Orientation
Our Key Tasks
Liberation Road’s Strategic Orientation rests on two key tasks:
- As in our 2016-2018 strategy, we still hold that the key intervention for continued advancement of the struggle and building the united front is developing the strategic alliance of the working class – of all nationalities, races and languages – with mass movements based in communities of color through the building of independent political organization.
- Additionally, given the presence of the Left electoral trend we should commit to an effort to further cohere and consolidate that trend.
Our central task for the previous three years was uniting the advanced around the NEED for independent political organization and power. In that period, a growing number of individuals and organizations have come to agree with our assessment that:
“. . . without an independent political instrument, it would be impossible to lead the struggle through its various twists and turns and at the same time maintain initiative and carry out struggles against neoliberal Democrats within the united front. Building this independent political organization is essentially building the capacity of the strategic alliance to assert its leadership.”
Given that progress, we are now moving to focus on BUILDING independent political power and independent political organization with the advanced fighters from our mass work and the rest of the left.
It remains important for us to link building political power with building a movement towards Socialism—which is a more visible and accepted idea in this period–and to let our Socialist flag fly as a beacon to attract the growing number of radicalized individuals and organizers.
We invite you to share your response to this. The full 2019-2022 Strategic Orientation document can be found here.