Preface: Why We Organize
The world we live in today is defined by crisis. Every day, workers everywhere deal with poverty, war,
climate disasters, and the lasting violence of colonialism. The system we live under — capitalism —
isn’t just about money. It’s a global system built on racism, patriarchy, and class domination. It makes
its profits through war, destroying the planet, exploiting impoverished countries, and keeping regular
people isolated, exhausted, and disconnected from each other.
The people at the top — the capitalist class — use borders, cops, prisons, armies, and oppression to
protect their power and wealth. At the heart of this system is a fight between those who own and
control everything, and those of us who are forced to work, struggle, and survive under their rule.
Issues like racism, patriarchy, and imperialism aren’t just side issues — they’re tools that help keep this system going. That’s why real liberation requires them all on, together. The fight for working-class
freedom is inseparable from the fight for the freedom of all oppressed people, no matter their race,
gender, sexuality, nationality, or ability.
Marxism is not dusty list of tomes filled with 19th and 20th century assumptions. Marxism is a tool that
allows us to understand the world around us, figure out why things are the way they are, and — most
importantly — how we can change them. It develops by paying attention to what’s happening now —
climate breakdown, forced migration, mental health crises, and the rise of organized fascist violence — and by learning from each other through collective struggle against these systems.
What follows are the basic principles that we organize around. They aren’t meant to be the final word,
but rather a starting place — principles to build on, test in the real world, and sharpen together through our collective struggle for the liberation of the working class.
Starting Points of Unity
1. Marxism Is a Tool, Not a Religion
We use Marxism as a method to understand how the world works and how to change it — not as a
fixed set of rules. The world changes, so we must change too. We must study the world around around us and constantly challenging our own assumptions.
2. Personal Struggle Is Political and Institutional
Trauma, anxiety, loneliness, and depression are not just personal problems. They are the result of being forced to live in a system built on exploitation, control, and hatred. Only by supporting each other and addressing harm both inside and outside our movement can we fight against exploitation and abuse.
3. Real Democracy Means Shared Power and Unity in Action
Democracy in a revolutionary organization falls apart when a few people hoard power while the rest
are expected to fall in line. Real democracy means open discussion, honest disagreement, and decisions made together. But once a decision’s made, we move as one.
4. Don’t Get Lost in Labels
We care about what works, not about chasing political labels or winning purity contests. Theory should come from practice, and politics should be about uniting people to fight for real material change — not dividing them into cliques and subcultures.
5. We Organize for Revolution, Not Clout
We aren’t here to reenact past revolutions, or build careers off struggle. Our goal is to build real,
organized, working-class power to confront capitalism, patriarchy, white supremacy, imperialism, and
ecological collapse.
6. Ideas Have to Be Tested in Action
No idea matters if it doesn’t work in real life. Our politics must be developed through organizing in our workplaces, neighborhoods, and communities; in our unions, mutual-aid networks, student groups, and parties.
7. Listen First, Then Speak
Revolutionary politics come from listening to the people most impacted by oppression. Real revolutionary strategy comes from those struggles — not from detached theory or self-appointed
experts. We stay grounded in the communities we fight alongside and take direction from their
experiences and knowledge.
8. Build Healthy and Supportive Organizing
We reject all forms of abuse and harassment. Abuse and harassment does nothing but disrupt our
work, undermine our trust in each other, and sabotage our movement, often from above. A revolutionary movement worth building has to reflect the world we’re fighting for — a world where people look out for each other and abuse isn’t tolerated.
9. The Working Class Must Seize State Power
To bring about socialism and end capitalist class rule, the working class must seize and transform state power. It is not enough to inherit the existing machinery of the state, nor to replicate the systems of capitalist rule that we seek to abolish. We must build new democratic structures that empower working people, dismantle oppression at its roots, and prepare the transition to socialism.
Worker’s of the World Unite!
