Victims testimony in the link. Left the Party a few months ago but refrained from posting about it out of “discipline/not wanting to hurt the movement” on hexbear dot net but this shit is simply beyond the pale. anyone thinking about joining a socialist org deserves to know about this horrific garbage.
Obviously there’s no quick fix to patriarchy orremoved culture but the rotten, misogynistic, apologist, opportunist Becker clique has got to go if this org is going to be anything more than a hotbed of abuse and exploitation. I genuinely loved and respected my rank and file comrades, this shit makes my blood boil.
Thanks for sharing this. Very curious what PSL members here think and feel about this and other allegations that have come out in the last year or so.
I had to step down last year from leadership because of a situation like this where I was extremely vulnerable, and I was asked not to discuss it with anyone. I was effectively cauterized as a threat to the party’s image instead of listened to, empathized with, and brought back into the fold with understanding and respect. The issues I faced came from a leader who then went on to fail and fail and fail, but faced no penalties. I felt ashamed and I felt scared, and I begged for the person who had betrayed my trust to face some kind of consequence, but she didn’t, and at great harm to the local branch.
It feels almost cathartic to see I wasn’t the only one, but also numb. I wanted to build the party we need. I helped to build our local branch from almost nothing. And when it was time for me to have the support I needed, I was hung out to dry.
I don’t know what the future looks like for the local branch, or for the PSL at large and the ML movement in the US; but I can only hope this is a stepping stone and a learning moment that the communist left will learn from, take seriously, and adapt to. That probably means forming a new pre-party cadre network? For better or for worse the PSL has generated and trained many wonderful cadre like myself, and we all deserve a political home with the correct political program but without this continued and genuinely systemic nonsense. Also, I worked with Chris, his shit tracks.
Whatever the fuck, I’m so disappointed, I only wish my case was a unique one. Maybe by even sharing all this I’m practically doxxing myself more than I already have, but just, DemCent can’t mean keeping shit like this going.
Chris made a big fucking show about his military style discipline when I worked with him, just for him to be implicated in TWO scandals in this very article??? Not to mention, like, knowing about this and not doing shit
My branch had someone like this too, and there have similarly been rumors of harmful behaviors floating around him. it’s a type of posture i feel a lot of the org’s rhetoric feeds into that can become an easy cudgel for people in the party with harmful tendencies and also against dissent and against questioning of the Party.
And also, deeply sorry that happened to you comrade
you deserve better than that and the fact that this is such an ingrained pattern in an org I really believed in makes me feel sick
Thank you, comrade. I hadn’t read the description, so… I didn’t realize you were a party member as well. I also didn’t want to post, or say, or do anything because of not wanting to harm the larger organization. Even in my personal life, I refrained from telling anybody what I went through for like a month. Even my closest friends, because I was told not to and I was so, I don’t know, terrified of just fucking up, you know?
I keep refreshing this page to like, I don’t know… commiserate with someone? I just hate that I’m like one of those people now, one of the people I was terrified of when I was on local branch leadership talking openly about this stuff because like I think everybody in the party deserves to have the party that is what we all dream of. Like dude, there are so many fucking awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome people that I’ve worked with, and I’m just so pissed that this comes from National every single fucking time.
I thought this was the one place where National and Locals worked hand in hand because that’s exactly what we need in this fucking evil empire. Yet these people fucked it up! These people fucked it up so much and I lost months of my life being completely apoplectic about what I went through.
I just still feel like numb, but pissed. I’m so pissed. I’m just so frustrated that I wasn’t the only one. I’m so frustrated that it wasn’t just the person I was talking with from national that I begged for help from. I kept telling myself first that it wasn’t that big of a deal and then that, you know, it was the tough call to make, but he made the right call. And then I told myself it was just him, you know, and not like a bigger overall issue. But it turns out it goes all the way up to the fucking Central Committee. The fucking Central Committee. Are you fucking kidding me? Are these guys like 12? I thought they built the fucking party that was like historically needed in this fucking moment. It turns out it really is just another place to get abused.
Which fucking pisses me off. I got so much flack from like the anarchist left here where I’m at, which is still pretty significant even with their shocking and horrifying history of sexual abuse scandals that I myself was also subject to. The way I saw it, I would be protected because what kind of communist organization would be so short-sighted to not protect victims? But it turns out, a organization I completely stuck my neck out for, an organization that I helped fucking build locally, just, it just, it just is the same thing. Democratic centralism literally is the tool for liberation, right?
One amongst many, but a pretty important one. And yet, and yet, I always hear how in October 7th, the party started planning and was ready to be in the streets on October 8th while the rest of the left was still paralyzed. That’s like the power of democratic centralism. But what the fuck is this shit? This isn’t democratic centralism. Hell, in my local fucking branch, our structure of organization has just completely, like, frozen so many valuable, hardworking people. I always have to hear about October 8th whenever there’s issues with democratic centralism or our decision-making structure in the party.
I can’t say it enough. I nearly lost my job because I was so disabled by my experience. Honestly, the worst part wasn’t even what I went through initially, but just the fact that it was covered up and I was forced to trickle-truth so much about it with the people that I loved in my life and trusted comrades, and still, the vast majority don’t even know what I went through. I read books about, like, understanding betrayal trauma and shit. I started out feeling numb, but the more I write, the more emotional I get. It feels like a fucking release. I honestly don’t blame anyone who’s put so much into the party. I did too. But it just sucks. That’s all I can say. It just really fucking sucks. I thought we were building the future, and I was wrong.
I’m sorry about your experiences well, comrade. It just hurts so much that we’re not alone.
this is fucking awful to read comrade, my heart breaks and my blood boils for you. like you i really did love and respect my rank and file comrades, that’s part of why how deep this rot goes infuriates me even more. everyone i knew/know through the Party deserves so much better than this systematically abusive leadership.
i’m so, so sorry that happened to you, but i wanted to thank you for sharing it as well. i’m glad you’re at least able to bring what happened to light here after being forced to keep it hidden by a bunch of abusive ass covering opportunists
I’m so sorry, that’s awful. For what it’s worth, you’d probably do a great job building a different org (e.g. founding one), not that you need to right now.
Thank you comrade
I’m sorry this happened to you, comrade. That’s horrendous and unacceptable.
It means a lot to hear that said. I honestly really did blame myself for a long time, but, having it written enough of it down and then getting pretty much universally horrified reactions has made me feel a little less crazy. I’ve shared both more and less here than I even have with my closest friends and comrades in real life so… Thank you
Tragically, self-blame is common, though it’s by no means correct. I know you already have come to accept that, but I just want to affirm that point even more. Any “communist” that victim blames doesn’t care about either the org nor the victim, the health of the org requires that it properly holds abusers accountable and protects its people.
This is not going by without issue or response internally. It highlights many long term problems with the Becker leadership clique that have been held up as criticisms by many party members for years. It was also a massive violation of trust within the party - Eugene was the face of the party and its political leadership much more than the Beckers for years, and he essentially just poofed away with a shallow lie about why. That meant the membership was broadly deceived about the real situation and went on to vote for him to the Central Committee again, which surely would not have happened if this was known.
The party is long overdue for a major clearing out of the Central Committee and comrades are working hard towards that end. The organization is extremely strong and extremely effective at producing communist cadre - it would not be difficult to raise up a new group of leaders more suited to the task and replace the old boys club (which has lots of women in this case).
This was already a year of major internal changes to improve democratization and reduce centralization in the party because of issues like this, but they now need to rise to the highest levels of the org. I’m optimistic we’ll clear out where we need to and come out a more capable revolutionary vanguard, cause sure as shit no one else is up for it.
thank you for sharing your perspective. it makes sense that the grassroots are working to renew the leadership.
as a former member who left over something far less severe (the deeply suspect way leadership handled the split a few months back, plus a creeping feeling that rank and file - including myself - were just seen as employees to be exploited by a bunch of shitty bosses), I think PSL is very much a not-actually-democratic centralist org where dissent - even in supposedly dedicated spaces for it - is seen as a threat and is squashed and where leadership expects blind deference and obedience.
this is the exact kind of environment that breeds horrific coverups like this one and which suffocates accountability for harmful behavior and makes it impossible to protect and genuinely care for victims. like i said in my post, this type of harm is obviously a society-wide issue under patriarchy that doesn’t have an easy quick fix, but removing this ossified, corrupt leadership clique would be a necessary precondition in the specific context of PSL.