Liberation Road is a revolutionary communist organization based in the United States. Prior to 2019, it was known as Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO). FRSO was founded in 1985, but the organization split in 1999, with each faction using the same name. Today, there exist two separate groups, Liberation Road, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization, which is the group that split from the original FRSO. ¹

Liberation Road focuses the bulk of their work in the Black and Chicano movements, immigrant rights, LGBT rights, women’s rights, as well as labor union issues. ²  Liberal Road involves itself in local left-wing electoral politics, in its self-proclaimed fight “against white-supremacist imperialism.” In most cases, the group supports Democratic and Democratic-aligned candidates, but it is working to create a movement outside of the current two-party system. ³

Founding and History

In 1985, the Proletarian Unity League and the Revolutionary Workers Headquarters, two organizations created after the collapse of the New Communist Movement, formed Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO). In 1986, the Organization for Revolutionary Unity merged with FRSO, and in 1989, the Amilcar Cabral/Paul Robeson Collective, a group of Black Marxist-Leninists, joined FRSO. The Socialist Organizing Network, a group that formed from the remnants of the disbanded League for Revolutionary Struggle, merged with FRSO in 1995. ⁴

In the 1980s, FRSO supported the National Rainbow Coalition, an organization founded by Jesse Jackson, designed to be independent of the Democratic Party, which pushed for a radical agenda. ⁵

In 1999, after more than a decade of conflicting ideology within the group, a minority of members and leaders based in the Midwest split from the main group, but kept the name Freedom Road Socialist Organization. The conflict was centered on the concept of “left refoundation,” which stressed collaboration between all radical-left groups, and was adopted by Liberation Road. The splinter FRSO instead maintained a traditional party-building approach, using a recruiting style that was more in line with Marxist-Leninist methods. ⁶

Part of Liberation Road’s strategy to “refound” the left involves building an independent political organization in opposition of what the group calls the “New Confederacy.” The New Confederacy is viewed as the united front of forces that uses “white supremacy, cisheteropatriarchy, and austerity” to rally the white working class. Liberation Road claims that the primary political instrument of the New Confederacy is the Republican Party. ⁷

Issues

Liberation Road focuses the bulk of their work in the Black and Chicano movements, immigrant rights, LGBT rights, women’s rights, as well as labor issues, especially as related to unions. In that capacity, Liberation Road claims credit for helping found the Women’s Commission of Black Workers for Justice, and claims to be involved in Pride at Work. ⁸

Liberal Road involves itself in leftist electoral politics, in its self-proclaimed fight “against white-supremacist imperialism.” In most cases, the group focuses on local electoral campaigns, and supports Democratic candidates, but it is working to create a movement outside of the current two-party system, especially as seen in the context of left refoundation. ⁹

1. “Our History.” Liberation Road. Accessed January 19, 2020. https://roadtoliberation.org/about-us/our-history/.
2. “Frequently Asked Questions.” Liberation Road. Accessed January 19, 2020. https://roadtoliberation.org/about-us/faqs-frso/.
3. “Frequently Asked Questions.” Liberation Road. Accessed January 19, 2020. https://roadtoliberation.org/about-us/faqs-frso/.
4. “Our History.” Liberation Road. Accessed January 19, 2020. https://roadtoliberation.org/about-us/our-history/.
5. “Our History.” Liberation Road. Accessed January 19, 2020. https://roadtoliberation.org/about-us/our-history/.
6. “Our History.” Liberation Road. Accessed January 19, 2020. https://roadtoliberation.org/about-us/our-history/.
7. “What’s In a Name: Liberation Gets Us to Freedom.” Liberation Road. Accessed January 19, 2020. https://roadtoliberation.org/whats-in-a-name/.
8. “Frequently Asked Questions.” Liberation Road. Accessed January 19, 2020. https://roadtoliberation.org/about-us/faqs-frso/.
9. “Frequently Asked Questions.” Liberation Road. Accessed January 19, 2020. https://roadtoliberation.org/about-us/faqs-frso/.