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	Workers Vanguard No. 1018	22 February 2013

FRSO: Curiouser and Curiouser

(Editorial Note)

(Young Spartacus pages)

Readers of Young Spartacus may recall our article “Freedom Road Socialist Organization: Democrats’ Loyal Maoists” (WV No. 1004, 8 June 2012), in which we nailed the New York-based FRSO for, among other things, its outright support to Obama in the 2008 elections. That article inspired some spirited cyberspace exchanges between FRSO honcho Eric Odell and various others, not including ourselves. Odell “clarified” in a 14 June 2012 posting that: “I don’t think it’s correct to say that the FRSO ‘in the main’ supported Obama. I think the majority of individuals on the National Executive Committee at the time did, but within the organization as a whole people were all over the place on the question.” So, “just” the leadership (Odell was on the NEC as of June 2012) and the press of the FRSO, then, called for the election of Obama as the imperialist Commander-in-Chief. In fact, the FRSO was so pleased with Obama’s win that it counseled its readers to: “Savor the Victory, Get Right to Work” (freedomroad.org, 11 November 2008).

Publicly, the FRSO never responded to our polemic, and we frankly never expected them to. But recently, while a member of our YSp editorial team was wading through the FRSO’s Web site in search of coverage of the 2012 elections, she was struck by the lack of it. (We did notice that their former comrades of the Midwest-based FRSO/Fight Back! remained consistent in their support to Obama, urging “It is better to vote against Romney, especially in swing states” [fightbacknews.org, 12 August 2012].)

With no line article, how could the masses (or the FRSO membership) know what to do on election day? Why did the FRSO go from its 2008 hailing of “Obama’s Americanism” as a “more favorable terrain for the struggles of the working class and the oppressed” to...no line in 2012? Will the FRSO enlighten us? Inquiring minds want to know.