a communist organization
Firebrand is committed to revolutionary socialism, internationalism, liberation from all oppression, and the political independence of the working class. We stand in the tradition of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Trotsky, and Luxemburg. We intervene in social movements and labor struggles to the best of our ability, in order to advance those fights and win our fellow fighters to revolutionary conclusions.
Our Latest Writing
Andor and the Politics of Revolution
Andor is a breath of fresh air for the Star Wars franchise, and for television in general. A prequel to 2016’s Rogue One, the Disney+ series is unexpectedly one of the most compelling and gripping in memory. Its combination of dark, dystopian mood, wrenching suspense,...
Report Back from the Socialism Conference in Sydney
Earlier this month, I attended Socialist Alternative’s Socialism conference in Sydney. For readers outside Australia, I’m referring to the Australian Trotskyist organization (which was a cousin of sorts to the ISO in the US before the latter disbanded), and not the...
Teamster members at UPS: Vote No! Vote to strike!
The July 25 tentative agreement (TA) comes up short. Gains like the gradual addition of air conditioning in package cars, no forced overtime for drivers on days off, the end of two-tier classification for 22.4 drivers, protections against subcontracting, and partial...
Is there a Labor Aristocracy in the US? A Response to Left Voice
“There really is an upper layer of the working class, supported by a thousand kinds of ‘direct and indirect’ benefits flowing from imperialism. Its starkest expression is a massive labor bureaucracy that’s becoming more integrated into the imperialist capitalist...
A Neurodivergent Case for Abolitionism
In the eyes of the capitalist ruling class, workers are deprived of their humanity and are reduced to profit-producing machines. Our basic human needs are locked behind a paywall, leaving us the choices of starving to death or purchasing our right to survive another...
Is the US Still a Settler Colony?
Too often morality is the only guide to politics on the left. Oppression and exploitation are obviously disgusting — however, overcoming them takes analysis and strategy, not just outrage. One example of this is the widespread dismissal of workers in the United States...
Years for the Locust? Part Two: Leninism Deformed
Continued from Part One After my first experiences with the International Socialist Organization (ISO), what convinced me to join was the sincere belief that my views and actions mattered. After meeting up with some comrades from the organization in early 2011, we...
Communist Perspectives for Firebrand — Part One: A World in Crisis
A revolt contained, but polarization continues In 2020, we witnessed the biggest wave of protests in the United States in the past 50 years, if not ever. The George Floyd rebellion was the highest phase so far in a long series of cycles in the recent Black liberation...
What Kind of Abolitionism? Can Prisons and Police be Abolished under Capitalism?
The anti-racist and anti-police brutality movement has turned toward abolitionism in recent years. It has called for the complete elimination of police and prisons. This is a radical turn and to be applauded, but it does have its problems. One of the key arguments for...
Years for the Locust? Part One: The Myth of the Microsect
Introduction “Trotsky considers the opportunist current and its leaders somewhat as victims of circumstances… There is no doubt that opportunism, like all else in the world has its objective causes in external conditions. But in politics more than anywhere else, to...
In Defense of Revolutionary Organization
What kind of party do we need? Or what kind of party should revolutionary socialists be focused on building? I want to propose some answers to the organizational questions we’re facing. But more than that, I want to invite those who are asking the same questions to...
Miseries of the Middle Class: A Review of David Roediger’s The Sinking Middle Class
Every year I teach an Introduction to Cultural Anthropology course. In the section in which we focus on socioeconomic class, I ask my students to read and interpret the famous first pages of the Communist Manifesto. These are the pages in which Marx and Engels broadly...
On Mutual Aid: Limitations, Opportunities, Strategies
In recent years, mutual aid has overtaken protest as a dominant form of Left political action. When the US government failed to address anything more than the barest of needs during the pandemic, communities organized themselves. After this same government repressed...
Is There a Socialist Mode of Production Separate from Communism?
A specter is haunting communism: the specter of “socialism” Reformists and Stalinists, social democrats and communists alike have invented “socialism” as a replacement for Karl Marx’s revolutionary communism. They try to divert the left-wing movement from its goal of...
We Need a Militant Mass Movement for Reproductive Rights
On May 2, 2022, a draft opinion of the United States Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision was “accidentally” leaked. As it stands, the decision — concerning a Mississippi law seeking to ban abortions past the 15th week of pregnancy — would...
Our Locals
We’re also trying to make trouble in Austin, Kansas City, New Orleans, and Oakland.