Socialist Rifle Association Loses Another Club, This Time in Florida
The resignation of the South Florida SRA and creation of the Red Rifle Collective.
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The Failure of “Left Unity”:
The news broke last night (Dec. 17th, 2024) somewhere around 9:30pm EST. The South Florida SRA has officially broken off from the SRA national and renamed itself as the Red Rifle Collective (RRC).
I knew this would inevitably happen as such an organization that “unites” all these various ideologies would degrade into chaos and infighting. Ideologically; Marxists, Anarchists, Trotskyists, and so on can not work within an organization together as they have different tactics, values, understandings of the world, etc. There is nothing wrong with unity on a common ground issue, like that of a united front against anti-imperialism, anti-fascism, or anti-capitalism; but formal alliance within a single organization is simply a recipe for disaster.
SFLSRA Official Statement of Separation to SRA National:
“The South Florida chapter of the Socialist Rifle Association (SRA) officially announces our resignation from the SRA and will change our name to the Red Rifle Collective (RRC). This was a long brooding position from members as we have grown tired of the current trend of the SRA National.
It has become clear to us that the “Socialist Rifle Association” is essentially an Anarchist Rifle Association; we have grown tired of the apparent bias and hate that Marxist-Leninists and Marxists as a whole receive within the organization, to the point that holding national office is in itself like climbing a mountain. This, coupled with the struggles to receive any kind of financial assistance from national despite pumping our funds into it via membership dues or purchases, means that it isn’t a functioning organization focused on growth but rather the desire of a social club with which one can verbally announce frustrations instead of training for the inevitable that is coming against us all.
I would encourage the SRA to reflect on why so many of their chapters have resigned from the organization and why membership numbers have steadily decreased from 10k in 2020 to 5k in 2024, reflecting on it honestly beyond simple emotional deflection of “they weren’t serious enough.” No, it’s you who isn’t serious at all! Your arrogance and distaste for those you dared called comrade to their face and enemy behind their back is why many have abandoned you, because you refused to play nice, as you always do, with those who wanted to fight for something much grander. Your public calls for “Left Unity” were verbal and unsubstantiated, given the systemic and cultural attitudes of the leadership. Many of us remember when the SRA was first started; it had so much potential. However, many of you in leadership refused to facilitate that enthusiasm and let it rot from the inside out until it became much smaller and a shell of its former self.
We don’t respect your leadership, just like you don’t respect us, and we are tired of trying under your arrogant authority. We respect the many who are involved and trying to train for the inevitable, we encourage them to keep training because the future doesn’t look promising for those on our side of the political spectrum; but we can no longer tolerate the limitations and especially the hostility under this organization.
Some examples of your arrogance that come to mind: the resignation of Marxist-Leninists in 2020 and the continued resignations of your leadership as a result. The fact that you (Anarchists) brought forward Identity Politics as a result of the George Floyd protests into our space as if we are liberals, a critical time that required directing the angry masses into a mobilized class war with which the racist killing was done with the authority of the upper class, instead of watering it down and wasting potential on fighting for reform. A clear class analysis shows the racial struggle of the oppressed people & its fundamental relation to the class system. The incorrect decision to get rid of slack, where there were about 10k concurrent users to where now, a mediocre made website where 5-10 people are active at any given point resides in its place.
Your President in 2020 started to cry in a virtual meeting claiming that they could not handle the pressure. If one feels that they are not fit for Presidency because they are not in a good place mentally, there is no dishonor in admitting as such, bowing out gracefully, and not serve in that role. The inefficient manner of dealing with paperwork, issued membership cards. Your status as a 501 (c) 4 allowing for upper leadership to be paid with our dues while at the local level, leadership and members are putting the same hours to get the chapter to function and then raising our dues due to the loss of members who could no longer abide by the examples outlined above is where we draw the line. You should consider changing your name because those in power are no socialists. We are not adversarial to anarchists in membership; however, we do object to the organization being directed by their ideology. As Lenin once said:
“We are not utopians, we do not “dream” of dispensing at once with all administration, with all subordination. These anarchist dreams, based upon incomprehension of the tasks of the proletarian dictatorship, are totally alien to Marxism, and, as a matter of fact, serve only to postpone the socialist revolution until people are different. No, we want the socialist revolution with people as they are now, with people who cannot dispense with subordination, control, and "foremen and accountants".
Additionally:
Once the news broke about this separation, I found out from someone in the Marxist Rifle Association Discord that, another thing that happened that most likely drove the Marxist-Leninists away from the SRA, was the anarchist’s reaction to the death of one of the founders of the SRA. Jason Hamilton, who died from brain cancer in 2020, was a co-founder of the SRA. His death was celebrated by various anarchists within SRA rank and file, which most likely drove many ML’s & other Marxists away from the organization as it became clear they was not welcome.
So, What Now?:
The SRA has officially lost their last chapter in Florida. The RRC hopefully will advance without national holding it back under their authority, and hopefully we can see some growth happening for the ML movement in Florida. If anything, this separation should be a wake up call to the ML’s of America (or elsewhere) to not appease this backwards and liberal notion of “Left Unity” that is repeatedly brought to us by ideologically different segments of the Left. Unity between Communists, not unity of “Leftists,” we are stronger when organized together and fighting materially and physically.
You can learn more & join the RRC at their website:
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