Who will Organize the Abolitionists?

As we get closer to the Socialism 2022 Conference, I wanted to publish some general thoughts and observations about abolitionism. These thoughts are my own and do not represent any organization.

I’ve considered myself a revolutionary socialist since 2006. In the aftermath of the 2020 uprising, I adopted the label of “abolitionist” because it was clear to me that the uprising itself had mainstreamed abolitionism and that the abolitionists were out there risking COVID infection, police violence, and vigilante violence to protest the police murder of George Floyd. They were willing to go out day after day to protest the police, and fight them if necessary. In other words, it was clear to me that the abolitionists had become the revolutionary wing of the US Left.

However, two years have passed since the uprising. In contrast to when Bernie Sanders made socialism mainstream in 2016, and people immediately flooded into DSA, there is no obvious umbrella organization for abolitionists. I’d like to lay out some thoughts on this in the hopes that it sparks debate and discussion because clearly, abolitionism is the future. What is less clear is how we get there.

Since my thoughts are in outline form which doesn’t work well with Medium, I’ve written them out here: https://bit.ly/OrganizeTheAbolitionists