Dear comrades,

We have all struggled to assess the sequence of events that has overtaken the organization in the days
since convention. We stand in solidarity with each and every comrade who has felt aggrieved, abused,
damaged, ignored, or otherwise mistreated within the organization. And we deeply respect the many
survivors and comrades of color who are now helping to lead our organization, and express solidarity
with members of the Trans, Survivors, and #metoo caucuses, each and all of whom will help to build a
better revolutionary left.

Yet we cannot stay, because we have come to the conclusion that other forms of political organizing and
work are necessary now to sustain both the tradition of socialism from below and its role in the wider left.

We agree with David McNally’s 2009 assessment of the political culture of small Left organizations—not
always of their choosing—to become inwardly focused, while substituting too often for a wider Left
movement. Insularity and elevation of our organization and tradition as above and separate from the rest
of the Left has led to defensiveness, rigidities, hot-housing of debates, a tight control of the membership,
and even placing the needs of protecting the credibility of the ISO above the needs of survivors and
oppressed groups. The revelations about gender violence and racial abuses seem particularly shocking in
a world that is now filled with feminist strikes and movements fighting for black liberation.

These organizational problems feel particularly acute now, as the class struggle rises around us and many
of the fundamental political principles we fight for as revolutionary socialists become the common
political coin of a changing world. The Left is growing. Socialist politics are being debated nationally.
Labor uprisings are spreading and winning. Climate crisis has put a clock on the way humanity is
currently organized. The moment for a new socialist politics in the U.S. is now.

Thus, each of us will chart a new course, and we hope to assess from outside the ISO the potentialities for
resolving in new ways these formal and political challenges.

We believe that sharing socialism-from-below politics transcends our formal and organizational ties.
Many of us have joined with many of you in wishing for a less sectarian, more fluid and heterogeneous
Left less beholden to party forms and organizations, and more to mutuality of political organizing and
revolutionary practice.

And we offer our deepest support and gratitude for the work being done by those taking up the work of
revitalizing the ISO, especially its new leadership. These comrades are fixing a boat they did not break,
and are leading with political courage, creativity, and solidarity. Each and every member of the ISO, past
and present, has always deserved a better organization than the one we've all worked within.

We hope this ethos will be the bridge between us: that we consider our politics, not institutions, the ties
that bind us; that we forge new relationships together in a broader Left that can accommodate structural
difference; that we experiment with and reimagine a socialism from below in which comradeship
outweighs membership. We see the struggle ahead as a common one.

We invite current, former and non-members of the ISO to contact us (either individually, or to
SocialistTide@gmail.com) with questions or ideas on ways forward.

[An important disclaimer: Members of elected bodies in the organization will take time to responsibly
pass on those functions before leaving.]

In solidarity,

Bill M., West Lafayette Diana M., Bay Area Kathleen B., Germany Sumaya A., NYC
Carlos E., Chicago Dorian B., NYC Kay S., Boston Tithi B., Indiana
Charlotte H., NYC Emily G., NYC Lider R., NYC Tyler Z., Chicago
Chris D., Brooklyn Erik W., Twin Cities Nikki B., NYC Yoni G., NYC
Dave G., NYC Hadas T., NYC Shane J., Washington, DC Zach Z., NYC
Daphna T., NYC John M., NYC Snehal S., Austin