At a time when socialist ideas like a national healthcare system are gaining traction in national politics, some Cambridge political activists are taking a break from rallies and organizing. The International Socialist Organization, a national group, dissolved in February, and local activists say that its disintegration has left them tired and disillusioned. 

“For a long time, I was conceptualizing activism and organizing as my meaningful contribution to the world,” said Alessandra Elaine Seiter, 25, a Harvard librarian. Seiter, who helped lead the local chapter of the ISO, was a rising leader in the group, but has stepped back from activism since its collapse. “I have become very skeptical of organizations and what they profess and how they go about organizing,” she said. 

Formed in 1977, the ISO was the country’s largest Leninist organization, supporting the idea that the working class should hold the power in society rather than the elite. They want to switch the governmental structure from capitalism, where private citizens own the businesses, to socialist-collective ownership of the means of production and distribution-.

The ISO collapsed after a 2013 sexual assault case that many members felt was mishandled. A board member was accused of sexual assault, which others in the group appear to have covered up. When this information surfaced in 2018, members of the ISO believed that the organization no longer represented their original ideals, and took a vote in February 2019 to dissolve the organization. 

Former members spoke on their reasons why the ISO dissolved. Seiter joined the Cambridge sector of the ISO in 2017 when she moved to the area.

She was proud of the group’s successes, such as blocking both a parade they considered homophobic and the formation of an organization that opposed transgender rights. 

“The ISO in Cambridge really focused on combating the white supremacist groups in the area,” Seiter said. 

They also coordinated a march against fascism in August 2016 which had 25,000 participants. In addition, they laid the groundwork for some national initiatives, such as the National Socialism Conference every year, according to Seiter. 

Seiter earned a leadership position as part of the Branch Committee. This position was shared between 3-4 people, with the purpose of setting agendas for meetings. The meetings were held on the Harvard campus with the intention of recruiting Harvard students, according to Seiter. At the time she joined, the ISO had about 1,000 local members. 

Ryan Gannon, 26, a software engineer in Cambridge, belonged to ISO for more than seven years. His role was to coordinate the sale and distribution of the Socialist Worker, the national organization’s weekly magazine. 

For Gannon, the ISO had been different than other socialist organizations. 

“The ISO’s commitment to a democratic-centralist mode of organization, as well as arguments about the limitations of electoral struggle, helped set them apart from the pack for me,” Gannon said. 

Jacob Ferrini, 23, an audio engineer, joined the ISO right before its dismantlement. This limited his involvement and contributions to the organization. 

For Ferrini, who was interested/involved in the Black Lives Matter movement, the ISO symbolized “putting those who are the most marginalized in society in a position of power that is equal to the few people who are in power, which would then cultivate democracy, equanimity, and the values found in a strong, vibrant, and healthy community.”

Other issues within the organization caused its dissolution, such as homophobia and racism, according to Seiter. Each year the ISO would host a convention where chosen members traveled to Chicago to update the organization. Seiter missed the meeting, however, the person who did attend expressed to Seiter the discriminatory comments that leaders of the ISO had made.  

The ISO had “systematically been disenfranchising members of color and trans members from taking positions of leadership or fostering affinity groups,” Seiter said. “At this conference the members of color talked about not being able to talk to other members of color across the country or organize with one another because they were accused of pedaling identity politics, so to speak. As a reaction, a lot of like leaders in the organization nationally got really defensive and some of them said some pretty racist things.”

This led to what Seiter, and others in Cambridge, refer to as The Reckoning.

“Our members of color in Cambridge were speaking out saying, ‘I felt disconnected from my own community in Cambridge, and have felt like I’ve been told how to act in this organization. I have had my views shut down because they haven’t been in line with the dominant narratives,’” Seiter said. 

Gannon cites different reasons for the ISO’s demise. He blames it on the 2016 changes in the U.S. political atmosphere. 

 “This caused lots of debate within the organization about various aspects of our analysis of socialist politics,” Gannon said. “The ISO had always maintained that the Democrats were, at their core, a capitalist party.  This changed once people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders began having more outsized impacts on political discourse. As more and more of the left began seeing hope in people like this again, the ISO found itself in a poor position: one of our main arguments was political independence from the Democratic party.  Sticking by this ran the risk of alienating us from the growing socialist movement.” 

Conversely, for Ferrini, its dissolution had to do with the ISO losing its primary values. “Systemic oppression can seep into activist organizations. Institutions can have the highest values and the most defined morals and ethics, but without the concrete practice of those values within an institution, the very system of colonialism, imperialism, and oppression it attempts to fight replicates inside of itself,” Ferrini said.

With the dissolution of the ISO, the socialists in Cambridge have had to turn to other places to express their political views. 

“A lot of people nationally did go to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and started organizing with them,” Seiter said. “The Harvard students who were associated with us took the campus group that we created called the Harvard International Socialists and used it as a venue to support other organizations on campus. Some people have been organizing with the gender justice coalition against gender violence on the left. Some people went back to like community organizations to organize for immigrant rights or in terms of racial justice or against gentrification in Boston.” 

Other former members joined groups such as the Marxist Center, which another international leftist- socialist party organization, with chapters across the country. Their goal is to construct institutions that will oppose capitalism. The years of organizing with the ISO have prepared former members to keep being activists. Even though some have decided to take a break, there are still opportunities to get involved in other activist organizations, according to Gannon.

But a number of Cambridge ISO members were so disillusioned and discouraged by the national events, that they haven’t tried to rebuild the local socialist movement. 

Seiter quit the activism world and is still reflecting on the next step to take. 

“I realized in the dissolution of the ISO how little I knew about like the faces of all in public documents. I only know a little bit about the Russian revolution or I only know a little bit about Israel- Palestine conflict. I want to know more about these things in order to come to an actual conclusion. I need to have more about perspective,” Seiter said. 

Gannon took a step back from activism for mental health reasons, although he is hopeful to get involved with political activism in the future. 

“ When the time comes, there will still be a socialist movement, fighting for a better world for everyone.  And when I’m ready, I’ll be there,” Gannon said. 

Gannon’s experiences with the ISO will help him pick out an organization’s unhealthy habits in the future, he said. 

Ferrini also decided last summer to step back from political activism to understand how systems of oppression infiltrate activist organizations. However, he has recently been involved in environmental activism. He marched with the Buddhist Action Network and Direct Action with Sunrise Movement on Wall Street for the Climate Strike and meditated with XR outside of City Hall demanding climate action in September 2019.

“It’s hard to take a step back with the climate crisis being at the forefront of my mind, and even harder to take a step back when the only thing that gives me hope is being with people who are fighting for a better future alongside me,” Ferrini said.