About Us

The International Socialist Organization (ISO) is committed to building an organization that participates in the struggles for justice and liberation today— and, ultimately, for a future socialist society.

The ISO has branches across the country whose members are involved in helping to build a number of struggles: the movement to stop war and occupation, fights against racism and anti-immigrant scapegoating, the struggle for women's rights like the right to choose abortion, opposing anti-gay bigotry, and standing up for workers' rights.

In Portland, our members are involved in antiwar struggles, labor organizing and fighting for immigrant rights.

We have one branch that meets weekly:

  • Meetings are on Thursdays at 6:45 pm at Smith Memorial Student Union, Portland State University, 1825 SW Broadway, Portland OR 97201

The misery that millions of people around the world face is rooted in the society we live in— capitalism, where the few who rule profit from the labor of the vast majority of the population.

In the U.S., a tiny proportion of the population enjoys fantastic wealth, while millions of people live in desperate poverty, and many more live paycheck to paycheck. Yet we have the resources to feed, clothe and educate everyone on the planet.

A world free of exploitation--socialism--is not only possible but worth fighting for. The ISO stands in the tradition of revolutionary socialists Karl Marx, V.I. Lenin and Leon Trotsky in the belief that workers themselves--the vast majority of the population--are the only force that can lead the fight to win a socialist society. Socialism can't be brought about from above, but has to be won by workers themselves.

The Democratic Party, much like the Republicans, acts in the interests of Corporate America and the privileged few at the top. Therefore, we do not support their candidates.

We see our task as building an independent socialist organization with members organizing in our workplaces, our schools and our neighborhoods to bring socialist ideas to the struggles we are involved in today, and the vision of a socialist world in the future.
 

Where We Stand

click on any sentence for a further explanation
or download the Where We Stand packet as a pdf file.

Socialism, Not Capitalism

War, poverty, exploitation, oppression and worldwide environmental destruction are products of the capitalist system, a system in which a minority ruling class profits from the labor of the majority. The alternative is socialism, a society based on workers collectively owning and controlling the wealth their labor creates.

We stand in the Marxist tradition, founded by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, and continued by V.I. Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg and Leon Trotsky.

Workers' Power

Workers create society's wealth, but have no control over its production and distribution. A socialist society can only be built when workers collectively take control of that wealth and democratically plan its production and distribution according to present and future human needs instead of profit.

The working class is the vast majority of society and is the key to the fight for socialism. Workers' central role in production gives them a social power--by use of the strike weapon--to paralyze the system like no other social force.

Socialism is working-class self-emancipation. Only mass struggles of the workers themselves can put an end to the capitalist system of oppression and exploitation.

We support trade unions as essential to the fight for workers' economic and political rights. To make the unions fight for workers' interests, rank-and-file workers must organize themselves independent of the union officials.

Revolution

We actively support the struggle of workers and all oppressed people for economic, political and social reforms, both as a means to improve their conditions and to advance their confidence and fighting strength. But reforms within the capitalist system cannot put an end to oppression, exploitation or ecological devastation. Capitalism must be replaced.

The structures of the present government grew up under capitalism and are designed to protect capitalist rule.The working class needs an entirely different kind of

state--a democratic workers' state based on councils of workers' delegates.

We do not support candidates of capitalist parties like the Democrats or the Republicans. We support genuine left-wing candidates and political action that promotes independence from the corporate-dominated two-party system in the U.S.

Internationalism

Capitalism is an international system, so the struggle for socialism must be international, uniting workers of all countries.The international working class is the only force capable of solving global problems like war, hunger and environmental destruction. Socialists oppose imperialism--the division of the globe based on the subjugation of weaker nations by stronger ones--and support the self-determination of oppressed nations. We oppose all immigration controls.

We oppose U.S. intervention in Cuba, the Middle East, and elsewhere. We are for self-determination for Puerto Rico.

China and Cuba, like the former Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc, have nothing to do with socialism. They are state capitalist regimes. We support the struggles of workers in these countries against the bureaucratic ruling class.

Full Equality and Liberation

Capitalism divides the working class, based on sexual, racial, national and other distinctions. The specially oppressed groups within the working class suffer the most under capitalism.

We oppose racism in all its forms. We support the struggle for immigrants rights. We fight for real social, economic and political equality for women and for an end to discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

We support the fight for Black liberation and all the struggles of the oppressed. The liberation of the oppressed is essential to socialist revolution and impossible without it.

The Revolutionary Party

To achieve socialism, the most militant workers must be organized into a revolutionary socialist party. The ISO is committed to playing a role in laying the foundations for such a party. We aim to build an independent socialist organization, rooted in workplaces, schools and neighborhoods that, in fighting today's struggles, also wins larger numbers to socialism.
 

Introductions to Socialism


War and Imperialism


Reform or Revolution


The Russian Revolution


The Fight against Stalinism


What is Leninism?

Immigrant Rights


Women's Liberation


Fighting Racism


Gay Oppression


The Democratic Party
 
Meaning of Marxism

Meaning of Marxism & Where We Stand Study Group

For those that are interested in learning more about the ISO and our politics we regularly host a 6-week study group on Paul D'Amato's Where We Stand articles and his book The Meaning of Marxism.

Part 1: Socialism, not capitalism
Readings:
Meaning of Marxism
    •  Intro: The Relevance of Marxism
    •  Chapter 3: The Marxist View of History
Where We Stand Articles
    •  A few profiting from the many
    •  To each according to their needs
    •  Standing on the shoulders of giants

Part 2: Workers' power
Readings:
Meaning of Marxism
    •  Chapter 4: Marxist Economics – How Capitalism Works & How It Doesn’t
    •  Chapter 5: No Power Greater – The Working Class
    •  Chapter 14: Imagine…The Future Socialist Society
    •  Conclusion: The Point is to Change It
Where We Stand Articles
    •  Not a single wheel would turn
    •  The power to bring the system to a halt
    •  Uniting to resist the employers' attacks
    •  Mobilizing the power of the rank and file

Part 3: Revolution
Readings:
Meaning of Marxism
    •  Chapter 6: Democracy, Reform & Revolution
    •  Chapter 13: Can It Happen Here?
    •  First half of Chapter 8: how the Russian Revolution was won
Where We Stand Articles
    •  Reform struggles and the road to revolution
    •  A tool for preserving class rule
    •  A system to carry out workers' democracy
    •  No choice between the capitalist parties
    •  Independent of the political status quo

Part 4: Internationalism
Readings:
Meaning of Marxism
    •  Chapter 9: Imperialism, Nationalism, & War
    •  Second half of Chapter 8: how the Russian Revolution was lost
Where We Stand Articles
    •  A world to win
    •  Open to capital but not labor
    •  Opposing war in "the belly of the beast"c
    •  Tyrannies ruling in the name of socialism

Part 5: Full equality & liberation
Readings:
Meaning of Marxism
    •  Chapter 10: Marxism & Oppression
    •  Chapter 11: Capitalism & The Environment
Where We Stand Articles
    •  Pitting one worker against another
    •  Challenging every form of oppression

Part 6: The revolutionary party
Readings:
Meaning of Marxism
    •  Chapter 7: The Need for Socialist Organization
Where We Stand Articles
    •  A party to organize our side