Rachel Leingang
Sun 27 Apr 2025 10.00 EDT
"A 50501 subreddit remains an active organizing space, where people discuss ideas for local protests, messages they should put on posters, strategies for getting more people involved. The movement is active on nearly all social media channels, and local offshoots have their own pages as well.
The group is planning its next day of mass protest on 1 May, which will be focused on workers’ rights and immigrant rights. 50501 is far from the only group organizing around May Day, a frequent day of action for labor groups around the world."
Five bucks says it’s now controlled opposition, if it wasn’t always.
Bingo! This article is disinformation. It’s a group coming out of the Dems, trying to redirect activists into supporting NATO/Israel.
50501 heads have been calling the police on activists, doxing people for questioning their party connections, and harassing trans people at the events. They’ve been around, what? A couple months? Already a flood of controversies coming. Which is expected, considering the source. But this is why they had Pelosi as a speaker at an event, along with other fascists. For some reason, the Colorado branch is purported to be particularly toxic.
“Launched on Reddit”
Pretty sure it’s made out of the hollowed-out remains of a 2016 Bernie PAC? Not sure where I read that, though.
I posted this to my DSA chapter:
I’ve read some of Lenin, but I haven’t gotten far into What Is To Be Done. This podcast by RevLeft Radio does a nice overview of the text. It seems very applicable right now.
The gist is that without a Vanguard party, these spontaneous movements (Hands Off, 50501) will eventually and inevitably sputter out and die, or be co-opted by the bourgeoisie. This has happened many times throughout history (Occupy, etc). Furthermore, without an organized Vanguard party to lead these movements, the movement will just default to capitalist status quo.
You’re not going to get that from Hands Off/50501. It’s a Dem party group. They’re trying to redirect activist energy back into the party, and supporting NATO and Israel.
This article is disinformation.
I/we are under no illusion that those are just liberal status quo movements.
