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Last year, the Indianapolis branch of the Party for Socialism and Liberation fought against prisons, police, imperialism, bigotry, and war while fighting for equitable food access, a free and liberated Palestine, and the liberation of Black/New Afrikans, women, the LGBTQ community, and all oppressed nations and peoples. We literally put socialism on the map in Indiana, not only gaining official write-in status for the PSL campaign, but also winning the most votes for a socialist party in the state in 88 years!
Ongoing reflection, assessment, and study of the movement allow us to engage in so many struggles across varied terrain effectively—from the streets, workplaces, and campuses to the courtrooms and even the political arena. As we struggle, we study, holding our monthly Liberation Forums, reading groups on pertinent topics, PSL interest meetings, producing and distributing analysis of current events from the perspective of our class, and speaking with members of our class through outreach on the streets and by supporting the activities of other groups in the city. Your support amplifies the pace, intention, and impact of our actions.
A Party of, by, and for the oppressed
As a founding member and anchoring organization of the Indianapolis Liberation Center, we are a Party of, by, and for the working and oppressed. We believe in the necessity of a revolutionary transformation of society, something no individual party or organization can do; only the masses. That’s why we build alliances, coalitions, united fronts, and more generally unite with all progressive forces fighting for the interests of the world’s oppressed and exploited. We’re proud to have organically formed the police coalition that emerged after the IMPD killed Gary Harrell, worked in concert with numerous anti-war, Palestinian, and Arab organizations in the fight for Palestine, collaborated with Fluid Skate Collective, the Indiana Abortion Doula Collective, Y’a’ll for All, and built relationships with local businesses like Tomorrow Bookstore and Dream Palace Books & Coffee.
At the same time, loose groupings of organizations are no match for the massive state we’re up against. That’s one reason we spent last year preparing ourselves and our class to resist the extreme, right-wing, billionaire agenda that defines our “democracy” regardless of what imperialist party occupies the White House or holds a majority in Congress.
We are in a historic moment when the Democrats have exposed themselves as both unwilling and incapable of providing an alternative narrative to the Republicans. To prepare for this moment, PSL Indianapolis focused on popularizing socialism: the only system capable of resolving the treacherous contradictions between billionaire and worker, oppressor and oppressed.
Putting socialism on the map
The PSL mobilized for our 2024 Claudia de La Cruz and Karina Garcia Presidential Campaign without harboring any illusions about defeating the two-party dictatorship of the ultra-rich this year. We ran to demonstrate that there is an alternative to the parties of genocide and exploitation and to show how that alternative–socialism–is both entirely possible and necessary to address the concerns of our people.
Unlike the parties of the ruling class, we do not own media conglomerates and inundate the masses with our propaganda. What we do have is an even greater weapon: the masses themselves. The dedication of our comrades, community members, and volunteers gained us write-in status for the first time in our branch’s history. This, of course, would not have been possible if members of our class were not also receptive to our socialist platform—even in our “red” state. The campaign was a gauge confirming that the people are open to—and willing to fight for—socialism. In Indiana, the PSL won the the most votes any socialist party received in a presidential election since 1936!
Our unwavering commitment to Black/New Afrikan liberation
Capitalism cannot exist without racism and oppression, while socialism cannot exist with them: that is why we are the Party for Socialism and Liberation. One of the most crucial battlegrounds for liberation in the U.S. is the Black/New Afrikan struggle, which centers on police and prison terror. Our Party and branch are proud of our history supporting and leading these struggles.
In 2024, we continued this history in two ways. First, we fought alongside families of IMPD victims, demanding justice for their loved ones whose lives were stolen by the same organized gang to which our city funnels more and more of our tax dollars. The PSL worked closely with the communities who lost our neighbors to the IMPD’s murderous campaign against Black men that relaunched in 2023 and continued into 2024. Collaborating other community leaders, PSL Indianapolis helped unite with these families with a shared tragedy and loss into an organic police coalition in late 2023. Through a common struggle, we realized our power to effect real change in both people’s consciousness and concrete victories.
The campaign for justice for Freddie Davis is one example. Freddie was killed by IMPD officers inside of a Burger King on the city’s East Side in October of 2023 while he was experiencing a mental health crisis. After weeks of displaying excruciating patience with the Marion County prosecutor’s office while the IMPD completed their internal “investigation,” Freddie’s mother was finally shown low-quality body-cam footage worn by the officer that killed her son and some of the footage taken by Burger King’s close-circuit cameras. She was informed that the officer would not be prosecuted since it appeared that Freddie was armed at the time of the “incident”—citing a blurry frame they isolated from the footage in which Freddie’s hand that allegedly held the gun was not even visible.
Knowing her son, Freddie’s mother denied this accusation and, with the support of the coalition, went directly to the Burger King to acquire the footage to prove her son was not a threat to officers or anyone else. Unfortunately, Burger King’s corporate office refused to release the footage by “order” of the IMPD.
Left with no other option to pursue justice for Freddie, the coalition organized a rally on March 2, outside the Burger King where the cops killed Davis to demand the franchise release camera footage. There, we spoke with Burger King workers who stood in solidarity with Freddie’s family. They had called 911 to get Freddie help, not to get the police involved. At that rally, the families of Gary Harrell and a friend of Herman Whitfield III, another IMPD victim, stood with our comrades and the Davis family.
This particular rally, where so many different communities stood shoulder-to-shoulder, clearly shows that class and multinational solidarity are necessary in the fight for liberation. On March 4, just two days after our rally, Burger King’s Human Resources department finally allowed the family to view the video camera footage. It is through unity and showing up for one another, and not isolated or “competing” that we realize our social power.
One of the most difficult divisions our class must bridge is between those inside enemy lines and those on the outside. The U.S. mass incarceration system is tied to the latest stage of capitalism and works to not only warehouse “surplus populations” (and specifically those sectors of the population who have historically been the most prone to rebellions) but also to repress popular struggles by imprisoning political activists, for example.
We built deep ties with comrades targeted by this apparatus of repression throughout 2024, including local artist, author, illustrator, and future exoneree Vernon T. Bateman, whose petition for freedom we launched on April 1, 2024. Through the work of our fellow Center organizations and Vernon’s expansive network, the struggle for his freedom continues gaining steam. Most recently, Congressman André D. Carson wrote a letter in support of reviewing Vernon’s case for clemency review. Additionally, Congressman Carson noted his “punitively strict probation restrictions that severely limit his ability to work and make positive contributions to our community.”
Other blows at the prison bars came from our work with New Afrikan political prisoner Shaka A. Shakur, who remains in domestic exile in Virginia. We helped build our fellow Center member-organization “Free Shaka Shakur” into the nationwide “Shaka Shakur Freedom Campaign.” The Liberation Center serves as the official headquarters of the 501(c)(3), and there are chapters now in Virginia and other states.
Leon Benson, Marion County’s first exoneree—whom the PSL struggled for since our branch started in 2018—celebrated his one year anniversary of freedom at the Liberation Center in 2024! Benson published a book, Letters of Gratitude, and mentions these protests as a source of strength while locked away behind bars. His trust in the Party and Center led him to emcee the Indianapolis Liberation Center’s first-ever annual fundraiser in November 2024.
These comrades have taught us more about the legal system and how it truly works more than any educational course or self-study ever could. We are honored that these relationships with some of the most oppressed members of our class are reciprocal.
“To know where you came from is to know where you’re going”
As we struggle alongside our class in the streets, our Party remains deeply disciplined to regular, rigorous study. Our monthly Liberation Forums and study groups provide thorough insights into historical and contemporary struggles to inform our work. In this past year, our Forums covered topics ranging from the importance of building the kind of Marxist Party we are, revolutionary optimism, the struggle for abortion access, and featured guest speakers like Orlando Gilyard, who organized the gang-truce at the beginning of the 2015 Baltimore Rebellion.
In addition to more “formal” educational settings, we learn through our experiences, camaraderie, and collective knowledge. That is why, after analyzing the 2025 budget, we brought the community together to assess the true needs of our class and compare them to Hogsett’s priorities. Unsurprisingly, his budget, which allocated 41% of $1.65 billion to the cops, did not align with our priorities. We produced a “people’s budget” that aligned with our class’ needs, including things like free healthcare, public education, public transportation, childcare, and an end to the genocide in Palestine.
Our community brought the people’s assessment before the City-County Council, where we demanded that our tax dollars be spent to meet our needs, not to line the pockets of the ruling class, banks, corporations, or the cops that serve their interests. The people’s attempt to engage with “democracy” may have seemed fruitless when Hogsett’s proposed budget was adopted largely unaltered, but it exposed that all sectors of US government—even at the local level—work for the small ruling class and will never prioritize the needs of the masses. The current system is not broken but is working as designed; it is up to us to evoke the social change necessary for our survival.
Nothing to lose but our chains
PSL comrades demonstrate our commitment to liberation by dedicating our free time and limited funds to the movement for our liberation. Our deep love for our community and workers everywhere outweighs our disdain for the oppressors.
The outcome of the election was and is largely inconsequential to the task ahead of us: building a socialist future free of oppression. Rather than giving into despair, Trump’s re-election deepened our commitment to building a stronger fight-back movement. The people, not a single individual, will determine our future.
The PSL is proud to join a diverse coalition of organizations and businesses for the “We Fight Back!” counter-inauguration protest on January 20 at Monument Circle. That won’t be the beginning or the end of the struggle for liberation, but it will be a key marker in setting the tone of struggle for the year to come.
See you in the streets and, if you’re interested in building for revolution, apply to join the PSL!