This application is for activists in the Bay Area who are interested in potentially becoming a core member of LeftRoots – what we call the Cadre. To become eligible to join, there’s a process that tries to identify whether there is mutual understanding and political alignment between you & LeftRoots – so it’s actually a good fit, and that ensures that LeftRoots remains an organization of primarily oppressed & exploited people.
The composition of the LR Bootcamps is shaped by quotas around race, class and gender to ensure that the super-majority of the candidates are women and/or transgendered people, people of color and working class people. This means that even if someone expresses interest in joining LeftRoots as Cadre, she may not be invited into a class of the Bootcamp. She would, however, be invited to participate as a Compa and would be considered for participation in a following Bootcamp.
The Bootcamp is seven sessions about relationship-building, sharing LeftRoots politics, strategic orientation, and culture. Topics include Transcending Pessimism; 20th vs 21st Century Socialism; Capitalist Exploitation & Alienation; Oppression & the Capitalist System; Reformism, Revolution, and Strategy; theory & history of Left organization & new political instruments.
KEY STEPS IN THE PROCESS
- Apply to participate in the Bootcamp: Deadline December 2nd 2014
- Notification of invitation (or not) to Bootcamp: Between December 16 & Dec. 31st
- Confirm your participation: Deadline January 15th
- Attend Bootcamp Sessions: Sundays 10-2pm, Feb. 15-March 29th 2015
- Bootcamp Graduation Celebration: TBD
- Post-Bootcamp 1on1 with LR leadership & CC decisions (to determine if joining as Cadre, Compa or other): April
- New cadre join the monthly Cadre mtgs: May 2015
- Or new Compa sign-up: May 2015
KEY INFO about LEFTROOTS
LeftRoots is a national organization of Leftists engaged in mass organizing in the United States committed to developing the individual and collective skills necessary to formulate, evaluate and carry out strategy to build 21st century socialism.
As organizers and activists in different mass movements, we recognize that we need more than our reform and resistance struggles. The members of LeftRoots have come together to build relationships across regions, sectors, and revolutionary traditions; strengthen our efforts to challenge capitalism, imperialism, white supremacy, and hetero-patriarchy in the mass work we do everyday; and to create strategies for cultivating democratic, protagonist-lead, and transformative social movements.
There are three levels of membership: Compa, Activist, Cadre
For more information on what we believe, you can read:
Questions? email us at leftroots@leftroots.net