There’s no consistent answer because each chapter is different. But in general, yes, PSL and FRSO are good (if they are in your area). I also wouldn’t rule out DSA, that one is likely to be very different from chapter to chapter. Some are actually very good even if the NPC sucks. Stay away from CPUSA or any Trot org.

I left SAlt recently so I can give you an anti recommendation. Joined because even though they were trots, they seemed to have good union struggles going on and no public abuse scandals like PSL. Unfortunately,

• their meaningful campaigns (Amazon union, NALC reform effort) are national and my branch didn’t want to participate in local struggle on its own.
• public abuse scandal right after I joined. I don’t think national leadership responded adequately and the members didn’t eject leadership
• ultimately the US section’s position on the national question is wrong, and that poisons their analysis of Palestine. They think that Palestine will only be meaningfully freed with the cooperation of Israeli working class. IMO this leads to reprehensible policy positions which prevent them from meaningfully interfacing w the antiwar movement

If you have multiple orgs in your area, you can always just join for a couple months and investigate for yourself. Even though my time in SAlt didn’t improve the world, I still got much better at talking to people about socialism irl, and working through my disagreements with them sharpened me politically. I think the reason the US left is so fucked up and weak is that the working class in general isn’t organized, and a strong left movement grows out of mass class consciousness. There were plenty of social democratic orgs all over pre-revolutionary Russia; where there was no worker struggle they withered away and where there was worker struggle they thrived. When you talk to socialists, the difference between organizers with union experience and activists without it is palpable. With historically low unionization it’s a question of what is the least-bad org to join.

Speaking as a former DSA member, I would probably now advise against joining them. The org is split between right wing opportunists operating in bad faith and guileless leftists who constantly get run over by the right. If you were to join I’d say don’t give dues to the national, join Red Star, support the IC, and push for open hostility towards the right wing of the organization. The one thing DSA has got going for it is that they’re big and can probably connect you to work you’re interested in (until the NPC steamrolls you for not being a lib).

PSL seems cool from an outsid perspective. My one problem with them is they don’t seem to have a great analysis of the US labor movement but there’s basically no organization in the US that does so it can’t count against them too much. PSL split off of Workers World which I personally think has a much better news site/paper but doesn’t seem have as much of a presence on the ground. Both organizations seem to have similar politics in the Marcyite vein though.

FRSO in my area is backing a neoliberal political candidate because they are “progressive” Unfortunately PSL is probably the best bet but the way they have handled SA and other issues saw my local chapter lose dozens of comrades in a short period which kept me from joining. I know several comrades across the country who left their chapters for being transphobic or handling SA badly, so it unfortunately isn’t a local issue to this chapter but an issue across the org.

I ended up joining a group that is only local and I would recommend that above all else - find a group of people who live in your area and will prioritize local struggle before joining something just because it has chapters around the country. What matters the most at this stage is having authentic relationships within your community, so that when things go bad regular people around you know that you and your comrades can be trusted. You and your local comrades can host educational sessions, make decolonization programs, etc etc on your own without having to fold into another org. Once the conditions in the US get to the point where having a national organizing body is relevant, things will be much different than they are now

let’s make a cryptpad survey like the trans one.