PFOC served as the above-ground organizational apparatus that formed the compliment to the WUO during its failed attempt at “inversion”: resurfacing to form a vanguard party of the revolutionary left. It took its name from the publication “Prairie Fire,” drafted and produced underground by the WUO, which was to serve as the manifesto for this party.

Alas (or, of course), this came to naught, with the one national organizing convention (‘75) disrupted by factional cleaveage along both feminist and national liberation lines—the first having (rightfully) dogged WUO since its inception and the second due to an apparent (and striking) about-face concerning the leadership role of a revolutionary white left.

After the convention, a SF bay area splinter group parlayed a deft adherence to these critiques into an assumption of the WUO’s revoltutionary mantle and, shortly thereafter, neutralization by infiltrators, while the remaining underground cadres of the WUO began to slowly emerge.

The PFOC (which has a website, for you to google) has since largely focused on issues of Puerto Rican independence, almost exactly where the WUO left off prior to the inversion debacle.

One thing I’ve never been clear on is the exact relationship between the Prairie Fire Organizing Committee and Weatherman (or the Weather Underground—not sure about the chronology). Clearly PFOC was inspired by one or the other of the latter. But my hunch is that the story is more interesting than mere inspiration.

PFOC is still around. I wonder how much organizational continuity there is between now and the beginning.

He wrote at one point that RCP members refer to the leader of the RCP as “Chairman Bob.” Chances are pretty good D’Ho been reading my site, where that expression has appeared from time to time, with obvious sardonic intent. No true-believing RCP member would ever commit such lese majestie.

Mostly we just held meetings. Feely-touchy would have been a better use of the time…

To be fair, we spent considerable time picketing in support of the UFW, UMW, and various other strikes. (For Americans under 30, a strike is when the workers collectively leave their jobs in protest or to gain leverage in negotiation.)

Here is the relevant Wiki. Front Page magazine has the RCP down as a PL spinoff. Horowitz’s memory has been addled by drugs, I suppose. So is mine, and it’s a mistake I might have made, possibly just because certain ex-PL ended up in the RCP.The ADL also counts the RCP as a PL spinoff.

I imagine, however, that if you divided the total of distinct persons represented by the number of boxes in the graph, the ratio would be very small.

Back in the day, I was a member of a small group of would-be American social democrats called the New American Movement. It vanished long ago. John Judis of The New Republic was a leading member. I watched a group of friends split off from NAM and join the world of the tree. It was like watching them sail off the edge of the earth.

Freedomroad.org gets my vote for the best-looking left sect site. When I see it, I can’t help but hum that tune from “The Wizard of Oz.” “Oh, we’re off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Mao!”

A more important question is: Which sect attracts the best-looking cadre?