Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement
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Formed by young activists in September 1994, Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement (STORM) was a left wing revolutionary cadre-based organization based in the Bay Area of the United States.
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[edit]Origins
STORM grew out of a radical organization in the Bay Area called Roots Against War (RAW), which was committed to involving young people of color in direct action protests against the Gulf War. RAW emerged in the early 1990s and organized mass protests in the Bay Area around the Rodney King verdict, as well as protests in 1992 against the commemoration of the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus landing in the Americas in 1492.
[edit]Development and composition
STORM began with just eight people, and the group's membership was by invitation only. They held their first official meeting on November 2, 1994—a protest against a statewide vote to prevent state support from going to illegal immigrants: California Proposition 187 (1994). Once the organization began to grow, they built "work groups" around issues that were important to the group's membership. These included: prevention of the demolition of the housing projects; stopping the imposition of a curfew; and support for Affirmative Action. STORM initially included anarchists, communists and revolutionary nationalists, but after some internal, personal struggles the anarchists left, and STORM become more communist-oriented. The internal crisis had reduced the group to just six members. STORM considered Mao Zedong as their ideological leader and as an atheist organization expressed deep dislike of religion. STORM was also different than its predecessor group RAW because it had some white members, whereas RAW had been composed only of people of color; STORM also held a stated commitment to women in leadership. While STORM had some white members, its membership was always more than 60 percent women and 75 percent people of color. Most of STORM's membership had never previously been in other revolutionary organizations.[citation needed]
As STORM refocused its efforts in the late 1990s, new work groups were formed, including Workers Organized to Rid us of Capitalism, and Culture & Propaganda. These groups helped the organization to focus on its stated goals and strategies. STORM built connections with other organizations, such as POWER and Critical Resistance, and the organization participated in several bay-area issues of concern—often organizing protests. By 2000, some controversy erupted around allegations that STORM was trying to take control of other organizations. Furthermore, the next two years saw disagreements and personal issues within STORM. In March 2002, the remaining sixteen members made the determination to disband STORM.[citation needed]
[edit]"Sisters at the Center"
Throughout its history, STORM was committed to maintaining itself as a majority women, majority people of color organization. This commitment also extended to the areas of mass work in which STORM members collectively worked. Growing out of theoretical frameworks inherited from revolutionary, third wave and Black feminist members of STORM developed the "Sisters at the Center" slogan early on in their organization's history. Application of this slogan meant a conscious emphasis to keep women of color and working class women at the center of the organization's analysis, program and practice.
[edit]Disbanding and summation
After STORM disbanded, a collective summation entitled Reclaiming Revolution: History, Summation, and Lessons from the Work of Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement (STORM) was written by former STORM members, collectively endorsed by a majority of the organization's former membership and was published in Spring 2004.
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