Talk:International Committee Against Racism

Improvement in tone needed

The overall tone of the text needs some improving, in order to approach the level of neutral presentation demanded by the relevant policy. E.g.:

• "InCAR sometimes earned fear from these groups...[such as] the KKK."
• "InCAR was quietly disbanded in 1996 as PL decided, for both strategic and financial reasons, to continue InCAR's intense anti-racist work."
• "PL today holds to a fierce rejection of the Maoist doctrine of mass line that calls for a more liberal line when working with the masses."

-The Gnome (talk) 10:05, 6 July 2021 (UTC)

Front group

I see that the term "front group" was recently removed. InCAR absolutely does meet the definition of Communist front organization, being a mass organization led by the Progressive Labor Party. This is how Marxist-Leninist organizations often operate, with party membership reserved for committed activists, and front groups operating as mass organizations under the Party's leadership. There's nothing particularly novel about this, nor is it POV to point this out. The relationship of the party to its mass organizations even has different terms such as popular front or united front depending on the subset of Communist theory the group subscribes to. Groups like the CPUSA-controlled U.S. Peace Council of the Cold War era or the more recent Revolutionary Communist Party, USA-run Refuse Fascism are all examples. I am for restoring InCAR's description as a "front group", albeit with better sourcing. And it should absolutely be the case that InCAR's relationship with the PLP should remain in the article, and in fact, in the lede. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Peter G Werner (talk • contribs)

Is this group even separately notable from Progressive Labor Party (United States)? I can't find any sources that discuss the group in detail, other than brief mentions of their protests against various academics. Hemiauchenia (talk) 20:38, 14 September 2022 (UTC)

The current article already includes the label "mass organization", which is appropriate here. The trouble with including (front organization) was that it linked to an article which defined the term thus: A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, terrorist organizations, secret societies, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy groups, or corporations. Front organizations can act for the parent group without the actions being attributed to the parent group, thereby allowing them to hide certain activities from the authorities or the public. But nothing here suggests that InCAR's connection to the Progressive Labor Party was in any way hidden. Generalrelative (talk) 22:05, 14 September 2022 (UTC)

Also, an etymological distinction. Terms like "popular front" and "united front" refer to a front in the sense of a line of engagement in warfare (as if the Western Front of WWI), whereas the word front in "front organization" refers to a deceptive facade. FYI. Generalrelative (talk) 22:14, 14 September 2022 (UTC)

Use of Abbreviations

I noticed that this article references the International Committee Against Racism's association with the Progressive Labor Party (PLP). PLP seems to be Wikipedia's preferred abbreviation, but this article uses PL. I don't see PL used anywhere except on this page, which could be confusing. Should this be standardized, and are more hyperlinks appropriate? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:41:200:52C0:1D1A:ED6:FEC8:E651 (talk) 14:16, 8 April 2023 (UTC)