* The major documented scandal involving systematic surveillance of leftists, Arab-American activists, anti-apartheid organizers, and critics of Israel was the *Anti-Defamation League (ADL) scandal of the early 1990s* , not the SPLC. ADL investigator Roy Bullock monitored thousands of activists and organizations; seized files included material on groups ranging from the ACLU and UAW to Mother Jones and ACT UP. Bullock had also worked with the FBI and maintained relationships with police intelligence officers. A later lawsuit alleged that ADL dossiers were shared with police and the Israeli government; the *ADL denied providing information to Israel* , so I would not state that particular allegation as fact. * There *is* , however, solid evidence for criticizing the SPLC's relationship with law enforcement. The SPLC operated paid informants inside far-right organizations and acknowledged repeatedly passing information obtained from those informants to the FBI and other law-enforcement agencies. In fact, this cooperation is now part of the SPLC's defense : it argues that the informant program helped the FBI prevent violence and prosecute white supremacists. * The Trump Justice Department's present case is *not simply a prosecution for supplying information about the right to the FBI*. The April 2026 indictment alleges that the SPLC deceived donors and banks and concealed millions of dollars in payments to informants through fictitious entities. Those are allegations, not proven facts, and the SPLC has pleaded not guilty. On August 12, former SPLC official Heidi Beirich was separately charged with wire-fraud conspiracy, false statements, and money-laundering conspiracy connected to that program; she denies wrongdoing and says the prosecution is politically motivated. * Morris Dees's departure is also better described carefully. He was laid off in 2019 amid allegations of sexual harassment and longstanding complaints about racial and gender discrimination inside the SPLC, alongside older criticism of its enormous fundraising operation and accumulation of reserves. Calling these matters simply “corruption” goes beyond what was actually established.
Therefore, the stronger left argument is to condemn Trump's prosecution and avoid whitewashing the SPLC. A government may selectively prosecute an organization for political reasons while that organization itself has engaged in practices the left should criticize. The principle I'd emphasize is that *private liberal organizations should not become auxiliary intelligence agencies for the FBI simply because the people being surveilled are fascists or reactionaries.* Once political surveillance, infiltration, and information-sharing with the security state become legitimate tools against one's enemies, there is no principled barrier to using the same apparatus against labor organizers, antiwar activists, Palestine solidarity groups, or socialists. The history of the FBI makes that danger anything but hypothetical. So I'd separate the cases: *cite the ADL when discussing historical surveillance of the left and Israel critics, and cite the SPLC when discussing paid infiltration of the far right and cooperation with the FBI.* That makes the argument considerably harder to knock down. And politically: oppose a potentially retaliatory Trump prosecution *without turning the SPLC into an honorary member of the socialist movement.* The security state doesn't become our friend because today's dossier happens to have a fascist's name on it. -- Tony -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#42999): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/42999 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/120736784/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
