Lilac Philly

Lilac is a member-funded socialist organizing group doing local work in the Philadelphia area.

What does Lilac do?

We focus on a range of issues, including criminal justice, eco-socialism, debt, racial justice, housing, political education, and immigration.

We work with everyone in Philly’s left movement ecology, from electoral to direct action and beyond.

Aren’t there a lot of socialist groups in Philly though?

Yes! We use a different approach than our comrades in other groups, whom we work with all the time.

Lilac respects that different groups have their approaches, but we want to work across these differences to build power in the movement ecology.

While some groups only use “inside” strategies to do electoral work or “outside” strategies to pressure institutions from the street, Lilac does both.

Some groups have a top-down leadership structure that only pursue certain kinds of campaigns, while others are decentralized. Lilac has a mixed working group model that encourages members to work on projects, campaigns, and coalitions on a range of issues— while still focusing as a larger group on campaigns that membership agree to.

But what does that really mean.

We’re coalition socialists that bridge gaps between and within the progressive left and further left organizing.

We think Philly’s ecology of organizing groups can generate more power for the working class when we work together on projects.

We want to bring socialism to the mainstream, and bring the mainstream to socialism.

For real though, I want examples.

• Members of our electoral working group have knocked 8,000 doors for the Kendra Brooks and Nic O’Rourke canvassing operation.
• Lilac’s immigration working group was an important member of the coalition that ended the data sharing between the City of Philadelphia and ICE.
• Our criminal justice working group is a coalition partner in the Judge Accountability Table (JAT), the first of its kind in the city, and does regular bailout and bailwatch turnout. Lilac’s housing working group has worked to “stomp out slumlords” by doing tenants’ rights advocacy, and is currently working with Philly Tenants Union and Community Legal Services on rent control. They’re also working on a community land trust project.
• Our eco-socialist working group was a member of the coalition to block the new PGE Gas Plant, and has held educational events examining how to fight ecofascism.
• Our political education working group organizes events specific to our working groups; critical walking tours of Nicetown with community leaders and intellectuals; and reading groups of popular books like Corey Robin’s The Enigmas of Clarence Thomas.

How do I join?

Please read our Bylaws and make sure that you're all right with everything in there. It's pretty important. After that, you can join by

Signing up for Dues

or signing up with a

Dues Waiver here

if you are not financially able to pay dues.