Red Mole Substack Clarifies Independence

A Note for Readers

Red Mole has grown from 123 followers in early July to 416 yesterday—adding 132 new subscribers in the last 90 days alone. Using Substack’s definitions, we now reach activists across 37 countries and 23 US states: 34% in the north of Ireland or Britain, United States 29%, Australia 9%, Canada 4%, 3% in Ireland’s southern 26 Counties, plus a meaningful presence across Europe, Latin America, and Asia.

This growth is gratifying. It’s also clarified what needs to change.

Why “Red Mole Substack”?

Red Mole is rebranding as “Red Mole Substack”. The name shift serves two purposes: practical distinction and political clarity.

Practical distinction: With Rob Marsden’s “Red Mole Rising” operating independently before this substack appeared, keeping the name “Red Mole” creates unnecessary confusion. Both are projects of solo Trotskyists with comradely support; both present FI theory; both inform on left crises. “Red Mole Substack” (RMS) clearly distinguishes this publication while maintaining brand continuity for the 416 followers who’ve built this audience over the last nine months.

Political clarity: More importantly, this change deepens what the repositioning is actually saying: this is one person’s blog on Substack. Not the collective expression of a current. Not an organizational voice. One activist, thinking independently of collective editorial processes, publishes on Substack.

That matters because readers need to understand: when you read Red Mole Substack, you’re reading my analysis of why the conservative left, Stalinism, campism, and sectarian formations keep capturing the left. You’re not reading an official position from any organization. You’re reading rigorous thinking from someone rooted in the Fourth International tradition, but not constrained by it.

The Fourth International Context

The Fourth International places itself within a broad Trotskyist tradition of open and critical Marxism. Nevertheless, as an International, it strives to give a coherent viewpoint on key political events through the adoption of resolutions and statements by its formal structures. I work within this tradition - which includes debate, dissent, and development of theory by sections, tendencies, and individuals - sometimes aligned with official positions, sometimes pushing ahead of them, sometimes explicitly disagreeing.

Red Mole focuses on a critique of the bureaucratic left, including symptoms such as campism, sectarianism and social conservatism. Once limited to Stalinist parties, it influences other parts of the left, especially online. Rigorous Trotskyist analysis can reveal its recurring betrayals.

Closing the Advisory Board

When Red Mole launched, I established an advisory board to provide editorial oversight and strategic guidance. In practice, this created ambiguity: board members became associated with positions they didn’t shape and over which they had no real influence. That’s unfair to them and unclear to readers.

More fundamentally: an advisory board suggests institutional oversight of what is fundamentally an individual project. That creates a false impression of accountability.

With their agreement, and with thanks to them, I’m closing the advisory board effective immediately. This clarifies one simple fact: I’m responsible for every word Red Mole Substack publishes. No one else is.

Publishing Structure

Generally, Red Mole Substack publishes on a simple rhythm: Monday and Wednesday for strategic analysis, and Friday for topics supported by long-form guides. Each format serves a different reader need while maintaining the regular cadence that builds sustainable engagement.

Individual articles (Monday & Wednesday) are published as standalone pieces optimised for discovery and discussion. Friday’s guide is a curated long-form edition that may draw on topics from earlier in the week or stand independently. Some Friday editions may include exclusive content for paid subscribers. Most will be available as digital downloads.

This model reflects how most ‘serious’ weekly publications operate online: staggered publishing keeps the site active and discoverable, while a weekly event—the weekly edition—provides an organising framework that gives readers a sense of coherence and forward momentum.

What Doesn’t Change

• The commitment to rigorous, primary-source-verified analysis

• The Fourth Internationalist theoretical framework

• The willingness to follow arguments wherever they lead

• The focus on helping activists understand how to build effective movements

• The Monday/Wednesday/Friday publishing schedule (with flexibility for special events)

• The quality standards you’ve come to expect

What Does Change

Red Mole Substack is now explicitly positioned as one activist’s independent and focussed engagement with Fourth Internationalist theory: a Marxist’s critique of the bureaucratic left. The new name deepens that signal—this is Substack-published work by an individual, not an organizational voice or collective project.

This positioning is more honest. It’s clearer. And it better serves the left—because it means analysis can be sharp without anyone wondering who it represents.

And the new subtitle outlines the villain we’re taking on: the bureaucratic left. Our advisory board considered a number of ways to describe this: ‘conservative left’, ‘dogmatic left’, and so on. Note that it’s not “the left bureaucracy”. This substack isn’t just about the ‘lefts’ that won’t fight. It’s about the mistaken hope that there’s a substitute for grassroots power: that one party, one leader, one central bank can create socialism from above. This error drives many of the left crises and betrayals we see today.

The Fourth International tradition is indispensable for understanding these contemporary left crises. That doesn’t mean every analysis of those crises speaks for the tradition itself. And there will be times when I get things wrong, and there will be times, as with my analysis of the sell-out in Venezuela, when I can be faster or sharper than an organisation’s press would normally be.

Moving Forward

We decided not to change the name fully. It was not the only option (anyone else for Mole Weekly?). But this way, all existing Red Mole content, links, and archives remain unchanged. You’ll continue receiving the same analysis at the same frequency. The updated About page, masthead, and mission page (New Readers Start Here) will reflect the new clarity, but the work itself continues without interruption.

Thank you for reading Red Mole Substack, and for helping build this genuinely international audience of activists committed to understanding how to build movements that actually win.

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