I think tbh the ML orgs were essentially caught flat-footed by the summer of 2020, to put things charitably… but also those ML orgs, or at least the PSL, have doubled or quadrupled in size, in large part because of the summer of 2020 and the radical change in consciousness it brought. Their existence before was quite small, all things considered.

In terms of rioting and propaganda of the deed, it is also important to ask what an ML org would seek to accomplish by leading a riot when they are small and weak. A realistic assessment of the power that US ML groups hold —none— really points to a heavy repression and the complete dissolution of their party in the face of that kind of repression. In Denver, several PSL (and other) organizers were all arrested and slapped with kidnapping charges just for organizing a protest outside of a police station. It took a tremendous amount of resources to get those organizers out of jail and get the charges dropped, and some organizers were facing +50 years in prison.

It is an inarguable advantage anarchist organizing has, that the state essentially cannot repress what is formless, or nearly formless. Individuals can be harassed, imprisoned, or intimidated, but there is no central org to bring down. And it is certainly true that the only minor concessions that were made in the summer of 2020 were in response to direct action by the masses of people led by anarchists. But then, what change was made and has it lasted? What is the goal of any action, direct or otherwise? I think the MLs generally see that challenging the state directly will only be fruitful when their own size and relative power has grown, and political consciousness has changed such that the public will largely view their actions as legitimate and correct, and they would be correct in thinking they are a long ways away from that.