The Minneapolis Uprising and After

August 25, 2026

Despite the end of Donald Trump’s Operation Metro Surge, people in Minneapolis are still angry and ready to fight back. The occupation—formally led by many levels of government, including but not limited to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and even the Minneapolis Police Department—is not over. 

The Trump administration has certainly not ended and, more importantly, capitalism hasn’t ended. So, by no means are we in Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) under the illusion that things have magically gotten better. If anything, we are aware they are in many ways getting worse every day. 

The war on ordinary people continues to move rapidly on many fronts. Domestically ICE, DHS, the Department of Justice, and other parts of the government are more emboldened and the attacks continue against us. As socialists we know our work must continue. Millions of people suffer because of the rising cost of living; the fuel crisis; the criminalization of the unhoused; racist policing of Black and Brown people; and fascistic mobs attacking predominantly immigrant communities at their places of prayer, rest, and work. 

Furthermore, although the ruling class emphasized their concern for the city’s economy by bailing out the rich, there were no bailouts from any level of government for ordinary people. The Democrats, including State Governor Tim Walz, never answered the call for an eviction moratorium nor did they meet any of the people’s demands. In fact, the Democrats just asked for more policing in the name of safety, but that was not the response the people needed. 

Turning away from the grim spectacle of electoral politics, many in the Twin Cities didn’t really turn to these failing “leaders” for answers. Instead, people turned to developing communal systems, networks, and solidarity. That is what DSA chapters across the country did. The infrastructure has served as a resource for sharing knowledge and leaning into each other. 

I will turn to the fightback against Trump’s Operation Metro Surge shortly, but I want to first say something about what we did in Twin Cities DSA. During the operation, we had members from other chapters stay with us in order to learn and prepare themselves in the event that something similar happens in their cities. We hosted folks in solidarity housing. Chapters like Philly answered our calls by filming and documenting the mass coordinated action “No School, No Work, No Shopping” on January 23. Those efforts were super helpful to us, as we were unable in that moment to respond to both the media requests and the internal requests from other chapters who wanted to learn from us. Many chapters donated and supported us materially in this crisis; many of our members work more than one job but still gave generously to our chapter. 

Democrats Disappoint

Every time there is a crisis—like during COVID-19, or the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people—local Democrats and government officials deflect and play ping pong. The answers are the usual “we can’t do anything,” “that’s not in my jurisdiction,” “there’s no money for that,” or just radio silence. Even worse, some try to stoke sectarianism and divide us by referring to basic demands as “radical” or, even worse, “ultra.” 

The worst of this led to the mass hemorrhage of members from both the DSA and any party politics because “progressives”—most notably Senator Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (AOC)—doubled down on Israeli apartheid and genocide.1 The New Arab Staff, “AOC Defends Decision to Back Fresh US Military Aid to Israel,” New Arab, July 20, 2025, https://www.newarab.com/news/aoc-defends-decision-back-fresh-us-military-aid-israel; “On the Iron Dome Vote,” Democratic Socialists of America, July 19, 2025, https://www.dsausa.org/statements/on-the-iron-dome-vote/; Stephen Conneely, “Analysis: Bernie Sanders Asserts Limits to Protest During Irish Visit,” Trinity News, February 18, 2024, https://www.trinitynews.ie/2024/02/analysis-bernie-sanders-asserts-limits-to-protests-during-irish-visit/. The Democratic Party resisted organizations like the DSA and put up barriers around candidate vetting, participatory conventions, and so on. 

Furthermore, here in Minneapolis many Democrats did nothing as terror was enacted on the people here. Minnesota has always prided itself on being “blue” with high voter engagement, but it continues to have some of the most regressive laws. The state is the birthplace of private for-profit schooling and is home to wealthy Fortune 500 companies, including those belonging to the for-profit healthcare complex.

Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey, touted as a “progressive” for his endless virtue signaling and pinkwashing racist policing, is a Liberal with a capital L.2 Liz Crampton, “Minneapolis Mayor Again Thrust Into National Spotlight Over Shooting,” Politico, January 8, 2026, https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/08/jacob-frey-minneapolis-ice-00716297. He is probably one of the most malicious characters and continues to openly show real hatred against the Black and Brown populace. Some would even argue that he wants to make Black Lives Matter pay for the 2020 uprising in response to the death of George Floyd. His politics are those of the ruling class living in segregated communities with segregated schools and segregated lifestyles. The contradictions become so clear when white supremacists become so emboldened. When white supremacists can rule without reservations, liberals, like the mayor, or other Democrats, or even those in the DFL party continue to aid white supremacist violence. 

Furthermore, if Mayor Frey has not been clear about who he is, he continues to veto basic demands from the constituents.3 Estelle Tilmar-Wilcox, “Mayor Frey Vetoes Eviction Notice Extension, proposes $ 1 Million in Rental Aid Instead,” MPRNews, March 11, 2026, https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/03/11/mayor-frey-vetoes-eviction-notice-extension-proposes-1-million-in-rental-aid-instead; Winter Keefer, “Looking Back at Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s 2024 Vetoes,” MinnPost, January 1, 2025, https://www.minnpost.com/metro/2025/01/looking-back-at-minneapolis-mayor-jacob-freys-2024-vetoes/. He resisted calls for a city-funded program that would improve the overall living conditions for everyone and aligned with wealthy contractors, like Israeli funded artificial intelligence company Zencity.4 Sarah Lahm, “The Fight to End Minneapolis’s Use of Israeli Surveillance Technology,” Progressive, October 31, 2025, https://progressive.org/latest/the-fight-to-end-minneapolis-use-of-israeli-surveillance-technology-lahm-20251031/. Like many cities in the United States, Minneapolis has to shoulder crisis after crisis and “pull up its bootstraps,” all while the rich take insurmountable wealth only to get bailed out by our taxes. Mayors and leaders like Jacob Frey play into liberalism and shallow identity politics while gutting the social fabric of the city and sinking more money into corrupt police coffers. We also have to be clear that he is more comfortable seeing money shifted around through philanthropic projects rather than through redistributive publicly owned programs. 

Government Repression

The months after the ICE occupation have involved ongoing trauma, sadness, and further immiseration because of the scale of the financial strain it has put on working and poor people here. So, after months of frigid weather and—thanks to Frey and friends—poorly maintained public services, many were looking towards the Minneapolis summer, which is known for the city’s natural beauty, lakes, serenity, and majestic skies. 

Now, instead, we face a federal indictment. On June 16, 2026, fifteen members of our community in the Twin Cities were arrested by the Department of Justice including members of Twin Cities DSA.5 Al Jazeera Staff, “US Justice Department Accuses 15 Minnesota Activists of ‘Antifa’ Activities,” Al Jazeera, June 16, 2026, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/16/us-justice-department-accuses-15-minnesota-activists-of-antifa-activities. Many more were visited overnight by the FBI. We as Democratic Socialists in the Twin Cities have been named in this lengthy indictment. 

The government is taking the fight to us through the legal arena. We are prepared and we knew this could happen. Now, instead of a reprieve after months of engaging in mutual aid and care work on top of our everyday responsibilities, we are faced with the same tactics that only create fear and alienation. The allegations include conspiracy against the government and being part of greater domestic terror “socialist/Marxist/antifa groups.” Donald Trump has always accused DSA and other political organizations, unions, and “antifa” of conspiracy and of course of being communists.6 Robert Tait, “Trump Revives Old Tropes as He Pushes Warnings of ‘Communist Menace,” Guardian, July 26, 2026, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/26/trump-communism-democrats-red-scare. Because of the recent electoral victories for the Democratic Socialists in America, he has appeared on television denouncing people openly as communist and instructing the public on why socialism is a failure. The threat posed by the growth of our organization and the organizing against him seems very clear. The indictment against us alleges that the following happened which it deems it to be illegal: coordinating encrypted Signal chats, engaging in rapid response networks, observing immigration officers, organizing protests around the detention facility, raising money to support those efforts, and overall interference in Operation Metro Surge. 

Even with all of this happening, our chapter continues to organize. We are one of the largest chapters in the country: we keep growing every day. We participate in a myriad of tactics and strategies against this growing fascism: We engage in mutual aid, rapid response, rent relief support, and defense of community members against evictions, racist policing, and ICE. We are doing training on what a general strike can look like, how to organize, and how to build. We are leaning into the victories, not the losses, and trying to learn from comrades around the world.

Our chapter focuses on many issues through caucuses and working groups including but not limited to Socialist Feminists, Palestine Solidarity, Trans and Queer Liberation, Environmental Justice, Housing Justice, Afrosocialists and Socialists of Color, Abolition, just to name a few. We also play basketball, softball, read books, socialize, provide childcare and community resources, and more. 

Considering everything that the government has tried to do with this diverse community, it still remains strong. We are gearing up for the midterm election. We are also thinking about the wins that came from Colorado and New York City. 

Settler Colonialism, Racism, and Trump’s Metro Surge

People on the ground are saying two things that are fundamentally important—that Minneapolis is purposely being targeted and that this did not begin with Donald Trump. We have to understand that this is the traditional land of the Dakota people. The United States has attempted to erase their memory but has never succeeded. 

We know that the United States government has actively targeted the sovereignty of Native people from these lands. Our chapter has promoted an understanding of settler colonialism. The resistance to the United States didn’t begin during the election of Donald Trump, or even the first time he got elected: it has continued amongst the Native community since settlers reached this land. For example, in the 1930s, during the Depression, millions of people were dealing with police violence, starvation, and high unemployment. During this crisis, the emergence of labor disruption and mass strikes became common. Minneapolis was a war zone then too—as in the great Teamsters strike of 1934. This struggle was one of collective self-defense. In fact, the “commander” of what was known as the Union Defense Guard was Dakota, Ray Rainbolt. Over the decades the Native community has flourished, grown, and resisted. The Little Earth residential community is a testament to this legacy. Located on the South Side, it is the home to members of over thirty-eight Native tribes. It was created during the 1970s by the American Indian Movement. Native people live in the city, work there, participate in unions, and support their unhoused relatives.

The American Indian Movement started patrols against police brutality in 1969. Their legacy is still alive today and you can see that in the coordinated responses from all communities doing patrols and monitoring ICE. A local cafe called Pow Wow set up its space during Operation Metro Surge as a place open for all members in the community activated in legal observing and mutual aid, and as a space of refuge. The community’s tradition of resistance carries with it a long memory of government repression that links today’s struggles against ICE with the history of settler violence. Native people here are able to tell you precisely why the government has put the Whipple immigration detention center in Fort Snelling—because it was the location of a concentration camp for Dakota people. On December 26, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln ordered the killing of thirty-eight Dakota men. This public mass execution was done in front of four thousand Minneapolis spectators. The United States continues to enact violence for us to consume in one big spectacle. So, the repression that we’ve seen recently is neither the beginning nor a coincidence for Native people. 

The Native community has not been the exclusive target of this racist violence. Minnesota has a long history of racism toward Black people living here including redlining, segregation, sundown towns, and the racist policing structure that does nothing for communities. It is precisely why  George Floyd was murdered here. It is why videos so often emerge of racist attacks against Black children, like the one of women repeatedly calling a child the “N word” in Rochester, Minnesota. 

This pattern of structural violence is  normal for Black people who live here. It is why they murdered those who defend Black and Brown bodies, like Alex Pretti and Renée Good. It is why the government sent in almost three thousand federal agents, many of which went into schools, libraries, and public spaces to deliberately create terror, havoc, and spectacle. It is also why Donald Trump sends in white supremacist provocateurs and influencers to amplify and embolden fascist mobs to terrorize on behalf of the state. Many people likened it to slave catchers because ICE and DHS were creating terror toward workers. Also, information was circulating about white supremacist groups signing up for the massive ICE hiring which required few qualifications and zero education. 

“Minneapolis keeps coming together and using all tools on the table to build more solidarity. We know that an organized community is our power, because they want us to be alienated and isolated.”

The spectacular aspect of the terror was highlighted through its filming by government agencies as it moved against ordinary people: mothers, children, and workers in childcare centers; libraries, construction sites, and social services. Millions watched Gregory Bovino prance around the cities in Nazi-like paraphernalia and many of the agents also had symbols of white supremacist groups. 

Even in the face of structural violence, many people—including Somali community members—were filmed confronting border agents, arguing with Bovino’s silly entourage, and poking at right-wing influencers. People in Minneapolis understand that this form of racism, while not new, is being accelerated at this moment on a larger scale. 

It’s also important to remember that when Renée Good was murdered by ICE, it was just blocks away from where George Floyd was murdered. Both murders were witnessed and recorded. Like antiracists all over the world, people here use all the tools they can to resist. 

These lands are the birthplace of the American Indian Movement and the Black Power movement. You can see the pictures of Malcolm X proudly displayed inside the offices of the Minneapolis Federation of Educators. Just like you can still see the symbols and the presence of the American Indian Movement. The people know their fighters, and they understand clearly why they are being subjugated to this level of violence. 

People in Minneapolis continue to fight the United States government through food programs, education, community-centered work, and, of course, demands for land back, reparations, and defense against racism. These movements are anticapitalist at their core, and these communities are the antithesis of capitalism’s vulgarity. That is why I believe none of this resistance is spontaneous; it did not arise overnight in response to the Trump administration’s use of terror, but from a long history of resistance to the state’s white supremacist violence. 

Building our Resistance

During Operation Metro Surge, which formally began on December 1, 2025, some three thousand ICE, CBP, and DHS agents occupied the seven county metro area. These weren’t the first ICE raids; we knew they were already happening on construction sites in more remote areas. Immigrant defense groups were involved and organizing. 

Unions were very aware of the terror their members were being subjected to, but not enough was being done. In the city when it happened, crowds would gather and begin collective filming, observing, and disrupting the presence of agents. Before the actual surge there were only 150 agents. 

ICE and CBP indiscriminately targeted and detained Somalis, African Americans, Latinos, and Native people. Trump claimed it was to keep “Americans” safe. Despite the presence of prominent Democrats like Tim Walz and Jacob Frey on mainstream outlets, the liberal media did little to counter the hate whipped up by right-wing influencers, such as the fraudulent “reporting” of Nick Shirley.7 Rachel Treisman, “What to Know About Nick Shirley, the YouTuber Alleging Daycare Fraud in Minnesota,” NPR, January 1, 2026, https://www.npr.org/2025/12/31/nx-s1-5662600/nick-shirley-minnesota-daycare-fraud; Chabelli Carrazana, “Fact Check: What’s Really Happening with Childcare Fraud in Minnesota,” Louisiana Illuminator, January 11, 2026, https://lailluminator.com/2026/01/11/minnesota-child-care/.

At the time Kristi Noem, then head of the Department of Homeland Security, was also amplifying the anti-immigrant sentiment and stoking general hatred towards Minneapolis.8 Caroline Cummings, “DHS Sec. Kristi Noem Claimed 50% of Visas in Minnesota Are Fraudulent. But Is that Claim Accurate?” CBS News, December 4, 2025, https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/kristi-noem-claims-half-visas-minnesota-fraudulent/; Julia Mueller, “Noem Announces 10K Migrant Arrests in Minneapolis,” Hill, January 1, 2026, https://thehill.com/homenews/5696007-minneapolis-immigration-crackdown-arrests/.

Human Rights Watch in a recent report called “A Manufactured Crisis” revealed widespread human rights abuses in and around the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.9 “‘A Manufactured Crisis’: Minnesota Communities Terrorized by the Federal Government,” Human Rights Watch, June 18, 2026, https://www.hrw.org/report/2026/06/18/a-manufactured-crisis/minnesota-communities-terrorized-by-the-federal-government.  

ICE would take the arrested to the Whipple Detention center located at Fort Snelling, as I have mentioned, on sacred land for the Dakota people. During the peak of the surge, Alex Pretti and Renée Good were martyred, and Julio Sosa-Celis was shot in the leg. The day Renée Good was murdered, ICE went into a high school and attacked educators and teargassed youth. 

All these moments led to a standoff between a large section of the community who filmed, witnessed, and observed the violence and murder on the streets. Legal Observers were assaulted: tear gas and weapons were used as a first resort. 

Before raids even began, the people of Minneapolis knew they would be targeted by the Trump government. We knew Chicago, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis were on the list. So, Twin Cities DSA put together an emergency plan. In conversation with other chapters across the country, our chapter began to lean into planning. 

We also held emergency meetings on December 10 and began implementing aspects of our plan. We began regular communication with members through our “Ice Bulletin” and we started supporting local area organizing in person and online: we began canvassing with know-your-rights information for everyone including small businesses.

On January 4, we took the next step to activate our contingency plan, according to which all other activity in our DSA chapter had to be halted. We voted to enact the emergency plan and put all hands on deck. Our members engaged in anti-ICE activism, such as deploying rapid response teams, noisy demonstrations where we knew ICE was present, expanding mutual aid networks, and developing neighborhood block committees. We also participated in large coalitions to legally observe federal agents and facilities that were imprisoning neighbors, setting up actions with businesses that enabled the ICE siege, and increasing defense. Finally, this and the culmination of extreme violence led to January 23 direct action, which became known as a “general strike” with masses of people participating in closing schools, businesses, and workplaces.10Polling data shows about 1 in 4 people participated in the January 23 action. https://workdaymagazine.org/poll-shows-massive-participation-in-minnesota-shutdown-against-ice/;  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jyR8e8boEpYavfBF0fsf2cr2Ujdc5GWsaqdC3rh6Lx4/edit?gid=805914352#gid=805914352 

Throughout all this organizing, ICE agents used excessive violence, including assaulting a pregnant woman (who miscarried because of the events), smashing windows, destroying public property, verbally assaulting people with threats of sexual violence, and using teargas. For months many people lived in fear, and their movements were further restricted during what is alsonotably in Minneapolisthe coldest time of the year.

During this time, our chapter also tried to put pressure on elected officials, demanding emergency provisions, an eviction moratorium, and the declaration of a peacetime emergency. DSA members and the community as a whole learned once again how useless elected officials were. 

 Worker-Community Organizing

Entire communities of all backgrounds and faiths were organizing. Faith organizations were encouraging people to do mutual aid and legal observation and to participate in civic networks. Faith based groups were working with us in delivering basic necessities, dispersing rent relief, and so on.

Part of our DSA emergency plan involved coordinators of our Political Action Committee sitting in coalition groups with all sorts of civic organizations. We see this work as vital and necessary. It kept us all unified through the most severe moments in Operation Metro Surge. This moment, like that of the George Floyd murder in 2020, took very alienated, isolating situations and flipped them on their head: people understood that we need communal solidarity, that we need to be in action, and that we need to participate and be more organized to fight back. 

We saw a massive coalition of organizations, many which are liberal leaning, meaning they have funders and are not as member driven as we are. This creates moments of tension, but overall, we moved swiftly into action. We also leaned into large, organized communities, like the Native American community. They were the ones who led a large memorial service for the martyrs. Moreover, the Native community has a long history of distributing basic essentials rapidly to a multiracial community.

This moment brought a lot of people together. Even more, it forced neighbors to self organize and to get to know one another, fostering relationships that didn’t exist prior to this moment. We used every tool in front of us (Signal was just one): we had many ways of organizing. 

The Call for a General Strike

During this moment, as ICE and CBP ramped up, the labor movement finally responded in a coordinated effort, calling for a day of “No School, No Work, No Shopping.”11 Michael Sainato and Rachel Leingang, “Minnesotans Strike in Protest Against ICE Surge: ‘No Work, No School, No Shopping,’” Guardian, January 23, 2026, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/23/minnesota-economic-blackout-ice-protests. Many started referring to it as a “general strike.”

“As ICE and CBP ramped up, the labor movement finally responded in a coordinated effort as they called for a day of “No School, No Work, No Shopping.” Many started referring to it as a ‘general strike.’”

The biggest roles were played by the unions themselveslike SEIU Local 26, Unite Here 17, Amalgamated Transit Union 1005, Minneapolis Federation of Educators, St. Paul Federation of Teachers, and Trader Joe’s United—but we also saw the meaningful impact of the Minnesota Federation of Labor. This is why January 23 was so successful. About one hundred thousand people took part in various direct actions including the downtown protest, all happening during working hours (a fact that cannot be belittled). Many nonunion workers approached their managers and bosses to tell them they were not reporting to work. Despite this achievement, the action wasn’t exactly a general strike, as not all workplaces were halted. However, it lifted the political consciousness of millions of workers and now, across the country, people are discussing what a general strike would look like. Finally, over the months, we had large worker assemblies coordinated through the Workers Solidarity Circle, where nonunion and union came together to plan the strategy. It was informed through many other examples from comrades in unions in Brazil, Mexico, and so on. 

In February, the Workers Assembly gathered and voted to do “No School, No Work, No Shopping” on International Workers Day, May 1, which is precedent setting in the United States where this holiday is not recognized by formal labor bodies let alone the government. We continue to understand that the strike is a weapon that we must use alongside other tools and tactics. Many organizers in the city are doing training around what a general strike would look like, and what workplace direct action looks like. 

We know that over 170 DSA chapters took part in May Day actions across the country and participated in mass organizing. This precendent-setting for a country where union density has been in decline.12 Andy Hirschfield, “May Day Rallies Sweep US, Demanding Reforms for Working Class Rights,” Al Jazeera, May 1, 2026, https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/5/1/may-day-rallies-sweep-us-demanding-reforms-for-working-class-rights; Lex McMenamin, “Thousands in US join ‘No Work, No School, No Shopping,” May Day Protest and Economic Blackout,” May 1, 2026, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/01/may-day-strong-economic-protests.

Ongoing Strategies

We have made anti-ICE work a priority. We still are engaged tactically on the ground because ICE has not left our communities. We are also convening all DSA chapters across the country in Chicago this summer to discuss our strategies at the Socialist Summit. 

There are a few tracks that DSA members will be focused on: “Workers Deserve More: Building to a General Strike” led by the National Labor Commission and “Governing as Socialists: The DSA Difference” to be led by the National Electoral Commission. There is an internationalist track: “A Free Palestine in our Lifetime: End Apartheid and War.” There is “No Walls, No Cages: Organizing to Abolish ICE in Trump Era.” Finally, there is “Organizing Fundamentals: Building Blocks for Socialist Victory.”

Lastly, our chapter is one of the largest in the country: we now have 2600 members, and we continue to grow even under the auspices of a government that is trying to designate us as a terror group, communists, and so on, simply for defending ourselves and demanding basic changes. With all the attacks, this obviously leads to organizational challenges that we are overcoming. 

We are really focused on retaining our members and trying to build a vision for the city because of the victories recent victory of DSA socialists in New York City and Colorado.

Limits of Electoralism

Everything that has happened over the years has only proved that we in the movement were right to be principled and relentless and that the “wisdom” of the establishment corporate donor party was wrong and deeply immoral: Kamala Harris and those that defend genocide are in fact the losers and millions of people will continue not to vote unless the party actually dramatically changes. 

These truths would probably recommend a full divestment from corporate donors in general (and not just AIPAC) and a reorientation to becoming a truly people’s party, which is unlikely. More importantly, Bernie Sanders built a movement that then hemorrhaged membership and, later, abandoned the movement in many ways. Furthermore, they prove that those who were fighting for basic human rights—basic and not all that radical, like Medicare for All, Housing for All, public transit, public schools, an end to militarism and imperialism, and, of course, Palestinian liberation—can win because these demands actually reflect the values of the many.

It is very “American” to target the working class. The United States has passed decades of laws that have fundamentally overturned proworker policy and nearly destroyed the right to organize—and, with that, the freedom to participate in a union. So, Trump is not unique to this: we know that Biden and the Democrats failed to implement further prounion legislation when they held power. 

The Democrat and Republican regimes—two party or one party—have resulted in an overall decline in civil society organizations in the United States. This includes but it is not limited to more political parties, unions, liberatory faith based politics, journalism, arts, and culture—institutions vital to a healthy participatory democracy.

It’s important to be honest about our political context because, for the Democratic Socialists of America, this is the reality of the political terrain we are organizing on. With the midterms around the corner, we need to move beyond the shaming of people who are not voting.

In order for us to prepare, we need to understand the limits of electoralism: that it’s one tool, and those of us in the labor movement know that. And we know that unions have historically been part of change by demonstrating that, even when everything—from the strike to the simple demand for dignity—is deemed illegal, we can and must use direct action.

So even with elections constantly looming, we need to stop being overly critical of millions of people across the country who feel deeply agitated by the current state of affairs, but also powerless. After watching almost three years of a televised genocide—and before that the killing of George Floyd in a global pandemic—this generation of voters is not easily going to vote for anyone. 

However, when DSA held its national convention in Chicago in 2025, many of the resolutions that hit the floor were about building toward our own party. You can call the current party system a one party system, a duopoly, or whatever you like. People simply recognize there won’t be transformative change through either of these avenues.

We learned the hard way through the failures of the Bernie Sanders campaign. In many ways, while he built a new structure and brought in thousands of members, he betrayed the movement by not doing anything afterward with us, nor evolving with the demands around the Palestine justice movement. So, we can’t just have leaders, we need to organize the masses and help them become educated, organized, and part of a political vehicle.

Lessons for DSA

Within DSA, we first have to lean into our membership and recognize that members can participate in a variety of ways. During the uprising against ICE, our members engaged in a full spectrum of tactics and levels of engagement. 

We have to allow people to participate. We need to remove barriers and not set them up in order to build a movement. That means providing childcare, doing food distribution, and, of course, identifying new leaders and activists. We are also learning that we need to create more sober spaces as a normative practice. 

Digital tools and technologies have limits: they are not the structure itself. We need to avoid over emphasis on using the “perfect” tool as if it will solve all our problems, as we saw with the obsession over Signal as a replacement for Meta. We know that everything is being surveilled; we can’t also be riddled with fear. Arguably, before social media and the prevalence of phones, the government still surveilled the Black Panther Party, Black radicals, land and water defenders with the American Indian Movement, trade unionists, and communists. So surveillance isn’t new. But what is new is how deeply disorganized we are because work constantly changes and adapts and alienates us in ways we never thought possible. 

There is no mass party participation anymore: public life is attacked in every way imaginable amid the financialization of everything essential. The only way out of this is to actually build community, civic participation, and focus on the movement that’s still in disarray.

We also have learned since Israel’s genocide on the Palestinian people and the pandemic that the right keeps organizing and bringing in new leaders. We also need to identify our own organic leaders. What that means is not just having a “leaderful” method that many US NGOs have practiced, where everyone is a self-appointed leader. 

We also can’t be leaderless, because we have learned from the present and past where that has completely failed us. Again, it seems pervasive in United States, where it’s easy to sign up to a seemingly nonaccountable and leaderless organization that—when you peel back the layers—and is actually led, stereotypically, by a middle class white man. We have to push back and be critical of these formulas which bring us back to focusing heaviest on liberalism and vacuous virtue signaling around who present as the most “radical.” 

Time and time again we learn these tactics and strategies are still not driven by the working class or the working poor. It’s obviously meant to be that way, and that’s why the Democratic Party would more likely align to a donor-driven project than an actual working class and working poor driven mass movement.

We have also discussed at length the failures and limits of social media influencers, and how detrimental they have been to our movements. However, we understand that criticizing is not enough; we must grow, recruit and build.

We need to really think about how we retain members, how we keep them involved, to stop doing purity tests that have hemorrhaged membership, and about how to have a united front while also being clear in coalition work about our principles, our redlines, and our economic demands. 

Finally, we are building organizers, not activists, and not simply mobilizing around protests. We know and have learned from past large mobilizations that it is not enough to say thousands marched downtown on a weekend. Often, these mobilizations led to no real end vision, but just funneled people back into voting systems. That is why we have met so many dead ends with our demands.  

We have come to understand the differences between tactics, tools, and strategy. We understand more clearly than ever that we have our work cut out for us, and that we were right to stay true to principles—to stay in solidarity with Palestine, Cuba, and the people of Venezuela; to always be antiwar, both domestically and internationally; to understand that socialism and internationalism go together. 

We know now more than ever that we don’t have time to engage in nihilistic doom and gloom, the theoretical musings of a divorced intellectual class, or even social media punditry. We have to be with the people, organizing, and building in places we deem powerless. We need to be in rural communities, to talk to Native and Black communities, to counter real alternatives to the alt-right movement, and to push a pro-working family agenda and policy for a truly multiracial working class.

Finally, we cannot be captured by fear because of the ongoing assault led by the government against our members. We cannot be divided over small infractions and differences. We must continue to stand together with our community, as we did then and as we will do now.  

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HELLO, COMRADE

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