Tell Gov Whitmer to support AG Nessel’s Anonymous ICE Reporting Platform!

In the wake of ICE’s murderous campaign to kidnap our neighbors and restrict our Constitutional rights, we call on Governor Whitmer to support Attorney General Nessel’s recently launched anonymous reporting platform. We call on Whitmer to form an accountability commission to review ICE’s many crimes and constitutional violations. This group of masked secret police has been terrorizing communities with impunity for far too long.

Michigan will not be safe until we know that we have the ability to hold ICE accountable for their many assaults upon our communities and country. Our residents must also be able to do so knowing they are protected by our State from what has been proven to be an extremely corrupt and vengeful Trump regime.

• Anonymity & Privacy Protection: Individuals can now report misconduct without revealing their identity or contact information.
• Secure Evidence Submission: Photos, videos, and documents can now be submitted securely to protect the integrity of the evidence.
• Independent Oversight: Reports MUST be reviewed by an impartial body, ensuring transparency and fairness in the investigative process.
• Legal Protections for Whistleblowers: Michigan residents who report abuses MUST be protected by state and federal whistleblower laws.
• Collaboration with Advocacy Groups: The platform MUST work closely with civil rights organizations to ensure that the process remains accessible, credible, and effective.

The post Break the ICE: Accountability for ICE appeared first on Grand Rapids Democratic Socialists of America.

The surge of ICE harassment, raids and deportations in the second Trump administration has focused unprecedented attention on the problem of anti-migration enforcement. In the wake of the murders of Renee Goode and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, we have not seen the likes of this mobilization on any major political question since the peak of the Black Lives Matter Movement. A recent opinion poll shows that nationally, a near-majority of the population now supports abolishing ICE. We need to seize this moment and keep the momentum going to make sure that this is achieved.

After Renée Good’s murder on January 6, Maine went on high alert. Customs and Border Patrol and ICE were already bragging that they had detained 1,000 people in Maine in 2025. We expected to be targeted next as Trump raged against our Somali community concentrated in Lewiston and Portland. Information began to filter in through immigrant families and organizers and eventually through some of our friends in high places. By January 12, we were relatively certain we were next and groups all over the state moved into action. 

We did not start from a standstill. In previous months, the Maine Immigrants Rights Coalition had established an ICE hotline, Presenté Maine had trained hundreds of verifiers (volunteers who document and report ICE activity), the People’s Coalition for Safety and Justice had set up the Maine Solidarity Fund — to date raising more than $250,000 — teachers in Portland had pushed school administrators to train staff in their Fourth Amendment rights, led by Prevention Action Change, the Community Organizing Alliance in Lewiston had strengthened its mutual aid and organizing infrastructure in the wake of a protest in defense of the Somali community in December, the Maine Council of Churches had spread the word in their congregations, Multifaith Justice Maine had organized clergy to take direct action, Maine AFL-CIO had organized transportation for vulnerable workers, Indivisible chapters had led protests and helped monitor ICE activity, the Maine Coalition for Peace and Human Rights — a central force in the Gaza solidarity movement — had turned out its network and connected the fight to divest state pension funds from apartheid to divesting from companies that profit from ICE, and Maine Democratic Socialists of America had worked alongside the Party for Socialism and Liberation to host anti-ICE rallies in Portland.

No ICE for Maine

In short, people all over the state from all walks of life responded. An organization called No ICE for Maine played a useful role communicating between organizations and opening paths for common work. 

A collective of organizers consisting of individuals from unions, DSA, direct action activists, Presenté Maine, and some new folks came together last spring in No ICE for Maine. Structured very loosely without affiliations from larger groups, No ICE demanded that the Cumberland County Commissioners in Portland sever their contract with ICE, which had turned the county jail into the largest immigrant detention facility in Maine. After thousands turned out for May Day protests across the state, this campaign became one focus of targeted organizing between May and December of last year, bringing hundreds of people together to protest and speak at public comment, demanding an end to county collaboration with ICE. No ICE for Maine gathered thousands of signatures, built an email and Instagram following, crafted legal and legislative arguments, lobbied commissioners, and drew enough media attention to command a critical measure of organizing capacity by the new year. 

Starting on the day of Good’s murder, No ICE for Maine held a series of emergency discussions about tactics. After several sharp but productive debates, No ICE for Maine decided on January 9 to put out a call to people across the state to join an organizing Zoom on January 15. We had initially conceived of the call as more of an organizing and strategy session, but within hours of publicizing the invitation on January 12, some 250 people had signed up. The next day we had 500 RSVPs, and by the morning of the call, some 1,600 people from 157 towns were registered. That call did not create Maine’s massive response, but it did help give shape to it. 

The strategic goal set out on the call was simple: defeat “Operation Catch of the Day,” as ICE named its invasion. Mainers pursued three principal tactics to confront the invasion:

1. We go where they go. The Maine ICE hotline lit up and hundreds of verifiers put their training to good use. Thousands more joined rapid response networks run on Signal. Workers in education, health, manufacturing, construction, retail, and entertainment learned their Fourth Amendment rights. Hundreds of parents and community members organized school watches. We found ICE’s hotels and the Maine Road Salt band formed to serenade them at night. 
2. Mass, nonviolent, direct action. Large rallies and marches were planned, clergy organized sit-ins at Senator Collins’s office, and plans were conceived for mass civil disobedience, training to put our bodies on the line in an organized and disciplined way. 
3. Mutual aid. Thousands of immigrant workers made the courageous decision to shelter in place to defend their families. Kids didn’t go to school. Breadwinners lost wages. The Maine Solidarity Fund, Food for All, Project Relief, and many others helped provide the material support necessary to make this stay-at-home action possible.

United Front

This is the kind of united front approach we must learn to apply in the fight against ICE. None of us is strong enough on our own. The united front is not a preference, it is a necessity. We learn how to draw different forces closer together, how to work with — and against — politicians, how to develop demands while concluding honest compromises, how to create and earn trust. These are the intangibles that can only come with practice, within the united front strategic framework. 

ICE announced that its reign of terror would begin on Martin Luther King Day, January 19. However, Mother Nature stepped in to give us another day to prepare by blanketing the state with 18 inches of snow. That time was critical as it gave us an extra day to put rapid response networks in place. 

On January 20, all hell broke loose. Hundreds of ICE agents swarmed between Portland and Biddeford, 17 miles away. They invaded neighborhoods, dragged workers off roofing jobs, forced schools into lockdown, and blatantly racially profiled drivers, pulling over Black and Brown people at will. They detained custodians, construction and restaurant workers, school employees, and pastors. They even abducted a Cumberland County Jail guard and the father of a premature newborn when he went to check on his other kids at home.

Agents raced through the streets, breaking speed limits and driving recklessly. They threatened and mocked verifiers and rapid responders. They followed activists home and called them terrorists. They did not commit as much violence as in Minneapolis, but the stage was set and they were clearly itching to do so. 

Between January 20 and 24, ICE claimed to have kidnapped 206 people. The obviously random and racist dragnet led all of Maine’s highest elected leaders to denounce their actions. The governor called them provocateurs, the attorney general opened an ICE abuse tip line, the Cumberland County Sheriff called them “bush league,” and the mayors of Lewiston and Portland directed their police not to cooperate — although Portland police did arrest peaceful protesters.

In the middle of that week, No ICE for Maine organizers made two decisions. First, we would organize a mass meeting of thousands, set for February 7, to unveil plans for major escalations if ICE did not retreat by then. We had no expectation that they would, so this was a mechanism to focus the resistance on mass, nonviolent tactics to reduce the risk that ICE would kill one of us and to find a level to impede their operation.

Second, we helped convene an organizing call with labor, clergy, immigrant-led organizations, and progressive community groups on January 26. This call brought together around 30 people in key places. We expected ICE would expand its operations from the Portland area, so this communication with statewide organizations sought to share what we were learning in the Portland area and to talk through the February 7 plan. 

No Mood to Back Down

At the end of week one, ICE had succeeded in inflicting real damage and sowing terror among our immigrant neighbors — thousands of workers stayed home and attendance dropped dramatically in many schools — but it had not broken their resolve. And the broader movement, although fearful that ICE would escalate its violence, was standing squarely on its two feet and was in no mood to back down.

In fact, Alex Pretti’s murder on January 24 set the stage for an expansion of the movement, as restaurant and entertainment workers and small businesses announced plans for a January 30 strike in solidarity with Minneapolis and high school students planned to walk out or boycott classes. If the tactics of “We go where they go” and “Mutual aid” were most important during weeks one and two, “Mass, nonviolent direct action” a la Martin Luther King were coming into focus for week three.

ICE Stands Down

But then something remarkable took place. Starting on January 26, rapid responders and verifiers noticed a significant reduction in ICE activity. I believe some combination of the’ heroism in Minneapolis, our own determination to defend Maine, and the potential collapse of Senator Collins’s reelection chances — with the rise of left-wing firebrand Graham Platner’s campaign — led the Trump administration to blink. 

Before dawn on January 29, Collins announced that ICE’s “enhanced enforcement” operation was ending. While no one believes her as far as they can throw her, ICE did retreat.

Nonetheless, January 30 was the single largest day of united action to date. The participants from the statewide organizers’ meeting on January 26 put together a morning press conference in which politicians, clergy, unions, organizers, immigrant-led organizations, and community groups all pledged mutual support for taking action. Thousands of students walked out or boycotted classes in more than a dozen towns. Twenty-five hundred people marched in Portland and 175 businesses shut down for the day in solidarity. 

Now we’re dealing with the aftermath. We demand the return of each and every one of our neighbors and we are calling on the governor to enact an eviction moratorium and provide funding for lost wages and back rent. Meanwhile, educators are helping students transition back to school, the Maine Solidarity Fund is raising money to cover bail and legal costs, the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project has staffed up and is representing many of those detained, and School Watch volunteers are moving into mutual aid and plans for the next round. 

ICE and CBP are not gone. We expect them to plan kidnapping operations, but most likely in ways that make it harder for us to respond. They are cowards, so they will work at night and in more rural areas. They will hunt our friends. And we must prepare that they will come back in force if Trump wakes up on the wrong side of the bed. But we are better organized, more determined, and wiser. A keen awareness of the damage the immigrant community has suffered tempers any mood of confidence and celebration.

On Saturday, February 7, No ICE for Maine pivoted. What was going to be a mass meeting of thousands to announce escalation plans against ICE turned into a skill share and training day for 400 organizers. That day was marked by a determination to drive ICE out of Maine for good. In addition to the pressure of rapid response and mutual aid—ICE and CBP detained 17 farmworkers and a Brunswick High graduate as this article was written—No ICE for Maine and the larger cooperating forces have to think through our strategic focus as well as our internal and inter-organizational structures in the coming weeks. Although it is very difficult to do so, coming to working agreements around these medium and long-term questions cannot be postponed indefinitely. 

ICE must be abolished. At the same time, no one wants to go back to the status quo. As one union organizer put it, “ICE out! Healthcare and housing in!” Intentionally strengthening our bonds and our mutual solidarity will take persistence, organizations will have to develop trust, and we will make — and have made — our fair share of mistakes. But Maine is in the fight and we’re not backing down.

***

This article originally appeared in The Call, and is reprinted here with permission of the author and publication.

The post Maine Forces ICE to Retreat appeared first on Pine & Roses.

Mandatory profit-sharing policies can give employees some of the money they make for their employers.

The post How Some Countries Give Workers a Slice of Corporate Wealth appeared first on Democratic Left.

Enjoy your February National Political Committee (NPC) newsletter! Our NPC is an elected 27-person body (including both YDSA Co-Chairs) which functions as the board of directors of DSA. This month, sign up for know your rights training, help melt ICE, join political education classes, and more!

And to make sure you get our newsletters in your inbox, sign up here! Each one features action alerts, upcoming events, political education, and more.

• From the National Political Committee — DSA’s Growth Means Hope in Dark Times
• Help Elect Socialist Candidates! Phonebanks Starting Sunday 2/22
• Melt ICE Off Our Streets — Give Today!
• Sign Up for Sunday 2/22 Know Your Rights Training
• Mutual Aid Working Group Elections — Nominations Until Saturday 2/14
• Our Religious Socialism Work Group is Growing! Events Sunday 2/15, Thursday 2/19, and Thursday 2/26
• En Español: Housing Justice Commission Weekly Language Exchange Tuesday 2/17
• Political Education Trainings Thursday 2/19 and Thursday 3/12 — Sign Up Today!
• AfroSoc is BACK in Action! BIPOC Members, Join Our February Meeting Sunday 2/22
• Help Support DSA — Join Growth and Development Committee Phonebanks Starting Sunday 2/22
• Do You Have Fundraising Experience? Apply for DSA’s National Fundraising Committee!
• DSA is Hiring! Application Deadlines Starting Sunday 2/15
• Help Build Strong Chapters! Apply for the Locals First Implementation Committee
• DSA Fund is Hiring a Program Lead!

From the National Political Committee — DSA’s Growth Means Hope in Dark Times

Dear Comrades,

“The issue is Socialism vs. Capitalism. I am for Socialism because I am for humanity. We have been cursed with the reign of gold long enough. Money constitutes no proper basis of civilization. The time has come to regenerate society — we are on the eve of a universal change.” — Eugene V. Debs, 1897

Great news: DSA is now over 100,000 members strong! This milestone is many years in the making, and was borne out of the tireless work of countless members to bring socialism from the margins to the mainstream since DSA formed in 1982. We encourage you to take a moment and reflect on the ways that your work has helped build us into the largest socialist organization in the USA since Eugene V. Debs’s time over a century ago, when the Socialist Party in the US at its height in 1912 counted 118,000 dues-paying members.

The capitalist class suppressed that era of burgeoning socialism with decades of Red Scare repression and propaganda — but not completely. Even past the worst years of McCarthyism and the Cold War, and then through the supposed “end of history” era of neoliberalism, many brave socialist organizers kept the flame alive throughout the 20th century. Socialists have always been organizing to build the power of labor unions and expand rights for all workers, and helped form the backbone of movements for racial justice, women’s liberation, queer liberation, against war and militarism, and for environmental protection in the United States.

Wherever people were organizing for a better, more democratic, and more just future for all working people, socialists like us were holding fast. And now, generations later, democratic socialism is going mainstream.

So many people are joining DSA today because we are a fully member-led and member-funded mass organization. Over 220 local chapters are growing because we represent a real alternative to the corporate oligarchy of our political system. We’re responding powerfully to the current political situation — channeling rage and fear over the Trump administration’s violent policies which scapegoat immigrants, trans folks, and marginalized people while making everyday life more precarious for the broader working class; and also organizing for democratic socialist victories, like our member Zohran Mamdani’s election to mayor of the wealthiest city in the world.

Zohran’s election in New York City brought a surge of new members to DSA because he represents reasons for active hope through the darkness of our time, showing how far our movement has come through the past decade. He is a product of independent grassroots organizing where strong DSA chapters, alongside labor unions and working class community organizations, work more and more like a party of our own. DSA members are winning life-changing policies for millions of people across the United States, expanding affordability and economic security for all, and showing how socialism is what can beat fascism. 

All of this has effects everywhere, not just in NYC. Some of our fastest-growing chapters are in places you might not expect, like Corpus Christi, Birmingham, Southern Idaho, Middle Georgia, and Eastern Kentucky. Folks are fed up across the country and finding ways to organize for socialism and against fascism wherever they live. Whether you were inspired by high-profile campaigns like Zohran’s or were organized at the grassroots level at local actions like union picket lines or Abolish ICE rallies, being part of a democratically run mass movement like DSA means we take back a lot of the power that capitalism has taken from us.

The weight of over a century of struggle is on our shoulders, but we stand on the shoulders of giants. Together, we can and will rise to this task. Take a moment to embrace this history, and then remember what Debs would certainly call us to do: keep going. We can never take popularity for granted. Now is not the time to rest. It’s the time to keep organizing to turn momentum into even bigger growth and more powerful wins against the dictatorship of capital that we’re all living under, and toward true democracy for all of us. Ask yourself what steps you can take today to build the socialist future of tomorrow – and keep asking others to join in! 99,999 of your comrades (and counting!) are right there with you to do the same.

¡La Lucha Sigue, Hasta La Victoria!

Megan Romer and Ashik Siddique
DSA National Co-Chairs

Help Elect Socialist Candidates! Phonebanks Starting Sunday 2/22

Are you ready to help raise money for our socialist candidates across the country? Join DSA’s National Electoral Commission to call other DSA members to help raise money for our socialist campaigns. Phonebanks start Sunday 2/22, and will be on Sundays 5pm ET/4pm CT/3pm MT/2pm PT.

Right now, we have five DSA member candidates with our national endorsement on our slate. Making calls is easy! Talk to members like you  to raise money for:

• Adam Bojak, Buffalo DSA, New York’s State Assembly
• Tammy Carpenter, Portland DSA, Oregon’s State House of Representatives
• Bobby Nichols, Phoenix DSA, City Council in Tempe, Arizona
• Andrew Hariston, Austin DSA, Travis County Justice of the Peace
• Robert LeVertis Bell, Louisville DSA, Kentucky State Legislature

Melt ICE Off Our Streets — Give Today!

DSA members are leading the fight against the deportation regime in cities and towns across the country. So far, DSA members have raised over $25,000 to build our chapters’ responses to ICE terror. This money goes where it’s most needed, including multilingual know-your-rights literature, whistles, hand warmers, trainings, and more for the communities we defend. Even $25 dollars can help our chapters meet the moment and lead the movement to victory over fascism. Give today!

Sign Up for Sunday 2/22 Know Your Rights Training

Join the Trump Admin Response Committee on 2/22 at 2pm ET/1pm CT/12pm MT/11am PT for a Know Your Rights Training. Come hear from legal experts from the NYC-DSA Immigrant Justice Working Group about how to keep yourself and your neighbors safe from ICE.

Mutual Aid Working Group Elections — Nominations Until Saturday 2/14

Mutual Aid Working Group (MAWG) Steering Committee 2026 elections are open now, with nominations open until Saturday 2/14. Voting will be open for all MAWG members Sunday 2/15-Sunday 2/21.

The Steering Committee (SC) consists of 7-9 members including two co-chairs. SC members are expected to run trainings and virtual events, host quarterly all-member meetings, and mentor chapters. If you are interested or have questions, reach out to mutualaid@dsacommittees.org.

Our Religious Socialism Work Group is Growing! Events Sunday 2/15, Thursday 2/19, and Thursday 2/26

Our DSA Religion and Socialism Working Group brings together DSA members of all faiths to support each other, bring socialist ideas to our own faith communities, and work to combat white Christian nationalism. Join our monthly meetup Thursday 2/19 at 8:30pm ET/7:30pm CT/6:30pm MT/5:30pm PT to find out more.

Two of our sub-groups are having events this month as well! The Democratic Socialist Episcopal Association is re-launching. People of all faith backgrounds are welcome to join us in our organizing, mutual aid, and common worship. We conduct all of our work and services via our Discord server here. Join us for our weekly virtual Compline prayer services every Sunday. The next one will be Sunday 2/15. Standing regular meetings will begin Wednesday, 2/18 and be held every other week.

And help build the DSA Buddhist Circle! Buddhists of all traditions, Dharma practitioners, and Mindfulness practitioners are invited to our planning and visioning meeting Thursday 2/26 at 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT. Feel free to review these notes before the meeting.

En Español: Housing Justice Commission Weekly Language Exchange Tuesday 2/17

Practica tu español con la Comisión para Justicia de Vivienda (CJV)!

Aprendiste español en el colegio o en el trabajo y quieres mejorar? Unete los martes a las 17:00 PST / 19:00 MEX/CST / 20:00 COL/EST / 22:00 / ARG para practicar con la CJV. Te pondremos en un cuarto de Zoom con otra persona para que practiquen juntos. Si quieres también tenemos guiones si necesitas ayuda!

Political Education Trainings Thursday 2/19 and Thursday 3/12 — Sign Up Today!

DSA’s National Political Education Committee (NPEC) welcomes all DSA members to our upcoming trainings:

• Socialist Archiving 201: Digital Deep Dive. Thursday 2/19 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT
• Running a Socialist Night School. Thursday 3/12 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT

And did you know? NPEC has a weekly podcast, Class! Subscribe to find out what DSA members all over the country are thinking and doing, and why, every Monday.

AfroSoc is BACK in Action! BIPOC Members, Join Our February General Body Meeting Sunday 2/22

AfroSoc, DSA’s Afrosocialists and Socialists of Color Caucus, is back! Join our February General Meeting Sunday 2/22 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT for announcements, a chapter spotlight on ATL AFROSOC, a walkthrough of the Start a Local Chapter Packet, and general discussion on WG/committee proposals. All BIPOC, good-standing DSA members are welcomed!

Working Group (WG) proposals are still being accepted, and bylaw changes are now open for submission for March discussion. You can review our current bylaws and submit resolutions here. Debate, voting, and collective decision-making will close out the February meeting.

Help Support DSA — Join Growth and Development Committee Phonebanks Starting Sunday 2/22

Join one of our upcoming Growth and Development phonebanks!

• Solidarity Dues Phonebank Sunday 2/22 at 5pm ET/4pm CT/3pm MT/2pm PT
• Recommitment Phonebank Wednesday 3/4 at 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT

Trainings will be provided at the beginning of each call.

Do You Have Fundraising Experience? Apply for DSA’s National Fundraising Committee!

DSA’s National Fundraising Committee is seeking members with fundraising experience. The application form is here. The Fundraising Committee supports the coordination of national fundraising efforts and serves as an advisory body for DSA’s fundraising practices and strategy. We’ll also focus on leading chapter fundraising trainings and providing support to members taking on this work locally. Committee members spend at least 4-6 hours a month carrying out committee duties.

With ambitious plans and a long road ahead, we must sustain ourselves, and that means coordinated and strategic fundraising. As a socialist organization engaged in class struggle, we must fund our own work!

DSA is Hiring! Application Deadlines Starting Sunday 2/15

DSA is hiring for the following four positions:

• Chapter Development Coordinator, application deadline Sunday 2/15
• Regional Organizer (Northeast), application deadline Sunday 2/22
• Regional Organizer (South), application deadline Sunday Sunday 2/22
• Data and Technology Director, application deadline March 3/1

You can find details, including job description and application links, on our Careers page here.

And congratulations to Kaitlin, our new Lead Regional Organizer! Her years as DSA’s Regional Organizer for the South will serve her well in her new role.

Help Build Strong Chapters! Apply for the Locals First Implementation Committee

Last month, the NPC voted to allocate $850k in Chapter Development Grants that local chapters can apply for to fund a broad range of activities, including campaign work, equity and administrative activities, and events. As part of the implementation, we are forming a dedicated team under the Growth and Development Committee (GDC) to oversee the distribution of these grants.

If you’re excited about building strong, well-resourced chapters, you can apply to join the GDC through this form. Indicate “Matching Funds/Chapter Grants” as your area of interest!

DSA Fund is Hiring a Program Lead!

The Democratic Socialists of America Fund (DSA Fund) is seeking a full-time program lead to cultivate the How We Win network of 250+ democratic socialist elected officials, staff and DSA chapters across the country.

DSA Fund is the 501(c)3 political education sister organization to the Democratic Socialists of America, investing in projects that help build a democratic socialist future. The Program Lead position can be based anywhere in the US. Please see the job description for more information. Applications are due by Thursday 2/26.

The post Your National Political Committee newsletter — Socialism Beats Fascism appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

The Midwest Socialist’s Editorial Board

Leonard

Pronouns: he/him/comrade

Neighborhood: Hermosa

Outside of Midwest Socialist: I’m on the North Side Blue Line steering committee, and I’m co-chair of the Political Education committee. 

Outside of DSA: I’m an occasional freelance writer, editor, and proofreader, and I work as a crossing guard for Chicago Public Schools, assigned to Northwest Middle School. My wife, Anna Forsher, is also very active in CDSA, and we love travel, sports, and having fun together.

Currently Reading: Seth Harp’s The Fort Bragg Cartel and Chester Himes’ Plan B.

Book Every Socialist Should Read: André Gorz’s Farewell to the Working Class.

If I could have dinner with three people dead or alive, who would it be and why? D. Boon, Nina Simone, and Joe Hill. Great music, great conversation with three passionate Marxists who led with their politics but also created unforgettable music.

Organizing Advice: Remember that you’re in the struggle for the long haul and don’t get too frustrated when you don’t see immediate wins. Like the saying goes, you’re planting the seeds of a tree whose shade you’ll never enjoy.

Publications: MWS writing here; Jacobin pieces here; lots more on my website, Immortal Science, here.

Binx

Pronouns: they/them/any

Neighborhood: Logan Square

Outside of Midwest Socialist: I serve as one of the chapter’s Harassment and Grievance Officers, as well as one of the co-chairs of the chapter’s Red Rabbits Committee. As a founding member of the RRC, I am also involved with the DSA’s National Security Commission.

Outside of DSA: I work for a non-profit doing social services and I am a staff editor for Sundress Publications. I have a dog, who I love more than anything on this earth, and I’ve gotten into crocheting lately. I’m working on a sweater for her.

Currently Reading: Urusla K. LeGuin’s “Always Coming Home,” and “M: Son of the Century” by Antonio Scurati (translated by Anne Milano Appel)

Book Every Socialist Should Read: Instead of recommending a book, I want to recommend subscribing to Lux Magazine. It’s literally the best magazine out there, especially because it’s a Marxist Feminist publication. Not only are the print magazines glossy and gorgeous, but the journalism is impeccable. Cannot recommend Lux enough!

If I could have dinner with three people dead or alive, who would it be and why? I would have dinner with Pier Paolo Pasolini, Audre Lorde, and Seamus Heaney. Pasolini having lived through Mussolini’s dictatorship as a gay writer, producer, and director; Lorde at the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality during the American Civil Rights movement; and Heaney being an anti-imperialist during The Troubles in Northern Ireland. As a poet and an anti-fascist myself, I think they’d each share some deeply valuable perspectives on poetics and politics from their experiences.

Organizing Advice: IT IS OKAY TO TAKE BREAKS. PLEASE TAKE BREAKS. FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD IN THIS WORLD, TAKE A BREAK. I am so serious, burn out will make you a demon to those around you. Do yourself and everyone in your life a favor by taking some time for yourself. IT IS OKAY.

Publications: Visit binxperino.com to check out the creative work that I’ve published over the years! Around Chicago, you can find copies of my chapbook Pure Light (2023) in various bookstores. You can also just enter my name into a search engine, if you’re nasty.

Nick

Pronouns: He/Him

Neighborhood: Andersonville

Outside of Midwest Socialist: I’m a member of the Communications Committee.

Outside of DSA: I’m a songwriter and musician, and I play in bands regularly around Chicago. I’m also a software engineer, avid Bulls fan, and I enjoy long bike rides by the lake.

Currently Reading: Treasure of the Sierra Madre by B. Traven.

Book Every Socialist Should Read: Freedom is a Constant Struggle by Angela Davis.

If I could have dinner with three people dead or alive, who would it be and why? Neil Young, Tracy Chapman, Gil Scott Heron. Three uniquely talented and accomplished musical artists with deeply held political perspectives that they aren’t afraid to express in their work. I could learn a lot from each of them.

Organizing Advice: Have patience and show up consistently! It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Matt

Pronouns: He/They

Neighborhood: Northwest Side Blue Line Branch

Outside of Midwest Socialist: I served as Chicago DSA’s Political Education Coordinator from July to December 2024.

Outside of DSA: I have a master’s degree in history, and I am particularly interested in the history of East Germany, the Eastern Bloc, socialist/labor history, and the history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries more generally. I speak fluent German and conversational Spanish, I collect currency from around the world, and I am a member of the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA).

Currently Reading: Just finished Blue Collar Empireby Jeff Schuhrke, about the zealous anticommunism of the AFL-CIO, its very active collaboration with the CIA, and its successful efforts to undermine democratic trade unionism at home and abroad during the Cold War. I am now rereading the classic alternate history novel The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick.

Book Every Socialist Should Read: Everything for Everyone by M.E. O’Brien and Eman Abdelhadi. It’s a speculative oral history of a global anarcho-communist revolution that takes place from the 2050s to the 2070s. It is one of my favorite works of fiction of all time.

Another very formative book for me was Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, a memoir of the author’s experience as a war correspondent embedded with an anarchist militia in the Spanish Civil War. It’s the book that taught me that socialism could be more than just the aesthetic of the banners and slogans of the bygone USSR, but a revolutionary experiment relentlessly advancing the cause of equality, radical democracy, and human freedom.

If I could have dinner with three people dead or alive, who would it be and why? Karl Liebknecht, Rosa Luxemburg, and Eugene Debs. They are easily my three favorite socialist figures of the twentieth century.

Organizing Advice: Intellectual pursuits are being hollowed out by social media, AI, and relentless attacks on public education. In this context, learning becomes a revolutionary act. Do your own reading, your own writing, and your own thinking. Your brain will thank you.

Publications: I write alternate-history themed settings for an independent tabletop roleplaying game publisher. I have also written for the Baffler, Chicago DSA’s Red Star Bulletin, and on my own (woefully out-of-date) Medium page.

Chase

Pronouns: He / Him

Neighborhood: Lincoln Square / Ravenswood

Outside of Midwest Socialist: I co-lead the Lincoln Square Social / Member Club, part of the Member Club pilot program within Chicago DSA. The focus is to activate, organize, and connect together members of Chicago DSA in Lincoln Square and the surrounding neighborhoods. 

Outside of DSA: Outside of DSA I work as a CPS Substitute teacher, and am currently completing my Masters in Education. I love learning languages, and speak German mostly fluently and Portuguese fairly well, with experience in several other languages. Additional passions of mine are Worldbuilding, watching movies, drawing, and writing. I am in fact working on publishing (on my substack) at least twelve short stories this year. 

Currently Reading: Currently I am reading East of Eden by John Steinbeck. I recently also finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick. 

Book Every Socialist Should Read: I don’t know if I know a very novel answer to this question, but I did read Kim Moody’s Rank and File Strategy recently; especially for those organizing within the US today, I think it’s a good read. 

If I could have dinner with three people dead or alive, who would it be and why? This is such a difficult question. There are so many people I’d want to meet! I’ll give a shot:

1. Oetzi the Iceman: I actually saw his body on a trip to Italy, when I lived in nearby Austria. I would give anything to talk to anyone from the Neolithic, as I find the period, the dawn of “Civilization,” endlessly fascinating. Plus, he’s the oldest cold case in history!
2. Justinian II: Byzantine Emperor, last of the Heraclian dynasty. His great great grandfather, Heraclius, saved the Empire from the Parthians, only to lose half of it again to the nascent early Islamic Empire. Justinian II himself is interesting for being deposed, his nose cut off, exiled to Crimea, only to kill his guards, escape, and depose his deposer’s deposer (before being later again deposed). I’ve always thought he’d make a great subject of a book I’d like to write someday, so I’d love to chat!
3. Ursula K. Le Guin: I was not so much a fan of Le Guin when she was alive, but became one after her death. Earthsea and Always Coming Home are dear to my heart and great inspirations to me as a writer and as a human being. I would love the chance to talk to her and have her critique my own work!

Organizing Advice: Get to know your comrades! It’s hard to organize with somebody that you don’t know very well. 

Publications: I have not published anything for MWS as of yet, but I do have a substack! If you like short fiction of varying types follow my substack at @leerbaker1 (Lee R. Baker is my pen name). My plan for this year is to release 12 short stories in 12 months. 

Alec

Name: Alec Hudson

Pronouns: he/him

Neighborhood: Lincoln Square

Outside of Midwest Socialist: SEIU 73 member, Chicago DSA jack-of-all-trades.

Outside of DSA: New dad, history nerd, soccer fan, and traveler.

Currently Reading: The Paris Commune: A Brief History (Eichner, 2022), The New Deal: The Depression Years, 1933-1940 (Badger, 2002), The Socialist Challenge Today: Syriza, Corbyn, Sanders (Panitch, Gindin, & Maher, 2020).

If I could have dinner with three people dead or alive, who would it be and why? Karl Marx for a good time, Eugene Debs to learn what it took to build a mass socialist party, and Gracchus Babeuf because I’m obsessed with the French Revolution and its role in establishing modern socialism/communism.

Organizing Advice: Stay curious and keep learning new skills!

Feel free to reach out via midwestsocialist at gmail dot com or send us your work!

The post Our Editorial Board: The Comrades Behind Midwest Socialist appeared first on Midwest Socialist.

On Saturday, February 7, as temperatures barely crested double digits, over 300 people across Maine gathered at the Maine Irish Heritage Center in Portland for a community meeting put on by the No ICE for ME coalition, aimed at educating residents on rights and skills to know in light of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) recent heightened activity throughout the state.

It’s been almost three weeks since ICE started their statewide “Operation Catch of the Day” on January 20, 2026; a focused flood of federal immigration agents into Maine with the sole purpose of raiding communities to abduct immigrants and refugees who they allege are violent criminals in the country illegally. Evidence has shown, however, that a good number of the people they detained are here legally, or are refugees already following the legal process; and, in the vast majority of instances, have no violent criminal history.

In light of the agency’s crude and often illegal tactics (which include stalking school drop off and pick up times, quickly disappearing people across state lines to disrupt access to legal representation, using bear spray on civilians recording their actions, and in a number of cases across the country shooting people who presented no threat), thousands of Mainers have not only bristled at the danger ICE presents to their communities, but have organized into networks of rapid response teams and mutual aid efforts in order to help protect their neighbors.

No ICE for ME, a group of resident volunteers with a number of organizational endorsements, has been at the forefront of planning and organizing community networks in case ICE decided to make a push into the state. Indeed, as soon as the ICE surge began in January, community networks organized by No ICE for ME jumped into action on Signal group chats, communicating and documenting what they observed, joining with school watch teams, and funneling people into mutual aid efforts in order to help families who didn’t feel safe leaving their homes.

According to Tophe, who works with Presente! Maine and organizes with No ICE for ME, the group formed last Spring in order to demand Cumberland County end its contract with ICE, wherein the Sheriff’s Dept. held ICE detainees in the county’s jail. But, as the year went on, he says they knew they would have to expand their mission. “We knew this moment was going to come, it was not a matter of if, but when. […] In 2025 alone, immigration detentions in Maine increased by 75%, so this was already a marked escalation that made it impossible for people to ignore.”

No ICE for ME was not the only community group to organize around an expected surge in ICE activity around the state. In October, the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Peoples’ Coalition for Safety and Justice (PCSJ) launched the Maine ICE Watch Hotline. Their mission is to receive and verify tips about ICE and Border Patrol activity in Maine communities, providing real time updates and connecting families to supportive resources. There is also the Maine Solidarity Fund, a project of the PCSJ, which collects donations in order to help with legal support, familial support, and healthcare access for immigrant and marginalized people facing increased harassment, discrimination, and detention across Maine.

And while all these groups surely have overlapping participation, Saturday’s community meeting in Portland was officially the work of No ICE for ME. Tophe clearly laid out why the group thought it was necessary. “So many people were suddenly volunteering to fill emergency food distribution shifts at Presente, to donate to the Maine Solidarity Fund, they were flyering about the Hotline in their communities and protesting almost every day. And that power cannot be ignored, it has to be cultivated, grown, and nurtured. There are so many people asking ‘what can I do?’ […] So, the idea behind this event is to hold sessions on real tangible skills that not only can people learn themselves, but to share with their communities.”

The day’s events went from 12 to 4 PM, with panels and workshops covering a plethora of topics. The first session lasted until 2:30, and attendees got to choose among four different workshops depending on their areas of interest and need. One of the first workshops was a training on workplace preparedness, involving a number of teachers and restaurant workers who went over the Fourth Amendment right protecting against unconstitutional searches and seizures. They shared how ICE is not constitutionally permitted to enter restricted workplace areas, and how workers can physically set up their workplaces to make them safer.

There was also a very well attended noncompliance workshop, which focused on the history and theory of resisting unjust and immoral laws through noncooperative tactics. At the same time there was a presentation on how folks can learn to become a trained verifier when observing and documenting ICE activity in their communities, and an important workshop on digital security where attendees could learn the basics on how to protect one’s self or organization from being doxxed or infiltrated via communications.

After a brief break, where could mingle and partake in a zine designing work area to contribute to an anti-ICE zine build, which was fairly busy throughout the day, the second session started. Three simultaneous workshops were offered; upstairs, there was a de-escalation training on skills to identify different levels of escalation, de-escalation strategies, and on how one can focus on grounding and centering themselves and others during moments of crisis and tension in order to keep things from escalating. Downstairs was where attendees could find two other workshops, one being a presentation on mutual aid primarily helmed by members of Presente! Maine, focused on how to help meet community needs via raising funds but also how to get connected to provide direct food, rent, and utility assistance to their neighbors. 

Also downstairs was a panel on protest and picketline safety, which has become more pertinent given the increased number of rallies and actions that have sprung up nationwide in response to ICE, as well as increased union activity under an anti-labor Trump administration. Speakers brought a range of different experiences, including Todd Chretien, candidate for State House District 112 and longtime organizer; Arthur Phillips, Maine AFL-CIO Campaigns Director; Troy Jackson, gubernatorial candidate and union member; and Arlo, a longtime community organizer in southern Maine. They focused on how to make safety and security decisions based on different scenarios, considering the size of the action, whether it is in a friendly or hostile area, and considering nearby establishments like schools and houses of worship. 

In the end, over 300 attendees walked away having learned skills they previously lacked in hopes of sharing and applying them in their own communities in order to keep their neighbors safer. As to why it’s important, Tophe of Presente! noted, “We know that there’s a space for everyone to do something at this moment. We can’t all do everything, but everyone can do something. This event is to help people find their niche, see where they fit in. Because we know another surge is going to come, and we need to be even more prepared.”

This idea that the surge will come again, or perhaps that it hasn’t even left, has been a popular chorus with organizers. While Sen. Collins and ICE have claimed that they’ve ended their surge in Maine; volunteers still observe and document daily instances of ongoing ICE and Border Patrol activity in their communities. It’s clear to many that the immigration agencies are merely playing possum, feigning retreat while shifting tactics to be less visible. When asked why it’s important to keep up and build out these community groups in the aftermath of ICE’s recent operation, Portland City Councilor Wes Pelletier, who has been active in these community defense efforts, had this to say. “Trump and ICE think they can de-escalate the situation by telling us they’ve left, but we know they haven’t. It’s important during this time when their activity seems low to keep building. Because, if and when they do re-escalate, we need to be ready to protect our neighbors again. We need to maintain a level of awareness and vigilance.”

When asked for his final reflections on the event, panelist and State House candidate Todd Chretien summed up his thoughts. “This provided a place for people who have been working for many months, who all came together and blunted ICE’s intention to kidnap 1,400 people. We lost 206 family members, which is terrible and we want all those people brought home; but, it’s important to say that the collective efforts everyone engaged in prevented ICE from stealing another thousand people out of our community. I firmly believe that if everybody had not participated in the ways they have, ICE would still be publicly camped out in Portland, in Lewiston and Bangor. Our collective efforts have forced them back underground, and we have to be vigilant because that threat is not over. But, we are stronger and better prepared for the next round, and eventually to abolish ICE.”

The post Hundreds Attend “No ICE” Skill Share in Portland appeared first on Pine & Roses.

Without reservation, the Salt Lake Democratic Socialists of America (SL DSA) firmly oppose any and all immigration detention within Utah. We reject the Federal Government’s racist, nativist, and exploitative approach to immigration policy, and are appalled at the intentional and cruel humanitarian crisis it has created. Recent leaks uncovering plans for an immigration detention facility in Utah threaten to continue the state’s ugly history of participation in large scale, racially-targeted internment. These past and present attempts to suppress immigrant communities are not only an affront to the fundamental notion of intrinsic human dignity, but also a cudgel wielded against the interests of the working class. They obscure the identities of the true architects of our exploitation, redirecting responsibility for our justified feelings of bitterness and discontentment away from oppressive regimes and economies and onto the precarious and undocumented; those who are, in fact, our allies. 

Over the past several months, internal ICE documents have emerged that outline a plan utilizing US military resources to establish “facilities to house as many as 10,000 people each” in several locations across the country, including Salt Lake City. After the failure of Florida’s taxpayer funded “Alligator Alcatraz” which was shuttered after violating detainee rights, disregarding local government and tribal rights, and dismissing environmental concerns, one would think that Utah’s leaders would express more hesitation to ride shotgun on this wild spectacle of waste and abuse. Sadly, it is not so: Utah’s state-level and congressional leadership, in submissive fealty to Trump’s agenda, refused to comment, much less openly oppose the effort. With new leaks indicating a warehouse near Salt Lake City International Airport as the intended location, there has been mixed response from local officials. The only official acknowledgement from Salt Lake City has been a rather passive reminder from Mayor Erin Mendenhall that a detention center at the location would run afoul of local zoning ordinances; on the other hand, Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson admirably condemned the plan and committed the county to fighting it “using every available tool.” In the face of such inconsistent leadership, we salute the people of Utah that showed up in the early hours of January 13^th to make their opposition perfectly clear. While the owners of the rumored detention center site ultimately denied their intent to sell or lease to ICE, it is abundantly clear that ICE’s continue working to build the infrastructure necessary to execute their authoritarian directive. Considering today’s fresh atrocities and with historical perspective, SL DSA’s stance is rooted in one critical message: never again. 

“Never again:” a much-needed refrain which calls us to remember Utah’s record of hosting racial concentration camps within its borders. In 1942, Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, directing the Secretary of War to “prescribe military areas […] from which any or all persons may be excluded” and provide for them “other accommodation as may be necessary.” EO 9102 established the War Relocation Authority, and assigned it the task of “[effectuating] a program for the removal…of the persons or classes of persons designated under [EO 9066], and for their relocation.” In the text of these two executive orders, which speciously argued for the need to protect against foreign espionage and sabotage, Roosevelt identifies a single justification: national security. 

Two of the sites that provided for that relocation program, which in total detained approximately 120,000 people of Japanese descent, were the Topaz War Relocation Center in the desert west of Delta, Utah, and the Dalton Wells Isolation Center, a disciplinary camp outside Moab. From 1942 to 1945, 11,000 people were incarcerated in the Topaz camp, making it the fifth largest city in Utah over its three years of operation. Prisoners were given “loyalty questionnaires,” with those not deemed sufficiently loyal sent to more restrictive isolation facilities like Dalton Wells. A unique stain on state history, these concentration camps were the result of a government empowering itself to decide whose rights were sacred, and whose were forfeit. 

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The stage is set for another monumental crime of a scale that promises to shock Utahns to our core; and in this crime, we will be complicit. We cannot say we did not see it coming. 

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Now, these actions are justified with the same warlike rhetoric and appeal to the maintenance of national security. Equating immigration to a “foreign invasion” and making use of military largesse, ICE and the US military are coordinating on a facility in Utah that could have a capacity nearly the size of Topaz. This facility could have up to 10,000 beds, with detainees potentially housed in weather-vulnerable soft-sided tents. We are now living through a moment that demonstrates that although history doesn’t repeat, it does rhyme: the Trump regime engages in racial profiling, deports citizens and legal residents, targets and sanctions those critical of the regime, and offers excuses and justifications for its most violent excesses. The stage is set for another monumental crime of a scale that promises to shock Utahns to our core; and in this crime, we will be complicit. We cannot say we did not see it coming. 

SL DSA’s stance is one that increasingly resonates with the people of Utah as we face a hostile government intent on stripping away our rights. We demand: no detention centers in Utah, no cooperation with ICE, and full solidarity with our immigrant community. We reject any false distinction between “good” and “bad” immigrants, “legal” and “illegal” immigrants, and immigrating the “right way” and the “wrong way.” These distinctions are nothing more than the flimsy judgements of an immoral power structure with no respect for our rights, protections, or human worth. Finally, we reject the increasingly brazen lies of the Trump administration, as it claims “If you are here legally and contributing, you have nothing to fear.” In fact, cases of arrest based on ICE’s refusal to accept documentation, employment records, payment of taxes, or even while following the official immigration process all fall apart under the barest scrutiny. There is no logic, no rule of law, and no respect for human beings in ICE’s “enforcement” activities. 

In our ongoing work, our goal is to mobilize, organize, and educate the working class, ultimately engendering and reinforcing solidarity within it. This objective necessarily must include working class immigrants. If a portion of the working class is deemed unworthy of protection, the rights of the working class as a whole cannot be assured. 

Words on a page, however, are not enough. As wages are depressed, as landlords are permitted to use immigration status to threaten tenants, as bosses and managers benefit from workers’ stolen labor, the consequences of this authoritarian regime will affect us all. This regime and the capitalist economic structure that gave birth to it requires systemic exploitation in order to sustain themselves. At its best, it must demand silence; at its worst, it requires complicity and total obedience. In order to justify this system and its cruel repercussions, we are invited to despise and ostracize our fellow human beings. As socialists, we refuse. We invite you to join us in that refusal, and struggle with us to build a better world that is inclusive of us all.

ETA: Credit where credit is due to Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, who in her 2026 State of the City address, elaborated on her firm opposition to ICE operations in the city.

No, there is no terrible thing happening coming for you in some distant future. But know that a terrible thing is happening to you now. You are being asked to kill off a part of you that would otherwise scream in opposition to injustice. You are being asked to dismantle the machinery of a functioning conscience. Who cares if diplomatic expediency prefers you shrug away the sight of dismembered children? Who cares if great distance from the bloodstained middle allows obliviousness? Forget pity. Forget even the dead, if you must. But at least fight against the theft of your soul.”

― Omar El Akkad, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

The post Never Again: Revisiting the Tragedy of Mass Detention in Utah first appeared on Salt Lake DSA.

By: Steve Early

This was originally published by California DSA on January 26, 2026.

DSA’s “rank-and-file strategy” has 60s roots at UC Berkeley 

“The lessons of the International Socialists can help point us in the right direction by sharing what has worked and what has failed in past decades” —Andrew Stone Higgins

Some DSA members are still pondering how they should relate, personally and collectively, to the labor movement. Should they try to become agents of workplace change while serving on the staff of local, regional, or national unions? Or should they organize “on the shop-floor”—in non-union shops or as a unionized teacher, nurse, or social worker? And then, later on, seek elected, rather than appointed, union leadership roles? 

A few years ago, the DSA convention debated this latter strategy and then narrowly passed a resolution favoring the rank-and-file route. Some members locally have joined the Rank-and-File Project which supports this approach “to fighting for a better world from the bottom up.”

Fifty years ago, Sixties leftists pondered the same options before launching their own reform efforts, within the labor bureaucracy or as challengers to it. Some had the foresight to transition from campus and community organizing to union activism in healthcare, education, and social work where college degrees were helpful and job security good.

Other former student radicals—under the (not-always-helpful) guidance of multiple left-wing formations—opted to become blue-collar workers in trucking and telecom, mid-west auto plants and steel mills, and West Virginia coal mines in the 1970s. Unfortunately, in the decade that followed, de-regulation, de-industrialization, and global capitalist restructuring produced enormous job losses and industrial contraction. 

Radicals who made a “turn toward industry” often lost union footholds they had struggled for years to gain. But thankfully, many ended up back on the academic track, retooling as teachers, lawyers or pro-labor college professors. Others became community organizers, public sector union activists, labor educators or staffers, and, in some cases, even entered the business world.

Socialism from Below

Andrew Stone Higgins’ history of the International Socialists (IS), From the Free Speech Movement to the Factory Floor: A Collective History of the International Socialists, brings together individual oral histories or contributor-written chapters by 26 former members of that organization. The IS was founded in 1969 by veterans of the Free Speech Movement (FSM) at Berkeley and other hotbeds of Sixties’ activism. FSM alums featured in the book include the late Mike Parker, an East Bay DSA member whose chapter on “The Student Movement and Beyond” contains good advice for campus radicals today.

Like organizational rivals on the left less interested in promoting “socialism from below,” the IS made a decade-long attempt to “bridge the gap between a left disproportionately formed on college campuses and the working class, which, of course, remains a central concern for all American socialists.”

In Higgins’ collection, contributors like Candace Cohn, Gay Semel, and Wendy Thompson provide vivid first-person accounts of their experience leaving student life or white-collar jobs to become embedded in industry. Each of them helped fight the discriminatory treatment of women and/or African-American workers widespread in the blue-collar world they entered in the 1970s.

Cohn became politically active as a member of Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Michigan. After graduation, she moved to Pittsburgh and helped create a local advocacy group for Mon Valley workers exposed to hazardous health and safety conditions.  She then became “one of the first women hired into basic steel since World War II” at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works, “the world’s largest coking operation and its filthiest and deadliest.”

In the mill, “sexual harassment was non-stop, both from foremen and from older white co-workers.” Nevertheless, Cohn built relationships with black workers and other female steel workers, started a shop floor paper, Steelworkers Stand Up, and helped rally fellow rank-and-filers on behalf of Ed Sadlowski and his “Fight Back” slate in a 1977 international union election.  

Sadlowski was a “left social democrat,” who was heavily red-baited during his exciting but, ultimately unsuccessful, challenge to labor-management partnering in the steel industry. “In the employer’s offensive that followed,” Cohn writes, “tens of thousands of steelworkers were thrown onto the street, mills shuttered, and steel valley voices silenced.” She was able to retrain as a labor and civil rights lawyer.

Like Cohn, Gay Semel went to law school after her tour of duty in the IS, as its national secretary and editor of Workers Power, an “agitational newspaper” featuring a popular column called “Labor Notes.” Before that, she worked as a telephone operator in N.Y.C. In that well-timed intervention, she got herself expelled from the Bell System company union then representing her-co-workers, which the Communications Workers of America was trying to oust. As a lawyer, she spent most of later career working for CWA, the union she also tried to support, back in 1971, when she wouldn’t cross its picket-lines during a nine-month strike by 38,000 N.Y Tel technicians.

Unlike Cohn and Semel, Wendy Thompson actually made it to the finish line of a good union pension in the auto industry after becoming a labor-oriented radical during her junior year abroad (in France, circa May 1968). Thompson worked for General Motors at a Chevy gear and axle plant, with a predominantly black workforce. Surviving lay-offs and repeated management attempts to fire her, Thompson battled sexism on the shop floor, contract concessions, and the long dominant influence of the Administration Caucus in the United Auto Workers (UAW).

During her 33 years in the plant, only one Administration Caucus critic was ever elected to the UAW international executive board. But the 2022 membership vote to ditch convention voting for top officers—and switch to direct election by the rank-and-file—enabled a slate backed by Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD) to win what Thompson calls an “unprecedented victory—and a great culmination of my many years of activity” on the shop floor.

A Hard Sell

The recollections of individual IS members definitely support Higgins’s conclusion that their “pre-party formation” of 500 failed to create an organizational culture “more fully welcoming to diverse working-class recruits.” The latter numbered only about one-fifth of the IS’s peak membership, and, according to Higgins, here’s why:

While refreshingly democratic and seriously committed to political education of new members, the IS culture of deep reading, broad discussion, fierce debates, and long, numerous meetings was a hard sell to prospective members, pressing familial obligations, and a limited amount of free time.

And then there was the internal feuding that disrupted the group’s initially well-coordinated labor work. In 1976-77, the IS split three ways. Several hundred loyalists stayed put; seventy five formed a group called Workers Power, and one hundred created the International Socialist Organization (ISO), which grew bigger over the years but then suddenly imploded in 2019. In the mid-1980s, as part of a more constructive “regroupment” process, Workers Power members got back together with remaining ISers to form Solidarity, a looser network of socialists which publishes the journal Against the Current.

According to former Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) supporter Dan LaBotz, now a Brooklyn DSA member and co-editor of New Politics, “one of the principal reasons for the IS split was differences over the labor work,” which some members argued was “making the group more conservative.” 

As feminist historian Barbara Winslow recalls, the grounds for her expulsion from the IS, in the late 1970s, was arguing “for a larger engagement in all possible areas of working-class women’s struggles—blue-, white-, and pink-collar movements as well as other women’s liberation activities.”  She and her then husband, former IS National Industrial Organizer Cal Winslow, became targets of a subsequent purge, when they were expelled from the ISO, despite being among its founding members.

Contributors to Higgins collection like UC Santa Barbara Professor Nelson Lichtenstein, David Finkel, co-editor of Against the Current, and others cite TDU and Labor Notes as the main legacies of the IS. That uniquely durable labor education, rank-and-file organizing, and alternative media project was launched forty-six years ago, during an era when other socialist or communist formations were still mired in highly competitive self-promotion. 

For example, their organizational newspapers usually put a higher priority on new “cadre” recruitment than helping to build broad-based, multi-tendency rank-and-file movement. In contrast, as Thompson recalls, “the IS clearly rejected the model that many socialist groups had of maintaining their front groups rightly under their control. Originally staffed by IS members, Labor Notes became a project where workers would feel they were in a comfortable milieu but also a pond where socialists could swim.”

This may have “violated all the norms of so-called Leninism,” Finkel notes. But, in the end, a more ecumenical approach was critical to developing a multi-generational network of rank-and-file militants that now meets every two years with 5,000 or more in attendance, as opposed to just 600 in the early 1980s, which was good turnout back then. (To attend the June, 2026 Labor Notes conference, register as soon as possible at https://www.labornotes.org/2026.)

This very readable volume has much solid advice for socialists trying to revitalize existing unions or create alternatives to them today.  One key lesson is that building a big labor or political tent is better, for the left, than becoming a small one. If you prefer the latter result, then endless meetings, too much organizational “discipline,” and fractious debates over the finer points of Marxist theory—followed by destructive purge—will get you there pretty quick. On the other hand, if you want to be an individual or organizational long-distance runner on the labor left, there are, in this book, some very good role models to follow.

From the Free Speech Movement to the Factory Floor: A Collective History of the International Socialists, edited by Andrew Stone Higgins, Haymarket Books, available March 2026.

Steve Early is a longtime labor activist, journalist, and author. He is an East Bay DSA member who belonged to the New American Movement (NAM) in the 1970s and favored the socialist group merger that led to DSA’s formation in 1982. He has been a contributor to Labor Notes since 1979 and, for many years, served on its editorial advisory board. He can be reached at Lsupport@aol.com.

The post From the Free Speech Movement to the Factory Floor: A Collective History of the International Socialists appeared first on Working Mass.

Events & Actions

Tuesday, February 10 (6:30 PM – 7:30 PM): Ecosocialist Bi-Weekly Meeting (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Wednesday, February 11 (6:45 PM – 9:00 PM):  DSA SF General Meeting (zoom and in person at Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate Ave)

Thursday, February 12 (6:00 PM – 8:00 PM):  New Member Happy Hour – Richmond District Edition! (in person at Lost Marbles Brewery, 823 Clement St)

Thursday, February 12 (6:00 PM – 7:00 PM):  Education Board Open Meeting  (zoom)

Thursday, February 12 (7:00 PM – 9:00 PM):  Tech Worker Reading Group (in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Friday, February 13 (9:30 AM – 10:30 AM):  District 1 Coffee with Comrades (in person at Breck’s, 2 Clement St)

Friday, February 13 (3:00 PM – 5:00 PM):  KCC Office Clean with TLHC (in person at Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate Ave)

Saturday, February 14 (11:00 AM – 2:00 PM):  ETOC Session 2 – Building Campaigns I (in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Sunday, February 15 (11:00 AM – 1:00 PM): No Appetite for Apartheid Consumer Pledge Canvas (in person at Breck’s, 2 Clement St)

Sunday, February 15 (1:00 PM – 3:00 PM): Get to Know EWOC Flyering Event (location TBD)

Monday, February 16 (6:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Labor Board Meeting – Existing Union Support (in person at 1916 McAllister St and zoom)

Monday, February 16 (6:30 PM – 8:00 PM): Homelessness Working Group Regular Meeting (in person at 1916 McAllister St and zoom)

Monday, February 16 (6:30 PM – 7:30 PM):  DSA Run Club (in person at McClaren Lodge, 501 Stanyan St)

Tuesday, February 17 (5:30 PM – 7:00 PM):  Social Housing Meeting (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Tuesday, February 17 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM):  Public Transit Meeting (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Wednesday, February 18 (6:00 PM – 7:30 PM):  What Is DSA? (in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Thursday, February 19 (6:00 PM – 7:00 PM):  Social Committee Meeting (zoom)

Thursday, February 19 (6:30 PM – 7:30 PM):  Public Bank Project Meeting (zoom)

Thursday, February 19 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Immigrant Justice Working Group Meeting (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Saturday, February 21 (11:00 AM – 2:00 PM):  ETOC Session 3 – Building Campaigns II (in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Saturday, February 21 (6:00 PM – 8:00 PM):  HWG Food Service (in person at Castro Street & Market Street)

Sunday, February 22 (1:30 PM – 3:00 PM):  Get to Know EWOC!  (in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Sunday, February 22 (5:00 PM – 6:00 PM):  Tenderloin Healing Circle Working Group (zoom)

Monday, February 23 (6:00 PM – 8:00 PM):  Tenderloin Healing Circle (in person at Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate Ave)

Monday, February 23 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Labor Board Meeting – Existing Union Support (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Check out https://dsasf.org/events for more events and updates.

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New Member Happy Hour – Richmond District Edition!

Join us for our a Happy Hour on Thursday, February 12th, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM, at Lost Marbles Brewery, 823 Clement St. Learn more about DSA SF’s upcoming projects, find out how to plug in, or just socialize with socialists! 

Also open to old members, regular folks and the socialism-curious .

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No Appetite for Apartheid (NA4A) Consumer Pledge Canvas

This Sunday, February 15th, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM, our next consumer pledge canvass will be at the Clement Street Farmer’s Market (Clement & Arguello). Join the Palestine Solidarity & Anti Imperialist Working Group in building public support for stores that have pledged to go apartheid-free. RSVP here. Training will be held on-site.

Find more info for NA4A here .

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Emergency Tenant Organizing Committee (ETOC) Fundamentals of Tenant Organizing Watch Party

Looking to deepen your understanding of housing work on the ground? Interested in building durable tenant power in SF? Come learn how to organize tenant associations, fight landlords collectively, and build toward radical tenant unionism in San Francisco. These ETOC watch parties happen every Saturday in February at 11:00 AM at our office (1916 McAllister) and focus on turning socialist analysis into mass tenant struggle: investigation, campaigns, and building real tenant organizations that can win. If you’re serious about anti-landlord work, this is where to plug in.

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Reportback: EWOC Fundamentals of Workplace Organizing

We have another graduated cohort from the four week long Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee organizing training! The last two weeks covered “The Arc of the Campaign” and “Inoculation and the Boss Campaign”, allowing for even more detailed discussion about the organizing efforts happening within the group. 

The “Arc of the Campaign” focused on Lisa, a nurse who met with her co-workers to organize them in an escalating campaign towards a strike. They used different ways to organize people towards this goal, such as media coverage, candlelight vigils, educating about the meaning of the strike, and collectively representing their issues. There are a variety of ways that union leaders can educate the public about their cause, and making them fun and creative can move the campaign forward!

We heard from Diego, a Trader Joe’s worker whose union election ended in a tie, during “Inoculation and the Boss Campaign”. The boss targeted workers that were less informed about their rights or shakier in their commitment to organizing in order to catch people off guard. It was important that organizers had people prepared to combat the anti-union narrative in larger captive meetings and after 1:1s with management. We went through the union busting bingo card to ideate what we could say in response to anti-organizing rhetoric, whether it was from management or fellow coworkers.

The Fundamentals of Workplace Organizing course is run every other month! If you’re interested in an in-person format or generally want to get involved with the SF local chapter of EWOC, reach out to the lead coordinator Caitlin S or email labor@dsasf.org. EWOC is a standing topic at the new organizing meetings of the Labor Board, which are held on the second Monday of every month at 7:00 PM, both in-person at 1916 McAllister and over Zoom. Anyone is welcome to attend, and we’re always looking for people interested In workplace lead canvassing, organizer trainings, and volunteer outreach. If you’re interested in organizing your workplace and would like to be connected with an EWOC organizer, fill out the request form here.

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DSA Run Club

Runners of all speeds and experience levels are warmly welcome to join our running club! We meet every Monday evening, 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM in front of McClaren Lodge, the stone building at the eastern end of JFK drive. Wear comfortable running clothes (DSA attire encouraged) and bring your most positive vibes! We stretch and warm up for 15 minutes, then hit the car-free streets for a 3.4-mile loop at a gentle pace.

Behind the Scenes

The Chapter Coordination Committee (CCC) regularly rotates duties among chapter members. This allows us to train new members in key duties that help keep the chapter running like organizing chapter meetings, keeping records updated, office cleanup, updating the DSA SF website and publishing the weekly newsletter. Members can view current CCC rotations.

Interested in helping with the newsletter or other day-to-day tasks that keep the chapter running? Fill out the CCC help form.