Since the first stunning victories in Buffalo, New York, the union drive to organize Starbucks stores in the United States has been an inspiration for the labor movement. Over the last few years, young workers have expanded the campaign nationally with strikes, actions, and shop-to-shop organizing. The drive has shown exceptional rank-and-file energy and leadership, while also pioneering organization in a sector with almost no history of a union presence. From this past November to February, Starbucks workers organized their largest sustained national strike yet.

Nick Wozniak, a union activist with SEIU 73, interviews Connor Brennan,a rank-and-file strike captain, store organizer, and campaign activist with Starbucks Workers United(SBWU). Both reside in Chicago and are active in the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America. The interview has been edited for clarity.

NICK WOZNIAK: Can you describe how this most recent strike fits into the longer union organizing drive at Starbucks?

CONNOR BRENNAN: Starbucks stores across the U.S. have been organizing with Starbucks Workers United (SBWU), a campaign of the union Workers United, which is itself an affiliate of the much larger Service Employees International Union (SEIU), at a relatively steady rate for over four years, since December 2021. There are now over 650 unionized Starbucks locations, which make up around 5% to 7% of all corporate-operated Starbucks retail locations in the United States.

For over two years, Starbucks effectively refused to recognize the union and bargain in good faith despite the steady increase in election victories. Starbucks also accumulated an enormous number of unfair labor practice (ULP) charges during this time, including for firing hundreds of workers and closing dozens of stores illegally, as well as making unilateral changes to union shops without bargaining. SBWU organized many smaller actions including one- and two-day ULP strikes with as many as 300 stores participating. These actions protested Starbucks’ aggressive union-busting and demanded the company come to the table and negotiate in good faith.

In February 2024, Starbucks and SBWU finally agreed to a framework for collective bargaining across all union stores. Starbucks appeared to have caved to the consistent increase in election victories and escalating actions, even in the face of their union-busting and the overwhelming number of ULP charges they were facing. They were also likely responding to additional pressure from a spontaneous boycott that arose in response to Starbucks’ statements on October 7th and the Israel/Palestine conflict.

Several bargaining sessions then took place, where Starbucks and SBWU reached tentative agreements on over 30 articles of a collective bargaining agreement (CBA), including on key issues such as grievance and arbitration, shop stewards, and improvements to the non-discrimination, health and safety, and dress code policies. However, bargaining stalled in December 2024, when Starbucks refused to make any meaningful economic concessions beyond guaranteeing annual 2% raises that they already typically offer non-union workers, meaning if SBWU settled a contract now, there would be virtually no economic difference for union stores.

Since December 2024, there has been little communication between Starbucks and SBWU, and Starbucks has reverted to its earlier policy of stalling and aggressive union-busting. This strike was the union’s first major attempt to break that impasse by building the biggest strike they could to inflict as much damage to Starbucks as possible to bring them back to the table with a reasonable offer.

NW: How did you originally get involved in the campaign and what has your experience been like?

CB: I started working at Starbucks as a barista in March 2022. I was looking for a stable job out of the COVID pandemic, and had some previous food service experience, so it was a pretty natural fit; but I did specifically apply to Starbucks because I was aware of the unionization effort there. Being a young socialist looking for work, I wanted to find a place to put down roots in the labor movement, and it seemed like this could be a chance to contribute to organizing a key workplace in the service industry.

Having little prior organizing experience, I did not expect to be able to organize my store immediately, but conversations arose naturally with co-workers considering the economic and political environment at the time, especially with the union effort making national news. Within six months, a group of us began meeting regularly, and within a year we had successfully voted 12-0 to unionize.

After that, I became active on the campaign, regularly attending Regional Organizing Committee (ROC) and Contract Action Team (CAT) meetings, and helping lead a number of workplace actions including several short ULP strikes. I was elected as a delegate to the national bargaining committee in 2024. I also played a leading role on the ROC, particularly with fundraising and organizing community support, and I was elected as one of three strike captains at my store this past August.

Unfortunately, my store was abruptly closed in September, just weeks before the strike began. This was part of a massive corporate restructuring where Starbucks closed over 400 stores with only two days’ notice and laid off the majority of the workers, including myself and nearly all of my co-workers. While most of the stores that closed were non-union, a disproportionate number were union (14%, even though unionized stores only represent 5-7% of all stores), suggesting that union-busting was part of the calculus of this decision.

Having my store close and being laid off right on the cusp of this monumental action was devastating for me personally. However, while now unemployed, I have still devoted the past few months to supporting the strike full-time, including by attending pickets and other actions almost every day as well as remaining in my role as treasurer of the local strike fund and liaison to the support organizing committee.

NW: So how would you evaluate this strike? Where does the campaign go from here? 

CB: This strike, while still modest overall, was far more impactful to Starbucks’ profits than any previous action. The strike was organized in waves, with 65 stores walking out on November 13th (a major promotional day for Starbucks known as Red Cup Day), and 30 to 40 more joining each week until Christmas. The initial plan was to end on Christmas, but a strategic decision was made for 40 to 50 stores to remain on strike through late January, with one final wave joining in mid-January.

Around 300 stores participated altogether, which fell slightly short of the union’s target. But compared to previous actions, the stores that did participate struck for far longer (ranging from one week to three months), with a higher degree of worker participation, while also experimenting with new tactics such as disrupting deliveries and asking customers not to cross picket lines at non-union stores, effectively calling for a boycott.

In the past, SBWU’s strategy relied more on influencing the media and public opinion to exert pressure on Starbucks as opposed to disrupting business to directly impact sales. Many have pointed to this as a weakness of the campaign, arguing that a corporate campaign like this can produce only limited results. I generally agree with this analysis, and saw it as a positive that this time the union seemed more interested in targeting profits directly.

Unfortunately, Starbucks is an incredibly rich and powerful company, and Chief Executive Officer Brian Niccol seems committed to keeping his head down and ignoring the union at virtually any cost. While this strike was an impressive effort, it will take more than this to move Starbucks significantly in negotiations.

I think this strike needs to be seen as a capacity-building action that fits into an ongoing escalation strategy to bring Starbucks back to the table. As long as Workers United remains committed to this campaign, there is every reason to believe they can continue organizing more stores and build a larger strike threat as they have done every year up to this point. The hard reality, in my opinion, is that it might take another year or two to achieve a fair contract, but viewed through that lens, I think this was an encouraging step in the right direction.

NW: What was learned during this strike that can be useful in the future? 

CB: In a situation where the bargaining unit represents a minority of the workforce, it seems logical that a strong boycott would be one of the most promising ways for the union to exert pressure on the company. As I mentioned, the pro-Palestine Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement temporarily targeting Starbucks was a key factor in bringing them to the table initially, even though it was not directly initiated by the union.

During the strike, SBWU used the language “Don’t Buy Starbucks while workers are on strike”, and workers and supporters flyered outside of non-union Starbucks asking customers not to cross their picket line. Most customers had not heard about the strike, but many agreed to go elsewhere in these instances. But in order to really be effective, the message to not buy Starbucks must be heard on a national scale and last until a settlement is reached. 

One glaring issue is the union’s reticence to explicitly call for a ‘boycott’ in so many words, presumably for fear of legal repercussions. This seems very cautious, considering that primary boycotts are legal and only secondary boycotts prohibited under the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, which infamously restricted many effective labor tactics in the U.S. Even if there are legitimate legal concerns, the unwillingness to use the word ‘boycott’ certainly limits how loudly and clearly the message is heard.

Logistics disruption is another promising tactic used extensively for the first time during this strike. Starbucks stores receive daily deliveries of many essential products from a transport company called QCD, where drivers are organized under the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT). Teamsters are authorized not to cross active primary picket lines, which includes pickets at non-union Starbucks stores, since all corporate Starbucks are under the same employer. 

Many striking workers blocked deliveries to their own stores, and Chicago was one of several areas that had modest success organizing “flying pickets” that moved from store to store and  blocked sometimes as many as 15 to 20 deliveries in a single night. There were also blockades organized at high-traffic locations in downtown areas, and even at major distribution centers on a couple of occasions.

By intercepting deliveries and getting customers to support a boycott, it’s possible to impact sales at a far larger number of stores than those on strike. Expanding and refining these tactics seems like the key to impacting revenue and profits on the scale needed to get Starbucks to make real concessions. This will require careful planning to navigate legal obstacles, coordination with other unions, and training a large number of workers and supporters, but the experience gained during this strike is a good start. 

NW: What was community support like during the strike in Chicago? 

CB: Most communities around Chicago are liberal or left-leaning, and/or have a relatively working-class composition, meaning customers are generally more supportive than not – although there are notable exceptions, particularly in wealthy suburbs and downtown areas. But even where customers are sympathetic, mobilizing people to support in meaningful ways requires more work.

A few other workers and I reached out to some of our closest allies in Chicago prior to the strike to establish the SBWU Support Organizing Committee. This committee met regularly to organize a strong support network, including by reaching out to a wide variety of organizations and unions asking them to sign a public letter of solidarity and commit to supporting the strike in various ways.

Overall, this proactive effort made the community support in Chicago significantly more widespread and reliable than in years past. Some organizations prioritized picket support, others adopted non-union stores where they flyered regularly to promote the boycott, and others joined flying pickets or helped raise money for the local strike fund. CDSA organized a strike kitchen along with dozens of flyering actions, and many other socialist and left-leaning organizations contributed in various ways. The support committee collectively organized a concert fundraiser which raised thousands of dollars for strikers and helped solidify this community of workers and supporters that I hope can last into the future.

Notably, while many union members supported in a personal capacity, the leadership of major unions was largely absent when it came to mobilizing members to support. This failure to prioritize solidarity between unions is a major shortcoming of the labor movement in the U.S. in general and in Chicago specifically, and this is something that socialists and labor activists urgently need to correct.

NW: Briefly, what’s your view on what this struggle shows about prospects for rebuilding a fighting labor movement?

CB: The continued determination of Starbucks workers, the support of the left and of society broadly, and the shift toward a class-struggle mindset, including experimentation with bold new tactics during this recent strike, should all be reasons to remain hopeful. But the fact that Starbucks workers remain without a contract after four years is a testament to just how steep of an uphill battle this is for all workers.

As of today, around 90% of the U.S. workforce remains without a union. Massive investments of time and resources are needed to change that, and so far major unions have not risen to the challenge. Additionally, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) was unable to keep up with the overwhelming number of ULP charges against Starbucks even under the Biden administration, let alone the current dire situation under Trump. This shows why relying on the law for fair redress is not a viable strategy for unions.

The SBWU campaign stands as evidence that not only are time and resources required to rebuild the labor movement, but also a willingness to take risks and get creative in our opposition to illegal attempts at union suppression. The corporate campaign can only get us so far, and in order to win, it must be combined with powerful strikes and other tactics that directly target profits. If established unions are afraid to venture into this territory, workers have no choice but to take matters into their own hands, and the socialist movement has a responsibility to help make this possible.

The post Learning from the Picket: An interview with a Starbucks Workers United strike captain appeared first on Midwest Socialist.

[[{“value”:”

By: Mitch Gayns

This was originally published as video footage for Working Mass digital on Instagram.

LYNN – On March 21, hundreds took to the streets to defend their neighbors from ICE raids and deportations. Lynn organizers are among the most impacted– and they’ve looked to Minneapolis for inspiration on how to defend themselves. 

“When you see it in the WhatsApp, you blow the whistle!” said the rally organizer.

Rally attendees all blew the whistles as if on cue. 

After organizers launched the rally, immigrants directly impacted by ICE were the center of the Lynn demonstration. One woman, dressed for the brisk weather holding her speech, told the crowd “immigration kidnapped my brother in front of my children’s school.”

One community organizer, Ampara de Pad, told us in Spanish:

This is our city. We love it. And they say we only come to do wrong, that we come to destroy everything. But no. We come to improve ourselves.

From Minneapolis to the North Shore

Adam Kaszynski of the North Shore Labor Council, hands thrust in his pockets, spoke to the tactics that have drummed up militancy against ICE in Lynn. Techniques like whistles, he indicated, were inspired by Minneapolis.

What we learned from Minneapolis is that they had set up these verifier networks, mutual aid networks, organizing beforehand is the key to that, and having those networks already there, the phone trees already there, for if ICE is banging on our doors, we know we have enough people that we can make serious interventions to get them out of our community.

The role of labor to fight ICE is necessary, but underestimated. Labor unions – alongside tenant unions – are memberships capable of taking direct action strategically and effectively against ICE. For example, unions can shut down production, transit; labor can freeze cities.

When the North Shore Labor Council puts up LUCE flyers and materials, that means that labor isn’t just against ICE; they are actively building the network from below to defend communities beginning in vulnerable community members’ own workplaces, since many unions consist of immigrant workers and leaders themselves. Labor in doing so joins the long tradition of bargaining for the common good, which has included not only political causes but also has historically included the building of cooperative housing by unions, to fight the deadliness of rising rent. Now, labor forms also a bulwark advancing tactics from Minneapolis in Boston.

Over the din of whistles, community organizer Jessica Rivera argued:

People are scared, but we know it’s actually when we’re in together like this, when I can look at my neighbor and know who they are, that’s when we are safest, when we keep each other safe.

Mitch Gayns is a digital creator and campaign organizer based north of Boston.

Transcribed By: Travis Wayne is the managing editor of Working Mass.

The post Lynn, MA Organizes ICE Resistance appeared first on Working Mass.

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by Richard P

Why do we protest? In a recent blog post, comrade Kevin N spoke of how his “romanticized 1960s images of crowds of protestors” transformed eventually into a commitment to “organizing, not just mobilizing,” and on both points, I agree with him. However, his argument that protests are “cathartic, empowering, and publicly visible” but ultimately “will accomplish … little” misses a few key points.

Kevin suggests that protests are simply tools to mobilize people to show up, and that organizing, which has “a deep commitment to developing one another into leaders both inside and outside the organization,” is fundamentally different and unrelated to this mobilization effort. I would instead argue that if we want to “organize people into DSA and build it into a formidable political force that can leverage its power from below,” we must engage with them where they are, and that includes through endorsing and attending protests. Thousands of people showed up for the No Kings rally last October, and the numbers increased in March. These protests are thus an excellent opportunity to meet potential comrades, and show left-leaning Clevelanders that Cleveland DSA cares about the issues that they care about enough to march in the streets about it.

As a chapter that says we are informed by labor organizing strategies (shout-out to No Shortcuts), we recognize that the foundation of that organizing is solidarity. The working class acting together in solidarity has ended authoritarian governments, improved the lives of millions of union workers, and spurred some of America’s most necessary changes such as civil rights legislation, expanded healthcare coverage, and child labor laws. Protesting, too, just like those romanticized 1960s marches in the civil rights and anti-war movements, is an act of solidarity.

But what does solidarity look like in 2026? The socialist theologian and former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, in his upcoming book Solidarity: The Work of Recognition, makes the argument that we need a “solidarity of the shaken,” that is, “a radical human togetherness formed out of an acceptance of our shared vulnerability and reliance on each other in a fallen world.” To protest, then, is not just to have a shared moment of catharsis, but to stand in solidarity with those who are feeling vulnerable. Our current moment, brought on by the failed capitalist state that is the United States of America, has left too many people vulnerable and marginalized. It is an outward and visible sign of our inward emotions, worries, and hopes, being present in physical space and taking on risk to support the marginalized (especially when they may not be able or willing to take on that risk themselves), not just posturing “allyship.”

This solidarity requires urgency and discernment in where that urgency is applied. Not everything is a five-alarm fire, but these emergencies do exist. When the next Tamir Rice or Tanisha Anderson is brutally killed by the police, the next bomb is dropped on a country we do not want to be at war with, the next ICE action crosses yet another line, or some fresh hell that we cannot begin to imagine occurs, our solidarity is important. We can’t just ignore what other organizations and people think about us – they, as our fellow humans and potential comrades in collective struggle, deserve our solidarity and for us to be in solidarity together. When we remember the civil rights movement, we remember the titanic work of Black-led organizations like the NAACP, the SCLC, and the SNCC, but there were white people and groups who showed up in solidarity too, from Dwight Eisenhower’s personal physician Paul Dudley White to the lawyer Jack Greenberg, who argued over 40 civil rights cases in front of the Supreme Court. When we recognize that we are all vulnerable and hurt by the system of capital, we then realize that it is incumbent on each other to be in solidarity and support – including at protests.

In the last verse of that great union anthem, “Solidarity Forever,” we sing that “In our hands is placed a power greater than their hoarded gold, / Greater than the might of armies, multiplied a thousand-fold. / We can bring to birth a new world from the ashes of the old / For the union makes us strong. / Solidarity forever! / Solidarity forever! / Solidarity forever! / For the union makes us strong.” 

Our union comrades show us what this means every day – even when their union isn’t on strike, members show up to other protests, teach others about the power of the picket line, and support union organizers that are helping other people get the same protections they have. There is no reason we shouldn’t want to do the same for everyone suffering under the boot of capital and fascism, especially when we are discussing building towards a General Strike in 2028. That takes organizing, from conversations, to strike votes, to picket lines. But it also includes collective action, i.e. a protest on May Day this year.

If you consider the prototypical protester, the “liberal wine mom,” if you will, there are avenues available to us to welcome them into our movement. An avowed democratic socialist with the NYC-DSA endorsement won a plurality of all white women in the 2025 New York Mayoral election. Even amongst older white women, he still got over a third of their support last November. They’re not turned off by democratic socialism and might even be interested in our work – but what have we done to recruit them and get them to join our movement? We need to show up in the places where they gather, including protests. Protesters are already agitated and will know something about our organization or democratic socialism because of figures like Zohran, Bernie, or Rashida – that’s a lot of our organizing conversation already done! Cori Bush, a phenomenal fighter for the working class in Congress, came out of the movement in Ferguson. Our comrade, Cleveland City Councilman Tanmay Shah, as well as many other electeds, have come out of the labor movement.

The more than twenty DSA members who were at the Cleveland No Kings protest at the end of March saw a moment that encapsulated the issues we’re dealing with. State Senator Nickie Antonio, who gets to be considered “progressive” in part because of her sexuality, despite her fundraising with senior Republicans, stopped the speech of a Latina activist speaking in Spanish about the fight for immigration rights. A video of something similar happening to a pro-Palestinian speaker in Pennsylvania has gone decently viral. Antonio, like current Flock employee and former Cleveland City Councilman Kerry McCormack, benefits from a system where, as Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò argues in Elite Capture, identity politics has been twisted to serve the elites and their interests, not those of working class people.

If you are unconvinced by the establishment’s choices, you can either sigh and return to being apathetic, or you can work with an organization that is actually trying to challenge the Democratic status quo that self-aggrandizes itself as “brave” while simultaneously snatching the mic from a Latina discussing immigrant rights. A protest isn’t the end of our anger and frustration – it’s the beginning. Being present and using that presence to invite someone to consider joining DSA and enter our membership pipeline gets them into a structured mass party-like movement that takes them away from the unstructured progressive movement that, in the immortal words of Jo Freeman, isn’t “very good for getting things done,” a take echoed by Vincent Bevins in If We Burn.

Our transformation into a mass party does not need to be slow and incremental – as comrades in New York showed us last year and as our comrades in Wisconsin are showing us right now with Francesca Hong. The voters supporting her and putting her at first place in the polling aren’t just members of Wisconsin DSA chapters. When we present our message, as Oliver Larkin is doing in his primary against Jared Moskowitz in Florida, we see voters joining with us. Mass action, be it electoral work, protests, public comments, community response networks, or encampments, helps people get to know us better by meeting them where they are and on the issues they care about – and that’s the core of solidarity.

The word “solidarity” comes to us from the French solidarité which is rooted in the Latin solidus – Firm. Whole. Undivided. Entire. What transformations might we see in our work and our world if we lived into those four words as a goal for who we are fighting for and the type of movement we have to build? Every time we turn up and show out, a new organizer grows in their skills and learns even more what solidarity means, not just with each other as comrades, but with the marginalized who we continue to fight for. Let us be firm on our beliefs and what we are called to do, but with the understanding that we are seeking an improved life for the working class of the entire country, and indeed the world. Together, the people must be undivided – no matter where or how we meet them.

The post “Solidarity Forever”: The Need for Protest Activism appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America.

DSA proudly endorses Val Thomason in the race for Nevada’s State Assembly, District 10! Val is a long time DSA member and a pillar in Las Vegas DSA’s fight for rent control, health care, worker’s rights, and more!

We look forward to continuing to fight alongside Val and Las Vegas DSA and bring Democratic Socialism to the Nevada state government and beyond!

We stand with Val, Las Vegas DSA, and our comrades across the nation as we elect more socialists to public office. Let’s carry the torch for our comrades! A little bit of your socialist cash will help us take out capitalist trash!

Val is part of a slate of candidates in the Socialist Cash Takes Out Capitalist Trash fundraising project!

DSA is thrilled to endorse Richie Floyd and wholeheartedly supports his re-election to St. Petersburg’s city council! Richie is one of the most historic DSA candidates of our time, and we will fight alongside him once again!

A few years ago, Richie Floyd became the first openly self-identified socialist to win an election in Florida since the early 1900s, and he became St. Peterburg’s youngest council member!

While many of Florida’s elected officials remain openly hostile to socialists and insist on pushing red-bait culture war hysteria, Richie held his ground fighting for tenant’s rights, reproductive rights, and the entire working class of his city and state.

Richie is part of a slate of candidates in the Socialist Cash Takes Out Capitalist Trash fundraising project!

Over the Christmas and New Year holidays, I re-watched the films of George Lucas’s Star Wars science fiction franchise. Although Star Wars is very well-known, it also has been almost 50 years since it first came out, so a quick synopsis is that it starts with a galaxy under the rule of a democratic but ineffectual government called the Galactic Republic. Internal strife and an outbreak of civil war lead to a politician, Palpatine, being able to seize absolute power and install himself as Galactic Emperor. The formation of the Galactic Empire inspires the rise of the Rebel Alliance. Over the decades, the franchise has produced nine films, which have a timeless quality, showing little awareness of current political and cultural trends but being archetypical enough that many of its themes can be applied to contemporary challenges.

The drivers of the story are individuals who are sensitive to a semi-sentient spiritual force (i.e., the Force). The concept of the Force is influenced by animism and eastern mysticism (George Lucas identifies as a “Buddhist Methodist”). The Force is variously described as being generated either mystically by all living things or by special cells in the body called midi-chlorians. Those born sensitive to the Force can sense the feelings (empathy) and thoughts (telepathy) of others as well as control matter through telekinesis. It seems also that mastery of the Force can be attained either through controlling one’s passions or embracing them fully. The latter leads to the “Dark Side of the Force.”  

At the start of the franchise, this Force has become the focus of two diametrically opposed religious orders of light-saber wielding warrior monks. The Jedi seek to control their desires to focus their use of the Force toward duty and selfless service to others in order to bring peace and justice to the galaxy. The Sith, on the other hand, embrace the Dark Side of the Force and use it to accumulate power for themselves. Palpatine turns out to be a Sith who almost destroys the Jedi through the help of the Jedi-turned Sith Anakin Skywalker, who is renamed Darth Vader when he becomes a Sith. Darth Vader betrays the Jedi but at the end of Episode VI turns back to good and gives his life to save his Jedi son, Luke Skywalker, and defeat Emperor Palpatine. Vader could be seen as a sort of dark messiah who overcomes evil through self-sacrifice after turning good. 

In re-watching the films, I was interested in the ways that both the Jedi and the Sith play a significant role in transforming the galactic civilization. The Jedi act as guardians of the Republic, safeguarding peace and justice. When the greedy Trade Federation attempts to invade the peaceful planet Naboo to exploit its natural resources in Episode I, the Jedi are called in to negotiate with the Trade Federation, though negotiations turn out to be short. When a league of separatists (instigated by the Sith) begins to threaten the Republic, the Jedi intervene at the First Battle of Geonosis in Episode II, albeit with the help of a clone army. It is also ultimately a Jedi who defeats Galactic Emperor Palpatine in Episode VI and restores peace and freedom to the galaxy.

The role of the Jedi is not limited to politics and society. It is also implied that they play a role in the accumulation of knowledge and the advancement of science. The Jedi Library on the urban planet Coruscant contains all knowledge known by the galactic civilization. In the Expanded Universe, which contains novels and games created by fans to expand on the canonical films, there are Jedi researchers who specialize in specific scientific fields, including archaeology, linguistics, geology, astronomy, and biology.

Other than the obvious role of the Sith in creating the Galactic Empire, it is also implied that the Sith actively encourage capitalistic exploitation and extractivism. In the recent Disney Star Wars spinoff shows such as Andor, Imperial officers talk of “profit.” A major plot element of Andor is the Galactic Empire inciting unrest on the planet Ghorman to create pretense for genocide so that the Empire can remove the current  population and strip-mine the planet for a valuable mineral, kalkite.

Intriguingly, the Sith never appear to indulge in the luxuries that come from ruling an empire. Their lifestyle remains austere and monastic. In this way, they resemble Karl Marx’s description of early capitalists in volume I of Capital. The capitalists see themselves only as profit-making machines and shun indulging in the profits for the sake of luxury because that would make them less competitive. In this way, the Sith resemble the ideal capitalist. They have made exploitation and oppression for their own sake a calling as much as the Jedi have made peace and justice a calling.

The actions of the Jedi and the Sith are reflected in real-world religious orders. Because it is my background, I will focus on examples from the Christian tradition.  One specific example is the Jesuits, who have a mixed history both in opposing and reinforcing imperialist oppression and exploitation at different times. An example of the latter is the role of the Jesuits in the Spanish conquest of Guam in the 17th and 18th centuries, where Jesuits acted as agents of Spanish colonialism, encouraging militarization, forced Catholicization, and replacement of the Indigenous culture with European culture. In contrast, the Jesuits have also been advocates and protectors of Indigenous people in Latin America, trying to shield them from the worst excesses of Spanish and Portuguese imperialism during reduccion (forced relocation). 

More recently, Jesuits have worked to oppose European and U.S. imperialism in Latin America as shown by figures such as Ignacio Ellacuria in El Salvador and Ernesto Cardenal in Nicaragua. Jesuits have also distinguished themselves through their work as scientists, such as the planetary astronomer Guy Consolmagno and his work on meteorites, and activists for global peace, such as anti-Viet Nam war activists Daniel and Philip Berrigan (a Josephite).

It is less common for religious orders to make specific social causes their primary mission in the way that the Jedi, but there are modern examples, such as the multi-faith Order of the Sacred Earth which was founded specifically to advocate for protection of the environment and lacks connection to a specific religious tradition.

In this way, the order of the Sacred Earth draws on both science and faith to work toward justice and peace. Lutheran theologian Thomas Hoffman has proposed the concept of exomissiology, the investigation of possible dialogue with extraterrestrials about religion in a way that resists imperialism and colonialism, preserving cultural diversity and autonomy. 

Today, most religious orders are in decline, but members of religious orders continue to inspire real social change. Historically, religious orders have been at the cutting edge of mysticism and spiritual development. Religious orders are likely to continue to have an influence on the direction of spirituality and religion even if they are no longer as influential as they were in the past.  

Throughout history, religious orders have played both the role of the Jedi in being guardians of peace and justice and agents of social and scientific progress and of the Sith as agents of oppression and exploitation, shaping the course of their respective religions. Modern religions must decide whether they will choose the path of the Jedi or the Sith. Our future may depend on it.

The post The Jedi, Religious Orders, Social Progress, and the Advancement of Knowledge appeared first on DSA Religious Socialism.

Popular education is a method of teaching that centers the voices of students starting from their unique perspectives and situations.

The post How to use popular education to build worker power appeared first on EWOC.

“The animal is immediately one with its life activity. It is not distinct from that activity; it is that activity. Man makes his life activity itself an object of his will and consciousness. He has conscious life activity. It is not a determination with which he directly merges. Conscious life activity directly distinguishes man from animal life activity.” – Karl Marx, “Estranged Labour,” Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844

Writing is one of the most important inventions in human history. It allowed us to build civilizations, to coordinate social structures across vast distances, and to fuel humanity’s social, political, and scientific development into the modern age. Thanks to the written word, we can read the exact thoughts of scholars who lived many thousands of years ago, communicate complex ideas to millions of people, and build the democratic political movements capable of remaking society for the benefit of working people.

It has never been more important to preserve and expand our ability to write and communicate clearly. Original writing is now being severely devalued by a current of anti-intellectualism, artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, and an unprecedented public disinvestment in education. This is why Midwest Socialist wants to encourage Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) members in the greater Midwest to develop their own skills at writing and communication.

Learn, Learn, and Learn Again

During the heyday of the democratic socialist movement in the first two decades of the twentieth century, deep engagement with Marxist theory was considered a prerequisite to leading workers in their struggle against oppression. Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Rosa Luxemburg, Eugene Debs, Antonio Gramsci, and countless others spent years developing tomes of political theory while they organized tirelessly to overthrow capitalism. They did not see organizing and theorizing as two separate activities, but as two integral parts of the same effort.

In the twentieth century, socialist governments considered mass political education an essential step in building a post-capitalist society. In 1961, Cuba sent 250,000 educated people into the countryside to teach millions of poor workers and campesinos to read, virtually eliminating illiteracy on the island within a few short years. The methods developed during this campaign served as an example for the entire Global South, and the model was successfully implemented in other countries around the world.

Socialist states with highly literate populations took this idea a step further. In East Germany, government-sponsored programs established spaces to encourage workers to express themselves creatively, including through prose and poetry. These programs would have been considered wasteful and useless in a capitalist society, but the socialist government of that country saw value in the political development of the working class through creative pursuits.

Closer to home, universal public education is one of the greatest surviving accomplishments of the working class movement in the United States. The collective knowledge of humanity is our birthright as working people, and it is our responsibility to engage with these ideas and educate ourselves.

A Hollow Education

The relevance of political broadsheets and hand-printed pamphlets has declined precipitously in the last hundred years, but the necessity to write clearly and convincingly has not. We live in a time when a significant percentage of young Americans are falling behind in school, when college students at our nation’s most prestigious universities are incapable of reading a whole book, and when AI is taking away the livelihoods of creative and intellectual laborers on an unprecedented scale. In this context, reading, writing, and learning have taken on new significance.

Public schools are under attack in the U.S. Compounding the damage of decades of chronic disinvestment, Republicans and Democrats alike have established charter school systems across the country that take state money to fund academies – often with reactionary pedagogical mandates –  and predatory, unstable for-profit schools through “school voucher” programs. These efforts take away resources from public schools and leave students behind. This is in addition to the current administration’s broad anti-intellectual right-wing attacks on science, history, tolerance in the classroom, and the basic principle that education should serve students rather than the state’s extremist political agenda.

Furthermore, all modern forms of mass media are deliberately constructed to turn working people into passive consumers of carefully curated political messages that shut out the possibility of radical change. They shamelessly promote unjust and insane wars, give billionaires and their servants unlimited airtime and space to advance their own agendas while marginalizing progressive voices, attempt to smear left-wing candidates for public office, and turn people away from transformative social and political structures.

AI is just the most recent extension of the centuries-long effort to control what working people know, think, and feel. A recent meta-study by the Brookings Institute highlights the dangers of using this untested technology in classrooms. Evidence is mounting that students and adults alike suffer a “cognitive debt” when they over-rely on chatbots to perform intellectual tasks, rendering them incapable of the basic skills needed to function in society and sharply limiting their ability to develop any kind of meaningful political consciousness.

This is why Midwest Socialist does not accept AI-generated writing and strongly discourages the use of AI writing programs. For too many, an ‘AI-assisted’ piece of writing is the end of a conversation rather than the beginning of one. It is an excuse not to engage with ideas, a way to treat essays and creative writing projects as problems to be solved, published, and put away as quickly as possible rather than an exercise in critical thinking and creativity. In this context, the adage “if you couldn’t be bothered to write it, I can’t be bothered to read it” takes on new meaning.

At a time when it appears possible to offload every intellectual exertion to an unthinking machine, engaging with ideas seriously and honestly is quickly becoming a revolutionary act in itself. Despite all the hype from tech companies, working people are still quite skeptical that AI will benefit society in the long run. We can consciously reject the implementation of technologies that don’t serve the needs of the working class.

Why We Write

“Our task is to make thinkers out of fighters and fighters out of thinkers.” – General Gordon Baker, revolutionary educator

All progressive transformation finds its energy from the creative labor of working people. To give an example from American history, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the face of the New Deal and arguably its most important champion, but he did not implement it. It required legions of skilled, educated, and competent artisans, craftspeople, engineers, laborers, administrators, artists, writers, and countless others working toward the unified goal of transforming society. We are going to need millions of engaged, curious people eager to work to better society. We will build the future we deserve through a combination of organizing, community building, and unshakable solidarity.

Right now, none of those efforts are where they need to be. In the context of economic stagnation and repression at home and abroad, the fight for a better world can at times feel hopeless. Individual action is not enough to reverse the long-term trends of illiteracy and intellectual shortcutting that have plagued our society for decades. We need robustly funded schools, mass political education, a media not beholden to private interests, and an economy that fosters creative pursuits as more than products to be packaged for consumption. But that effort starts by building our own capabilities, collaborating with others, and working tirelessly to create and sustain the kinds of unapologetically socialist institutions that will build a better society.

There’s a reason every child is taught to write essays in school. Writing teaches us to organize our thoughts, to engage with primary sources, and to express ourselves clearly and succinctly to a wide audience. These skills are essential to any political movement. We cannot rely on capitalist-controlled media and obsequious AI to do our thinking for us.

If it is indeed true that every cook can govern, as the old saying goes, then any DSA member can write. Not every single person must become a journalist, theorist, or polemicist. There are a million ways to contribute to our struggle. But if you wrote stories on lined notebook paper in the fifth grade, composed multi-paragraph social media posts in response to articles you see online, or simply have had ideas and perspectives on our work and movement, we want to hear from you. 

If you would like to write for Midwest Socialist, contact us through our Google form. Be sure to read our Editorial Policy before submitting. We publish op-eds, articles about leftist history, interviews, left-wing reviews of recently released media and leftist classics, and other forms of writing, and we are particularly interested in original journalism about events happening in the Midwest.

If you have an idea that you need help turning into an outline, an outline you need help turning into a draft, or an article you’re wrestling with, our Editorial Board offers Zoom appointments to discuss your ideas and help you build them into a publishable article. The editorial board doesn’t guarantee that every individual article will be published, but we will work with you to build your project into a piece we can all be proud of. Once you’ve submitted a draft, we will make edits and send a final draft ready to be published.

Writing is a skill that takes time and practice, just like learning a language, mastering a trade, or playing an instrument. The only way to improve is to jump right in, and Midwest Socialist is a great place to get started. We look forward to reading your work.

The post Why You Should Write for Midwest Socialist appeared first on Midwest Socialist.

We are excited to announce our first federal endorsement for 2026!

Oliver Larkin is taking on one of the most war-mongering democrats in Congress, and DSA is proud to endorse him. Four Florida DSA chapters have already endorsed on the ground, canvassing and carrying petitions for Oliver. We will no longer allow billionaire-backed democrats to claim that we have to spend billions on war while healthcare is further decimated — we’re challenging them in the primaries with organized people who can’t be bought.

Oliver is part of a slate of candidates in the Socialist Cash Takes Out Capitalist Trash fundraising project!