Socialism 2026: Full Schedule

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12:00pm CDT

Revolutionary Socialism from Below: Strategies to Build the Resistance

Saturday September 5, 2026 12:00pm - 1:30pm CDT

If liberation could come from the government, it can be taken away again by that government. But there is a different approach to building socialism—from the bottom up. Strategies for creating socialism from below aim to inspire the creative participation of the multiracial working class through mass protests, long-term democratic organizing in rank-and-file unions, neighborhood-level organizations, and other working-class institutions. Join us to discuss recent examples of such efforts and their critical role in resisting authoritarianism and advancing the revolutionary transformation of society toward ecosocialism.

Speakers

Aaron Amaral

Kristen Guptill-Godfrey

Sponsors

Tempest

Saturday September 5, 2026 12:00pm - 1:30pm CDT
TBA

Left Strategy

12:00pm CDT

What Is the Muslim Left?

Saturday September 5, 2026 12:00pm - 1:30pm CDT

TBA

From Malcolm X and the Black Radical Tradition to anti-imperialist organizing after 9/11, Muslim leftists have shaped US movements while remaining illegible to the broader left. Is the Muslim left a coherent political tradition or a coalition of incompatible projects? Speakers stake out distinct positions on religion, racialization, and revolutionary strategy.

Speakers

Eman Abdelhadi

Eman Abdelhadi is a scholar, organizer and writer. She is an assistant professor and sociologist at the University of Chicago, writes a column for In These Times Magazine and is co-author of Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052-2072, a sci-fi novel... Read More →

TBD

Sponsors

Acacia Magazine

Saturday September 5, 2026 12:00pm - 1:30pm CDT
TBA

Left Strategy

3:00pm CDT

All Socialism, No Government: An Introduction to Anarchist Theory and Strategy

Saturday September 5, 2026 3:00pm - 4:30pm CDT

TBA

Anarchism is often the least understood branch of socialism. Anarchists walk a revolutionary path separate from the brutality of state systems, whether social democratic or Stalinist. Join us to discuss how anarchists are organizing and building toward a directly democratic world without capitalism, the state, and systemic oppression.

Speakers

Heb Braggs

Heb Braggs is a writer, artist, and organizer in Chicago, Illinois.

Ben Eager

Ben Eager is an independent academic and activist in Chicago, Illinois.

Jeremy Jewitt

Jeremy Jewitt is a tenant organizer in Chicago, Illinois.

Juan Gonzalez Valdivieso

Juan Gonzalez Valdivieso is a law student, organizer, and writer in Queens, New York City

Sponsors

Black Rose / Rosa Negra Anarchist Federation

Saturday September 5, 2026 3:00pm - 4:30pm CDT
TBA

Left Strategy

3:00pm CDT

Black Left Feminism and the Fight Against Fascism: Lessons and Assignments

Saturday September 5, 2026 3:00pm - 4:30pm CDT

TBA

Speakers

Barbara Ransby

Saturday September 5, 2026 3:00pm - 4:30pm CDT
TBA

Left Strategy

5:00pm CDT

“As Goes the South”: Building Multiracial Working-Class Solidarity in the South for a Socialist Future

Saturday September 5, 2026 5:00pm - 6:30pm CDT

TBA

As W.E.B. DuBois said “As goes the South, so goes the nation.” Ruling class and authoritarian forces have always prioritized organizing the South as a way to hold power over the entire nation. If we are to defeat authoritarianism and win a socialist future, we must organize a multiracial working-class base in the South.

Speakers

Beth Howard

Beth Howard is the Cultural Strategist for Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), the largest national organization bringing white people into the fight for racial and economic justice. She grew up in a rural white working-class community in Eastern Kentucky and has organized in the... Read More →

Chris Kutalik

Chris Kutalik, a native Texan, is the former Democratic Socialists of America communications director, transit union officer, and editor/director of Labor Notes. He currently works as Showing Up for Racial Justice communications director and is (busy) father of four.

Jerome Scott

Jerome Scott was a labor organizer in the auto plants of Detroit in the 1960s-’70s, and a member of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers. As a community organizer, popular educator and author in the South since the 1970s, he was a founding member and former director of Project... Read More →

Sponsors

SURJ

Saturday September 5, 2026 5:00pm - 6:30pm CDT
TBA

Left Strategy

5:00pm CDT

Movement Lawyering in Times of Retrenchment

Saturday September 5, 2026 5:00pm - 6:30pm CDT

TBA

Using lessons from "Lawyering for Liberation: A Toolbox for Movement Lawyers", this session explores how lawyers can support and sustain powerful movements, emphasizing the importance of power building and radical imagining in today’s context. As we face unique threats posed by growing authoritarianism, this need has never been more urgent.

Speakers

Socialism 2026

12:00pm CDT

Aaron Amaral

Kristen Guptill-Godfrey

Tempest

12:00pm CDT

Eman Abdelhadi

TBD

Acacia Magazine

3:00pm CDT

Heb Braggs

Ben Eager

Jeremy Jewitt

Juan Gonzalez Valdivieso

Black Rose / Rosa Negra Anarchist Federation

3:00pm CDT

Barbara Ransby

5:00pm CDT

Beth Howard

Chris Kutalik

Jerome Scott

SURJ

5:00pm CDT

Leena Odeh

Christian Snow

Morgan Wilson

Law 4 Black Lives

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