Socialism 2026: Full Schedule

12:00pm CDT

Class Struggle Infrastructure: Tenant Unions and Socialism

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

Under capitalism, housing is commodified — a primary site of extraction and exploitation of ordinary people. But the fundamental need for a home remains a shared human experience. From this contradiction the tenant struggle emerges: the fight for a dignified home against the profiteering landlords who control housing. Tenant unions are the infrastructure we use to transform isolated tenant fights into a collective class struggle. Come learn why socialism needs the tenant movement, why the tenant movement needs you, and how to get involved in tenant organizing where you live!

Speakers

Chicago Union of Tenants

Sponsors

Chicago Union of Tenants

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

Housing Justice

12:00pm CDT

Intro: Harm Reduction and Solidarity with Unsheltered Neighbors

Sunday September 6, 2026 12:00pm - 1:30pm CDT

TBA

The rise of racialized capitalism has caused a rise in homelessness, primarily affecting marginalized groups. This session discusses how gentrification, private property, privatization of social services, and rugged individualism perpetuate homelessness, and the experience of the unhoused, focusing on harm reduction.… and what is to be done?

Speakers

Rachel Shearer

Luna Bender

Luna Bender is a born and raised Chicagoan studying to become a public librarian. She spent early childhood in communal housing and is determined to form and maintain stronger communal support wherever she goes.

Andrew Atkinson Bernd

Andrew Atkinson Bernd is an independent Chicago-based researcher and analyst focusing on systemic inequalities, food systems, and geographic socio-economic disparities. Andrew’s work is rooted in building solidarity with the lumpenproletariat population; specifically, people experiencing... Read More →

Alexa Gold

Lexie Gold is an advocate, outreach volunteer, and interdisciplinary scholar. Her research and writing works at the intersection of Gender & Women’s Studies, Critical Ethnic Studies, Rhetoric & Discourse. Specifically thinking about the subtle ways in which power operates. As an... Read More →

Lucy Morales

Lucy Morales is an advocate and disruptor of systems, specifically focused on dismantling the inequitable systems at the cross-section of homelessness, neoliberal policies, and forced migration. Lucy identifies as Chicana, indigenous tauramaura/mechica, raised in Chicago.

Sunday September 6, 2026 12:00pm - 1:30pm CDT
TBA

Housing Justice

12:00pm CDT

12:00pm CDT

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