First time at Socialism? Or do you want to get to know others while you are here at the conference? Come to Grant Park AB on the first day of the conference to meet up with others like you and find some buddies for Socialism 2026!
Friday September 4, 2026 6:00pm - 7:30pm CDT Grant Park AB
First time at Socialism? Stop by the Welcome Happy Hour to connect with new comrades and get excited for the weekend. Join us on the hotel patio (or at the bar, weather-depending), across the skyway from registration and downstairs.
Conference attendees will get a discount on beer and wine by showing their conference badge at the ARC Bar!
Friday September 4, 2026 6:00pm - 7:30pm CDT Bar/Patio
Join aja monet, Delaney Vandergrift, and Derecka Purnell for a conversation and gathering about how and why our people resonate with type of socialism that sings from Stevie Wonder songs, lives in houses filled with multiple generations, and grows from the shared gardens that we tend. What are our commitments to each other, and how do we manifest them across space, time, and strategy?
Saturday September 5, 2026 1:30pm - 3:00pm CDT Burnham ABC
Join Labor for Palestine activists to strategize about how we can collectively organize workers' power to shut down genocidal wars, from LA to Palestine, Iran, and beyond.
Saturday September 5, 2026 1:30pm - 3:00pm CDT Clark ABC
Join this meet up to strategize and build solidarity with other teachers on the front lines of the struggle to fight the dismantling of public education under the Trump administration.
Saturday September 5, 2026 1:30pm - 3:00pm CDT Hyde Park A
Socialist Horizon is an independent class struggle organization with branches and members across the U.S. Socialist Horizon is a member of the United Left Platform and is the U.S. section of the International Socialist League. Socialist Horizon meet-up with conference attendees will discuss the group's political orientation and collaboration with other Socialist groups, as well as prospects for mass organizing and socialist intervention in the coming year.
Saturday September 5, 2026 1:30pm - 3:00pm CDT Jackson Park C
The United Left Platform, a coalition of six U.S.-based Socialist groups (Tempest, Solidarity, Workers’ Voice, Speak Out Socialists, International Marxist Humanist Organization, Socialist Horizon) was founded at the 2025 Socialism Conference in Chicago. The ULP has worked over this past year to create a non-sectarian space for socialist organizing, self-defense, and political intervention. The ULP meet-up will share its accomplishments and hold a public conversation with conference attendees about prospects for building out a broader space for mass organizing and socialist intervention in the coming year.
Saturday September 5, 2026 6:30pm - 8:00pm CDT Jackson Park C
Meet up for those interested in helping organize a national network to defend the Minnesota 15. Please come with your questions and ideas for actions! Minnesota 15 Anti-Repression Committee.
Saturday September 5, 2026 7:00pm - 8:00pm CDT Hyde Park A
"This is for the homies, strictly for the homies. This is for the homies... the real homies!" Come kick it with Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, who identify as socialists, communists, leftists, anarchists, abolitionists, feminists, liberationists, radicals, and revolutionaries. We are curating a space for us and by us, where we can just “BE"! Music and vibes will be provided. You just need to bring yourself and the homies! Hosted by Black Youth Project 100.
Join us at Bronzeville Winery for drinks, hor d'oeuvres and an opportunity to learn more about The Forge, Scalawag Magazine, and connect with other organizers and writers!
Join us in an informal setting to find out more about the Tempest Collective and the politics of revolutionary socialism from below. Tempest has local groups across the US and Canada, and we welcome new members.
Sunday September 6, 2026 7:00pm - 8:00pm CDT Michigan
Looking for likeminded community in you neighborhood? Curious about political organizations in your area? Come connect with fellow Chicagoans building local movements!
If you are an artist or someone who is curious about realizing the revolutionary possibilities of art, please join us at the Cultural Workers Meet-Up. This will be a space where artists and creatives can exchange ideas about how to meaningfully connect their creative labor to organized struggle and discuss what it means to create with radical intent.
Sunday September 6, 2026 8:00pm - 9:00pm CDT Field ABC
Jewish Voice for Peace is the world's largest Jewish organization supporting Palestine. We're organizing a grassroots, multiracial, cross-class, intergenerational movement of U.S. Jews. If you’re looking for a political home for Jews on the left in this perilous moment; if you’re wanting a Jewish community with justice at the center; if you're looking to turn your anger and grief into meaningful, strategic action: you belong with us. Come connect with other JVP members and leaders from across the country.
Radical library workers unite! If you identify as a library worker, please join us at the Library Workers Meetup. This will be a space where library workers can build connections and exchange ideas about how to support social movements, fight against fascist assaults on education, and build collective power in our workplaces.
Sunday September 6, 2026 8:00pm - 9:00pm CDT Hyde Park A
We all know our healthcare system is rotten at its roots due to its profit centered motive. It can feel isolating working under increasingly precarious conditions with patients' lives in our hands. Patients suffer and we do too. But we must build networks of solidarity because it is only through our collective power that we can win the healthcare system we all deserve. Come meet radical healthcare workers, medical debt abolitionists and disability justice activists to connect, scheme and dream!
South Asia Solidarity Network (SASN) builds solidarity across interconnected struggles in South Asia and beyond. SASN members recently visited Pakistani-administered Kashmir, where a mass movement of protests for rights have faced a deadly crackdown. They will share their observations, and we invite attendees interested in South Asia or with a South Asian background to connect with us.
Join seasoned organizers who are building worker power across the tech industry, from the very first wall to wall union at Kickstarter to the massive solidarity union at Google. Chat about emerging strategy, hear highlights from the wider tech labor movement, and share tactics for common challenges like organizing remotely.
Are you from the South of the US? Join fellow conference participants from the South to meet each other, talk about your organizing, and make connections for future struggles!
