No Kings Rally: Round Two of Angry Liberals

A critique of the No Kings Rallies, this piece argues that while millions of liberals are mobilizing against the far-right, their protests lack strategy, and that only socialist organizing can turn widespread anger into real political power.

On Saturday, October 18, millions of people took to the streets for the second round of the No Kings Rallies to express Americans’ anger toward the Trump administration. While this was a historic event in American history (potentially the largest series of joint protests in one day), it did nothing to move American society away from fascism. 

In Burlington, Vermont, contingents from across the area gathered at City Hall Park, with a crowd of up to 3,000 individuals present in that location alone. Thousands of people together, and yet, many individuals who participated agreed it was a waste of time. This rally was no more than a show of popular frustration with the far-right regime; even though these protests demonstrate a sizable anger against the Trump administration, they lacked a call to action. The Burlington rally had no march route outside of the contingents coming to the park, no specialized chants, and no speakers. Outside, grassroots organizations assumed this rally itself would lack solutions to the immediate situation; these organizations turned people out to this as part of a plan: mobilize the masses for more.

The organizations that are getting millions across the country out on the street to attend these liberal protests have not given the people a clear solution on how to get out of the current far-right reality America is in. The reasoning behind this lack of solutions stems from a lack of understanding of how to address the problem appropriately.  Liberal organizations try to maintain the status quo, the system that has brought about this situation in the first place. While most people do advocate for change, the question of how to make that change has always been left unaddressed. The No Kings Rallies can mobilize people; it has been done twice now with an impressive multitude. Even as the working class has expressed immense dissatisfaction with the current system, these organizations refuse to motivate the real change needed: a government that listens to and prioritizes the working class. 

The liberal methods of creating change keep falling short. Venting out anger through mass protests or an elected official giving a record-breaking speech to express frustration with the far-right’s control is not effective unless there is a way to make concrete change. While mass demonstrations are better than complacency, these moments in history are valuable for building political activation among the masses. These crises under the Trump administration are a fertile ground for socialist organizing. The downfall of these liberal methods is the fact that the motivators are directionless, with no clear-cut demands or courses of action after the protests have concluded. Yet, liberal anger can serve political purposes when utilized correctly–with a political analysis and concrete goals. YDSA can utilize this liberal aggravation to educate and mobilize change nationwide. 

At the Vermont No Kings’ Rally, unions and grassroots organizations turned people out to interact with the participants. Using mass demonstrations as a way to recruit and educate people who wouldn’t necessarily interact with grassroots organizers outside of events like these is a tool socialists must utilize. Whether interactions are from flyering or tabling, having conversations across the working class is crucial, and mass demonstrations are a way to promote these conversations. 

As an organization, YDSA can educate on how late-stage capitalism is falling into fascism at an alarming rate, stressing the fact that simply maintaining the status quo has done nothing to slow this descent. YDSA must figure out what the liberal masses are prioritizing, such as LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights, immigrant rights, I.C.E. off-campus initiatives, and unionization efforts across campuses, and recontextualize these issues to help liberals understand that these problems cannot be remedied as long as we are governed by the current two-party, capitalistic system. Liberals view these values as being threatened by a mistake in the capitalist system, something that can be fixed with reforms. However, socialists understand that these threats to human values are not a “mistake.” The system is working as intended by purposefully oppressing minorities and those who the ruling class finds standing against their norms. The values liberals are trying to defend are being attacked because capitalism inherently tries to divide the working class. Liberals may not understand how the capitalist system actively works to marginalize certain communities while raising others, so political education is needed on how these vital issues are rooted within capitalism; this knowledge will awaken the masses to the need for a socialist movement. We cannot properly work to dismantle the capitalistic system without first capturing the interest of the people. Being able to educate and reason with the public is a necessity to organize a successful movement. Conversing with participants at demonstrations and getting them involved within the organization is essential to strengthening the movement and achieving tangible change.

Empowering people, especially those in marginalized communities, uplifts the working class and gives a voice to the underrepresented. This can be done through coalition building and collaborating with other groups and organizations that have a similar goal, such as protecting one another, whether through labor or social justice initiatives. Since its inception, the capitalist system of the United States has targeted marginalized communities. From Jim Crow to the current mass deportations of our immigrant neighbors, racism is still alive because capitalism needs an “other” to ensure the ruling class can continue to reign. The Democrats have always used LGBTQ+ rights as a bargaining chip to “negotiate” with the Republican Party and the ruling class. During Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign, when asked about her stance on gender-affirming care, Harris answered, “I believe we should follow the law.” Democrats claim to want to protect queer and trans individuals, without any action to show for it. The same spinelessness is seen in the Democratic Party’s shift towards more anti-immigration policy and rhetoric following their 2016 loss to Trump, despite the increasingly violent and oppressive tactics deployed. These attacks on our LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities are inextricably linked to each other, as well as the struggle to ensure access to basic necessities through the capitalistic need for an “other” to maintain the status quo and to continue to hoard wealth among the ruling class. Socialist analysis shows us that our struggles are interconnected–when one of us is under attack, we all are. Liberals want to claim that the Democrats will help, but frequently, we see them doing as little as possible to create progress. The Democratic Party has tried claiming it is a “friend” to the working class, and the Republican Party is not. However, both parties work against the working class by encouraging identity politics in order to prioritize capital for the ruling class. Minority groups, who make up a substantial part of the working class, cannot unite because that threatens the system. Democrats and Republicans want to keep the system, even as the masses are the ones paying the price. Taking to the streets, as seen by the No Kings Rallies, is not enough.

A key part of any movement is mobilization: not just getting people out to protest, but keeping them in the movement as well. While the liberal organizations that have pushed for anti-Trump rallies have shown the ability to mobilize, the question of how to create meaningful change is halted because liberals are keeping in place the oppressive system that they are trying to fight against. By aligning with the Democrats who insist on the status quo, liberals limit themselves to imagining a life inside of it. The claim that the “mistakes” of liberal values being attacked will be solved within the current system is capitalist propaganda. These are not mistakes; the system is working as it was intended. However, through mobilization, YDSA can help liberals understand that the capitalist system has always, and will always, work against the needs of the working class. Whether electing people into government offices, student workers unionizing, or fighting for Plan B and gender-affirming care to be offered by a school’s health services, YDSA has demonstrated not just its ability to organize and mobilize for the change needed, but also that the desire for change exists and can no longer be ignored. However, we must continue these efforts by leveraging the current milieu of liberal outrage, using these otherwise useless demonstrations and liberal organizations as a way for more expansive mobilization. To have a real socialist movement, we need the working class to be a united front.

Using the mobilization efforts of liberal organizations such as 50501 and Indivisible in order to awaken the working class is vital. The No Kings Rallies had a historical amount of people taking to the streets, but merely standing and chanting will not save the working class; we need to get organized. Attending No Kings Rallies, while they appear to do little from within, can be a breeding ground for recruiting members into (Y)DSA. Harnessing people’s anger into action has always been needed for a movement to thrive, and this is an avenue to reach out to those people. There is no doubt that we must educate, empower, and mobilize the people to see the change we need.