Mass demonstrations likely largest protest in US history
Millions of people across the United States and around the world took to the streets on Saturday in the largest coordinated protest against dictatorship and fascism in decades. Under the slogan “No Kings,” demonstrators denounced Donald Trump’s authoritarian drive and the bipartisan assault on democratic rights, demanding an end to dictatorship, police repression, and state persecution of immigrants and workers.
The scale, breadth, and character of Saturday’s protests exposed the fascistic lies and slanders promoted for weeks by Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson, White House aide Stephen Miller, and other Republican Party operatives, who sought to depict the demonstrations as violent conspiracies organized by and comprised of “Hamas,” “antifa terrorists,” “illegal aliens,” and “criminals.” In reality, the protests were peaceful, multigenerational, and deeply rooted in the working class. Children, retirees, and parents made up a significant share of the crowds, while many younger workers were unable to attend because they were working on Saturday.
The composition and character of the protests bore no resemblance to the caricature promoted by the Trump administration and Republican media.
Across the country, protesters carried handmade signs declaring “No Kings in America,” “Defend Democracy: It’s Time for a General Strike!”, “Abolish ICE Gestapo,” and “We Are Not Subjects.” The massive turnout showed that the effort to intimidate the population with police raids, fascist rhetoric, and even military deployments had failed, and in many cases backfired, drawing even larger crowds into the streets.
The protests reached an enormous scale in the country’s largest urban centers. In New York City, more than 100,000 people participated across all five boroughs. The New York Police Department, which deployed large numbers of officers and erected barriers around key intersections, acknowledged that there were zero protest-related arrests, a direct refutation of Trump’s claims of “riots” and “terrorist mobs.”
In San Diego, tens of thousands converged along the waterfront and surrounding streets, with aerial images and videos showing a sea of people stretching for blocks. Organizers estimated the crowd approached 100,000, making it one of the largest demonstrations in the city’s history.
Chicago saw 250,000 or more march through the city center in a dense, multiblock procession. Austin, Texas, where Republican Governor Greg Abbott deployed the National Guard in a failed attempt to suppress turnout, was home to another massive protest, with crowd sizes estimated at between 50,000 and 70,000.
In Detroit, protesters told the World Socialist Web Site that Trump’s attacks on democratic rights and the Constitution reminded them of “Nazi Germany... things didn’t happen overnight, but one day they woke up and they were in the middle of a war.”
In Portland, Oregon, 30,000–50,000 demonstrators filled the downtown streets and greenways, while Charlotte, North Carolina saw 10,000–20,000 rally in one of the largest protests in the South. Denver’s demonstration outside the state capitol drew 10,000–20,000, while marches in Dallas and Houston each brought out 5,000–10,000. In Jacksonville, Florida, thousands rallied outside the courthouse.
Socialist Equality Party members and campaigners distributed leaflets calling for the mobilization of the working class against dictatorship.
One of the most striking features of the day was the scale of participation far beyond the major metropolitan centers. Demonstrations in mid-sized and small cities drew thousands, while even rural towns saw their largest anti-Trump protests ever.
In Rockland, Maine, around 1,700 people—over four percent of the entire population of Knox County—joined a march, a per-capita turnout higher than in New York City or Chicago. Some 2,000 rallied in Petoskey, Michigan, with several hundred people filling major intersections, while Keene, New Hampshire; Bozeman, Montana; and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania had hundreds to over 1,000 in attendance.
In Pahrump, Nevada, roughly 200 people turned out in what locals described as the largest anti-Trump protest in the town’s history. Nye County, where Pahrump is located, is considered a Republican stronghold.
Protesters reported that a man brandished a firearm near the Pahrump demonstration while police refused to intervene, and authorities forced demonstrators off a public sidewalk at noon despite a lawful permit. The event nonetheless proceeded and marked an unprecedented mobilization in the rural town.
The breadth of the movement—reaching from the largest cities to small towns and rural counties—shattered the narrative promoted by the fascist right that opposition to Trump’s dictatorship is limited to liberal enclaves. The protests’ geographic spread revealed a movement that is both national in scope and deeply rooted in the working class.
The magnitude of the protests point to a significant development of political consciousness. Placards calling for a general strike were visible in multiple cities, and Socialist Equality Party campaigners reported strong interest in a revolutionary socialist perspective throughout the country. Many demonstrators expressed the view that the struggle against dictatorship cannot be separated from the fight against capitalism and social inequality.
The “No Kings” protests revealed the emergence of a mass social movement in the United States, one that is increasingly conscious of the connection between authoritarian rule, capitalist exploitation, and the bipartisan assault on democratic rights.
“No Kings” protests across Europe began in the morning, US time, as thousands marched in London, Madrid, Berlin, Stockholm, Rome, and Paris. Smaller demonstrations took place in Bristol, Southampton, Barcelona, Málaga, Seville, Amsterdam, Brussels, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Florence, Nice, Toulouse, and Lyon. Protesters held signs opposing dictatorship, fascism, police raids, and the illegal detention of immigrants.
A protester in London told the WSWS: “I’m here to support the Indivisible London organization, and to stand up against the authoritarian regime in the United States for all the anti-constitutional things that they’re doing on behalf of Trump’s executive orders.” These included “illegal deportation arrests by ICE of immigrants and actual American citizens, green card holders, people that are there legally, and yet are still being detained illegally.”
He was also demonstrating against “violations of our right to protest, our First Amendment rights, the silencing of our media.” He added:
There are just so many things that this regime is doing that are really anti-American, anti-democracy, and I think that if we as Americans and as global citizens don’t stand up against it, we’re going to really pay dearly for our rights. America has always been a leader in democracy and a safeguard for democracy globally, and now to see it turning is very frightening, and I think people around the world should be concerned about that. You can’t hold the political and military power that the United States does and become an authoritarian government. It’s just too scary, in my opinion.
Asked about the role of the Democratic Party, he said:
I think a lot of people are feeling that the Democratic Party has not been strong enough… The other party that has the money and has the influence and the power, other than the one in government or in power right now in the government, is the Democratic Party. And I think many Americans are feeling like they’re just not being strong enough.
Glenn, a US citizen living part of the year in Paris, told the WSWS: “It’s very scary to see what is occurring now, Trump is trying to mimic the things that brought Hitler to power. The slogans and the efforts that Hitler used are reappearing today, not only among Young Republicans but in the White House, with Stephen Miller. I’m sure there is much more hidden away.”
He added, “What we are doing here is just the beginning of the people expressing their desires.” He called for criminal charges against leading officials of the Trump administration.
One protester in New Jersey told the World Socialist Web Site, “A lot of our problems come from the United States’ imperialism and colonialism around the world that is now coming home to roost here... The number one thing that needs to be dismantled is US imperialism.”
Tens of thousands rally in defense of immigrants in Los Angeles: “We are nation of workers and a nation of immigrants”
Tens of thousands of workers, youth, and students filled downtown Los Angeles on Saturday to protest against the authoritarian policies of the Trump administration. The “No Kings” protest, part of a nationwide day of action, drew an estimated 100,000 participants throughout the city, converging at Gloria Molina Grand Park and surrounding streets.
Rallies were coordinated across Southern California — in Orange County, San Diego, and the Inland Empire — as part of the “50 protests, 50 states, 1 movement” initiative. The event was co-organized by a coalition including SEIU Local 721, Black Lives Matter Grassroots–Los Angeles, the Working Families Party, and the California Teachers Association. Protesters denounced immigration raids, attacks on civil liberties, the genocide in Gaza, environmental destruction, and the rise of dictatorship in the United States.
The political character of the demonstrations was authentically peaceful, democratic, and oppositional. Participants expressed deep hostility to Trump’s fascistic policies and to the broader assault on democratic rights in the United States. But this genuine sentiment of resistance stood in stark contrast to the efforts of Democratic Party politicians and union officials, who sought to contain and redirect it into the dead end of official politics. From the stage, these forces promoted Proposition 50, a gerrymandering measure on the November 4 ballot, as a supposed defense of democracy. In reality, Prop 50 suspends California’s independent redistricting commission, representing yet another attack on democratic rights disguised as retaliation against gerrymandering by Texas Republicans.
The grave dangers posed by the Trump administration’s drive toward dictatorship were underscored only miles from Saturday’s protest. According to a California Highway Patrol report, a 155-millimeter artillery shell fired during a live-fire demonstration for the Marine Corps’ 250th anniversary at Camp Pendleton prematurely detonated, scattering shrapnel onto Interstate 5 and striking vehicles assigned to Vice President JD Vance’s protective detail. One officer reported hearing what sounded like “pebbles” hitting his motorcycle, while another described a two-inch fragment striking the hood of a patrol car and leaving a dent. Additional fragments were found scattered across the roadway.
That such an incident could occur on one of the busiest highways in the United States — during an event involving the vice president — highlights the reckless militarism of the Trump administration and the danger it poses to the population. It follows weeks of open threats from Trump, Stephen Miller, and other fascist officials to invoke the Insurrection Act and use the armed forces against domestic political opponents. In this context, the protest in Los Angeles was not only an expression of opposition to attacks on immigrants and democratic rights, but part of a broader resistance to a regime preparing violent repression at home and war abroad.
Socialist Equality Party campaigners spoke to dozens of workers, students, and youth throughout the demonstration and distributed thousands of statements calling for the building of a mass movement of the working class to bring down the Trump government. Many participants expressed growing support for the idea that the struggle had to go beyond protest alone.
One protester told the World Socialist Web Site: “We need a general strike. That’s the only thing that will make them listen. We can’t vote fascism out — we have to shut the country down until this government is gone.” Another demonstrator, a warehouse worker from East Los Angeles, said, “They want us divided, scared, blaming immigrants. But we are a nation of workers and a nation of immigrants. We make everything run, and we have the power to stop it.”
Over 10,000 protest in Oakland, California: “We need to show our power”
In a rally far exceeding those that had taken place earlier this year, over 10,000 people gathered in downtown Oakland to protest the Trump administration’s fascist conspiracy to abrogate constitutional rule in the United States.
The protest was peaceful and politically very heterogeneous. On the one hand, thousands of people sought answers to the question: What is to be done to stop Trump’s dictatorship? On the other, Democratic Party establishment figures, including Congresswoman Lateefah Simon, Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, trade union officials, and some stage performers attempted to redirect the burgeoning protest movement into politically impotent channels.
The WSWS/SEP team set up a canopy with a literature table. As was the case with earlier “No Kings” protests, the WSWS/SEP team was the only group with a literature table and the only political tendency that called for a mass working class movement to organize a general strike and remove Trump from office. This attracted the attention of many protest attendees, with some going on to purchase copies of the publications on display at the table.
In discussions with WSWS/SEP representatives, many protesters showed interest in the Trotskyist and internationalist perspective of the SEP, while sharing their own concerns, questions, and beliefs. Some protesters expressed concern that those who had mistakenly supported Trump and his allies, including the Netanyahu regime in Israel, might become subject, eventually, to retaliation. SEP representatives explained that compromise with the fascists and the tiny oligarchy they serve is impossible, and that the cause of domestic and international peace can be achieved only through their forceful removal by a mass, working class movement.
One protester told the WSWS, “I think that we need to fight. We need to resist. And we need to show our power, where the majority is.”
The protester agreed that the Democratic Party was complicit in the Trump administration’s dictatorial program. “I don't believe that the Democratic Party has done anything. The reason we are here is because they haven't done anything to oppose it. So that, to me, is really where the problem lies. I think that we need to rebuild from the bottom up.”
The protester also agreed that the working class should be the force to remove the Trump administration from power.
Thousands join protests against Trump’s Operation Dictatorship in major Canadian cities
Several thousand people joined protests Saturday in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, and other major Canadian cities to oppose Trump’s ongoing plot to impose a presidential dictatorship on the American people.
In a concession to the establishment’s promotion of the British monarchy—an anti-democratic institution that symbolizes militarism, inherited wealth and anti-egalitarianism—the protest organizers in Democrats Abroad dropped the “No Kings” slogan used for the mass mobilization across the United States in favour of “No Tyrants.”
Socialist Equality Party (SEP) members and supporters intervened in Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal, distributing copies of the SEP (US) statement No Kings, No Nazi Führers! Mobilize the working class against Trump’s dictatorship! and the World Socialist Web Site article: In White House meeting, Canada’s Carney lauds America’s would-be führer as Trump accelerates operation dictatorship.
About 400 people joined the rally opposite the US Consulate in Toronto. There was great interest in the Marxist literature on sale at an SEP table. The SEP was the only left-wing organization to intervene in the demonstrations, which is indicative of the myopic nationalist politics that prevails among the organizations of the middle-class pseudo-left and their hostility to uniting the struggles of American and Canadian workers.
David, an American expatriate from New York, declared, “I think fascism has to be stopped in all of its ugly forms, and right now the US government is under a fascist siege. It’s 100 to 200 very evil, mostly men who want to take over the world, and they’re doing a damned good job, and they want to suppress what’s left of the working class and the ordinary citizens.”
Danielle explained that she “moved [from the US to Canada] for my daughter’s safety.” Holding a sign that read, “Hate never made a nation great,” Danielle told the WSWS, “Trump doesn’t care about trans people. He cares about what can further his cause, enrich him. Making people afraid of trans people, othering them, making them less than human gets him money and votes.”
“The Democratic Party is just as complicit as the Republicans in creating the environment that we have in America right now,” she added.
When asked about the interests Trump represents, Danielle declared, “Trump works to enrich Trump. The people who enrich Trump are the same people who put Trump in office. They are the billionaires, the very, very wealthy class. Those are the ones he works for.”
When asked how fascism can be stopped in the US, Danielle responded, “I honestly fear that we’ve crossed the Rubicon, to the point where there will not be progress without a massive revolution. I think that people need to remain loud and keep fighting. Show up to the rallies but don’t stop there.”
A young woman participating in the rally at Parliament Hill in Ottawa told WSWS reporters, “I think what’s going on in the world is mental—it’s going to break my brain. I am from the Toronto area and we came here for something else so I didn’t expect to see this today, but I think it’s great.”
Another young demonstrator said, “There’s a slide to the far right. It’s happening across the world and undermining democracy in general. If you look at David Sacks, Peter Thiel—guys like that who use their crazy insane wealth to take over the American media now—they basically hijacked the system using their money. There has to be a wake-up for people to understand what’s going on.”
There was a striking lack of political perspective at all three rallies. In Toronto, there were several chants of “Elbows up,” a reference to how hockey players go into the corners ready for a fight. The slogan was promoted by the trade union bureaucracy, corporate media, and political establishment to stoke foul Canadian nationalism. None of the so-called progressive organizations promoting the fraudulent “Team Canada” response to Trump, from the Canadian Labour Congress and New Democratic Party to the Green Party, participated in Saturday’s protests, let alone appealed to working people or youth to join them.
The labour bureaucracy’s Canadian nationalist flag-waving and agitation for trade war measures, whose brunt will be borne by US workers, serves to protect the interests of Canada’s capitalist elite, which is eager to reach an accommodation with the would-be dictator so that its interests as a junior imperialist partner of Wall Street and Washington are recognized within a Trump-led “Fortress North America.”
The “Team Canada” narrative covers over the fact that the class struggle within Canada is rapidly intensifying, prompting the federal Liberal government to all but abrogate the right to strike and work with big business to ram through sweeping attacks on working conditions and public services. Mark Carney’s Liberals, like the entire political establishment, are pursuing Trump-style attacks on the working class and want to destroy what remains of its democratic and social rights to pay for war and the enrichment of the wealthy oligarchy.
SEP members insisted that the only way to oppose Trump and everything he represents, including war, dictatorship, and savage attacks on public services and worker rights, is for workers in Canada to unify with their colleagues in the US, Mexico and internationally on the basis of a socialist and revolutionary program. Only by overthrowing capitalism, the root cause of the financial oligarchy’s domination over political and economic life, can the turn to fascism and dictatorship in all countries be stopped.
Over 100,000 march throughout New York City in “No Kings” protests
New York City saw several demonstrations throughout its five boroughs Saturday, as part of the worldwide protests. The main demonstration was a march down Broadway and 7th Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, while thousands others demonstrated in the outer boroughs and surrounding areas. While official figures estimate that 100,000 demonstrators turned out for the Manhattan event, several commentators have estimated the number to be slightly higher.
While dozens of organizations, including labor unions, political factions, nonprofits and various advocacy groups, sent delegates to the march, the character of the main demonstration was unmistakably popular. Protesters — many of them young people in their teens, twenties and thirties from diverse backgrounds — showed up as individuals and small groups, brandishing hand-painted banners, signs and artwork with slogans largely centered on Trump’s attacks on democracy.
Several anti-Gaza genocide contingents were prominent in the march, garnering widespread support against the US-Israeli policy of mass murder of the Palestinian population. While a small handful of protestors expressed opposition to the presence of pro-Palestinian delegations at a primarily anti-Trump rally, these sentiments represented a tiny minority.
A separate “feeder” march in lower Manhattan was organized jointly by the New York City Central Labor Council (NYCCLC) and the American Federation of Labor - Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). The NYCCLC is the highest federative body of AFL-CIO-affiliated unions throughout New York City and includes unions and locals from all sectors of industry, including transit, logistics, education, technology, healthcare, social services, construction, manufacturing, retail, legal services, hospitality, cleaning and maintenance, arts and culture.
It was evident that the union apparatus was well aware of the social powder-keg on which it sits, and had taken steps to demobilize and isolate its workers from the main demonstration. While the total membership of the NYCCLC is 1.3 million — making it the largest such federation in the entire US — a mere 8,000 demonstrators turned out for the NYCCLC-AFL-CIO march, not even a half percent of the membership. New York City workers reported to the WSWS that they had not even heard about a march from their union representatives. The landing page for the union event’s website preemptively warned, “NOTE: this will be a march, not a rally!”
Members of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP), International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) and supporters distributed thousands of copies of the SEP statement No Kings! No Nazi Führers! Mobilize the working class against Trump’s dictatorship! and sold dozens of copies of the recent Mehring Books pamphlet Trump’s Fascist Conspiracy and How to Fight It: A Socialist Strategy. March participants spoke with IYSSE and SEP members on fundamental questions of capitalism’s inability to maintain reforms, the breakdown of democratic forms of rule, and the role of the international working class in opposing the drive to dictatorship.
Many demonstrators who took literature from SEP & IYSSE members had read the World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) and were aware of how its perspective differed vastly from that of all major publications. Some even indicated an awareness of how the WSWS differed from other nominally socialist publications.
The question of the role of New York City mayoral forerunner Zohran Mamdani came up frequently in discussions between SEP and IYSSE members and demonstrators, with several expressing disillusionment. “I volunteered for Mamdani’s campaign, and I will not be doing that anymore,” one protestor told an SEP member. He continued, “I totally agree that Mamdani is walking a thin tightrope by trying to promote illusions that capitalism can be reformed. It cannot.”
90,000 rally against fascism in Seattle, Washington
Organizers of the “No Kings” protest in Seattle estimate that 90,000 people took part, eclipsing the previous demonstrations held this year against the Trump administration in the Puget Sound.
Numerous signs spoke to many of the most pressing political issues facing the working class. One noted, “Every Billionaire is Complicit,” and another stated, “Immigrants are Americans.” Several called out the fascist character of the Trump administration, with signs calling for everyone to “Fight Fascism,” to ones saying “Make Orwell Fiction Again,” to the very blunt “F*** those Fascists.” One sign said, “Hey Congress, History Will Remember You Were Complicit and Cowardly.”
Supporters of the Socialist Equality Party passed out more than 1,500 copies of the statement, “No Kings, No Nazi Führers! Mobilize the working class against Trump’s dictatorship!” When asked their thoughts on the need to turn to the working class in the fight against dictatorship and break politically with the Democratic Party, many responded, “Exactly what you said.”
One protester said, “I’m against Trump and everything his administration stands for. I think due process is an important part of our rights as citizens of the world, let alone the United States. He should be removed from office.”
When asked about mobilizing the working class to remove Trump, he said, “I think it could be effective. We have power in numbers. We have power in affecting the economy with our buying power and our working hours. So there is definitely power in the people.”
The protester also commented on the deployment of troops to Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Portland, Chicago and Memphis, saying, “That’s unacceptable. It’s against the Constitution of the United States of America. It’s not an option to police the cities with troops, National Guard or otherwise. It’s similar to fascism and it’s not correct.”
Another demonstrator spoke on the role of the Democratic Party in the Trump administration’s ongoing social counterrevolution. He said:
They’re rolling on their backs to coexist with the Republicans. They are complicit in keeping horrible systems in place so that they campaign on the promises of disrupting those systems. And it’s just a cycle of every single election. It’s like “We’ll fight for the people. We’ll bring rights. We’ll make sure that everyone is able to afford to live, afford healthcare,” and then they don’t actually do anything in order to fight.
Thousands protest at the Indiana Statehouse against fascism and dictatorship
Thousands of demonstrators rallied on the south lawn of the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis on Saturday, joining the “No Kings” protests across the country. Participants arrived early and brought handmade signs denouncing the would-be dictator Donald Trump as well as Republican leaders in the state of Indiana.
The crowd of thousands converged from several points across the downtown area and assembled at the Statehouse before noon, when the official program of speeches, songs, and chants were delivered from the platform on the south steps of the capitol building.
Teachers, health care workers, young factory workers, students and retirees came to express their anger and determination to stop the imposition of a fascist dictatorship by the Trump administration.
A young worker, Owen, said he came to the rally to oppose the Trump administration and the conditions in the US, which are going “rapidly downhill.” He said democracy is “at a standstill” because of the control of society by the billionaires.
Speaking of the ICE attacks on immigrants, Owen said, “I physically got sick watching the news about the immigrants being taken off the streets, taken from court houses, taken from their families, taken from farms while working. I think it’s sickening, absolutely sickening.”
However, the speakers, who included various representatives of the local Democratic Party, preachers and pseudo-left activists, presented no program to the assembled crowd as to how the criminal actions of the Trump regime could be stopped.
Democratic Indiana State Senator Andrea Hunley referred to “a power grab” by Republican officials in the form of gerrymandering and budget cuts. Hunley told participants to “keep showing up” and making their voices heard, but she covered up the plans of Trump to establish a police state by mobilizing federal troops across the US and invoking the Insurrection Act against the population.
Representatives of the Socialist Equality Party set up a literature table with a banner calling on those in attendance to join the SEP and take up the fight for the mobilization of the working class in a political struggle against fascism and its source, the capitalist system. Attendees enthusiastically took copies of the SEP statement, bought literature and signed up to get involved.
Workers and young people were attracted to the campaign for socialist revolution and no one attempted to refute the SEP’s assertion that the Democratic Party was facilitating the rise of fascism and a political movement of the working class was required.
One young person who came to the SEP table said:
I think, in general, that the two party system that America is functioning on is inherently flawed. It creates this idea among the voters that there's only two choices... We’re coming to grips with this neo-Nazi nationalist party under Trump. He has encouraged violence. That’s become the platform that he stands on. For the Democrats to still think that we can reason with something like that is a denial of reality.
When asked about the need to mobilize the working class against the capitalist system, he said:
I think that's the only way that any lasting and sustainable change is going to happen. The working class has always been the majority. We have the numbers to make the stand to make a change. It's just that they’ve done a great job of oppressing us through wage theft and withholding health care, making that a privilege rather than a right, making housing, food, and water a privilege rather than a right... I think that organization is the only way that any lasting change is going to be implemented.
After the rally, the protesters marched around the Statehouse several times chanting, “No Kings, No Fascism,” and “Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, Donald Trump has got to go,” before concluding the event.
Huge Chicago protest against Trump’s dictatorship and immigration gestapo draws more than 200,000
More than 200,000 marched on Saturday in downtown Chicago to oppose the Trump administration’s sweeping attacks on democratic and social rights. In other areas of the city and in suburbs and towns in the metro area and across the state, many thousands more gathered, including in Joliet, Aurora, Elgin, Rockford and Bloomington.
A defiant mood dominated, and many signs indicated deep hostility to the super-rich and autocracy, while referring to the revolutionary traditions of the United States and France. As in the last No Kings protest, many voiced their anger at having to fight and defeat fascism once again, as their grandparents and great-grandparents had done.
Supporters of the Socialist Equality Party spoke with hundreds of attendees in downtown Chicago and distributed thousands of copies of the statement “No Kings, No Nazi Führers! Mobilize the working class against Trump’s dictatorship!” The statement made the case that to end the fascist threat, the working class had to bring an end to capitalism and establish a socialist society.
One young woman was excited to find a political party denouncing capitalism and discussed the connection between Trump’s dictatorial ambitions and the interests of the oligarchy. She said, “We are showing them these are rights that cannot be taken away.”
Tim said, “I was looking for you guys, and I finally found you! I read the World Socialist Web Site every day. I want to know more about getting involved.”
Another woman approached to say, “Thank you for being here. I drove here from South Carolina. It was hard to decide which city to go to for this, but eventually it was clear I had to be in Chicago for ‘No Kings.’”
The march grew to hundreds of thousands through the afternoon, concluding in the early evening. Some demonstrators went to the Broadview Detention Facility, where they were met with force by the Illinois State Police.
5,000 demonstrate at Williamsburg, Virginia “No Kings” event
Several cities in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia had “No Kings” protests on Saturday, including Virginia Beach, Newport News, Chesapeake, Norfolk, and Williamsburg. Organizers estimated that the crowd at Virginia Beach Town Center reached 3,000.
This mobilization took place despite Republican Governor Glen Youngkin’s threat to use the National Guard against demonstrations.
A Socialist Equality Party team distributed 200 copies of the statement “No Kings, No Nazi Führers! Mobilize the working class against Trump’s dictatorship! at the Williamsburg James City-County Court Complex.
Demonstrators covered the roadside at the busy intersection of Monticello Avenue and Courthouse Street, as well as the entrance to the Court Complex itself.
Those in attendance included students and staff from the College of William and Mary and Christopher Newport University, federal government employees and retirees, and others. The SEP team’s literature table attracted dozens of participants, many of whom purchased pamphlets, books and placards calling for mobilizing the working class for a general strike.
Over 100,000 gather in Boston for “No Kings” protest
In Boston, over 100,000 demonstrators converged on the Boston Common in one of hundreds of protests across New England. This immense social movement reflects a genuine and deep-seated hostility to the attacks on democratic rights, the deployment of federal agents in cities, and the moves toward a presidential dictatorship. While this mass mobilization is rooted in legitimate anger, the Democratic Party and its political supporters are seeking to contain it within the confines of their bankrupt, pro-capitalist perspective.
This was not lost on those attending the protest. SEP supporters campaigning with a literature table at the Park Street subway station met virtually no one who supported the Democratic Party. Workers were more interested in perusing the SEP’s literature display, with the many pamphlets and books from Mehring Books including titles such as Fascism: What It Is and How to Fight It by Leon Trotsky, Socialism against Oligarchy, Fascism and War and The CIA Democrats, in addition to the new pamphlet, Trump’s Fascist Conspiracy and How to Fight It: A Socialist Strategy.
Many of those discussing with campaigners purchased literature and signed up for the WSWS Newsletter, the International Youth and Students for Social Equality, and newsletters from different rank-and-file committees of the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC).
The political leadership and official messaging of the Boston rally demonstrated its domination by the Democratic Party establishment. The main stage was a platform for prominent Democrats, including Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, who worked to channel the opposition along safe, nationalist lines.
Warren explicitly framed the protest in purely patriotic terms, declaring, “Thousands of people protesting for what they believe in. That is deeply American. That is patriotism.” She attempted thereby to obscure the fundamental class antagonisms at the root of the political crisis and unite the population behind the existing state structure.
Mayor Wu invoked Boston’s revolutionary history, declaring, “We stand here today to tell the Trump administration that when it comes to our freedoms, when it comes to our families, Boston doesn’t back down.” Wu was loudly heckled by protesters, who called out that she was a “liar” and “for hire.” Many others began to leave the event as the speeches began.
The primary organizing groups—the unions, the American Civil Liberties Union and organizations like Planned Parenthood—functioned as the institutional forces responsible for subordinating opposition to the Democrats. This tight control by the Democratic Party establishment raised the question whether the protest’s form—a rally carefully cordoned off on the Boston Common, unlike in other cities such as Chicago where protesters marched through the streets, taking up their own slogans—was deliberately designed by organizers as a passive spectacle.
Thousands rally in Pittsburgh: “It is time the people stand up to fight this”
More than 25,000 people converged on downtown Pittsburgh on Saturday at the City County Building to protest against the Trump administration.
Thousands of people carried homemade signs expressing their opposition to Trump’s policies, including illegally deporting immigrants and violating due process. Many signs denounced sending the military into American cities.
“I'm here because I fear I won’t get another chance,” said Rachel, who was joined by her friends at the protest. “This government is trying to take away all our rights. People who have protested over Gaza have been forced from their jobs, arrested, and deported.
“In one breath he jokes about the people being the enemy and the need for the military to go into the cities, but this is no joke, it is really happening.
“I’m very disappointed in the Democrats. They don’t want to stand up to him. I thought John Fetterman was going to be different, but now he is siding with Trump on everything. We need a new party. The working people have to stand for ourselves.”
“Our son lives in Chicago,” explained another couple that had come to the protest. “People are terrified there about what is going on. ICE is tearing apart families. The parents at one daycare center have organized a rotation in which one parent is there every day just to gather together the kids in case there is a raid. One parent stays on guard to warn the others if ICE shows up at the center.
“Throughout the city children are staying home from school for fear of ICE. People are supposed to have due process, but instead masked men are disappearing men, women, and children from the streets of this city.
“It is time the people stand up to fight this. That is why we’re here.”
The demonstration in Pittsburgh was one of hundreds throughout the state, with large demonstrations taking place in Philadelphia and Harrisburg. Smaller protests took place outside every county government building and in small communities throughout the state.
Over 1,500 rally against dictatorship in Petoskey, Michigan: “To be American is to be Antifa – Freedom means fighting fascism”
Some 1,500-2,000 people rallied in Petoskey, Michigan on Saturday to protest against the Trump administration. Countless handmade signs targeted fascism, dictatorship and the attacks on immigrants and the Constitution. Petoskey has a population of only 5,800, with Emmet County home to 33,000 people.
The crowd was noisy, loud and angry, although peaceful. Protesters gathered in Bayfront Park, on the shore of Little Traverse Bay, Lake Michigan. A speaker from Indivisible briefly addressed the crowd, promising that no “elected officials” were present, to considerable cheers. Then the demonstrators marched to a major intersection, lining US 31 on both sides. To a large extent, there was support from passing cars, with honking and passengers waving. It was a raucous, spirited event.
Socialist Equality Party members and supporters handed out leaflets and spoke to a few of the participants.
A retired worker, Shelley, commented: “We can’t let him stay in power.” Kelly, another retired worker, said, “We need more young people to fight him.”
Kristin, one of those young people, from North Central Michigan College in Petoskey, said: “He’s promoting a lot of bad things. It’s more than just Trump. It’s our generation that will have to do the fighting. Young people have been attacked for denouncing the genocide. Trump’s ceasefire [in Gaza] is meaningless.”
Clare, a graduate of the University of Michigan Flint, said: “The Democrats are rolling over. The genocide is the result of both the Democrats and Republicans. I consider myself a world citizen. There should be no borders.”
A group of local young people, Travis, Elizabeth and Sophia, said, “We are all for a general strike to get rid of this government.”
Thea, from Cheboygan, Michigan and one of a number of Northwestern University medical students, said: “As great as this is, protest is not enough. Neither will the Democratic Party do it. We need economic power like a general strike. What RFK is doing in medicine is really bad.”
There were also demonstrations in the northern part of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula in Boyne City, Cheboygan, Rogers City, Alpena, Bellaire, Gaylord, Gladwin, Charlevoix, Elk Rapids, Traverse City (thousands there), Suttons Bay, Ludington, Pentwater, Cadillac and elsewhere.
Over 100,000 rally in Washington, D.C. against fascism
According to estimates, up to 200,000 people attended the “No Kings” protest in Washington, D.C. Saturday afternoon. The protest, held on Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest near the United States Capitol building, featured several prominent Democratic Party-aligned politicians, most notably Senator Bernie Sanders and Connecticut Representative Chris Murphy.
Sanders, who was announced as the event’s headliner only at the last minute, clearly expressed the nervousness of Democratic Party leaders in the face of a massive upsurge of hostility to Trump, breaking from his previous practice of not mentioning Trump as a threat to democracy but citing a litany of his abuses. He ended this speech, however, with an appeal to the Republican Party to embrace bipartisanship and negotiate with congressional Democrats in order to “save American healthcare.”
The majority of signs declared opposition to Trump and fascism and expressed the anti-monarchy theme of the event. A large section also expressed disgust with the Democratic Party for its participation in the Israeli government’s genocide of the Palestinian people. A massive Palestinian flag could be seen within the crowd. Police presence was heavy, despite the peaceful and festive character of the protest. Several snipers were spotted on the roof of the East Building of the National Gallery of Art.
The event was organized by various Democratic Party-affiliated protest groups. Nearly a half-dozen smaller protests occurred throughout the city and inner suburbs before converging at the main rally point.
Washington continues to be ravaged by a government shutdown, now in its third week. The nearby Smithsonian Institution was shut down as a result. Thousands of federal workers were among those in attendance.
SEP members and supporters intervened in the protest, distributing thousands of statements published by the party in the days leading up to the event.
Larry Porter, a leading member of the Socialist Equality Party, spoke to the crowd, urging participants not to place their faith in the Democrats, who have collaborated with Trump.
“Trump serves today’s billionaires, the tech barons, bankers and corporate magnates, who seek dictatorship as a means to preserve their privilege,” said Porter. The SEP leader recalled that only last month the Democrats in Congress voted by 90 percent “for a resolution for Charlie Kirk, even though Kirk was an open racist, an antisemite, and an opponent of the interests of the working class.”
Bill Mertz, a member of the Socialist Equality Party, emphasized the role of the working class in the fight against fascism. He told the crowd:
“Workers have been battered by ever-increasing prices and lower standards of living across the whole economy. Trump, a longtime conman, scam artist, and unscrupulous swindler… could disappear today and it would not change the situation, for he is but a representative of a class.”
Mertz made scathing remarks about the trade union bureaucracy, noting that it has collaborated with Trump’s trade war, which has impoverished workers and divided American workers from their counterparts in Europe, China, Latin America and beyond. He cited the unions’ betrayal of the 2022 railroad workers’ struggle, in which they colluded with the Biden administration, allowing it to overturn their right to strike. The Trump administration has continued to serve the railroad operators, even consulting with the Union Pacific CEO about which cities should be targeted for deployment of federal troops to suppress workers’ struggles.
No Kings, No Nazi Führers! Mobilize the working class against Trump’s dictatorship!
This statement by the Socialist Equality Party was published prior to the demonstrations.
More than 2,500 “No Kings” protests are being held on October 18 throughout the US, in every major city and many smaller towns, as well as in other countries. The Socialist Equality Party supports these demonstrations and calls for the broadest possible participation. The last “No Kings” demonstrations, on June 14, attracted upwards of 10 million people in what is believed to have been the largest single-day political protest in American history.
These demonstrations are taking place under conditions of a mounting conspiracy by the Trump administration to establish a presidential dictatorship. In the days leading up to October 18, administration officials and leading Republicans denounced the protests as a “hate America rally,” branded demonstrators as “terrorists” and threatened to launch investigations against those organizing them. The White House is also preparing to invoke the Insurrection Act, which would give Trump sweeping powers to deploy the military throughout the United States under his direct command.
National Guard troops have already been deployed to major American cities, including Washington D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland and Memphis. In Chicago, the third-largest city in the country, residents face daily assaults by a combination of police, ICE and Department of Homeland Security agents, while National Guard forces have arrived in preparation for further action.
The language coming from the White House is the language of civil war. Trump has called for the military to be used against the “enemy within.” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller has described even the Democratic Party as a “domestic extremist organization.” Trump has opened up the White House to neo-Nazis, Christian nationalists and far-right propagandists, who are openly plotting the abolition of democratic rights.
What is unfolding is not a temporary aberration or a passing episode. There will be no “return to normal.” With the Trump administration, the American ruling class is breaking with constitutional forms of rule.
The decisive question is: What is to be done? How can Trump’s coup be defeated?
As millions march in “No Kings” protests against dictatorship, Democrats focus on escalating the war in Ukraine
This statement by the Socialist Equality Party was published prior to the demonstrations.
On Saturday, millions of people will participate in an estimated 2,700 protests in every major city in the United States, under the framework of “No Kings.” The last protests, held in June, attracted between 5 and 11 million people, and the turnout at the second round is expected to be even larger.
The demonstrations reflect growing mass opposition to the Trump administration’s assault on democratic rights and its conspiracy to establish a fascistic dictatorship; outrage over the ongoing genocide in Gaza; anger at the mass deportations of immigrants; and resistance to the mass firing of federal workers and the destruction of jobs and social programs, including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
The demonstrations draw inspiration from the democratic traditions of the American Revolution, whose anti-monarchical spirit is embodied in the slogan “No Kings.” Many participants in the last protests connected Trump’s efforts to overturn the principles of that revolution—to trample on equality, liberty and the rights of the people—with his campaign to dismantle public education, destroy public health, and place all of society under the oligarchy.
One issue that is not motivating masses of people is the demand for an escalation of imperialist war. But this is the central concern of the Democratic Party.
The Democrats in fact agree with large portions of Trump’s economic policies and have systematically enabled Trump’s attack on the working class. Every faction of the ruling elite insists that social programs be gutted, wages reduced, and public spending slashed in order to expand corporate profits. The Democrats therefore view the mass opposition to Trump with profound unease and hostility.
On the eve of the demonstrations, the editorial board of the New York Times, the principal mouthpiece of the Democratic Party, issued a statement calling for war against Russia, under the headline, “Russia Won’t Stop Until NATO Acts.”
The Times does not publish editorials every day. Indeed, the last editorial was published one week ago, on October 10. Its decision to issue this call to war on the very day before what could be the largest single-day protest in US history was deliberate. It is meant to signal the Democratic Party’s overriding priorities.
In its editorial, the Times declares that “European leaders should make clear that Russian aggression against NATO countries risks a forceful response, including the shooting down of drones … and potentially of Russian fighter planes that enter NATO airspace.”
In relation to Trump, the Times writes hopefully that “he has authorized more intelligence sharing with Kyiv to heighten the effectiveness of its attacks, including those on Russian oil and gas facilities,” and that he is considering allowing Ukraine to use Tomahawk missiles to strike deep inside Russia.”
Expressing the outlook of the Democratic Party and sections of the military-intelligence apparatus, the Times goes on to express concern over Trump’s “long record of coziness” with Putin and whether he will prosecute the war against Russia with sufficient aggression.
All these actions, the Times states, “bring risks, including the dangers of escalation … [but] the only way to contain him [Putin] is with resolute strength.”
The Times does not elaborate that the “risks” it blithely acknowledges are those of a nuclear war between the world’s two leading nuclear powers, which would mean the annihilation of human civilization.
The priority of the Democrats is also reflected in the efforts of the organizations officially sponsoring the “No Kings” protests, including Democratic Party-aligned groups such as Indivisible, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and other union bureaucracies. Yellow has been proclaimed the official color of the protests, presented on the “No Kings” website as “a signal of resistance and national self-determination amid invasion” in Ukraine.
The bloodbath in Ukraine is the largest war in Europe since the Second World War. This imperialist proxy war, instigated and fueled by the United States and NATO, has already killed and maimed more than 1 million Russians and Ukrainians. Ukrainian youth, seized off the streets and conscripted by a corrupt, US-backed regime, are being sent to die in a 21st century hellscape. The effort by the Democrats to besmirch mass opposition to Trump by promoting this murderous enterprise must be rejected with contempt.