No Kings
A Socialist Viewpoint Editorial
An estimated eight million people attended the March 28, 2026, No Kings protest demonstrations that took place in over 3,100 towns and cities across the United States as well as in some other countries. This was probably the largest mass demonstration in U.S. history, and it was a profound rebuke to President Trump and the government as a whole, especially the Republicans who have supported Trump’s reactionary agenda wholeheartedly. But the Democrats did not escape the ire of masses of the millions of demonstrators who were angry about the new war on Iran as well as the attacks, arrests, and deportations of immigrants, the killings of Renee Good, Alex Pretti, Keith Porter Jr. and Silverio Villegas Gonzalez, the deaths in immigrant detention jails, the heavily armed occupations by ICE agents in L.A., Chicago, and especially Minneapolis, and the threats to continue these occupations in other cities.
It is critically important that a mass movement in the streets to oppose this war on Iran is built, and the No Kings protests were a good start for that endeavor. Likewise, the massive, localized response to the arrests, detentions, and deportations of thousands of immigrants by masses of mobilized people, especially in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Los Angeles, and Chicago, is setting the example for the country as a whole of what must be done in all communities. The No Kings mobilizations all across the country was a big supportive boost for those actions as well.
While it is true that organized Democratic Party elected officials, leaders, and operatives supported the March 28 actions, and are in leadership roles in Indivisable, 50501, ACLU, and other liberal organizations, I don’t think you can say that they were in tight control of the No Kings actions. In many areas, speakers sharply criticized both Republicans and Democrats for ineffective response to Trump, for enabling the genocide of Palestinians, for providing huge military budgets for war, for applauding the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Maduro and his wife, Celia Flores, for threats to “take” Cuba, for failing to protect voting rights and the courts. While the No Kings protestors were unanimously in opposition to Trump and his cabinet, large numbers of protestors on March 28 were protesting the U.S. government as a whole—both capitalist political parties, the whole administration, both houses of Congress, and courts—that have allowed the administration to enact part of the Trump agenda, particularly the Supreme Court.
So, while the No Kings protests are definitely not advocating a new independent political party nor a socialist revolution—both of which are needed to begin to solve the escalating problems of capitalism—they definitely are important indicators of mass opposition to the system and a willingness to march in the streets for change.
True, Democrats will try to make the midterm congressional elections the focal point for ongoing opposition to Trump, but there is a real desire by masses of working-class people to act and not just vote.
This is the time to promote the ideas of working-class independence from the political parties that are controlled by the billionaires. It is also the time to promote united mass action against war and for the human rights of immigrants, of women, of Black and Brown people, and the working class as a whole.