Imagine Unity: Laying the Groundwork for a Multicultural Progressive Political Revolution
Many have called for a united front mass movement to defeat the neofascist MAGA movement. The U.S. “left” does not have a national institution to organize a united movement. This paper will (1) discuss the rise of Trump and MAGA. (2) Examine the organizational structure of the U.S. “left” and its limitations. (3) Discuss the lessons learned from the recent upsurge in progressive electoral organizing. (4) Discuss the strategic limitations of ad hoc, progressive, candidate-led elections. (5) Advocate for building a unity institution in the context of the 2028 presidential election. Since a third party is impossible in the U.S. two-party system, we propose organizing the Working-Class Democratic Caucus, an independent membership organization dedicated to running candidates in Democratic primaries. Finally, we conclude by addressing likely criticisms of this plan of action.
Authors
- H. Ege Özen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4226-9713)
- John Lawrence (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3325-8991)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Socialism and Democracy
- Published
- 2026-08-27
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1080/08854300.2026.2709210
- Primary Topic
- Populism, Right-Wing Movements
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00