Posted on 09/10/2026 7:30:00 AM PDT by MtnClimber

Radical activists and organizers from across the U.S. and around the world descended on Chicago over Labor Day weekend to attend the Socialism 2026 Conference. The four-day summit was touted as a “place for both seasoned radicals and new activists to sharpen analysis, hone strategy, and build community.” Its more than 100 workshops included a Marxism Education Series, along with sessions bearing titles such as “Confronting Zionism: Decolonizing Palestine and Building the World Anew” and “Trans Care in the Age of Health Fascism.”
But the conference’s central purpose was unmistakable: to chart the socialist movement’s next steps in its pursuit of power — and prepare a new generation of revolutionaries for battle.
Perhaps the weekend’s most memorable remarks came from University of California, Santa Barbara, professor Butch Ware, who told attendees that the Democratic establishment “must be destroyed” and warned they must get ready for “war in the streets.”
For Ware, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed are not radical enough:
We have a tremendous opportunity. But they [the Democratic establishment] are going to keep giving us the Mamdanis and the Abdul El-Sayeds — and in my generation, the Obamas — because they are there to contain radicalism. They are there to destroy it and to diffuse it and to co-opt it and to purchase it.
Despite the false bravado of Democratic leaders such as Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries who persist in peddling the fiction of the party’s “big tent,” Ware was very clear: “The Democrats cannot be reasoned with. They must be destroyed.”
The audience loved it.
UC Santa Barbara professor Dr. Butch Ware at 'Marxism conference' says Democrats "must be destroyed."
"They are going to keep giving us the Mamdanis and the Abdul El-Sayeds…because they are there to contain radicalism."
“The Democrats cannot be reasoned with. They must be… pic.twitter.com/USKxfFSkZc
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) September 6, 2026
In the next video, Ware tells attendees to get ready for “war in the streets.”
Y’all ain’t dreamed big enough yet. And also, some of these clickety-clack revolutionaries have never been in a f***ing gunfight. But some of us that grew up in the hood know what guns are like. Outcasts said it best, ‘N****s ranting and raving about gas. N****, they made them gas. They got some sh** that’ll blow out our backs.
You are ready for a war in the streets? No, you ain’t. Y’all ain’t nowhere near ready for a war in the streets. You better get ready for both kinds of war.
And if you stay ready, you ain’t got to get ready.
UCSB prof Dr. Butch Ware tells 'Marxism' conference: Be ready for "war in the streets."
"Some of these clickety-clack revolutionaries have never been in a f*cking gunfight."
"Y'all ain't nowhere near ready for a war in the streets. You better get ready for both kinds of war."… https://t.co/Gw4bLlEbWp pic.twitter.com/gOZQTAPYH2
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) September 7, 2026
Responding to Ware’s remarks on X, podcast host Michael Shermer stated the obvious:
If Marxism requires armed violent action, doesn’t that mean that “the people” don’t actually want it (so you have to force it upon them at gunpoint)? For over a century Marxism has failed everywhere it has been tried & resulted in >100 million dead. Enough @ButchWare&
City University of New York Professor Ruth Gilmore drew considerable attention after declaring that capitalism is inherently racist.
There is no good capitalism. There isn’t a capitalism that is somehow not racial. There isn’t a capitalism that does not produce and reproduce all kinds of sexual and gender boundaries.
…
But make no mistake: It’s capitalism we’re after.
We believe you.
Also Ruth Wilson Gilmore: “It’s capitalism we’re after.” pic.twitter.com/0fPBTvvYUf https://t.co/H42I9eX5Ek
— Stu Smith (@thestustustudio) September 7, 2026
During a Saturday interview with Newsmax, former White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley discussed what may have drawn so many young voters to the Marxist conference. He noted that the socialist message resonates particularly strongly with those “who are carrying college debt and squeezed out of housing.”
In Gidley’s telling, young socialists have been sold the idea that prosperity should be theirs immediately, without the years of sacrifice traditionally required to attain it:
You should be able to afford a penthouse in Manhattan. And because you can’t, it must be because of the man.
Instead of saying, ‘Hey, pay your dues, stay with roommates, live, scrape, claw, work to get where you are.’ No, you should be given that on day one.
Democrats have done an outstanding job selling this lie to so many young people in this country.
Young voters, he added, are largely “ignorant” of Marxism’s history and consequences. They simply “don’t know any better.”
Whatever appeal socialism may hold for disaffected young Americans, the rhetoric coming out of Chicago should not be dismissed as youthful idealism. A conference billed as a forum for sharpening strategy and building a movement featured prominent speakers calling for the destruction of the Democratic establishment, preparation for “war in the streets,” and the end of capitalism. When self-described revolutionaries tell the public exactly what they intend to do, it would be foolish not to take them seriously.
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
When they tell you what they plan to do you should believe them. It looks like Schumer is afraid of them.
Chicago...the town that launched Obummer from nowhere.
Charlie Kirk was a man of peace.
The freaks murdered him.
Oh, please try. I’ll even give them directions to my house.
“UCSB prof Dr. Butch Ware tells ‘Marxism’ conference: Be ready for “war in the streets.”
Trust me, Scooter. Some of us have been ready and waiting for years. And when it happens it will happen from 1,000 yards away.
L
...and the ghouls cheered!!!!!
And when it happens it will happen from 1,000 yards away.
Unfortunately I am getting a tad old and my vision is going south so I may have to half your distance!
The NFP-NGO Squadron of AWFL warriors riding charter busses, gripping a folding chair, and a complimentary Soros group water cup.
Butch Ware is a taxpayer supported fraud.
As long our fingers work we can still load magazines for the clear sighted. Learn first aid too.
All the FReepers that lost their firearms in boating accidents are going to be in grave danger. Sadly from my count over the years there are a lot of them.
I will take them at their word. Now here’s the thing. Such a conflict would probably be asymmetrical. Meaning it won’t be 100 armed DSA members facing off against 100 cops on the village square.
It’ll be bombs planted in secret. Snipers in apartment buildings. Etc.
And perhaps also agitation within the ranks of the military.
How that all goes will depend on who controls the presidency at the time.
Yea, I heard one of their scholars confidently say they have Glock switches so we’re not going to want to mess with them.
If they plan to do this to Democrats, imagine what they'll do to the rest of us.
These people are just like the old Soviet Bosses who absolutely believed that their opponents "must be destroyed" - and then proceeded to liquidate ≈ 66 million Russians.
I also believe Schumer is afraid of them.
In my case, all my guns were lost during a flood.
Schumer is Trotsky, they are Stalin.
Bkmk
Bring it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.