October 15th, 1966 marked a turning point for the Black liberation movement in the United States. On this day, the Black Panther Party was established. The Panthers remain icons in popular consciousness, and for good reason; they were a serious revolutionary force in their time, so much so that J. Edgar Hoover's FBI designated them "the greatest threat to the internal security of the country," and made it a top priority to destroy them. Revolutionaries today should understand that the power of the Panthers was their ability to organize the everyday people of their communities into fighters for concrete demands, while also raising the general level of struggle and political consciousness in society at large. Now, it's our task to learn from the experiences of the Panthers so that we can finally fulfill the urgent historic task of achieving Black liberation and socialism. All power to the people!

This weekend, on October 17th, is the next national day of action under the banner of "no kings," and it represents an important opportunity for socialists to get out and talk to every kind of person who's fed up with Donald Trump's agenda and is ready to do something about it. This year so far we've seen Trump unleash wave after wave of disgusting attacks on the people of the United States and across the world, but also remarkable struggle in turn. We want to keep these flames of struggle burning, and fan them into an inferno. Actions for "no kings" this time are going to look different from city to city. Some will be protests and rallies, others will be smaller gatherings whose only focus is getting out the midterm vote for the Democrats. But the fact remains, there are lots of people out there who are seeing the contradictions of monopoly capitalism sharpen in real time, and who are looking for a group with a real plan of action to take capitalism down and build up a new system that actually puts working people first. Our job as socialists is to seek out these folks who want to become fighters for radical change, and organize them into a real force for revolution.