Socialism From the Barrel of a Gun

Recent media attention has focused on the Socialist Rifle Association (SRA), a US-based left-wing organisation promoting firearms training and “working-class armed self-defence,” after a Democratic Senate candidate in Maine was criticised for past posts encouraging people to join it. Reports suggest growing gun ownership among LGBTQ and left-liberal Americans driven by fear of political repression, while a Cato Institute FOIA request revealed the SRA is under FBI investigation. The SRA presents itself as a left-wing counterpoint to right-wing gun culture, framing firearms as tools for community defence and resistance to authoritarianism. However, this trend reflects not a coherent ideological shift but widespread anxiety produced by capitalism – economic insecurity, political polarisation, violent policing, and commodified security – conditions t ...