Portside

Unlike many in his party, Eugene V. Debs believed the struggle for black equality was critical to realizing the promise of socialism.

As we approach the one year mark of the tragic police killing of Michael Brown and the Ferguson uprising that sparked a growing movement, Hughes' words remain painfully true today. Meanwhile, The hate site Stormfront and other racist groups have raked in hundreds of new members and tens of thousands of dollars since Dylann Storm Roof’s brutal June 17 killing spree in Charleston, S.C.

Instead of progressives sounding the bugle of retreat, exactly the opposite is necessary. The elements of the progressive movement that already exist in the South must be supported.