Socialist Party Stands with Prairieland 9, Condemns Government Attack on Dissent

Passed by the SPUSA National Executive Committee 7/4/2026

The trials of the Prairieland 9 in Texas are a glimpse into the reality of Trump's National Security Memorandum 7. The sentences amount to lifetimes spent behind bars. They reflect the reality of political life in the United States: regardless of whether you are breaking a law, or even actually involved in organizing, the law will be weaponized to

attack you. The institutions that demand your loyalty will deprive you of every protection they are supposed to provide. As it has been said before, a fascist government does not call itself fascist. It makes anti-fascism illegal.

The precedent set in this trial makes everyone, politically active or not, vulnerable to this rabid government.

The Democratic Party sits from the sidelines decrying this punitive abuse of power. How shamelessly they cast themselves as the hero! We all know that from the passing of the Patriot Act to this very moment, the Democratic Party has allowed themselves to take part in every civil deprivation we together have suffered. There are those who would encourage us to trust the Democratic Party to fight in opposition to this. We know better! We know the Democratic Party is the Public Relations-friendly face of the death of civil rights. The Democratic Party is the smile that fascism greets us with, that serves to take our eyes away from the knife thrusting towards our throats.

The decay of civil liberties is not new, but it is not slowing down or reversing course either! The enemies of freedom want to frighten us. The Socialist Party USA offers this instead: don't get scared, get organized!

Socialist Party USA demands that constitutionally protected protest and dissent be respected, and an end to the collective punishment upon the Prairieland 9 as well as those around them, their family and friends inexcusably targeted by the fascist United States government.