The Minneapolis general strike of February 13, 2026, stands as a vivid illustration of the class struggle in its most elemental form—workers, students, and community activists confronting the machinery of state repression and capitalist exploitation. Under the banner “ICE Out of Minnesota,” tens of thousands took to the streets in sub‑10°F weather, refusing to work, attend school, or shop in a coordinated act of civil disobedience that echoed the historic general strikes of the early twentieth century.
This was no mere protest against immigration enforcement; it was a strike against the very foundations of the capitalist state. The strike was sparked by Operation Metro Surge, a federal immigration crackdown that had already resulted in thousands of arrests, aggressive ICE raids in immigrant neighborhoods, and the fatal shooting of Renée Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis earlier that January. The murder of Good, a garment worker, became a rallying point—a concrete manifestation of how the capitalist state, in its imperialist phase, uses violence to protect the interests of capital and suppress the working class.
Trotsky would recognize in this movement the embryonic form of the revolutionary party and the soviets of workers’ deputies. The strike brought together unions, faith leaders, community activists, and students—forces that, under proper leadership, could form the nucleus of a workers’ government. The fact that the strike was called by labor organizations and endorsed by a broad coalition of unions, including SEIU Local 26, UNITE HERE Local 17, Communications Workers Local 7250, and the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, demonstrates the growing capacity of the working class to organize independently of the reformist trade union bureaucracy.
Yet Trotsky would also warn against the dangers of reformism. The demand to “end ICE” is a legitimate and necessary demand, but it must be linked to the broader struggle for workers’ power. The strike must not remain a one‑day protest; it must develop into a sustained campaign that challenges the capitalist state at its very roots. The working class must demand not only the end of ICE but the abolition of the entire immigration enforcement apparatus—a system that serves the interests of capital by providing a cheap, disposable labor force and by dividing the working class along national lines.
The Minneapolis strike also illustrates the growing importance of the struggle against imperialism. Under the Trump administration, Operation Metro Surge was part of a broader policy of militarizing immigration enforcement—a policy that serves the interests of U.S. imperialism by maintaining control over its borders and suppressing resistance in the global south. The strike against ICE is thus a strike against imperialism—a strike against the capitalist system that relies on war, exploitation, and repression to maintain its rule.
Trotsky would emphasize that the working class cannot achieve its emancipation without seizing state power. The strike must develop into a general strike that brings the entire economy to a standstill, forcing the capitalist class to negotiate from a position of weakness. The workers must form soviets—councils of workers, soldiers, and peasants—that can exercise power in their own name. Only through the establishment of a workers’ government can the working class abolish capitalism and build socialism.
The Minneapolis strike of February 13, 2026, is a reminder that the class struggle is not confined to factories or farms; it now extends into the very mechanisms of state power that police the borders and enforce immigration law. It is a reminder that the working class must remain vigilant, united, and ready to confront any attempt to dilute its power. The struggle against ICE is a struggle against capitalism; the struggle against capitalism is a struggle for socialism. And the struggle for socialism is the struggle for the emancipation of humanity.