Democratic Socialists Building ‘Red Rabbit’ Militias

When the right started forming militias back in the 1990s, following events like Ruby Ridge and Waco, the left got very upset about it. They demonized these militias and did everything they could to rip them apart, framing them not just as a threat to the nation, but every kind of bigot they could think of. It was enough to push many to reconsider joining such a group, even if none of them actually did anything except do some training in the woods somewhere.

And it’s definitely a part of why anti-gunners wanted to ban the AR-15 and similar rifles, particularly before the modern mass shooting epidemic.

It seems, though, that it’s different when socialists do it.

As its national influence has risen, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has simultaneously grown more extreme. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the group’s “Red Rabbits” initiative. The Red Rabbits Security Commission, a subgroup within the DSA focused on “community defense” efforts, is, according to its authorizing resolution, preparing for a “national uprising against federal agents and police brutality.” In practice, that means training cadres in tactics like armed and unarmed self-defense, blocking intersections, and fighting “fascists” with umbrellas.

A recent panel offered an unprecedented window into what the project looks like. Organizers from Minnesota, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, Tucson, Austin, and Portland compared notes. As the discussion made clear, the DSA is trying to construct a nationwide security apparatus to support its expanding role in street protests and direct-action organizing. And in so doing, it fears drawing the attention of the Internal Revenue Service—likely with good reason.

The DSA launched the Red Rabbits Security Commission at its 2025 national convention. Organizers chose the deliberately innocuous name as a nod to the novel Watership Down, in which anthropomorphized rabbits are outnumbered and beset by enemies. Earlier branding proposals, including “National Vigilance Committee,” were deemed too politically stark, with some members concerned that they could be interpreted as an endorsement of vigilantism.

The Red Rabbits claim that their focus is on five core security skills: de-escalation, Stop the Bleed (a first aid training on bleeding control), firearm safety, unarmed self-defense, and protest marshalling (crowd management during demonstrations). The commission has set a goal of having at least five members in 40 percent of DSA chapters complete these trainings.

Since its inauguration, the committee has been a source of internal controversy. That includes an unsuccessful effort by members of the DSA’s governing National Political Committee to remove a Maoist organizer whose past public comments included praise for revolutionary violence. The committee ultimately voted to retain him.

Now, I have mixed feelings on this. For one thing, I’m concerned, but I’ll get to a discussion of that in a little bit.

Regardless of how I feel about DSA and these Red Rabbits, the truth of the matter is that the Second Amendment applies to them, just as it does to us. If they honestly believe that the nation is turning tyrannical, then they have every right to arm themselves and to prepare to defend what they believe, especially if they think the state will use lethal force against them.

I find it funny that they’re essentially using the same argument the militias of the ’90s used in forming, though those were never officially affiliated with any political party, much less an official arm of a party.

My concerns are, I think, pretty obvious.

The person they put in charge of this is a Maoist who thinks “revolutionary violence” is just swell, and they’re part of an ideology that is predicated on seizing the “means of production” by force. The only difference between them and Marx himself is that they want to use the state itself as the mechanism of force, as opposed to putting their own safety on the line.

The Red Rabbits might signal a shift in that part, however.

Plus, these are people who think anyone to the right of Lenin is a fascist. They think believing in property rights and a free market makes you a jack-booted authoritarian–no, it doesn’t make sense, but they’re socialists, so it’s not like rationality factors into their so-called thinking very often–and that means literally anyone could become a potential target of these people.

They might say they’re focusing on de-escalation, but they’re most definitely training for a fight, and they’re training to fight the police and federal agents, and why? Because they shot a woman who was trying to run one of them over with a car? I’ll admit that what we’ve seen with Alex Pretti’s shooting doesn’t look as cut-and-dried as it was with Renee Good, but it’s a far cry from shooting Vickie Weaver through a door while she was holding her baby.

Look, I think they have a right to do this. They have a right to organize and train to resist whatever tyranny or “fascism” that tries to come after them. My problem isn’t the rights of the people, but their perception of reality that holds everyone is a fascist unless they side with them.

Editor’s Note: President Trump and Republicans across the country are doing everything they can to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.

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