New 'Left Wing Alliance' Holds Interest Meeting
- 13 hours ago
- 3 min read
Mathew Biadun | News-Editor
3/10/2026 - Since the College Democrats went inactive in 2025, Eastern's campus political scene has seen an absence on the left-wing; one filled on the right with the start of College Republicans last year. The new Left Wing Alliance seeks to fill that void. Their first interest meeting was held today, garnering about twenty members as the club's beliefs and mission statement was discussed.
The meeting was led by Zimria Cohen, a socialist-aligned Freshman, who announced the club's mission statement: "The Left-Wing Alliance is dedicated to fostering a community centered around anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist thought. Through regular meetings and events, we intend to provide a place for free thought, activism, and mutual aid both for the ECSU campus and in the surrounding community."
Cohen, she/her, is a freshman majoring in Psychology. At the start of introducing the club's E-Board, she clarified her political influences by naming a series of historical inspirations. These included Thomas Sankara, the Communist dictator of Burkina Faso between 1983 and 1987; the CNT-FAI, a left-wing anarchist faction in the Spanish Civil War; and Eugene V. Debbs, an American labor-leader and presidential candidate.
The rest of the E-Board included Aiden Gorman (Interim Vice President), Jason Skoog (Treasurer), Salem Didato (Secretary), and Seraphina Spellman (PR). Only Spellman elaborated on her political influences, saying that her biggest ideological influence was, quote, "existing on the internet as a woman".
After introducing the E-Board, the club went over a series of guiding principles in the club's beliefs. These principles included (1) Fascism, Imperialism, and Capitalism as a Relationship; (2) Education As Both Our Friend and Our Strength; (3) Critical Thought, Internally & Among Each Other; (4) Community is Key To Our Movement; and (5) Intersectional Social Progressivism. These were elaborated on during the meeting, and in a handout provided at the meeting's end.
Possible events and projects were discussed during the meeting, such as a Leftist Book Club, a Solidarity Fund providing food, hygiene products, etc. for the local community, a book drive, workshops on organizing protests, and meet the candidate events. The candidate suggested for such an event was Kyle Gauck, the Democratic primary challenger in the Second District, who the Campus Lantern interviewed previously.
The other political organization on campus is explicitly aligned with a party, being the College Republicans. I asked if this club would be formally, or informally, aligned with the Democratic Party.
"Informally aligned," the club president answered. "We will feature candidates that we believe are aligned with our goals and our missions."
As the club departed, I took a second to interview Zimria Cohen, asking for more details on the club.
Q: What was your inspiration for starting this club?
A: "I've had very passionate leftist ideas for awhile," she started, but said that, after College Democrats became inactive, there was nowhere to express them, and that there was no space for "organized leftist ideas". The Left Wing Alliance is intended to be that space.
Q: Will the LWA go and formally help out candidates, such as through door knocking?
A: Cohen responded that the club, once further developed, may partake in such activities.
Q: Many Democrats and left-wingers are less extreme, believing in principles like capitalism. What would you tell those people, who may still be interested in the club but concerned about its more radical stances?
A: "There is a lot more hope and faith in the Democratic establishment in capitalism...but I encourage Democrats to look at when Democrats have been in power, and have followed their ideas, and to look at what's happened." She gave the Biden administration as an example, saying that it accomplished nothing besides undoing the actions of the first Trump administration. Moderate Democrats shouldn't stay away, she said, but she would like them to "critique the establishment of capitalism".
Q: Some of the people you mentioned, like Thomas Sankara and the CNT-FAI, engaged in political violence to achieve their goals. Do you denounce political violence?
A: Cohen hesitated before answering, "In modern America, violence in terms of going out and killing a guy is violence, and I denounce that." She added, however, that she believes that there have been times in history when remaining peaceful has not been sufficient, and when violence has been necessary for political change. "As we are seeing the current government becoming more oppressive and violent, looking at history, that doesn't go away peacefully. Historically, we have seen that violence has become necessary."
Q: To clarify, do you believe political violence is necessary now, or no?
A: "I do not think it is necessary now, no."
A permanent meeting time is yet to be decided. The club can be found on Instagram at @ecsu_lwa, with more announcements coming soon.
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