Much has been made about the effectiveness of protests in general, and that of No Kings in particular. Socialists have a variety of opinions on this matter, and I do not intend to litigate the issue in extreme detail; many others have done so effectively. To summarize, I view the actual act of protesting as only slightly effective under the current, fascist government. However, I also think of the event as an opportunity to recruit and radicalize those who are dissatisfied enough to protest but not yet organized socialists. Of course, as many socialists will point out, not everyone at No Kings is a viable target for radicalization. Some just want a return to the pre-Trump status quo, and are not open to being convinced that Trump is a natural result of the capitalist system. The organizational structure of No Kings can also limit the ability of leftist organizations to recruit.
But at least some No Kings protests do allow socialists to openly advertise themselves, even if in a limited way. And with these protests being so large, there are likely quite a few people that can be convinced to aid or join leftist organizations who only protest at No Kings. Thus, they are only able to be convinced at No Kings. I can vouch that while this event might give off the vibes of liberalism, both leftists and those who can easily be turned into leftists do attend it. Thus, I believe that recruiting people at protests, and No Kings specifically, is a worthwhile activity.
This is where these types of discussions, at least for those who agree with my particular view, often stop. Many claim that directing protestors to become more organized is important in the abstract, but due to their lack of experience, the size of their audiences, or the focus of their discussions, most don’t give concrete advice on how to move people from protests to organizing. This understandable limitation may give the unfortunate impression to certain outside observers who don’t engage in this kind of work that getting protestors to join DSA (or other organizations) is talked about in such a vague and ethereal way because it has rarely been implemented in practice. To these observers, I come bearing good news: people do this type of work all the time! I, a new member with little history of organizing, was able to do it, alongside my comrades. And all it really took was a table and some patience. By explaining my experience doing tabling at the March 2026 No Kings protest in Huntsville, I hope to make the goal of turning protestors into organizers seem as attainable as it actually is.
For those unfamiliar observers, tabling is when an organization sets up a table at some event, members talk to those who come up to the table about their organization and its activities. Ours had water, snacks, and shade provided by a tent to lure people in, and heavy volumes of Capital to hold down our local DSA flag. Crucially, we also had several QR codes displayed, including a link to join and links to several of our ongoing campaigns. Beside these was a tablet where we took down emails for those who wanted to join our chapter mailing list. We also had flyers advertising an in-person social later that week.
When people approached our table, they usually fell into one of several categories. A handful immediately asked for the join link, scanned it, and left. Some people were officially DSA members who had fallen through the cracks and were not connected to the local chapter. We made sure to remedy this. Some were leftists or sympathetic liberals that expressed their support and talked about the state of the country. Some had not heard of DSA, and some did not even know what socialism was. And finally, some just came for the water and snacks.
There were few people at the table that did not fit into these categories, however. A person seemingly obsessed with QAnon ranted about conspiracies to me for a while, and I made the mistake of occasionally saying a few words in return. This kept the person, who seems like they need genuine help, at the table for longer, possibly deterring passers by during that time. When dealing with these kinds of people, it is usually best to ignore them as much as possible.
Another person was a Ukrainian immigrant who described themselves as a child of the Soviet Union, and was excited at seeing a book from their childhood. Displaying Marxist literature at an event with so many liberals might seem like a recipe for unpopularity, but doing so actually appears to be beneficial. I assume that most liberals are not familiar with such works, and thus largely ignore them. To politically aware leftists, however, it seems to have acted as a marker of legitimacy. With that said, the effectiveness of such a tactic likely varies with time and place.
The most inexplicable person I talked to announced himself as Will-I-Am. He wore a crinkled leather hat and no shoes. He disclosed to us that he was a staunch Republican until 2016, and while he dislikes Hilary Clinton’s personality, he views her policies as competent. He loves “sleepy Joe” and claims he met the once future, now former president in college. He likes certain aspects of socialism, but thinks socialists should be more fiscally moderate. He, a fiscally conservative American, prefers Lenin to Trotsky. His brother was a card carrying communist. The only useful information I can extract from this encounter is that the politics of certain Americans are extremely incoherent, but it felt impossible not to mention.
Regardless, our main purpose in talking to these visitors was to convince them to scan one or more links, go to the social, and/or join the mailing list. To an extent, we tailored our discussions around the individual at hand. Many leftists required little to no convincing to scan something, but we needed to emphasize our anti-capitalist nature to get some to. To those not familiar with DSA, we explained what the organization is on a national level and what we do locally. At least one person asked for an explanation of what democratic socialism is, and ended up being quite receptive to it. When appealing to an individual while tabling, it is important to tailor the discussion to that specific individual. One still must be honest about DSA and its principles, of course. What this tailoring should do is clear up particular misunderstandings, and explain why the work of DSA is relevant to them specifically.
To that end, the presence of more than one person at the table was very beneficial. Often, one protestor would come up to the table while we were having a discussion with someone else. Having multiple members there allowed one of us to address the new person while the other kept up the initial conversation. Tabling is still possible and fruitful if only one person does it, but the more comrades that help, the more people one can reach.
Having physical QR codes also proved useful. I estimate that roughly 30 or more visitors scanned the join link alone, and many who didn’t engaged in our other material. Small details like displaying prominent QR codes to scan might not seem terribly important, but these measures can have an impact that far outweighs the cost of implementing them.
Intriguingly, quite a few people were willing, and sometimes eager, to give to DSA financially. We brought DSA shirts to sell, and so many protestors bought them that we nearly ran out of a certain size. Several protestors also expressed interest in donating to our chapter directly. Not expecting this, we had no formal process for donations, something we should probably establish in the future.
Even events involving the entire No Kings crowd can aid in tabling. At the end of the event, one of our members gave a speech. Almost immediately afterwards, as we were preparing to take down the table, several people visited it. They praised the speech as being the most radical one given at the event, and came to the table to learn more. Because we set up that table, those protestors enthused by that speech had a place to immediately start the process of organizing.
Finally, as mentioned previously, we invited people at No Kings to a social event. This event occurred immediately after the protest. Importantly, this encouraged several prospective members to engage in longer conversations about our DSA chapter before the energy of No Kings wore off. Hosting an event that your organization has more control over soon after No Kings may help solidify interested parties into committed members.
None of this could have been achieved without planning it beforehand. The QR codes, the flyers, the speech, all of it was prepared ahead of time. Taking these steps in the weeks before the event turns recruitment at protests from a nice idea to an imminently achievable reality. And if you prepare effectively, you might be surprised at just how many people you recruit, whether that be into specific campaigns or events, or your organization. The sad fact is that, inundated as we are with propaganda, most Americans will not spontaneously turn into socialists when material conditions get bad enough to protest. That’s what tabling is for.