Angry Education Workers is an informal coalition of teachers based in the greater Washington, D.C., area that promotes far-left stances within teachers’ unions and publishes materials promoting socialist and Marxist theory and language. The group has published calls to “form a workers’ party” and to “build political power, raise class consciousness, and win real concessions from capitalists and their government.” It is unclear whether the organization is a formally registered nonprofit or company or rather an informal coalition that maintains a website. The group publishes materials that it calls “agitprop,” such as stickers and flyers with statements such as “black trans lives matter,” and has adapted writings by Karl Marx to promote the group’s goals related to education. ^{1 2 3}

In 2024, the group organized a student strike urging Washington, D.C., area students to skip school and march to the White House to “demand that the Biden administration and Congress 1) End unconditional military aid to Israel 2) Call for a permanent and immediate ceasefire in Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.” ⁴

Background

Angry Education Workers describes itself as a political art collective of “radical” education workers based in the greater Washington, D.C., area. The group is committed to far-left Marxist principles, calling for a dismantling of capitalism, deriding the Democratic Party as a capitalist and neoliberal, and calling for the formation of a “workers party.” ¹   

The group has published several pamphlets that it calls “zines.” One such pamphlet is titled “An Education Workers’ Self-Inquiry,” which the group adapted from Karl Marx’s 1880 pamphlet “A Workers’ Inquiry.” ¹

The group also published a “Draft Platform for the Virginia Working Class,” originally drafted by the socialist publication Virginia Worker. The platform called for radical socialist policies including the abolition of the wage system, a total break from the Democratic Party, and the right to arm the working class, stating that “As the class struggle heightens it will become more crucial for workers to be organized with the capacity for collective armed defense against capitalists and their lackeys, whether they be cops, fascists, or general reactionaries who seek to suppress a militant workers movement.” ⁵

Activism Regarding Gaza

In May 2024, Angry Education Workers organized a “student strike” that urged students to skip school to rally on behalf of Palestinians, and march to the White House to “demand that the Biden administration and Congress 1) End unconditional military aid to Israel 2) Call for a permanent and immediate ceasefire.” The group provided a form letter that it recommended students send to their schools. Right-leaning publication The Daily Wire claimed that “Though the materials portray it as an event run by students — ‘children, just like us, murdered,’ it says —  they also suggest that the event is actually planned by adults using children as props. ‘We have planned this action alongside veteran organizers who have planned numerous peaceful, unescalated, and legal protests at the exact same locations,’ it says.” ²

The Daily Wire also noted that the group boasted that “a politicized core of militants is emerging among the rank-and-file of mainstream teachers’ unions — the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA)” and “we hope to push this as far as we can.” ²

1. “Zines.” Angry Education Workers. Accessed June 9, 2024. https://www.angryeducationworkers.com/zines/
2. Rosiak, Luke. “‘Angry Education Workers’ Ask High Schoolers To Go On ‘Strike’ From School For Gaza.” The Daily Wire. May 22, 2024. Accessed June 9, 2024. https://www.dailywire.com/news/angry-education-workers-ask-high-schoolers-to-go-on-strike-from-school-for-gaza
3. “About.” Angry Education Workers. Accessed June 9, 2024. https://www.angryeducationworkers.com/about/
4. Rosiak, Luke. “‘Angry Education Workers’ Ask High Schoolers to Go On ‘Strike’ From School For Gaza.” The Daily Wire. May 22, 2024. Accessed June 9, 2024. https://www.dailywire.com/news/angry-education-workers-ask-high-schoolers-to-go-on-strike-from-school-for-gaza
5. “Draft Platform for the Virginia Working Class.” Angry Education Workers. Accessed June 21, 2024. https://www.angryeducationworkers.com/draft-platform-for-the-virginia-working-class/