Black Cat Workers’ Collective (BCWC)
The Black Cat Workers’ Collective (BCWC) is an anarcho-communist organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. According the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), which secured indictments against alleged members of BCWC for offenses related to efforts to prevent immigration-enforcement activities by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the group is “a Minneapolis-based Antifa affinity group committed to militant class struggle, community self-defense, and revolution.” The DOJ alleged that the organization has ties to decentralized extremist movement Antifa. 1
Contents
In addition to opposing immigration enforcement, BCWC has advocated in favor of worker strikes by health-care employees to gain negotiating power. 2 BCWC blog postings have also opposed capitalist systems, claiming that such systems have led to climate change while harming ethnic minorities, as well as LGBT people. 3
Background
The Black Cat Workers’ Collective (BCWC) is an anarcho-communist organization that publishes “The Wildcat!,” a blog that promotes anti-capitalist views while supporting radical-left and communist policies. 4 BCWC has advocated defunding and abolishing law enforcement, the U.S. military, and prisons. 3
The group’s “Points of Unity” oppose capitalist systems, “white supremacy,” and the “CisHetero-Patriarchy,” while supporting de-centralized systems as well as the abolition of “The State.” 3
Activities
In June 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) secured indictments against 15 alleged members and associates of Direct Action Minnesota, a group the DOJ described as “comprised of members from several sub-groups, such as the Black Cat Worker’s Collective, Ray Rainbolt Memorial Shooting Club, and other organizations,” in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The government charged the defendants with various offenses, including conspiracy to impede a federal officer, multiple counts of interstate stalking, interstate threats, solicitation to commit a crime of violence, multiple counts of assault on a federal officer, and destruction of government property. 1
The arrests followed a series of Minneapolis-based protests targeting immigration-enforcement activities and federal agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), between January and June 2026. The government alleged 269 “overt acts” in furtherance of the conspiracy, while alleging members had ties to the decentralized extremist movement Antifa. 1
Advocacy
In December 2024, the Black Cat Workers’ Collective (BCWC), along with members of the Workers Solidarity Circle (WSC), organized a “Workers’ Assembly” with organization and union members to discuss the results of the November 2024 election, as well as the incoming second Trump administration. Members of the WSC included BCWC, the Democratic Socialists of America labor branch, and Red Pine Revolutionary Collective. 5
According to BCWC contributor Jessica Garraway, members of the Assembly discussed factors they claimed had led to President Donald Trump’s second election in November that year. Factors included the “incompetence of the Democratic Party’s campaign,” “demographics that usually could be counted on to vote Democrat … moving to the right,” “lack of parties or candidates representing workers’ and marginalized people’s interests,” and the “genocide of the Palestinian people.” 5
In a BCWC blog post titled “What Happens When Healthcare Workers Strike For Real?” written by BCWC contributor Sean Geraghty, advocated “labor militancy,” or the usage of health-care worker strikes and walk-offs to gain negotiating power and disrupt health-care facilities. The post also advocated for workers to “confiscate America’s $800 billion dollar medical system from its profiteers and put it to work for the people” and “to turn the existing health crisis for our class into a political crisis for the ruling class.” 2