Two days after Joe Biden’s inauguration, I got an email from a New York Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) chapter with the headline “Back to Brunch . . . ” When I opened the message, the first line was “PSYCH!” The idea of getting “back to brunch” has become a grim running joke on the socialist left, a rag on liberals who infamously griped after Donald Trump’s 2016 election that if Hillary Clinton had won, we’d all be at brunch instead of protesting and participating in politics.

Since then, the word “brunch” has come to signify leftists’ deep misgivings about joining a coalition with prosperous liberals more concerned with returning to “normal” than building a better world.

The socialist left scorn for brunch and the liberal-professional-middle-class fetishization of the meal misunderstand what it really means. Brunch isn’t necessarily the apotheosis of a desire to demobilize and exit nasty, unpleasant politics. Brunch is only possible because of workers’ struggle — and its expansion to more people will necessarily be a fruit of future egalitarian victories.