WORCESTER, Massachusetts — A radical feminist publication is bringing a three-day conference to Worcester this fall, with organizers hoping to create a space for women to study, organize and build political relationships outside the institutions that have come to shape much of the contemporary feminist landscape.

TORCH 2026, organized by the quarterly newsletter and political project Total Woman Victory, will take place Oct. 9–11 at the Worcester State University Student Center. The conference will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day, with tickets now available on a sliding scale of $0 to $30.

The organizers have built the conference around four themes: Theory, Organizing, Raising Consciousness and History. Together, they reflect what Total Woman Victory describes as an effort to revive the practices that once helped women build independent and lasting feminist movements.

The program is expected to include workshops and panels addressing a broad range of issues, including feminist theory and history, women's organizing, domestic labor, the sex industry, women's health and safety, lesbian advocacy, the experiences of Third World women, economics and imperialism, ecofeminism and feminist art.

The conference is explicitly rooted in a materialist analysis of women's oppression. Organizers say TORCH is intended for women interested in examining the relationship between sex-based oppression, male domination and imperialism, while developing practical approaches to collective political action.

That emphasis is reflected in the conference's name and structure. Rather than presenting feminism primarily as an academic field or an institutional advocacy project, Total Woman Victory is positioning TORCH as a gathering focused on political education, organizing and the development of autonomous networks.

Worcester was chosen in part for its place in women's rights history. The city hosted the first National Woman's Rights Convention in 1850, bringing together activists who helped shape the early women's rights movement in the United States. For organizers of TORCH, holding the conference there carries symbolic significance.

The event is framed as a return to those earlier traditions of independent organizing, while confronting issues facing women today.

Total Woman Victory's organizers have been critical of what they view as the limitations of liberal and institutional feminism. The project advocates for political work conducted outside state, nonprofit, academic and corporate structures, emphasizing voluntary participation, collective education and long-term organizing.

The conference will be volunteer-run and supported in part through merchandise sales, including shirts and tote bags. Organizers have also invited women and female-led groups to submit proposals for workshops, panels and tabling.

The approach reflects the broader mission of Total Woman Victory, which describes itself as a quarterly radical feminist newsletter and political project publishing writing and artwork submitted by women around the world.

The publication places particular emphasis on amplifying women's voices, including those of Third World women, and advancing what it calls an anti-imperialist, materialist analysis of sex-class oppression. Its work has also positioned itself in opposition to approaches it characterizes as liberal or institutional feminism.

The project was founded in 2024 by Winnie Lark after she encountered radical feminist ideas and began connecting with others through online book clubs and political discussions. What began as a series of conversations developed into a formal publication with a Substack presence and print editions.

Its editorial team includes Sathi Patel, who is based in Worcester and has been involved in local organizing around prostitution survival; Isabel Dianatnejad; Maya Reddy; Judith Lark; and others involved in editing, art direction, social media and contributing.

Members of the project have also participated in international feminist events, including FiLiA, and appeared on podcasts discussing radical feminism and approaches outside mainstream feminist politics.

The organization says it operates without institutional funding, relying instead on volunteer labor and support from readers and participants.

The organizers describe TORCH's four pillars as more than a conference theme. They are intended as a framework for rebuilding political relationships among women.

• Theory - focuses on developing a clearer understanding of women's oppression and the systems that sustain it. 
• Organizing - emphasizes the practical work of building independent structures. 
• Raising Consciousness - draws from a long tradition of women collectively examining their lived experiences and connecting those experiences to broader political conditions. 
• History - seeks to recover feminist traditions and movements that organizers believe have been erased, diluted or co-opted.

Taken together, the four areas reflect a central argument behind the conference: that durable movements require more than institutions, campaigns or individual activism. They require women to develop shared political understanding, build relationships and sustain collective work over time.

For Total Woman Victory, that work begins with creating spaces where women can learn from one another and develop the tools needed to organize independently.

TORCH 2026 is an attempt to make such a space in a city with its own place in feminist history.

Tickets are currently on sale now. Registration, conference information and forms for workshop leaders, speakers and tabling are available through Total Woman Victory's website.