Private profiteers have concentrated their grip over real estate to such an extent that virtually every American lives in a company town now. Unions from all sectors need to wage campaigns for housing policies that break the vise grip of real-estate elites.
In Australian Universities, There Is No Such Thing as a Secure Job
Citing budget deficits, Australian Catholic University has announced plans to shut down the Dianoia Institute of Philosophy. But the shortfall isn’t the result of research expenses — it’s the product of bloated spending on consultants and executive salaries.
A Strike Surge in Manitoba is Challenging Wage Repression
Workers in Manitoba, Canada, the home of the historic Winnipeg General Strike, are striking to fight against wage repression. This resurgence of working-class strength will impact the province’s upcoming election.
The Global Trade in Passports Is the Latest Boom Industry Catering to the Superrich
If you can afford to pay, there are a growing number of states willing to sell their citizenship and the privileges it brings. The lucrative trade in “golden passports” exposes the dark side of capitalist globalization and its unequal valuation of human lives.
Unions Are for Fighting the Boss. Don’t Turn Them Into Toothless Guilds.
Manhattan Institute fellow Allison Schrager argues in a nationally syndicated opinion piece that unions can best serve their members by focusing on insurance schemes and cooperating to find boss-friendly solutions. That’s nonsense.
US Autoworkers on Strike
The United Auto Workers, headed by a new reform leadership, have started strike action against the Big Three automakers.
The UAW Is Taking Action on Shop Floors Not Yet on Strike
As more UAW members at the Big Three take to the picket lines, workers still on the shop floor are finding different ways to do their part to support the strike and stand up to management.
The UAW Strike Just Got Even Bigger
Seven thousand more UAW members just walked off the job, expanding the strike to two more plants. Twenty-five thousand autoworkers are now on strike, and the walkout could continue to escalate if the Big Three don’t budge in negotiations.
There’s a New Way to Support the United Auto Workers Strike: Canvassing Car Dealerships
The UAW is calling on supporters to canvass car dealerships to educate customers about the strike. With scores of dealerships in every region of the country, it is an easy way to offer concrete solidarity to striking autoworkers.
UAW President Shawn Fain Is Reviving That Old-Time Religion: Christian Radicalism
Mixing Bible verses with class-struggle rhetoric, Shawn Fain’s pro-labor Christianity has baffled some in the media. But the UAW leader stands in a rich tradition brimming with scripture-quoting union workers and labor prophets like Eugene Debs and MLK.
Telling the story of a slave revolt in ancient Rome, the 1960 film Spartacus was penned by two blacklisted Communist writers. Its arrival in theaters was a middle finger to the McCarthyist witch hunt in Hollywood and publishing.
Most Americans Have Lost Faith in Our Political System. It’s Time to Change It.
Recent polling shows that most Americans have little to no faith in our political system and an increasing number disapprove of both major parties. It’s high time for the Left to champion reforms to our electoral system.
Dianne Feinstein Helped Lead the Democratic Party’s Neoliberal Turn
Dianne Feinstein deserves to be remembered as a representative of the country’s monied interests — and her centrist legacy should be rejected.
The US Wants Saudi Arabia and Israel to Get Cozy
The US is pushing for a peace deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia that could involve the US signing a defense pact with the Gulf monarchy. The US would thus be obligated to militarily defend a state where democratic institutions do not exist, even in name.
The Coincidences Behind Canada’s Nazi-Honoring Debacle Are Deeply Unsettling
The grandfather of Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s deputy prime minister, worked for a Nazi newspaper that recruited for the Galicia Division of the Waffen-SS — the same division as Yaroslav Hunka, the Nazi who was recently honored by Canada’s Parliament.
Ursula K. Le Guin was born on this day in 1929. She used science fiction to explore the failures of capitalist society — and the alternative worlds we could build in its place.
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar Is Another Day at the Office for Wes Anderson
In The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, the first of four Roald Dahl mini adaptations, I was hoping for something like Fantastic Mr. Fox — but it’s the same old Wes Anderson. Still, he claims it took “years to decide how to shoot the story.”
The UAW Is Taking Action on Shop Floors Not Yet on Strike
As more UAW members at the Big Three take to the picket lines, workers still on the shop floor are finding different ways to do their part to support the strike and stand up to management.
James Joyce Was a Product of Ireland’s Revolutionary Generation
Cold War liberals presented James Joyce as a universal writer and ignored the clear political undercurrents running through his work. A new generation of critics have restored the vital link between his novels and Ireland’s uncompleted revolution.
UAW President Shawn Fain Is Reviving That Old-Time Religion: Christian Radicalism
Mixing Bible verses with class-struggle rhetoric, Shawn Fain’s pro-labor Christianity has baffled some in the media. But the UAW leader stands in a rich tradition brimming with scripture-quoting union workers and labor prophets like Eugene Debs and MLK.