In her new book, economist Isabella Weber explains how inflation has helped drive the far right’s ascendance around the developed world — and how effective price regulation can promote affordability and boost the Left.
The Creativity Con Ate the Middle Class
Thomas Frank on the middle class’s most cherished idea, creativity, and how it became the cover story for the plutocracy that replaced it.
Lawsuits Can’t Restrain Big Tech
This year has seen the resolution of major suits against tech giants Alphabet and Meta, both of which were found liable for serious lawbreaking. Yet the penalties imposed on the corporations are laughably inadequate to restrain their power.
Evangelicals’ 10 Lessons in Leader Development for the Left
Evangelical churches like Rick Warren’s wouldn’t be as massive as they are with real retention of members over time without a serious plan for member leadership development. The Left could learn from them.
The Strange Power of You Can See Everything
In You Can See Everything, Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim turn their confrontation with Elizabeth Holmes into a Hitchcockian thriller about the slippery nature of truth. It’s a masterpiece.
Is Trump Crashing the Dollar Empire?
Economist Mona Ali on how the United States wields the world’s most powerful currency to shore up empire and its own ruling class — and how Trump’s careless moves might blow it all up.
The real choice is not between globalization and deglobalization, free trade and tariff walls, but between empowering capital and empowering workers.
Peter Thomas Was a Marxist Intellectual With a Mission
Peter Thomas, the Marxist theorist best known for his work on Antonio Gramsci, has died. He restored the political edge to Gramsci’s theory of hegemony and saw his own scholarship as part of the Left’s fight for power.
Profits Are Soaring. Workers’ Share of Income Is Sinking.
Working people’s share of national income has fallen to a record low, even as corporate profits soar to unthinkable new heights. The trend reflects decades of eroded worker power, and reversing it will take a revitalized labor movement.
Isabella Weber on How to Defeat the Far Right
Key to a long-term solution to defeating the far right is an economic program that guarantees security to all, including the affordability of housing and other essential components of a dignified life, Isabella Weber tells Jacobin.
Nathan Fielder Enters Silicon Valley’s Vortex of Delusion
In You Can See Everything, Nathan Fielder appears almost willing to believe Elizabeth Holmes’s increasingly implausible claims of innocence. Whether or not his credulity is genuine, the result is a fascinating study of Silicon Valley self-deception.
Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri’s Empire became a campus sensation because it offered a master theory for globalization at a moment when old Marxist categories seemed exhausted. But the capitalist internationalism they saw as permanent has now crashed and burned.
Mike Wallace, Gotham’s Chronicler
Historian Mike Wallace, author of the Gotham trilogy of New York City history and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, tried to capture everything about New York and the world through a droll, cheerful, humanistic Marxism.
Medieval Egypt Was No Stranger to Class War
Egypt in the Middle Ages was steeply class stratified. When the rains failed, the rich dined on hoarded grain while the starving poor ate grass. Periodically, the masses would erupt in revolt — sometimes with petitions, other times with stones.
The Green Party Will Regain Momentum if It Keeps Its Nerve
Zack Polanski’s leadership of the Green Party is facing its biggest challenge to date. But the Greens can weather the storm if they stand their ground against deceitful attacks from Andy Burnham’s Labour government over their solidarity with Palestine.
Socialize All Housing
People are right to want control over their homes and their futures. Socialized housing, not private ownership, can make that promise a reality for everyone.