Bertolt Brecht predicted it in 1942: American fascism would be democratic in the American fashion. He was right. That's precisely what makes it so hard to stop.
Tony Mazzocchi Embodied the Best of the Labor Movement
In the latter half of the 20th century, labor leader Tony Mazzocchi fought for a progressive political vision that put working-class concerns front and center. His example continues to be invaluable for labor and the Left today.
The Donroe Doctrine: Making LatAm an Investor’s Paradise
The Trump administration is forcing Latin American governments into arbitration courts that grant multinationals the extraordinary power to sue states that nationalize resources or even just raise the minimum wage, if perceived to threaten investor profits.
A Diaspora Turned Against Itself
An Iranian American reflects on how the diaspora, grieving for the Iranians caught between domestic repression and imperialist intervention, came to be at war with itself.
Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” Is a Board of Naked Power
Rebuilding Gaza under Trump’s Board of Peace is diplomacy for warmongers, imposed on Palestinians.
Under capitalism, technological “progress” like AI systematically deskills workers, deepens managerial control, and turns the labor process into a site of conflict rather than liberation. This is by design.
Messing With Childcare Ratios Is a Terrible Idea
Donald Trump’s childcare czar says he wants federal regulations for daycare centers to “fit on an index card in my back pocket.” His plans contain many causes for alarm, not least his dangerous proposal to raise child-to-adult ratios.
Donald Trump Is on a Mining Offensive in DR Congo
The Trump administration wants a new sphere of influence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. US businesses are already rushing in, but many locals insist their mineral wealth should be for the Congolese themselves.
The Corporate Thriller Lied to Us
Criterion Channel is hosting a retrospective on Hollywood’s “corporate thrillers” from the 1980s through the early 2000s. If anything, their message about the capitalist rot in America’s institutions looks far too tame for how the last couple of decades turned out.
Capitalism Was Built on the Ruins of the Commons
The Industrial Revolution's chief product was not goods, but a new class of laborers who owned nothing and worked to survive. Historian Peter Linebaugh traces the creation of this working class through the violent enclosure of the commons they once relied on.
Neoliberalism didn’t win an intellectual argument — it won power. Vivek Chibber unpacks how employers and political elites in the 1970s and ’80s turned economic turmoil into an opportunity to reshape society on their terms.
Barbara Kopple on Her Labor Documentary Masterpieces
Barbara Kopple’s films Harlan County USA and American Dream captured labor struggle as it was happening: on picket lines, inside unions, and under pressure. Decades later, both remain some of the finest labor documentaries ever made.
How Massachusetts Teachers Transformed Their Union
Outgoing Massachusetts Teachers Association president Max Page reflects on a decade of rank-and-file reformers turning a cautious, staff-driven union into a militant, member-led force by striking, winning stronger contracts, and pushing to tax the rich.
The Historic Strike That Transformed the Danish West Indies
In 1916, a mass strike led by black labor organizer David Hamilton Jackson upturned power relations in the Danish West Indies. Its success owed partly to support from Denmark’s labor movement — a true labor internationalism as rare then as it is today.
Strikes Are Down, but Workers Are Rediscovering Their Power
A group of researchers tracking every strike in America for the past five years write that after a promising increase in strikes and number of strikers in 2022 and 2023, strike activity dropped off significantly in 2024 and remained low in 2025.