Assembling a successful electoral coalition is difficult, but forging a governing coalition to run the city is even harder. Longtime social movements scholar Peter Dreier offers some advice for the potential next mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani.
Jacobin’s Summer Reads Guide
We asked our editors and contributors what you should read this summer. They answered with everything from romances set in the former East Germany to thrillers about Russian mercenaries.
The National Guard’s History of Violent Labor Repression
Donald Trump recently commandeered California’s National Guard to repress anti-ICE protests in LA. The National Guard has a long history of being deployed to break up protests and strikes, including violent repression of strikes by immigrant workers.
The Palestinian Left Is a Vital Part of Its Nation’s History
From the diaspora to the occupied territories and the Palestinian minority in Israel, left-wing forces have played a major role in organizing popular struggles for democratic rights in Palestine. A new Jacobin podcast series looks at their impact and legacy.
George Smiley’s Second Life
In Karla’s Choice, Nick Harkaway takes up his father John le Carré’s most enduring creation, returning George Smiley back to the Cold War’s morally gray trenches. The novel reminds us that clever tradecraft can’t fix what cowardly leaders break.
John Maynard Keynes warned that when real investment becomes the by-product of speculation, the result is often disaster. But it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins.
Israel and Iran Have Set the Stage for the Next War
Iran has long held that conflict with Israel can be managed by limiting its retaliation within clearly defined parameters. But through its preemptive attack, Israel has revealed that it is not a rational actor and upended the rules of war.
Financial Capitalism Is More Dangerous Than Ever Today
The crash of 2008 was supposed to augur the end of ultraspeculative financial capitalism. But financial actors have actually gone from strength to strength since then, and fictitious capital is a bigger menace to global economic stability than ever.
Emma Tenayuca Championed Class Struggle and Migrant Rights
Almost a century ago, labor activist Emma Tenayuca led Mexican American women in San Antonio’s legendary pecan shellers’ strike, facing down bosses, police, and the Klan. Today amid renewed nativist hate, we can learn from her example.
Online Fraud Relies on a Horrifying Slave Labor Complex
Discussion of cyberfraud tends to focus on people who are cheated out of their money by scammers. But this vastly lucrative industry also relies on the forced labor of those who have been trafficked to work in prisonlike compounds in Southeast Asia.
What Mamdani’s Win Can (and Can’t) Teach Us
Zohran Mamdani’s astounding triumph shows the power of bread-and-butter economics and the bankruptcy of the Democratic establishment. But how many of its lessons can be applied nationally?
Syria’s Kurds After Assad
Months after dictator Bashar al-Assad fled Syria, the country’s Kurdish population faces continued uncertainty — and Turkish air strikes. A photo series by Angéline Desdevises portrays the hardships of Kurds adapting to an ever-unstable reality.
The Hidden Human Cost of AI Moderation
Training AI often means staring at humanity’s worst atrocities for hours at a time. Workers tasked with this labor endure psychological injury without support — and face legal threats if they speak about it.
Zohran Mamdani Spoke to Working-Class Immigrants’ Needs
A community organizer in New York’s working-class Asian neighborhoods argues that what set Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral primary campaign apart was his taking seriously the needs of immigrants and working-class people squeezed by the cost of living.