Eugene Debs’s greatest achievement was not any particular vote tally. It was his making socialist partisans understand that the socialist movement arose out of the American political tradition’s most democratic currents.
Possible Love Is a Cinematic Masterpiece About Class
Lee Chang-dong doesn’t have the same profile as fellow South Korean directors like Bong Joon-ho and Park Chan-wook, but his latest film should change that. Possible Love is a powerful study of class in the wake of a shattering real-life strike defeat.
US Government Bureaucracy Is Designed to Punish the Poor
In The Time Tax, journalist Annie Lowrey ably documents the myriad ways US public services harm poor and working-class people and alienate them from the government. Yet she downplays the class interests that benefit from these Kafkaesque arrangements.
Andy Burnham’s Criticism of Israel Is All Bark and No Bite
Andy Burnham and his foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, have adopted a more critical tone toward Israel in a bid to win back progressive voters to the Labour Party. But the fundamentals of Britain’s close alliance with Israel remain largely unchanged.
The Real AI Misalignment Problem Is Capitalism
Figures at top AI firms says that their frontier models are running out of control. It points to a problem Big Tech finds harder to admit: the rise of a predatory computational power driven solely by profit-seeking.
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.
The Southern Negro Youth Congress’s Bold Push for Equality
Founded in 1937, the Southern Negro Youth Congress was a key player in the radical wing of the early phase of the civil rights movement.
How Cultural Marxism Became a Right-Wing Obsession
The term “cultural Marxism” has become one of the main rallying cries for the international right. This lurid conspiracy theory about the influence of the Frankfurt School has little connection to reality, but that doesn’t make it any less dangerous.
Self-Determination Is the Core Palestinian Demand
In Israel’s recent elections, Palestinians in Israel voted in unprecedented numbers — using one of the last remaining means at their disposal to challenge Israeli Jewish politics.
Abdul El-Sayed’s Sports Fluency Is a Political Asset
Abdul El-Sayed’s ease in talking sports built rapport with skeptical voters and defies the stereotype of progressives hating what average people find fun. His knack for finding common ground is central to his broad political appeal.
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.
Kurds Have Become Britain’s Latest Demonized Migrants
During the war against ISIS, the Kurds were feted in Britain as heroes. Today the stateless Kurdish population is increasingly demonized as a source of illegal immigrants and people smugglers.
Capitalism Is More Than a Legal Regime
Katharina Pistor argues that capitalism is a legal regime we can transform by rewiring private law. But a reform program that ignores the wage relation and the exploitation of labor will leave the core of capitalism untouched.
What Ballot Measures Told Us About America
Last week’s votes on taxing billionaires, abortion and trans rights, and divestment from Israel offer a window into the American electorate’s political mood.
Trump Is Still Attacking Vets’ Health Care
Unlike other Trump administration officials who have gotten, or may soon get, the axe, Veteran Affairs head Doug Collins seems safe in his position. In the absence of legislative and grassroots pushback, he is set to continue dismantling the VA.