Nearly 5,000 workers packed Labor Notes’ biennial conference outside Chicago last week. The mood was sober, the challenges immense, and the appetite for organizing as large as ever.
Federalism Is a Disaster for the Working Class
American federalism is often touted as a source of local democratic engagement, political innovation, and responsive public policy. But in practice, it has served as a laboratory of autocracy and inequality.
Colombia in the Eye of “El Tigre”
On Sunday, Colombia will decide between the left-wing Pacto Histórico and the Donald Trump–backed far-right candidate. The country is only the latest target of the “Donroe Doctrine,” the conviction that Latin America belongs to Washington to run or ruin.
Who Counts as a Worker?
For most of the 20th century, class predicted voting behavior better than anything else. The recent process of class dealignment has proved disastrous for left politics — and to reverse it, we must have clarity on who counts as working-class.
Darializa Avila Chevalier on Running for Congress in Zohran’s NYC
Young socialist organizers are entering electoral politics out of obligation, not ambition. Darializa Avila Chevalier, running for Congress in New York’s 13th District, explains why.
Liberty’s Brutal Conquest
The Founders made expansion the precondition of American freedom. We must find an alternative.
Socialism cannot mean merely managing capitalism more fairly. It must point toward a society where survival is no longer contingent on the market — and where democracy extends into the economy itself.
We Need to Bury the “Clash of Civilizations” Theory for Good
The discredited “clash of civilizations” theory keeps bouncing back because it dresses up sordid resource wars in mock-heroic clothing. After another disastrous war informed by such fantasies, it’s time we changed the script.
The White House UFC Fight and Trump’s Cage-Fight Governance
Donald Trump’s Ultimate Fighting Championship match at the White House is a harbinger of things to come.
Culture Vultures Want a Piece of Democratic Socialism
Prediction-market company Kalshi staged a fake viral video during the Knicks’ championship run in order to associate its brand with Zohran Mamdani’s democratic socialism. As the Left’s cultural reach grows, expect more attempts by capital to commodify it.
Colombia’s Front-Runner Is No Populist
The commentariat has reached, almost in unison, for one word to explain Colombian presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella’s meteoric rise: populism. The label isn’t just inaccurate — it translates his elitist politics into antiestablishment complaint.
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.
The Hamilton Era Is Gone Forever
Though it’s only been a decade since Lin-Manuel Miranda’s magnum opus premiered, the hit musical Hamilton represents a bygone period in American politics.
Is Donald Trump the Greatest Environmentalist of All Time?
Was Donald Trump’s decades-long persona as a venal carnival grotesque all part of a brilliant scheme to launch an insane war and create the geopolitical conditions for a global energy transition?
The Imperial Plunder of Cuba Has Begun
The Trump administration distressed one of Canada’s oldest mining firms, which operates a joint venture in Cuba, through blatant lawfare, apparently so a Trump-aligned oligarch could snatch up a majority stake for pennies on the dollar.
The New Cold War Will Be Powered by AI
When the White House reportedly pressed Anthropic to pull a new model over the weekend, it looked like a clash between Washington and Silicon Valley. Instead, the episode revealed a growing consensus: AI is now a tool for great power competition.