New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has signed an executive order creating the country’s first city agency dedicated explicitly to helping workers organize. He spoke with Jacobin about how the new office will advance his affordability agenda.
Socialists Need Labor. And Labor Needs Socialists.
Organized labor provides the essential mass base for a revived Left, while socialist politics provides the anti-capitalist horizon necessary to challenge capital. Vivek Chibber describes why the fate of the two are intertwined.
For Labor Day, $20 Print Subscriptions Worldwide
Happy Labor Day! Help us share Jacobin with as many people as possible.
The Canton–Hong Kong Strike Changed China’s History
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Canton–Hong Kong strike, one of the longest general strikes in history. The strike was a remarkable experiment in working-class democracy and its outcome shaped the course of 20th-century China.
Trump Family Prediction Market Conflicts Are a Good Bet
Donald Trump Jr is raising money for Polymarket and lobbying to shield prediction markets from regulation. There should be a thick wall between Trump family business and the presidency. An event contract on whether one exists might be a good investment.
American Freedom Was Built on Endless Conquest
The Founders made expansion the precondition of American freedom. We must find an alternative.
Jonathan Chait’s Atlantic essay claims the Democratic Socialists of America has betrayed the legacy of its founder, Michael Harrington. It gets DSA’s history, and what the organization is today, wrong.
Tyson Shuttered a Plant and Laid Off 2,500 Workers Overnight
Tyson abruptly shut down its plant in Joslin, Illinois, last month, throwing 2,500 mostly immigrant workers out of work. Consolidation across the beef and grocery industries may be driving a wave of meatpacking job losses.
India’s Gen Z Protests Are Breaking the Grip of Fear
The protest movement by young people in India has challenged the culture of fear that protects Narendra Modi’s Hindutva government. They are carving out the space for a future without Modi and his divisive authoritarian agenda.
An Agenda for De-Alienating Work
Work becomes less alienating when workers are given more autonomy, voice in workplace decisions, and jobs that develop skills. The Left needs a practical strategy for making jobs better now and transforming them in the future.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon Thinks He Has a Path to Victory
Left-winger Jean-Luc Mélenchon has a good chance of making the runoff of the 2027 presidential election, but current polls offer little hope of outright victory. He’s counting on mobilizing habitual nonvoters and again proving the pollsters wrong.
Mainstream economics cannot accept the concept of contradiction that is foundational for Karl Marx’s analysis of capitalism. David Harvey explains why we need the Marxist perspective if we want to make sense of capital’s latest mutations in the age of AI.
Donald Trump’s Korea Diplomacy Is a Distraction Exercise
As his war on Iran staggers on without victory in sight, Donald Trump is making overtures to North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un. But Kim is likely to demand a high price for any headline-grabbing summit after his previous experience of dealing with Trump.
Francis Fukuyama: The American Right Has Gone Off the Deep End
Francis Fukuyama tells Jacobin that decades of suspicion of the state, from both the Left and the Right, helped produce America’s current crisis.
Gloria Steinem Was the Godmother of Neoliberal Feminism
Gloria Steinem died this week at age 92. The establishment’s favorite “radical” feminist, Steinem worked with the CIA to promote reactionary propaganda and helped direct the women’s liberation movement into a corporate-friendly, anti-socialist direction.
Private Equity’s Pension Heist
Public pension funds’ investment in private credit has soared, but it’s ever harder to tell where the money is flowing. The winners are private equity firms, who take advantage of our pension pots while hiding their activities, and fees, from view.