A Guide to Reading Karl Marx for the First Time
Although it’s been sitting on your shelf for years, your paperback copy of Capital has a tellingly uncreased spine. It’s time to change that — here’s a guide to how.
19622 Articles by: Abigail Torre
Abigail Torre grew up in Chile and now lives in Berkeley, California where she is cochair of the East Bay chapter of Democratic Socialists of America.
Starbucks Is Facing a Wave of Worker Organizing — but So Are Its Local Competitors
Starbucks isn’t the only coffee shop whose workers are unionizing. Boston has seen a wave of organizing at independent coffee shops. The latest: 1369 Coffee House, whose workers recently filed for union recognition.
Japan’s Peaceful Foreign Policy Is Under Siege From Right-Wing Militarism
Seventy-five years ago today, Japan adopted a constitution that ruled out ever using war as a tool of state policy. The country’s conservative leaders now want to ditch that commitment as they embrace the dangerous role of a militarized US client state.
Amazon Workers Just Suffered a Defeat. But the Fight Is Far From Over.
Amazon defeated the Amazon Labor Union’s drive to make a Staten Island sorting center the US’s second unionized Amazon facility. But the Amazon union fight is just beginning — and workers still have winds at their back that were unimaginable not long ago.
The Left and Military Aid to Ukraine
An exchange between two Jacobin writers on the question of military aid to Ukraine.
W. E. B. Du Bois Was the Father of Pan-African Socialism
The author of Black Reconstruction was also one of the pioneers of Pan-African socialism. Working with and influencing figures like George Padmore, C. L. R. James, and Kwame Nkrumah, Du Bois sowed the seeds of global revolt against racism and capitalism.
How Neoliberal Shock Therapy Brought Albania to the Brink of Civil War
In Albania after the fall of the Soviet Union, firms promised big returns to ordinary people who invested in them. The investments turned out to be massive pyramid schemes, and their 1997 collapse set off a deadly conflict that killed 1,500 people.
Justin Trudeau Insists That Fixing Infrastructure Requires Paying Tithes to the Rich
Justin Trudeau has built a bank dedicated to using public-private partnerships to fix Canada’s crumbling infrastructure — partnerships that burden taxpayers with extortionate interest rates that benefit wealthy members of the rentier class.
The Defeat of François Mitterrand’s Reform Program Still Haunts the French Left
Despite Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s strong showing in the recent presidential campaign, France’s left was defeated again by the neoliberal center and far right. The roots of that weakness lie in the Mitterrand government’s capitulation to neoliberalism in the 1980s.
On Student Debt Forgiveness, Joe Biden Is Pushing Stringent Means-Testing Yet Again
Joe Biden is considering a highly limited, means-tested student debt forgiveness program. But means-testing is a terrible idea that centrist Democrats are still obsessed with — and will pay a heavy political price for.
After Berliners Voted to Nationalize Housing, City Hall Isn’t Delivering
Last fall, 59 percent of Berliners voted to nationalize the big landlords’ housing stock — only for city hall to throw up barriers to implementation. The impasse shows how real estate lobbyists and weak-tea progressives combine to thwart the popular will.
Jacobin Is Looking for a Programming Fellow
We now have a one-year fellowship open for a full-stack developer.
Workers and Debtors of the World, Unite!
Under finance capitalism, we can exert power by collectively leveraging not just our labor but also our debts. This May Day, let’s think about worker organizing and debtor organizing as part of the same struggle.
Workers Can Win at Starbucks and Amazon and Beyond
The historic union victories at Amazon and Starbucks have shattered any illusions that corporate giants are invincible to labor organizing. Let’s make Amazon and Starbucks the start of a massive wave of unionization.
Socialists Are Trying to Revive the American Labor Movement
The Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee, a partnership between socialists and the United Electrical Workers union, is trying to be at the heart of a new mass labor resurgence. Their success could help millions of workers.
The Life of Socialist George Woodbey Must Not Be Lost to History
This May Day, we’re celebrating the life of George Woodbey, a former slave who became a leading socialist. Though he’s often forgotten today, Woodbey’s life speaks to the crucial connection between labor struggles and fights against racial oppression.
Eugene Debs’s May Day Address to Black Workers
In 1923, Eugene V. Debs wrote a powerful May Day address for the black socialist magazine the Messenger that called for “the emancipation of all races from the oppressive and degrading yoke of wage slavery.” We republish it here in full, for the first time since it appeared 100 years ago.
On International Workers’ Day, We’re Still Fighting for the Eight-Hour Day
In 1886, workers came together on the original May Day to demand an eight-hour day. Today, from Starbucks stores to Amazon warehouses, that struggle continues.
The Collapse of Our Natural World Won’t Be Like a Hollywood Disaster Movie
The climate and biodiversity crises unleashed by capitalist development are already happening. Predicting a sudden apocalypse may draw attention to impending climate catastrophe, but it ultimately diverts us from the work needed to preserve a livable planet.
Democrats Are Lining Restaurant Owners’ Pockets — and Abandoning Restaurant Workers
A $42 billion bailout for the restaurant industry is advancing in Congress. It contains zero substantive relief measures for restaurant workers.