How You Can Support Amazon Workers During COVID-19
Amazon workers are in an unprecedented fight with the retail giant over the company’s unsafe working conditions. Here’s how you can support the struggle — even if you can’t leave your house.
21102 Article(s) 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.
Why Joseph Schumpeter Hated Democracy
Joseph Schumpeter saw firsthand the transformative power of democracy in Red Vienna Austria and New Deal America. But as a conservative, he recoiled at workers’ challenges to traditional hierarchies — reminding us that the Right has always loathed democracy.
Pandemics Can Mean Strike Waves
In discussions about the last global pandemic, the “Spanish flu,” we never hear about the strike wave that kicked off at the exact same time. But in 1919, one-fifth of American workers walked off the job. We shouldn’t be surprised that labor militancy is spreading during today’s coronavirus pandemic.
We’re Doing Seven Live Videos This Week
From discussing what a socialist economy could look like in the 21st century to why we should be wary of “woke neoliberalism” to Matt Bruenig on the Nordic model and more – we’re doing a ton of live videos this week. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and tune in!
Another Europe is Possible – But Not Another European Union
Europe’s radical left has been bitterly divided over the question of European integration. But wishful thinking aside, the structures of the European Union can’t be used to achieve socialist goals. Sooner or later, any left government will have to confront and defy its economic straitjacket.
India Could Be on the Brink of a Coronavirus Catastrophe — and Modi Will Be to Blame
Narendra Modi’s government has failed to take preemptive action against a pandemic that may overwhelm its underfunded health services. Arundhati Roy and other leading intellectuals have signed an appeal for the release of India’s political prisoners, who are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 in the country’s overcrowded jails.
No Election That Endangers Voters Is Legitimate
Despite the blatant public health danger it poses and the widespread voter disenfranchisement that will occur, Wisconsin will hold its primary tomorrow. People will die as a result — and the results should be seen as illegitimate.
Anwar Shaikh: “The Fundamental Questions About Capitalism Seem to be Coming Back”
Anwar Shaikh is one of the world’s leading radical economists, whose work has challenged the way we think about capitalism. In an interview with Jacobin, Shaikh gives a concise overview of the ideas set out in his landmark book Capitalism: Competition, Conflict, Crises.
American Politics Is Broken. Liberalism Can’t Fix It.
Ezra Klein’s new book Why We’re Polarized identifies much of what’s wrong in the gridlocked US political system. But he dismisses the role of class in cohering the movements that can finally democratize it.
10 Million US Workers Have Lost Their Jobs. And the System Has No Answers.
In the last two weeks, nearly ten million American workers lost their jobs. This is a crisis unfolding at a speed and magnitude unprecedented in the US and what’s left of our welfare state is uniquely ill-equipped to deal with the fallout.
How We Can Break the Power of Finance
An important new book, Sabotage: The Hidden Nature of Finance, skewers the destructive role of finance in our economic system. But its authors shy away from the radical implications of their analysis and end up peddling technocratic illusions about the necessary cure.
“It’s Obscene for Macron to Call Health Workers ‘Heroes’ After Showing Them Such Contempt”
Low testing rates and the undersupply of masks for hospital staff highlight the weakness of the French government’s reaction to COVID-19. As Danièle Obono MP tells Jacobin, Emmanuel Macron’s administration has based its response on the resources left after years of cuts — not on what the health system actually needs.
Capitalism Caused the COVID-19 Crisis
We cannot let capitalists absolve themselves of blame for the COVID-19 crisis. Their choices have turned an emergency into a disaster.
We Can’t Shut Down Democracy in a Crisis
As an apparent safety measure, the Australian government has decided to suspend Parliament for an extended period of four months. As Greens Party leader Adam Bandt argues, in a time of crisis, we need more democracy, not less.
This Is a Global Pandemic — Let’s Treat It That Way
Media coverage has focused heavily on the impact of COVID-19 in Europe and North America. But countries in the Global South are far more vulnerable to the pandemic and its economic fallout. The Left needs to develop a truly global view of the crisis — and act accordingly.
Capitalism Causes Disasters, Socialism Can Solve Them
The devastation brought by the coronavirus has been hugely magnified by an irrational system that measures human life in terms of profits and loss. Faced with collapse, states have already had to intervene in the markets — now, we need them to plan to rebuild our societies for the future.
J. Posadas, the Trotskyist Who Believed in Intergalactic Communism
From his hopes in human-dolphin socializing to his claims that UFOs were sent by alien communists, J. Posadas’s quixotic beliefs are today legendarized in countless memes. But a new biography suggests that the Argentinian Trotskyist was not such an outlier — and explains why his revolutionary optimism draws such ironic veneration today.
Bill Gates’s Philanthropic Giving Is a Racket
Bill Gates recently resigned from the board of Microsoft to focus full time on philanthropy. It’s a perfect time to remember: billionaire-funded philanthropy is a public-relations scam.
This Downturn Could Be Worse Than the Early 1930s
We could experience in months what took three or four years to unfold after the 1929 stock market crash. Things are going to be very bad unless we see some serious structural reforms.
Democratic Socialism Is Still the Future
Despite this weekend’s defeat for the Left in the leadership election, Jeremy Corbyn’s democratic socialism remains hugely popular among Labour members – and the only way out of the economic crisis we find ourselves in. As Corbyn himself put it: “There is no such thing as Corbynism. There is socialism.”