Rescuing Nkrumah
In today’s Ghana, the socialist ideas of the country’s first president Kwame Nkrumah have been declared irrelevant by the major parties. But a new generation is reviving them and giving them an organizational home.
20417 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.
Emmanuel Macron’s Presidency Is Still Doomed
Emmanuel Macron’s many loyal outriders in the media are trying to paint the picture of a “comeback” in his fortunes. But rising labor disputes and challenges to his environmental record show that the French president is anything but popular.
Don’t Trust Elizabeth Warren’s Big-Donor Ban
Warren was courting megadonors last year, and says she’ll do it again if she wins the primary. But working people deserve leaders willing to make enemies in high places — for life.
No, We Don’t Have the “Right to Be Islamophobic”
After a speaker at France Insoumise’s summer school invoked the “right to be Islamophobic,” the French left is again at war over secularism. But the real problem is a failure to take sides with the victims of racism — and defend Muslims against attempts to stigmatize them.
Climate Advocates Are Nearly Unanimous: Bernie’s Green New Deal Is Best
We asked longtime climate advocates which candidate has the best and boldest plan to halt climate change. The answer was nearly unanimous: Bernie Sanders.
A “Pathway to Citizenship” Is Not Enough
For years, the liberal establishment has advocated a “pathway to citizenship” for undocumented immigrants. That’s not enough. We need unconditional amnesty for all.
Leon Wofsy, the Organizer
With Leon Wofsy’s death last month, we lost a scientist and organizer who spent his near-century on earth fighting against racism and war and for free speech — and embarrassing Ronald Reagan to his face at the height of his attacks on student activism in California.
Argentina’s Brief Right-Wing Resurgence Is Waning
Last month’s primary elections in Argentina destroyed the basis for conservative president Mauricio Macri’s legitimacy. They also provoked a vicious backlash from financial markets, showing capital’s hostility to popular democracy.
Politics Is Not Arithmetic
UBI advocates have a habit of mistaking politics for arithmetic. Proving that a policy is mathematically possible isn’t enough — and it can distract from more compelling left priorities.
Before Sweden Was Social-Democratic
Swedish social democracy is often thought of as somehow eternal — the fruit of a solidaristic national culture, or even its historic homogeneity. But Sweden used to be just as unequal as other European countries — and making social democracy “normal” took a fight against what was once considered traditional.
Beyond the Waterfront
Few workers hold as much potential power as dockworkers. Studying the history of those workers, both in the San Francisco Bay Area and Durban, South Africa, shows how such workers can continue building that power into the twenty-first century.
Labour’s Inclusive Ownership Funds Will Be Fine
British companies grant shares to their executives all the time. But now that Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour is planning to require them to grant shares to ordinary workers, the Financial Times is warning of disaster.
Why Political Candidates’ Family and Friends Are Fair Game
Class shapes our social world — not just through the economy, but through our personal networks. Whether it’s Kamala Harris’s corporate lawyer husband or Elizabeth Warren’s McKinsey alum daughter, it’s legitimate to ask how a politician’s class connections might influence the decisions they make in office.
When Union Corruption Detracts From a Strike
United Auto Workers members recently voted to strike against the Big Three automakers. But as a rank-and-file General Motors worker explains, the ongoing corruption cases within the union make it hard to prepare to walk off the job.
The Rank-and-File Strategy and the Trade Union Bureaucracy
To understand the rank-and-file strategy for socialists in the labor movement, you have to understand the role and interests of the trade union bureaucracy.
What Bernie Sees in the New Deal
Bernie Sanders’s embrace of the New Deal legacy is an opportunity to dispel some pernicious historical myths about the New Deal’s relationship with socialism and its attitude toward the struggle for racial equality.
Why Is Homelessness Criminalized?
A class-based theory of homelessness helps explain both why anti-homeless laws exist and how homeless people are mistreated by charities and state welfare.
UBI Already Exists, We Just Need to Redistribute It
Capital’s share is more than enough money to finance a universal basic income.
The Lib Dems’ New Friends
Anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, anti-immigrant — the Liberal Democrats’ new recruits are anything but liberal.
Refuse the Boss’s Soft Handshake
Electing progressive leadership is nowhere near enough to transform the labor movement — drifting away from union democracy and militancy is too easy. Good left labor leadership must be rooted in the rank and file.