Norwegian Voters Want Both Climate Action and a Strong Welfare State
This week’s election in Norway was a major win for the Left — delivering a mandate to both expand the welfare state and take aggressive climate action.
19634 Articles by: Benjamin Case
Benjamin Case is a researcher, educator, and organizer living in Pittsburgh.
The New Candyman Plays It Too Safe for Real Scares
Nia DaCosta’s Candyman reboot is a hit, but unlike the strange and haunting 1992 original, it’s a by-the-numbers horror flick.
Occupy Wall Street Made Me a Socialist
When I first heard about Occupy Wall Street, I thought it was goofy, even absurd. Maybe it was. But I joined its encampments anyway. Like countless others, it was the first time radical politics ever reached me.
What Eugene Debs and the Socialist Party Can Teach Us About Freedom
Jeff Bezos wants us to believe that allowing billionaires to wield enormous power makes us all better off. Eugene Debs and the Socialist Party, founded 120 years ago this summer, had a very different vision for society: one of empowered workers and freedom from domination.
The Feminist Vision of Friedrich Engels
In his book The Origins of the Family, Private Property and the State, Friedrich Engels linked the “world-historical defeat of the female sex” to the rise of class exploitation. Engels helped lay the foundations for a Marxist understanding of women’s oppression.
For Short-Staffed Employers, Prison Labor Is a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card
In theory, labor shortages should compel employers to improve jobs to attract workers. But they don’t have to, as long as there are workers without rights whom they can exploit instead.
Big Pharma’s Favorite Democrats
Three House Democrats working to kill legislation to control prescription drug prices raked in roughly $1.6 million from pharma donors — and the top aide for one of them is now a Big Pharma lobbyist.
The Mexican Supreme Court Decriminalizes Abortion
In a landmark ruling, Mexico’s Supreme Court declared anti-abortion laws unconstitutional. But it’ll take mass organizing and legislative victory to cement reproductive rights in the country.
Noam Chomsky: Average People Still Have the Power to Stop Wars
Noam Chomsky talks to Jacobin about why the US withdrawal from Afghanistan won’t change US imperialism, the many war crimes of George W. Bush, and why he still believes in average people’s ability to push back against the war machine.
Ken Burns Talks to Jacobin About the Revolutionary Muhammad Ali
The new four-part PBS documentary Muhammad Ali, codirected by Ken Burns, examines the life of the legendary boxer and antiwar radical. Burns talks to Jacobin about how a kid from Kentucky named Cassius Clay became “the spirit of the 20th century.”
Unfortunately, Gavin Newsom Is the Future of the Democrats
Gavin Newsom came into office with “Big Hairy Audacious Goals” like universal health care — and proceeded to fulfill as few of them as he could. It’s no wonder he came dangerously close to facilitating a GOP power grab in a deep blue state.
Socialist Legislators Are Taking on Rhode Island’s Ultraconservative Democrats
They vote against party leaders, fight for Medicare for All, and invite Democratic Socialists of America to help draft legislation. Meet Rhode Island’s socialist state legislators, Sam Bell and David Morales.
The Shining Path’s Abimael Guzmán Helped Keep Peru in the Past
Abimael Guzmán, leader of the Shining Path, has died at the age of 86. With his passing and the rise of a new left-wing government, Peru finally has the chance to move forward.
In Norway, the Left Is Winning Back Power
Norway’s election this Monday brought defeat for the unpopular right-wing government. Now, Labor looks set to return to power — together with an emboldened radical left.
You Really Can Fight Poverty With One Weird Trick: Giving People Money
New numbers from the Census Bureau show that even as the US economy collapsed last year, the poverty rate actually went down. There’s no mystery why: the government gave people money.
Mark Levin Wants a New Red Scare
Mark Levin’s American Marxism is full of absurd inaccuracies about socialists. But accuracy isn’t his aim — Levin wants a sweep of “Marxists” from every layer of American society, a 21st-century rerun of McCarthyist authoritarianism to attack the Left.
Dirty Work Shows the Toll Bad Jobs Take on the People Who Do Them
Capitalism has created a world full of bad and brutal jobs, from meatpackers to drone operators. Capitalists created these jobs — only organized workers can get rid of them.
It’s Time for a Wealth Tax in Canada
To combat extreme inequality, a housing crisis, and crumbling infrastructure, we must tax the rich. A wealth tax could raise hundreds of billions to rebuild the welfare state, but none of Canada’s major parties are proposing tax hikes that go far enough.
Washington Is Shedding Crocodile Tears for Afghan Women
War hawks constantly cite women’s liberation in support of the US occupation of Afghanistan. That’s transparent hypocrisy: during the Cold War, the US supported patriarchal fundamentalists against a party dedicated to advancing the cause of Afghan women.
Justin Trudeau’s Election Promises Were Made to Be Broken
After pledging billions in new spending to salvage his electoral fortunes, Canada’s prime minister has decided to spend the final week of the current election campaign doing what he does best: defending the wealthy from tax hikes.