Imperial Japan and the Russian Revolution
Strangely enough, Japan’s ruling elites initially viewed the Russian Revolution favorably — until radical ideas started spreading to their colonies.
20405 Article(s) by: Benjamin Case
Benjamin Case is a researcher, educator, and organizer living in Pittsburgh.
Now Is the Perfect Time to Crack Down on Airbnb
Airbnb bookings have completely collapsed during coronavirus, creating huge numbers of empty properties in the very cities that are suffering the worst housing crises. It’s a perfect time to crack down on Airbnb — including by public seizing of Airbnb units.
Wall Street Is Deeply Grateful for the Supreme Court’s Recent Little-Noticed Ruling
Supreme Court Justice John Roberts has been praised recently as a heroic force for moderation. But his court’s recent ruling just helped Wall Street giants stomp on thousands of public-sector workers and retirees in one of America’s poorest states.
In the 1970s, a Soft Coup Removed Australia’s Left-Wing Prime Minister
The 1975 “dismissal” of Gough Whitlam by the Queen’s representative, Sir John Kerr, is one of the defining moments in Australia’s modern history. It also forms part of a Cold War history that saw left-wing governments around the globe punished for daring to break with US hegemony.
Liberals Still Think Fact-Checking Will Stop the Right. They’re Wrong.
For today’s liberals, the default approach to combating the Right is to fact-check the Right. But conservatives aren’t contestants in a debating contest: they’re waging a political struggle and playing to win. Fact-checking won’t save us.
Poland’s Far Right Is Distorting the Debate on Welfare — and Winning
Ahead of his reelection on Sunday, Polish president Andrzej Duda claimed that “LGBT ideology” was a threat “worse than Soviet communism.” Together with his homophobic offensive, Duda successfully played on Poles’ fears over the economy — fusing a reactionary culture war with the promise to defend families’ benefits.
The Right Is Trying to Make the Kitchen-Table Economy Scream
Republicans would have a tough time convincing the country that reopening the economy is safe when it’s actually extremely dangerous. But as bills pile up and fears of eviction grow, desperate Americans may come to see a premature reopening as the least bad option and head back to work — the outcome that the Right wanted all along.
Higher Education Privatization Opened Up International Students to Trump’s Attack
Trump’s decision to rescind his directive targeting international students is an enormous win. But he wouldn’t have been able to use students as political pawns if states hadn’t imposed austerity and privatization on universities in the first place.
Senate Democrats’ Machine Spent $15 Million to Destroy Progressive Candidates in Primaries
With the help of a handful of labor unions, Wall Street tycoons, and other corporate interests, the Democratic establishment has successfully blocked progressive Senate candidates in primaries.
The United Arab Emirates Is One of the US’s Favorite Middle East Monarchies
The United Arab Emirates is a US-backed monarchy that crushes dissent and viciously exploits migrant workers. Its latest assault on democracy: using the coronavirus pandemic to further erode civil liberties.
How to Debate Libertarians on Taxes — And Destroy Them
On Tax Day, here’s a guide to arguing with libertarians about redistribution.
Next Week, Democrats Can Cut the Defense Budget. Let’s See Where Their Priorities Are.
A new amendment from Bernie Sanders gives Senate Democrats the opportunity to shift the Pentagon’s bloated budget to poor communities. Let’s see how many decide to invest in welfare instead of warfare.
We Spoke to Croatia’s First Anti-Capitalist MP in Three Decades
Last weekend’s Croatian election saw a fresh step forward for the Green-Left coalition, with the Workers’ Front electing Katarina Peović as its first MP. She told Jacobin how activists in the former Yugoslav republic are building the fight for democratic socialism.
Seattle’s Socialists Are Now Enemy Number One for Jeff Bezos and Amazon
In 2018, Amazon beat back Seattle’s attempts to tax the corporation. Last week, socialist city council member Kshama Sawant and a working-class movement helped win a veto-proof majority for a new “Amazon tax.” Now it’s time to defend this victory.
Flight Attendants Tell Airlines: Don’t Even Think About Concessions
Association of Flight Attendants president Sara Nelson has a simple message for airline companies’ management who are preparing to demand massive concessions from their workers: absolutely not.
We Need a World Government — But It Has to Be Democratic
The COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged influential figures like Gordon Brown and Tony Blair to press for new structures of global governance. But the system they have in mind won’t be democratic. We need a radically democratic world government.
How the Medieval Jacobins of Bohemia Fought Against — and Terrified — Europe’s Aristocracy
On this day in 1420, a force of peasants and artisans won a famous victory at Vitkov Hill on the outskirts of Prague — the high point of Bohemia’s Hussite revolution. The Taborite rebels dreamed of social equality and terrified Europe’s rulers, but they were too far ahead of their time.
The US Government Gave Big Oil the Power to Prosecute Its Biggest Critic
The government has taken the extraordinary step of giving prosecutorial power to a law firm that has worked for Chevron — and is allowing that prosecutorial power to be aimed at Chevron’s chief adversary, who has been under house arrest for the past year.
It’s Time to Socialize Big Pharma
We don’t have to leave ourselves at the mercy of the most profitable sector on Earth to get the drugs we need. We must nationalize the pharmaceutical industry and turn the medicines millions rely on into public goods.
Peter Beinart on the End of the Two-State Solution for Israel and Palestine
Liberal writer Peter Beinart recently wrote that he no longer believes in the project of a Jewish state, but rather a “Jewish home” within a democratic, equal state. In an interview with Jacobin, Beinart reflects on how his thoughts on Israel and Palestine have evolved, generational shifts within American Judaism, and why Jews must be part of a movement for justice led by Palestinians.