A Life of Contradiction and Clarity
Erik Olin Wright understood the necessity of clearly articulating what’s wrong with society, what a better society could look like, and how we could get there.
20389 Article(s) by: Benjamin Case
Benjamin Case is a researcher, educator, and organizer living in Pittsburgh.
Nancy Pelosi, Which Side Are You On?
Nancy Pelosi and the rest of institutional liberalism has to decide whether they’re on the side of working people or health insurance companies.
The “Skills Gap” Was a Lie
For years, capitalists and their journalistic mouthpieces blamed joblessness on a “skills gap.” But there wasn’t a skills gap. There was a gap between what society owes people and what it’s willing to offer them at the expense of corporate profits.
“There Are So Many Things That We Can Learn From This Strike”
The Los Angeles teachers strike showed that bottom-up organizing can overcome extraordinary odds. We can do the same throughout the health and education sectors — and at Amazon.
A Green New Deal for Housing
A Green New Deal can’t deliver economic or environmental justice without tackling the housing crisis. We should go big and build 10 million beautiful, public, no-carbon homes over the next 10 years.
How Flight Attendants Grounded Trump’s Shutdown
Sara Nelson, the flight attendants union leader whose strike threat helped end the government shutdown, speaks to Jacobin. “There are no labor rights without the right to strike.”
Oakland Teachers Are on the Verge of a Strike
After two wildcat strikes in recent months, Oakland teachers are now on the verge of a district-wide strike. Like other recent teacher walkouts, Oakland educators are up against a school-reform agenda pushed by billionaires.
AOC Is Making C-SPAN Fun
The internal workings of American politics are usually boring as hell. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is making them compulsively watchable — and going after billionaires’ control of our political system in the process.
“They’re Human Beings in There!”
More than a thousand people were caged in freezing temperatures in a Brooklyn jail last week. It was more than just a dereliction of duty — it was an unconscionable affront to the humanity of those incarcerated.
AOC’s Green New Deal Starts Strong
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal resolution channels the fire of the climate movement and popular support for truly bold environmental action. Only the Left is offering climate solutions that could actually work.
The “Affordability” Hustle
Mainstream Democrats love to talk about making things like health care and education more affordable. They should be talking about making them free.
The Tories Think Voting Is Too Easy
Unlike the voter-supressing US, Britain is a country where it’s easy to vote. Now the Tories are trying to change that.
Trump Is Right to Be Afraid of Socialism
Trump warned the nation about the rise of socialism last night. He’s right to be afraid. Working people shouldn’t be.
Julián Castro’s Early, Neoliberal Years
If Castro is indeed the “Latino Obama,” it’s because his early years in San Antonio replicated many of the ingredients of the former president’s recipe for failure.
The Green New Deal’s Five Freedoms
A radical Green New Deal would open up enormous possibilities for human flourishing — and allow us to reclaim the language of freedom from the Right.
Capitalism’s Mob Mentality
Capitalists are gangsters engaged in an elaborate protection racket. The only way to get them to back off: socialism.
The Return of Left Internationalism
Bernie Sanders and AOC have helped to transform our domestic politics. But in order for those politics to stick, we also need to confront US imperialism and the power of multinational corporations.
Nothing Short of Medicare for All in 2020
Bernie Sanders would be the only 2020 presidential candidate who’s taken on health care profiteers in the name of the working class and worked to pass Medicare for All through social movement pressure, not compromise.
Friendly Fyre
We’re fascinated by the grand scam that was the Fyre Festival not because such blatant ripoffs never happen under capitalism, but because for once the wealthy were getting screwed along with workers.
It’s Time to Try Fossil-Fuel Executives for Crimes Against Humanity
It isn’t hyperbole to say that fossil-fuel executives are mass murderers. We should put them on trial for crimes against humanity.