The New Thatcherites

“Today’s Working-Class Heroes Should Be at the Heart of Tomorrow’s Society”

European leaders won’t consider debt cancellation or abandon the dogma of neoliberal austerity. Coronavirus shows that well-funded public services are essential for our survival — austerity is a matter of life and death. We need an alternative.

Vladimir Lenin’s Time in England Would Shape Him Forever

After he left Siberia in 1900, Lenin would spend much of the next decade in London. He didn’t much like the food — but his time in the émigré milieu would help make him the revolutionary he was.

Meet Giorgia Meloni, A Dangerous New Leader for Italy’s Far Right

For three decades, economic woes and the crumbling of old party ties have fueled the rise of Italy’s populist right. Faced with the coronavirus, Giorgia Meloni is becoming an increasingly prominent voice — leader of a Fratelli d’Italia party directly linked to the fascist past.

“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.

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.

The Crisis Is Only Going to Get Worse for Workers

Labour MP Navendu Mishra spoke to Jacobin about the UK government’s feeble response to coronavirus — and why workers with precarious income and housing need help now

Italy Has Finally Shut Down Nonessential Workplaces. We Should, Too.

Last night Italy’s prime minister declared that all nonessential workplaces will be shut down to stem the spread of COVID-19. For two weeks, social distancing has been undermined by employer pressure to keep production going. As contagion soars, other countries would be foolish not to learn Italy’s lesson.

If You Want to Stop Coronavirus, Pay Hospital Staff Properly

Cleaners at London’s Lewisham Hospital went on strike on Thursday after their outsourced employer ISS repeatedly failed to pay them. The dogma of cuts and privatization has subjected them to poverty conditions — even as they work on the front line of stopping the coronavirus infection.

“We’re Not Going to Work Through Coronavirus”

The European country hit hardest by coronavirus, Italy has announced a near-total shutdown of shops and public venues, but many nonessential workplaces are still running. Refusing to let bosses risk their safety, workers are now going on strike.

When Coronavirus Made Italy Go Insane

Empty supermarket shelves and the spread of designer-brand face masks show that Italians are panicking about coronavirus. The spread of the virus demands a planned and coherent response — but the politics of fear are instead turning Italians against each other.

A Jewish Communist’s Revolution Against Fascism

Eugenio Curiel was a leader of the Italian Resistance against Nazism, before he was murdered by fascists on February 24, 1945. He insisted that the Resistance wasn’t just about deposing Benito Mussolini — it was about putting the masses at the center of a new democracy.

The Parties We Didn’t Build

The 2010s were meant to herald a new generation of party activism, as Europe’s austerity generation built new structures to the left of social democracy. Instead, we got short-lived surges of electoral enthusiasm — without the deeper rebuilding we so sorely needed.

No, Britain Shouldn’t Rejoin the European Union

Boris Johnson’s promise to “get Brexit done” allowed him to frame his whole agenda as a matter of implementing the popular will. Die-hard calls to rejoin the European Union are hopelessly out of touch — and risk dividing Labour over a futile culture war.

The Fascists’ Historian

Giampaolo Pansa topped Italy’s bestsellers’ lists by retelling the Resistance from the “side of the losers.” His works promised to shine a light on anti-fascist crimes — and handed the resurgent far right a narrative of victimhood.

Labour’s Brexit Stance Defeated Corbynism Months Ago

In 2017, Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party transcended the divides of the Brexit referendum to spread a message of economic change and democratic renewal. But a fringe within Labour insisted that overturning the referendum was the only issue that mattered — and succeeded in undermining Corbynism’s promise of uniting working people.

I’m Crying, You’re Crying. But Our Day Will Come.

The exit polls from the British election are a devastating blow. Allowing the Tories to pose as the defenders of Brexit ensured defeat — and has handed historic Labour areas over to the party of bosses and landlords. But with resolute socialist organizing, we will have another shot at power.

The Left Is Back (Sort Of)

But we’re nothing without our universal subject — the international working class.

“In Moments of Crisis, Behind Every Moderate Liberal, There’s a Fascist”

Bolivia’s ousted vice president Álvaro García Linera told Jacobin about last Sunday’s coup d’état and the murderous violence now being unleashed against Evo Morales’s supporters.

The Man Who Couldn’t Save East Germany

Egon Krenz told Jacobin about his time as East Germany’s last Communist leader.