The Mill Was Good Socialist TV. Let’s Make More.
We need high-quality, entertaining class-struggle television. The BBC’s period drama The Mill, which was ahead of its time when it debuted in 2013, shows us how it’s done.
19673 Articles by: Elizabeth Mahony
The Soul of the Democratic Party Has Always Belonged to Capital
Henry Wallace was an ambitious left-winger in Roosevelt’s Democratic Party who, as secretary of agriculture and then as vice president, helped make radical the New Deal of the 1930s. His ultimate defeat by the right of his own party shows the obstacles the insurgent left has always faced within the Democratic Party.
Reject Imperial Feminism
From suffragette jingoism in 1914 to the liberal support for the war in Afghanistan, a long tradition of feminists has made excuses for Western imperialism. But women’s liberation demands that we break up established power structures — and start by focusing on the women who most suffer the effects of imperial violence.
The Berkeley Free Speech Movement, 56 Years Later
The Free Speech Movement at Berkeley was a watershed moment in 1960s student organizing. Through unprecedented mobilization, rejecting the expansion of McCarthyist-inspired rules to strangle political activities on campus, and a refusal to allow the administration’s efforts to split the movement, students won their basic rights to free speech on campus.
Long Live the Post Office
The Post Office has been a central force for democracy in American society. We can’t let the Right destroy it now.
How Trump’s Department of Justice Just Gave Hollywood Megacorporations Unlimited Power
By throwing out landmark antitrust regulation, Hollywood just opened the floodgates toward even greater media concentration — all at the public’s expense.
Spain’s First Communist Minister Since the 1930s: “The Right Can’t Accept a Party Like Ours in Government”
This January, a pact between the Socialists and Unidas Podemos gave Spain its first ruling left-wing coalition since the Civil War. One of two communist ministers, Alberto Garzón, spoke to Jacobin about the government’s survival in these times of crisis — and why the militant right still refuses to accept its legitimacy.
Corporations Like Amazon Hire Union-Busting Labor Spies All the Time
Amazon was recently busted hiring intelligence experts to spy on Amazon workers. The practice is unfortunately common — most major multinational corporations have surveillance divisions which overlap with government intelligence agencies, creating a single, powerful security apparatus at the disposal of both the federal government and private corporations to use against workers.
Last Night’s Elections Remind Us Change Doesn’t Come Overnight
Yesterday’s primaries were full of disappointments for the Left. But by rallying around the Green New Deal’s coauthor Ed Markey and striking fear into the hearts of conservative incumbents, progressives and leftists have put the Democratic establishment on notice.
Ed Markey’s Victory Over Joe Kennedy III Was Far From Inevitable
For most of his campaign, incumbent senator and Green New Deal cosponsor Ed Markey was losing to Joe Kennedy III’s well-funded and establishment-backed primary challenge. Markey won by doing something few Democrats today are willing to: embracing the Left.
Men’s Tennis Players Are Weighing Unionization. But It’s Easier Said Than Done.
Leading men’s tennis players are in preliminary discussions to form a union. Pro sports unions can wield enormous power — but they’re also not always easy to organize.
For Players, College Football Is Basically a Feudal System
As the GOP demands college football teams start the season, new research shows that coaches are getting very rich off a system that prohibits athletes from joining a union and being paid for their work.
The First Step on Vietnam’s Long Walk to Freedom
Seventy-five years ago today, Vietnam launched a bid for national freedom with its Declaration of Independence. The French colonial regime answered with brutal repression, kick-starting thirty years of destructive conflict.
Eugene Debs Believed in Socialism Because He Believed in Democracy
Eugene Debs’s unswerving commitment to democracy and internationalism was born out of his revulsion at the tyranny of industrial capitalism. We should carry forth that Debsian vision today — by recognizing that class struggle is the precondition for winning a more democratic world.
New York Teachers Are Still Ready to Strike
New York City teachers stood ready to strike until a deal was reached with the city government today on how to reopen safely. But budgets are strained, the uncertainties are great — and teachers will be watching closely to make sure Mayor Bill de Blasio follows through on his promises.
“We Need To Be Militant About Telling Our Stories”
There’s a brutal history of US intervention in Central America, culminating in the cruelty of today’s border regime. Salvadoran journalist Roberto Lovato speaks to Jacobin about the amnesia that is taking root, and the need for a militant excavation of personal and collective stories.
Let Them Eat Real Estate
Canada’s investor class has enjoyed decades of high profits from real estate, but the national housing crisis reveals the toll this has taken on working-class people. It’s all a textbook example of the private housing market’s inability to meet society’s housing needs.
We Must Learn to Embrace Populism
Thomas Frank’s brilliant new book The People, No focuses on the long elite tradition of anti-populism. But it is really an urgent plea to liberals and radicals alike to embrace a left populism and universalism — or keep on losing.
California Democrats Kill Gas and Oil Regulations After Campaign Donations
Democrats killed legislation protecting California homes and schools from oil and gas operations after big campaign donations and industry-funded junkets.
Finland Is Rallying Around a Six-Hour Workday — And So Should We
Finland’s social-democratic prime minister, Sanna Marin, has called for a six-hour workday without loss of pay, allowing Finns more free time and a fairer distribution of employment. As the pandemic forces us to reassess how working life is organized, we should take up labor’s historic call for a shorter workday.