Saving Swedish Social Democracy From Itself
Sweden was once a paragon of social democracy. But after years of austerity and a deteriorating welfare state, a left-wing challenge is finally growing within the Swedish Social Democratic Party.
21013 Article(s) by: Elizabeth Mahony
When Soviet Women Won the Right to Abortion (For the Second Time)
After a liberalization period following the Russian Revolution, the Stalin-era Soviet Union drastically restricted women’s right to abortion. But in the 1950s Soviet women won free and legal terminations — achieving the right to choose before almost all of their sisters in the West.
We’re in She’ll
To celebrate International Women’s Day, the oil and gas company Shell is renaming itself “She’ll” for the day. What better way to celebrate a holiday founded by German socialists who were inspired by a prolonged strike among immigrant garment workers in New York City, and whose ultimate goal was to overthrow capitalism?
Why I’m a Feminist — and a Socialist
The feminism I fight for does not snuggle comfortably in the lap of capitalism. It is rooted in the understanding that capitalism is the problem, and that a feminism rooted in democratic, egalitarian, anti-capitalist principles is the solution.
“The Labor Movement Needs to Learn Its History”
With union membership at record lows, we need to look to the past to dig ourselves out of the present. The radical-led Farm Equipment Workers Union, which fought for shop-floor democracy and racial equality, is a guide.
“My SS Uniform Is Just My Heritage”
Each February, Europe’s neo-Nazis converge in Budapest for the “Day of Honor,” a celebration of the SS’s record in Hungary. For years, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been erasing all traces of antifascism from the official national history — and now the uniformed marchers enjoy government endorsement.
Emmanuel Macron Has No Mandate for His Attack on Pensions
After months of strikes, Emmanuel Macron’s government has imposed its pension cuts using constitutional article 49-3 — decreeing the law without a vote in parliament. With no mandate for its unpopular reforms, Macron’s administration is bypassing the democratic process itself.
When the “Scum” From the Paris Suburbs Built Picket Lines
For decades, establishment French politicians have painted youths from Paris’s majority-minority suburbs as antisocial “scum.” But the generation of the banlieue revolts are now of working age — and they’ve been at the forefront of the strike to defend France’s pension system.
Welcome to Our Movement, Warren Voters
Rather than dwell on Elizabeth Warren’s mistakes, let’s focus on her supporters. It’s good to see some of them switching to Bernie Sanders, and there ought to be many more — here are just a few reasons why.
The Long Shadow of the 1978 Bridgeport, Connecticut Teachers Strike
A 1978 strike by Connecticut teachers led to hundreds of arrests — and ended with a move to mandatory arbitration between educators and the school district. If unions in Connecticut and around the country are to get back on their feet, ending mandatory arbitration and re-embracing strikes will be crucial.
Fareed Zakaria Has No Idea How the Nordic Model Works
Just about everything Fareed Zakaria says about Bernie Sanders, the Nordics, and social democracy is incorrect. He’s faked his way through another column on something he knows nothing about.
Jack Welch Is Dead. Neoliberalism Lives On.
Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch, who died this week, turned GE into a private equity company. He was celebrated as the “manager of the century” for ruthlessly exploiting workers and their communities and promoting an economic model that increasingly appears to be incompatible with continued human civilization.
Where Standing Up for Kurdish Rights Is a Crime
In Germany, that supposed bastion of liberal democracy, the state treats standing up for Kurdish rights as tantamount to terrorism — and hits activists with house searches, imprisonment, and even deportation.
Trump Beats Biden
The Democratic Party establishment has united behind the candidate who has failed at running for president for 32 years. Defender of banks and drug companies, Joe Biden is the swamp creature of Donald Trump’s dreams.
Why Elizabeth Warren Should Endorse Bernie Sanders
There’s only one candidate left in the presidential race committed to fighting corporate power and reining in Wall Street. Elizabeth Warren should endorse Bernie Sanders.
Europe Finally Sends Aid to Greece (But Only for Kicking Out Refugees)
Since 2016, the Europe Union has outsourced the repression of migrants to Turkey, bribing the Erdoğan regime to hold back arriving refugees. But as Ankara abandons the deal, the Greek state has now become Europe’s border guard — with deadly consequences for the stateless and dispossessed.
A Study Last Week Claimed to Prove That Bernie Is Unelectable. It Turns Out the Study Is Bunk.
A big new study came out last week arguing that Bernie Sanders’s electability could be a “mirage.” There’s just one problem: the report is nonsense.
We Can’t Abandon the Building Trades Unions to the Right
Both Richard Nixon and Donald Trump have made cynical but shrewdly strategic appeals to building trades unions and their members. The Left needs a plan to win those workers back.
Why Bernie Won the California Primary
Bernie Sanders didn’t win California because it’s a liberal bastion and he’s “extremely liberal.” He won it because the state’s working class is tired of the bipartisan, pro-corporate agenda that threatens to transform California into a social dystopia — and they’re ready to fight back.
Here Are the Numbers Bernie Needs to Win
The delegate math looks better than the current media narrative suggests. Bernie Sanders and the movement behind him are still very much in the game. Here are the results he needs to win the nomination.