There’s No Moral Justification for Capitalist-Owned Enterprises
Capitalist “liberty” is just another word for private tyranny. Workers, not capitalists, should control economic enterprises.
19568 Articles by: Frances Abele
Frances Abele CM is Distinguished Research Professor and Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy Emerita at Carleton University. She is a research fellow at the Carleton Centre for Community Innovation and the Broadbent Institute. Much of her work focuses on indigenous-Canada relations.
How FDR’s Original Green New Deal Challenged Jim Crow
The Civilian Conservation Corps, FDR’s original Green New Deal, cared for the environment and gave jobs to the unemployed. And though its record on racial equality was imperfect, it helped undermine key parts of Jim Crow.
Larry Summers Is Wrong About Inflation
Enraged at the rise of an “intransigent” left, Larry Summers put his credibility on the line with wild predictions of runaway inflation in the wake of Joe Biden’s stimulus package last January. It’s looking like his predictions were wrong.
New York City Screwed Taxi Drivers. Now They’re Drowning in Debt.
New York City made a killing off of taxi drivers who purchased medallions by driving them into enormous debt. Those drivers need debt forgiveness — but the city’s relief policies won’t provide it.
Mark Zuckerberg’s “Metaverse” Is a Dystopian Nightmare
The Facebook founder intends to usher in a new era of the internet where there’s no distinction between the virtual and the real — and no logging off.
The Climate Movement Can Win Over Workers
Working people can be won to support radical action on climate change — so long as decarbonization is tied to a vision of shared prosperity for all.
If Hollywood Workers Strike, the Entertainment Industry Will Grind to a Halt
In a display of worker militancy not seen in Hollywood for decades, members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) are about to vote on whether 60,000 of them will go on strike in October.
A World Cup Every Two Years Would Be Devastating for Football
Chiefs at soccer governing body FIFA are calling for the World Cup to be held every two years instead of every four. The plan is a naked cash grab — and shows that undemocratic sports authorities will always put chances to sell advertising above the quality of the game.
Rikers Island Is a Human Rights Atrocity. New York Must Close It Immediately.
New York State Assembly member Emily Gallagher recently visited the city’s jail on Rikers Island. “Nothing prepared me for the level of abuse and neglect that I witnessed there,” she writes in Jacobin.
There’s No Substitute for Mass Working-Class Parties
Robert Michels developed his “iron law of oligarchy” after seeing the bureaucratization of the early socialist movement. His warnings are relevant today — but the path to social transformation still runs through building mass, working-class political parties.
Progressive Pressure Over the Budget Reconciliation Bill Is Creating Establishment Pushback
The pressure from pro-corporate establishment voices against the budget reconciliation bill is intensifying because progressives are, for the first time in generations, threatening to use their leverage and refuse to vote for a watered-down bill stripped of measures that would aid working people.
Doughnut Economics Has a Hole at Its Core
Amsterdam has become the first city to adopt Kate Raworth’s “doughnut economics,” a faddish call to change our economic priorities. But doughnut economics fails to confront the power relations that stop the economy from serving most people’s needs.
The Revolutionary Legacy of Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg is an icon of the socialist movement who died a martyr’s death in 1919. But she was also a brilliant and highly original political thinker whose ideas about capitalism and how to oppose it are strikingly relevant to today’s world.
After Attacking Civil Liberties for Two Decades, the Right is Now Pretending to Care About Them
Determined to undermine the US pandemic response, the Right is opposing vaccine mandates on the grounds that they’re an authoritarian power grab. Don’t be fooled: up until a few months ago, they backed every civil liberties–shredding measure under the sun.
Canada’s Far Right Is More of a Threat Than You Think
The good news is that Canada’s far-right party was shut out of Parliament in this week’s federal election. The bad news is that the People’s Party still tripled its vote and is now in a position to exert a dangerous influence on the political mainstream.
The Fight Against the Line 3 Pipeline in Minnesota
Activists are fighting the construction of the Line 3 tar sands pipeline in Minnesota — a pipeline that would have devastating consequences for indigenous people in the state and for all of us around the planet.
LuLaRoe’s Leggings Rip-off Scheme Is Just Capitalism Writ Small
The LuLaRoe documentary LuLaRich got one thing right: everybody wants full-time pay for part-time work. But it blames selfishness and incompetence for keeping that dream out of reach — not the market forces that produced and encouraged the company’s behavior.
It’s Really Not That Hard: Just Ignore the Senate Parliamentarian
Once again, Senate Democrats are allowing a nonbinding ruling by the Senate parliamentarian to torpedo their agenda. Could the Dems be any more pathetic?
Congress Has a Chance to Roll Back the Flow of Military Weapons to Police Departments
The Pentagon’s 1033 program has allowed over $1.5 billion in military equipment to be given to local police departments. The House votes today on rolling 1033 back — but the Biden administration hasn’t lifted a finger to reduce the military weapons in cops’ hands.
The Marxist Who Saw the Fall of the German Left
The postwar German left has had a lot of ups and downs — and leading Marxist political scientist Frank Deppe was there for most of them. On his 80th birthday, he spoke to Jacobin about the need to root left-wing politics in the changed realities of the modern working class.