Inflation Politics with Tim Barker

The FBI’s Domestic “War on Terror” Is an Authoritarian Power Grab

Buzzfeed has revealed the FBI played a leading role in orchestrating last year’s far-right terrorist plot against Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer — which the bureau then foiled, to great fanfare. The incident has since been used to hand the FBI even more power.

In 40 Days, 20 Million Workers in the US Will Lose Unemployment Benefits

Twenty-five Republican-led states have cut unemployment benefits, doing enormous damage to millions of workers. And in 40 days, 20 million more workers will lose their unemployment if Democrats don’t act.

How a Billionaire Republican Governor Decides to Cut Off Unemployment Benefits

Internal documents from Doug Burgum’s office show the crass political calculus behind the North Dakota billionaire Republican governor’s decision to cut off COVID jobless aid.

NYC-DSA Still Has Plenty of Openings to Seize

After electoral breakthroughs in the 2020 state legislative elections, New York City’s Democratic Socialists of America have had a disappointing 2021 so far. But the prospect of more major DSA upsets in the near future keeps getting brighter.

Bob Moses (1935–2021)

Legendary civil rights champion Bob Moses died over the weekend at age eighty-six. He was a brilliant organizer who believed deeply in the capacity of ordinary people to change the world.

The Ku Klux Klan Was Also a Bosses’ Association

The KKK should be understood not just as a white supremacist organization, but as an employers’ organization: it violently resisted the revolutionary gains of the Civil War and Reconstruction, and sought to keep the black masses toiling in submission.

Ban Private Beaches

There are few summertime activities more essential than trips to the beach. But huge swaths of waterfront throughout the country are private property, off-limits to the public. This is a crime: all beaches should be public.

Sorry, You Can’t Be “Progressive Except Palestine”

American liberalism has long had a curious quirk: that of the liberal who is progressive on every issue except Palestine. But as the brutality of Israel’s occupation becomes impossible to ignore, that position is increasingly impossible to hold.

In Poland, Amazon Workers Are Organizing

Ever since Amazon arrived in Poland in 2014, the country has been a laboratory for the company’s strategy of pitting workers of different nations against one another. We spoke with Polish shop-floor activists who are organizing Amazon workers for a global fightback.

The Neoliberal Australian Labor Party Once Tried to Nationalize the Banks

Today the Australian Labor Party is among the most neoliberal parties in the world. But after World War II, Australian Labor PM Ben Chifley wanted to nationalize the banks. No surprise, the bankers ferociously stopped him.

Bosses Shouldn’t Be Able to Close Factories Whenever They Feel Like It

US labor law is so stacked against workers it allows companies to pack up and leave just to avoid dealing with a unionized workforce. We shouldn’t give employers this nuclear option — it completely undercuts working-class power.

Why Socialists Should Support Proportional Representation

Support for a multiparty system is widespread in the United States. Such a system is crucial to ridding this country of the two-party trap and building a real democratic system. That’s why socialists should support proportional representation in our electoral system.

How Cuba’s Communists Survived the Fall of the Soviet Union

The fall of the USSR in 1991 left Cuba mired in economic crisis and increasingly vulnerable to hostility from Washington. For the revolution to survive, it had to draw on its own domestic legitimacy — including its independence from the Soviet model.

Scabby the Rat Lives, But His Enemies Never Sleep

The labor movement’s iconic inflatable rat has survived a pathetic judicial attempt at extermination. But though Scabby is free, unions remain hamstrung by the oppressive federal prohibition on secondary boycotts encoded in the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act.

A People’s History of the Hoser, Canada’s Blue-Collar Icon

From Bob and Doug McKenzie to the Trailer Park Boys, the Canadian hoser is an integral part of the country’s cultural landscape. The hoser is also a working-class emblem, whose uncertain fortune in the face of economic downturns reflects the wider experience of Canadian workers.

The Tata Group Is Everything Wrong With Indian Capitalism

The megacorporation Tata has shaped Indian capitalism for 150 years. Despite its best efforts to sustain an image as an ethical company, Tata’s roots in war profiteering and the opium trade, and its sophisticated suppression of worker organizing, is testament to the fact that “ethical capitalism” is only ever a contradiction in terms.

Right-Wing Operation Condor Murderers Should Be in Jail

This month, Italian courts jailed fourteen men for their roles in Operation Condor, the US-backed Latin American terror campaign. But many more torturers are living out a peaceful retirement — denying justice to the leftists they brutalized and murdered.

Elites Profit From “Nonprofit” Charter Schools

Charter schools don’t improve education outcomes. But they do funnel taxpayer money into the pockets of unscrupulous — often criminal — school operators. It’s a national disgrace that needs to end.

Happy 20th Birthday, Trailer Park Boys

This year, the Canadian TV show Trailer Park Boys turns twenty. The program’s refusal to patronize its marginal, working-class characters was key to its comedic and popular success, and won it a special place in our hearts.