Rediscovering Vkhutemas, the Soviet Union’s Revolutionary Art School
Sometimes referred to as the “Soviet Bauhaus,” Vkhutemas featured a radical experiment in student democracy and design that went even further than its German counterpart.
20378 Article(s) 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.
Bankers Are Enriching Shareholders – And Putting the Global Economy at Risk
As economic trouble mounts, Trump officials are letting Wall Street banks pay out billions in dividends to shareholders. Bankers are taking self-serving risks with the world economy, because they know that if anything goes wrong, they’ll be bailed out.
John Lennon and the Politics of the New Left
Forty years after his murder in New York City, we remember John Lennon’s record of political engagement as a champion of the anti-war movement and a self-styled “instinctive socialist” — which brought him into conflict with Richard Nixon and J. Edgar Hoover.
Israel’s Honeymoon With the United Arab Emirates Is Grotesque
Since normalizing relations in September, Israel and the United Arab Emirates have teamed up to do what both do best: trample on democratic freedoms, commit atrocities, and whitewash occupation.
The Donald, According to David Roth
Writer David Roth has been the preeminent chronicler of Donald Trump’s presidency. In an interview with Jacobin, Roth talks about four hallucinatory years and what makes the deranged president at the center of them tick.
The Left and the Climate Crisis After the Pandemic
In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, many hoped it would contain an inadvertent silver lining, in the form of reduced carbon emissions. But the real lesson of the past few months is now clear: we can’t stop global warming without radical systemic change.
Janos Marton: The Criminal Justice System in New York City Is “Rotten”
Janos Marton says that the Manhattan district attorney’s office is “extremely punitive when prosecuting low-income communities of color and pretty weak when prosecuting the rich and powerful.” He says, in an interview with Jacobin, that he is running for DA to change that, aiming to reduce the number of people in jail, stop drug prosecutions, and go after bad bosses who steal workers’ wages.
The End of Public Schools Would Mean the End of the Common Good
If education is nothing but a provider of the “human capital” that will help students get a job, the argument to privatize public education will be far too convincing. Instead, we should look at our schools as institutions to educate kids to be citizens in a democracy with expectations for better lives.
Who Will Xavier Becerra Serve as Joe Biden’s HHS Secretary?
Xavier Becerra advocated Medicare for All and tough action against Big Pharma. Too bad the incoming Biden administration he’s set to be a part of as Health and Human Services head has refused to take on the health insurance industry.
Hillbilly Elegy: Bad Politics, Even Worse Cinema
The only good thing we have to say about the reactionary film adaptation of Hillbilly Elegy is that it’s so boringly told you’ll forget about it in an hour.
If Australian Universities Are Going To Survive, They Can’t Just Produce “Job-Ready” Graduates
After decades of chalking up record profits, Australian universities are now mired in a deep crisis. But if we’re going to defend — let alone rebuild — the sector, its champions have to reject the subordination of education to the bottom line.
Hugh Keays-Byrne Showed Us the Danger of Demagoguery and the Promise of Solidarity
The Mad Max veteran villain actor Hugh Keays-Byrne died last week. His performances took us to the demonic dark side of politics and showed that if we dare to struggle, we dare to win.
The Last Thing We Need Is To “Go Back To Normal”
After four years of having a xenophobic reality TV host in the White House, the desire to just “go back to normal” is understandable. But a return to normalcy would be disastrous, shoring up the plutocratic status quo that gave us Trump in the first place.
Luxury Sneaker Markets Are a Preview of Capitalist Dystopia
The multibillion-dollar luxury sneaker market increasingly seems like something out of a sci-fi novel. But for all its bizarre quirks, there’s no better illustration of the way modern capitalism works, and the direction that it’s going.
Abolish Direct Provision, Ireland’s New Magdalene Laundries
Deprived of their basic human rights, asylum seekers in Ireland are taking it upon themselves to agitate for change. The system of Direct Provision needs to be abolished and replaced with a radically different policy toward refugees.
Australian Renters Are Organizing To Fight Evictions, Just Like They Did in the 1930s
In the wake of the pandemic, Australian renters are once again facing the threat of mass evictions. The militant renters’ struggles of the Great Depression are an excellent model for the movement that’s taking shape today.
Resisting Amazon Is Not Futile
Amazon represents the pinnacle challenge to union organizers and socialists throughout the country. Are we in a 1919 moment, still a generation of failures away from breakthrough success? Or closer to 1935, approaching the tipping point of winning real worker power?
Stephen F. Cohen Helped Us Understand the Russian Revolution and Nikolai Bukharin
Stephen Cohen, who passed away earlier this year, resisted ideological conformity at every turn. The great historian of Nikolai Bukharin and the Russian Revolution left behind a deep body of work that will remain invaluable for generations of socialists to come.
AMLO Isn’t Pro-Trump. He’s Proving a Point About Foreign Election Meddling.
AMLO’s decision to hold off on congratulating Joe Biden on his presidential victory has ruffled feathers among establishment Democrats. But the United States stands to learn a lesson from remaining impartial in foreign elections.
Jeremy Corbyn: Why Is There Always Money for War but Not Public Services?
The UK government has announced a surge in military spending, even as it plans a new round of austerity. As Jeremy Corbyn writes, there’s always enough money for war — but never enough for lifesaving services.