The Reds and the Green
The Irish fight for freedom inspired revolutionaries around the world. Yet the Comintern founded in 1919 struggled to build a lasting socialist presence in independent Ireland’s politics.
19523 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.
To Moscow and Back
Founded 100 years ago today, the Communist International quickly won the backing of Norway’s mighty Labor Party. The alliance promised to link the Soviets to mass politics in the West — but Moscow soon wasted its opportunity.
Socialists Took Down the British Empire
When the Comintern was founded in 1919, the British Empire was the most powerful state in the world. Scottish communist John Maclean promised to destroy it from within.
Bernie Returns Home to Brooklyn
Bernie Sanders is back in Brooklyn for his first 2020 campaign rally, but the New York socialist — who grew up in a working-class community and radical Jewish political tradition — never really left.
Machete and Sickle
One hundred years ago, the Third International inspired the creation of communist parties across Latin America. Yet only its demise would liberate them from stifling Russian control.
The World Revolution That Wasn’t
The Comintern was founded on this day in 1919 to carry revolution around the world. We are only now recovering from the legacy of its failure.
Israel’s Jamal Khashoggis
According to the UN, Israeli forces deliberately killed two journalists in Gaza. But don’t expect the same establishment that rightly fumed over Jamal Khashoggi’s murder to call out Israel.
Capitalism and Orientalism
A new book examines the work of Edward Said in the light of Marxism, showing why imperialism can’t be understood in terms of culture alone.
Abolish the Billionaire Class
Billionaires are the grotesque products of an exploitative, immoral economic system. We should get rid of them.
How to Survive a Police Stop
Programs that teach young people how to interact with police are popping up around the country. But they’re often exercises in victim-blaming — shifting the responsibility for avoiding lethal stops from cops to the very civilians they brutalize.
Germany’s Hidden Crisis
Liberals praise modern Germany as Europe’s great success story. But behind the veneer of prosperity, resentment is building among ordinary Germans.
Israel Is an Extremist Enterprise
Benjamin Netanyahu’s pact with a far-right, anti-Arab party ahead of April’s elections is repugnant. But it’s in keeping with a state that has racism and exclusion baked into its foundation.
“We’re Gonna Shut This Place Down”
David Ranney was part of the wave of US revolutionaries who went into factories in the 1970s to organize workers. In an interview, he discusses his new book about those explosive years — and the pitched battles his coworkers waged against both their corrupt union and the company.
A Good Night for Chicago Socialists
Chicago has long been dominated by a powerful Democratic machine and decades of austerity and gentrification. But the city’s left won victories across the board in Tuesday’s elections.
Office Space’s Neoliberal Workplace Has Only Gotten Worse
Twenty years on, we look back at Mike Judge’s Office Space, and what it told us about the terrible neoliberal workplaces we suffer through.
Worker Power on the Swedish Docks
The Swedish Dockworkers Union has announced plans for indefinite strike action. The future of independent, left-wing, rank-and-file trade unionism in Sweden hangs in the balance.
MMT Is Already Helping
In a response to Doug Henwood’s critique, Pavlina Tcherneva makes the case for the analytical power and political potency of of Modern Monetary Theory.
Workers Are Striking Again
New figures show that the strike is back: 485,000 workers participated in major work stoppages last year, the most in decades. Labor has to use that momentum to fight for the entire working class.
Macron’s Selective Antiracism
Emmanuel Macron has described anti-Zionism as a new form of antisemitism. Yet by associating all French Jews with the state of Israel, he risks fueling resentment between the victims of racism.
How to Build a Socialist Foreign Policy
Our hopes for a socialist United States are constrained as much by US empire as they are by domestic capitalists. But democratic socialist candidates like Bernie Sanders can combat militarism in the service of workers across the world.