A Return to Gompers
Teamster president Sean O’Brien’s speech at the Republican National Convention may represent a return to nonpartisan realpolitik for unions. But does that reflect labor’s strength or its decline?
20963 Article(s) by: James Bloodworth
James Bloodworth is a writer and journalist from London.
Democrats Now Openly Admit They Pushed Biden to Block Bernie
There are some other things transpiring in American politics right now. But we must note that Democratic leaders are now unabashedly stating what Bernie Sanders supporters said over and over in 2020: the party pushed Joe Biden primarily to stop Bernie.
How the Culture Wars Are Undermining Public Education
The Right has deployed attacks on LGBTQ rights, the teaching of black history, and other topics to politicize and undermine public schools. The Left has an opportunity to mobilize a broad coalition to defend public education in response to this assault.
UK Immigrant Workers May Win Europe’s First Amazon Union
In Coventry, England, 3,000 Amazon workers — most of them immigrants — just voted on whether to unionize. If the workers vote yes, they would be the first Amazon warehouse workers in Europe to win a union.
On Stochastic Terrorism and Speech as Violence
The theory of stochastic terrorism dangerously undermines free speech norms by blurring the line between speech and violence.
Donald Trump’s Near Death Has Reenergized His Movement
Branko Marcetic reports for Jacobin from the floor of the Republican National Convention, where the near-death experience of Donald Trump and his selection of hard-right running mate J. D. Vance has breathed new life into the MAGA movement.
J. D. Vance Wants to Crack Down Harder on Abortion Access
GOP vice presidential nominee J. D. Vance has pressured lawmakers to kill a rule that blocks police from accessing the medical records of people seeking abortions — an indication of the threat a Trump-Vance administration would pose to reproductive health.
Kinds of Kindness Is Teenage Nihilism for the Art House Crowd
Yorgos Lanthimos’s Kinds of Kindness is a nearly three-hour anthology film about the human capacity for cruelty. It’s exactly as fun as that sounds.
Biden’s Woes Have Created an Opening for Antiwar Forces
The growing calls for Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race could offer hope for Gaza.
British Workers Are on the Cusp of Winning a Union at Amazon
Thousands of workers at Amazon’s warehouse in Coventry, England, are on the verge of winning union recognition. After facing 18 months of harsh resistance, they are taking the first steps toward holding the $2 trillion company to account in the UK.
Britain’s Tory Party Has Suffered Its Worst-Ever Defeat
The big story of this month’s UK election was a Conservative meltdown, while support for Labour barely rose at all. Along with disastrous missteps by Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak, long-term structural factors mean the Tories are in decline.
Grocery Workers Are Suing to Bring Democracy to Their Union
This spring, members looking to reform the United Food and Commercial Workers filed a lawsuit against their union, the fifth-largest in the country. The members hope that the case will result in changes that help democratize the UFCW.
The Right Way to Politicize This
Yes, after the Donald Trump shooting, now is a good time to talk about the need for better gun laws.
Let’s Be Sober About the Limits of Bidenomics
Many on the Left have hailed Joe Biden’s economic policy as historically progressive. But overall, Bidenomics has meant lavishing subsidies on favored sectors of business while failing to really move the needle in the interests of working people.
The Last Thing This Country Needed
Yesterday’s assassination attempt on Donald Trump points to a profound sickness in American political life, whose threats don’t discriminate by party or ideology.
SCOTUS Says Cruelty Is a Solution to Homelessness
Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that local governments could punish people for sleeping outside even when they lack adequate options for shelter. It’s a cruel decision — one that underlines the need to make housing a human right.
A Week of Israel’s Horrific Massacres in Gaza
The barbarities keep coming in Gaza. This week saw a massacre in Gaza City of at least 60 people, mostly children and women, many of them burned alive — followed by a massacre of over 100 in a “humanitarian safe zone.”
The Democratic Party Is to Blame for the Biden Problem
As the reality of Joe Biden’s inability to competently serve another term becomes clearer, the Democratic Party appears fully unconcerned with a democratic process to replace him.
National Conservatives Are Feeling Optimistic
At the hard-right National Conservatism Conference earlier this week, the gathered reactionaries — many of whom were close to or worked within the Trump administration — clearly felt the wind was at their backs.
Amazon Workers in Coventry, England, May Soon Be Union
A year and a half ago, workers at the Amazon warehouse in Coventry, England, launched the first formal strike against the retail giant in British history. Today the workers finish voting on whether to unionize.