James Bloodworth is a writer and journalist from London.
In July 1979, Jimmy Carter described a spiritual “crisis of confidence” that could “destroy the social and the political fabric of America.” But the neoliberal policies of his administration helped make the US a more atomized, mean-spirited society.
As a worker in the 1970s, I looked forward to a Jimmy Carter administration. By the end of his term in office, like millions of my union sisters and brothers, I felt betrayed.
The presidency of Jimmy Carter was deeply constrained by economic and political crises. His unwillingness to take a radical stance forced him to respond to these events by imposing austerity and doing little to strengthen labor.
In the popular imagination, Jimmy Carter is associated with an idealistic “human rights agenda” for US foreign policy. In reality, by the end of his term in office, he was paving the way for Ronald Reagan’s aggressive anti-communism.
In the latest episode of the Jacobin Radio podcast Confronting Capitalism, Vivek Chibber discusses the difference between social democracy and socialism and how real change has been won in the past.
How AMLO turned an anti-corruption campaign into an opportunity for economic redistribution.
Karen Silkwood died in 1974 while trying to expose dangerous conditions in her workplace. Her death — and the smear campaign that followed — highlights how retaliation against whistleblowers deflects scrutiny from power by targeting the messenger.
Andreas Babler’s election as leader of Austria’s Social Democrats last year raised hopes of a left-wing revival. But the euphoria has worn off, as the former Marxist has placed a show of “moderation” above the promises on which he campaigned.
Jacobin’s documentary, The Ecuadorian Candidate, chronicled the young leftist economist Andrés Arauz as he faced right-wing opposition and embarked on a journey to become the next president of Ecuador. It’s a gripping feature now available for free.
Today the Chabad-Lubavitch movement champions far-right religious zealotry under a messianic banner. But a century ago, left-wing Jewish thinkers like Walter Benjamin and Franz Kafka understood messianic prophecy as foretelling universal liberation.
Fifty years after the publication of The Power Broker, the legacy of urban planner Robert Moses is ripe for revisiting.
To win competitive districts, left-wing candidates must challenge both economic oligarchy and cultural elitism.
Years into the war with Russia, the Ukrainian state has not resorted to widespread nationalizations or labor conscription. Unlike the total mobilizations of the last century, Ukraine’s war effort heavily relies on market mechanisms and civilian donations.
The story of the Congressional Black Caucus reflects the class contradictions of black politics in the post–civil rights era.
The liberal attempt to counter Rush Limbaugh on the airwaves was too little, too late.
British Labour politician Anthony Crosland’s The Future of Socialism was once the bible of revisionist social democracy. Looked at today, it is far from prescient but surprisingly compelling.
The War on Christmas isn’t fully a figment of Fox News’s imagination. But the villains are today’s capitalist Scrooges, relentlessly exploiting their workers with long hours and low wages through the holidays.
The Amazon workers who walked off the job at warehouses across the country at peak season are trying to establish a union beachhead against one of the most important — and most anti-union — employers in the world.
Cuba’s Julio Antonio Mella had a remarkably active political life before he was assassinated at the age of just 25 in 1929. Mella’s political thinking, which combined Marxism with the legacy of José Martí, was a landmark for the Latin American left.
According to new data from the Federal Reserve, nearly three-quarters of expected flood damage to American homes is currently uninsured — and Republicans and those who don’t perceive personal harm from climate change are more likely to lack adequate coverage.