Eugene Debs on the Real Religion of Jesus
In December 1914, socialist leader Eugene V. Debs sent a Christmas letter to a man in a Michigan prison. We reprint the message here in full.
20406 Article(s) by: James Bloodworth
James Bloodworth is a writer and journalist from London.
This Christmas, Let’s Rekindle Our Hope for a Better World
There’s plenty of reason for despair these days. But this Christmas, we can look to radical Christians past and present like Nina Turner and Eugene V. Debs to rekindle our hope for a better world — and rededicate ourselves to building it.
Don’t Let Trump Claim Credit for the $2,000 Direct Payments
Donald Trump didn’t get the figure of $2,000 from nowhere. Since the start of the pandemic, monthly direct payments worth that amount have been a core demand of democratic-socialist politicians like Bernie Sanders, Rashida Tlaib, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Joe Biden Is Turning Out to Be Exactly Who He Told Us He Was
Joe Biden’s rise has been a clarifying moment for the Left, showing its relative powerlessness within the Democratic Party. But the Left’s ideas are popular in the country at large. The priority now must be advancing those ideas outside the framework of Democratic Party politics.
Pfizer Is Using Patent Rules to Undercut Global Access to the COVID-19 Vaccine
If ever there were a time to suspend global patent rules to ensure widespread distribution of a vaccine, right now is it. Yet pharma giant Pfizer is currently opposing a proposal at the World Trade Organization to expand vaccine access to poor countries, hoping to hoard distribution — and profits — rather than save lives.
Leo Panitch Was a Mentor for a New Generation of Socialists
Leo Panitch, who died on Saturday, defended working-class politics even in times when many of his colleagues succumbed to neoliberal triumphalism. His work had a political, not just academic, purpose — and its message will survive among the generation of socialists whose thinking he shaped.
Michigan’s Forgotten Christmas Eve Massacre
On Christmas Eve in 1913, a pitched battle between organized labor and the mining barons of northern Michigan climaxed in the gruesome deaths of over 70 union supporters and their children. The 1913 Massacre struck a debilitating blow to the region’s labor movement and changed the Upper Peninsula forever. But it’s been largely forgotten in popular consciousness.
How the German Right Created Bulgaria’s Kleptocratic Prime Minister
As anti-corruption protests pile pressure on Bulgarian premier Boyko Borissov, EU leaders have begun to distance themselves from his government. Yet throughout the last two decades, Borissov was actively sponsored by the German right — a dismal example of how foundations in Berlin created postcommunist Eastern Europe’s new elites.
Where in the World Is Kamala Harris?
Vice president–elect Kamala Harris made headlines earlier this year pushing $2,000 checks for all American. But suddenly, despite being desperately needed right now, she’s nowhere to be found on the issue.
By Cutting Big Pharma Out of Vaccine Production, We Can Help Neutralize Anti-Vaxx Paranoia
The anti-vaxx movement is a menace, but it feeds off public distrust nurtured by the appalling record of Big Pharma. We need an alternative model that strips out the profit motive and works for the public good — Canada’s Connaught Laboratories show how that model could work.
Pardon Edward Snowden
Edward Snowden performed an immense act of public service to the American people by blowing the whistle on the National Security Agency’s vast, clandestine surveillance programs. President Donald Trump should pardon him.
Cyberpunk Needs a Reboot
Cyberpunk once stood out as a vital genre of anti-capitalist fiction. Today, it’s been reduced to a cool retro aesthetic easily appropriated by the world’s second-richest man to market ugly Blade Runner–inspired trucks to nostalgia-driven Gen Xers.
We Need $2,000 and Real COVID-19 Relief
Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and Joe Biden need to do everything in their power to call Donald Trump’s bluff and force a vote to increase the proposed $600 relief checks to $2,000. The fact that they don’t seem to be says a lot about what’s wrong with the Democratic Party.
Leo Panitch and the Socialist Project
Leo Panitch will live on in the democratic socialism he espoused and the lives he touched.
At Chipotle, They Ignore the Rats and Punish the Workers
We spoke to a Chipotle employee forced to work amid rodent infestations so extreme that he and several colleagues were bitten by rats. All this while COVID devastates their ranks. No one should have to risk their health for the sake of corporate profits.
Joe Biden’s Love of Austerity Cut the Stimulus Bill in Half
We’re in the middle of a brutal pandemic during which millions are suffering. Yet according to the New York Times, Joe Biden actually moved to undercut progressives demanding greater economic aid in the stimulus negotiations, giving “Democrats confidence to pull back on their demands” — and surrender to Mitch McConnell.
Thank Socialism for the Vaccine. Blame Capitalism for Its Distribution.
The jaw-dropping speed of COVID-19 vaccine development is a glorious marvel of science, cooperation, and economic planning — a glimpse of how much more an egalitarian world could produce and achieve. But the lifeboat ethics of vaccine rollout is a horrifying display of the inefficiency and cruelty of capitalism.
Stop All Evictions in New York — It’s a Matter of Life and Death
New York must immediately reinstate a complete eviction moratorium, incoming New York state legislators and socialists Jabari Brisport and Marcela Mitaynes argue. You can’t stay at home to prevent the spread of COVID-19 if you’re forced out of your home.
What the Antebellum Abolitionists Can Teach Us about AOC and Medicare for All
Should left-wing House members try to force action on Medicare for All by threatening to withhold their votes for Nancy Pelosi as House speaker? The idea has sparked controversy, but it’s nothing new. In the decades before the Civil War, it was a key tactic for antislavery radicals as they struggled to keep the slavery issue on the national agenda.
Leo Panitch (1945–2020)
The global left has suffered an irreparable loss with the passing of Leo Panitch this weekend. He was incredibly warm, inviting, and generous to others. And he remained committed to the end to the cause of socialism and human emancipation.