Uncovering Ireland’s Communist History
A new film offers a visually attractive, fair-minded, and substantial introduction to the lost world of Irish Communism, and the vision of a more just future that Irish Communists sought to create.
20395 Article(s) by: Julia Goodman
Succession Is King Lear for Our Era of Ravenous Corporate Media
Succession, the HBO drama about a Rupert Murdoch–esque billionaire and his dysfunctional family, is ending this weekend. Executive producer Frank Rich discusses the show’s critique of corporate media and what’s made the series so compelling.
Keir Starmer Is Keeping New Labour’s Authoritarianism Alive
The Blair-era Labour Party introduced a raft of policies hostile to civil liberties. The British government continues to push legislation to clamp down on protesters and protect police, and Keir Starmer is letting it happen.
San Sebastián Is a Paradise for Landlords — And Right-Wingers Want to Keep It That Way
Tourist hot spot San Sebastián has Spain’s highest house prices, pushing out many locals. Ahead of today’s elections, Basque left party EH Bildu is calling for action on rents — but the campaign has been dominated by attempts to demonize the party.
In Turkey, the Real Opposition Is on the Left
Today’s Turkish election will test whether President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan can hold on to power. His opponent, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, has made a pact with ultranationalists — showing that left-wing and Kurdish movements have to build an opposition of their own.
The Unelected Board Governing Puerto Rico Will Continue to Operate in Secret
The Supreme Court just ruled that the antidemocratic board overseeing Puerto Rico’s debt repayment and dictating its budget can continue to operate in secrecy. After 2019’s popular revolt, the board’s existence likely depends on it.
Long Before Daniel Penny Killed Jordan Neely, There Was Death Wish
It’s been nearly 50 years since Charles Bronson first mowed down New York muggers in Death Wish. But defenses of the recent killing of Jordan Neely suggest that the film’s reactionary, Wild West–style vigilante violence still holds the imagination of many.
Rich People Are Boring
Cartoonist Syd Hoff drew the rich as they are: ridiculous, incompetent, hopelessly out of touch, and boring.
Henry Kissinger Is a Disgusting War Criminal. And the Rot Goes Deeper Than Him.
It’s Henry Kissinger’s 100th birthday today. The fact that this monster is celebrated instead of in jail tells you that he’s part of a much bigger problem — and that problem is America’s global empire.
Ron DeSantis Is Too Extremely Online to Stand a Chance
Ron DeSantis’s conservatism is by and for internet-addled right-wing media consumers so accustomed to having their eccentricities satiated and pleasure centers stimulated that they’ve become increasingly unmoored from the real world.
The For-Profit Takeover of Medicare Is a Huge Scam
Last year, the federal government spent $20.5 billion overpaying private insurers for Medicare Advantage plans — and the industry’s aggressive lobbying campaign is kneecapping efforts by lawmakers to stop the scheme.
The Mexican Revolution Was an Internationalist Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a transnational explosion of resistance to grinding exploitation that kicked off a global epoch of anti-capitalist revolution.
Giving Birth in a Public Health Care System Showed Me What’s Wrong With US Health Care
I gave birth to two children in two cities, New York and London. The care I received through the UK’s National Health Service showed me the serious limits of even the best private health care in the US.
How LA Education Workers Waged a Successful Joint Strike Across Two Unions
Bosses have long known the power of solidarity strikes — and thus try to make such strikes illegal. But United Teachers Los Angeles president Cecily Myart-Cruz explains in Jacobin that her union and SEIU Local 99 recently pulled such a strike off and won.
Jean-Paul Sartre’s Existential Marxism Shows How We Can Make Our Own History
Jean-Paul Sartre was the world’s most renowned philosopher when he set out to renew Marxist theory in the 1950s. The result was a brilliant analysis of how human beings can overcome the weight of social structures to change the world for the better.
When Antiwar Activists Salted the US Military
The practice of “salting,” covertly getting a job with the intention of organizing a workplace, is receiving renewed attention lately. During the Vietnam War, activists used this tactic to build the antiwar movement within the ranks of the US military.
Profit-Obsessed Private Equity Is Now Dominating the US Hospice System
The US hospice system is supposed to provide compassionate end-of-life care. But private equity firms have swallowed up the industry: 7 out of 10 hospice agencies are now for-profit, putting profit maximization over patient well-being.
Longtermists Are Pushing a New Cold War With China
Motivated by fears of the existential risks posed by advanced AI falling into the hands of authoritarian regimes, longtermists have for years been quietly pressing the White House to pursue a more aggressive policy toward China.
UFC Doesn’t Have an Integrity Problem — It Has a Capitalism Problem
Last year, a major fight-fixing scandal broke out in mixed martial arts company UFC, centered around fighter turned trainer James Krause. No one should be surprised: UFC’s neoliberal business model all but incentivizes corruption.
Succession Is Television’s Most Devastating Critique of the Ultrarich
Succession is heading toward its series finale, having settled into a portrait of how the ultrarich’s quest for limitless accumulation crowds out any semblance of humanity. The show is the most potent piece of class critique on TV in recent memory.