Karl Leffme is a socialist in New York CIty.
In Ukraine, organized labor has rallied behind the resistance against Russia’s invasion. But rather than reward its contribution, the government is using the war to push through anti-labor measures, posing a long-term threat to workers’ right to organize.
The Bread and Roses Strike began on this day in 1912, when women mill workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts, walked out. The strike ended in a landmark victory and popularized an enduring slogan: “The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too.”
A consistent feature of Democrats’ messaging is that we should vote for them to preserve democracy. But from canceling primaries to ignoring voters’ opinions on Medicare for All and Palestine, they aren’t acting like they care about the will of the people.
Despite allegations of “excessive” defects ahead of the recent Boeing disaster, the company and its parts supplier, Spirit AeroSystems, used their deep pockets to lobby Washington to reduce safety regulations.
The International Court of Justice has begun hearing South Africa’s case against Israel under the Genocide Convention today. South African jurists have presented a careful, rigorously documented brief that exposes the deliberate slaughter of civilians in Gaza.
Kroger, the major grocery chain, has pointed to its connections with local growers to defend a recent proposed merger. But one of those growers has been linked to a huge human trafficking scheme to maintain a steady supply of exploited farmworkers.
Last month in Quebec, 420,000 public sector workers in health care and education walked out in one of the largest strikes in North American history. With negotiations for other Quebec unions still ongoing, more big strikes are possible.
The FDA just announced that it will allow the state of Florida to import cheaper pharmaceuticals from Canada, which imposes price controls on its drugs. The FDA’s move is welcome but raises the question: Why doesn’t the US cap the price of medicines too?
As evidence mounts of Big Oil’s history of climate denialism, the industry’s choice law firm, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, is using the “free speech” defense to suppress criticism and safeguard oil companies’ ability to deceive the public.
Palestinian writer Mohammed el-Kurd spoke to Jacobin about Israel’s vicious war on Gaza and the daily humiliations and frequent killing that Israel has long inflicted on Palestinians. “We are told time and time again that our death is business as usual.”
Last year the Teamsters and the UAW both won historic contract victories. Those wins were made possible by government anti-corruption efforts and, more importantly, by decades of organizing by members to make their unions more militant and democratic.
We’re living in an era of crisis. Enter lifestyle fascism: a bid to remake society by remaking the beleaguered male body.
Silicon Valley capitalist Marc Andreessen has released a manifesto that decries efforts to restrain the genius of tech billionaires. Drawing heavily from Nietzsche and Hayek, it’s the same old right-wing elitism in new packaging.
Workers in the US were deeply split in the 1930s, not least by race and ethnicity. To organize greater swaths of the working class, the Congress of Industrial Organizations had to turn division into solidarity.
In the 1930s, unions grabbed headlines and won major battles with sit-down strikes, where striking workers occupied their workplaces. The fiery tactic put the Congress of Industrial Organizations on the map and struck fear in the hearts of business elites.
Workers in the Great Depression were beaten down but desperate for change. When a militant new labor federation, the Congress of Industrial Organizations, raised their sense of political possibility, they seized the opportunity and unionized en masse.
Weeks before the door plug blew out of an Alaska Airlines flight over Portland, Oregon, on January 5, grounding more than 150 Boeing aircraft, workers at the part’s reported manufacturer had been warning of safety concerns — but management ignored them.
Former university presidents Elizabeth Magill and Claudine Gay were no friends of Palestine. In fact, they suppressed free speech and equated solidarity efforts with antisemitism.
Emmanuel Macron has appointed 34-year-old Gabriel Attal as France’s new prime minister. The bid to give his government a new progressive face suffers one big problem: French people haven’t forgotten its deeply anti-social record.
From HIV/AIDS to COVID-19, the pharmaceutical industry has made obscene profits by exploiting public research and denying lifesaving medication to poor countries. Building a fairer system of medicine production means breaking Big Pharma’s power.