Karl Leffme is a socialist in New York CIty.
A new book, Carmageddon, reveals how the automobile has made our lives more dangerous and less democratic. The alternative — reliable and publicly funded transport — must be at the heart of any progressive vision for the future.
The corporate lobbying group fighting a minimum wage raise in New York argues it will throw more than 100,000 people out of work. But independent studies show an increase wouldn’t substantially impact employment.
Russia’s war on Ukraine threatens to escalate in ways that imperil all human life. Yet the mainstream reaction is mostly striking for its apathy — and the Left is failing to mobilize against the mounting disaster.
College students in England used to be paid a weekly Education Maintenance Allowance. It was abolished by the Tories in 2010 — but one London council is bringing it back, insisting that education isn’t only a right for those who can afford it.
When Netanyahu proposed a reform to allow parliament to overturn Israel’s Supreme Court, liberals feared it would lead to the end of the rule of law in Israel. But Israel has never respected the rule of law, and liberals within the country ensured this.
The Jina revolution in Iran has seen powerful solidarity between women demanding freedom, oil worker unions, and minorities. Far from the elite reformism of diaspora opposition leaders, the revolt in Iran expresses the radicalism of a diverse working class.
People with type 1 diabetes are dependent on insulin — but it doesn’t follow that we should be dependent on corporate insulin manufacturers. We need a new model of insulin manufacturing, one that puts lives before profits.
Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse was no aberration: hundreds of private banks in the US have failed since the Great Recession. For a more stable financial system that actually meets ordinary people’s needs, we need to expand public banking.
A new documentary revisits Stanford student Brock Turner, who was convicted of sexual assault but served only three months in jail. Feminists led a recall effort against the case’s judge — but actually led judges to favor harsher sentencing across California.
It’s not a conspiracy theory: Ronald Reagan secretly negotiated to keep the Iran hostages captive for an extended period to try to keep President Jimmy Carter from winning reelection.
The bipartisan obsession with schooling as an investment in “human capital” in the US since the 1970s has fostered a highly unequal society. We need wide-ranging redistribution to tackle inequality — and to defend public education against right-wing backlash.
John Brophy earned the moniker “Mr. CIO” in the 1930s for his excellent organizing for the Congress of Industrial Organizations. He was steadfast and never flashy, which is perhaps why he’s been forgotten. It’s also what makes him a model for our times.
Unions representing grad workers, postdocs, and faculty at Rutgers University have been without a contract for almost nine months; earlier in March, they voted by 94% to authorize a strike. We talked to two workers about their contract fight.
During the Cold War, Yugoslav socialist Tito tried to chart a course apart from the Soviets. But his actions enraged Stalin — putting Tito on the unlikely path of seeking Western support and revealing the difficulties of nonalignment amid great power politics.
Anxiety that automation is coming for workers’ jobs has reached a fever pitch. But talk of robots replacing humans often conceals a less complicated reality: management uses technology to undemocratically reorganize and intensify labor.
Vladimir Putin promised to “denazify Ukraine,” but this week he suppressed Russia’s own watchdog monitoring the far right. Unable to crush Ukraine, his government has turned its fire on domestic critics of war and nationalism.
After bailing out Silicon Valley Bank, the federal government is considering the rescue of First Republic Bank. But just two months ago, First Republic pressured regulators not to adopt rules to minimize the risk of government bailouts for insolvent banks.
On this day in 1980, El Salvadoran archbishop Óscar Romero was murdered by US-backed assassins. Only weeks before, he had written to US President Jimmy Carter to withhold support from El Salvador’s military dictatorship. We reprint the letter here in full.
In the 2023 New York budget fight, Governor Kathy Hochul is relying on billionaires like Michael Bloomberg to try to build support for an austerity budget — rather than listening to wildly popular left-wing demands to tax the rich.
Chicago mayoral candidate Paul Vallas helped create a financial disaster as head of Chicago Public Schools, making bond deals worth $666 million — whose exorbitant interest payments to Wall Street are now robbing the city’s school system.