Karl Leffme is a socialist in New York CIty.
Extinction Rebellion’s cofounder Roger Hallam wants a mass revolt against climate change. But while his new book calls for activists to engage in “disruption” against politicians, it offers no blueprint for the workers who have the power to transform the economic structures that created our climate crisis.
Even if Bernie Sanders — or any other democratic socialist — had an electoral majority for our political revolution, we would have to contend with the power of capital. Investment strikes, capital flight, and the power of finance could turn the euphoria of victory into a disaster unless we have a plan to confront them.
From the end of World War I through the 1970s, filmmakers around the world experimented with film form in the hopes of awakening a new political consciousness. Why did that dream die?
On a forgotten back-and-forth between Nina Simone and John Lennon.
Before Bernie Bros vs. the DNC, there was Jesse Jackson vs. the Atari Democrats.
A Michael Bloomberg presidency wouldn’t be a repudiation of Donald Trump — it would cement the oligarchic status quo and deliver another blow to American democracy. No one should vote for Bloomberg, even if he wins the Democratic nomination.
We can’t avoid confronting the Pentagon and the massive (and lucrative) security state it oversees.
Trump’s inauguration set off an unprecedented dirty war from the Washington establishment. A President Sanders would face even worse.
Workers are frozen out of politics in both the United States and Britain.
How many votes does it take to capture the most powerful assembly in the United States? Turns out, not that many.
History shows that the capitalist class will do whatever it can to undermine our reforms and oust the Left from power.
The best defenders of even the narrow ideals of liberal democracy are not the elites who glorify them but the masses of people whom they so often distrust.
If socialists want to take power through the ballot box, we have to be ready for when capitalists stop playing by the rules.
Socialists must stand resolutely against US imperialism. We also can’t turn a blind eye to purportedly leftist states’ suppression of political liberties that socialists around the world have fought and died for.
The belief that Bernie Sanders is too left-wing to win a presidential election is an article of faith among journalists and pundits. It’s also completely unfounded.
Remember when Bernie Sanders supporters went berserk and “threw chairs” at the 2016 Nevada Democratic convention? The widely reported incident never happened — but the originator of that myth will be co-moderating tonight’s debate.
Impeachment has failed, but Democrats are still trying to defeat Trump by focusing on process over policy. They’re going to keep failing — the only way to get rid of Trump is to beat him at the polls.
Since Trump’s victory, authors like Michael Lind have portrayed the “white working class” as victims of metropolitan elites. But seeing the class war as a culture war overlooks working people’s greatest strength: our power to fight for our common interests, above cultural divides.
Rival campaigns and hostile journalists are scraping the bottom of the barrel with their latest attacks on Bernie Sanders supporters. Now, apparently, getting owned on Twitter is “harassment,” and when a nurses’ union donates to Bernie, it’s “dark money.”
The response to the coronavirus shows that neither the US nor the world is ready for a global pandemic. We desperately need a public health system that rejects philanthrocapitalism and prioritizes preparedness over corporate profits.