White-Collar Media
For most of the news media, the life and struggles of the majority class just aren’t newsworthy.
273 Article(s) by: Liza Featherstone
Liza Featherstone is a columnist for Jacobin, a freelance journalist, and the author of Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Workers’ Rights at Wal-Mart.
When Communists Organized a New Jersey Textile Strike
In 1926, New Jersey textile workers went on a massive strike, organized and supported by the Communist Party. The strike ultimately failed, but it showed the central role Communists could play in American class struggle.
Socialism Has a History — and a Future — in New York City
The three socialists who effectively won election to New York City Council this month have achieved something many would have thought impossible just a few years ago. But they won’t be the first socialists elected to that body.
After Almost a Decade, Fight for $15 Has Made Progress — But It’s Not Enough
A national “Fight for $15 and a Union” action yesterday saw thousands of McDonald’s workers walk out of their jobs against low pay and disrespect on the job. The decade-long campaign has seen acts of heroism by low-wage workers — but it hasn’t yet been enough to win.
Mother’s Day Has Deeply Radical Roots
Yes, you should absolutely call your mom today. But you should also know that Mother’s Day isn’t just a holiday for greeting card and chocolate companies to make a buck, but of radical antiwar and feminist organizers.
New York State Could Finally Get Single-Payer Health Care
For the first time since it was introduced 30 years ago, New York state’s single-payer health care bill, the New York Health Act, has the votes to pass — at least on paper. But getting it signed into law will take a major grassroots mobilization.
Yuppie Misandry
At the turn of the last century, Alexandra Kollontai identified the problem with elite feminism.
To Save the Planet, Expropriate the Rich
No matter how much they flaunt their environmental virtue or how much eco-friendly consumption they engage in, the global 1 percent are almost inherently destructive of the climate. There’s only one way to fix the situation: expropriate them.
New York Is Finally Taxing the Rich
After a serious extra-parliamentary campaign in which DSA and newly elected socialist legislators figured prominently, the New York State legislature just passed the most progressive budget in years.
Defend Kshama Sawant
A cabal of tech corporations, real estate interests, and business lobbyists are trying to strip Kshama Sawant, the pathbreaking socialist on the Seattle City Council, of the seat to which she was elected by the city’s voters. Sawant deserves your support.
To Save America, Help West Virginia
Wielding a pivotal Senate seat at a moment when the Biden administration is prepared to spend trillions on fixing the climate, West Virginia is now in a position to make huge demands of the Democratic Party. We can’t let a blend of woke neoliberalism and elite condescension get in the way.
Andrew Cuomo Is the Sexist Boss Too Many of Us Have Dealt With
With sexist dress codes and personal harassment from the New York governor himself, women in Andrew Cuomo’s office found themselves facing one of the most pervasive forms of exploitation in the lives of working-class women: the boss’s attempt to control their bodies.
We Can’t Bookend Vivian Gornick
Vivian Gornick’s brilliant half-century writing career can’t be captured in a single essay or volume. To engage with her writing is to be left wanting more of her writing.
The Senate Just Took a Baby Step Toward the Feminist Goal of a Universal Child Benefit
On International Women’s Day, the good news is that the new COVID-19 relief bill will include a kind-of, sort-of universal child benefit — a policy that feminists have long called for. But the overly complicated, burdensome way the policy is implemented means that on this issue, the Left still has its work cut out for it.
On a $15 Minimum Wage, Democrats Are Shooting Themselves in the Foot — Again
Pushing through a $15 minimum wage wouldn’t just be an economic gift to workers — it would be a political gift from the Democrats to themselves. Inaction, on the other hand, would hand a historic favor to the far right. Biden is committing a huge blunder by wavering.
In the “Renter From Hell” Narrative, Landlords Are the Real Victims
The COVID-19 era eviction moratorium has given rise to a new journalistic genre: the “renter from hell” narrative, portraying landlords as the real victims of the crisis.
The Danger Posed by the Far Right to AOC and the Squad Is Very Real
The far right is dangerously obsessed with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her fellow left-wing members of Congress. They deserve the Left’s solidarity.
If Joe Biden Moves Left, You Can Thank the Left
Joe Biden has issued a raft of executive orders that are surprisingly progressive. But we know who to thank: the organized left, which has helped transform US politics.
Workers Are Standing Up to Far-Right Violence
In industries across the economy — from airlines to tech — the past two weeks have seen workers and their unions take the lead in combating Donald Trump’s far-right base.
It’s a Little Late for Mike Pence to Pose as a Brave Dissenter to Donald Trump
Mike Pence built his political career on theocratic extremism, Dickensian economics, and sycophancy toward Donald Trump. It’s a little late for him to be posing now as a defender of democracy and a counter to Trump’s authoritarianism.