Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez Pick a Fight With the Loan Sharks
Bernie Sanders and AOC are pushing for rules that would put payday lenders out of business — and end Wall Street’s business model of exploiting the poor.
389 Articles by: Meagan Day
Meagan Day is an associate editor at Jacobin. She is the coauthor of Bigger than Bernie: How We Go from the Sanders Campaign to Democratic Socialism.
Thankfully, the Democrats Are Playing Hardball With the Left
The Democrats’ congressional campaign arm is trying to blacklist the Left. We welcome their hatred.
Knock It Down
Rachel Lears’ electric new documentary about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and three fellow working-class political insurgents is now in theaters. It tells the story of four ordinary people confronting a corrupt Democratic establishment.
Why New York’s Tenement Museum Workers Decided to Unionize
The Tenement Museum tells stories of life and labor on New York’s Lower East Side. But it’s not just garment workers from a century ago who needed unions — the museum workers themselves recently decided they did, too.
Chesa Boudin Wants to Transform San Francisco’s Criminal Justice System
Chesa Boudin is a socialist and the child of revolutionaries. Now he’s running for San Francisco district attorney on a platform of ending cash bail and undoing the war on drugs.
Happy May Day! Workers of the World Are Uniting
Here’s something to celebrate this May Day: History may well look back at our era as the moment the working class finally got back on its feet.
What to Make of Warren’s Policy Blitz
Elizabeth Warren may have smart policies. But Bernie Sanders has mass politics.
Defend Your Class
Harvard students weren’t big fans of Bernie Sanders in last night’s CNN town hall. Of course they weren’t. Elite Ivy Leaguers know which side they’re on — and it’s not Bernie’s.
Elizabeth Warren Takes the Lead On Student Debt
Elizabeth Warren’s proposal to cancel student debt isn’t perfect, but it’s the boldest so far. Bernie Sanders should take notice.
An Ode to Sanitation Workers
Without them, the factories would stop, the cities would empty, and civilization itself would collapse. An appreciation of sanitation workers — our whole lives depend on them.
Bernie 1, Fox 0
Bernie Sanders didn’t just face down Fox News and prevail — he called the bluff that underpins our whole two-party system.
Freedom Gained and Lost
In 1861, coastal South Carolina witnessed an experiment in what Southern slave emancipation could have looked like: communities of freedmen owning their land and passing it on to their heirs. Those island communities have survived to this day — but real estate development is now threatening to destroy them.
Votes For All
By calling for the enfranchisement of the incarcerated, Bernie Sanders is carrying on a long and venerable socialist tradition of fighting for the universal right to vote.
Workers Can Do What the Wonks Can’t
When the IRS discovered widespread tax fraud by the rich, the agency assembled a special team to crack down. They failed, but through politics we can take on elites and win.
Show Us the Money
Facing pressure from the Left, Democratic presidential candidates are foregoing corporate PAC money. But in private, they’re still cozying up to capitalist supervillains.
Red for Higher Ed
Tens of thousands of University of California workers are on strike today. Their message is clear: austerity and privatization are destroying education.
Unlike Some People, Bernie Hasn’t “Evolved”
In the seventies, Bernie Sanders called for nationalizing major industries, a stance the media want to frame as a gaffe. But it only shows how consistent he’s been in fighting predatory elites — in stark contrast to the other Democratic candidates.
The Hidden Billionaires
Media-friendly, politically moderate billionaires like Bill Gates get a lot of airtime. But the vast majority are nothing like him. Most are highly secretive — and extremely right-wing.
Bernie Sanders Wants You to Fight
When Bernie Sanders says “It’s not about me, it’s about us,” he’s not just pandering. He’s trying to create a mass movement — because he knows that without one, his agenda doesn’t stand a chance.
Fox News’s Incredible “Socialism” Self-Own
Once upon a time, “socialism” meant breadlines and tyranny to many Americans. Then Fox News came along and made it sound amazing.