Nelson Lichtenstein on a Half-Century of American Class Struggle
Labor historian Nelson Lichtenstein reflects on his long life and career, including Berkeley in the 1960s, Walter Reuther and the early UAW, Walmart, Bill Clinton, and much more.
82 Articles by: Micah Uetricht
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Micah Uetricht is the editor of Jacobin. He is the author of Strike for America: Chicago Teachers Against Austerity and coauthor of Bigger than Bernie: How We Go from the Sanders Campaign to Democratic Socialism.
“Chicago Is Leading the Way in Advancing a Real Political Alternative”
Brandon Johnson was inaugurated as Chicago mayor today. What makes the Chicago working-class movement that elected him so remarkable is its willingness to wage audacious fights over protecting and expanding public goods that seem unwinnable.
How Chicago’s Working-Class Movement Elected Mayor Brandon Johnson
In a conversation with Jacobin, Chicago Teachers Union president Stacy Davis Gates, city councilor Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, and editor Alex Han discuss how Chicago’s working-class movement elected one of its own as mayor and where that movement goes now.
Jane McAlevey’s Plan for How to Build a Fighting Labor Movement
As a longtime labor organizer, scholar, and writer, Jane McAlevey has repeatedly articulated how mass numbers of workers can organize, negotiate, strike, and change the world. In an extended interview with Jacobin, McAlevey reflects on her life and work.
Brandon Johnson in 2014: “It’s Not Enough to Patch Poverty”
Former rank-and-file Chicago Teachers Union member and organizer Brandon Johnson advanced to a runoff election in the city’s mayoral race this week. In 2014, Jacobin interviewed Johnson about the CTU’s political strategy. We publish the conversation here.
Brandon Johnson Is Looking to Go From the Public School Classroom to Mayor of Chicago
Brandon Johnson spent a decade as a rank-and-file Chicago teacher and organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union before winning county-level elected office. Now, he’s running for Chicago mayor with the union’s backing. We spoke to Johnson about his campaign.
Anatomy of a Union Organizing Drive
Unions aren’t just vehicles for transforming society — they also transform lives, as workers and organizers learn how to build an organization that can overthrow the authoritarian dictatorship of the boss and create a beloved community.
Mike Davis Showed Us What “Old-School Socialism” Looked Like
The Marxist writer and activist Mike Davis died yesterday at the age of 76. His astonishing body of work will be impossible for anyone to replicate — but all of us can emulate his example of how to live and fight as an “old-school socialist.”
Spain Is at the Forefront of Expanding Women’s Rights
Women’s rights are being severely eroded in the United States. In Spain, the opposite is true. Jacobin spoke with Spanish minister of equality Irene Montero about those advances and the need to tie feminist concerns to the fight against capitalism.
Nina Turner Is Coming Out Swinging — Again
This week, Nina Turner announced a second run for Congress in Ohio’s 11th District. She spoke with Jacobin about fighting pro-corporate Democrats, frustrations with the Biden administration, and why “evil never sleeps, so good can never take a vacation.”
The Summer List You Didn’t Know You Needed: Jacobin’s 2021 Beach Reads
Here at Jacobin, we don’t just offer you radical political dispatches — we give you practical advice on how to improve your summer. Here are our top beach reads for the sweltering summer months.
Journalism Is in Crisis. Only Public Funding Can Save It.
For the Left, it’s easy to hate the media, with its entrenched centrist biases and loyalty to the status quo. But a world without high-quality news is a world where meaningful democracy is impossible. That’s the message of media scholar Victor Pickard, who argues for a transformation of our media system away from the model of commercial news and toward a “public option.”
Mark Rudd’s Lessons From SDS and the Weather Underground for Today’s Radicals
Mark Rudd was Columbia’s Students for a Democratic Society chapter president in 1968, when the university erupted in protest against the Vietnam War and racism. He then cofounded the Weather Underground. In an interview with Jacobin, he reflects on what radicals like him got right and got wrong, and what today’s socialists should learn from his experiences.
It Was All Worth It to Hear Bernie Say Five Years Ago, “Henry Kissinger Is Not My Friend”
Five years ago, Bernie Sanders proclaimed on national television, “I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend.” If this was the one moment of note that emerged from both Sanders campaigns, all the time and money and effort still would have been worth it.
On the Daily Show, Jacobin Contributor Doug Henwood Talks GameStop and Wall Street
Watch Doug Henwood talk with the Daily Show’s Trevor Noah about GameStop, the lies companies like Robinhood tell about their “democratic” empowerment of small investors, and why the absurdities and inefficiencies of Wall Street are a “racket.”
Why the Arab Spring Failed
As inspiring as the Arab Spring uprisings of the early 2010s were, they failed to democratize the Middle East. The primary cause had little to do with the region’s cultural or religious characteristics and everything to do with the profound weakening of the Middle East’s working-class power under neoliberalism.
Americans Work Too Damn Much
Workers in the United States have lost control of perhaps the most important aspect of their lives: their time. Getting that time back is crucial — for workers’ well-being, for democracy, and for weakening the tyrannical power of the boss.
Jane McAlevey: Prepare to Hit the Streets After Election Day
Labor organizer and strategist Jane McAlevey saw the disaster of the 2000 Florida recount close up. This time, she says, the labor movement will be crucial in the fight to “force the Democratic Party to do something that we don’t think that they’re going to do on their own.”
Talking About Auto Work — Or Any Work Under Capitalism — Means Talking About Constant, Brutal Violence
Auto work is typically remembered as one of the best industrial jobs a worker could get in postwar America. Less remembered, however, is how absolutely brutal and violent life on the auto factory floor was — and still is.
What Democratic Socialists Should Think About Anti-Communism
A deep commitment to democracy is at the heart of the socialist project. Anticommunists have historically claimed they oppose states like the Soviet Union out of a concern for democracy. But those anticommunists’ real project has nothing to do with democracy — and everything to do with smashing the Left.