Here Comes Democrats’ Phony Populist Posturing
Like clockwork, when Democrats get desperate, they trot out disingenuous populist rhetoric to try to save themselves.
15 Articles by: Neal Meyer
Neal Meyer is a member of the New York City Democratic Socialists of America. He cowrites the Left Notes newsletter, which covers politics, the labor movement, and philosophy from a democratic socialist perspective.
Which Party Wants to Preserve the Status Quo?
When it comes to the economy, Democrats are now the party of the status quo, while Donald Trump’s GOP is making a misleading but radical-sounding pitch to upend the existing order in workers’ favor. It’s a fundamental role reversal in US politics.
The Left Needs a Real Strategy for a Harris Presidency
As he campaigns for Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders is laying out a progressive agenda for 2025. It’s a program that a Harris administration could conceivably get behind, but Sanders and his allies need a way to force it to do so.
Should the Transition to Socialism Be Fast or Slow?
Socialists considering how to break with capitalism are confronted with a dilemma: support a gradual move to social ownership, so workers can build up the know-how to run those firms, or support a rapid transition so capitalists can’t sabotage the economy.
The Right Played Hardball in Congress. The Left Should Take Notes.
By fighting Kevin McCarthy’s bid to become the next Speaker of the House, the right wing of the Republican Party won significant concessions that will make it a powerful player in Congress. The Left should learn to replicate its tactics for egalitarian ends.
The Right Fearmongers About Progressives, But the Democratic Party Remains Neoliberal
The Left’s beachhead in Congress has grown in the last few years. But at the current rate of expansion, the Left will remain a minority in the Democratic Party’s congressional caucus until 2091. We can’t wait that long for change.
New York DSA Stood Strong Against an Establishment Counterattack on Tuesday
The Democratic Party establishment, backed by the rich, hit back hard against democratic socialists in New York on Tuesday. But the Democratic Socialists of America beat back the attacks on incumbents and successfully expanded its bench in Albany.
Socialists Believe in Workers Liberating Themselves
That workers must liberate themselves rather than rely on top-down liberation is one of the few rules for socialist organizing that Marx and Engels ever laid down. It’s nonnegotiable: socialists believe in workers freeing themselves through class struggle.
Bernie Wants Democrats to Fight for the Working Class. They Won’t.
Bernie Sanders is sounding the alarm: working-class people are fed up with Democrats’ failed strategy of behind-the-scenes negotiations. But the party won’t listen. So Sanders and the Squad should take a more aggressive approach against the Democrats.
Democrats Will Probably Lose the Midterms. But They Don’t Have To.
There’s no natural law that says the Democrats have to lose next year’s midterm elections. But if Democrats can’t fundamentally improve the quality of life for working-class voters, there’s good reason to think they will lose.
Under Joe Biden, Corporate Interests Are Still Steering the Ship
Despite continued proclamations that Joe Biden is a transformative president, his agenda has been much more about placating business interests than shifting power to workers.
Why Socialists Should Support Proportional Representation
Support for a multiparty system is widespread in the United States. Such a system is crucial to ridding this country of the two-party trap and building a real democratic system. That’s why socialists should support proportional representation in our electoral system.
Why You Should Be a Socialist — and a Marxist
Socialism is back on the agenda in the United States, thank God. And today’s newly minted socialists shouldn’t be afraid to embrace Marxism.
AOC Is Right: She and Joe Biden Should Not Be in the Same Party
In a story released yesterday, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she and Joe Biden “would not be in the same party” in a different country. Centrists freaked out. But she’s right — fighters for the working class like AOC and Bernie Sanders aren’t on the same team as defenders of Wall Street and war like Biden.
What Is Democratic Socialism?
Everybody’s talking about democratic socialism these days. Here’s what you need to know about it.