Can We Break Out of Our Hyperpolitical Moment?
In Western democracies today, intense political polarization is the norm, and mass protests are not uncommon. Yet ordinary people remain far from the levers of power.
87 Article(s) by: Nick French
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Nick French is an associate editor at Jacobin.
ICE vs. High Schoolers
We spoke with high school students in Minneapolis about how they were affected by ICE’s occupation of the city.
What San Francisco Educators Won on Their Strike
Over 6,000 public school educators in San Francisco went on strike last month for the first time in nearly 50 years. We spoke to three of them about what they won, including coverage of skyrocketing health care costs and easing special education workloads.
Reflecting on New York City’s Largest Nurses’ Strike
After weeks of nurses picketing in the freezing cold, New York City nurses concluded their biggest-ever strike last month. Jacobin spoke to a striking nurse leader about their fight against intransigent employers and a hostile governor.
Zohran: The Budget Crisis Is Real. Workers Shouldn’t Pay for It.
Facing a massive budgetary crisis, Zohran Mamdani is breaking with technocratic norms to openly explain the deficit while reiterating his pledges to oppose austerity and tax the rich — which means walking a political tightrope with Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Zohran’s Mayoralty Can Advance the Cause of Socialism
Beyond his marquee campaign promises on affordability, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the movement behind him have the opportunity to expand popular participation in politics and push for reforms that democratize economic life.
Zohran Mamdani Is Right on Public Safety
On crime, just as on other issues, Zohran Mamdani is leading the Left out of dead-end sloganeering and toward progressive governance.
Jacobin Has Charted Zohran Mamdani’s Rise From the Beginning
From our first interview immediately after he won his state assembly election in 2020 through profiles, op-eds, interviews, and speeches, Jacobin has closely covered Zohran Mamdani’s political career rooted in the socialist movement since its start.
Trump Is Ready to Let Millions of Americans Go Hungry
The Trump administration says it will withhold funding for food stamps starting November 1. The move will inflict hardship on tens of millions of lower-income Americans who rely on the program and potentially cause broader economic disruption.
Why the US Has Such a Brutal Penal Regime
Compared to similarly rich countries, the US has an exceptionally punitive system of policing and prisons. What explains America’s extremely harsh penal regime?
Socialists Are Key Leaders of the Anti-Trump Opposition
The Democrats have failed to mount a serious response to Donald Trump’s authoritarianism. Their fecklessness has left the door open for democratic socialists like Zohran Mamdani to position themselves as the real opposition to Trump.
New York City Nurses vs. Austerity
In New York City, 20,000 nurses are negotiating contracts with the city’s private sector hospitals. The hospitals are using federal Medicaid cuts as an argument for austerity. But nurses say the richer hospitals, and the state government, can fill the gap.
Is Analytic Philosophy a Class Ideology?
Christoph Schuringa insists that analytic philosophy serves as an ideological fig leaf for liberal capitalism. But his polemic distorts the discipline’s history and fails to draw persuasive links between its development and apologias for the status quo.
Tech Capital Is Dominating American Politics
While Donald Trump assaults civil liberties and the social safety net, Democrats are lost. Capital’s continued dominance of both parties and Big Tech’s machinations in particular are key to understanding our political crisis, argues Thomas Ferguson.
Zohran Mamdani Takes Up Bernie Sanders’s Torch
Bernie Sanders clearly sees the future of his movement in Zohran Mamdani, who is now poised to become the next mayor of New York City. In inheriting Sanders’s movement, Mamdani inherits a daunting set of questions and challenges.
Trump Is Putting His Thumb on the Scale for Cuomo
Donald Trump has offered Eric Adams a job in his administration, apparently to convince him to drop out of New York’s mayoral race. It’s now official and out in the open: Andrew Cuomo is allying with Trump to beat Zohran Mamdani.
Not by Popular Power Alone
Grassroots worker organization and mobilization is essential to the success of any socialist electoral project. But socialists in executive office can’t neglect other elements, like maintaining wide popular support and alliances within the state.
Democrats Have to Choose: Zohran Mamdani, or Donald Trump?
With the new reporting that Donald Trump has personally talked to Andrew Cuomo about how to defeat Zohran Mamdani in the mayor’s race, New York Democratic leaders have to choose which side they’re on: Mamdani’s, or Trump’s?
Saikat Chakrabarti Wants to Remake the Democratic Party
Saikat Chakrabarti, a founder of Justice Democrats and former top AOC aide, is challenging Nancy Pelosi for her seat in Congress. He talked to Jacobin about his vision for an ambitious program to transform the US economy and reverse class dealignment.
In Zohran Mamdani’s Win, Socialism Beat the Status Quo
There is a hunger for bold, transformative politics in the United States right now. Zohran Mamdani shows how the Left can run on a principled, disciplined message that speaks to voters’ lived concerns — and win.