The Meaning of January 6, 2021
A long history suggests that while the crisis of the moment dictates directing the state’s security resources and personnel toward the Right, this focus will, inevitably, shift back to the Left.
21029 Article(s) by: Opal Lee
Opal Lee is a writer.
There’s Really No Need to Compromise, Joe
After whittling down the originally promised $2,000 checks to $1,400, Joe Biden is now saying he’s open to negotiating on the $1,400. Democrats need to stop preemptively compromising and use their electoral mandate to deliver immediate material benefits to workers.
Red London in Tory Britain
Few major cities have welcomed the world’s oligarchs and kleptocrats like London has. Yet nestled within the neoliberal dystopia, London’s neighborhoods reflect the long and ongoing struggle to transform Britain’s capital into a self-managed, social-democratic municipality for its residents.
Bernie Sanders Gets It. We Should All Have Free Health Care During the Pandemic.
Bernie Sanders is pushing a new proposal as part of the stimulus bill that would give everyone free health care during the pandemic. His plan would get us qualitatively closer to Medicare for All — and we should all rally behind it.
Union-Bashing Is on the Menu at Tim Hortons
A US firm, Positive Management Leadership, is teaching some of Canada’s leading businesses how to snuff out union organizing before it gets off the ground. Their investment in union-bashing shows how much those companies fear organized and empowered workers.
Socialist Lee Carter Wants to Be Virginia’s Next Governor
Lee Carter is a member of Virginia’s House of Delegates, a former Marine Corps member and electrician, and a socialist. In an interview with Jacobin, he discusses his legislative history pushing for expanded health care and worker rights, the threat of far-right violence, and how a socialist governor could transform the state of Virginia.
“It’s Not Even About Hazard Pay. It’s About Basic Human Decency.”
The coronavirus pandemic has been raging for almost a year now, but essential workers are still being wildly mistreated across the United States. We talked to a janitor at a major pharmaceutical manufacturer about the abhorrent conditions she and her coworkers are still facing on the job, where management “doesn’t treat us like people.”
WandaVision Needs More Surrealism
Disney Plus’s new Marvel show WandaVision promises a surreal spin on a 1960s sitcom reality. But so far, it’s delivered little more than winks and nods to Marvel Cinematic Universe loyalists.
For the Corporate Press, It’s All the Spin That’s Fit to Print
The mainstream media claims to prize objectivity above all else. But for every story scrutinizing corporate power, you’ll find 10 or 20 depicting CEOs and corporations as the great saviors of America.
In 2009, Pundits Predicted a New Progressive Era. It Never Came.
We’ll have to wait to find out whether Joe Biden’s domestic agenda will actually reflect the surprisingly progressive noises he’s been making since his swearing in. But the exultant days and weeks surrounding Barack Obama’s inauguration offer a cautionary tale.
Corrupt, Right-Wing Machine Politics Are Crippling the Australian Labor Party
The ALP’s right faction is riddled with corruption and cover-ups that are holding the party back. We can’t rely on the legal system to clean out the ALP’s stables — empowering Labor members through real party democracy is the only way to break the cycle.
With Scores of Union Contracts Expiring, 2021 Can Be a Year of Mass Solidarity
A wave of collective bargaining agreements are set to expire across the public and private sector this year. It will be a perfect opportunity to build class consciousness — and for labor to show the unorganized why it’s so important to have a union.
Good Riddance to a Terrible National Labor Relations Board Head Attorney
The decisions made by the National Labor Relations Board have massive importance for workers’ ability to organize and unionize. So it’s no small development that the board’s terrible pro-management head attorney, Peter Robb, was unceremoniously canned this past week.
The Cruel Detention of Immigrants Didn’t Start With Trump — And It Won’t End With Him, Either
Since the 1980s, the US prison system for detaining immigrants has grown exponentially, under Democratic and Republican presidents alike. The “nation of immigrants” has created a pervasive system of surveillance and control that makes life hell for those yearning to breathe free.
In Defense of Brunch
As socialists, we’ve rallied against brunch for too long. What we should really be demanding is brunch for all. Consider this our apology.
As Portugal Votes, the Far Right Is at Its Strongest Since the Return to Democracy
After the Carnation Revolution overthrew the dictatorship in 1974, Portugal boasted over four decades with no fascist presence in parliament. But with a far-right anti-migrant candidate likely to be runner-up in today’s presidential election, a hard-won anti-fascist consensus is beginning to crumble.
Hunts Point Workers Went on Strike and Won
Today, a 1,400-person strike by Teamsters Local 202 ended. Workers won an immediate 70-cents-an-hour raise, and gave up no concessions to their bosses. It’s a victory worth celebrating and proof that going on strike works.
The 1970s: Decade of the Rank and File
The 1970s were a high-water mark for the US labor movement, with work stoppages, wildcat strikes, and sit-downs spreading up and down the country, involving workers in all industries.
The True Story of Indonesia’s US-Backed Anti-Communist Bloodbath
The massacre of the Indonesian left in 1965–66, backed by Washington, was one of the great crimes of the twentieth century. A new generation of scholars has uncovered its long-suppressed history of slaughter of up to a million people in the name of anti-communism.
It’s Time for Players to Tackle the Great Canadian Football Rip-Off
Team owners in Canadian football made record profits while many of their players had to work second jobs to make ends meet. Now they’re using the pandemic as an excuse to claw back wages even further — a player fightback is the only way to change the game.