Democratize Finance, Euthanize the Fossil Fuel Industry
The Green New Deal won’t get far if it’s left hostage to the whims of private finance. We need to set up public banks and democratize the Federal Reserve.
19679 Articles by: Opal Lee
Opal Lee is a writer.
It’s Not Just Red States vs. Blue States
A slew of recent histories would suggest that the major divide in American society is “red states” vs. “blue states.” In fact, it is class that’s the real fault line.
Enemies of the Left
The FBI has historically served as a political police force, tasked not just with monitoring dissent but actively destroying it. Nowhere is that clearer than in their infiltration of the Left in the 1960s and ’70s.
Leave John Locke in the Dustbin of History
Some scholars and writers are trying to rehabilitate John Locke. They shouldn’t — he was an apologist for slavery, not a champion of freedom.
Not Him, Us
Parts of the business press have painted the Italian Democrats’ new leader as a local Jeremy Corbyn or Bernie Sanders. They’re being too kind.
We Need to Say What Socialism Will Look Like
Socialists can’t wave away concerns about the feasibility of a future socialist society — we need to offer people credible answers.
From Meyer London to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Before there was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, there was New York’s Socialist congressman Meyer London. His experience in Washington is full of lessons for us today.
A Metropolis on the Verge of Modernity
In the years before the Nazi takeover, Berlin was a pulsing metropolis. Hit series Babylon Berlin immerses us in a recognizable era of transformation — and despair.
Longing for Jeff Bezos
As if New York’s failed attempt to bribe Amazon wasn’t embarrassing enough, the city’s political and labor elite is now begging Jeff Bezos to change his mind. Let’s hope they fail again.
Why Oakland’s Striking Teachers Won
Though educators did not achieve all their demands, Oakland’s teachers strike transformed the city, won important gains, and empowered educators to take on the billionaire education privatizers.
“A Monument to Disenchantment”
In his new book, historian Greg Grandin shows why an expanding American empire has required an increasingly militarized border. And why America’s founding frontier myth is finally coming to an end.
The Hillary Show Goes On
Bernie’s a Russian sympathizer… If only John McCain were still around. Hillary Clinton seems determined to prove that she’s living in a fantasy world of her own creation.
Among the Brooklyn Bernie Bros
Whatever the media depiction, Bernie Sanders’s first presidential campaign rally was attended by large numbers of women and people of color. We talked to some of them about why they support Bernie.
The Green New Deal Needs WWII-Scale Ambition
We can end global warming pollution and build a just, green economy in ten years with a budget of $50 trillion a year.
What Chicago Taught Bernie
Chicago is the city where Bernie Sanders first organized as a socialist, struggled for civil rights, and “began to understand the futility of liberalism.”
When Nobody Can “Take Back Control”
With the emergence of the centrist Independent Group, British politics is in a state of near collapse — and the democratic deficiencies of the country’s politics have been exposed.
The Reds and the Green
The Irish fight for freedom inspired revolutionaries around the world. Yet the Comintern founded in 1919 struggled to build a lasting socialist presence in independent Ireland’s politics.
To Moscow and Back
Founded 100 years ago today, the Communist International quickly won the backing of Norway’s mighty Labor Party. The alliance promised to link the Soviets to mass politics in the West — but Moscow soon wasted its opportunity.
Socialists Took Down the British Empire
When the Comintern was founded in 1919, the British Empire was the most powerful state in the world. Scottish communist John Maclean promised to destroy it from within.
Bernie Returns Home to Brooklyn
Bernie Sanders is back in Brooklyn for his first 2020 campaign rally, but the New York socialist — who grew up in a working-class community and radical Jewish political tradition — never really left.