Remembering the Diggers
Though often forgotten, the Diggers of the English Revolution were egalitarian radicals well before their time. No account of socialist history is complete without them.
21041 Article(s) by: Opal Lee
Opal Lee is a writer.
Bernie’s Green New Deal Is for the Working Class
The Green New Deal proposal unveiled by Bernie Sanders promises to save the planet while providing tens of millions of good-paying jobs in the process. By attacking unemployment, it builds both renewable energy and the power of the working class.
Toni Morrison and the Black Radical Tradition
Toni Morrison was widely praised in mainstream circles upon her death. But they failed to note the most enduring part of Morrison’s legacy: her enormous contribution to the black radical tradition.
Bernie’s Plan for Workplace Democracy Is the Boldest Presidential Plan for Workers’ Rights Ever
Bernie Sanders’s Workplace Democracy Plan, unveiled yesterday, is the best plan for promoting workers’ rights ever proposed by a major US presidential candidate. Whether they support or oppose it, all the other Democratic candidates will have to respond to it.
Any Union That Doesn’t Endorse Bernie Sanders Is Leaving a Huge Pile of Money on the Table
Bernie Sanders announced a massive new labor plan today. One plank in particular on Medicare for All and union contracts stood out to me as a unionized worker: a rule that would give me and my coworkers an enormous monthly raise.
“The Feminism of the 1 Percent Has Associated Our Cause With Elitism”
The likes of Hillary Clinton have tarnished the name of feminism, associating it with neoliberalism and anti–working-class politics. For Nancy Fraser, feminism has to be about overthrowing corporate power, not giving it a female face.
The CEOs Want You to Know That They Care
With their new statement disavowing “shareholder value,” the CEOs of the country’s biggest corporations are trying to send a message: we feel your pain and we want to do better. They’re empty words, but it’s the latest sign that the masters of the universe are getting nervous about capitalism’s waning popular legitimacy.
We Need to Reconnect Socialists to the US Labor Movement
Socialists have historically played a key role in the US labor movement as part of a broader current of militant rank-and-file workers. The recent teachers’ strike wave shows that to rebuild unions, we have to build that militant current.
In Russia, the Fight Is Alive
Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian regime claims to offer order in place of post-Soviet chaos. Yet the crude repression of opposition demonstrations shows the regime’s fear of the rising popular discontent.
David Berman and the Re-Enchantment of Life
On his life, work, and existential longing in late capitalism.
America Needs a Nonvoter Revolution
Tens of millions of Americans don’t vote because they are underrepresented by US political institutions. To get those voters to the polls, we need a politics that puts the needs of the many before the wealth and power of the few.
An Industrial Policy That Puts Workers First
Even the Financial Times, the mouthpiece of international business, is suggesting the US needs an industrial policy. But we need one that empowers workers, not American corporations.
The Attack on Owen Jones Is a Grim Sign of the Times
Last week’s attack on Guardian columnist Owen Jones is another sign of an emboldened far right and the degeneration of public discourse in Brexit Britain.
The Internet’s Invisible Cleanup Crew
A hidden army of tens of thousands of content moderators is at work every day — in often appalling conditions — to make the internet as we know it habitable. We should hold Silicon Valley responsible.
Salvini Can Be Beaten
Far-right leader Matteo Salvini brought down the Italian government because he wanted fresh elections. A pact among the other parties could stop his advance — but only if it breaks with austerity.
Why I’m a Socialist
I believe in democracy, freedom, and humans’ ability to create a better world than the one we have now. That’s why I’m a socialist.
Bernie’s Plan Rings in a New Era of Criminal Justice Politics
With his Justice and Safety for All plan, Bernie Sanders is applying his democratic socialist vision to one of the urgent questions of our time: ending the carceral state. He’s opted to follow the lead of criminal justice reformers — and their demands are starting to look like his, too.
Nonprofit Workers Need Unions, Too
Young radicals often work at nonprofits out of a genuine desire to challenge the symptoms of capitalism. But they often find that the nonprofit model rests on their own exploitation — and on preserving the political status quo.
Basquiat’s Story We Need to Hear
The Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibit currently on display at the Guggenheim does exactly what art should do: tell us a story we don’t want to hear but need to, about the racist brutality so prevalent in American life.
Socialists Need to Be Part of the Labor Movement
Politico recently attacked the Democratic Socialists of America for the high crime of looking to transform the labor movement. But for young socialists, there are few better ways of doing politics than getting a union job and working to push that union to the left.