Paul Heideman holds a PhD in American studies from Rutgers University–Newark.
All the best things in America were once decried as socialist: Medicare, unions, Social Security. Bernie’s democratic socialism is his strength, and we shouldn’t shy away from talking about it.
Thomas Ferguson’s work traces the history of how big money buys politics in America. He recently sat down with Jacobin to talk about Bernie Sanders, the superrich, and how the flood of corporate cash is shaping the Democratic primary.
Impeachment has failed, but Democrats are still trying to defeat Trump by focusing on process over policy. They’re going to keep failing — the only way to get rid of Trump is to beat him at the polls.
For years, Third Way politicians claimed to be modernizing progressive politics by rejecting leftist policies. But their political project now stands in ruins — and it’s democratic socialism that is on the rise.
Centrists like Jonathan Chait are warning that the Democrats are moving too far left, jeopardizing their ability to beat Trump. Don’t listen to them: they’re just mad at how much the ground has shifted under their feet.
Liberal pundits look at Trump voters and see a monolithic mass of reactionary resentment. But class matters — poor Republicans actually tend to hold progressive views on the economy.
A. Philip Randolph called for a March on Washington to force President Roosevelt to abolish Jim Crow in the war effort, and shaped the trajectory of the postwar left.
Last night’s Democratic presidential debate exposed the deep ideological fissures within the party — and showed again that the energy is with Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and the Left.
Hubert Harrison was one of the first black socialists in the United States, a fierce champion of racial equality, and a pioneering analyst of how capitalists use racism to divide the working class. He deserves to be remembered.
In his speech about democratic socialism yesterday, Bernie Sanders refused to accept freedom as a value of the Right — and laid out all the ways that capitalism limits ordinary workers’ freedom.
Don’t let the slate of new anti-abortion bills fool you — support for abortion rights has actually increased in the last decade. Defeating these draconian measures will mean defeating the elite minority that imposes them.
The socialist emphasis on the centrality of class isn’t about ignoring racial inequalities, but about crafting a politics capable of ending them.
The pundits want you to see Bernie Sanders as a modern-day George McGovern. They’re wrong — but Joe Biden might well be the next Hubert Humphrey.
American politics produces no small number of eccentrics. Lyndon LaRouche, who died yesterday, towered above them all.
Trump’s address last night confirmed yet again that he’s a border security sadist. Our response should be simple: let them in.
Whether it’s Donald Trump, the Democratic Party, or today’s midterms, the best way to understand US politics is to follow the money.
Critics claim democratic socialism is pie-in-the-sky idealism. But socialists have always been at the core of reform struggles.
People aren’t turning to socialism because they’re naive. They’re turning to socialism because they know we don’t have to live in misery.
How Students for a Democratic Society went from building a mass movement to embracing the politics of self-destruction.
Though not unblemished, socialists in the United States have a record in confronting black oppression that is unmatched by other political traditions.