Ryan Switzer is a PhD candidate in sociology at Stockholm University. He researches right-wing politics in welfare states.
As Labour leader Keir Starmer continues to distance himself from Jeremy Corbyn, he’s pulling a Tony Blair: embracing the lukewarm rhetoric of American social liberalism and abandoning the confident language of socialism.
A century ago, the Barcelona general strike made Spain one of the first countries in the world to introduce the eight-hour working day. Now, under pressure from the Left, the Spanish government is trialing a four-day week, with no loss of pay for workers.
In the 1970s, trade unions in Sydney began imposing “green bans” on property developments that were going to cause social and ecological harm. The movement should be an inspiration for challenges to the power of big business everywhere.
Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s governing MORENA Party won the midterm elections last month. Now in its second term, it must deliver on the transformative agenda its voters expect.
The Trudeau government likes to pose as a neutral player in its dealings with Israelis and Palestinians, concerned only with fostering peace. In reality, Canada gives unstinting support to Israel’s occupation and the brutal methods needed to uphold it.
Stunning revelations have emerged overseas about the reckless and duplicitous methods used by US law enforcement against Julian Assange. But in the US, the story has been subject to an almost total media blackout.
France’s neoliberal president, Emmanuel Macron, promised to get tough on climate change. But this week’s move to criminalize protests at airports shows his government would rather get tough on climate activists — the latest in Macron’s attack on civil liberties.
Tennis has often been considered an exclusive sport — but in the 1930s, trade unionists came together to challenge the private clubs with their own tournament: the “Workers’ Wimbledon.”
From Ronald Reagan’s notorious 1961 rant against the horrors of socialized medicine to present-day propaganda of the insurance industry, right-wing and corporate efforts to halt the expansion of public health care seem to strike the exact same notes again and again — and draw on the same bogus arguments.
Lula rose from humble origins to become a leftist icon, exuding working-class authenticity and successfully bringing working people into the country’s political life. And his story isn’t over: he could soon return to power.
Picking a health care plan isn’t an exercise in freedom — it’s an impossibly complicated, mind-numbing task seemingly designed to drive you insane. Can’t we just have Medicare for All already?
Pedro Castillo is the next president of Peru. His election was a repudiation of neoliberalism and right-wing authoritarianism — and it could signal a permanent sea change in Peruvian politics.
Haitian president Jovenel Moïse was assassinated this week by alleged mercenaries. In an interview with Jacobin, the English language editor of Haiti Liberté says he suspects that some of Haiti’s richest families hired the attackers to preempt a potential revolution — and possibly even trigger US military intervention.
A mass experiment in Iceland found that workers with four-day weeks became happier and healthier and got just as much done. It’ll take worker organizing to win a demand like that.
Mining multinational Vale is trying to strip its workers in Sudbury of vital benefits using the pandemic as cover. They’ve responded with strike action, building on a long tradition of militant trade unionism in the region.
Democratic Party hacks love to accuse socialists of lacking support from black and brown New Yorkers. But a look at the numbers in Brooklyn reveals the opposite: socialism won among black working-class voters. Support from white liberals, on the other hand, was missing.
A month since teacher and labor activist Pedro Castillo was elected Peruvian president, his far-right opponents are still trying to stop him from taking office. The attempt to overturn the election shows the elites’ refusal to accept defeat — and the dangers the Left faces as it seeks a break from the country’s neoliberal model.
Music gives tangible shape to the best and basest in all of us. Yet under capitalism, it’s just another commodity. That artists and critics continue making and writing about music despite the industry’s vampiric drive for profit shows our stubborn unwillingness to give up a key piece of our humanity.
This month marks 120 years since the founding of the Socialist Party of America. The party was especially strong in rural areas like Oklahoma — success that the socialist movement could actually replicate today.
In the Rust Belt, heavy industry has been replaced by health care. But even though the working class has changed, exploitation at the hands of their bosses haven’t.