What Jacobin Taught Me — And a Generation of Socialists
Jacobin has been publishing for 10 years now. And we still retain the hope that the solution to the world’s ills will come through more popular democracy and freedom, and not less.
19082 Articles by: Ryan Switzer
Ryan Switzer is a PhD candidate in sociology at Stockholm University. He researches right-wing politics in welfare states.
Joe Biden Should Stop Shitting on the Democratic Party’s Base
Joe Biden keeps stomping on progressives — despite the fact that he desperately needs their votes. If he wants to defeat Donald Trump, this is exactly the wrong way to do it.
The Pandemic Has Totally Undermined Any Argument for Means-Tested Policies
For decades, austerity-minded politicians have bashed universal programs by concern trolling about the danger that a handful of rich people would get them. The urgency of the pandemic is helping people realize just how inconsequential this hang-up is compared to the advantages of universal benefits.
Un nuevo imaginario para nuestra América
La pandemia del COVID-19 impacta en una América Latina ya golpeada por la crisis económica y por una ofensiva conservadora casi sin precedentes. Pero los pueblos se resisten a dar la pulseada por perdida, y los ejemplos de resistencia y construcciones alternativas proliferan por toda la región.
La destrucción ambiental sin límites de Bolsonaro
Los meses de agosto y septiembre registraron nuevas embestidas contra el medioambiente por parte del gobierno brasileño, confirmando que sus políticas de ecocidio no conocen límites.
No, Social Media Isn’t Destroying Civilization
Netflix’s The Social Dilemma tells a horror story about how social media is creating political extremism and driving children into depression and addiction. But it never even hints that these ills have causes outside of our use of Facebook and Snapchat — and the possibility that what we see on these platforms portrays the reality of a sick society.
Rossana Rossanda (1924–2020)
Rossana Rossanda, who died on Sunday at age 96, was an anti-fascist partisan and cofounder of Italy’s il manifesto newspaper. A communist till the last, she insisted that the Left must defend its own identity — and unflinchingly take sides with the exploited and oppressed.
Good Riddance to the Kennedys
This month, Joe Kennedy III became the first Kennedy ever to lose an election in Massachusetts. In light of the occasion, a Masshole reflects on the awfulness of the Kennedy clan and celebrates the end of Kennedy hegemony.
Trump Claims He’s Pro-Worker. But His Labor Board Is Trying to Destroy Worker Organizing.
Donald Trump tries to portray himself as pro-worker. Nowhere is this absurdity better exposed than in the decisions of his National Labor Relations Board, which have over and over again favored bosses rather than workers.
Jacobin’s Achievement — And Our Mission in the Decade to Come
There is much to celebrate in Jacobin’s ten-year anniversary. We’re fostering a stable of socialist researchers and journalists — intellectuals who can deploy the same techniques as the professoriate, but toward ends that are dictated by their political commitments, not professional pressures.
We’re Celebrating Our 10th Anniversary. Help Us Stick Around for Many More.
Jacobin just turned 10. Here’s how you can help us stick around until the fight is won.
Having Socialist Elected Officials Makes a Difference for Working-Class People
For almost a decade, people in three Melbourne local councils — Yarra, Darebin, and Moreland — have elected socialist councilors to represent them. By standing up to developers, neoliberal local government managers, and the federal government, Melbourne’s socialist councilors have not let them down.
In Lenín Moreno’s Ecuador, Democracy Is in Danger
Following last year’s popular revolt against IMF-backed reforms, Ecuador’s neoliberal president Lenín Moreno has systematically pushed phony judicial processes to suppress opposition at the ballot box. The ban on leftist Rafael Correa’s candidacy makes a mockery of the 2021 election — and raises worrying questions over the future of democracy in Ecuador.
How 1968 Marked a Shift for Rossana Rossanda’s Radical Politics
Sunday saw the passing of Rossana Rossanda, a lifelong communist, anti-fascist partisan, and cofounder of il manifesto newspaper. In this extract from her memoirs, she explains how the upheavals of 1968 marked a radical shift in her political engagement, as both the Prague Spring, and worker and student revolts in Italy drove an enduring split in Communist Party ranks.
Joe Biden Is Wrong. Believing in Science Means Banning Fracking.
Joe Biden wants to have it both ways, issuing bold rhetoric about the climate emergency while refusing to adopt a policy agenda to match. But taking the science of climate change seriously means banning practices like fracking — something Biden has so far refused to do.
Here’s What Democrats Can Actually Do To Stop Trump’s SCOTUS Pick
The Democratic Party has long made a habit of preemptively surrendering major fights with Republicans before they even begin. They’ll have to change that right now if Democrats want to block a Supreme Court replacement of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
What Exactly Is the Liberal Position on the Supreme Court?
The Supreme Court is way too powerful — and its power shouldn’t be wielded for good, it should be permanently undermined. Many liberals are close to coming around to this position, but few articulate it clearly.
44 Years Ago Today, Chilean Socialist Orlando Letelier Was Assassinated on US Soil
On September 21, 1976, Orlando Letelier, a former minister in Salvador Allende’s socialist government in Chile who was forced into exile after the US-backed coup that brought General Augusto Pinochet to power, was assassinated by a car bomb in the heart of Washington, DC.
There’s No Such Thing as a Good Debtor
In the US, consumer debt is presented as a crucial rung on the ladder to a better life, a pathway to homeownership, and a good job. But most people never dig themselves out of debt, and the myth of the “good” debtor only conceals the crime of treating health care, shelter, and education as profit centers.
Capitalism Isn’t About Freedom. It’s About Subjugation.
Let’s say we accept capitalism’s defenders’ claims that their system created mass economic growth and pulled countless people out of poverty. Even if that’s true, we have clearly reached a point in human development where we can rid ourselves of capitalism’s relations of hierarchy and domination — without inviting immiseration.