Ryan Switzer is a PhD candidate in sociology at Stockholm University. He researches right-wing politics in welfare states.
Joe Biden’s first national security hires have been consulting for defense contractors or working for industry-funded think tanks. The picks are of a piece with Biden’s entire career of backing US imperialism rather than bucking it.
To many, Helen Keller is a symbol of unyielding perseverance in the face of adversity. Rightfully so. But she was also one of the most prominent American Marxists of her time. Here, we reprint her 1912 essay “The Hand of the World” in full.
Puerto Ricans dealt a severe blow to their neoliberal, two-party system in the general election this month, with progressive forces making a major breakthrough. For the first time in the island’s history, the Left has become a relevant player in the electoral arena.
The argument that we shouldn’t cancel student debt because it’s unfair to those who have paid off their loans doesn’t hold up. Don’t overthink it: we should cancel all student debt and make public universities, community colleges, and vocation schools tuition-free.
The anti-communist campaigns of the late 1940s attacked the Left on every front. As beacons of a broad-based cultural radicalism and messengers for change, American folk singers quickly found themselves in the FBI’s crosshairs.
By proposing defense spending increases alongside a pay freeze for workers at a time of massive economic pain, the Tories have revealed their priorities: war before workers’ well-being.
Last week, the Brereton Report documented terrible atrocities committed by Australian forces in Afghanistan. The political establishment has feigned shock at the revelations, but complicity in these crimes goes all the way to the top.
As tech companies tighten their grip on power, sci-fi visions of the future are proliferating. In Alex Rivera’s film Sleep Dealer, automation meets the hyper-militarization of borders, only increasing exploitation. It’s a techno-dystopia alarmingly imaginable today.
Nurses at St. Mary Medical Center have been dealing with understaffing, long hours, low pay, and a lack of protective equipment throughout the pandemic. This past week, they decided to go on strike to push their hospital to take measures needed to keep patients safe.
The Biden campaign’s decision to forsake door-to-door canvassing may have cost Democrats dearly in down-ballot races. It was emblematic of the party’s disastrous abandonment of face-to-face organizing.
Brazil is still dominated by Jair Bolsonaro’s unhinged reactionary politics. Which makes it all the more incredible that the leftist housing organizer Guilherme Boulos recently defied all expectations by making it to a runoff in São Paulo’s upcoming mayoral election.
CEOs at companies like Walmart and McDonald’s continue to pull down multimillion-dollar salaries while their workers’ wages stagnate. And the whole system is underwritten by what amounts to a massive public subsidy.
Stephen Kotkin aspires to give us the definitive picture of Stalin — and to bury socialism with his crimes. But Kotkin’s political outlook, neglect of ideas, and addiction to hindsight warp his presentation of Russian and Soviet history, undermining his entire project.
A new lawsuit charges that bosses at an Iowa meatpacking plant set up a game to bet on how many workers there would contract COVID. The tyranny and cruelty of the American workplace knows no bounds.
All across Britain last night, local Labour Parties passed motions opposing Keir Starmer’s decision to deny Jeremy Corbyn the Labour whip — the broadest rebellion against Starmer’s leadership to date. A civil war within Labour is escalating.
The Mexican Revolution erupted 110 years ago today, as ordinary Mexicans rebelled against despotism and inequality. Before it was over, the country’s agrarian oligarchy had been destroyed.
The political situation in Brazil remains quite reactionary, even after Jair Bolsonaro’s party lost ground in Sunday’s election. But the far-right president’s violent agenda took a hit — and that’s worth celebrating.
COVID-19 has exposed the catastrophic failure of Ontario’s private long-term care facilities. We urgently need a system of elder care that’s universal and publicly funded.
Joe Biden’s most consistent pledge since launching his campaign in 2019 has been to “heal the soul of the nation” after four years of Donald Trump. Yet on immigration, he’s already signaling alarming continuity with the most outwardly racist part of Trump’s agenda.
The incoming Biden administration risks repeating the catastrophic policy failures of the past decade. Deficit cutting won’t help ordinary Americans struggling amid the crisis — but direct relief and increased federal spending will.