Manners — Revolutionary and Bourgeois
It’s easy to dismiss manners as simply markers of social hierarchy. But manners can perform an egalitarian, progressive function — and they’re essential to any democratic organization.
19146 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 Wants to Take Away Your Music
Joe Biden hasn’t changed much over the years. So it’s safe to assume that the version of him that you see in a recently surfaced video threatening to jail rave promoters and destroy our right to culture is the version of him we would get in a Biden White House.
A Chance to Defend Gig Workers’ Rights in California
A new bill in California would end the legal loophole that allows Uber and Lyft to pay drivers incredibly low wages and avoid paying benefits. It’s no surprise that the companies are mobilizing against the law: their business model is based on abusing their drivers.
From Harvard to East Berlin
In 1952 the Harvard grad Victor Grossman defected to East Germany, hoping to help build socialism on the ruins of Nazism. Thirty years after that state collapsed, he insists that we should see it as a land of contradictions, not just a totalitarian monolith.
Adjunct Faculty in an Adjunct Country
The precarious status of adjunct faculty at the University of Puerto Rico is a microcosm for the broader issues faced by the island.
Socialize the Grid
Energy companies are more concerned with raking in profits than delivering affordable, sustainable energy. We need to wrest control away from them — and socialize the electrical grid.
Take Tom Steyer’s Money Away From Him, For His Own Good and Everyone Else’s
As he continues to burn millions in futile pursuit of the presidency, Tom Steyer’s vanity demonstrates that even progressive billionaires don’t know how to use their wealth responsibly. That’s why we need to take it from them.
Bernie on the AT&T Picket Line
Strikes are on the rise in the United States, not just in education but also in the private sector, as we saw in this week’s AT&T strike in the South. We can’t understand the rise in labor militancy without understanding the role Bernie Sanders has played in stoking that militancy.
“The Electorate Is Already on Board with Socialism”
We spoke with Paige Kreisman, who’s running as the first-ever trans candidate for the Oregon state legislature. She’s a military veteran and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. Her message: “We need to engage in the politics that matter to working-class people.”
Hindutva on the March
Progressive Indians must oppose governmental violence against Kashmiris. The powers that would seek to deny the oppressed people of Kashmir the right to freely pursue their goal of collective self-determination must be stopped.
“Candidate Lightfoot and Mayor Lightfoot Seem to Be Very Different People”
Lori Lightfoot, Chicago’s new mayor, ran as an anti-machine candidate that would shake things up in the deeply unequal city. But instead she’s employing the same team as Rahm Emanuel — which could force the Chicago Teachers Union to call another strike.
The DNC Doesn’t Want a Climate Debate for a Reason
The DNC has banned the Democratic presidential candidates from taking part in any debate on the most urgent issue of our time: climate change. The party’s fealty to plutocratic donors and centrist has-been politicians has never been more apparent.
Against Happiness
Self-help gurus and positive psychologists tell us that we should be coaching ourselves to happiness. The painted-on smiles they want to sell us are a pathetic substitute for actually improving our societies.
From Populism to Socialism and Back
Socialists and populists have found plenty to disagree about over the years, from private property to trust-busting. But their shared commitment to fighting corporate power often brought them together — and it should today, too.
The Good and the Bad of Bernie Sanders’s Labor Plan
Bernie Sanders’s Workplace Democracy Act would be a major step forward for the labor movement. But what the movement needs most isn’t stronger government support for unions — it’s greater freedom for workers to strike.
“It’s the Demand of the People that Creates Real Change”
Heidi Sloan is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America running for Congress in Texas’s twenty-fifth district, challenging Republican incumbent and very rich used car salesman Rep. Roger Williams. Sloan sat down with Jacobin to talk about her story, how she came to socialism, fighting for Medicare for All and a Green New Deal, and which supervillain she would most like to interrogate as a member of the House of Representatives.
How Slavery Shaped American Capitalism
The New York Times is right that slavery made a major contribution to capitalist development in the United States — just not in the way they imagine.
Bernie Sanders Has a Plan — But He’s Also Building a Movement
Bernie Sanders probably does have a plan for that. But he also has something more important: a willingness to name the enemy and mobilize a mass movement to get those plans through.
“As Long as Exploitation Is the Default, We Won’t Get to a Place of Liberation.”
We caught up with Candi CdeBaca, a democratic socialist on Denver’s city council who took on the city’s for-profit prison system and won. She spoke to us about growing up working class and becoming a socialist: “When I got to college, I really recognized that the game was rigged.”
Boris Johnson Is Shutting Down Parliament to Force Through Brexit
British politics exploded into chaos again with the news that the Queen will shut down Parliament on Boris Johnson’s request. The move is aimed at preventing MPs from stopping any no-deal Brexit — another sign that Britain is headed for a general election fought against the backdrop of Brexit psychodrama.