A Metropolis on the Verge of Modernity
In the years before the Nazi takeover, Berlin was a pulsing metropolis. Hit series Babylon Berlin immerses us in a recognizable era of transformation — and despair.
19192 Articles by: Ryan Switzer
Ryan Switzer is a PhD candidate in sociology at Stockholm University. He researches right-wing politics in welfare states.
Longing for Jeff Bezos
As if New York’s failed attempt to bribe Amazon wasn’t embarrassing enough, the city’s political and labor elite is now begging Jeff Bezos to change his mind. Let’s hope they fail again.
Why Oakland’s Striking Teachers Won
Though educators did not achieve all their demands, Oakland’s teachers strike transformed the city, won important gains, and empowered educators to take on the billionaire education privatizers.
“A Monument to Disenchantment”
In his new book, historian Greg Grandin shows why an expanding American empire has required an increasingly militarized border. And why America’s founding frontier myth is finally coming to an end.
The Hillary Show Goes On
Bernie’s a Russian sympathizer… If only John McCain were still around. Hillary Clinton seems determined to prove that she’s living in a fantasy world of her own creation.
Among the Brooklyn Bernie Bros
Whatever the media depiction, Bernie Sanders’s first presidential campaign rally was attended by large numbers of women and people of color. We talked to some of them about why they support Bernie.
The Green New Deal Needs WWII-Scale Ambition
We can end global warming pollution and build a just, green economy in ten years with a budget of $50 trillion a year.
What Chicago Taught Bernie
Chicago is the city where Bernie Sanders first organized as a socialist, struggled for civil rights, and “began to understand the futility of liberalism.”
When Nobody Can “Take Back Control”
With the emergence of the centrist Independent Group, British politics is in a state of near collapse — and the democratic deficiencies of the country’s politics have been exposed.
The Reds and the Green
The Irish fight for freedom inspired revolutionaries around the world. Yet the Comintern founded in 1919 struggled to build a lasting socialist presence in independent Ireland’s politics.
To Moscow and Back
Founded 100 years ago today, the Communist International quickly won the backing of Norway’s mighty Labor Party. The alliance promised to link the Soviets to mass politics in the West — but Moscow soon wasted its opportunity.
Socialists Took Down the British Empire
When the Comintern was founded in 1919, the British Empire was the most powerful state in the world. Scottish communist John Maclean promised to destroy it from within.
Bernie Returns Home to Brooklyn
Bernie Sanders is back in Brooklyn for his first 2020 campaign rally, but the New York socialist — who grew up in a working-class community and radical Jewish political tradition — never really left.
Machete and Sickle
One hundred years ago, the Third International inspired the creation of communist parties across Latin America. Yet only its demise would liberate them from stifling Russian control.
The World Revolution That Wasn’t
The Comintern was founded on this day in 1919 to carry revolution around the world. We are only now recovering from the legacy of its failure.
Israel’s Jamal Khashoggis
According to the UN, Israeli forces deliberately killed two journalists in Gaza. But don’t expect the same establishment that rightly fumed over Jamal Khashoggi’s murder to call out Israel.
Capitalism and Orientalism
A new book examines the work of Edward Said in the light of Marxism, showing why imperialism can’t be understood in terms of culture alone.
Abolish the Billionaire Class
Billionaires are the grotesque products of an exploitative, immoral economic system. We should get rid of them.
How to Survive a Police Stop
Programs that teach young people how to interact with police are popping up around the country. But they’re often exercises in victim-blaming — shifting the responsibility for avoiding lethal stops from cops to the very civilians they brutalize.
Germany’s Hidden Crisis
Liberals praise modern Germany as Europe’s great success story. But behind the veneer of prosperity, resentment is building among ordinary Germans.