Beyond the Rank-and-File Strategy
The rank-and-file strategy isn’t enough. We should examine the broad range of working-class organizing strategies and experiences that are today’s socialists’ collective heritage.
21040 Article(s) by: Ryan Switzer
Ryan Switzer is a PhD candidate in sociology at Stockholm University. He researches right-wing politics in welfare states.
Marx and the Prophet
On why the rise of fundamentalism in Muslim-majority countries owes much to the failings of the secular left.
The Diffidence of a Liberal
The arc of Paul Krugman’s thinking shows the paradox of liberal reformism constrained by a conservative understanding of the possible.
Democratize the Fed
Yes, it was absurd for Trump to suggest nominating Herman Cain to the Federal Reserve. But the Fed is already political — our goal should be to make it democratic.
The Highlander Idea
For decades, the Highlander School has nurtured some of the most important radical movements by pushing a simple idea: ordinary people can act as agents of change. It’s an idea that’s threatening to the Right — and it should be.
Freedom Gained and Lost
In 1861, coastal South Carolina witnessed an experiment in what Southern slave emancipation could have looked like: communities of freedmen owning their land and passing it on to their heirs. Those island communities have survived to this day — but real estate development is now threatening to destroy them.
Democrats’ New Child Tax Credit Plan Would Screw Over Poor Kids
Democrats could propose a simple, social-democratic plan to help families with children. Instead they’ve unveiled a complicated, means-tested scheme that would shortchange poor kids.
The Fall of Sudan’s “Morsisi”
The Sudanese people just toppled their longtime autocratic leader, Omar al-Bashir. It’s a confirmation that the revolutionary ferment of the Arab Spring didn’t die out in 2011.
The Next Woodward and Bernstein Could Go to Jail
With the Julian Assange indictment, the Trump administration is launching its boldest attack on press freedom yet. And the #Resistance is cheering it on.
It’s Bibi’s Country
Benjamin Netanyahu’s apparent victory shows that the Israeli electorate is more right-wing than ever — and that the occupation will only end if the US finally stops funding it.
The Definition of Insanity
Eight years ago, liberals cheered as the Obama administration deposed an autocrat in Libya. The result was mayhem and chaos — and now they want to do the same in Venezuela.
No, Sinn Féin Won’t Be Voting in Parliament
It’s the British media’s favorite fantasy: Sinn Féin breaking with a century of practice and riding to rescue a dramatically close vote in the House of Commons. It’s also an insult to Irish voters.
Assassinating Podemos
Data theft, spying, fabricated documents. The Spanish state is trying to derail Podemos and its challenge to elites.
First They Came for the Undocumented
The deportation state that Obama and Trump radically expanded is no longer content to just go after the undocumented. Its targets increasingly include citizens and political dissenters of all kinds.
Bernie Is Pushing for Nothing Less Than Medicare for All, Again
Bernie Sanders introduced a new Medicare for All Act today in the Senate that would guarantee universal health benefits with no means-testing or exclusions. It’s the kind of bill Sanders would fight for as president.
France’s Repressed Fascist Past
A self-serving national myth portrays France as immune to fascism. Yet the Vichy regime had deep roots in the country’s prewar history.
Our Welfare Isn’t Business’s Business
Finland’s millionaire prime minister sought to reorganize the welfare state along the lines of a private business. But his hard-line policies and failed assault on health care have revitalized the Finnish left.
Votes For All
By calling for the enfranchisement of the incarcerated, Bernie Sanders is carrying on a long and venerable socialist tradition of fighting for the universal right to vote.
Why I’m Boycotting Today’s Israeli Elections
As an Arab Palestinian citizen of Israel, I won’t serve as a fig leaf for a democracy in name only. I refuse to vote in today’s elections.
Israel’s Insider Radical
Haneen Zoabi has survived insults, death threats, and the vagaries of the Israeli justice system. But the first Palestinian woman to represent an Arab party in Israel’s Knesset wants something more — to be heard.