In Defense of Progress
Socialists can’t give up on the future.
30 Articles by: Samuel Farber
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Samuel Farber is the author of numerous books, including Before Stalinism: The Rise and Fall of Soviet Democracy.
Trumpism Will Endure
Donald Trump is gone. But the conditions that gave rise to his brand of noxious politics aren’t going away anytime soon.
The Berkeley Free Speech Movement, 56 Years Later
The Free Speech Movement at Berkeley was a watershed moment in 1960s student organizing. Through unprecedented mobilization, rejecting the expansion of McCarthyist-inspired rules to strangle political activities on campus, and a refusal to allow the administration’s efforts to split the movement, students won their basic rights to free speech on campus.
The Many Explosions of Los Angeles in the 1960s
Mike Davis and Jon Wiener’s chronicle of Los Angeles in the 1960s, Set the Night on Fire, isn’t just a stunning portrait of a city in upheaval half a century ago. It’s a history of uprisings for civil rights, against poverty, and for a better world that speaks directly to our current moment of mass protest.
A Zionist State at Any Cost
The foundation of Israel is tied up with David Ben-Gurion, its first prime minister. Through examining his life, we see how Israel’s creation was from its beginnings doomed to create an apartheid-like state maintained by an oppressor nation.
We Can’t Cede Transparency to Liberals
Without transparency in politics and in the institutions that govern our daily lives, we can’t build socialism.
What the New Economic Policy Did — And What It Left Unfinished
The NEP helped the young Soviet Union rebound economically. But its lack of political reform hampered the ability of workers and peasants to resist the onset of Stalinism.
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.
What Revolutionary Socialism Means to Me
The revolutionary socialist vision is a vital one. Today’s rising socialist movement shouldn’t discard it.
The Russian Revolution Reconsidered
Between world wars and a crippling civil war, the Russian Revolution fought to change history.
Donald Trump, Lumpen Capitalist
The most important thing about Donald Trump isn’t his psychological condition — it’s that he’s a capitalist. And a particular kind of capitalist at that: a lumpen capitalist.
John McCain and the Question of “Honor”
John McCain doesn’t deserve our praise. But his sense of “honor” resonated with many, even those who abhorred his politics. We can’t ignore it.
George Orwell and the Proles
Though his pessimism about the working class ebbed and flowed throughout his life, George Orwell ultimately saw workers as the only force that could build an egalitarian, socialist society.
Cuba in 1968
1968 was a decisive turning point in the Cuban Revolution.
Trump’s Cuba Rollback
Trump’s stance on Cuba will do untold harm to the Cuban people and only strengthen anti-democratic forces on the island.
A Socialist Approach to Free Speech
Liberal defenses of free speech ring hollow. But socialists can’t abandon the principle.
Lessons From the Bund
A newly translated memoir takes us inside the Jewish Labor Bund’s fight for survival and social transformation in 1930s Poland.
Building Socialism in Cuba
As pressure for economic liberalization grows, what would it take to turn Cuba into a socialist democracy?
Arguing Over Cuba
Far too often, US intellectuals either defended Cuban Communism uncritically or fed into Washington propaganda.
Assessing Che
Che Guevara was an honest and committed revolutionary. But he never embraced socialism in its most democratic essence.