Democracy Is in Crisis. Karl Marx Can Help.
Karl Marx is often thought of as a purely economic thinker. But the famed socialist was a committed democrat — and his writings offer potential remedies for democratizing our undemocratic political system.
19083 Articles by: T Rivers
T Rivers is a pseudonymous journalist who covers East and Central Africa.
A New Extreme Center in Croatia
Western liberal outlets acclaimed Social Democrat Zoran Milanović’s election as a victory for a “leftist” presidential candidate. But his campaign was mainly aimed at scooping up conservative votes — as all Croatian politics shift toward the radical right.
2020 Will See an Elite Crack-Up of Epic Proportions
If the establishment got this nervous about Donald Trump in 2016, then imagine how much they’ll meltdown with the rise of democratic-socialist Bernie Sanders in 2020.
Unearthing the Fraught History of Chinese Communism
The editors of a new collection of essays argue that we can’t ignore the Chinese Revolution and its impact on the world.
Bernie Sanders Is Trying to Save Minor League Baseball — and Get Its Players a Raise
Major League Baseball is threatening to sever ties with scores of minor league teams in an apparent attempt to cut costs. But Bernie Sanders is resisting the plan — and insisting that MLB instead grant minor leaguers a living wage and union representation.
Stop Writing Communist Women Out of History
Liberal feminists often paint the fight for women’s liberation in Eastern Europe as a matter of “catching up with the West.” But presenting feminism as new to the region silences the battles waged by communist women after 1945 — and their victories over conservatives in both the Church and their own parties.
Hundreds of Canadian Workers Are Blockading an Oil Refinery Right Now
The Canadian union Unifor is currently blockading an oil refinery in Regina, Saskatchewan. It’s an important example of what democratic, militant, and solidarity-based unionism can look like.
Bernie Sanders Can Exploit Donald Trump’s Weaknesses
Donald Trump has broken promises to leave Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid alone. This basic dishonesty leaves him vulnerable to attack — but only by Bernie Sanders, because Sanders has the longest and strongest record defending the exact programs Trump wants to cut.
We Need a Media System That Serves People’s Needs, Not Corporations’
Our corporate media system prioritizes making money over producing adversarial journalism and covering working-class issues. We should dare to imagine something different: a public media system that privileges democracy over profits.
A World With a $24 Minimum Wage
If worker pay had kept pace with productivity gains since 1968, a full-time minimum wage worker would be earning $48,000 a year today.
Mainstream Media Are Obsessed With Comparing Bernie to Trump
Corporate media can’t stop equating Bernie Sanders with Donald Trump. That’s because for them — and their bosses — Bernie is the bigger threat.
The Emancipatory Past and Future of Black Politics
Our conceptions of black politics today are often monolithic and juxtaposed as separate from or even against democratic-socialist politics. But 75 years ago, black leaders and activists shared a broad consensus around the importance of the labor movement and multiracial class organizing for black liberation.
Keeping India’s Universities for the Rich
New Delhi’s JNU was the scene of violence this month as masked men assaulted students protesting a fee hike. After years of attacks on affirmative action and education spending, the nationalist right is trying to shut off the universities to all but the wealthiest Indians.
How to Clean Up the Welfare State
Public programs in the United States are narrow, stingy, and complicated, making them politically vulnerable. A new paper from Matt Bruenig’s People’s Policy Project instructs us how to broaden, simplify, and improve them — to create a welfare state for which Americans will be willing to fight.
It’s Good That Joe Rogan Endorsed Bernie. Now We Have to Organize.
We don’t like plenty of what Joe Rogan has to say — but Bernie Sanders won his support without compromising any of his values. He has nothing to apologize for.
No Rational System Would Value Tesla at $100 Billion
Today’s investors are easily swayed by snake oil salesmen like Elon Musk, but not interested in the things we need for long-term development.
When “Anti-Populism” Makes the Far Right Mainstream
The French media has started lumping far-right leader Marine Le Pen with a host of other “populists,” left and right. But calling Le Pen just another populist helps her detoxify her party — and mainstreams the racist right.
Peru’s Revolt Is About More Than Corruption
Peruvians vote today in crucial parliamentary elections. But the future of the country relies not just on fighting corruption, but taking on the powerful corporate interests that dominate the country.
How Capitalism Underdeveloped Rural America
A toxic brew of economic suffering, racism, and community decline prepared the ground for authoritarian populism in America’s devastated rural areas. Trumpism will not be defeated unless the Left can promote a progressive agenda to rebuild rural America.
They Got Filthy Rich off Cocaine Trafficking and Killed Leftists. Now AMLO Must Make Them Pay.
In Mexico, the “war on drugs” was never about drugs at all, but about repressing social movements, smashing unions, and creating a shock-doctrine atmosphere for conservative governments to privatize pensions, health services, and the oil sector. The AMLO administration must dismantle the narco-state.