Karl Marx’s Literary Style Was an Essential Part of His Genius
Karl Marx wasn’t merely a great thinker who was also a glorious prose stylist. His brilliance as a writer was inseparable from his greatness as a thinker.
20378 Article(s) by: Tanner Howard
Tanner Howard is a freelance journalist and In These Times editorial intern. They’re also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Canada’s Response to Israel’s Far-Right Government Is Disgraceful, but It’s Nothing New
Ottawa’s refusal to ruffle feathers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government, the most far-right in Israel’s history, is par for the course. Canada remains a staunch ally of Israel’s apartheid state.
Ukraine’s Postwar Reconstruction Has Big Business Licking Its Lips
Ukraine is being sized up by neocolonial vultures from BlackRock to the EU for a carve-up after the war is over. On the menu is deregulation, privatization, and “tax efficiency” — measures that may have already begun.
A New Independent Union in Mexico Is Gearing Up for Its First Contract Fight
Last August, workers in an auto parts plant in Mexico voted to form an independent union. As their employer, VU Manufacturing, continues to try and bust the union, workers are fighting for a contract.
The Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict Is a Product of the Soviet Union’s Collapse
The war in Ukraine has overshadowed the ongoing battle between Armenia and Azerbaijan. But both conflicts show the Soviet Union is still unraveling — with devastating, bloody consequences.
Justin Trudeau Loves Outsourcing Government Work to Neoliberal Cutthroats
Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government has outsourced billions of dollars’ worth of contracts, including $100 million to McKinsey. Instead of shoveling money into the private sector, the Liberals could make the novel choice of investing in state capacity.
University of Chicago Graduate Workers Are Trying to Unionize
Following recent victories at Yale and Northwestern, graduate student workers at the University of Chicago are voting on whether to unionize at the end of the month. We spoke with workers there about the history of their effort and what they think is next.
As Democracy Fades in Port-au-Prince, Ottawa Is Backing Haiti’s Repressive Police
As conditions worsen in Haiti, Ottawa remains steadfast in its provision of resources for the repressive Haitian National Police. This stalwart aid stands in stark contrast with Ottawa’s miserliness when the social democratic Fanmi Lavalas party was in power.
Artist Romare Bearden’s Reckoning With the South
A new biography contextualizes the art of Romare Bearden within the politics of Reconstruction and civil rights.
For Workers, Hospitals Have Become the New Steel Mills — Minus the Strong Unions
Health care workplaces have replaced steel mills and auto plants as the nation’s big employers. But while industrial workers once had mighty unions, hospital workers have struggled by comparison to win representation and good contracts.
Ron DeSantis Prefers to Call His War on Workers a War on “Wokeness”
Ron DeSantis’s crusade against “woke ideology” was always a thinly disguised assault on the rights of Florida teachers and their unions. His recent “Teacher’s Bill of Rights” only makes it explicit.
The Hopeful Romanticism of John Keats
John Keats’s verse — described by his contemporaries as “mental masturbation” and poetry for bed-wetters — is often dismissed as embarrassingly sentimental. A new book by literary critic Anahid Nersessian finds subversive irony in the English Romantic’s poems.
Equating the Soviet Union With Nazi Germany Is Terrible History
Across Eastern Europe, the war in Ukraine has reinvigorated narratives that present life under Soviet rule as akin to Nazi genocide. It’s bad history — and it indulges the nationalist groups who collaborated with Adolf Hitler.
“Affordable Housing” Schemes Fail Because They Don’t Advocate for Public Housing
We all know that the rents are too damn high and that our cities’ efforts at providing affordable housing have been failures. The reason they fail is because the “affordable housing” playbook does not consider housing as a public good.
How One Left-Led Union Fought the Barbaric Lynching of Emmett Till
The United Packinghouse Workers of America was a beacon of “civil rights unionism.” And in the aftermath of Emmett Till’s grotesque lynching in 1955, the union spearheaded a mass campaign on Till’s behalf in the North and South.
The Terrorism Charges Against Cop City Protesters Are Ominous
Protesters against a massive police militarization complex in Atlanta have been slapped with domestic terrorism charges for throwing bottles and breaking windows. That should be deeply worrisome for anyone who values the right to dissent.
Irish Unity Is Now a Realistic Goal, but There’s Still a Long Road to Travel
Sinn Féin has become the largest party on both sides of the Irish border. But the party’s effort to eliminate that border for good will have to overcome some powerful obstacles that stand in the way of a united Ireland.
Amazon Just Saw Its First Strike in Britain
Yesterday, staff at Amazon’s Coventry warehouse did something no British workers at the company had previously done: they walked off the job.
Russell Banks Was a Working-Class Writer for Our Global Age
Novelist Russell Banks, who died this month at the age of 82, brought to life the brutality of contemporary capitalism and the hardships of workers across the world. He was a writer of and for the working class.
South Korea’s Conservative Government Is Cracking Down on the Country’s Militant Labor Unions
Last week, South Korea’s intelligence agency raided the country’s largest group of independent unions. It’s a blatant attack on workers’ rights that has raised fears the conservative government is resurrecting dictatorship-era methods of bludgeoning labor.