Letters + Internet Speaks
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20395 Article(s) by: William G. Martin
William G. Martin teaches at SUNY-Binghamton and is co-author of After Prisons? Freedom, Decarceration, and Justice Disinvestment (2016) and a founding member of Justice and Unity for the Southern Tier; he covers local justice matters at www.justtalk.blog
The Enemy Within
Leaked messages from Labour Party staff littered with casual racism and sexism show that they worked against Jeremy Corbyn and wanted to keep the Tories in power.
The Victory to Come
Bernie critics seem to think they dodged a bullet. They haven’t — the bullet is still on its way.
The Social Democracy Index
We looked at the best polling from the 2020 primary season. Turns out, you can spot a Bernie Sanders supporter not just by their age, but by their support for social-democratic policies.
How We Lost Michigan
In 2016, Bernie won a major upset in Michigan, thanks in part to a groundswell of support in the state’s rural areas. In 2020, he lost every county in the state — and the numbers show he lost many of his rural supporters, too.
Reading Victor Serge from the Depths of Defeat
Despite isolation, political defeat, and incalculable grief, the Russian revolutionary Victor Serge persisted in writing in collective rather than personal terms.
Did Americans Want a Political Revolution?
Joe Biden told us there was an easy path. Reality will soon catch up to that fantasy.
We Won’t Forget the Questions Bernie Asked
After half a decade of Bernie Sanders, the genie doesn’t go back in the bottle.
The Prophet of Inequality
Whatever its shortcomings, Thomas Piketty’s latest book, Capital and Ideology, is a serious attempt to map our social world without resorting to easy abstractions.
The Two Paths of Democratic Socialism: Coalition and Confrontation
After Bernie Sanders, democratic socialists in America face a vital strategic dilemma. Do we go the Justice Democrats route of winning gains as the junior partner in a progressive coalition, or do we take a gamble on more independent class organization and struggle?
How the Labour Party Lost the Chance of a Lifetime
Corbynism had a popular program — but not the popular insurgency it needed to fight for it.
We Knocked on a Million Doors for 45,000 Votes
I helped organize Bernie Sanders’s canvassing efforts in Iowa, and I learned that we can knock on as many doors as we want, but to make lasting change, we need to think beyond election day.
Let’s Talk About South Carolina
Bernie Sanders didn’t lose because of the “black vote,” but winning places like South Carolina is crucial to building a left majority.
After Years of “Silencing, Repression, and Retaliation” at This Software Company, Workers Decided to Organize
At Epic Systems, a Wisconsin-based software company, workers had complaints that will be familiar to many workers across the United States: an oppressive culture of surveillance and control, executives pushing to end their pandemic-induced working from home. Now, Epic’s workers are organizing.
The Pandemic Is Exposing the Cruelty of America’s Workhouse Economy
American workers are sharing their stories of life on unemployment benefits. The horrors of our collective surrender to the market are on full display.
The Redbaiting of Rep. Karen Bass Is Absurd
Rep. Karen Bass is no socialist, but she’s hung around a few of us in the past. Because of this, as her name was floated for Biden’s vice presidency, she’s been subjected to McCarthyist-style smears. We on the Left have to clearly and loudly stand against these attacks — they’re designed to make socialism politically beyond the pale.
Andrew Cuomo Wants to Protect His Wall Street Donors From Paying Taxes
New York Democratic legislators are trying to tax stock trades, capital gains, and carried interest. Wall Street, of course, is horrified by such a development — but luckily, their millions in campaign contributions have helped create a solid friendship with Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Borders Are the Problem, Not the People Crossing Them
Dividing up the “good refugees” from the “bad migrants” is a false distinction rooted in inhumanity. Whether people are fleeing their home countries because of violence or poverty, they should be welcomed with open arms.
A Green New Deal Needs a 21st-Century Civilian Conservation Corps
From 1933 to 1942, FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps put more than 3 million jobless young people to work on nature restoration projects all across the country. It was possibly the most popular of all the New Deal programs and a spectacular conservation success — one that a Green New Deal can replicate.
Wasp Network Is a Rare Movie That Doesn’t Paint Cubans as Cartoonish Villains
It might be surprising to find a movie on Netflix that presents Cuban agents as self-sacrificing idealists and Miami exiles as right-wing terrorists. But Wasp Network offers a sober portrayal of how Cubans resisted the Miami opposition’s violent campaign of attacks in the 1990s.