When Paris Was Red
In the twentieth century, socialists and communists used municipal power in Paris to build some of Europe’s most ambitious social housing projects — housing that was not only beautiful but made for and by the city’s working class.
20994 Article(s) by: Wouter van de Klippe
Wouter van de Klippe is a freelance journalist and writer based in Europe. He is particularly interested in organized labor, social and environmental justice, and social welfare states.
Amazon’s Anti-Union Activities Should All Be Illegal
In the ongoing union drive in Bessemer, Alabama, Amazon is playing a massive role in influencing the outcome of the election. This should be a crime — bosses should be legally prohibited from interfering with their workers’ union organizing.
My Year of Sedentary Existence
The past year has shattered our normal existence, forcing us to confront a deadly pandemic while trying to maintain some semblance of sanity.
Alexei Navalny’s Movement Reflects the Weakness of Russian Democracy
Faced with protests for opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s release, the Russian left is torn over whether to join a movement which raises no general social demands. Navalny’s personalized clash with Putin highlights the present hollowness of Russian democracy.
The Forgotten 1964 NBA All-Star Game Labor Action Should Still Inspire Us
Today, the NBA will host an All-Star Game over the objections of many of its players. But back in 1964, stars were willing to go on strike and not play the exhibition, despite threats from ownership, to win retirement pensions and basic protections. It’s a classic reminder that no matter who you are, collective action works.
Kyrsten Sinema Went to Washington and Became a Monster
Arizona senator Kyrsten Sinema was once a Green Party member and a committed antiwar activist. Now she’s best known for a viral thumbs-down on a $15 minimum wage vote. It’s the timeless story of an earnest do-gooder turned Washington monster and what happens when we don’t hold politicians accountable.
Italy’s Masses of Unemployed Can’t Live Off Start-Ups Alone
Italy’s new premier, Mario Draghi, has pointed to “digitalization” as the key to economic recovery, heralding tax incentives to boost start-ups and foreign investment. But for all the breathless talk of digital revolution, Draghi’s recipes are all-too familiar: rolling out the red carpet for the likes of Elon Musk while doing nothing to help the millions of unemployed.
The Sexual Abuse Scandal Rocking Australia’s Parliament Is the Tip of the Iceberg
A series of shocking revelations have exposed endemic sexual harassment and abuse in Australia’s parliament. To change things, we need to hold abusers to account and empower women at work.
What a Communist City Can Teach Us About Urban Planning
Renamed after Italian Communist leader Palmiro Togliatti, the Russian city of Tolyatti was chosen as home for a FIAT-backed auto plant in 1966, soon making it the USSR’s largest planned industrial center. Yet its urban landscape shows signs of planners’ concern to create livable spaces focused on community need, not just industrial production.
We’re Stuck in Kevin Costner’s Waterworld
Kevin Costner’s ’90s blockbusters Waterworld and The Postman could have been compelling portraits of impending dystopias. Instead, they sucked. And they sucked in a way that indicates exactly why their dystopias might yet come true.
On a $15 Minimum Wage, Bernie Was on the Right Side of History
Eight Democrats joined with Republicans yesterday to prevent Bernie Sanders from moving to add a $15 minimum wage to the COVID relief bill. History will not absolve them.
Italy’s Government Is Outsourcing Its Economic Strategy To Private Management Consultants McKinsey
Last month, former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi formed a new government whose top ministries were handed to unelected technocrats. Now his “government of experts” has outsourced its economic plan to private management consultants McKinsey — without voters having ever had any say in the matter.
France’s Divided Left Is Struggling to Challenge the Macron–Le Pen Duopoly
Emmanuel Macron’s first term has seen him wage war on yellow vest protesters, trade unions, and France’s Muslims, undermining his image as a shiny progressive. Yet as the 2022 presidential election draws closer, the broad left is divided — and faces a tough challenge to avoid another runoff between Macron and the far-right Marine Le Pen.
Third Parties in the US Are More Important Than You Think
Despite America’s two-party duopoly, third parties have played a crucial role in shaping US politics for good and ill — from bringing us pro-worker reforms and the welfare state to laying the groundwork for Donald Trump’s right-wing authoritarianism.
Haiti’s Massive Protests Are a Repudiation of Authoritarianism and US Intervention
Haiti’s corrupt, US-backed president is facing massive demonstrations after refusing to step down. US intervention has stifled Haitian democracy and impoverished its people — and the protests are an effort to fight back.
How Rosa Luxemburg Taught Worker-Militants to Think Differently
150 years since her birth, Rosa Luxemburg is often remembered more as a martyr than a theorist. But as a teacher at a socialist party school she taught worker-militants to see the world like a Marxist — nurturing the intellectual tools that would let them master their own fate.
Rosa Luxemburg’s “The Tactics of Revolution”
Today marks 150 years since the birth of Polish-Jewish revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg. In this 1906 article, published by Jacobin in English for the first time, she drew on the ongoing revolution in the Russian Empire to explain the working class’s power to overthrow the capitalist order.
Raise the Minimum Wage, Stop the Joe Manchin Presidency
We’ve learned recently that Senator Joe Manchin is wielding enormous power in US politics right now. But he can be defeated — if Democrats vote down the must-pass COVID-19 bill until it includes an increase in the minimum wage.
We Need to Rescue Rosa Luxemburg From the Soap Opera Treatment
Too much writing about Rosa Luxemburg nowadays focuses on her personal letters and relationships at the expense of her ideas. It’s good to humanize our heroes, but we risk belittling the significance of a revolutionary thinker whose understanding of socialism should be a touchstone for today’s left.
Happy 150th Birthday, Rosa Luxemburg
One hundred and fifty years ago today, the Polish Marxist thinker and organizer Rosa Luxemburg was born. She is, without question, one of the towering figures in the entire history of the socialist movement.