We’re Celebrating Our 10th Anniversary. Help Us Stick Around for Many More.
Jacobin just turned 10. Here’s how you can help us stick around until the fight is won.
19112 Articles by: Yi San
Yi San is a freelance writer based in New York.
Having Socialist Elected Officials Makes a Difference for Working-Class People
For almost a decade, people in three Melbourne local councils — Yarra, Darebin, and Moreland — have elected socialist councilors to represent them. By standing up to developers, neoliberal local government managers, and the federal government, Melbourne’s socialist councilors have not let them down.
In Lenín Moreno’s Ecuador, Democracy Is in Danger
Following last year’s popular revolt against IMF-backed reforms, Ecuador’s neoliberal president Lenín Moreno has systematically pushed phony judicial processes to suppress opposition at the ballot box. The ban on leftist Rafael Correa’s candidacy makes a mockery of the 2021 election — and raises worrying questions over the future of democracy in Ecuador.
How 1968 Marked a Shift for Rossana Rossanda’s Radical Politics
Sunday saw the passing of Rossana Rossanda, a lifelong communist, anti-fascist partisan, and cofounder of il manifesto newspaper. In this extract from her memoirs, she explains how the upheavals of 1968 marked a radical shift in her political engagement, as both the Prague Spring, and worker and student revolts in Italy drove an enduring split in Communist Party ranks.
Joe Biden Is Wrong. Believing in Science Means Banning Fracking.
Joe Biden wants to have it both ways, issuing bold rhetoric about the climate emergency while refusing to adopt a policy agenda to match. But taking the science of climate change seriously means banning practices like fracking — something Biden has so far refused to do.
Here’s What Democrats Can Actually Do To Stop Trump’s SCOTUS Pick
The Democratic Party has long made a habit of preemptively surrendering major fights with Republicans before they even begin. They’ll have to change that right now if Democrats want to block a Supreme Court replacement of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
What Exactly Is the Liberal Position on the Supreme Court?
The Supreme Court is way too powerful — and its power shouldn’t be wielded for good, it should be permanently undermined. Many liberals are close to coming around to this position, but few articulate it clearly.
44 Years Ago Today, Chilean Socialist Orlando Letelier Was Assassinated on US Soil
On September 21, 1976, Orlando Letelier, a former minister in Salvador Allende’s socialist government in Chile who was forced into exile after the US-backed coup that brought General Augusto Pinochet to power, was assassinated by a car bomb in the heart of Washington, DC.
There’s No Such Thing as a Good Debtor
In the US, consumer debt is presented as a crucial rung on the ladder to a better life, a pathway to homeownership, and a good job. But most people never dig themselves out of debt, and the myth of the “good” debtor only conceals the crime of treating health care, shelter, and education as profit centers.
Capitalism Isn’t About Freedom. It’s About Subjugation.
Let’s say we accept capitalism’s defenders’ claims that their system created mass economic growth and pulled countless people out of poverty. Even if that’s true, we have clearly reached a point in human development where we can rid ourselves of capitalism’s relations of hierarchy and domination — without inviting immiseration.
Ho Chi Minh’s Time in Rio de Janeiro Helped Make Him a Revolutionary
Before he became Vietnam’s foremost communist, Ho Chi Minh traveled across Europe and the Americas as a ship’s cook. In Rio de Janeiro, he encountered a world of inequality, but also of defiant class solidarity — an experience that helped forge one of the twentieth century’s greatest revolutionaries.
Socialists Have Long Fought to Disempower the Supreme Court. That’s More Urgent Than Ever Now.
The Supreme Court has been a reactionary institution for most of its history, law professor Sam Moyn tells Jacobin. We need to take on its power and fight for real democracy in the United States.
A Portrait of the Breakdown of Hope and Meaning in America
Even a glance at the “incel” subculture reveals vile misogyny, reactionary politics of all kinds, and multiple acts of horrific violence. The documentary TFW No GF also emphasizes that, in part, that subculture is a product of the breakdown of institutions, the disappearance of decent economic opportunities, and a broader loss of meaning in America.
Why Italy’s Political Establishment Wants to Slash the Number of MPs
A “Yes” vote in Italy’s constitutional referendum on September 20–21 would see Italy’s number of MPs and senators slashed by more than one-third. But most main parties are backing the cut — a hollow attack on “the politicians” that pushes austerian arguments for reducing democratic representation.
¿A dónde va México?
Puede que el gobierno de López Obrador no se proponga una ruptura con la burguesía. Pero de ninguna manera representa lo mismo que el PRI o el PAN, y sus políticas enfrentan a una buena parte de las clases dominantes.
Every Single Person Has a Right to Housing
Building a humane city should start from the premise that every person deserves a decent place to live. And the only way to accomplish that is through collective action, carried out by working-class movements.
How Abraham Lincoln Fought the Supreme Court
It is not enough to question the decisions, the justices, or even the structure of the current court — we need to challenge, as Abraham Lincoln did, the foundation of its power to determine the law.
John W. Cooke y la «superación» del peronismo
Un 19 de septiembre, pero de 1968, fallecía John William Cooke. Abogado y político argentino, fue el principal inspirador e ideólogo del «peronismo revolucionario». Aquí, una síntesis de su pensamiento y acción.
We Need a Radically Different Approach to the Pandemic and Our Economy as a Whole
We talk to two public health experts about America’s COVID-19 response and how poor households have borne a disproportionate share of the pandemic’s hardship. We need to urgently fight for a more just society.
Chuck Schumer Needs to Fight Trump’s SCOTUS Pick
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer has the power to try to stop Trump’s nominee, but he has previously caved to the GOP on judges. The only way he’ll put up a fight is if he feels pressure from his left.