The Politics of a Second Gilded Age
The mass inequality of America’s first Gilded Age thrived on identity-based partisanship, helping extinguish the fires of class rage. In 2021, we’re headed down the same path.
19186 Articles by: Zola Carr
Zola Carr is a doctoral candidate at Columbia University, working on a dissertation on the development of experimental brain implants for psychiatric disorder.
Joe Biden’s Climate Policies Are a Step Back From “Death Wish.” But We Need More Than That.
So far the Biden administration’s stated climate policies have shifted the US government from a stance of death-wish climate nihilism to one that resembles a typical center-right European government. But without a sharp move to the left on the economic aspects of climate transition, even that much progress won’t materialize.
We Can’t Go Back to a Golden Age of Capitalism
Inequality is on the rise in the West but globally it’s in decline. Economist Branko Milanovic speaks to Jacobin about the shifting dynamics of capitalism, and why going back to its so-called “golden age” is not an option.
It Would Be Great if the United States Were Actually a Democracy
The pervasive mythmaking about the supposed wisdom of the founders has covered up a central truth: the US Constitution is an antidemocratic mess. Our task is to push a program of political and economic transformation — so the United States can become, for the first time, a truly democratic society.
Canada’s Government Has No Problem With Canadians Milking Pandemic Subsidies — As Long as They’re Rich
In response to the pandemic, politicians in Ottawa set up an emergency wage subsidy scheme that was meant to help workers. But some of Canada’s biggest firms have milked the subsidy scheme for billions while paying out dividends and laying off staff.
The Left Has Slightly Loosened the Cold Grip of Austerity Under President Biden
The politics of taxes, spending, and deficits are more congenial to the Left than they have been in years — but there are still some clouds on the horizon. Here’s a guide to where things stand on the Biden budget proposal.
Despite the Pandemic, Republicans Are Fighting Paid Sick Leave All Over the Country
Under the guise of helping businesses, the GOP is working to bar medical leave mandates in state by state across the country.
Italy’s “National Unity” Government Is the Cutting Edge of Post-Democratic Governance
Mario Draghi’s new Italian government has been hailed for uniting all political forces from the center-left to the hard-right Lega. Yet the adulation of the former European Central Bank chief as a “national savior” continues a trend elevating technocratic economic decisions above democratic choice — and it’s working-class Italians who’ll suffer.
At Kroger and Amazon, Capital Is Going on the Offensive
Some of the country’s most profitable companies, like Kroger and Amazon, have been escalating their hardball tactics against workers. Flush with cash, they’re more confident than ever — and they’re doing whatever they want.
The Birth of the Labour Party Has Many Lessons for Socialists Today
American leftists are constantly wrestling with the question of how to relate to the Democratic Party. The history of the UK Labour Party’s formation through a break with the Liberals a century ago is full of lessons for socialists today.
Eugene Debs: “Why We Have Outgrown the United States Constitution”
In a 1911 article, legendary socialist Eugene Debs excoriated the US Constitution as an “autocratic and reactionary document” written by aristocrats and “in every sense a denial of democracy.” To mark Presidents’ Day, we reprint the fiery essay here in full.
Reading Edmund Burke Shows That Conservatism Is All About Defending Traditional Hierarchies
Studying the writings of Edmund Burke, the father of modern conservatism, reveals something important: that right-wing intellectual thought is little more than a series of dressed-up defenses of conventional social relations and traditional hierarchies.
East Germany’s Shock Therapy
The fall of the Berlin Wall was meant to signal political freedom and economic prosperity. But for many East Germans, the flash privatization of state enterprises and social dislocation meant being second-class citizens in a reunified country.
The Italian Left’s Long Divorce from the Working Class
In postwar decades, Italy boasted the West’s largest communist party, yet by the mid-1970s, its promise of social transformation had been all but abandoned. Swallowing the basics of neoliberal economics, the Left became increasingly distant from workers’ material interests — with disastrous results.
Can Europe’s Center Left Survive Another Crisis?
The Great Recession sent Europe’s social-democratic parties into a tailspin, exposing the contradictions of their political model. Now they face the pressure of another economic downturn, without having recovered from the last one or developed a convincing new vision.
The Only Way To Resolve the Catalan Conflict Is To Let the People Decide
Catalonia heads to the polls today in its first election since Spanish courts jailed pro-independence leaders for sedition and banned the Catalan president from public office. Dolors Sabater, lead candidate for the anti-capitalist CUP, told Jacobin why the Catalan national question won’t go away — and why a referendum is the only way to resolve it.
Philip Levine Was a Poet of the Working Class
The late poet laureate Philip Levine gave us a unique and loving set of portraits of the American working class. Six years after his death on Valentine’s Day, let’s mourn his absence and celebrate his work.
Karen Lewis Met Her Moment
When Karen Lewis and her Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators took power in the Chicago Teachers Union in 2010, the landscape for labor in her city and country was bleak. She rose to the moment — and helped transform what was politically possible for a teachers’ union and the labor movement as a whole to accomplish.
The Lincoln Project and Andrew Cuomo Are Media-Created Monsters
The media made the Lincoln Project and New York governor Andrew Cuomo into heroes of 2020. Now they’re both engulfed in scandal, and it’s time to hold them accountable.
Thomas Sankara Is Not Dead
Anti-colonial revolutionary Thomas Sankara fought to transform Burkina Faso into a truly independent, self-governing nation before his assassination in 1987. But as a recent film shows, Sankara’s legacy continues to inspire struggles against oppression despite ruling elites’ efforts to erase him from public memory.