To Understand the Modern GOP, Look at the Reactionary ’90s
From Rush Limbaugh to Pat Robertson, the most vitriolic and morally panicked conservative figures of the 1990s contributed just as much to modern American conservatism as Ronald Reagan did.
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Independent Unions Can Help Break Through the Economic Crisis and Labor’s Paralysis
At the dawn of the Great Depression, millions of workers were angry and didn’t see existing unions rising to the moment. They managed to build a fighting labor movement that transformed labor law and won the welfare state as we know it.
After 12 Years Working at Starbucks, This Worker Says the Company Fired Him for Unionizing
Sam Amato spent over a decade working as a barista for Starbucks near Buffalo, New York, and loves the company. But after he joined a union drive with Starbucks Workers United, he says the company didn't care about his years of service — and fired him.
In Jersey City, It’s Socialists Versus the Machine
For decades, Jersey City was ruled by a cartoonishly sleazy party boss and his pro-corporate political machine. Today, it’s governed by a slicker version of the same. But now socialists and progressives are challenging their power.
Percy Bysshe Shelley Belongs to Us, the Many
Karl Marx, Jeremy Corbyn, 19th-century Chartists, and 20th-century ILGWU strikers agree that the Left should read Percy Bysshe Shelley. Following the 200th anniversary of his death, we look at the great Romantic who brought poetry to the class struggle.
Spain’s Far-Right Resurgence Comes From Decades of Fascist Organizing
In recent decades, Spain has often been painted as the only European country without a far right. But even in the 1990s, violent street movements were building their forces — and now they’re entering the country’s political institutions, too.
We Don’t Need Another New Progressive Organization
Everyone on the Left wants a more coherent, effective movement. But we’ll get there by devising creative new strategies for building our working-class base, not by launching yet another national progressive organization.
After Nine Days on Strike, DC-Area Paratransit Workers Won Better Pay and Benefits
MetroAccess is a Washington, DC–area public program that provides door-to-door service for disabled residents. This month, MetroAccess workers struck for nine days, demanding better pay and benefits — and with the support of paratransit users, they won.
J. D. Vance Is a “Populist” Who Is Profiting From a Tax Loophole for the Ultrarich
Republican Senate candidate J. D. Vance is selling himself to voters as an anti-elite populist. But his financial disclosures show that he benefits from the carried interest loophole, which notoriously benefits the very richest, most elite investors.
Zero Emissions Isn’t Enough. We Need Climate Repair.
Ceasing fossil fuel consumption is a huge lift, but it isn’t enough to save the planet. We need to think much, much bigger: toward global solutions that can capture excess carbon in the atmosphere and begin repairing the deep damage we’ve done to the planet.
The Secret Anti-Socialist History of Supermarkets
Supermarkets are staples of our lives. But their emergence in America was far from automatic: the supermarket was used as a key piece of anti-communist propaganda early in the twentieth century against the alternative of grocery co-ops.
Japan’s Rulers Are Using Abe Shinzo’s Funeral for an Exercise in Political Propaganda
The Japanese government is pressing ahead with a state funeral for its former prime minister Abe Shinzo — essentially a state blessing for Abe’s legacy. In death as in life, Abe is strengthening the grip of ultranationalist militarism on Japanese politics.