How the Mexican Revolution Made John Reed a Red
John Reed’s thrilling dispatches from the front lines of the Mexican Revolution could have made him a pop culture celebrity. Instead, the experience made him a committed socialist.
Blog
The Pete Buttigieg Documentary Is an Empty Portrait of an Empty Politician
Amazon’s new Pete Buttigieg documentary attempts the impossible: making the disturbingly empty yet also unnervingly ambitious mayor of South Bend somehow seem like a compelling historical figure. It fails.
Corruption and Patronage Are the Norm in the Australian Labor Party
Earlier this year, disgraced former MP Adem Somyurek joined the long list of Labor politicians to be investigated for corruption. Somyurek was no outlier — the nepotism and cronyism he practiced are just part of the day-to-day running of the Australian Labor Party.
Microworkers are “Disempowered to a Degree Previously Unseen in Capitalist History”
“Microworkers” are the anonymous digital contract workers whose labor powers the tech giants’ artificial intelligence systems. They’re hyper-exploited — and, like all other workers under capitalism, will continue suffering until they can organize.
China’s Growth Model Is in Crisis
China has long seen high-speed economic growth tied to property investment. That model is now failing.
The Harder They Fall, Netflix’s New All-Black Western, Is Bloody, Star-Filled Fun
Drawing from real but forgotten figures from the old West, The Harder They Fall breathes new life into the Western. It’s also a violent good time for all.
Everyone Should Have the Right to Disconnect From Work
Portugal has banned employers from making nonemergency contact with staff outside of working hours. The “right to disconnect” is a good idea — but more protection is needed for precarious workers who aren’t on fixed schedules.
Mayor Pete Is a Portrait of a Completely Cynical, Empty Presidential Campaign
The new Pete Buttigieg documentary reveals more about the failures and emptiness of today’s Democratic Party than it does about Buttigieg himself.
Cuba’s Vaccine Could End up Saving Millions of Lives
Thanks to its public biotech sector and its government’s deep commitment to public health, Cuba is now the only low-income country to have made its own COVID vaccine. It’s already helped millions of Cubans, and it’s poised to help millions more around the world.
Workers in Atlantic Canada Face Down Austerity
In New Brunswick, 22,000 public-sector workers are struggling against austerity measures put in place by Tory premier Blaine Higgs. His actions are a portent of the austerity measures to come in a post-COVID world.
Conservatives Are Wrong: There’s Nothing Natural About Hierarchy
Conservative thinkers like Roger Scruton defend traditional hierarchies as natural and inescapable. But our social order is the product of human decisions — and it can be remade to benefit the many rather than the few.
Kim Stanley Robinson on Science Fiction and Reclaiming Science for the Left
Writer Kim Stanley Robinson talks to Jacobin about Ministry of the Future and his other books, climate change, and why he thinks the Left should reclaim science as a tool of socialist progress.