The Left in Purgatory

Socialists in the United States are stuck. How do we become masters of our own fate?

Issue 44: Letters + the Internet Speaks

The Coming Democratic Minority

Without a radical change in its relationship to working-class voters, the Democratic Party is hurtling toward doom.

The End of the AOC Honeymoon

In 2018, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was heralded as the millennial successor to Bernie Sanders. Today, some on the Left are starting to have doubts.

The Liminal Left’s Bid for Power

Like our leading figures, our new left is young and highly educated. Is that tanking our chances at building a mass working-class coalition?

Are These the Last Days of Die Linke?

Die Linke was founded on the promise of unifying Germany’s left and rejuvenating what was once the world’s leading socialist movement. Fifteen years later, it’s struggling to survive.

Palaces of Lost Promise

Berlin’s new Humboldt Forum is German neoliberalism in one building — retrograde, pompous, and built on the ruins of socialist modernism.

The Coen Brothers and Their Big Socialist Losers

Spinning comedy out of misery, Joel and Ethan Coen have spent decades telling the story of American failure. No wonder they’re so drawn to American socialists.

The Beatles and the Revolutionaries

Peter Jackson’s Get Back, the latest revisionist Beatles product, has glimpses of the political moment that made the band possible — and how distant we are from it today.

The Tenured Radical on the Telly

The 1980s BBC series The History Man was a venomous takedown of academic pseudo-radicals. How does it stand up today?

A Historian of Economic Crisis on the Fire This Time

Economic crises have reshaped the modern world. Economic historian Adam Tooze tells Jacobin how the coronavirus pandemic will upend global politics and commerce for decades to come.

The Socialist (Almost) Mayor of Buffalo

India Walton was set to become mayor of New York’s second-largest city. Then Buffalo’s establishment had their say.

Working-Class Politics Without the Working Class

Born at the height of the Clinton era, the Working Families Party thought it had found a way to build a labor party in America. Today, it’s advancing progressive politics with a far narrower base than it expected.

The New State Church

In our era, state capacity is faltering, and the size and scope of NGO activity is expanding.

From Post-Politics to Hyper-Politics

If everything is political, then nothing is political.

And Now, a Message From Our Sponsors — the Organized Working Class

The “union label” ads of the 1970s are a reminder of how labor tried and eventually failed to win a battle for the airwaves.

The Political Isn’t Personal

In a world where the political is personal, we signal our political goodness — and hunt for political badness.

Jacobin in Purgatory

Stuck in the middle with you.