Fascism Was a Violent Counterrevolution
A century since the March on Rome, it is important to remember the horrors of Benito Mussolini’s regime. Fascism was morally repugnant — but also a movement based on violent counterrevolution.
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Free Speech Is Too Important To Be Entrusted to Elon Musk
Liberals who minimize the importance of free speech on Twitter are dead wrong. But we shouldn’t have to hope that a billionaire with a track record of suppressing his critics will live up to his free speech rhetoric.
Climate Reparations Could Be Based on Post-Nazi Germany’s Payouts
Wealthy countries don’t want to pay climate reparations, but they’re going to have to. COP27 officials are currently grappling with who will pay for climate-related catastrophe and how. They could look to postwar Germany for a model.
As Inflation Ruins American Thanksgiving, Look Abroad to Find the Right Political Response
In other countries, workers and unions have been walking off the job to demand higher wages to keep up with the cost of living. But in the US, where unions are weak and strikes are rare, the cost-of-living issue has been ceded to the Right.
Neoliberalism Was a Counterrevolution Against Democracy
A group of 20th-century intellectuals saw the democratic nation-state as a threat to private property. Their solution: shifting power to unaccountable international bodies like the WTO, helping pave the way to what we now call “neoliberalism.”
We Need Democratic Control of the Alcohol Industry
Alcohol consumption has skyrocketed in recent decades, and so, too, have alcohol-related deaths. Putting the industry under public control could push back against the public health crisis — and show how to regulate other drugs.
How North Macedonia’s Promising New Left Became a Hateful Chauvinist Party
North Macedonia’s Levica party looked like a new hope for the Left in the former Yugoslav state. But a controversial takeover of the party has split its original leadership group — and taken it toward hateful chauvinism against the country’s Albanian minority.
For the Antiwar Movement, Soldier Trauma Was Another Argument Against War
In the Vietnam War era, radical psychiatrists and antiwar veterans developed a concept of trauma stemming from perpetrating acts of violence. Over the next decade, the idea of soldier trauma was depoliticized and put at odds with antiwar critique.
We Should Celebrate the World’s Population Passing the Eight Billion Mark
Sections of the environmental movement bemoaned the birth of the world’s eight-billionth person, but the Left should have no part in this cynical misanthropy. The cause of food insecurity and climate change is the irrationality of capitalism — not rising populations.
The Iranian Protests Are the Latest Phase in a Long Cycle of Popular Unrest
To understand today’s protests in Iran, we need to look at the history of the Islamic Republic since 1979. Iran has a tradition of popular mobilization with few parallels in the modern world, and that tradition underpins the current wave of discontent.
The Wrong Side of the Law
Legislation and case law targeting leftists is something like an American tradition.
The Impossible Escape From the European Union
Neoliberalism is embedded in the European Union’s DNA. But for the continent’s left, there are few good alternatives.
This Year’s World Cup Has Epitomized the Corporate Takeover of Football
A morally tarnished World Cup in Qatar was the latest phase in the degeneration of modern football. Europe’s top clubs have become playthings of the superwealthy, taking the game ever further from its popular roots.
Issue 47: Misery Index
Crunching the numbers on the class war.
In the Late 1800s, the Knights of Labor Tried to Build a Working-Class Internationalism
Too often, the US labor movement has favored narrow nationalism over cross-border solidarity. But in the late 19th century, the US-based Knights of Labor preached a working-class internationalism that sought to organize workers throughout the globe.
What You Should Have Read in 2022
We published 2,500 original essays in 2022. Here’s a recap in case you missed one or two of them.
American Hegemony Is Morally Bankrupt. We Need a Just Alternative.
Liberal internationalism is just another shade of US imperialism, dressed up in the language of democracy. But leftists have to do more than criticize: we must develop a viable alternative that prizes international collaboration and demilitarization.
Can Humanity Survive AI?
With the development of artificial intelligence racing forward at warp speed, some of the richest men in the world may be deciding the fate of humanity right now.
The F-35 Is Everything Wrong With the Military-Industrial Complex
The F-35 fighter jet has been plagued by malfunctions and cost overruns for years, yet Congress continues to order up more. The bipartisan consensus to fund tools of war rather than pro-worker programs like affordable housing or childcare is still strong.
Good Riddance, Juan Guaidó
Juan Guaidó was supposed to be the appealing, human face of US-backed regime change in Venezuela. His ouster as “interim president” this week is another signal that those efforts have failed.