The Party Was Not Always Right
The tragedies, brutalities, and absurdities of Stalinism are all there onscreen in Costa-Gavras’s classic 1970 film The Confession.
Search Result(s) for: “russia”
The Wrong Answer
The Turkish military isn't a friend to democracy or progress, and never has been.
Mariátegui’s Heroic Socialism
José Carlos Mariátegui was Latin America's most original Marxist. And his work is strikingly relevant for confronting the continent's right-wing backlash today.
John Dewey’s Experiments in Democratic Socialism
John Dewey is commonly seen as the liberal philosopher par excellence. But his staunch commitment to democracy put him on a collision course with capitalism.
A Ukrainian Socialist Explains Why the Russian Invasion Shouldn’t Have Been a Surprise
Vladimir Putin uses the language of “demilitarization” to pursue an aggressive imperial policy against Ukraine. In an interview for Jacobin, a Ukrainian socialist explains the falseness of the Kremlin’s pretexts — and why the war could drag on for years.
The History Behind Putin’s War in Ukraine
Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine is a horrific, unconscionable act. NATO’s expansionist policy made such an invasion more likely. Both of these things are true.
The Putin Regime Is Straining Under Its Own Contradictions
Several tensions run deep in Russian society: Politics are decided by elections without democracy. A growing number of Russian billionaires have outlandish wealth but no political power. And Putin is a populist without the people.
Europe’s Leaders Have No Strategy for Peace
Caught off guard by new proposals to halt the war in Ukraine, European leaders have rejected the idea of Kyiv giving up territory. What’s less clear is how they imagine making their red lines into a reality.
Putin’s Failed War Shows That “Great Powers” Can’t Always Get What They Want
Vladimir Putin’s invasion was meant to last just a few days. But Ukrainian resistance turned it into yet another imperial quagmire — showing that the great powers aren’t as able to reshape the modern world as they think.
Mikhail Gorbachev’s Project Was a Noble Failure Thwarted by Forces Beyond His Control
When he became the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev wanted to democratize the USSR without embracing free-market capitalism and end the Cold War without enabling US domination. The world is still haunted by his inability to achieve those goals.
Crimea Is a Powder Keg
Whether the Ukraine war brings on a global catastrophe will hinge in large part on whether Washington decides to back a Ukrainian effort to retake the Crimean peninsula.
The Biden Administration Is in No Rush to Help Ukraine Negotiate an End to the War
Almost all knowledgeable observers believe the war in Ukraine will have to end with a negotiated agreement. Yet the US, Ukraine's leading patron, has signaled it has no patience for diplomatic efforts that cut against its hope for Moscow's "strategic defeat."
A Ukrainian Sociologist Explains Why Everything You Know About Ukraine Is Probably Wrong
The Ukraine crisis is extremely complex and little understood. Sociologist Volodymyr Ishchenko explains the crisis’s origins, the fictions that surround it, and why war is still far from inevitable.
Closing the Russiagate
With the end of Mueller’s inquiry, our long, national hallucination is finally over. But the damage done by neocons and liberal conspiracy theorists is just beginning.
Syria and the Left
Behind the humanitarian disaster of the Syrian civil war is a political crisis the Left urgently needs to understand.
Imperial Japan and the Russian Revolution
Strangely enough, Japan’s ruling elites initially viewed the Russian Revolution favorably — until radical ideas started spreading to their colonies.
Escalation in the Donbas Risks a Disastrous War
Russian president Vladimir Putin has sent tanks into the Donbas on dubious pretexts. But a far bigger danger awaits if the West seeks an escalation that will only pour fuel on the fire.
Noam Chomsky: “Every Time We Build Up Our Military Budget, We’re Attacking Ourselves”
In a new interview, Noam Chomsky discusses the hypocrisies of US empire and why, if we really wanted to build a decent society, we’d immediately slash the massive military budget.
The World Survived the Cold War Because It Feared Nuclear War
Many thought that, with the end of the Cold War, the world had seen the last of big-power nuclear brinksmanship. But the Ukraine crisis has revealed that leaders have forgotten the lessons of that era.
The Real Vladimir Lenin
Ninety-nine years after the Russian Revolution, let’s free Lenin from distortions of all types.