Don’t Worry, We’re Listening
The focus group was invented by a socialist, nurtured by corporate America — and revolutionized the relationship between elites and the masses.
Search Result(s) for: “working class”
A Marxist View of Tolkien’s Middle Earth
J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy world is a medieval utopia with poverty and oppression airbrushed out of the picture. But Tolkien’s work also contains a romantic critique of industrial capitalism that is an important part of its vast popular appeal.
Assessing 40 Years of Labor Notes
Labor Notes is one of the most successful socialist projects in the labor movement in US history. It has trained and connected tens of thousands of union militants throughout the world.
The Remaking of the American Right
When the Clock Broke offers a tour of the ’90s, from Klansmen strangled on talk shows to a drugged-up George H. W. Bush running for office. Author John Ganz also argues that the far right of the ’90s was a precursor to Donald Trump, a claim reliant on distortions of past and present.
A Second Scottish Independence Referendum Isn’t Going to Happen
The arrest of former Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon’s husband has dealt another blow to her political legacy. She has left her Scottish National Party greatly weakened — and with its plans for independence in tatters.
The Nutty ’90s
John Ganz’s When the Clock Broke offers a tour of ’90s politics, from Klansmen strangled on talk shows to a drugged-up George H. W. Bush running for office.
For Jack Mundey, Union Militancy and Environmentalism Went Hand in Hand
With the death this week of Jack Mundey, Australia has lost a giant of trade unionism. His green-socialist vision put labor militancy and democratic control at the heart of society and pushed back against the rapaciousness of urban development.
We’re Being Worked to Death by Capital
Long working hours kill more than 700,000 people per year, even as millions are unable to find enough work to survive. The irrationality of capitalism has a human price.
Julián Castro’s Early, Neoliberal Years
If Castro is indeed the “Latino Obama,” it's because his early years in San Antonio replicated many of the ingredients of the former president's recipe for failure.
The Struggle Against Caste Oppression Is a Vital Battleground for Indian Democracy
For several generations, India’s Dalits and other oppressed groups have fought for equal rights against upper-caste domination. The history of their courageous struggles can inspire resistance against Narendra Modi’s Hindutva repression today.
Conversations With Frenemies
Compact’s Sohrab Ahmari is among a group of populists who see a home in a changing Republican Party. We asked him for his perspective on the November election and what comes next.
Suspending Solidarity
The United Federation of Teachers shouldn't stand in the way of a ban on suspensions for New York's youngest students.
How One Left-Led Union Fought the Barbaric Lynching of Emmett Till
The United Packinghouse Workers of America was a beacon of “civil rights unionism.” And in the aftermath of Emmett Till’s grotesque lynching in 1955, the union spearheaded a mass campaign on Till’s behalf in the North and South.
Only Socialism Can Put an End to Exploitation
The exploitation of workers is central to the functioning of capitalism. The socialist argument is simple: we can live in a world without such exploitation.
“We Are The Lions, Mr. Manager”
On this day in 1976, a group of Asian immigrants in London began a strike that would define an era.
Mick Lynch: The UK’s Proposed Anti-Union Laws Are “a Suppression of Our Human Rights”
In the wake of strike activity in Britain not seen since the 1980s, the government is proposing draconian laws further restricting workers’ right to strike. RMT leader Mick Lynch says the laws are a threat not just to unions but to democracy in general.
Which Workers Are “Strategic” to Organize?
Two key questions confront labor: should unions focus on organizing workers with major strategic leverage in the economy? Or should they welcome any workers willing to fight, since that organizing can constitute a major catalyst for other workers?
Prescribing Crisis
A profit-hungry pharmaceutical industry and an indifferent political class are fueling the deadly opioid epidemic.
The History of American Public Housing Shows It Didn’t Have to Decline
In order to put social housing back on the agenda in American politics, we first have to understand how public housing was destroyed — especially by Bill Clinton’s Hope VI program.