In Norway, the Left Is Winning Back Power
Norway’s election this Monday brought defeat for the unpopular right-wing government. Now, Labor looks set to return to power — together with an emboldened radical left.
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There’s No Substitute for Mass Working-Class Parties
Robert Michels developed his “iron law of oligarchy” after seeing the bureaucratization of the early socialist movement. His warnings are relevant today — but the path to social transformation still runs through building mass, working-class political parties.
Stuart Macintyre Was Australia’s Foremost Left-Wing Historian
Australian historian Stuart Macintyre passed away on Monday. A veteran of the New Left and the Communist Party of Australia, as a historian, writer, and political activist, Macintyre exemplified the spirit of solidarity at the heart of the workers’ movement.
Niccolò Machiavelli Was the Philosopher of Left-Wing Populism
For centuries, detractors of Niccolò Machiavelli have presented him as the founding father of political cynicism. But the Italian thinker was really a republican idealist whose support for popular rule can inspire struggles against the oligarchies of today.
Edward Said’s Orientalism and Its Afterlives
Edward Said’s Orientalism instilled an anti-imperial sensibility into an entire generation of Western scholars. But even while it castigated the imperial project, its actual analysis didn’t give us the intellectual resources to overturn it.
The Radical Printmaking of Käthe Kollwitz
Käthe Kollwitz was a radical printmaker with deep political commitments. From the last days of the German Empire until the end of the Third Reich, she gave visual expression to workers’ rebellion and loss, never losing hope in the socialist world to come.
What Herbert Marcuse Got Right — and Wrong
Socialists today should learn from Herbert Marcuse’s One-Dimensional Man: in particular, its spirit of protest, its materialist social theory, and its warnings about commodified liberation. But they should leave behind its moralism and despair about change.
Éric Zemmour Is Another Right-Wing Fake Populist Created by Corporate Media
Far-right pundit Éric Zemmour says he is running for the French presidency in order to stand up to elites. Yet far from a grassroots endeavor, his campaign has been driven by some of France’s biggest corporate media.
France’s Presidential Election Is a One-Sided Culture War
Emmanuel Macron has often warned that France shouldn’t imitate US-style culture wars. But ahead of April’s election, the liberal president and his far-right challengers are all obsessing about what they call an “Islamo-leftist” threat to French national identity.
The Don Gives 2021 a Barely Passing Grade
Jacobin troll Donald Hughes sent in 18,000 words grading major events in 2021. What follows are brief selections from his treatise. The verdict: 2021 sent in some poor work, but he's letting it through.
Joseph Schumpeter and the Economics of Imperialism
The Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter believed that the triumph of socialism was inevitable, but he rejected the Marxist view of how capitalism works. His ideas are a stimulating challenge for those seeking an alternative to capitalism today.
In Europe, the Far Right Is Uniting Its Forces
A conference this month aims to unite European far-right leaders like Marine Le Pen and Viktor Orbán in a continentwide alliance. What would once have been a fringe grouping can now rely on the support of several EU governments.
Italy’s Recovery Plan Shows Why Public Spending Isn’t Always “Left-Wing”
Former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi’s government has been widely hailed for using EU funds to invest Italy’s way out of crisis. Yet while the plan promises big spending, it’s mainly a transfer of public resources to private business.
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.
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?
Spain’s Recovery Plan Tells Us What Europe Hasn’t Learned From the Last Crisis
Europe’s post-pandemic recovery plan has been hailed as a break with its austerian response to the financial crisis. But in Spain, a focus on investment to help big business rather than essential services shows the continuing influence of neoliberal dogmas.
The Dada Movement’s Political Turn
Born in Zurich in 1916, Dada is famed for its antiwar, anti-bourgeois, and anti-art antics. But in Berlin after the Bolshevik Revolution, the movement took a sharp political turn, merging anti-fascist propaganda with leftist organizing.
The Collapse of Our Natural World Won’t Be Like a Hollywood Disaster Movie
The climate and biodiversity crises unleashed by capitalist development are already happening. Predicting a sudden apocalypse may draw attention to impending climate catastrophe, but it ultimately diverts us from the work needed to preserve a livable planet.
France’s Left-Wing Coalition Can Stop Emmanuel Macron’s Attacks on Welfare
A new left-wing coalition is leading polls for June's French parliamentary elections. Its popularity shows that working-class France wants a government that resists Emmanuel Macron's destruction of the country's social welfare provisions.
The Neoliberal State in Pakistan Is a Machine for Plunder
Pakistani neoliberalism hasn’t rolled back state intervention in the economy. Building on a predatory tradition that dates back to British colonial rule, it has used state power to enforce the ruthless exploitation of Pakistan’s workers and natural resources.