Brazil’s Crisis of Hegemony
Ruling class infighting is threatening the Temer administration. The Left must take advantage of this unprecedented moment.
Search Result(s) for: “working class”
Explaining El Salvador’s Violence
The grisly violence in El Salvador has social and political origins. It is neither inevitable nor insuperable.
In Marseille, the French Left is Finally Uniting
For years, divisions on France’s left have helped Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen dominate the political terrain. But in the country’s second city, grassroots pressure has forced them to put aside their differences — and ahead of March 2020’s elections, they’re promising to launch a “Marseille Spring.”
Shawn Fain Is Channeling the Best of the UAW’s Past
The ongoing UAW strike, led by president Shawn Fain, is a marked departure from the union’s recent history. In many ways Fain is channeling early UAW leader Walter Reuther — before the union and Reuther himself downsized their ambitions.
Independent of What?
Chicago mayoral candidate Toni Preckwinkle has long been known as an "independent." But that independence is more of a mindset than a substantive political ideology.
How to Beat Back Gentrification
The Oakland group Moms 4 Housing is leading a movement to halt gentrification and de-commodify housing. Their victory in California helps pave the way for a militant housing strategy that we can use across American cities.
Only the Poor Die Young
In capitalist America, the rich are outliving the poor at an alarming rate. It’s a grim reality and there’s only one way to end it definitively — moving toward socialism.
Beyond Electoral Democracy
The radical democracy of the future requires more than just elections. We need a legislature by lot.
Inequality University
Ivy League universities fuel social inequality at the same time public colleges are cut to the bone. They deserve to be dismantled.
Our Current Moment of Increased Labor Organizing Could Become Something Much Bigger
Trying to win progressive change without rebuilding the labor movement is a fool’s errand. That’s why the union victories at Starbucks and Amazon are so promising: the current uptick in labor militancy could become a transformational upsurge.
You Can Have Means Testing or You Can Have Democracy
Political scientists are discovering something that today’s Democrats refuse to understand: social policy is about more than technocratic tinkering — it defines who counts as a full citizen. And means testing tears apart the very fabric of society.
Trump’s Tariffs Are a Gift to Capital, Not Workers
Donald Trump has championed tariffs as a way to revive American manufacturing. But without a real industrial strategy, Catalyst editor Vivek Chibber argues, they’re little more than a handout to capital.
Americans Are Abandoning the Communal Meal
Consuming food all by oneself is an anomaly in the history of human civilization, a deviation from millennia of tradition. And more and more Americans are doing it.
The Left Is Rising, So Centrist Dems Are Cynically Woke Again
The Democratic establishment said it was getting rid of the grating, cynical style of wokeness it blamed for its 2024 loss to Donald Trump. Then the Left began winning primaries, and those same Democrats changed their tune.
Richmond Progressive Alliance’s Lessons for Local Organizers
It doesn’t often make national headlines, but the city of Richmond, California, has been home to a successful progressive political reform project in recent years. Here are ten lessons for other municipal reformers from the Richmond Progressive Alliance.
The Capitalist Threat to Democracy
The threat to a true democracy that promotes material well-being, equality, and social solidarity is deeper than Donald Trump. It comes from a capitalism that can never make its peace with democracy.
The Uses and Abuses of Manet’s Olympia
When Édouard Manet debuted his painting Olympia in 1865, critics were shocked by a nude who looked like “the Queen of Hearts after a bath.” Today they are more interested in imposing essentializing ideas of race about the black maid beside her.
Eric Adams Said Crime Is Out of Control. He Would Know.
Eric Adams is now the first sitting New York mayor to face criminal charges. Yet his worst actions — cutting budgets for schools, libraries, childcare, and anything else he could in his single-minded quest for more austerity — have been perfectly legal.
Minneapolis’s Omar Fateh on His Run for Mayor
What does democratic socialism mean to Omar Fateh, Minneapolis mayoral candidate? “It’s pretty clear cut: you want to take care of everyone.”
“Ethical Consumption” Used to Mean Something More Than Feeling Smug About Your Purchases
Today “ethical consumerism” mostly refers to individuals feeling morally righteous about what they buy. But the consumers movement was once motivated by the broader, collective goal of democratic management of the economy.