The Meaning of January 6, 2021
A long history suggests that while the crisis of the moment dictates directing the state’s security resources and personnel toward the Right, this focus will, inevitably, shift back to the Left.
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The Art of Saying Nothing
Louis Menand’s new history of Cold War art and thought The Free World wants to rehabilitate liberal anti-communism. To do so, it downplays both the political repression of the US left and imperial America’s genocide against its Third World political opponents.
Segregation Is Still Alive in Mardi Gras’s Birthplace
Decades after the end of Jim Crow, cities like Mobile, Alabama, are still shot through with racial segregation. That segregation is reflected in the city’s Mardi Gras culture, where some social societies still maintain white-only membership.
When a New Left Activist Departed Campus for the Factory Floor
After participating in 1960s progressive movements, Jon Melrod took his activism to the factory floor, becoming a militant rank-and-file autoworker. Radicals like him made serious contributions to labor struggle at a time when unions were under attack.
The Institute for Christian Socialism Wants to Bring Left Politics to American Christianity
The Institute for Christian Socialism is trying to build left-wing solidarity within religious communities. In their eyes, an awareness of and commitment to socialism is inherent to the Gospel.
Gun Control Alone Won’t Suppress the US’s Death Drive
Mass shootings are only the latest horrific chapter in the US’s long history of gun violence, which stretches from prerevolutionary slave patrols to our ongoing trade in military technology. Confronting this bloodlust will require more than just gun control.
Amazon Workers in North Carolina Are Building a Union
Since the Amazon Labor Union’s victory in New York, interest in organizing has surged nationwide. In North Carolina, worker-organizers are building solidarity by helping coworkers struggling with starvation wages and an increasingly punitive management.
W. E. B. Du Bois’s Black Reconstruction Is Essential Reading
W. E. B. Du Bois’s Black Reconstruction in America is one of the greatest modern studies of revolution and counterrevolution. It’s also an extraordinary example of a materialist and class analysis of race under capitalism.
Atlanta, Georgia, Was a Center of Anti-Apartheid Organizing
The common picture we get of the US South is one of resolute conservatism. But the region has a radical history, too — as seen in Atlanta’s role as a center of opposition to apartheid South Africa.
Marxism Can Help Us Make Sense of the Medieval Crusades
The Crusades seem like a classic example of religious ideology triumphing over materialism. But a closer look shows that multiple class interests underpinned the crusading enterprise, from merchants seeking trade routes to peasants evading feudal oppression.
Staughton Lynd Gave Voice to a Forgotten History of American Radicalism
Staughton Lynd, who died earlier this month, played a prominent role in the antiwar movement and documented the radicalism of the 20th-century working class. His work should be read by anyone interested in understanding the history of the Left.
Debt: The First 500 Pages
We need more grand histories. But 5,000 years of anecdotes is no substitute for real political economy.
The Yacht Rock Counterrevolution
It was the apogee of "yacht rock," the ineluctable, smooth sound then dominant in southern California. Slick production, highly melodic music, and clean vocals were the hallmarks of the genre. Thematic concerns ranged from personal ads to margaritas.
The Art of Demanding
Of all the internal controversies Occupy generated, the one over whether the movement should adopt specific demands may have been the most significant.
Writing History with Wite-Out
PBS’s The Abolitionists relegates African Americans to little more than background scenery to a struggle against slavery won by whites.
“No Excuses” in New Orleans
It’s been a decade since New Orleans' post-Katrina charter school experiment began. The results have been devastating.
Liberalism and Gentrification
Gentrification isn’t a cultural phenomenon — it’s a class offensive by powerful capitalists.
“I Don’t Want to See My People Die”
Independence leader Benny Wenda discusses the struggle against “secret genocide” in West Papua.
Gender Trouble in France
Historian Camille Robcis on why debates over Judith Butler and gay marriage are engulfing France.
Hillary Clinton’s Empowerment
Hillary Clinton isn't a champion of women's rights. She's the embodiment of corporate feminism.