
From Compromise to Power
Over the course of 1917, the Petrograd Soviet transformed from a body willing to negotiate with capital to one ready for revolution.

Over the course of 1917, the Petrograd Soviet transformed from a body willing to negotiate with capital to one ready for revolution.

The mainstream narrative is that Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine single-handedly caused an inflationary surge in commodity prices. But in fact, it was Wall Street speculators reacting to Putin’s war that forced up prices.

Australian historian Sheila Fitzpatrick has spent her career documenting the history of the USSR. She tells Jacobin about her latest project, which looks at the Soviet citizens who migrated to Australia and their complicated relationship with their homeland.

France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, suggested on Monday that sending Western troops to Ukraine can “no longer be ruled out.” The idea is dangerous and impractical.

Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago 1,234 miles off coast, has become a site of climate change–fueled conflicts around immigration and workers’ rights. Right-wingers have used the crisis to advance their own agenda — offering a cautionary tale for the Left.

Scholar Kevin B. Anderson discusses Marx’s surprising conclusions on race and national oppression.
It's been five years since the start of the Tunisian uprising. What was won — and what remains — in the Arab Spring?

Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria is its latest effort to destroy the nascent democracy in Rojava. Where Kurdish-led forces crushed the Islamic State, its fighters are now coming back into the open.

Some aspects of Stalin’s life will always remain a mystery. But a fresh look at the Soviet dictator’s formative years can help us understand the rise and fall of the system he built.

Last Sunday, the military rulers of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger quit West African economic union ECOWAS. It’s a major blow to the regional integration project — and a rebuke to Emmanuel Macron’s efforts to interfere in France’s former colonies.

In Germany, podcaster Ole Nymoen has become public enemy number one for supporters of the government’s rearmament campaign. He spoke to Jacobin about his new book against militarization and on the need for a renewed peace movement.

Like many socialists around the world, G. A. Cohen invested the Soviet Union with his hopes for a more just and equal society. In time, he grew disillusioned with the USSR — but he never stopped fighting for a better world.

French president Emmanuel Macron has renewed calls for the creation of a joint EU army. The proposal smacks of a desperate attempt to reverse the old European powers’ declining influence in global politics.

Democratic forces have always been the main target of the Assad regime.

When he ran for president, Joe Biden was sold as the adult in the room who would choose his words carefully. But in just the past few days, he’s called for regime change in Russia and seemed to accidentally reveal the US is training Ukrainian troops in Poland.

In a wide-ranging interview, the political economist Helen Thompson discusses how the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria has transformed the region. With an incoming Trump administration, the stage is now set for hawks to confront an isolated Iran.

Antisemitism was found across the political divide in Russia’s year of revolution.

The revolutionary violence of 1917 paled in comparison to that on the fronts of the Great War.

Over the past year, the US public has been subjected to an avalanche of propaganda attempting to stoke future war with Russia and China. What’s stunning is how few Americans are buying it.

Mikhail Gorbachev’s journey from Communist reformer to Pizza Hut salesman.