Mike Quill: The Greatest Irish American
Born in rural Ireland and a veteran of the IRA, “Red” Mike Quill went on to form one of America’s most militant unions — and to stand side by side with Martin Luther King Jr in the fight against racism.
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The Political Philosophy of Martin Luther King Jr
Martin Luther King Jr wasn’t just a brilliant orator and organizer. He was also a groundbreaking thinker.
Martin Luther King’s Revolution
50 years ago today, Martin Luther King Jr defied his advisers and declared his opposition to the Vietnam War. Liberal supporters immediately abandoned him.
The Evolution of Dr. King
By the end of his life, Martin Luther King Jr was an avowed socialist.
The Second Emancipation
Until his assassination in 1968, Martin Luther King Jr led an unheralded struggle for economic justice.
MLK Was an Exemplar of a Black Socialist Tradition
Martin Luther King Jr had a rich relationship with socialist politics: he sympathized with but ultimately rejected Marxism, and he settled on a Christian socialism that viewed the struggle against racism and class oppression as fundamentally intertwined.
55 Years After MLK’s Death, His Radical Vision Should Galvanize Our Struggles Today
Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated 55 years ago today while in Memphis standing in solidarity with striking sanitation workers. His life and radical words stand as a beacon of hope, urging us to keep fighting for economic and racial justice.
Martin Luther King Knew That There’s Nothing Peaceful About Nonviolence If You’re Doing It Right
Establishment pundits love to cite Martin Luther King as a way to delegitimize militant protests and shame unruly protesters. But King wasn’t a proponent of passive, compliant protest — to him, nonviolent action was about forging a powerful collective force that could coerce ruling elites into conceding to demands for justice.
Honoring Dr Du Bois
Shortly before his death, Martin Luther King delivered a speech at Carnegie Hall in honor of another legendary black radical: W. E. B. Du Bois. We reprint it here in full.
To MLK, Individual Greatness Could Be Found in Attacking Injustice
Martin Luther King argued that the desire for individual greatness marred US society. But he also believed that desire could be channeled into collective action, with everyone acting as “drum majors” for justice against the “triple evils" of racism, capitalism, and militarism.
When the FBI Targeted the Poor People’s Campaign
An FBI scholar argues that recently unearthed surveillance documents aren’t proof of anything about Martin Luther King. They do, however, show how the bureau tried to destroy the Poor People’s Movement.
The Promised Land Is Still Not Here
The Left struggles to speak with the kind of moral clarity Martin Luther King exemplified — but that shouldn't stop us from trying.
James Lawson Was the Civil Rights Movement’s Drill Sergeant
The civil rights movement’s commitment to nonviolence wasn’t just moral but also strategic, based on a calculation of how the movement could best exert power. No practitioner of that nonviolence was more effective and disciplined than Rev. James Lawson.
Starbucks Has Fired Several Union Leaders in Memphis
Workers at a Memphis Tennessee Starbucks say the company fired them for publicly speaking in support of a union drive. Retaliating against workers for organizing is illegal — but virtually routine.
The Hidden History of Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali’s resistance to racism and war belongs not only to the 1960s, but the common future of humanity.
HBO’s New Obama Documentary Is Apolitical Propaganda
HBO has a new documentary about Barack Obama. It’s so devoid of politics that a viewer just learning about Obama would have no idea he escalated the war in Afghanistan and presided over eight years of rising economic inequality.
The Socialist Journey
Martin Hägglund’s This Life deftly weaves religion, philosophy, and political economy to produce a moving vision of a socialist ethos. But it fails to grapple with the problems that will attend the journey beyond capitalism.
The Civil Rights Movement Was Filled to the Brim With Leftists
Today is the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington. Ignore the lies and distortions — the reality, as the latest research shows, is that scores of socialists influenced or were themselves key figures in the civil rights movement.
When Ramparts Reigned
How Ramparts went from Catholic literary magazine to the vanguard of the New Left.
Stacey Abrams’s Record Is Not as Progressive as She Wants You to Think
Stacey Abrams shows every sign of becoming a fixture of national Democratic politics, thanks in part to unwaveringly positive press attention. Yet little of that media coverage has focused on her centrist legislative record or her coziness with the business world.