Unions Need to Lose More If They Want to Win More
The UAW’s defeat at a Mercedes plant in Alabama was crushing. It’s also the cost of waging risky, potentially transformative fights. If labor wants to win big, it can’t be afraid to lose big.
Search Result(s) for: “working class”
England’s North Has Been Crushed by Thatcherism and Austerity
Northern England spawned the industrial revolution as well as a powerful workers’ movement and a lively culture of popular modernism. But the dysfunctions of Britain’s economic and political system have reduced it to a shadow of its former self.
How a Revolutionary Was Born
Carl Skoglund's early life as a militant worker in Sweden prepared him for leadership in the 1934 Teamster Strikes.
Five Years Later, the Mystery of Marielle Franco’s Assassination Has Not Been Solved
Brazilian activist and politician Marielle Franco was assassinated five years ago by killers connected to the country’s military and police. Those likely behind her death were part of a reactionary mafia with close ties to the right-wing establishment.
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.
Rest in Power, Hector Figueroa
Hector Figueroa, the president of SEIU 32BJ, which represents some 175,000 union members primarily in the building services, passed away on July 11, at just 57. His death is a tragic loss not just to his family and friends but to the Left and to the labor movement.
Real Estate Billionaires Are Fighting Tooth and Nail Against Measure ULA
Measure ULA, a Los Angeles ballot initiative up for approval by voters, would increase taxes on high-value property deals and use the revenue to address the city’s dire housing crisis. The real estate industry is spending millions to fight the measure.
The Man Who Murdered Rosa Luxemburg
On January 15, 1919, the leaders of the German revolution were murdered by far-right soldiers enraged by the rising socialist movement. The man who masterminded the killings was Waldemar Pabst — a fanatical nationalist officer whose paramilitaries became the rank and file for Nazism.
State of Change
Without mass mobilization, Unidos Podemos's electoral success won’t match up against the forces of austerity.
Rebuilding the Demos
This June Podemos helped the Socialists kick the Spanish conservatives out of office. But for Íñigo Errejón, defeating the oligarchs in the long term requires a new "national-popular" strategy.
It’s Not Over
The Sanders campaign isn't the end of the line. We can use its momentum to unite movements and build broad support.
Democrats Went All In on the January 6 Hearings. Voters Don’t Seem to Care.
Recent polls suggest that the Democrats’ sidelining of economic issues to go all in on the Capitol riot hasn’t borne fruit. While voters are most concerned about inflation, they think the party’s main priority is January 6, which barely registers.
Chileans Are Hungry for an Alternative to Neoliberalism
After continuous mass protests in Chile, left forces in the country may be able to build a governing majority. But whether they can or not, it’s clear that huge swaths of the country are desperate for an alternative to the neoliberal order that has reigned in the country for decades.
Sleep Easy, Shane
With humor, warmth, and delicate beauty, Shane MacGowan’s lyricism profoundly shaped a generation — and was never afraid to denounce injustice, no matter how unpopular this made him with the powerful.
New Deal–Era Leftists Tried to Win Beautiful Social Housing for the Masses
The US housing system is organized around subsidized private homeownership and underfunded public housing. But during the New Deal, leftists had a different vision: beautiful social housing for all but the rich.
The Bread and Roses Strike Was an Epic Labor Action for Workers’ Dignity
The Bread and Roses Strike began on this day in 1912, when women mill workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts, walked out. The strike ended in a landmark victory and popularized an enduring slogan: “The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too.”
The Early IWW’s Unionism Was So Effective That Capitalists Decided It Had to Be Smashed
The Industrial Workers of the World pioneered a radical unionism that built a small but incredibly dedicated group of unionists and union supporters — which is why American capitalists and politicians quickly decided they needed to stop the union.
In Italy’s Deserted Democracy, Far-Right Giorgia Meloni Has Emerged Victorious
Yesterday’s Italian election brought victory for Giorgia Meloni’s far-right Fratelli d’Italia — and record-low turnout. The opposition between technocrats and the far right is the symptom of a deeper decline.
Ramadan Mubarak, Comrades
For over a millennium, Muslims have used hunger as a biological reminder of the need for human solidarity during the holiday of Ramadan. That solidarity is key to building the kind of movement that can win a better world for Muslims and everyone else.
Joe Biden Should Decriminalize Marijuana Right Now
Joe Biden campaigned on decriminalizing marijuana but has done nothing about it while in office. He has the power to stop the senseless persecution of weed — he should use it immediately.