How Australian Women Won the Right to Abortion
Today, the right to abortion is secure across Australia. It wasn’t won by parliamentary means, however, but by militant campaigning and union solidarity.
Search Result(s) for: “working class”
Eugene V. Debs: Socialism Will Free Workers From Private Tyranny
For the great labor leader Eugene Debs, socialism and freedom went hand in hand. In a 1920 article entitled “The Genius of Freedom,” reprinted here for the first time, he explained that socialism would free workers from the bonds of their capitalist masters.
Gabor Maté: Capitalist Society Is Making Us Physically and Mentally Unwell
World-renowned physician Gabor Maté’s new book examines the profound physical and psychological harms of “normal” capitalist society, which makes a small minority very well-off while sowing illness and despair on a vast scale.
Reckoning With the Children Disappeared During El Salvador’s Civil War
The Salvadoran civil war didn’t just see US-trained-and-financed far-right forces commit endless war crimes — it also ripped children from families, an unknown number of whom never found their way back to their parents.
Amsterdam Is a Mess and a Bomb and Also Sort of Interesting
Credit to David O. Russell for trying to make a movie, Amsterdam, that’s unique and compelling. He didn’t really succeed, but at least he tried.
Rebuilding the Social City
To solve the housing crisis, we may have to go back to the future.
Voters Went Left on Health Care in Tuesday’s Midterms
In this week’s midterms, Medicaid expansion and abortion rights proved popular, even in red states. It shows how popular left-wing views on health care can be and why socialists should keep talking about them.
Workers Shouldn’t Have to Pay the Costs of the Energy Crisis
Olaf Scholz’s government has announced relief measures to help Germans pay their energy bills. But what they really need is wage rises — and government action that stops gas giants from profiting from this crisis.
A Real, Live Communist Who Wrestled With the Real, Live Communist Party
If you believed the mainstream media portrait of Communism in the 1960s, you’d assume the Cubans, Russians, and Americans were in lockstep. But if you were inside the Communist Party USA, as Michael Myerson was, you knew the reality was far different.
Sweden’s New Government Shows How Liberals Sold Out to the Far Right
Four years ago, Ulf Kristersson promised a Holocaust survivor he’d never cooperate with the anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats. Now he’s prime minister of a government dependent on their support — an unholy alliance of liberals and the far right.
Denmark’s Left Has Failed to Make the Green Transition Its Trademark Issue
Denmark’s thriving green energy industry ought to provide the Left with an ideal organizing opportunity. Yet this week’s election showed that it has failed to connect the green transition with a program for jobs and investment.
The 2022 Midterms Were One of the Best Elections the Left Has Had in Memory
Put the mainstream Democrats aside. After the midterms, more left-wing insurgents are going to the House, Bernie Sanders has two strong allies in the Senate, and progressive ballot measures passed everywhere. Election night was a good night for the Left.
This Armistice Day, Let’s Salute Britain’s Attempt to Build a Country “Fit for Heroes”
The phrase “a country fit for heroes” expressed the spirit of social reform that was seen as WWI veterans’ just reward for service. It was a promise of health and well-being for everyone — a tonic against the forces of austerity that we should revive.
Part-Time Faculty at New York’s New School Are on Strike
Part-time faculty at the New School and Parsons School of Design in New York City went on strike last week. Jacobin spoke with striking workers about their demands for job security and wage increases to keep up with the cost of living.
Annie Ernaux’s Getting Lost Is an Antidote to the Boring Moralism of Contemporary Writing
Annie Ernaux’s recently translated book, Getting Lost, chronicles her passionate love affair with a married man. What makes Ernaux’s reflections so refreshing is her rejection of the idea that literature’s job is to provide readers with moral instruction.
Labor Is Demanding an End to Wall Street Stock Buybacks
Stock buybacks are a major way the rich can hoard their wealth instead of investing in workers — which is why a coalition of unions is demanding an end to such buybacks.
By Siding Against Railworkers, Biden Is Breaking His Promise of Paid Sick Leave for All
Joe Biden is standing with railroad barons to force a deal on workers who are demanding a reasonable amount of paid sick leave. It’s the latest and possibly starkest example of the chasm between his pro-worker rhetoric during his campaign and his presidency.
How North Macedonia’s Promising New Left Became a Hateful Chauvinist Party
North Macedonia’s Levica party looked like a new hope for the Left in the former Yugoslav state. But a controversial takeover of the party has split its original leadership group — and taken it toward hateful chauvinism against the country’s Albanian minority.
For the Antiwar Movement, Soldier Trauma Was Another Argument Against War
In the Vietnam War era, radical psychiatrists and antiwar veterans developed a concept of trauma stemming from perpetrating acts of violence. Over the next decade, the idea of soldier trauma was depoliticized and put at odds with antiwar critique.
To Win Progressive Policies, Tell Voters Exactly How They Will Benefit
Midterm ballot initiative votes in Colorado and Massachusetts suggest that taxing the rich and increasing public spending is more popular with voters when it’s clear exactly how these measures will improve people’s lives.