The Left Owes a Lot to Jesse Jackson
As a movement builder, spokesperson, and candidate for the presidency, Jesse Jackson’s accomplishments were massive. He was one of the towering figures of American progressive politics in his era — or any era.
Search Result(s) for: “working class”
Portrait of the Trader as a Young Rebel
Gary Stevenson’s story of trading floor excess and moral turnaround is one of personality-driven critique, tailor-made for the British media’s idea of dissent. Just don’t ask too many questions about Citibank — or capitalism.
Survivor Has Become a Bleak Mirror of Modern Capitalism
When Survivor debuted in 2000, its appeal stemmed from the tension of clashing values, with some contestants taking a nakedly transactional approach and others appealing to the common good. In recent years, market logics have won.
Michael Burawoy’s Marxism for Realists
What distinguished Michael Burawoy from other socialists was that he did not sidestep or ignore conservative criticisms of Marxism. Rather, he took them head-on and developed a sociology that could make sense of actually existing capitalism and socialism.
Trump Is Threatening to Cut Transit Left and Right
Donald Trump’s new transportation proposal will hurt transit funding in every single American state, undermining affordability across the board. From red states to blue states, and from drivers to nondrivers, everyone will feel the impact.
Cut Out the Wall Street Middlemen From Our Pension Funds
Pension funds are using average Americans’ retirement savings to fuel the financialization of our economy and concentration of oligarchic power in Wall Street’s hands. It doesn’t have to be this way.
Pierre Naville Carved Out a Surrealist Path to Marxism
The unconventional artistic rebellion of surrealism may seem a long way removed from the sober, disciplined work of Marxist revolutionaries. But French writer Pierre Naville brought surrealism and Marxism together amid the turmoil of interwar Europe.
Zohran Mamdani Wants to Build Housing. He Should Build Green.
After his White House meeting last week, Zohran Mamdani has a tentative plan to build 12,000 units of affordable housing in Queens. It’s a chance to tackle the climate and affordability crises simultaneously by building green.
Democrats Are Facing a Moment of Reckoning
The Democratic Party has split: one faction masks corporate capitulation as necessary moderation, and the other refuses to tell voters to ignore their experience, admitting that Democrats have long bailed out the ultrarich at workers’ expense.
The Left in Power
Evo Morales’s presidency made real gains for working people. But could it have charted a more radical course?
How Big Law Became Big
As US capitalism boomed, attorneys from a handful of New York law firms became powerful viziers of America’s elite.
Trump Tramples Free Speech to Shut Down Palestine Protests
Donald Trump and his allies are claiming to restore “free speech” in America even as they yank federal funding from Columbia University to punish student protesters. They were never serious about defending free speech.
How Work Got So Bad
Under capitalism, technological “progress” like AI systematically deskills workers, deepens managerial control, and turns the labor process into a site of conflict rather than liberation. This is by design.
What Happens When Private Equity Owns Your Kid’s Day Care
When my toddler’s day care started turning parents away at the door due to staffing shortages, I learned it was owned by private equity — which maximizes enrollment to squeeze profit out of childcare and now owns eight of the 11 largest US day care companies.
Choice and Its Discontents
Today no one on either side of the political spectrum would present themselves as an enemy of choice. The historian and author of The Age of Choice, Sophia Rosenfeld, spoke to Jacobin about the complex legacy of an idea that helped forge the modern world.
Long Before MAGA’s White Grievance, There Was Bernie Goetz
In 1984, a white man named Bernie Goetz shot four unarmed black youths on a New York City subway train. The tabloids hailed him as a fed-up everyman — rhetoric that permeated the culture and intensified a culture of white grievance and racist vigilantism.
Kathy Hochul Is Failing on Climate
The Democratic base in New York State and some party leaders nationwide are charting a path toward a greener future. New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, meanwhile, is choosing billionaires and polluters.
Poland’s Milk Bars Live On After Communism
In Poland, postwar Communist rule has few defenders. But state-subsidized eateries known as milk bars, designed under state socialism to free people from “kitchen slavery,” continue to thrive today.
Elon Musk Represents the Right’s New Reactionary Modernism
Elon Musk is an heir to the reactionary modernists of a century ago, a man whose utopian speculations about the power of technology go hand in hand with apocalyptic doomsaying about the woke mind virus and the “great replacement.”
After France’s Elections, the Left Remains Deeply Divided
France’s local elections again showed Emmanuel Macron’s weakness. With both the Socialists and France Insoumise making gains, neither party will likely recognize the other as the Left’s standard-bearer for the 2027 presidential election.