Ellen Meiksins Wood was one of the great Marxist thinkers of her age. One of Wood’s most important contributions was to show how the coercive pressure of markets is specific to capitalism and point us toward the necessary socialist alternative.
In his new book Mute Compulsion, Søren Mau argues that to understand and end capitalism, we need to analyze how it not only subordinates the poor to the rich but in fact exerts economic power over everyone — including capitalists themselves.
Even if we were to free ourselves from the capitalist work ethic and provide everyone with a universal basic income, our society would still require some amount of socially necessary labor. Socialists should strive to reimagine work, not eliminate it.
Some leftists imagine a postcapitalist society will free everyone from the need to work. But the only realistic and fair way to manage production under socialism is to democratically distribute and share in the burdens of labor.
US labor union density is at historic lows, and multinational corporations seem more powerful than ever. But by organizing to take advantage of strategic vulnerabilities in supply chains, workers can still score major victories.
The critique of capitalism was central to William Morris’s vision of an arts and crafts movement in the Victorian era. Against the alienation and exploitation of a rapacious industrialism, he advocated for a conception of art capable of restoring creativity to everyday life.
Marxist philosopher Étienne Balibar sits down with Jacobin to discuss freedom and democracy — and why socialists need to reclaim those words from the Right.
In an interview, author China Miéville explains why Marx and Engels’s Communist Manifesto is such a remarkable work, defending the book against its detractors and arguing that it remains urgently inspiring and deeply relevant.
The idea that the labor and climate movements must unite for a Green New Deal is more popular than ever. To get it done, we'll need to take the threat of job loss seriously, finding and uplifting commonalities between climate goals and worker self-interest.
The Institute for Christian Socialism is trying to build left-wing solidarity within religious communities. For these Christians, a commitment to socialism is inherent in the Gospel.
Political preferences are often discussed through a one-size-fits-all middle-class lens. But empirical data shows that class significantly influences voting patterns, with growing class consciousness driving dissatisfaction with established parties.
An effective left politics can’t just speak to workers’ material interests. It also has to construct myths that speak to people’s sense of dignity and humanity.
Increasingly, mainstream Democrats have sought to carve out a space for “acceptable” Zionism by saying that they support Israel but oppose Bibi Netanyahu. But the horrors of Gaza are a result of processes far more vast than one right-wing leader.
Americans are frustrated with our increasingly oligarchic political system. Selecting an assortment of lawmaking deliberative bodies through random lotteries could help fix it, by empowering ordinary people rather than unaccountable politicians.
One thing we can be certain of is that capitalism will end.
Of all the internal controversies Occupy generated, the one over whether the movement should adopt specific demands may have been the most significant.
Anticapitalism isn't simply a moral stance against injustice — it's about building an alternative.
It might seem that way, but genuine freedom and democracy aren't compatible with capitalism.
This weekend's Arnold Sports Festival showed that many seek in bodybuilding what they can't find in their jobs.
Defenders of capitalism say that socialism will squelch minority rights. But the only minority groups we seek to unseat are those who trample the rights of others.