The FBI’s Secret War
Sixty years ago, the FBI launched COINTELPRO. Its mission was simple: destroy the Left.
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Black Lives Matter Is Part of a Global Struggle Against Oppression
The Black Lives Matter protests have had an electrifying impact. To build on that momentum, we need to forge strategic unity between different struggles against oppression, in the US and the wider world.
Bernie’s Democratic Socialism Is Firmly Within the American Tradition
The Bernie Sanders campaign is nothing less than the promise to fulfill a thwarted but long-cherished American dream: a society where the wealthy and powerful no longer dominate our lives.
Ivory Perry, the Forgotten Civil Rights Hell-Raiser
Activists are often held up as exemplars of personal morality — but in every social struggle, ordinary people with complex lives rise up as leaders. Ivory Perry was one of these who waged a relentless war for racial and economic justice.
Mark Rudd’s Lessons From SDS and the Weather Underground for Today’s Radicals
Mark Rudd was Columbia’s Students for a Democratic Society chapter president in 1968, when the university erupted in protest against the Vietnam War and racism. He then cofounded the Weather Underground. In an interview with Jacobin, he reflects on what radicals like him got right and got wrong, and what today’s socialists should learn from his experiences.
To Defend Democracy, We Need Mass Action
We can’t sit on our hands waiting for Joe Biden to protect abortion and the climate. Movements for the New Deal and civil rights showed us how to beat the Supreme Court and other reactionary, undemocratic institutions: mass action.
Why Unions Should Support Black Lives Matter
The Black Lives Matter movement doesn't just need allies who condemn the murder of George Floyd — it needs comrades in the fight against racial injustice. Trade unionists have to join that fight.
Nina Turner Is Coming Out Swinging — Again
This week, Nina Turner announced a second run for Congress in Ohio’s 11th District. She spoke with Jacobin about fighting pro-corporate Democrats, frustrations with the Biden administration, and why “evil never sleeps, so good can never take a vacation.”
Don’t Cry For Comey
A look at James Comey’s tough-on-crime career shows that his worst scandals had nothing to do with Hillary Clinton’s emails.
Rosa Parks Syndrome in Palestine
Liberals who generally support Israel, but find themselves cringing when Israeli politicians make racist remarks, have seized on bus segregation because it packages occupation in digestible terms.
The Tragedy of Bayard Rustin
How one of the greatest American socialists ended up on the wrong side of history.
Rustin the Liberal Biopic Versus Rustin the Labor Activist
Netflix’s new feel-good Bayard Rustin biopic, Rustin, claims the civil rights hero has been forgotten because of his sexuality. But it was his fiery and provocative class politics that makes him both controversial and prophetic today.
The Forgotten Union
District 65 grew powerful by organizing low-wage workers that had been ignored by the traditional labor movement.
Adolph Reed: We Must Avoid Race Reductionism
The black population in the United States is roughly the size of the population of Spain. Yet too many ignore class differences and political complexities among millions of African Americans.
Rest in Power, John Lewis
With the death of John Lewis, we’ve lost another giant of the Civil Rights Movement. It’s up to us to carry on the struggle for the “beautiful community” he spent his whole life fighting for.
The Clock Is Ticking on the Deadline for a Giant Strike at UPS
Contract negotiations between shipping giant UPS and its 340,000-strong Teamsters workforce resumed last week. If they can’t come to an agreement by August 1, the union will go on strike — which would be the largest at a private employer in decades.
Meet the Leftist Philosopher Running for Senate in Georgia
Philosopher Richard Dien Winfield has spent his career studying concepts like truth, justice, and freedom. Now he wants to put these principles into practice by bringing an agenda of Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, and full employment to the nation’s capital.
Remembering the Black Panther Party
More than five decades after its founding, the Black Panther Party's antiracist, anticapitalist vision remains just as relevant today.
A. J. Muste Was a Prophet of the 20th-Century US Left
This Easter, we should remember the rich tradition of Christian socialism in the US. And one of that tradition’s most important figures is the radical leader A. J. Muste, whose religious faith animated his commitment to socialism and nonviolence.
The Gary Convention Elided Black America’s Internal Disunity
In 1972, black political leaders and activists convened in Gary, Indiana, to develop a unified black political program. But the convention’s emphasis on racial cohesion overlooked the realities of black class stratification and internal ideological divisions.