The Biden administration’s preemptive surrender on the $15 minimum wage is nothing like its guns-blazing approach to getting union-buster Neera Tanden confirmed for a White House job. The contrast demonstrates Biden’s lack of sincerity when he claims to be a working-class fighter.
The promise of $2,000 survival checks helped the Democrats gain control of the Senate. They should send them out immediately, and absorb the lesson of this election: when Republicans are forced to confront bold proposals to help the broad working-class majority, they lose.
Simply put, Donald Trump owes his reelection to inflation and to the fact that the Biden administration did little to address the problem in a way that helped working-class families.
Despite what new Labour prime minister Keir Starmer says, there’s nothing inevitable about another round of austerity — it is a deliberate decision to avoid confronting the powerful and presenting a real alternative for working-class people.
Critics of French left-winger Jean-Luc Mélenchon have repeatedly claimed that he’s finished. But as he launches his latest presidential campaign, his popularity among working-class and minority voters is again making him a real contender.
Obama’s speech last night at the DNC showcased his rhetorical talent. But it was also a reminder of his incrementalist brand of liberalism, which failed to meaningfully address the profound issues facing the working-class majority.
Portugal’s right-wing government is extending the anti-labor agenda it pushed during the austerity era. A 3-million-strong general strike on December 11 showed a resilient working-class response.
The new Dutch government’s program splurges on the military while cutting the welfare state. With most NATO members committing to similarly high defense spending, working-class Europeans are forced to pay the costs.
Some working-class anthems are sung to the tunes of Christian hymns.
For centuries, working-class musicians have raged against the machine.
Claudia Sheinbaum won Mexico’s presidential election thanks to her party’s record of passing universal social policies, respecting working-class voters, and rejecting biased media narratives.
The affluent often blame poverty on bad budgeting skills, claiming the poor just need to be taught financial literacy. But working-class people require living wages and a functioning safety net, not condescending lectures about money management.
After more than a century of German and South African rule, Namibia finally gained its independence on this day in 1990. Working-class struggles and organizations played a vital role in the country’s long march to freedom.
Industrial policy is back in vogue in recent years — but without the working-class power to discipline capital, it’s just public money flowing to private profit.
Universal programs and economic redistribution, far more than rhetorical moderation and identity-based pandering, are the best bet for winning over workers of all races.
The US government wrote off almost all the money it lent businesses during the pandemic. Now it’s wrecking credit scores and threatening to garnish paychecks to collect student loans. Debt can be forgiven easily enough — just not for the working class.
No law of history dictated that a right-wing billionaire would win over vast swaths of the working class in this year’s election. It simply didn’t have to be like this.
Juggalos, the intense Insane Clown Posse fanbase, have long been targeted by police, including in a dubious federal investigation under the legacy of a Red Scare law. The group’s crime, it seems, is its very existence as a visible working-class counterculture.
As energy bills soar, Britain’s new prime minister, Liz Truss, proposes short-term measures to prop up suppliers with public money. But we won't be “back to normal” anytime soon — and it’s working-class Britons who will suffer.
John Sayles is one of the most talented left-wing filmmakers in US history. We spoke with him about radical politics, independent filmmaking, and his legendary 1987 labor movie Matewan.