Hardhats and Hippies: An Interview with Penny Lewis
In the popular imagination, opposition to the Vietnam War was driven largely by the privileged, while supposedly reactionary blue-collar workers supported the war effort. That memory is wrong.
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The Birth of the Labour Party Has Many Lessons for Socialists Today
American leftists are constantly wrestling with the question of how to relate to the Democratic Party. The history of the UK Labour Party’s formation through a break with the Liberals a century ago is full of lessons for socialists today.
What Herbert Marcuse Got Right — and Wrong
Socialists today should learn from Herbert Marcuse’s One-Dimensional Man: in particular, its spirit of protest, its materialist social theory, and its warnings about commodified liberation. But they should leave behind its moralism and despair about change.
For Republicans, There Will Be No “Return to Normal”
Rightward Republican Party radicalization is well-positioned for continuing political success, even as it promises to bring political and economic instability for the country and the world with it.
Is This Really the “Age of Class Dealignment”?
Class dealignment perspectives tend to overstate the extent to which center-left parties can boost their fortunes today through a strict focus on pocketbook issues.
The Connective Party
The task for socialist parties is to actively build the class power of working people.
The Ruling Class Does Not Rule
In a capitalist society, state managers rely on business confidence to generate the economic growth on which they depend, so capitalists don’t have to mobilize politically to block radical reform. It requires exceptional circumstances to loosen these constraints.
The US Economy Is a System of Plunder
Runaway inequality, regressive taxes, rampant labor exploitation. It’s often said the US economy “isn’t working,” but the truth is that capitalism is a class system that’s working exactly as intended.
This Didn’t Have to Happen
Many white workers aren't voting for Democrats this November. And we can't just blame racism.
Revisiting Marx’s Eighteenth Brumaire
In The Eighteenth Brumaire, Karl Marx analyzes revolution and reaction in mid-19th-century France to blistering effect. His appraisals offer enduring lessons on revolution, class dynamics, and the perpetual tussle with the bonds of history.
When the Workers Were Communists
The once mighty French Communist Party is a shell of its former self. What happened to its mass base?
When US Labor Backed US Imperialism
During the Cold War, the CIA and State Department understood that there is power in a union. After the successful purges of leftists from unions, US labor leaders were enlisted by government officials to join in their imperialist operations across the world.
Let’s Get to Work
"Salting" built the early American labor movement — and it can revive it today.
How Alabama Communists Organized in the Jim Crow South
In 1930s Alabama, Communist Party members fought brutal repression to organize black and white workers in the Jim Crow South. Their efforts remain a source of inspiration for those fighting racism and exploitation today.
The Two Paths of Democratic Socialism: Coalition and Confrontation
After Bernie Sanders, democratic socialists in America face a vital strategic dilemma. Do we go the Justice Democrats route of winning gains as the junior partner in a progressive coalition, or do we take a gamble on more independent class organization and struggle?
The Art of Politics
Debates during the rise of Margaret Thatcher can tell us much about how to respond to our political moment.
The Left Should Draw the Right Lessons From Salvador Allende’s Rise and Fall
The great achievements of Salvador Allende’s socialist government in Chile have often been overshadowed by its brutal defeat. But the fall of his government wasn’t inevitable.
The Marxism of Mike Davis
Historian Nelson Lichtenstein on the life, influences, and “sophisticated yet lucid brand of Marxism” of the late, great writer Mike Davis.
Bernie Is Running, Thank God
Bernie Sanders is running for president again. His message is simple: there's a class war raging and working people need to win it.
Workplace Militancy Isn’t Enough for Labor
The uptick in high-profile strikes in recent years has been heartening. But sustaining and expanding the gains won by that militancy will require careful strategizing and deep political engagement that starts with but goes beyond the shop floor.