What is the Rank-and-File Strategy, and Why Does It Matter?
We can't win socialism without workers fighting back. The rank-and-file strategy gives us the tools to do that.
Search Result(s) for: “working class”
No Compromises
Ahead of Sunday's vote, the Greek Communist Party answers questions about their vision and platform.
Climate Change Is Class Struggle
To build the power to take on climate change, we can’t simply validate individual movements or assume single-issue struggles will add up to something greater than the sum of their parts. We need class politics to connect the dots of our many struggles — and to save the planet.
France’s Far Right Is Gaining Where the Left Has Crumbled
French workers vote for the far-right Rassemblement National more than for other parties, but more often, they don’t vote at all. Rather than laying down roots like the old workers' parties, Marine Le Pen’s party has exploited the vacuum left by their decline.
Mike Davis Revisits His 1986 Labor History Classic, Prisoners of the American Dream
The late socialist writer Mike Davis’s first book was Prisoners of the American Dream, a deep exploration of how the US labor movement became so weakened. Nearly four decades later, Davis revisited the book in an interview with Jacobin.
The Defeat of European Socialism Was Far From Inevitable
Contrary to popular belief, the 1970s was a period in which the European left was at its strongest. Unions were powerful, and socialists felt confident that the changing economy could benefit them. So why was the Left defeated a decade later?
The Politics of a Second Gilded Age
The mass inequality of America’s first Gilded Age thrived on identity-based partisanship, helping extinguish the fires of class rage. In 2021, we’re headed down the same path.
André Gorz Was the Theorist Who Predicted the Revolt Against Meaningless Work
The COVID-19 pandemic led millions of people to question their meaningless jobs. French socialist thinker André Gorz anticipated this shift, sketching out a vision of a new civilization that would free us from the constraints of work.
The Rise and Fall of the Socialist Party of America
Despite its ultimate demise, the Socialist Party shows us that the United States possesses no special immunity against socialist politics.
White-Collar Populism
On the politics of professional-class anxiety.
The Age of Class Dealignment
Over the course of decades, social democracy abandoned workers. Then workers abandoned social democracy.
Workplace Organizing Is Still Crucial for the Socialist Movement
Recent socialist electoral campaigns have been essential to the rebirth of the US left. Now the Left needs to commit to rebuilding the labor movement from the bottom up. If we don’t, major reforms — not to mention socialism — will remain off the agenda.
The Class Conflict Between Elites and Workers Goes Back to America’s Founding
You wouldn’t know it from the widespread glorification of America’s “founding fathers,” but the years around American independence were shot through with class conflict between elites and working people. And most of the founding fathers were on the wrong side.
Unmaking Global Capitalism
Nine things to know about organizing in the belly of the beast.
The Russian Revolution Reconsidered
Between world wars and a crippling civil war, the Russian Revolution fought to change history.
Beyond the NDP
Canadian voters could oust Stephen Harper in today's election. But it's time to build a genuine left alternative to austerity.
What Populism Can (and Can’t) Do for the Left
We live in an age of populism, on the Right and on the Left. In an interview with Jacobin, Vivek Chibber explains both populism’s potential and limitations for putting class and economics back into politics.
The Rank-and-File Strategy and the Trade Union Bureaucracy
To understand the rank-and-file strategy for socialists in the labor movement, you have to understand the role and interests of the trade union bureaucracy.
Why America Never Got a Labor Party
In Europe, labor unions and socialist parties marched together and won massive reforms. In the United States, they were divided. Vivek Chibber explains how that split still shapes US politics today.
Why Class Matters as Much as Ever
Some argue that the continued existence of the middle class refutes Karl Marx’s analysis of capitalism. In an interview with Jacobin, Vivek Chibber explains why this is wrong.