Mapping the Decline
How the neoliberal project’s very own fifty-state strategy left poverty and low wages in its wake.
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We Need a Shark Tank Without the Sharks
The entrepreneurial reality show Shark Tank is saturated with the absurdity of twenty-first-century capitalism. But watching it, you can’t help but think about how its basic premise — helping ordinary people with extraordinary ideas implement them on a wide scale — could be carried out under socialism.
Helen Keller: The Hands That Produce Should Be the Hands That Benefit
To many, Helen Keller is a symbol of unyielding perseverance in the face of adversity. Rightfully so. But she was also one of the most prominent American Marxists of her time. Here, we reprint her 1912 essay "The Hand of the World" in full.
Monopoly Music
Today’s ruling class treats all culture as either commodity or plaything. We should not accept either definition.
The Brazilian Right Used Anti-Corruption to Push Its Agenda
Beginning in 2014, Brazil was consumed by a moralizing anti-corruption drive that helped right-wing forces oust the Workers’ Party and undermine Lula’s legacy. It took investigative journalism to unravel Lava Jato’s mythology.
Social Workers Can’t Help People in Crisis by Partnering With Police
Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot recently announced a “co-responder” model for addressing mental health crises, pairing social workers with cops on the scene. That model is wrong. Social workers can’t aid people in need by partnering with a police department that has a long history of unchecked brutality.
The Federal Writers’ Project Fueled the Cultural Ferment of the New Deal Era
FDR’s Federal Writers’ Project employed thousands of out-of-work writers to produce guidebooks, compile local histories, and collect stories of the country at a moment of turmoil. We need an equivalent program today.
The New Candyman Plays It Too Safe for Real Scares
Nia DaCosta’s Candyman reboot is a hit, but unlike the strange and haunting 1992 original, it’s a by-the-numbers horror flick.
Cubans Don’t Want Regime Change
The US hoped the protests in Cuba would overthrow Cuba’s government. That didn’t happen. Talking to average Cubans on the island reveals why: Despite criticisms of the government, many Cubans want to further the revolution, not scrap it.
Honduras Can Break Free of Washington and Neoliberalism
Since a US-backed coup toppled leftist president Manuel Zelaya in 2009, Honduras has been in crisis. The election of socialist Xiomara Castro is a chance to break the cycle and take on neoliberalism.
Nazism’s Political Victims Should Never Be Forgotten
Hitler’s forces killed almost a million civilians because of their political affiliation — most of them socialists and communists. Yet official commemoration in Germany and beyond rarely grants proper recognition to the Nazi mass murder of worker-militants.
The Internet Doesn’t Have to Be This Bad
The internet feels like an antisocial, dystopian wasteland. Capitalism made it this way. But if we can pry the web out of the hands of the profit motive, we can build a better internet.
Eugene V. Debs: In a Just Society, Every Day Would Be Labor Day
On Labor Day, there’s perhaps no one better to read than Eugene V. Debs. Here’s his 1903 Labor Day message, never before republished, in which he declares, “The struggle in which we are now engaged will end only when every day is Labor Day.”
Corporate France Says: Hands Off Our Private Jets
French tycoons face rising scrutiny over their use of private jets for even the shortest flights. Business lobby group MEDEF’s summit struck down all criticism of the superrich — and set out plans for an energy transition that puts their interests first.
Marxism Can Help Us Make Sense of the Medieval Crusades
The Crusades seem like a classic example of religious ideology triumphing over materialism. But a closer look shows that multiple class interests underpinned the crusading enterprise, from merchants seeking trade routes to peasants evading feudal oppression.
Bernie Is Right: Extreme Wealth Concentration Has Turned America Into an Oligarchy
A new congressional report commissioned by Bernie Sanders finds that the 1 percent now own one-third of all wealth, while the bottom half of Americans hold only 2 percent. It’s another sign of the slide into oligarchy that Sanders has warned about for years.
Automation Doesn’t Have to Mean Unemployment and Misery
Automation won’t necessarily lead to either mass unemployment or a utopian workless future. Power and politics impact how automation affects work — which means that automation can create dignified jobs through class struggle.
The Robots Won’t Save Us Until We Control the Means of Production
Automated robot landlords are here to make the wealthy even wealthier, reminding us that advances in technology always benefit the rich. But it doesn’t have to be that way — with workers at the helm, technological gains could be distributed equally.
New York’s Socialist Bench Just Got Even Bigger
Democratic Socialists of America now boasts eight representatives in New York’s state government and an ambitious legislative agenda focused on working-class issues like childcare, transit, and housing.
Economists’ Obsession With “Efficiency” Is Just an Endorsement of Greed
The global economy is “efficient” alright: it efficiently funnels wealth to the top while leaving most of humanity behind.