Betting on the Working Class
The nationwide teachers' strikes are a reminder that the working class is still the most powerful agent for radical change.
Search Result(s) for: “working class”
What Happened to the Friendly Neighborhood (Working-Class) Spider-Man?
Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy introduced us to a working-class kid from Queens struggling to both save his city and pay the rent. But now under Disney, the Peter Parker of Spider-Man: No Way Home has wealthy new benefactors rewriting just what it means to be a superhero.
Labor Rights Will Not Save the Labor Movement
Most proposals to revive the labor movement focus on expanding labor’s rights. But the “rights” framework hampers working-class solidarity and makes unions subordinate to the state. To build working-class power, we should focus instead on labor freedoms.
Anthony Quezada: “My Solidarity Is Not With Corporations. It’s With the Working Class”
Anthony Quezada is a socialist running for Cook County Board. Jacobin spoke with him about how watching luxury developers overrun his working-class Chicago neighborhood made him a socialist and the need to bring working people together around what unites them.
Bernie Wants Democrats to Fight for the Working Class. They Won’t.
Bernie Sanders is sounding the alarm: working-class people are fed up with Democrats’ failed strategy of behind-the-scenes negotiations. But the party won’t listen. So Sanders and the Squad should take a more aggressive approach against the Democrats.
Democrats Keep Handing Working-Class Voters to Republicans
The Democratic Party has sold out and ignored workers over and over in recent years — so much so that despite Republicans’ steadfast commitment to the rich, they’ve also made significant inroads in winning over working-class voters.
There’s No Substitute for Mass Working-Class Parties
Robert Michels developed his “iron law of oligarchy” after seeing the bureaucratization of the early socialist movement. His warnings are relevant today — but the path to social transformation still runs through building mass, working-class political parties.
Die Linke’s Fight to Win Back Working-Class Germans
Last year’s elections saw a resurgence for Germany’s socialist party Die Linke. In an interview, coleader Ines Schwerdtner explains how the party is seeking to expand beyond current left-wing voters to reach broader parts of the working class.
Javier Milei Has Tapped Into the Discontent of a New, Informal Working Class
Most surprising about Argentina’s election of far-right libertarian Javier Milei was his capture of a large part of the working-class vote. His ability to speak to the anxieties of the country’s growing precarious sector should be a wake-up call to the Left.
Oasis’s Working-Class Image Is Seductive but Empty
English rock group Oasis has always been a populist contradiction, rooted both in working-class culture and the individualism of post-Thatcherite Britain. But while other bands become more political, Oasis’s comeback tour offers only escapist nostalgia.
No, Brian Thompson Wasn’t a “Working-Class Hero”
Commentators like the New York Times’ Bret Stephens have called slain CEO Brian Thompson a “working-class hero.” You don’t have to condone murder to see through that ridiculous claim about a man who was at the helm of a legalized extortion racket.
The Florida Socialists Who Knew Working-Class Solidarity Was the Foundation of Freedom
May Day is not a holiday for Florida governor Ron DeSantis, much as he might pose as a working-class champion. For a more robust vision of freedom, we can look to the Florida Socialists and Tampa cigar workers of Eugene Debs’s day.
Not All Labor Actions Aid the Working Class
There can be no successful left project without a rebuilt and revitalized labor movement at its heart. But that doesn’t mean that union militancy serves the interests of the larger working class in every possible context.
In the Late 1800s, the Knights of Labor Tried to Build a Working-Class Internationalism
Too often, the US labor movement has favored narrow nationalism over cross-border solidarity. But in the late 19th century, the US-based Knights of Labor preached a working-class internationalism that sought to organize workers throughout the globe.
New Report: Populism Wins Pennsylvania
A unique new study by the Center for Working-Class Politics, Jacobin, and YouGov highlights how economic populist messaging resonates with working-class voters in Pennsylvania on the eve of the November elections.
Democrats Learned to Love Class Dealignment
The neoliberal economic program embraced by the Clinton-era Democratic Party alienated many working-class voters. Democrats responded by reorienting their electoral strategy toward professional-class voters, accelerating workers’ departure from the party.
We Can Move Beyond Political Polarization Through a Working-Class Economic Agenda
US politics have become hyperpolarized along partisan lines. But they don’t have to be. Millions of Americans worry more about paying the rent or medical bills than what’s on cable news. They can be won over by a working-class economic agenda.
In Parma, the Working Class Defeated the Fascists on the Barricades
In August 1922, Benito Mussolini’s Fascists crushed a general strike by force. But on the barricades of Parma, the working class imposed a stunning military defeat on the Blackshirts — a victory that inspired enduring resistance against the Fascist government.
Annie Ernaux’s Writing Has Given Dignity to the Lives of the Working Class
Last week, Annie Ernaux won the Nobel Prize in Literature for her courage in interrogating France’s collective memory. Her work has been concerned with the lives of working-class women, which her books have treated with an uncommon dignity and respect.
Showcasing the Best of Working-Class Cinema
Movies are a uniquely powerful medium to depict working-class life in its full richness. The DC Labor Film Fest, which ends this weekend, has collected the best such worker films for streaming.