Capitalism is built on the meritocratic idea that everyone gets what they deserve in the marketplace. This May Day, let’s reject that idea — wealth creation is a fundamentally social process, and the rich have no right to hoard all the resources and power.
For the first century of its existence, the organized left mobilized around the “labor question”: who determines the what and how of production. For years, though, the Left has abandoned this question for a concern with inequality — at its own peril.
This week, Rashida Tlaib and Mondaire Jones introduced the End Child Poverty Act in Congress. It's a watershed bill that would bring the US in line with social democratic countries that boast the world's lowest child poverty rates.
The UN’s new Sustainable Development Goals aim to save the world without transforming it.
On this day in 1981, Bernie Sanders became Burlington’s first socialist mayor by a margin of just ten votes. Here’s a definitive history of how Bernie beat the political establishment with a working-class coalition behind him and how we can do the same today.
Deindustrialization and the "gig economy" can't explain the weakness of the American working class.
Class struggle will shape how this crisis plays out, and the world that’s created in its wake.
Public investment in below-market rental housing could leverage private-sector development to secure housing for all. This idea is being floated to address British Columbia’s housing crisis — and should be taken up everywhere.
The basic function of education under capitalism is to produce the next generation of compliant workers. We should fight instead for fully funded schools that empower students — while challenging the capitalist system that undermines progressive education reform.
Donald Trump’s tariffs amount to a stealth tax on the middle and working classes, wrapped in the language of sovereignty. In practice, it’s upward redistribution and corporate price-gouging, fueling inequality that corrodes stability and erodes democracy.
The BBC reality show Victorian Slum House demonstrates just how far our society has slid back into Dickensian misery.
Lula da Silva is still favored to win Brazil’s presidency in a second round of voting this month. But a close look at the vote breakdown of the first round reveals that Jair Bolsonaro has built strong pockets of support that aren’t going away anytime soon.
Few economists have had a greater impact on the way we talk about global trade and China’s role in the world economy than Michael Pettis. He spoke to Jacobin about Donald Trump’s tariffs and why inequality is at the heart of the trade war.
In February, Seattle voters approved a ballot initiative to levy a tax on businesses to fund the construction of democratically governed social housing. Jacobin spoke with one of the campaign’s lead organizers about the measure.
Elite universities don't offer poor and working-class students class mobility — they maintain a rigid class hierarchy.
What did the Cuban Revolution accomplish and where can it go from here?
Mexico City's experience shows that you can’t establish a “right to the city” without taking on the power of capital.
For a generation, the Left dismissed any concerns about inflation as elite fearmongering. But now inflation is here. And it’s hurting workers more than anyone.
Today marks 125 years since the birth of Austrian-British economist Friedrich August von Hayek. He theorized the need to keep the masses away from the levers of state power — and did it in the name of defending freedom.
A debate between Seth Ackerman and Aaron Benanav on the prognosis for capitalism: Is it experiencing the kind of long-run stagnation that many Marxists have long regarded as its destiny? And what does the answer mean for socialist political strategy today?