
Capitalism Had a Beginning and Will Someday End
Historian Sven Beckert on where the capitalist system came from, what keeps it alive, and what it would take to bring it down.

Historian Sven Beckert on where the capitalist system came from, what keeps it alive, and what it would take to bring it down.

The left-wing actor and playwright Wallace Shawn, the writer of two plays currently running in New York, describes a harsh midlife conversion to class politics — transforming from a disengaged liberal to someone who sees himself as “a participant in the world struggle.”

The No Kings rallies have evolved beyond basic anti-Trump liberalism. Their messaging is sharply antiwar, anti-oligarchy, and far more substantive than the “resistance” politics of Donald Trump’s first term. The Left should be proud to participate.

In an age of algorithmically generated “kill lists,” anxieties about AI integration into military decision-making are justifiably mounting. OpenAI’s recent hiring of over a dozen former defense bureaucrats does nothing to allay these concerns.

The death of the filmmaker and Marxist theorist Alexander Kluge marks the loss of a voice that insisted the horrors of the last century were not confined to the past. They live on in the continued existence of imperialist wars.

In his first one hundred days as mayor, Zohran Mamdani has realized that New Yorkers — and all Americans — need to see the government working for them.

Spain’s Premier Pedro Sánchez has emerged as a sharp critic of Donald Trump. But he's also pushed for a broader realignment of European policy, recognizing the need for new international partnerships after the end of US hegemony.

On Memorial Day, socialists honor the victims of war and struggle for a world free of it.

In March, the Trump administration revoked the legal status of 532,000 Latin American immigrants here under the “humanitarian parole” system. Affected workers in Louisville, Kentucky, have seen an outpouring of support from the local labor movement.

Mexico’s new national health system aims to provide universal care. At a moment when US taxpayer dollars are being harnessed to destroy health care infrastructure abroad, Mexico is attempting to make a constitutional right to care into a lived reality.

Putting Jared Moskowitz in charge of Middle East policy isn’t just a slap in the face to Democratic voters — it’s an empowerment of a leading Democratic supporter of Trump’s disastrous Iran war and free speech crackdown.

The far-right National Rally boasts that it represents French workers, yet has increasingly close ties to big business. As the party nears power, the contradictions of its claimed social policy are becoming clear.

The Scottish National Party won its 5th consecutive term in office last week. But the party’s tepid brand of centrism still looks worn out, and the only big advances came for Reform on the right and the Greens on the left.

Pro-Israel advocates in Australia want to escalate repression against critics. Their efforts are a sign of their growing weakness.

Silicon Valley is increasingly embracing the narrative that the US is in an existential battle for technological dominance with China. The story is a convenient shield against efforts to rein in the tech industry’s power.

Saudi Arabia has spent years trying to build up its Yemeni allies against its main opponent, Ansar Allah. Ansar Allah’s sudden military offensive over the last few weeks shows that this project has been a failure, despite all the money spent on it.

In 1949, Paul Robeson performed the “Song of the Jewish Partisans” in Moscow, in the Yiddish original. At a time of rising Stalinist antisemitism, Robeson’s act of solidarity made clear his stand against any form of racism.

Neither the US nor its allies are ready to deal with the consequences of an escalation of their war with Iran. Yet Donald Trump has painted himself into a corner, and it’s unclear whether he has a face-saving way out.

The International Criminal Court has scheduled the trial of former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte for November this year. It’s an overdue reckoning for the mass killings under his rule that should worry other leaders guilty of major atrocities.

Saikat Chakrabarti, a founder of Justice Democrats and former top AOC aide, is challenging Nancy Pelosi for her seat in Congress. He talked to Jacobin about his vision for an ambitious program to transform the US economy and reverse class dealignment.