This issue of Jacobin takes a hard look at the politics of borders, examining their role in dividing the working class, enforcing economic and geopolitical hierarchies, and sustaining global inequality. Are borders a necessary defense against capital’s race to the bottom, or are they just another tool for splitting the working class and suppressing wages? What would a solidaristic immigration policy look like today, and what would a genuinely internationalist socialism consist of in a world still crisscrossed by national frontiers?

From the casino-like world of crypto to the pursuit of easy profits through finance and real estate, many people feel that our economy increasingly rewards the speculation of a few over the hard work of the many. This issue explores how speculation and gambling have become growing features of today’s capitalism — driving inequality, distorting economic priorities, and eroding social trust.

The idea of progress has been central to the Left since its inception. But today faith in progress has been severely diminished. In this issue, we provide a nuanced picture of where progress has been made in both technological and social terms, how and why it has been reversed, and how socialists can revive the Left’s tradition of progress for the struggles of the present.

This very timely edition looks back at the Biden years and the failures of American liberalism.

At over 150 pages, “Trumpism” features incredible design and outstanding new writing by Anton Jäger, Liza Featherstone, Amos Barshad, Doug Henwood, David Broder, Owen Hatherley, Juliet Jacques, and many others.

“Town & Country,” examines the class politics of rural America, showing that it is neither monolithic nor a backward-looking residue of the past. What do socialists have to offer to rural America? What organizing traditions can we draw on? And if ever fewer Americans are tilling the fields, what does that mean for a vision of a worker-farmer alliance?

The spread of capitalism across the globe has led to colossal social upheavals. But religion remains a powerful force. Should socialists combat religious ways of thinking? Or should we make the case that a rich spiritual life first requires the practical work of building the society of abundance that religion so often envisions?

We describe challenges to existing welfare states, debate the value of generational analysis, and discuss what kind of society the elderly deserve after a lifetime of hard work.

The invasion of Iraq was a humanitarian and geopolitical disaster premised on lies from the highest levels of American power. It led to hundreds of thousands of deaths and unleashed decades of violent instability that left the country in ruins. In this issue, we look back at the context of the invasion, the various fabrications that elites used to justify it, and the vast human cost of the occupation for the people of Iraq and beyond.