The left-wing actor and playwright Wallace Shawn, currently in two plays 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.”
Choose Class War, Not Boomer Resentment
The generational warfare promoted by centrists and the Right, who have long been desperate to cut and privatize Social Security, is a fool’s solution to what ails the system. Taxing the rich is the answer.
End the Blockade on Cuba
As a Cuban American traveling with a recent aid convoy, I witnessed the daily hardship sanctions produce. Washington must lift its devastating blockade.
Between Chinamaxxing and the Kill Line
A viral Chinese meme imagines Americans one mishap away from ruin, while American influencers fantasize about China as a frictionless techno-utopia. Each reveals less about reality than about shared economic anxieties.
Stephen Lewis’s Complicated Legacy for the Canadian Left
Stephen Lewis, leader of the Ontario NDP, son of founding NDP member David, and father of current leader Avi, has died. He leaves a complex legacy: he helped bring the NDP into the mainstream but at the cost of expelling a socialist faction from the party.
Under capitalism, technological “progress” like AI systematically deskills workers, deepens managerial control, and turns the labor process into a site of conflict rather than liberation. This is by design.
New Yorkers Want to Tax the Rich. Julie Menin Doesn’t Care.
Zohran Mamdani has called for taxing the rich to close New York City’s large budget deficit. His position is popular with most New Yorkers, but wealthy City Council Speaker Julie Menin is giving cover to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s refusal to raise taxes.
The War on Iran Is More Expensive Than You Think
In the first two weeks of its war on Iran, the US spent an estimated $2.1 billion a day. It’s no wonder Donald Trump is saying that the cost of war means the federal government can’t afford to spend money to help Americans meet their basic needs.
Conrad Blackburn, a Socialist to Represent Harlem in Albany
Socialist, trade unionist, and candidate for New York State Assembly Conrad Blackburn: “If you are taking money from real estate developers, then your first instinct is to deliver for those real estate entities, not the people.”
The Right Has a Lofty Vision for Schools. Where’s Ours?
The Right is selling a vision of classical education that promises to build character and nurture wonder. Liberals are stuck aiming for higher test scores and employability. Public education defenders need our own inspiring take on the meaning of school.
Neoliberalism didn’t win an intellectual argument — it won power. Vivek Chibber unpacks how employers and political elites in the 1970s and ’80s turned economic turmoil into an opportunity to reshape society on their terms.
Dems Claim to Want a Hasan Piker — Then Try to Cancel Him
Democrats spent the last year asking where their Joe Rogan was. Hasan Piker is one of the few left-wing figures with the audience they covet — but the party is deeply hostile to the spontaneity and independence that make figures like him appealing.
Chapo’s Comic Book Is a Riveting Political Horror Show
The Chapo Trap House comic book, Year Zero #1, is a collection of horror stories with a clear political message: liberal capitalism is not failing accidentally — it is functioning as designed, producing horror as a by-product of stability.
The Biggest US Meatpacking Strike in 40 Years Is Still On
At the sprawling JBS beef processing plant in Greeley, Colorado, 3,800 workers from around the world have united to carry out the largest US meatpacking strike in 40 years.
The US and Israel Are Making Gaza-Style War the New Normal
In Iran and Lebanon, the US and Israeli militaries are bombing dense residential blocks, destroying civilian infrastructure, slaughtering children, and assassinating health workers. If it sounds familiar, it’s because this is the Gaza playbook.