Kendra Strauss is director of the Labour Studies Program and associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Simon Fraser University.
In the early twentieth century, Carlo Tresca was one of the most important immigrant labor organizers in the United States. When fascism triumphed in his homeland in 1922, he took up the struggle against its American backers.
GOP leaders say they want to raise the Social Security retirement age. That’s just a deceptive way of saying they want to cut benefits — punishing nonwealthy Americans while leaving untouched the massive government spending on tax shelters for the rich.
Unions aren’t just vehicles for transforming society — they also transform lives, as workers and organizers learn how to build an organization that can overthrow the authoritarian dictatorship of the boss and create a beloved community.
Today, Brazilian voters are not just choosing between Bolsonaro and Lula — the far right and the Left — but whether their nation’s politics will be authoritarian or democratic.
A century since the March on Rome, it is important to remember the horrors of Benito Mussolini’s regime. Fascism was morally repugnant — but also a movement based on violent counterrevolution.
No leftist writer can compare to Mike Davis — not in clarity, breadth, generosity, or ironclad commitment to the working class. Davis has died, but his ideas will continue to find life in generations of leftist activists and thinkers to come.
Emmanuel Macron’s government lost its majority this June, and now relies on strong-arm tactics to push through its agenda. This week’s budget debate showed the government’s weakness — and the possibility of blocking its assault on France’s social model.
It’s never a bad time to revisit John Carpenter’s 1988 classic They Live, a hilarious sci-fi thriller that skewers the inequality of the neoliberal era and offers an iconic depiction of capitalist ideology.
Since the 1980s, workplace law in Australia has crippled the union movement. Today, it’s a finely tuned machine that exacerbates inequality in order to enrich a small minority of bosses.
During a dire housing crisis, new reporting shows New York City landlords are keeping tens of thousands of rent-stabilized apartments vacant. It’s not the first time landlords have mobilized to erode the city’s affordable housing stock.
Cost-of-living adjustment clauses — which protect wages against inflation — used to be standard fare in collective agreements. By fighting to bring the COLA clause back, Canadian workers are refusing to bear the brunt of spiraling costs.
From Howard Dean to Hillary Clinton, from Beto O’Rourke to Pete Buttigieg, the Democratic Party seems addicted to using personality-driven stardom as a substitute for real politics.
Voters agree American democracy is in trouble, but they’re divided on why and don’t seem too concerned. The Left needs a strong message condemning right-wing attacks on democracy and connecting the topic to the bread-and-butter issues voters care about.
Today marks 100 years since Benito Mussolini became Italy’s prime minister. His first governments pursued austerity and suppressed the labor movement — earning him the praise of liberal economists both in Italy and abroad.
As our representative system has become less democratic and more oligarchical, ballot initiatives have become more important to passing majoritarian legislation. The Left should take note and proceed accordingly.
John Fetterman’s post-stroke impairment is temporary, it doesn’t affect his cognitive capacity, and plenty of sitting senators have suffered from much worse. So why is his condition getting more attention than his opponent’s sleazy history?
Mainstream media outlets like the Washington Post are eager for US intervention around the globe. They’re currently pushing for American intervention in Haiti, claiming Haitians want it. But Haitians themselves aren’t saying anything of the sort.
Mike Davis forced himself to look at the very worst of our society and world. What he found wasn’t pretty. Yet he never abandoned the search for seeds of positive change — and for socialism.
Conditions are ripe for labor’s revitalization. So why aren’t unions stepping up with massive financial and organizational support for workers’ organizing efforts?
Joe Biden has promised to crack down on overdraft and “junk” fees — a huge source of revenue for banks. Republicans and the banks who fund their campaigns are fighting desperately to preserve them.