Liza Featherstone is a columnist for Jacobin, a freelance journalist, and the author of Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Workers’ Rights at Wal-Mart.
Don’t let the gloom of Tuesday’s national elections obscure the remarkable results in lower-level races across the country. Dozens of socialists were elected to legislatures, while minimum-wage hikes, rent controls, and taxes on the rich to fund schools all won voter backing, even in very red places.
In New York this campaign season, something extraordinary happened: a dedicated effort by AOC and the state’s newly elected DSA-aligned socialist legislators to transform their campaigns into non-electoral socialist organizing vehicles within their districts.
The fight over pandemic prevention isn’t just about surviving the coronavirus. It’s about our potential to build a more collective and compassionate society. Despite Donald Trump’s absurdities, most Americans are ready and willing to adopt solidaristic measures.
On top of skyrocketing medical costs, many Americans face staggering surprise bills for “air ambulances.” What’s no surprise is that the private equity industry is deeply implicated in this nightmare — and spending heavily to make sure no one puts a stop to it.
In an alarming trend, financially strapped school districts across the country are introducing “fees” for looking after students. We need to stop the COVID-19–era privatization of public schools.
The importance of cleanliness in the workplace has become key in the COVID-19 era. But conspicuous scrubbing can also become a key form of boss propaganda — and a substitute for real worker protections.
Back when Jacobin was founded this month in 2010, there was hardly any socialist media in the United States. Today, we’re a small part of a growing movement that can still change the world.
This month, Joe Kennedy III became the first Kennedy ever to lose an election in Massachusetts. In light of the occasion, a Masshole reflects on the awfulness of the Kennedy clan and celebrates the end of Kennedy hegemony.
Melissa Rakestraw, a postal worker in Schaumburg, Illinois, grew up in a tiny rural town and didn’t plan on becoming a radical. But “I guess the short version,” she says, “is, ‘I got a job at the post office and became a socialist.’”
Three socialists ran in this month’s Tennessee primaries. With endorsements from the Memphis chapter of Democratic Socialists of America, all three of them won.
Sex panics keep happening because they tap into Americans’ deepest fears about the need to protect innocents from the threat of evil — fears that are endemic among the Left as well as the Right. Meanwhile, lives are destroyed in the process.
The absurd allegations against progressive Congressional candidate Alex Morse have now been exposed as a hoax. But they couldn’t have been better calculated to excite a Left prone to mindless sex panics.
One hundred years ago, five socialists elected to the New York State Assembly were expelled for their views. Today, a slate of five Democratic Socialists of America-backed candidates are following in their footsteps by fighting for working people and terrifying the political establishment.
Marcela Mitaynes, a Peruvian immigrant and Brooklyn tenant activist, overcame long odds — with the help of the city’s Democratic Socialists of America chapter — to defeat her incumbent rival in last week’s primaries for a New York State Assembly seat. Her story underscores the power of socialism to connect radical politics with everyday struggles.
A new book shows that the current first lady got to where she is through a combination of ambition, calculation, and persistence. But her path to becoming Donald Trump’s wife is tied up in the post-communist collapse in Eastern Europe — and the diminishing gender equality that followed.
Bill de Blasio campaigned as a reformer who would end stop-and-frisk and scale back racist police violence. But in the face of NYPD pushback, he has been a coward, blocking police reforms and letting the cops run wild in the streets. He should resign in disgrace.
It’s a dark time in the US and across the world, but the last two weeks actually give us some cause for hope. Cities are pledging to shift money from cops to public services, violent officers are being disciplined and fired, and a wave of left victories came in last week’s primaries.
Ilhan Omar, once a refugee, has become a major force in US politics. In her new memoir, she charts her journey from Somalia to the US Congress and explains why, despite hating her politics, she can’t help but admire Margaret Thatcher. Incredibly for a memoir like this, the book is actually good.
Donald Trump wants to use the Insurrection Act to deploy military troops on the streets of American cities. It’s an act of desperation that will probably backfire — but an alarming sign of the lengths he may be willing to go to save his disintegrating presidency.
Emily Gallagher is running to be the first socialist in a century to represent her North Brooklyn district in the New York state assembly. Her focus on residential displacement and workers’ rights is drawing a steady flow of small donations — while big corporate money from companies like Lyft is being mobilized against her.