socialism

A Conversation with the Editors of a Collection of DuBois's Internationalist Thought

by Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins

Adom Getachew and Jennifer Pitts strive to demonstrate that DuBois's influential writings on African American life and American racism are inseparable from his global critiques of racism and imperialism, and his insistence on connecting racism with labor exploitation. 

Forum: Is "Equal Opportunity" the Wrong Goal?

by Christine Sypnowich

A political philosopher introduces a forum on inequality and justice by arguing that the focus on opportunity at the expense of equalizing outcomes will inevitably allow significant inequality to continue. 

"Class War" is Back in the Headlines. But What is it, Really?

by Mark Steven

"The proclamation of class war is what linguists might describe as a speech act: a performative utterance that, when said, is also a kind of action," invoked in the hope of moving from class struggle to open conflict. 

Irony Alert: GOP Stages Anti-Socialist Show Vote while Preparing to Convene in the Most Socialist City in America

by John Nichols

"When the House denounced “the horrors of socialism,” those legislators made the case that socialism was—and is—a part of what makes Milwaukee great."

You Can't Understand MLK's Politics Without Understanding His Critique of Capitalism

Adam Tooze discusses King's longstanding efforts to link racial discrimination and economic exploitation, as well as the working-class base of the civil rights movement. 

No Socialism in America?

by Michael Kazin

Utopian socialist Robert Owen's heralded visit to Congress in 1825 shows that doubts about the relationship of liberty and economic inequality, and the proposal of socialism as an alternative, have been part of the American political scene from the beginning. 

How the Government Used the First World War to Crush the American Left

Adam Hochshild's book details the intersection of patriotism and legal repression that stifled the broad left in the United States, and explains how the war to "make the world safe for democracy" evinced an impoverished understanding of the term. 

The Nation's Most Prolific Censor – So Far

by Adam Hochshild

Operating out of the same building that would later house the Trump International Hotel, Postmaster General Albert Burleson used control of the mails to crush countless publishers deemed subversive. Most of his legal tools are still on the books today. 

Barbara Ehrenreich's Legacy is More than "Nickel and Dimed"

by Lynne Segal

The late writer's contributions to keeping a current of socialist radicalism in the feminist movement deserve recognition, too. 

Eugene Debs: In a Just World, Every Day is Labor Day

Read Debs's 1903 Labor Day Address in its entirety. 

Review: Elizabeth Dore's Grassroots History of Socialism's Decline in Cuba

The loosening of state control over Cuba's economy has delivered most benefits to white Cubans with relatives sending remittances from the United States to start businesses in Cuba. Afro-Cubans and migrants from poorer provinces have suffered. 

We Overlooked May Day This Year – We Aren't Alone in the US

Historian Peter Linebaugh explains that the international day of labor solidarity has always sat uneasily with American nationalism. 

Can the Dems Learn Anything from Orwell?

Are the Democrats trying to bridge a cultural chasm between themselves and the mass of voters they hope to persuade? Orwell's writing suggests so. 

Meet the Socialist Librarian Running to Lead the American Library Association

Libraries are just one example of vital community institutions decimated by austerity politics and culture war battles; Emily Drabinksy says enough is enough. 

Don't Make Dorothy Day a Saint

by Garry Wills

As an admirer of the left-wing activist Dorothy Day, Garry Wills argues that the process of canonization would "miniaturize" her work and associations to fit within the narrow confines of sainthood, making her an object of prayer instead of a model for action. 

France's Socialists Adopted Neoliberalism and Punched their Tickets to Irrelevance

"What was the history that brought the French left to its current state of crisis, and does it show what other countries are going to experience in the future?"

Another Buffalo Was Possible

by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

India Walton seemed on track to become the first Black woman mayor in Buffalo, and the first socialist to lead a major city in decades. The sitting mayor rallied to defeat her, but we should still consider the possibility of more liberatory politics. 

The Strange, Sad Death of America’s Political Imagination

by Daniel Immerwahr

What happened to big-thinking utopianism as a response to national problems? 

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Progressive Catholicism

by Walter G. Moss

Although her religious upbringing is not the most prominent part of her public persona, US Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez follows a tradition of Catholic advocates for justice. 

From Red Finn Halls to The Lincoln Brigade: Class Formation on Washington’s “Red Coast”

by Jerry Lembcke

If the current crisis revives interest in class as an analytical concept, a recent book on union organizing on the Washington state coast offers a model for reconstructing the work, community and social life of a community.