Rising from the ruins of World War I, in the 1920s Vienna’s socialist administration was famous for its innovative housing and public health programs. But at the heart of “Red Vienna” were its services for children, guaranteeing that even the poorest young people could share in the joys of childhood — and the foundations of a fulfilling life.
Our spring issue, “Pandemic Politics,” is out now. Get a discounted subscription today!
Don’t Let Disaster Capitalists “Reimagine” Public Education
Bill Gates, Andrew Cuomo, and other corporate education reformers are trying to use this moment of crisis to push through free-market school reforms. Their agenda is the exact opposite of what we actually need: a fully funded public education system that attacks racial and class inequalities.
Brexit Divides Almost Killed the Labour Party — But the Left Can Rebuild
A new report on Labour’s defeat highlights the damage caused by its Brexit stance, exposing the decades-long weakening of its roots in the working class. There’s no quick fix to Labour’s problems — we need to do the long work of rebuilding the structures that tie our MPs to working-class life.
How the New York Review of Books Gets Perry Anderson and Brazil Wrong
The New York Review of Books has dismissed Perry Anderson’s study of Brazil as a product of stodgy, doctrinaire leftism. But it’s their own reviewer, Larry Rohter, who lets dogma get in the way of facts.
No, You Won’t Smear Our Fight Against Israeli Apartheid as “Antisemitic”
Last week, the European Court of Human Rights ruled against France’s bid to criminalize the call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions of Israel. The ruling was a victory for Palestine solidarity activists — and the first setback for Emmanuel Macron’s attempts to smear antiracists as the “new antisemites.”
- Issue No. 37 out now!
- Spring 2020
Pandemic Politics
In this issue
No Act of God
Hurricanes, pandemics, and droughts are acts of God. Private markets in housing, health care, and food — and the resulting deaths — are not.
Political organizing is hard — political education shouldn’t have to be. We’re now offering our ABCs of Capitalism series as free ebooks.
“Workers Are Being Told to Shut Up and Work”
Capitalism runs on economic coercion, presenting most people with the choice to work or starve. But many workers, from prisoners to college athletes, face other types of coercion that exact a heavy cost for anyone who dares to tell the boss “no.”
The Rise and Rise and Fall of Adem Somyurek
Adem Somyurek was sacked from his position in the Australian Labor Party last week for alleged branch-stacking. It’s the latest indicator of how Labor has been emptied of all mass politics and become a forum for factional power brokers to vie for control of the creaking party machine.
South Africa’s COVID-19 Response Has Been Brutally Anti-Worker
South Africa has imposed one of the world’s most draconian COVID-19 lockdowns, slapping hundreds of thousands of mostly black and working-class people with criminal charges. The authoritarian response highlights again the lost promise of the post-apartheid government and the deep disparities that still plague the country.
We’ve Never Seen Protests Like These Before
In turnout, perseverance, and in the ethnic and racial diversity of those participating, the last month of protest in response to the police murder of George Floyd is like nothing the US has experienced before. And most shocking of all, the protests are winning.
Longtime social movements scholar Frances Fox Piven on organizing the unemployed under coronavirus, where the Bernie Sanders movement goes from here, and why breaking rules and disrupting business as usual are central to making social change.
A Very British Dystopia After Brexit
Set in Britain in the near future, the newly published sequel to the 1982 classic A Very British Coup presents a hellish but believable vision of political disillusionment and post-Brexit malaise.
In France, Just Like the United States, We Can’t Breathe
Cities across France are seeing a historic wave of protest against racism and the killing of young black people. The French revolt was sparked by the demonstrations in the United States — but it’s fueled by police brutality at home.
Jeff Bezos Wants Amazon Employees to “Reflect” on Juneteenth. Warehouse Workers Are Organizing Instead.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos encouraged his white-collar workers to cancel meetings for Juneteenth and “reflect and support each other.” An Amazon warehouse worker fired after organizing for workplace protections thinks that’s “a bunch of bullshit.”
Donald Trump Is a Menace to American Democracy. But He Didn’t Come Out of Nowhere.
Liberals are right to condemn Donald Trump for his disastrous mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic and his undisguised contempt for democracy. But Trump is no aberration: his rise was only possible because of a Republican and Democratic political consensus that has ravaged American politics and society for a generation.