If Neoliberalism Were to End, How Would We Know?
What will decide the fate of neoliberalism today is not the extent of the economic damage the virus wreaks — it is the extent to which the virus transforms popular expectations.
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Pandemic Politics
Under capitalism the workers have always been compelled to live in unclean quarters of the towns, where epidemic disease is rife. It was only owing to the dread that they themselves would suffer from these epidemics, that the capitalists introduced certain measures to improve the sanitation of the areas in which their wage-slaves dwelt. . . . Capitalism was only interested in the protection of public health in so far as this was necessary for its own safety.
Front Matters
Mask On
Letters
Email us letters — we’ll share them with the world (i.e., 50,000 subscribers).
Celebrities Speak
Life is better if you own a yacht.
We’re Not Heroes, We’re Health Workers
While most politicians quarantine in safety, La France Insoumise’s Caroline Fiat is risking her life on the front lines as a health worker.
Means of Deduction
No Lysenkoism Here
The Market Is Leaving Us Unprepared for a Pandemic
As we face down what the World Health Organization calls “a new normal” of high-impact epidemics, researchers and public health officials find themselves at war with for-profit pharmaceutical companies.
Virulence and Contagiousness
Deadly pathogens may kill their host before the host has a chance to pass on the pathogen. That’s why there tends to be a trade-off between virulence and contagiousness.
It Takes a Herd
Simply put, vaccination saves lives.
We Need Better Drugs
We’re in a race with bacteria to develop new classes of antibiotics. The free market isn’t helping.
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.
The Black Death Helped Bring About the Modern World
The Black Death wiped out a third of Europe’s population in just a few years. But the peasants and laborers who survived wielded newfound power over their masters.
Reading Materiel
Patient Chart
Millions Die, But They’re All Liberals
On the literary destruction of Los Angeles and the nervous breakdown of American exceptionalism.
Every Economic Question Is a Question of Power
The links between business, finance, and the state do not represent a perversion of liberal democracy — they are an unavoidable feature of capitalist political economy.
Interpreter of Maladies
Here’s a guide to the words you should probably know, even if you don’t want to think about them.
A Pandemic Foretold
Thirty years ago, an urgent report about microbial threats to public health was ignored by policymakers.
When the “Unskilled” Become “Essential”
World War II made the economically impossible suddenly possible. As our capitalist states mobilize for the pandemic, the Left has another golden opportunity for worker empowerment.
Is This the End of Neoliberal Globalization?
The coronavirus has scattered the pieces on the geopolitical chessboard, revealing the fragility of just-in-time global production. Getting back to normal is the last thing we need.
Viral Socialism Now!
Class struggle will shape how this crisis plays out, and the world that’s created in its wake.
Cultural Capital
Streaming Away the Misery
Beautifying the Apocalypse
In films like Annihilation and Ex Machina, director Alex Garland knows how to make the end of the world look majestic. But his new show, Devs, gives a grace and dignity to the apocalypse that you won’t find in our own world.
Jacobin’s Quarantine Movie List
A new canon for those stuck indoors.
It Came From Canada!
David Cronenberg’s first three films track the progress of epidemics “from the perspective of the disease.” What they reveal is a North American society already on the brink of disaster.
Pretty Faces Who Care
Why we all hate celebrities right now.
The Tumbrel
Identifying the Pathogen
Corona C.R.E.A.M.
With the appalling Senate scandal over coronavirus insider trading, it is no longer possible to deny it: we are governed by a caste of the unimaginably rich, far removed from our realities.
The New Thatcherites
Across Europe, the far right is insisting on the need for a more powerful state — but on terms that will crush millions of workers.
Leftovers
Stay Safe, We’ll See You Next Issue
Krona Virus
A magic money tree does exist — and not just in Scandinavia. The question is who gets to shake it first.
An Urgent Appeal for Your Support
We’ve avoided making an appeal up to this point, but if you’re able, we’d appreciate your support.
We Set Amazon on Fire
Millions of people stuck at home means more orders for Amazon. But squeezed Amazon employees in France and Italy didn’t want to be “essential workers” — and they launched a wave of strikes to demand a shutdown.
