An OSHA emergency rule rolls out the red carpet for employers, shunting responsibility for workplace safety onto workers rather than bosses. It’s a far cry from the strong workplace pandemic protections Joe Biden promised in his presidency’s early days.
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US Workers Are Still Quitting Their Jobs in Record Numbers
A record number of American workers quit their jobs in November, another sign that worker leverage in the labor market is stronger than it has been in years. But without organizing, today’s gains for workers will vanish as soon as the labor market slackens.
Jeff Bezos’s Resemblance to Lex Luthor Isn’t Just Skin-Deep
Has anyone ever seen Jeff Bezos and Superman supervillain Lex Luthor in the same room?
Time Is All We Have. We Can’t Let the Boss Take It From Us.
Unions fight for more pay for workers. But workers also need to have time for themselves and their friends and families. Overtime pay and raises can’t replace what we need more than anything else: our time back.
When the German Left United to Expropriate the Princes
In 1926, 14.5 million Germans voted in a referendum to expropriate the toppled royal dynasties’ estates. The campaign brought rare unity on the German left — but also met with a reactionary backlash highlighting the dangers to Weimar democracy.
- Issue No. 43 out now!
- Fall 2021
Lower the Crime Rate
In this issue
A Brazilian Bloodbath
When Lula and the Workers’ Party took power in Brazil, they had a plan to take on crime and the power of the police. Their failure helped undermine their entire program.
For centuries, debt and indebtedness have had profoundly destabilizing effects on human societies. In the ancient world, rulers and their subjects had a solution: known as a debt jubilee, it involved a periodic, unconditional wiping out of debt. We need such a jubilee today.
We Should Nationalize Tyson Foods
Meatpackers are colluding with each other to generate superprofits at the expense of everyone else. Nationalizing one of them isn’t particularly radical — it’s a commonsense policy solution.
Americans Still Don’t Want War, Despite the Military-Industrial Complex’s Best Efforts
Over the past year, the US public has been subjected to an avalanche of propaganda attempting to stoke future war with Russia and China. What’s stunning is how few Americans are buying it.
The “Just Say No to Drugs” Campaign Had Its Roots in Anti-Communist Propaganda
The “Just Say No” campaign is remembered today for the huge quantity of kitsch media it produced, like McGruff the Crime Dog. But the campaign was based on the psychological warfare techniques of the Cold War.
In Europe, the Far Right Is Uniting Its Forces
A conference this month aims to unite European far-right leaders like Marine Le Pen and Viktor Orbán in a continentwide alliance. What would once have been a fringe grouping can now rely on the support of several EU governments.
Pregnant and facing decades in prison, the mother of Tupac Shakur fought for her life — and triumphed — in the trial of the Panther 21.
No, the European Union Doesn’t Need Its Own Army
French president Emmanuel Macron has renewed calls for the creation of a joint EU army. The proposal smacks of a desperate attempt to reverse the old European powers’ declining influence in global politics.
Joe Biden’s Lobbyists Are Helping Big Pharma Profiteers
The pharmaceutical industry wants Americans to continue paying far more for medicines than people in any other country, to protect their tremendous profits. And one of Joe Biden’s top campaign consulting firms is helping them.
Édouard Louis: Why Is Individual Responsibility Only for the Poor?
French author Édouard Louis is famous for his works portraying the daily humiliations of working-class life. In an interview, he explains how our rulers avoid responsibility for their decisions — while blaming the rest of us for how we cope with the consequences.
Winston Churchill Was Not Your Friend
Winston Churchill has become all but deified in modern Britain. But in his own lifetime, Churchill was often recognized for who he really was: an unrepentant imperialist and racist, a foe of trade unions and women’s rights, and a defender of elite privilege.