The “voice-giving” that is so central to the mission of liberal philanthropy underscores something essential about the custodial politics at the heart of the American political system. We need to do far more than “give voice to the voiceless” to win justice.
Houston, We Have a Labor Dispute
It has long been rumored that a strike in outer space occurred in 1973. Astronauts say that isn’t quite true, but the real story is still a testament to the potential of strikes — or even just the threat of strikes — to shift the balance of power in the workplace.
Australian Football Star Adam Goodes Took a Courageous Stand Against the Game’s History of Racism
The AFL’s most celebrated indigenous player, Adam Goodes, has declined to be inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame. His refusal is another act of resistance against the racism that has dogged his exceptional career — and football in general.
Bringing Antonio Gramsci Back to Turin
Turin was once Italian labor’s most famous heartland, inspiring a young Antonio Gramsci to become a Communist. Today, Gramsci scholar Angelo D’Orsi is bidding to win the mayor’s office — by mobilizing the working-class voters that the neoliberalized center-left abandoned.
Exploitation Isn’t the Only Thing Wrong With Work
Many people’s social status and identity are intimately bound up with the jobs they do. That’s not just pernicious capitalist ideology, Ruth Dukes and Wolfgang Streeck argue: it can offer the basis for worker resistance to the power of employers.
- Issue No. 41 out now!
- Spring 2021
The Ruling Class
In this issue
Take Me to Your Leader: The Rot of the American Ruling Class
For more than three centuries, something has been going horribly wrong at the top of our society, and we’re all suffering for it.
McKinsey consultants have packaged capitalism for decades, offering a glimpse into the moral compass of the ruling class.
Incredibly, Joe Biden’s Russia Policy Is Reasonable
You wouldn’t know it from the belligerent media coverage, but so far, despite his record as a tough-talking anti-Russia hawk, Joe Biden has been taking US policy toward Moscow in a surprisingly reasonable direction.
A Quiet Place Part II Can’t Match the Thrills of the Original — But It’s Close Enough
The sequel to John Krasinski and Emily Blunt’s horror-thriller A Quiet Place can’t deliver the same surprises as the original. But it still works.
Not All Labor Actions Aid the Working Class
There can be no successful left project without a rebuilt and revitalized labor movement at its heart. But that doesn’t mean that union militancy serves the interests of the larger working class in every possible context.
The Quiet Radicalism of James Joyce’s Ulysses
On Bloomsday, we’re celebrating James Joyce’s Ulysses. It’s one of the greatest novels ever, and it calls forth a world where every named and unnamed minor character gets to be the hero. What could be more socialist?
The Green New Deal program has enormous potential to generate mass popular support. But absent real leverage from labor, it’s likely to be continually watered down into a toothless slogan for NGOs.
The Federalist’s Case for Workplace Misery Is Absurd
A specter is haunting America — the specter of negligibly higher chicken bowl prices at Chipotle. That’s the latest talking point in the conservative crusade against fair wages and unemployment benefits.
Logistics Workers Make Global Capitalism — and They Can Break It, Too
The logistics industry is key to the global circulation of goods under capitalism. Workers have immense power within it to grind that circulation to a halt — if they can get organized.
Education Is a Right — Not a Reward
States are giving away a handful of college scholarships in a lottery for students who get vaccinated. It’s like something out of dystopian sci-fi: only a lucky few get to avoid crushing student debt, the rest suffer. It doesn’t have to be this way.
America’s Dynastic Superrich Are Rigging the Rules to Protect Their Power
A new report on the state of dynastic wealth in America explodes the myth of the hardworking, meritorious rich. If America ever was a meritocracy, it certainly isn’t now.