The arrest of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has sparked mass protests against Vladimir Putin’s authoritarianism. Navalny’s journalism has highlighted the cronyism of Russia’s elites — but his chameleon-like shifts between liberalism and anti-immigrant nationalism show he’s no champion of working-class Russians.
The Pandemic Has Exposed Australia’s Mistreatment of International Students
After years of being exploited by universities and employers, Australia’s international students are now locked out of the country with no plan for their return. It’s time to end the multibillion-dollar rip-off and build a public education system that works for all students.
Maxime Rodinson Was a Revolutionary Historian of the Muslim World
French historian Maxime Rodinson transformed our understanding of the Muslim world with books like Muhammad and Islam and Capitalism. Rodinson’s pathbreaking work, based on the creative use of Marxist ideas, is still an invaluable guide to the politics of the Middle East today.
When Bulgarian Peasants Read Karl Kautsky
The Second International’s history is usually seen through the prism of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, a mass party in an industrial power. But militants in the Balkans had to adapt its lessons to their own local realities — and in the decades before World War I, they were the first socialists to confront the looming dangers of the national question.
The GameStop Revolt Exposed Capitalism
The Reddit-led GameStop short squeeze wasn’t a threat to capitalism, but it did reveal to a huge number of people that the system is rigged. That’s popular education socialists should be grateful for.
- Issue No. 39 out now!
- Fall 2020
Failure Is an Option
In this issue
American Capitalism Is Working — That’s the Problem
The United States is not a failed state — just ask any American capitalist. But we desperately need something better for everyone else.
A reporter for Jacobin traveled to the Kurdish province of Dersim to investigate the recent discovery of a mass grave from a 1937 massacre. But far from being forgotten, it’s an atrocity that still haunts the region today, with millions of Kurds in Turkey struggling for freedom against Erdoğan’s latest crackdown.
How Cuba Survived and Surprised in a Post-Soviet World
After the fall of the USSR, most observers expected Cuba to follow in its wake. But the Cuban system has now lasted for 30 years since the Soviet collapse. To explain its persistence, we need to drop Cold War stereotypes and look at the Cuban experience in its own right.
Remember: The FBI Declared War on and Tried to Destroy Martin Luther King
In all the celebrations of Martin Luther King’s life, we tend to forget something very important about our country’s greatest civil rights leader: when he was alive, institutions of the US state, especially the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover, constantly harassed, surveilled, and attempted to destroy King.
If Anthony Albanese Steps Down Now, His Replacement Will Be Even Worse
Australian Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese could be facing a leadership contest. Albanese’s record has been unimpressive, but changing leaders won’t be enough to turn the party’s fortunes around. Real party democracy and a break with neoliberal dogma are the only remedies for Labor’s malaise.
After Trump’s Colonial Carve-Up, Western Sahara Has Risen Up
In one of his last acts as president, Donald Trump gave US recognition for Morocco’s illegal occupation of Western Sahara in exchange for Moroccan recognition of Israel. It’s unclear if Joe Biden will reverse the move — but the Saharawi population has now risen up against the occupation, refusing to let foreign powers dictate its future.
The GameStop Fiasco Exposes the Fantasy That Capitalism Can Be Democratic
When tech platforms, regulatory agencies, and social media companies conspire to swat down share purchases that get in Wall Street’s way, they’re doing us all a favor: they’re showing us the ruthlessly hierarchical reality of neoliberalism behind the friendly mask.
The Growing Pains of Marseille’s New Left-Wing Government
Last June, France’s second city voted for the “Marseille Spring,” a left-wing coalition that put an end to two decades of conservative rule. But difficult pandemic conditions — and now the abrupt exit of mayor Michèle Rubirola — have raised questions over its ability to put ordinary citizens in charge of city hall.
On the Daily Show, Jacobin Contributor Doug Henwood Talks GameStop and Wall Street
Watch Doug Henwood talk with the Daily Show’s Trevor Noah about GameStop, the lies companies like Robinhood tell about their “democratic” empowerment of small investors, and why the absurdities and inefficiencies of Wall Street are a “racket.”
The Response to the GameStop Fiasco Shows It’s Still Wall Street’s Economy
Now that hedge funds are losing billions to Redditors buying stocks like GameStop, Wall Street wants heavy-handed intervention into the market, and brokerages have clamped down on the upstarts. It’s a reminder that there’s no such thing as “people’s capitalism” or “shareholder democracy” — the capitalist economy is structured to do what’s best for the business elite.