David Broder is Jacobin’s Europe editor and a historian of French and Italian communism.
The Donbas is at the heart of Vladimir Putin’s claim that Lenin divided Russia to create Ukraine. Yet the region’s real history shows how much the Bolsheviks struggled with demands for national autonomy amid the collapse of the tsarist empire.
On Sunday, Palestinian lawyer Salah Hamouri published a Jacobin op-ed about the harassment he has suffered at the hands of Israeli authorities. On Monday morning, they raided his home and jailed him.
Ukraine’s public debt has ballooned over years of war, with European authorities and the IMF offering loans in return for pro-business “reforms.” Ukrainians are calling for the debt to be canceled, to aid the country’s future recovery.
On Friday, Russia’s parliament passed a law threatening 15-year jail sentences for critics of the war on Ukraine — but on Sunday, thousands still took to the streets in protests. We spoke to Russian socialists about why they’re refusing to give in.
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine will leave ordinary Russians poorer and more isolated. Far from “demilitarizing” Eastern Europe, the war threatens to unleash a wider spiral of militarized chaos.
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is based on obviously reactionary pretexts. The Left has nothing to do with his agenda — and should make no apologies for opposing a US military response.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has sent tanks into the Donbas on dubious pretexts. But a far bigger danger awaits if the West seeks an escalation that will only pour fuel on the fire.
Web3 shows how our online lives are increasingly being monetized. It’s time to take democratic control of the internet — turning the platforms we all use into free public services.
In the beginning of World War I, hundreds of French soldiers were executed by the French army “to set an example” and keep other soldiers in line. Only now, more than a century later, has France’s National Assembly voted for their rehabilitation.
Western governments are being called on to send more weapons to Ukraine — an arms buildup that will only escalate a potentially disastrous conflict. What we really need is a comprehensive peace settlement for the region.
Set to win 18 seats in parliament, the Workers’ Party of Belgium is the fastest-growing force on the European left. Newly elected leader Raoul Hedebouw tells Jacobin how his comrades built an explicitly Marxist party with mass appeal.
The left-wing Red-Green Alliance won November’s elections in Copenhagen with a tightly focused campaign on making housing affordable again, handing the city’s Social Democrats their first defeat in over a century.
Fascist TV pundit Éric Zemmour has announced his bid for the French presidency. His advance is part of a rising tide of Islamophobia and authoritarianism pushing France toward the far right.
British politicians increasingly seek to silence criticism of wars abroad by emphasizing the need to “respect our boys.” But, veteran Joe Glenton tells Jacobin, many recruits who’ve seen the British army from the inside aren’t happy about being used to launder its image.
Philippe Rio from Grigny, south of Paris, has been voted the world’s best mayor. He told Jacobin about the local social programs that have made his Communist administration a global success story.
A decade since the 15-M protests rocked Spain, the country has its first left-wing coalition government since the 1930s. But as Íñigo Errejón tells Jacobin, today it’s the nationalist right, not the heirs to 15-M, who are dominating the political agenda.
French media is saturated with the fascist pundit Éric Zemmour and his absurd, racist talk of a “great replacement” of France’s white population by immigrants. Now, he’s weighing a bid for the presidency — and his talking points are already dominating the debate.
Burkina Faso revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara was murdered on this day in 1987. Joséphine Ouédraogo recounts her time as a minister in his government — and their final meeting before he was ousted in a bloody coup d’état.
For decades, Italy had the West’s largest Communist Party. A key part of the party’s communications to the masses of Italians were its comics, dedicated to resisting the right-wing influence of priests and fascists.
In Spain, a center-left coalition government faces opposition not just from right-wingers and business leaders but from parts of the judiciary and police. For Pablo Iglesias, it’s time the Left pushed back against right-wing dominance in the state machine.