Category: Social Policy

The Fight to Defend Abortion Rights: A Roundtable

We at New Politics have been horrified by the passage of laws in Texas and Mississippi aimed at reversing Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that upheld women’s right to choose an abortion. The Texas law bans abortions . . .

Read more ›

The Two Souls of Aplutsoc

John Barzman responds to Aplutsoc’s criticisms of his interview with New Politics about social resistance to the French health pass.

Biden’s Legislation Whittled Down by “Moderate” Democrats, Progressives Trapped

In the last several weeks, two so-called moderate Democratic Senators have been able to force Biden to cut his proposal to less than half the original amount, eliminating many of the innovative social programs.

School Board Meetings Become Violent as Republicans Fight Over Health and Race

Local school board meetings in the United States have for the last three months become the site of intense arguments and even violence as parents fight over both health policies and teaching about race.

The Great Resignation: A Workers’ Movement in America

Over the last several months, millions of American workers have quit their jobs: about four million every month since spring. And the trend of saying, “I quit!” goes on.

Tens of Thousands of Women March for Abortion Rights

The politics of the march in NYC were progressive, with a strong presence of Democratic organizations, such as Indivisible and several independent Democratic clubs.

French Anti-Pass Demonstrations on the Eve of the Presidential Election

The fragmentation of the left has led to an almost certain second-round dual between Macron and Le Pen in 2022, with grave implications for the future of an explicitly left mass movement.

Millions Lose Government Assistance and Protection; Biden Mandates Vaccination

This month millions of Americans lost government unemployment benefits and millions more are losing protection from eviction.

Three Authors Look at Work's Devastation of Life

How Work Is Killing Us

Three authors—Jamie McCallum, Sarah Jaffe, and Eyal Press– have published important books that examine work and its discontents, in pre-pandemic form.

What’s Happening in France?

The French collective Aplusoc (Arguments for the Social Struggle) argues that recent protests in France do not represent a reactionary wave.

Understanding the Paris Commune On its 150th Anniversary

What is the significance of the Paris Commune for us today? A model for socialists? A heroic failure? Negation of the state? Or the first workers’ government?

Medicare for All Is Not Enough

The Two Souls of Socialized Medicine

While Medicare for All may be a necessary first step toward change in healthcare, it cannot challenge the quality, or current culture and class basis, of the way contemporary healthcare is delivered.

DSA’s Flawed International Outlook: The Appeal of the Mass Party and its Contradictions

There’s something contradictory in this position that needs to be pointed out. The parties that DSA has focused on weren’t always mass parties. Often, they began as just the kind of plebeian networks or far left grouplets that DSA eschews as irrelevant.

Social Explosion in Cuba: The Ignored Signals

In my opinion, there are two determining factors that have led to this moment of malaise. On the one hand, the inability of our rulers to channel a successful reform path…On the other hand, there is the ability of citizens to submit this incapacity to public judgment, which is something new.

From Cuba: A Description of the Protests

On Sunday 11 July, Cuba experienced a series of social outbreaks that encompassed at least six of the 14 provinces that make up the country. In the 62 years since the triumph of the revolution, Cuba had not faced a situation like this.

Right Campaigns to End Abortion in America

White Evangelical churches, which are the driving force of the anti-abortion movement, are also a core constituency of the Republican Party and the most fervent supporters of former president Trump.

Where Should Socialists Stand on Cuba Today?

International socialists should oppose the US embargo and US military intervention in Cuba, but should also support the right of Cubans to demonstrate on any issue that they choose.

India’s Covid Crisis: Can the Modi Regime Get India Out of It?

It’s hard to live in India these days, surrounded by death, fear and grief. We are inundated with heart-breaking TV reports of people begging for hospital beds and oxygen as their family members die on the pavement or in vehicles gasping for breath.

Chauvin’s Conviction and the Future of Policing

The Chauvin conviction was momentous, and could be a turning point, but police reform ultimately depends on building a popular movement for reform in education, health, housing, as well as ending police racism and violence.

The Only Treatment is Freedom: Mumia Abu-Jamal and COVID

The inextricable link between incarceration and standards of democracy in a country led the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky to observe that, “The degree of civilization in society can be judged by entering its prisons.”

Does Biden’s American Rescue Plan Open a New Era of Reform?

Democrats claim that Biden’s ARP continues the work of Roosevelt and Johnson and that it will transform America. Yet, while these reforms are much needed, none of the programs begins to transform the fundamental structures of American capitalism.

Top