Capitalism is a failed system that offers more pandemics, more economic crisis, more climate disaster, more oppression, and more war.
Category: Socialism
Thanks, Bernie!
I suggest closing your eyes and visualizing what U.S. politics would have looked like if Bernie Sanders had not launched his campaigns for President.
The Curious Case of the “Democratic Road to Socialism” That Wasn’t There
In an article last year (“Marxism, the Democratic Republic, and the Undemocratic U. S. Constitution,” New Politics, 7/30/2019) I argued that there are major political and historical blind spots and inconsistencies in current debates over socialist strategy. The main inconsistency . . .
Thinking Out Loud about the End of Social Democracy
The Sanders challenge is over and the question for socialists is, where do we go from here? Up until recently this debate has ranged along familiar lines: the need for independent political action and the obstacles socialists face in recruiting . . .
An “All Hands on Deck” Moment: Sixty-Six Old New Leftists Urge Support for Joe Biden
When I heard that people who had been prominent in SDS had written an open letter about the importance of supporting Joe Biden, I immediately wanted to read it, because long ago that was my organization.
An Appeal for Dialectical Polemics: A Reply to Post and Smith
In their recent article for New Politics, Charlie Post and Ashley Smith lay out what is a serious point of view within the socialist movement. I particularly agree with their insistence that the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) can play . . .
Against False Dichotomies
Bernie Sanders Suspends his Campaign
In the aftermath of Bernie Sanders’s suspension of his presidential campaign, analysis of what went wrong and possible ways forward will be essential, if painful, for the American Left. Understandably, those who went “all in” for . . .
Building Class Power, Not Electoralism, Is the Future of the Left
In his recent piece “Mass Politics, Not Movementism, Is the Future of the Left,” Paul Heideman aims to convince the Left that a strategy built primarily around “mass politics” (by which he implicitly means national electoral activity) is still the . . .
Facing Reality: The Socialist Left, the Sanders Campaign and Our Future
A little over a month ago, many on the new socialist left expected Bernie Sanders to win the Democratic Party nomination, defeat Donald Trump in the general election, and enact a program of social democratic reform as President of the . . .
Building an Alternative to the Democratic Party
Bernie Sanders has ended his candidacy
When we feel our lives are in danger as they are in this pandemic, it can be very hard to look critically at national politics, by which I mean the end of Bernie’s candidacy and . . .
“What if?” COVID-19, Trump and Class Struggle in America
When I first wrote this article on Friday, March 27, the Covid-19 death toll in the US had surpassed 1,600, although casualties are mounting so fast this number will seem impossibly old in a day or two. By April 2 the number . . .
Can Bernie Sanders Make the Democratic Party a Democratic Party?
The Democratic Party has been a perennial subject of hope, betrayal and befuddlement for so many on the left, in part because it’s so hard to define. It can accurately be described . . .
13 theses on the imminent ecological catastrophe and the (revolutionary) means of averting it
I. The ecological crisis is already the most important social and political question of the 21st century, and will become even more so in the coming months and years. The future of the planet, and thus of humanity, will be determined in . . .
“Politics Isn’t Poker”: A Response to Andy Sernatinger on DSA and Bernie Sanders
Andy Sernatinger’s New Politics article “Bern After Reading: Sanders and Socialist Strategy” raises important questions to think through, whether you’re a member of Democratic Socialists of America or not. Even in the heat of the moment—and the Sanders challenge is . . .
Welcome to the Global Ecosocialist Network
The Global Ecosocialist Network (GEN) is being launched at a moment of extreme danger for humanity. The intensity of the crisis and the scale of the danger is hard to grasp or express adequately because, unless you are in one . . .
Meanwhile, what do we do about Bernie?
While I found the article critiquing the electoral road to socialism by Kit Wainer and Mel Bienenfeld found in the in the current issue of New Politics quite interesting and informative, I also found it problematic. This is mostly because . . .
Bern After Reading: Sanders and Socialist Strategy
In March of 2019, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) endorsed Bernie Sanders’ bid for President of the United States. DSA members voted on an advisory referendum that simply asked if the Democratic Socialists of America should endorse Bernie Sanders . . .
Institutional Obstacles Can be Overcome
This essay is a reply to “Problems with an Electoral Road to Socialism in the United States,” published in the Winter 2020 issue of New Politics. – Editors
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The Democratic Quest: Marxism Versus Liberalism
In a recent interview for the Minneapolis Interview Project, August Nimtz asserted that “to exercise political power, we must impose our will through collective action.”* In his new work, Nimtz says much the same when he writes, “If . . .
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The Case for Socialism
From a Management Scholar
Various books have been published in the last few years that make a case for a transition to socialism. This one has a special “edge”: it’s written by the Harold Quinton chair of business policy, and professor of . . .
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