Democracy

To celebrate May Day as a single event can lead one to miss the spirit that animated its origins as an international workers holiday.

Compliance fines and renewable energy credits are not encouraging energy providers to decarbonize DC's power grid. The District should directly finance renewable expansion and confront the dirty work head-on.

Pundits took the Democrats' strength in the midterms as a referendum on Republican extremism and support for moderation. But the results really show that voters want more from Democrats, not less.

What went down on election night, 2022.

In November, DC voters will again be asked to end the subminimum wage.

The Supreme Court's recent ruling in Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta is one of the latest developments in Native Americans' longstanding struggles against American colonialism.

Through Amazonians United, Starbucks Workers United, and many other nontraditional sites of struggle, the hope and promise of the labor movement hasn't felt this strong in decades.

Too often, those elected are content to let business as usual remain unchanged — even in communities, where those elected say all the right things. When can electoral change make a difference?

Whatever demons drive Americans to kill massive numbers of innocent citizens, they’d be stymied without easy access to lethal weaponry.

The battle for basic rights is about to get tougher. So must the Left.

Arrestable protests in Washington are not the only way to get a response from the President. It is time for mainstream media to give creatives greater news coverage.

In the battle between the “corporate Mouse” and the political rats in Tallahassee and elsewhere, the Left has no natural allies.

A letter from a socialist in Kyiv regarding the western left's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The history of this old socialist stronghold contains lessons for those building and sustaining working-class power today.

Through voter suppression tactics and and locally focused organizing schemes, Republicans are setting up conditions to favorably contest the next presidential election.

However important railroads are, are they so critical as to undercut the rights of the workers to decent treatment?

The residual racism embedded in many place names around the country could well include the name Arlington

The Governor's race in Virginia is too close to call — socialists should consider voting strategically

Taliban rule and the Texas far right’s legislative wish list of banning abortion and suppressing voting rights invite comparisons.

When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, it’s a wonder I can think at all.

...and what his victory means for the socialists of Portsmouth.

An explanation for the emotions, language, and objectives of the sometimes-embattled term “Defund.”

To achieve racial equity, every institution, without exception, needs to change. Here's how you can do it.

A slice of history covering DC's oft-forgotten far-left.

Heather McGhee's new book reminds us that racial division is a vital component of capitalist exploitation.

Democratic socialists should think about how we can leverage the structures and systems of the DSA to build capacity for deliberate, strategic disruption.

The political war between voting rights and voter suppression has reached a new intensity. For the Left, the battle is about the future of progressive politics; for the Right, it’s about survival.

Modern monetary theory: what it is, where it comes from, who supports it, and how to separate the economic theory from political rhetoric.

The battle for the humane treatment of Central American migrants has roots in the US-backed wars in the region from many years ago.

A terse attempt at defining the socialist project.

Democratizing the energy grid is one way to limit fallout from climate change while bringing us closer to a socialist future.

DC statehood is back on the nation’s agenda. With Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress, only a likely Senate filibuster stands in the way of adding a 51st star to the US flag.

In 2021, Virginia is a much-changed state absorbed by a blue wave that foretells an opening for progressive politics from Virginia to Florida.

Building a policy platform based on oppositional politics risks putting the working-class in bed with otherwise hostile interests.

The socialist electoral project is the most successful it has been because socialists are contesting power using the Democratic ballot line. Eschew symbolism, prioritize victory.

Trump's regime ended with an insurrection at the Capitol. The attack failed, but revealed the wells of hatred that infect much of the White working-class.

The anti-capitalist theories provided by the late-philosopher Mark Fisher can help us make sense of the tragedies inflicted by the coronavirus - and build a new class politics in its wake.

How might the 2020 election be stolen, and how will the opposition fight back?

The danger of authoritarian rule is real. Only broad electoral unity can face down the forces of capital that stand behind Trump's megalomania.

Losing the ideological balance of the Supreme Court means sloppy legislation can no longer be saved from friendly justices. We will need smarter legislators and tighter legislation to reduce the risk of judicial interception.

Donald Trump intends to steal the 2020 election. We can't let that happen.

An amusing look at how a small right-wing college serves as academic cover for a classic push-poll about the dread menace socialism.

The National Guard and police have illegally assaulted protesters in Lafayette Square (D.C.) by violating the First Amendment of the Constitution, which allows peaceful demonstrations. The demo did not violate curfew and the attack was without warning.

Does the Left’s eagerness to remake the country in the face of the crisis make it the mirror image of the nationalist right?

The majority of the country is opposed to Trumpism, but this opposition is much more heterogeneous than the right-wing alliance. This poses big challenges to a Left that wants to build broad unity in defeating the Trump and the GOP in the 2020 elections.

In Prince George’s County, a far too comfortable Democratic Party apparatus shuts out dissident voices and relies on low voter turnout to maintain power.

Some of [what happens in ANCs] is minutiae that you may not be interested in, but it is the real nuts-and-bolts of self-governance at work.

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, which recently opened an exhibition on how Native imagery and history have been used and abused for entertainment, profit-making, and painting a pretty face on the policy of Manifest Destiny.

Historian Nancy MacLean brings to the AFL-CIO book talk her account of the way the Koch Bros. anti-democratic project got its intellectual underpinning.

Four tips for identifying honest info from salacious misinformation.

Harrington's book is notable for its candor: it admitted the complexities of the problems, their resistance to easy solutions, and insisted nonetheless that steps toward a more just global order were both possible and morally necessary.

A roundup of the 2017 People's Summit in Chicago.

A plan for how to use extant political parties to the advantage of progressives.

Getting money out of politics doesn't change the structures and institutions within which politicians operate.

James Baldwin was an astute cultural critic, observing the nature of how legacies of oppression fan out through all manner of life.

Ciccariello-Maher's tome reviews how the communal state was built in Venezuela -- not only to expand democracy but to rebuff right-wing retrenchment.

Should socialists glorify labor? Or instead emphasize the possibility of a world without it?