Subjects Archives: Class

For any working period—whether it be a day, an hour, or five minutes—part of the period is “necessary labor” and another part is “surplus labor.”

On his 250th anniversary, Jenny Farrell writes about Walter Scott and his historical novels, uncovering themes of class conflict, ethnic and nationalist struggles, and how the personal experiences of his characters link with broader historical upheavals.

The U.S. has degenerated to such an extent that is probably one of the least democratic countries in the world. It is ruled by an extremely powerful and undemocratic billionaire class, buttressed by an entrenched bureaucracy and intelligence apparatus, and legitimized by an obsequious media which does not even pretend to be neutral.

Anthony D. Padgett reflects on the arts, trade unions, and working-class identity.

Until 1989 that terrible Berlin Wall angered many an East German. The small part of Germany it helped preserve for 28 years was always the butt of anger, sarcasm, vituperation and resistance in one form or another.

“All progress in capitalist agriculture is a progress in the art, not only of robbing the worker, but of robbing the soil.” (Karl Marx)

In this episode of “Chávez the Radical,” Chávez stresses that a new oligarchy cannot emerge from revolutionary ranks.

The initiative came from Polish Communists seeking to aid compatriots jailed or forced into exile in the Soviet republic.

A poem in remembrance of Glen Ford, whose untimely death on July 28, 2021, we deeply mourn.

Diverse international groups along with the U.S. State Department have taken notice of Rodrigo Duterte’s record of killings and wanton defiance of universal norms of justice. Duterte’s regime might claim to honor the right to life, liberty, and security of persons guaranteed by the UN Declaration of Human Rights and other Covenants; but its practice consistently defiles those norms. Mass media and internet platforms cannot keep up with the regime’s punitive outrages.

Is fundamental, revolutionary change possible from within a social and economic system so shaken that questions of dual power are not likely to be raised?

Felipe Bascuñán responds to a debate on the Left about the relationship between oppression and class and why getting the answer right is essential to forging a united class struggle.

In March, hundreds of thousands of Haitians took to the streets of Port au Prince to demand an end to corruption and the departure of President Jovenel Moïse, whose term of office had expired.

CounterSpin interview with Vivek Shandas on climate impacts

The tradition of Caribbean intelligentsia insists on a grounding with the masses against the elites.

Largely abandoned by middle-class gays, urban parks remain an important refuge for gay migrants in an otherwise hostile city.

In this episode, we’re joined by Rohan Grey (@rohangrey), President of the Modern Money Network, Director of the National Jobs for All Coalition, Research Fellow at the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity, and JSD student at Cornell Law school. Our conversation is dedicated to Rohan’s current work on the political, economic, and cultural implications of money’s digital future.

Four years after the Grenfell Tower fire, rapper and activist Lowkey revisits the tragic fire that tore through the North Kensington tower block on June 14, 2017—killing 72 low-income residents of housing owned by real-estate moguls.

The catastrophe of the Great War, along with the Russian Revolution of 1917, led to a “second foundation” of Marxism. This was both political, with the birth of the Third International, and theoretical: as Lenin notably said reading Hegel’s Science of Logic in the summer 1914, since no Marxist had seriously engaged with the Logic before, none had really understood Marx’s Capital.

There appears to be a reluctance in the United States to wear the mantle of “working class.” Its connotation appears to be a relic from the economic revolutions of Europe in the late nineteenth century. However, they remain the economic class that built the nation’s now failing economy.