Vol 7 No 3
Fall 2023Allende’s Ghost
Much like Salvador Allende, Chilean president Gabriel Boric rode to power on a wave of popular mobilization, with the working class playing a central role. But whereas Allende was keenly aware of the importance of labor as his key support base, Boric has allowed his connections with the working class to fray, much to his own detriment.
Said’s Inflation of Empire
This essay engages Said on both his general view of empire and the particular works of Jane Austen and George Eliot that he took to be illustrative of his view.
Feminism for Progress
Mary Harrington’s Feminism Against Progress understands how capitalism has undermined the prospects for gender justice, but her remedies are frustratingly wedded to neoliberal tenets.
In Defense of Black Marxism
W. E. B. Du Bois’s later work was firmly located within the Marxist tradition, something only missed by an excessively narrow presentation of what that tradition entails.
In Defense of Du Boisian Sociology
Du Bois’s contribution to sociology, an author argues, was novel and went beyond traditional Marxism.
How Can Workers Organize Against Capital Today?
John Womack’s labor strategy is about workers finding the capacity to "wound capital to make it yield anything.” But the massive challenge in today’s deindustrialized economy is locating where that leverage actually lies.
New Labour Totally Subordinated Labour to Capital
Why was New Labour “intensely relaxed” about “people getting filthy rich”? The answer lies in a comprehensive analysis and critique of Labourism itself, which the new book Futures of Socialism fails to deliver.
Austerity Is an Antidemocratic Strategy to Boost Capital
Austerity policies have their roots in efforts by economic elites to crush working-class power after WWI and redistribute income upward. To reverse austerity, democratic control over economic policymaking is essential.
How Did the Paris Commune Shape British Culture?
British literary responses to the Paris Commune of 1871 expressed shock and fear about the collapse of the bourgeois social order. But they also registered sympathy with the Communards and their revolutionary aspirations.
Culture Can’t Explain the Arab Revolts
Violence and Representation in the Arab Uprising shows how the Arab revolts empowered democratic citizenship. But a focus on vibrant cultural creativity is no substitute for concrete analysis of political agency and economic structure.
“Settler Colonialism” Can’t Fully Explain Our World
Settler colonialism is often described as a singular, transnational mode of domination. But it’s impossible to understand colonialism without political economy and material interests.