United States

Analysis Politics United States

The Democrats: Defenders of Empire

The following is chapter six of Lance Selfa’s The Democrats: A Critical History. The footnote references have been removed.     One of the enduring truisms of American politics since the 1960s is the notion that Republicans are “strong on national defense” while Democrats are “weak.” In 2004, largely on this […]

Analysis Politics United States

The struggle has moved far “Beyond Bernie”

Bernie Sanders ended his second presidential bid in April—endorsing Joe Biden and urging his supporters to vote for him. Since then, the political climate in the U.S. has been transformed. The Covid-19 pandemic, the ensuing economic crisis and large scale unemployment, followed suddenly by the mass uprisings triggered by the […]

Protesting murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis
Analysis Movements United States

The Language of the unheard

“Can you hear us now?” Those were the words spray painted on the boarded-up windows of Minneapolis’ East Lake Clinic—near the 3rd Precinct police station that protesters burned down on the night of May 28th. The whole world has now watched four Minneapolis cops murder George Floyd. Yet it took […]

Analysis Politics United States

Sanders backs Biden: Whither the Left?

In what was likely the most predictable event in the Democratic Party primary season, Sen. Bernie Sanders on April 13 endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee to go up against President Trump in November. No one should have been surprised that the Sanders campaign ended this […]

Analysis Movements Social Issues United States

Socialist tasks during the pandemic

Many excellent articles have appeared analyzing the COVID 19 pandemic from a socialist and Marxist perspective. In this piece, we will look at just one question: what should socialists do during the pandemic? The main components of the answer are supporting essential workers fighting for safety protections, defending workers demanding […]

Analysis Politics United States

Ganging up on Bernie

The primary season is barely underway, but the Democratic Party’s “Anybody but Trump” strategy has already given way to “Anybody but Bernie.” Not surprisingly, the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) long-standing plan for former Vice President Joe Biden to assume the mantle of party nominee backfired badly in the first two […]

Analysis Politics United States

Whatever happened to political independence?

Every four years, you can count on a group of prominent left-of-center figures to issue a statement aimed at the broad left urging a vote for the Democratic Party presidential candidate. Whether it’s the positive case of “Progressives for Obama” or the fear-induced call to support the “lying neoliberal warmonger,” […]