TED MORGAN Karl Marx identified the central contradiction of capitalism as the antagonistic relationship between workers and their capitalist employers. As Michael Yates has put it, “the essence of this relationship is the exploitation of the workers, the extraction of a surplus by the employers from their labor, necessary to fuel the accumulation of capital in a milieu of … [Read more...] about Class Conflict and the Amazon Union Drive in Alabama
capitalism
What Would a Deep Green New Deal Look Like?
DON FITZ The Green New Deal has attracted perhaps the greatest attention of any proposal for decades. It would guarantee Medicare-for-All, Housing-for-All, student loan forgiveness and propose the largest economic growth in human history to address unemployment and climate change. But the last of these hits a stumbling block. Creation of all forms of energy contributes to … [Read more...] about What Would a Deep Green New Deal Look Like?
The Atomism of Neoclassical Economics
MICHAEL A. LEBOWITZ How can we understand capitalism? Neoclassical economics, which is to say, mainstream economics, rarely uses the name. Rather, it talks about the “market system” or the free market, a system in which individual property owners (both those who own material resources and those who own merely their personal capacities) contract with each other in their … [Read more...] about The Atomism of Neoclassical Economics
A Runaway Inequality Problem
One of the great unexamined questions of our times is why there is so much suffering, despair, misery and rage in the midst of unimaginable wealth. Naturally, pundits and politicians wish to avoid this question because an open public discussion of the widening wealth gap can impart critical insights into the nature and logic of the capitalist system they’ve worked so hard to … [Read more...] about A Runaway Inequality Problem
The Spirit of the Laws: Constitutional Republics, Capitalism, and the Future of Socialism
STEPHEN ERIC BRONNER The liberal republic is today the fulcrum of progressive politics. Protecting liberal principles, the democratic character of the republic, and existing social rights from white nationalist reactionaries in the United States and anti-immigrant and racist parties in Europe has been the over-riding issue for Western radicals since the election of President … [Read more...] about The Spirit of the Laws: Constitutional Republics, Capitalism, and the Future of Socialism
Was It only “Fear Itself?”: FDR and Today
GARY OLSON Movement” politics is how the people flex their power, while electoral politics under the corporate duopoly is the domain of the moneyed classes.— Glen Ford, Black Agenda Report While it’s myth that after the stock market crash of 1929, brokers pitched themselves off of tall buildings in … [Read more...] about Was It only “Fear Itself?”: FDR and Today
The Capitol Assault is Symptomatic of Our Dysfunctional Politics
TED MORGAN Americans were shocked to witness the assault on the capitol building on January 6, the day Congress was scheduled to ratify the presidential election. Washington DC and the nation’s state capitals remained on high alert through the inauguration as rightwing groups promised more violent attacks. It’s easy to trace the proximate cause of this assault, a … [Read more...] about The Capitol Assault is Symptomatic of Our Dysfunctional Politics
Notes from the Editor – Left Turn #8
Let us Burn All Illusions in 2021 Left Turn welcomes the year 2021 without any illusions about the nature of the system that produced the severe political, economic, and public health crises of 2020 and the new horrors surely on their way if we as a society fail to counteract the ingrained tendencies and deliberate policies that have produced the present unsustainable … [Read more...] about Notes from the Editor – Left Turn #8
The Black Panther Party and its Ten-Point Plan
Over 50 years ago, the Black Panther Party established a Ten-Point Plan: We want freedom. We want the power to determine the destiny of our Black Community.We want full employment for our people.We want an end to the robbery by the capitalists of our Black and oppressed communities.We want decent housing, fit for shelter of human beings.We want education for our people that … [Read more...] about The Black Panther Party and its Ten-Point Plan
May Day History: The Haymarket Riot
by Lenny Flank In the early United States, labor unions were outlawed—they were considered to be illegal conspiracies in restraint of “free trade.” That changed in 1842, when, in the Hunt case, the courts ruled that collective bargaining was legal and that workers could form unions and associations. At first, labor unions were small, weak, and rarely extended beyond the … [Read more...] about May Day History: The Haymarket Riot