By Michael A. Lebowitz Editor’s Note: We mourn the loss of Michael Lebowitz who died at home on April 19. 2023. Mike was a superb Marxist economist, teacher, and author of many valuable works about Marx, the socialist project, and capitalism. Perhaps it is not an exaggeration to say that Mike more than any of his contemporaries contributed to reviving Marx’s ideas about … [Read more...] about The Rich Human Being: Marx and the Concept of Real Human Development
labor
Let’s push for a radical labor movement in 2023
By Michael D. Yates The year 2022 saw a significant increase in working-class unrest in the United States. Millions of workers quit their jobs in 2021, and this trend has continued in 2022. Most moved on to different employment, while others continued their education or retired. Recently, many Twitter employees quit in response to the severe force reduction … [Read more...] about Let’s push for a radical labor movement in 2023
Double Deformation: Capital v. Nature & Humanity
Michael A. Lebowitz The exploitation of workers is at the core of capitalism. It explains capital’s drive to divide workers in order to grow. Exploitation is the source of the inequality characteristic of capitalism. To fight inequality, we must fight capitalist exploitation. However, inequality is only one aspect of capitalism. In and by itself, exploitation is inadequate … [Read more...] about Double Deformation: Capital v. Nature & Humanity
The Pandemic Housework Dilemma Is Whitewashed
NICOLE FROIO Since the start of the pandemic, an old dilemma has been revived: the unequal gendered division of housework in the home. For middle-class workers who have been working from home to avoid the coronavirus, the home now functions as an office, online school, gym, leisure space, and whatever else is necessary, which has doubled — if not tripled — the housework to … [Read more...] about The Pandemic Housework Dilemma Is Whitewashed
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?
Review: This Little-Known Black Wobbly Dockworker Led the Most Powerful, Democratic Union of His Day
ERIC DIRNBACH Growing up in Philadelphia, I learned about some of the rich local labor history: the 1827 founding of the first union to cross craft lines, the 1835 general strike, and the 1869 founding of the Knights of Labor. Some of it was personal—my father took part in the 50-day teachers strike of 1981. But it wasn’t until decades later that I … [Read more...] about Review: This Little-Known Black Wobbly Dockworker Led the Most Powerful, Democratic Union of His Day
Is The New York Times Trying to Foster Working Class Consciousness?
by Gary Olson There is only one thing the ruling circles have always wanted — and that’s everything.— Michael Parenti A recent lead editorial in The New York Times reads “Another Way the 2020s Might Be Like the 1930s.” Written by Jamelle Bouie, an African-American millennial (age 33) on the paper’s editorial staff, the piece contains the following opening and closing … [Read more...] about Is The New York Times Trying to Foster Working Class Consciousness?
Essential workers on strike
As of May 1, workers from the following places are on strike, primarily because those companies are making record profits, but won't protect workers with needed equipment and safe procedures: Amazon Instacart Whole Foods Walmart Target FedEx … [Read more...] about Essential workers on strike
Jobs, the Environment, and a Planet in Crisis: Unions vs. Environmentalists or Unions and Environmentalists?
by Aviva Chomsky When it comes to heat, extreme weather, wildfires, and melting glaciers, the planet is now in what the media increasingly refers to as “record” territory1, as climate change’s momentum outpaces predictions. In such a situation, in a country whose president and administration seem hell-bent on doing everything they conceivably can to make … [Read more...] about Jobs, the Environment, and a Planet in Crisis: Unions vs. Environmentalists or Unions and Environmentalists?
You Can’t Litigate Your Way To a Union: The IWW Campaign at Boulevard Bingo
Editor’s Note: This essay recounts an early 1990s strike at a bingo hall in Allentown, PA, led by the local branch of the Industrial Workers of the World. It originally appeared in John Silvano’s book Nothing in Common: An Oral History of IWW Strikes, 1971-1992. by Lenny Flank The whole thing started in June of 1992. Jeff Kelly just happened to be … [Read more...] about You Can’t Litigate Your Way To a Union: The IWW Campaign at Boulevard Bingo