JACOBIN

MAY 28. 2025

Is Die Linke’s Comeback Built to Last?

Germany’s socialist party Die Linke has been revitalized by its recent election breakthrough. With the Social Democrats cravenly backing Friedrich Merz’s conservative and militarist agenda, Die Linke has to offer a bold oppositional message.

MAY 27. 2025

In Syria, Aid Cuts Threaten to Feed the Return of ISIS

The al-Hawl refugee camp in northeastern Syria is effectively an open-air prison for 50,000 people suspected of ties to ISIS. The Syrian Democratic Forces are struggling to deal with them — and now the Trump administration is cutting US funding.

No, Let’s Not Build a Dubai on the Adriatic

In the Balkan state of Montenegro, public land is being turned over to luxury hotels and megaports for yachts. In a new agreement, investors from the United Arab Emirates will be able to bypass legislation and carve up the country as they please.

Thomas Müntzer Struck the Fear of God Into Germany’s Rulers

Today marks the 500th anniversary of Thomas Müntzer’s execution after he led a mass revolt that was both religious and social in its content. Müntzer’s complex, contradictory career has long been a source of fascination for historians of class conflict.

MAY 26. 2025

Big Tech Wants to Become Its Own Bank

To the dismay of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, the law currently prevents Big Tech companies from opening banks. But if Congress passes the GENIUS Act, tech firms may start issuing private currencies and forcing us to use them.

When US Labor Backed US Imperialism

During the Cold War, the CIA and State Department understood that there is power in a union. After the successful purges of leftists from unions, US labor leaders were enlisted by government officials to join in their imperialist operations across the world.

MAY 25. 2025

Can Unions Build Clean Jobs Under Trump?

The Trump administration isn’t supporting new clean energy projects, but green union jobs are still growing — for now. It’ll take state and local organizing to keep the momentum going.

The Politics of Papal Naming

The new pope’s homage to Leo XIII invokes Rerum novarum, the Catholic Church’s 1891 encyclical engaging with the social upheavals of industrial capitalism. His warnings about today’s economy suggest a renewed focus on justice, labor, and the common good.

Erik Satie, the People’s Composer

The absurd titles of Erik Satie’s compositions would provoke howls of laughter at concerts in early 20th-century Paris. Some critics condemned Satie’s eccentricities — but a new book argues that his wit is what makes his experimental work so important.

MAY 24. 2025

The Grim Timeliness of “Noir and the Blacklist”

A new Criterion series of McCarthy-era noir films is a timely collection for an era of rising government repression — though you wouldn’t know it from Criterion’s oddly subdued promotion.

The Democratic Party Botched the 2024 Election

The Democrats neglected their voter base in 2024 and failed to respond to Trump’s campaign with anything beyond the maintenance of a bankrupt neoliberalism.

Tony Benn’s Words for Today’s Left

In Parliament, Tony Benn represented a left-wing, antiwar perspective that he developed by listening to workers, students, and social activists. Socialist MP Richard Burgon reflects on his mentor’s legacy and the future of the Labour left.

MAY 23. 2025

Will Democrats Learn From the Biden Disaster? Probably Not.

The Democratic Party’s propping up an obviously declining Joe Biden is one of the greatest political disasters in American history.

The Right Wants to Cancel Ms Rachel

Children’s content creator Ms Rachel is opposed to slaughtering children in Gaza and everywhere else. The Right’s attacks in response are reactionary wokeness run amok.