Defund is Not a Liability
Defunding the police has been portrayed as a political liability, but a forthright condemnation of police violence has proven to be compelling.
Electoral Politics
Paul Vallas and the Myth of the Competent White Man
Paul Vallas's record is utterly disastrous. Why do political figures and mainstream press seem to be united in whitewashing it?
Anatomy of a Class War: Chicago’s 2023 Elections
Chicago’s municipal elections are being fiercely contested by the business class and working people. If we hope to come out of this election stronger, we’ll need political clarity on the police, the machine, and our side’s source of power.
“We can no longer just survive” Oscar Sanchez and the 10th Ward
Former hunger striker and aldermanic candidate Oscar Sanchez talks about building sustainable futures, violence de-escalation, and facilitating community involvement on the Southeast Side.
On Palestine and Local Elections
Like others before him, aldermanic hopeful Mueze Bawany has come under attack by those seeking to discredit the Palestine solidarity movement. As Israel escalates its violent occupation, our side has to reject the false frameworks of the liberal establishment, even in Chicago’s municipal elections.
“Schools are the heartbeat of every neighborhood”
In the aldermanic race for Chicago’s 50th Ward, Mueze Bawany lays out his vision for a community built around belonging, organizing, and a future for youth.
Busting Down the Door for the Southwest Side
Aldermanic candidate Victoria "Vicko" Alvarez aims to put the community in charge of governing Chicago’s southwest side 15th ward. But as a socialist, Alvarez hasn’t lost sight of the need to restructure the larger systems that disenfranchised us in the first place.
Who Killed the Railroad Workers Strike?
Railroad workers fought hard for their well-deserved rights, and rejected a garbage contract from their bosses. Then Democrats in Congress, including AOC and almost the whole Squad, voted to force through the bosses’ contract offer and block the mounting strike.
Crumbs and Police Funding?: Assessing the New Chicago Budget
Chicago’s new city budget has achieved some limited gains, but at the steep costs of massive police funding and the risk of bolstering Lightfoot’s grip on power. The socialist left needs a new strategic approach to set its own terms in the future.
Iron Dome’s Deadly Lessons
Several socialist elected officials refused to oppose Israel’s brutal settler colonialism when it counted. It's time we talk seriously about the implications for socialist strategy on the ground.
A Vote to Fund Apartheid
Three months after Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and forced displacement of Palestinian families evoked massive worldwide protests, Reps Jamaal Bowman and Ilhan Omar cast deciding votes to fund more Israeli bombs and apartheid. Why?
All Good Social Change Comes from Mass Disruption
The New Deal wasn’t won by cozying up to congresspeople, but by workers’ disruptive mass strikes and social mobilizations. We cannot forget that in the Biden era.
The Stimmy and the State
Don’t get it twisted: Biden’s stimulus is a bid to buoy corporate profits disguised in claims of a dramatic historic shift for workers.
Did Chicago Stop Enforcing Environmental Regulations?
The City of Chicago has failed to keep people safe from toxic polluters during the pandemic.
Scandals, Tantrums, and Lies
In the two years since Lightfoot was elected, the mayor has deflected responsibility, brutally repressed protests, and delivered working Chicagoans a big bag of nothing. Here’s the timeline of her uninspiring tenure so far.
Against Unity
The inauguration of Joe Biden arrives with the liberal establishment proclaiming the need for unity. But unity is not what we want.
Biden’s Corporate Cabinet: A Breakdown
Biden's transition team and cabinet appointments so far show that he is not planning for a new New Deal but for his presidency to be pro-corporate, imperialist, and anti-worker onslaught.
Movement Alders Flip to Pass Austerity Budget
In the most contentious Chicago budget vote in a generation, four “progressive” alderpeople buckled to Lightfoot’s pressure and allowed an antiworker austerity city budget to pass for 2021.
Trump is Not Going Away
Democrats committed to the indefinite extension of neoliberalism are also committed, whether they grasp it or not, to making Trumpism a permanent feature of the political landscape.
Kamala Harris’s History: A List
Knowing Harris’s record of siding with big business and against innocent people locked in the carceral system can only serve everyone struggling for a world in which all Black lives are allowed to matter.
Lori Lighfoot: Myth and Reality
Lori Lightfoot performs progressivism on the internet, but in reality she parrots Trump at every turn and sees expanded policing as the solution to every problem.
Joe Biden’s Garbage Career: A Timeline
Joe Biden is not only a loyal soldier of neoliberalism, he has been the architect of much of today’s hellish political landscape. The last fifty years of ruling class ascendancy is a timeline studded with Creepy Joe’s despicable actions.
The Lesser of Two Rapists?
Survivors of sexual violence face a nauseating new twist on lesser evilism.
Bernie and the House Obama Built
Centrist corporate politics has demonstrated a strange ability to outlast multiple crises and now the insurgent campaign of Bernie Sanders. The key to their power is the Obama mythos, which will have to be taken on if they are ever to fall.