It’s easy to view the last 250 or even 600 years as a period of an ascendant capitalism, conquering everything in its wake. But the work of historian Peter Linebaugh reminds us that resistance was present from the birth of capitalism and that working class movements for a better world have profoundly shaped our histories. … Continued
Within the left, debates rage over whether we should focus on race, class, or gender as the primary form of oppression today. Josh Fattal points to the writings of CLR James and Raya Dunaevskaya as a way out of the conundrum: they saw the struggles of one oppressed group acting as spores for spreading revolt … Continued
Each election year, politicians make endless appeals for the votes of the middle class. But who, and what, is the middle class? David Roediger looks at the political history of an unwieldy category, from its Cold War role as a bulwark against Communism to the Democratic Party’s rebranding of working class voters to the radical … Continued
On today’s program, best-selling writer Ta-Nehisi Coates explores race in America. On October 28, Coates spoke to a packed house in Berkeley Ca. The event was produced by KPFA and moderated by Greg Bridges. With Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. … Continued
The protests spurred by police killings of African Americans and other people of color has finally brought the punitive nature of the U.S. state into national view. Writer JoAnn Wypijewski argues that for at least the past half century we’ve been witnessing a particularly punishing turn by the state, often fueled by moral panics about … Continued
The widespread protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd are continuing without any end in sight, despite curfew orders. Radical scholar Jordan Camp places the upheaval that’s taking place within the larger history of urban rebellions in the United States, from Watts in 1965, Detroit in 1967, Los Angeles in 1992, Ferguson in 2014, … Continued
What do college athletes, prison laborers, welfare recipients, and graduate students in the sciences have in common? According to sociologist Erin Hatton, they’re all workers who face a particular form of coercion. She discusses what these workers’ circumstances tell us about work under contemporary capitalism. She’ll also consider the situation of prisoners pressured into dangerous … Continued
While entrepreneurship figures into most histories of the US, the centrality of capitalism and class struggle tend to be missing. Hence as a population, we often have no idea about the enormous conflicts that have taken place in this country. Historian Steve Fraser discusses the glaring absences in histories of the US without class struggle. … Continued
Since the ebbing of the Sixties, a particular form of protest captured the imaginations of many progressives and radicals: nonviolent direct action designed to disrupt power and prefigure the world to come. Longtime organizer L.A. Kauffman reflects on the complexities and challenges of that tradition. She also considers the politics of our time, in which … Continued
At a time when national governments are taking little action in the face of the climate emergency, the bicycle seems an ideal, if of course partial, remedy. It allows us to get around our cities and towns without producing greenhouse gases. Often cities that have encouraged biking, by putting in bicycle lanes and other infrastructure, … Continued
