Markets and Plans  

China, one has been told since Deng Xiaoping’s market-oriented reforms began in the late 1970s, is becoming capitalist. So is the Soviet Union under Gorbachev, similarly with Hungary, Angola, Vietnam, and all the other economies that were once centrally planned …



A Case for Jackson  

Jesse Jackson’s 1988 campaign marks a historic breakthrough in American politics. It is the first time that a “social democratic” platform has been presented in the mainstream of American politics and attracted significant mass support. The journalistic cliché was, and …













The New Gradgrinds  

“Now what I want is, Facts. Teach the boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else…Thomas Gradgrind, sir. A man of realities.” So Charles Dickens began his novel …





To the Auto Workers’ Union  

This past June, at Anaheim, California, the United Automobile Workers’ Union held its 26th constitutional convention. Almost a third of its membership has been left jobless as a result of the recession and the poor planning of the auto corporations. …