The Historical Task of the Left in the Present Period
If the survival of a vital center is also the precondition of an active left, one of the historical tasks of the left today is to help hold the center—even as we promote a militancy all our own.
Winter 2025
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Hot & Bothered Podcast #8: Why Climate Justice Means Racial Justice, with Dawn Phillips
What does fighting environmental racism really look like? Daniel talks to Dawn Phillips, a lead organizer with Causa Justa-Just Cause, which has been leading the fight against “green” gentrification in the Bay Area. And Kate reports from Standing Rock, where Native activists are looking ahead to the long term.
Fidel Without Illusions
Fidel Castro cloaked himself in protean myths. But learning from his life and the Cuba he governed requires looking past the mythologies to squarely face both the powers arrayed against him and the costs of the decisions he made to confront them.
The Next Democratic Party
Parties recover from defeat in two ways. They can try to beat the opposition at their own game, or they can try to change the rules of the game. Donald Trump did the latter. Now it’s the Democrats’ turn.
Hot & Bothered Podcast #7: What Trump’s Victory Means for the Climate Movement
Kate and Daniel try to wrap their heads around climate politics in the age of Trump, and how movements can step up to defeat his extremist agenda.
Hot & Bothered Podcast #6: Taking Back Power, with James Angel
After years of campaigning, London activists recently secured a commitment from the city’s mayor to create a publicly-owned municipal energy company. James Angel of Switched On London explains what energy democracy means in the age of Brexit and Trump.
To Fight the Right, We Need to Understand It Better
Too many of us on the left treat the right as a monolith—and it’s keeping us from effectively fighting back.
Peru’s Rising Democratic Left
In a country where left politics has been marred by decades of sectarian strife and a devastating civil war, can a new coalition of socialists, feminists, and greens point a more democratic way forward—and win?
Lessons from Latin America’s Pink Tide: A Forum
As Latin America’s “pink tide” appears to ebb, Patrick Iber, Javier Buenrostro, Sujatha Fernandes, Bryan McCann, and Thea Riofrancos examine its lessons for democratic socialists in the region and abroad.
Democratic Socialism From the Ground Up
Populism is extremely limited if it is not coupled with highly organized grassroots movements with the ability to shape politics from the ground up.
Chavismo’s Crumbling Economic Foundations
Targeted use of revenue from commodities can be an immediate and necessary salve against brutal levels of poverty and inequality, but Chavismo’s “extractivist” model has left Venezuela as vulnerable as ever to the whims of the international market.
Populism and the People
The central protagonists of Latin America’s profound shift away from the neoliberal policies of the 1980s and ‘90s were not strong leaders but social movements.
Brazil’s Democracy Back in the Streets
If there is any positive aspect to Brazil’s current crisis, it is the reemergence of non-partisan, civil-society mobilization in response to impeachment and its fallout.
Populism and Democratic Socialism in Latin America: Reply
Democratic socialism cannot emerge exclusively, or even primarily, from the grassroots—it implies the structuring of social resources in ways that require government action.
Karl Polanyi for President
Whether they realize it or not, millions of Bernie Sanders supporters across the country have embraced a version of socialism developed by political economist Karl Polanyi in his 1944 classic, The Great Transformation. Dissent explains.
