Editorial

by Jacobin

Socialism for Realists

by Sam Gindin

sketching out how a utopian economic system would work. co-ops, co-determination, etc. goodreads:

Sam Gindin highlights the utopian possibilities of socialism and delves into the weeds of what systems could be necessary to manage production in a way that is democratic and equitable without sacrificing too much efficiency.

Ideas Without Power

by Aaron Major

this went into my newsletter mar 10

Looks at the history of neoliberalism as more than just an intellectual lineage, by considering how the ideas (and their implementation) were shaped by the larger economic circumstances at hand. Some quotes that sum up the (long) piece: “structural material conditions and institutionalized political power can lead political elites to strategically select among different sets of expert ideas”, and “ideas, even the obscure, technocratic ideas of professional economists, cannot be understood outside of the political context that gives ideas shape and influence”.

The French Road to Neoliberalism

by Chris Howell

my goodreads review:

Chris Howell sheds light on the uniquely French road to neoliberalism, with a special emphasis on the forces that led to the protests of May 1968. He suggests that France followed a different path than most other Western nations, where class compromise was led primarily by the state rather than by strong trade unions - union density was always low, but coverage was high due to interventions from the state. As a result, neoliberal law labour "reforms" in France haven't really been accompanied by attacks on trade unions the way they have in the US/UK, but are instead about enhancing the discretionary power of employers. I don't know much about French labour or political history, so I didn't get a lot out of this, but it was kind of interesting.

The Strike as the Ultimate Structure Test

by Jane McAlevey

goodreads:

Jane McAlevey shares her favourite lessons from John Steuben's 1950 book Strike Strategy. The gist is: strikes are good, and they should have widespread worker participation to be effective.

Does Basic Income Assume a Can Opener?

by David Calnitsky

he's my fave pro-UBI theorist. from goodreads:

David Calnitsky continues the (fascinating) debate on basic income that he began in Vol 1 No 3 ("Debating Basic Income") and which received an insightful response from Alex Gourevitch and Lucas Stanczyk in Vol 1 No 4. I thought this latest contribution was really excellent, and even though I'm personally not a huge fan of UBI myself, I found Calnitsky's arguments defending UBI's fairly convincing. The article talks about the role of policy in building power (both as an end goal to mobilise around, and as a baseline with a ratchet effect once in place) and suggests how capital flight and other possible consequences could be countered (essentially: we could use capital flight as an excuse to nationalise, which is admirable in its audacity even if it may not be practical). I wish he delved more into techniques for countering the inflationary effects of UBI, but maybe he did that in his first article and I don't remember anymore, idk.

The Politics of Reticent Socialism

by Lea Ypi

goodreads

Lea Ypi writes a thoughtful and sympathetic critique of Rawlsian liberalism from a socialist perspective. I don't have much background in political theory, and I've only ever encountered Rawls in like one media studies lecture (and never especially liked him), so most of it didn't really resonate with me. Worth reading if you have more of a background in Rawls