Opinion

Two Years After Electing a Mayor, Chicago’s Left Keeps Contesting for Power

Movement-backed Mayor Brandon Johnson and a record class of progressive alders took office exactly two years ago. I spoke with more than a dozen organizers about what we’ve won, what we’ve learned about power and what’s still to be done to deliver a more equitable city.

Asha Ransby-Sporn

Forget America First—Under Trump, It's Corporations First

Big corporations donated heavily to Trump’s inaugural fund. Just a few months later, federal cases against them are being dropped.

Rick Claypool

Trump's First 100 Days Have Been an Absolute Disaster for Workers

Trump has gutted labor rights, slashed the federal workforce, and opposed a minimum wage hike. But resistance is brewing.

Sarah Anderson

Mainstream Media’s Anti-Palestinian Double Standard Is On Full Display

Another day, another racist attack on Rep. Rashida Tlaib that our media completely ignores.

Adam Johnson

Putting Reentry Out of Business

Unions must think beyond reform and seriously consider abolition—the elimination and eradication of carceral institutions that exacerbate violence and underprepare people for reentry.

Calvin John Smiley

Rise and Unwind

We all work too much. Let’s take up the fight for more freedom and less time on the job.

Miles Kampf-Lassin

From Permanent Precarity to Permanent Power

At Beyond the Bars, we see what others refuse to see: the talent, discipline and vision of the criminalized working class.

Katherine Passley

The War on Vietnam Ended 50 Years Ago and the U.S. Desperately Needs More Action on Agent Orange

Congress Should mark the 50th anniversary by passing new legislation addressing the impact of Agent Orange.

Susan Schnall and Azadeh Shahshahani

Chris Rufo and the Burger Kings

An extremely online debate reveals fractures in the MAGA coalition and low-status yearnings for a white aristocracy.

Matt McManus

Trump Just Escalated His War on Coal Miners. Their Unions Are Fighting Back.

The Trump administration’s feckless business-first, workers-last approach is leaving the nation’s coal miners to die—and now their unions are taking him to court.

Kim Kelly

Robert McChesney Was a Lifelong Fighter for Democratic Media

Let's honor Robert McChesney by continuing his fight for a media free from corporate control.

Dean Baker

Unions Without Strikes

Today's labor movement has been built to rely on forms of power that are all going away.

Hamilton Nolan

How Sweeping Tariffs Came to Be and Why It Matters

Targeted tariffs could be an important part of an industrial policy tool kit—but Trump's sweeping tariff policy will harm workers, not help them.

Todd N. Tucker

Trump's Tariffs Have Nothing to Do With Liberation

Trade justice demands systemic reform: binding labor rights, climate protections and democratic accountability. Trump's poorly designed tariffs offer none of that.

Iza Camarillo

Unions as a 21st Century Anti-Fascist Force

Trump and his MAGA movement are conspiring with oligarchs to turn the U.S. into a rightwing authoritarian state. The labor movement can play a key role in fighting back.

Bill Fletcher, Jr.

“Do Not Participate”: The Absurd Excuse Notre Dame Gave Me When They Canceled My Talk

What a tragedy when we cannot rely on universities to house our most critical conversations.

Eman Abdelhadi

More Than 1,800 Academics Say They Will Boycott Columbia—and the Number Is Growing

Columbia's acquiescence to Trump was disgraceful. As faculty, we demand better.

Jessica Halliday Hardie and Ajantha Subramanian

Democratic Party Leaders and “Free Speech” Warriors Shrug as Trump Deports Dissidents

While the Trump administration targets hundreds over their constitutionally protected right to political speech, Democratic leadership and influential media pundits have largely stayed quiet.

Adam Johnson and Sarah Lazare