One hundred seventy-four years ago today, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published Manifesto of the Communist Party in London, a pamphlet that guided political revolutions in Russia and China. Its main thesis holds that all means of production of goods,… Read More ›
socialism
The Magic Word
By Frank Blechman At a convivial (social) lunch the other day, one of my colleagues observed, “We’re all socialists here.” Mentally, I found myself asking, “What does he mean by that?” All of us at that table were old enough… Read More ›
Everyone’s a Socialist in a Pandemic
Republicans Want Medicare for All, but Just for This One Disease Editors’ Note: Excerpted from The New York Times, March 11, 2020. By Farhad Manjoo All it took was a pandemic of potentially unprecedented scale and severity and suddenly it’s like… Read More ›
Can We Please Relax About ‘Socialism’?
Only in America is the word freighted with so much perceived menace. By David Bentley Hart Dr. Hart is a scholar of religion and a cultural critic. Editors’ Note: Excerpted from the April 27, 2019, issue of The New York Times…. Read More ›
Mythology in Economics and Politics
The internet and social media have turned up the volume and amount of dialogue in our society, magnifying and promoting a spread of conspiracy theories and falsehoods as a substitute for facts and evidence. Once upon a time, myths and… Read More ›
OTHER VOICES: Socialist Bogeymen
Editors’ Note: This article is reprinted from the February 7, 2019, New York Times. Readers are urged to think also about the terms social democracy and distributive justice as alternate concepts. Trump Versus the Socialist Menace The Commies are coming for… Read More ›
Socialism Is All Around Us
At a rally in Iowa on October 9, 2018, President Trump officially denounced his political opposition as seeking to “impose socialism,” among other unpardonable offenses, against the Republican order. Who is behind this scheme? They are candidates for elected office… Read More ›
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
The argument against capitalism isn’t that it makes us poor. It’s that it makes us unfree. Like the great transformative presidents, today’s socialist candidates reach beyond the parties to target a malignant social form: for Abraham Lincoln, it was the… Read More ›