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Why Mexico’s New President Is Nothing Like Trump

Seth Harp RollingStone
The U.S. media got the historic election of Andrés Manuel López Obrador all wrong. The winner by a landslide was Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a socialist reformer and unabashed champion of the working class. It’s a hugely significant turn of events.

Pennsylvania Steelworkers Send Lamb to Congress, Revive Progressive Coalition

Kevin P. Lynch Portside
The Lamb victory should give heart to the surging young generation who are struggling so passionately for a better and fairer future. Despite Trump’s pandering on the issue of trade and environmental regulations, miners and steelworkers campaigned for the long-term interests of their class.

What Happened to Europe’s Left?

Jan Rovny The London School of Economics and Political Science Blog
Only a handful of European states are currently governed by left-wing governments, and several of the traditionally largest left-wing parties, such as the Socialist Party in France, have experienced substantial drops in support. Jan Rovny argues that while many commentators have linked the left’s decline to the late-2000s financial crisis, the weakening of Europe’s left reflects deep structural and technological changes that have reshaped European society, leaving left-wing parties out in the cold.

tv

Why It Matters That Roseanne and Dan Voted for Trump

Harry Waksberg Splitsider
Most white voters voted for Trump, but not even most working-class white voters voted for him. If Roseanne and Dan Conner voted for Trump, it is not because they are working-class.

books

Race and the Logic of Capital

Alan Wald Solidarity
Shortly before his death, James Baldwin wrote that in the U.S., “White is a metaphor for power,” an observation that is deep background for much of the discussion in the masterly book under review, where race and class are intertwined, yet surface differences are used to split the labor force and maintain capital’s hegemony. The book can usefully inform debate on race and class and aid in reconstructing a revolutionary project in the context of Trumpworld.

Hollywood Women Unveil Anti-Harassment Plan for the Working Class

Cara Buckley New York Times
300 powerful women in Hollywood have announced a new group called Time's Up to lead a national campaign against the systematic sexual harassment of women from Hollywood to working-class communities across America.. Among those taking part are actresses Emma Stone, Reese Witherspoon, Eva Longoria, America Ferrera, Meryl Streep, Ashley Judd, Natalie Portman, Eva Longoria and Kerry Washington, as well as producer Shonda Rhimes, Universal Pictures chairwoman Donna Langley, and lawyer Tina Tchen. (Daily Beast)

books

Tough Guys

Kenyon Gradert Dissent
The author enlivens a type of working-class society where capitalism compensates poor men with the role of tough guy, all in the writer's effort to "bring the left to life."The End of Eddy does so in a style both plainspoken and visceral, using Louis's own childhood trials--like his protagonist much abused as a gay kid in a dead-end factory town --as a window onto the pathologies of a cloistered working-class existence.

What Killed the Democratic Party?

William Greider The Nation
A new report offers a bracing autopsy of the 2016 election—and lays out a plan for revitalization.
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