Portside

The renewed focus, particularly on the left, on precariousness constitutes a recognition of the harsh reality of capitalism, and particularly of today’s globalized monopoly-finance capital. More than a century of Marxian political-economic critique allows us to appreciate the extent to which the conditions that Marx described, focusing on a small corner of Europe in the mid-nineteenth century, are now global, and all the more perilous.

Among the accomplishments of the Cuban revolution have been the great strides made in the education of its entire people. Education is completely free from primary school through university. Cuba today has a literacy rate of over 96 percent, putting it at the top of all Latin America. But the struggling economy has not created the kind of economic opportunity that is commensurate with an educated population, particularly in the professions.

Reader Comments: Bernie - Jewish Secular Values and what they represent; Long Legs of Bernie's Army; 2016 is not 1968 or 1932; John McCain: Salute to a Communist; Fidel's Message to Brother Obama; the Right Minimum Wage; Tech Workers and the Working Class; Israeli Minister Calls for 'Civil ' Targeted Killings of BDS Leaders - Azmi Bishara is No Enemy of the Israeli State; Military Leviathan and the Draft; Announcements: Washington, DC; Brooklyn; Berkeley; New York

If the Sanders generation can speak to America as boldly as Roosevelt did, and build their power once Bernie’s campaign is done, they may just make their revolution yet.

We don’t need the empire to give us anything. Our efforts will be legal and peaceful, because our commitment is to peace and fraternity among all human beings who live on this planet.

The New York of Bernie Sanders's childhood was full of Yiddish socialists. Often, these were Jews of Sanders's sort, their spiritual practice less fixated on giving glory to God on high than fighting for emancipation here on earth. Although that interpretation of Judaism may seem profane, even blasphemous, at first blush, it has a firm basis in scripture.

When U.S. politicians talk about Scandinavian-style social welfare, they fail to explain the most important aspect of such policies: selfishness. The choices Nordic countries have made have little to do with altruism or kinship. Rather, Nordic people have made their decisions out of self-interest. Nordic nations offer their citizens - all of their citizens, but especially the middle class - high-quality services that save people a lot of money, time, and trouble.

The statistics about global inequality desperately need someone who can explain them in terms that can anger, mobilise and inspire people. If Corbyn can do this, it would mark an important shift in English politics.

Reader Comments: Times Invents 'Left' Economists to Attack Sanders; Trump - Most Dangerous Face in GOP Field; Bernie and the Movement; Why America Is Moving Left; Fania and Angela Davis - New Kind of Civil Rights Activism; Teachers Walk-In in 30 Cities; Sanitizing Socialism and Needing to Create a New Kind of Capitalism With a Conscience; Announcements: Life Is Waiting - Film Banned in UAE, Lebanon, Belgium; New York Faculty Unions Supports India Students and Faculty

Socialism can mean what we citizens wish for it to mean, by exercising our People Power! Hooray for Bernie Sanders! His vision and his rousing passion for the plight of the people is the greatest remedy for the painful ills of humankind that fear and greed have brought us. I warily approve of Hillary Clinton and would want for her "negotiating experience" to prevail. I've been joking for some time now about him teaching her, and teaming up. This would be powerful.