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Capitalism Was Built on the Ruins of the Commons

Peter Linebaugh, Daniel Denvir Jacobin
The Industrial Revolution's chief product was not goods, but a new class of laborers who owned nothing and worked to survive. Historian Peter Linebaugh traces the creation of this working class through the violent enclosure of the commons they once r

labor

Before the Punk Rockers, There Were the Working-Class Teds

Max Décharné Jacobin
British class society had a dress code: the rich could be flashy,workers were expected to wear a drab uniform. In the 1950s, England’s working-class Teddy Boys and Girls boldly donned pompadours and velvet, giving birth to modern British subculture

tv

Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Show Was Political Art at Its Best

Cruz Bonlarron Martínez Jacobin
It’s no wonder Donald Trump was enraged by Bad Bunny’s halftime show at the Super Bowl. The Puerto Rican trap star has grown into the role of political artist, and the creativity of his music is an indictment of MAGA’s schlock-filled cultural wastela

labor

The Bear and the Contradictions of Work

Sherry Linkon and John Russo Working-Class Perspectives
The Bear helps us see the struggles that make work difficult and the commitments that make it meaningful. If we want to understand why work matters, and what workers might be longing for, we have to recognize both sides of this balance sheet.

The Working-Class Cinematic Legacy of Film Noir

Leonard Pierce Jacobin
In the stiflingly reactionary cultural atmosphere of postwar America, most filmmakers didn’t talk much about class. But there was one significant exception: film noir was the most class-conscious genre of motion picture America has ever produced.
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