Monthly Review Press

Striketober! Let it spread like a contagion (Shaun Richman in ‘In These Times’)

Striketober! Let it spread like a contagion (Shaun Richman in ‘In These Times’)

A moment in which tens of thousands of workers are on strike — at John Deere, at Kellogg’s, at Warrior Met Coal—might seem like a strange time to talk about a ​“right” to strike. But a legal right to strike must include the right to return to the job when the strike is over — win, lose or draw — and U.S. workers haven’t had that right since corporations and Ronald Reagan’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) conspired to weaponize a long-dormant Supreme Court decision to legalize union-busting...Strikes are contagious.

“A very valuable history of an important period in the labour and socialist movements” (Counterfire reviews Chester)

“A very valuable history of an important period in the labour and socialist movements” (Counterfire reviews Chester)

Chester argues that free speech must be defended as an absolute principle, decrying any ‘call to suppress the views of those on the radical right’, repeatedly arguing against ‘no platform’ policies. Certainly, the left should oppose repressive state laws, but mobilising against racists and fascists when they attempt to use public space to propagate their agenda is essential. It is a necessary part of any defence of working-class interests.

Watch: Gerald Horne’s American Book Award acceptance speech

Watch: Gerald Horne’s American Book Award acceptance speech

Gerald Horne is this year's winner of the ABA, awarded by the Before Columbus Foundation, for his book "The Dawning of the Apocalypse," a riveting revision of the “creation myth” of settler colonialism and how the United States was formed.

The sour vindication, bitter eloquence of “Dead Epidemiologists” (Rob Wallace interviewed by The Nation)

The sour vindication, bitter eloquence of “Dead Epidemiologists” (Rob Wallace interviewed by The Nation)

“As an epidemiologist, you’re supposed to want to put yourself out of business,” Wallace said. “Everyone has bills to pay; I understand that. But the extent to which your corruption might lead to a pathogen that could kill a billion people—that’s where my line is”....“You can intellectually understand something but still not assimilate the oncoming damage,” he told me later, as he recalled the “sour vindication” of having his worst fears come true. “So there’s an aspect of rage, and an arrival at an understanding.”