Capitalism

The Corporate Coup Against FDR – Jonathan M. Katz Pt. 2/2
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The Corporate Coup Against FDR – Jonathan M. Katz Pt. 2/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

In part two, journalist Jonathan M. Katz discusses the financial elite and fascist sympathizers who were conspiring to undo FDR’s economic reforms in what is known as the foiled Business Plot of 1933. Retired U.S. Marine General Smedley Butler, who outed the coup plotters in Special House committee hearings in 1934, subsequently published War is a Racket, a pamphlet critiquing the monied interests behind America’s imperial war machine. Katz describes Butler’s transformation from “racketeer for capitalism” to anti-war critic and underscores the political salience of working-class issues in the Great Depression’s aftermath, as demonstrated in the Bonus March of 1932 and in FDR’s New Deal.

Gangsters of Capitalism – Jonathan M. Katz Pt. 1/2

Gangsters of Capitalism – Jonathan M. Katz Pt. 1/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

U.S. interventions at the turn of the 20th century were numerous and widespread, including bloody operations in Cuba against the Spanish and then against the Cubans themselves, in northern China against the Boxer Rebellion, and most notably, the Balangiga massacre on the island of Samar in the Philippines. General Smedley Butler, a decorated U.S. marine, was stationed on all these fronts and was subsequently involved in invasions of Mexico, Nicaragua, and Haiti in 1915. Jonathan M. Katz, author of Gangsters of Capitalism, recounts the story of Butler and how he ultimately turned against the American war machine, describing himself as “a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism,” who had propped up the pillaging of Latin America by monopolists and bankers such as J.P. Morgan. 

Exporting Extinction: The Global Political Economy of Biodiversity Loss
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Exporting Extinction: The Global Political Economy of Biodiversity Loss

ByLynn Fries

Why governments further policy agendas that entrench and expand extractive industries that drive biodiversity loss is revealed in Exporting Extinction, a report exposing structural drivers incentivizing this extractive agenda and constraining what states can do to address economic development and ecological crises.

Workers’ Movements in Revolutionary Iran and Europe – Saeed Rahnema part 2/2
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Workers’ Movements in Revolutionary Iran and Europe – Saeed Rahnema part 2/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

In part 2, political scientist Dr. Saeed Rahnema discusses his experience in the workers’ council movement leading up to and during the Iranian Revolution of 1979-1980 and addresses the Islamic Republic’s opposition to unions.  He also contends that modern-day working classes in the West are ideologically and culturally segmented and that the left has failed to mobilize at numerous historical junctures.

The (In)conceivability of Real Workers’ Control – Saeed Rahnema part 1/2
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The (In)conceivability of Real Workers’ Control – Saeed Rahnema part 1/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

The workers’ council movement took shape in several forms across Europe, Russia, Tito’s Yugoslavia, Algeria, and Iran. Political scientist Dr. Saeed Rahnema discusses the failure of workers’ councils in these different historical contexts and traces out the tensions between workers’ control and workers’ participation under capitalism. Is real workers’ control feasible under capitalism, and do struggles for increased workers’ participation and higher wages necessarily lead to workers’ control? 

Genocide in Gaza: When Does the History Begin? – Paul Jay 

Genocide in Gaza: When Does the History Begin? – Paul Jay 

ByNorth of 48

Israel’s objective is to maintain Jewish-Israeli dominance in the region by imposing inhumane conditions on Palestinians, resulting in the forced displacement of the entire population of Gaza. Paul Jay, the founder of theAnalysis, states that in order to understand the Israel-Palestine conflict, one has to view it from the context of U.S. global hegemony and monopoly capitalism. 

Capitalocene: How Capitalism Created the Climate Crisis – Jason W. Moore pt 1/2
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Capitalocene: How Capitalism Created the Climate Crisis – Jason W. Moore pt 1/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

The current climate crisis emerged out of a specific set of historical and economic factors which have maintained capitalist accumulation and class inequalities to this day. Jason W. Moore, geographer and Professor of Sociology at Binghamton University, explains how the development of capitalism fueled European colonialism and Western imperialism, resulting in a novel form of climate destruction.

The Assertion of Popular Power: A Climate Movement Imperative – Jason W. Moore pt 2/2
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The Assertion of Popular Power: A Climate Movement Imperative – Jason W. Moore pt 2/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

In part 2, historian and geographer Jason W. Moore explains why climate and revolutionary struggles must understand capitalist dynamics and deploy a language of universal class solidarity to overthrow transnational power structures perpetuating the climate crisis.

Venture Capital Fuels U.S. Military Support for Israel, Egypt, and Saudis – Shana Marshall
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Venture Capital Fuels U.S. Military Support for Israel, Egypt, and Saudis – Shana Marshall

ByTalia Baroncelli

Dr. Shana Marshall is the Associate Director of the Institute for Middle East Studies at George Washington University in D.C. She highlights a crucial element of financing the military and defense technology sector by venture capitalist and private equity firms with dubious financial and political interests. She explains how the business models of these firms shape the sort of weaponry produced in the U.S., such as an increase in drones and AI-powered systems and the “attritable” form of warfare that is waged as a result. Furthermore, she argues that U.S. policy in the Middle East and American support for authoritarian regimes has had dire consequences for the people in the region.

Corruption in Lebanon Propped up by the Transnational Capitalist Elite – Nadim Houry
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Corruption in Lebanon Propped up by the Transnational Capitalist Elite – Nadim Houry

ByTalia Baroncelli

Widespread corruption in Lebanon is fostered by the country’s ruling class, whose business interests are enmeshed with those of international finance. Nadim Houry, executive director of the Arab Reform Initiative, explains how Lebanon’s culture of political impunity is tied to the reconstruction agreements put in place in 1990, at the end of the 15-year civil war. The ongoing political deadlock shields the authorities from scrutiny and allows for vulture capitalists such as the former governor of Lebanon’s Central Bank, Riad Salameh, to embezzle the country’s resources. At the same time, ordinary people are faced with crushing inflation.

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