Socialism Archives - Keeping Democracy Alive: Recent Episodes
Burt Cohen
After 2024, the mainstream of the Democratic Party is in the wilderness, but Zohran Mamdani may lead a way out. This week’s guest Fred Glass, talks about what early 20th century California history can teach us about the 2025 New
The post Why Mamdani May Revitalize the Democratic Party: 1911 CA Precedent appeared first on KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show.
It took a lot of persistent steady heavy lifting but New York State now has a new democratically run power authority. Instead of the traditional for-profit monopolies, the public good will determine a greener, less expensive supply of electricity.
The post A Revolution in Public Power appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Authoritarianism. Anti-Immigrant. White men fearful of losing control. Books banned, free press shut down. Widespread domestic spying. Dissent criminalized and many jailed tortured and killed. In his new book, American Midnight: The Great War, A Violent Peace, and Democracy’s
The post American Midnight: Trumpism Before Trump appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Pre-capitalist indigenous cultures have a lot to offer us today for a better, greener future. And socialism is not how its pictured. Neglected by the Great Men study of history, Rosa Luxemburg, a 4′ 11″ disabled young woman from what’s
The post The Prescience and Vision of Rosa Luxemburg. Who? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Precapitalist indigenous cultures have a lot to offer us today for a better, greener future. And socialism is not how its pictured. Neglected by the Great Men study of history, Rosa Luxemburg, a 4′ 11″ disabled young woman from what’s
The post The Prescience And Vision of Rosa Luxemburg. Who? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Smeared and driven from leadership of the British Labour Party. Relentlessly attacked by the uniquely powerful British tabloid media, our guest today Matt Sarb-Cousin argues there’s never been a leader like Jeremy Corbyn. Except perhaps America’s own Bernie Sanders. Trump
The post The UK’s Jeremy Corbyn: What Now? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
As Americans were dancing in the streets with the ousting of Trump, so the people of Bolivia celebrated the return of Evo Morales, first indigenous president after a coup forced him to flee. The new president is Luis Arce, former
The post After A Right Wing Coup, Social Democracy Makes a Comeback appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
How is it that Jewish liberals felt the State of Israel was exempt from criticism applied elsewhere? Our guest today Benjamin Balthaser, who teaches multi-ethnic literature at Indiana University, talks about a little known history: Most liberal and left Jewish
The post The Jewish Tradition of Anti-Zionism appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
We’re all fascinated by Cinderella stories. This one happens to be true, with many twists. Extremely rich WASP man marries very poor Jewish immigrant in 1905. But she turns out to be the strong one. The new book by Adam
The post Rebel Cinderella: A True Story You’ve Never Heard appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Iowa and New Hampshire’s results are in. What’s the best way for Democrats to beat Trump? On this show former Oklahoma Senator DNC chair and presidential candidate Fred Harris, who embraced populism in the 1970s, talks about different approaches: going
The post After NH, Now What for the Democratic Candidates? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
You’ve heard of the famous Christmas Truce of 1914 between the trenches of the British and German soldiers. These were indeed brave men. But that was not the only such event: there were desertions, mutinies, and fraternizations. Today it seems
The post The Christmas Truce: Powerful, Brave, and Not So Isolated appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Consumed with Brexit, the old upper and lower class divisions are themselves divided. According to professor Kenneth Surin, a Brit teaching at Duke, the decision made by voters in the upcoming general election will be of major importance. On one
The post The Crucial December 12th British Election Explained appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
What keeps Trump was his false version of “Roses.” An uplift from everyday dullness. Looking at the upcoming election, our guest today Professor Ed Simon argues that “those that will be the most successful will be those that speak of
The post Not Just “Bread,” To Win Democrats Must Offer “Roses Too,” A Sense of Meaning appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
He’s often said to be England’s Trump. And many hope his reign as Prime Minister of the UK will be the shortest in British history. How much damage will Boris Johnson do to formerly great Britain? The chaos is astounding.
The post BoJo’s Brexit Helter Skelter appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
We’ve all seen it in recent years: the leadership of the DNC and the DCCC dictating policy and acceptable “centrist” positions for their chosen candidates. And how well has that worked out? Toward correcting that hierarchy’s grip on the party
The post Making The Democratic Party Democratic appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
One of the things Trump has finally accomplished for the economy is shedding needless regulations which hold back business. Or at least that what many believe. Of course it’s not true. Health and Safety regulations build economic strength, according to
The post Workplaces: More Danger Than Terrorist Attacks appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Two minutes every four years, just going into the voting booth to choose a president, is hardly a sufficient tool to leverage the changes which we both need and are possible. As author Paul Street points out, idling capital is
The post Beyond the 2020 Electoral Circus: Action appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Neither the traditional French Socialist Party nor the right wing National Front, the yellow vest movement sweeping across France is something new, leaving the political powers including President Macron befuddled. With about 70% public support, the people on the streets
The post France’s Yellow Vest Movement Explained appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
What is freedom? Coming from a context of widespread economic security, young people across the US and Europe in 1968 drove older generations crazy with the insistence that there was more. More than the grey flanneled conformity in which we
The post Freedom As Tested By 1968 appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
When big gets too big, free market capitalism is stifled. The increased concentration of power and wealth undercuts economic freedom. The socialism of FDR’s New Deal very much helped capitalism become more competitive. A big, though lesser known, aspect of
The post Socialism/New Deal: It Saved Competitive Capitalism Then. Can it Now? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Reached somewhere he won’t specify in Nicaragua, our guest is protecting himself from killings, kidnappings, and the coordinated strategy of roadblocks.The Trump Administration and most of the mainstream press paints a picture of the Sandinista government turning against their own
The post Report from Violent Nicaragua: The Truth Behind the Picture appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
It’s celebrated all over the world, except here in America where it all started. It is clear that for unjust power, history has to be erased–otherwise we might assert our democracy. On this special program, the real history of May
The post May Day: As American as Apple Pie appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
The mainstream left of Europe has largely collapsed. Their national economies are trapped by the European Union. The eloquent English speaking Emmanuel Macron, president of France for just a year, on his April trip to Washington, displayed a public “bromance”
The post Who Is Trump’s Buddy Emmanuel Macron? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Talk about great mysteries: what do you think of when you hear the name Cuba? Cigar chomping communist dictator? People yearning to breathe free and live like Americans? We get one small picture here while the rest of the world
The post Cuba 2018: Neither Heaven Nor Hell appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Fire and fury. Crazy Kim Jong Un. Crazy Trump. Mutual threats of mass destruction. Is there a way out? Of course. Korea scholar Tim Shorrock writes in The Nation that not only did Obama make the situation worse, but that
The post North Korea: Peace Is Possible//Revival of Karl Marx appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
While the left has had very few actual electoral victories, author Michael Kazin argues it has very effectively changed the nation. The author of “A Godly Hero: William Jennings Bryan,” talks about his book “American Dreamers.” What’s gone right and
The post What America’s Left/Populists Have Won appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Is truth still the first casualty of politics? Not in the UK, where Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn stunned PM Teresa May. He dared to tell the truth; authenticity works. So says Marc Weisbrot of the Economic and Policy Research Center. And
The post Truth as an Effective Political Weapon: Corbyn//Use Public Money to Fund Public Projects appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
How much did the election of Trump turn French voters away from the right wing populist Marine LePen in the May 7th election? To what degree is her party, the National Front, still racist? What is the danger of normalizing
The post LePen Lost But Is Far From Defeat appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
They were real conservatives. They worried that our republican form of government was at grave risk if America joined the first world war over there. Michael Kazin’s timely new book is “War Against War: The American Fight for Peace 1914-1918.”
The post Traitors or Prophets: Americans Who Fought A War Against WWI appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
People are asking: what can we do to fight the new authoritarianism? Our guest argues: “People power need not be confined to a chant.” Keeping decision making close to home is something both right and left can agree on; municipalization
The post Right and Left Solution to Trumpism: Municipalization appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Most of us thought Right to Work was a 20th century scheme to destroy collective bargaining rights. According to Cedric DeLeon, author of The Origins of Right To Work: AntiLabor Democracy in 19th Century Chicago, it started out as a
The post “Right to Work” a Disguised Assault on Freedom appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
The Vikings were brave explorers and they found wondrous new things. Today Scandinavia holds promise of how America can become happier and more free. George Lakey, author of the new book Viking Economics, talks about struggling toward something rather than
The post Scandinavia Got it Right, So Can We appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Generally American cites are dumped on: Budgets cut, services eliminated, schools ignored. But 80% of us live in cities and despite the pressure from uncaring financial interests and their politicians, we are close to a tipping point where an urban
The post Saving Our Cities: Transforming Urban America appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
We’ve already seen the propensity of the angry, pumped up Trumpist mobs to violence. In his final debate performance, Donald Trump warned that his supporters might not abide by the results. Would the defeat of Trump be the end of
The post The Danger of Trump Increases After Nov 8th appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
You think the Republicans are in a mess, look at Spain. They have been without a working government for years. The right is divided, the left is divided. Corruption is rampant. Catalonia wants to break off altogether. There are a
The post Political Disarray: Not the GOP, Spain appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
It just sounds so bad: wars for domination. The new and improved justification is “humanitarian intervention” or Responsibility to Protect (R2P). It’s prime advocate is US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, likely to get a prime spot in a
The post “Humanitarian Intervention:” A New Cover Story appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Oscar Meyer was Chuck Collins’ great grandfather. At age 26, he turned aside his inherited fortune. Why would anybody do that? His new book is called Born on Third Base; A One Percenter Makes the Case for Tackling Inequality, Bringing
The post Born On Third Base appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
We’ve all heard of ISIS, we know Iraqi forces flee from them. But have you heard of the Kurdish women warriors of Rojava? ISIS is scared of them. And nation/state powers like Turkey also fear them. Who are these new
The post Kurdish Women Beat ISIS appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
They mostly came from big cities on the coasts. But why did fourteen young men came from rural New Hampshire in the Fall of 1936 to risk their lives in a foreign war? It was illegal for them to go
The post Fall 80 Years Ago: Young Americans Went to Spain to Fight Fascists appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Populism has been part of our country’s identity since before the Constitution. It looked like there was a great populist uprising this year. Now, with the scare of Bernie Sanders behind them the corporate-serving Democrats are back to their “happy
The post Populism: Where To Now? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Is the dream over? The socialist democratic Israel our parents generation dreamed of is not the right wing Israel we see today.What’s happening with Jewish Americans who are under 70? Why does the right wing Israel lobby still have so
The post Under and Over 70: The Israel Divide appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
How do you like paying interest to use your own money? According to Mike Krauss of the Public Banking Institute, it doesn’t have to be that way. We can replace the privately held Federal Reserve system and use the treasury
The post Serfs on a Debt Plantation//Palestine at the Democratic Convention appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
This changes everything. “Britons may have made a short term tactical mistake, but the true error is Europe’s” according to Patrick Lawrence, Salon’s foreign affairs columnist. He adds that Bernie Sanders got it right in saying, “Let’s be clear. the
The post Disruption of Establishment Politics: The Meaning of Brexit appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Are we watching a train wreck in progress? Journalist Robert Parry, who broke many of the Iran-Contra stories, offers his insight into how the 2016 Democratic Party may have ignored important lessons from the 1968 crack up. There will be
The post The Coming Democratic Crack Up appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Adam Hochschild has written best selling books about a Belgian King’s holocaust in the Congo and another about the brave British women who fought against the insanity of the first world war. His new book is Spain in Our Hearts:
The post The War Left Out of Your History Books appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Hundreds of thousands of people in France and elsewhere in Europe gather nightly. It is huge, but you probably have never heard of it. The blackout has been intentional. It’s more than a protest, it’s a serious movement. As Sorbonne
The post Nuit Debout: Say What?//Clinton Erodes Habeas Corpus appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
He’s a mirror of our culture, the question is: will America look in the mirror? Guest on this show is Erin Aubry Kaplan, author of the new book “I (heart) Obama,” and a long time writer about the black experience
The post Is Obama a Black Leader? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
Throughout American history there have been times, rare moments in which the political establishment’s movers and shakers quiver as their best laid plans have gone awry. Their too-often successful efforts to keep citizens believing that we are powerless are on
The post This Populist Moment appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
The 2016 New Hampshire Presidential Primary is history. No one predicted a 22 point blowout for Bernie Sanders. The establishment of both parties was flattened by the results. What the heck happened? Media talent trainer and consultant John Kosinski puts
The post The NH Primary From Media Optic appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
The myth of the rugged individualist settling the west is just that: a myth. The work needed to tame the wild and vast open spaces was not done with a lasso. The white people who populated the massive west needed
The post Cowboy Socialism? appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
He’s a leading contender, surging in the polls but the Democratic Party is wielding a real war on Bernie Sanders. According to Princeton history professor Matt Karp, it’s without precedent. Bernie Sanders is clearly carrying on FDR and LBJ Democratic
The post Unprecedented: Democratic Party War on Bernie Sanders appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.
When Americans hear the word socialism, they feel frightened. Bernie Sanders has looked to the nations of Scandinavia for models, while Hillary Clinton runs away from that. What is reality? On this show, Ann Jones (author of Kabul in Winter
The post Norway’s Democratic Socialism Yields Great Freedom appeared first on Keeping Democracy Alive.