Lots of downsides to the Left's strategy of insurgent primaries within the Democratic Party, but 1 major—and overlooked—upside is that it makes authoritarian crackdowns on socialism more of a partisan (Republican) issue, which creates more political space for us to survive & grow

Trump's authoritarianism is in many ways the worst in modern US history, but there's one key way that his attacks on the Left are different—and weaker—than the red scares of 1919-20 & the 1950s:

This is the first red scare ever that's not bi-partisan

"What Palestinians welcome about the deal is easy to understand: it promises an end to the mass bloodshed, it takes ethnic cleansing off the table for now, & it raises hopes for reconstruction. No doubt this is better than mass death & forced displacement. But no one pretends this is a good deal."

"While Trump may appear to have pressured Bibi more than Biden, there hasn’t been a real shift in US posture toward Israel. There are no sticks in this deal to stop Israel from attacking Gaza in the future or attacking Palestinians in the West Bank"

www.laborpolitics.com/p/ultra-left...

Bashir Abu-Manneh on Trump's deal:

"October 7 produced the exact opposite of what Hamas dreamily expected to achieve: more occupation, not less; the destruction rather than expansion of the Axis of Resistance; genocide and the total obliteration of Gaza."

Zohran won't be the first democratic socialist to govern a big US city

In 1936, even Time Magazine admitted that after two decades of Socialist mayors, "Milwaukee has become perhaps the best-governed city in the U.S."

Its cover on Mayor Daniel Hoan was captioned: "He gave Karl Marx all the credit"

Thanks to @ericblanc.bsky.social for the shout-out on the latest Money with Katie episode!

"To help cut off US arms to Israel we'd have to more frequently work with people who don’t agree with us on everything. More leftists have to leave their comfort zone of being a powerless opposition, protesting on the sidelines, expressing outrage online"

www.laborpolitics.com/p/ultra-left...

I crunched the numbers: the three largest state organizations of the old Socialist Party were Washington, Oregon, & Wisconsin (controlled for pop size)

But only in WI did the socialists consistently lead the union movement, & only in WI was socialism's base broad enough for big electoral victories

The source for this data 👇

The fact that Germans were overall less likely to vote Socialist makes the rise of the "sewer socialists" in Milwaukee even more remarkable — contrary to what is normally assumed, their growth can't be attributed primarily to ethnic predispositions towards radicalism

Found some great research on immigrant votes for the old Socialist Party

Surprisingly, German immigrants nationwide were overall *less* likely than others to vote Socialist, while Italians were more likely to do

And Irish immigrants were by far the most anti-Socialist

I'm almost done with a new research project about Wisconsin's "sewer socialists" — who, as you can see below, were by far the strongest branch of the old Socialist Party

Lots of lessons for Zohran & NYC DSA

Trump wants to drag our country back to the pre-Civil Rights era

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/r...

Need more heroes like Paul Osadebe, one of the HUD federal worker whistleblowers standing up against Trump's destruction of civil rights protections

🚨 HUD whistleblowers and federal unionists reveal Trump’s appointees have gutted civil rights protections in housing.
Here’s what you need to know: 🧵
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/r...

Workers are striking across Italy today against Israel's genocide 🔥🔥🔥

Need a free speech movement ASAP

Starbucks workers are threatening to strike nationwide if management doesn't grant them a fair contract

Everybody opposed to oligarchy & authoritarianism should be ready to go all-in to support their big fight this fall

inthesetimes.com/article/star...

The Institute for Public Knowledge is hosting author Eric Blanc
(@ericblanc.bsky.social) tonight at 5:30pm for a book signing of, "We Are the Union" (published by @ucpress.bsky.social).

You can buy your copy with us tonight!

#booksigningevent #nycevents #authorsigningevent

Looking forward to this crucial discussion Thursday night at 9pm ET/6pm PT — it's hosted by East Bay DSA, but anybody nationwide can join 🌹

Excited to announce a joint book talk this Fri, Sept 12, on the theme "Strategies for Revitalizing Labor" with Eric Blanc.Join us in person at the Janice H. Levin Building, 94 Rockefeller Rd in Piscataway, NJ or on Zoom at:
rutgers.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
@ucpress.bsky.social @ericblanc.bsky.social

Many thanks to Jacobin for re-publishing my piece on how Zohran can help make NYC a union town again

jacobin.com/2025/09/zohr...

Here's my new, long article on all the tools a Zohran administration could leverage to boost unionization

www.laborpolitics.com/p/how-zohran...