What is the significance of Auguste Blanqui for contemporary politics? In what ways might his political theory inform or serve as a corrective to recent debates about collective political action and radical social change? Here, Philippe Le Goff argues that Blanqui can help us formulate some of our most basic assumptions and questions today.
Much has been made since Emmanuel Macron's victory over far right candidate Marine Le Pen on April 24th of the scale of his victory. But as Marlon Ettinger writes, with the two previously dominant parties on their last legs, the latest French election represents merely another breakdown in the country's conventional political scene, one that could provide openings for both the left and the right.
The last witness to Berlin’s artistic bohemia interviewed by Jean-Michel Palmier
"It’s not fair, living this shitty life, the workers said in meetings, in groups at the gates. All the stuff, all the wealth that we make is ours. Enough. We can’t stand it any more, we can’t just be stuff too, goods to be sold. Vogliamo tutto — We want everything."
An excerpt from Kim Moody's introduction to his classic book An Injury to All, which exposes the roots of modern “business unionism” and the causes of its decline.
In a text full of anger but also hope, the anthropologist Alain Bertho focuses on the stakes of the presidential election between the two rounds.
Marlon Ettinger reports from France on the aftermath of Jean-Luc Mélenchon's campaign, its effects on the frontrunning candidates, and its creation of a new left bloc in French politics.
Didier Eribon, sociologist and supporter of Jean-Luc Melenchon's campaign, on the causes of the rise of the far right, and the challenges facing La France Insoumise in durably re-establishing left ideas.
Alain Badiou on the disorientation of the world.
Earth First! activist Madeline ffitch responds to Andreas Malm: "What if the mass climate movement was focused on supporting frontline direct action?"
This text, written by Jacques Ranciere more than 20 years ago, seems particularly relevant in the run-up to a presidential election that is already saturated with racist ideas, nonstop polemics and the obsessions of a far right that is guaranteed media coverage whether benevolent or pseudo-indignant.
Alyssa Battistoni responds to Andreas Malm, part of Verso's new ebook, Property Will Cost Us the Earth: "It is oddly comforting to think that blowing up a pipeline would succeed where existing movements have failed."