Confronting Capitalism with Vivek Chibber

Socialists in the Capitalist State

The Left looks poised to pick up some big electoral wins in the midterm elections. But with virtually all of the Left’s victories since the first Sanders presidential pri

What Makes a Marxist?

Karl Marx famously declared that he was not a Marxist. But his theoretical work spawned many branches of research, political movements, and heated debate. Can we identify

Socialists and Markets

It’s all too common for people to associate the mere existence of markets with capitalism. But because we know markets had a life before capitalism, we can also imagine t

Labor Needs Socialists and Socialists Need Labor

Unions have more public support than just about anything else in the US, and yet, their membership has cratered. This poses an immense challenge to left-wing politicians,

The Return of Industrial Policy

Advanced capitalist countries have recently rediscovered the role of industrial policy to build out key economic sectors like semiconductors and AI. But what happens if b

How Capitalism Undermines Democracy

Libertarian thinkers like Milton Friedman like to say that capitalism not only gave birth to democracy but also is the ideal economic system to complement democracy. But 

Socialism and Class Traitors (Listener Questions)

We try to cover a lot of topics on this show, and that inevitably leads to many more follow-up questions. Luckily for you, on this latest episode of Confronting Capitali

Why the French Revolution Matters

On July 14, 1789, the storming of the Bastille in Paris marked the transition of the French Revolution from an elite negotiation into a truly mass event. But what kicked

The Politics of Mass Deportation

Donald Trump has made the issue of immigration a key battleground in US politics. But with public opinion swinging against the brutal ICE raids and deportations over the

Who Counts as a Worker?

In the midst of Graham Platner’s high-profile senate race in Maine, several media commentators jumped on whether he would fit within his own definition of the working cla

How Will Capitalism End?

Socialists have long predicted capitalism’s overthrow and replacement by a better system. But do we have any reason to believe capitalism must come to an end? On the lat

Why Soviet-Style Planning Fails

Over time, the Soviet Union developed a system of centralized planning that became synonymous with socialism. How did the system work? What did it get right? And why did

How Socialism Could Work

Throughout the 20th century, socialism came to be associated with both central planning and shortages. But could democratic ownership of the economy work alongside market

Which Way Forward for the Left?

How effective has the Left’s political strategy been since the first Bernie Sanders campaign? And how has our relationship to the Democratic Party changed? On this speci

This Century’s Biggest Labor Battle

Our modern economy is now dominated by massive mega-companies like Amazon and Walmart, with operations spanning many different sectors and employment types. With the US l

Trump’s Historic Blunder in Iran

The US-Israeli war against Iran may have been initiated without any coherently stated goals or popular support, but we can already see that it’s a horrific quagmire. It a

How Work Got So Bad

Why does every new technology seem to make work harder and not easier? In 1974, Harry Braverman published a seminal text Labor and Monopoly Capital to answer that questio

Is AI Coming for Our Jobs?

The developments in artificial intelligence appear to promise a radical transformation of modern work. But what happens if AI turns out to be much more like previous wave

When Do Protests Become a Revolution?

The Trump administration has ramped up its bellicose rhetoric against the Iranian regime after it clamped down on the latest wave of protests. Is the regime teetering on

Why the US Never Got a Labor Party

While European labor movements established foundations for their welfare states in the late 19th century, it was not until the New Deal that the US began instituting poli