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David Broder is Jacobin’s Europe editor and a historian of French and Italian communism.
At his life’s end, Jean-Marie Le Pen had been expelled from the party that he helped found. Yet this Holocaust denier and former torturer left behind an important legacy: making the far right into a major force in French political life.
Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government is riding roughshod over basic democratic standards. This isn’t just because of her party’s fascist roots; it’s the end point of a long-term process that has placed the key economic decisions beyond popular control.
In October, Die Linke elected new leadership, which promises to reconnect with working-class voters. With German elections planned for early 2025, they face a race against time to change the party’s culture.
The no-confidence vote in Michel Barnier’s government highlights the failure of Emmanuel Macron’s neoliberal project. Far from reviving the liberal center, the president has pitched France into a historic political crisis.
Ireland’s election saw little enthusiasm for the ruling parties — but also a weakened score for opposition force Sinn Féin. Its message on housing hardened its youth support, but it was unable to build out its base across Irish society.
Ukraine’s military position is worsening, and there are signs of fatigue on the home front. A tit-for-tat escalation between Washington and Moscow would be disastrous for Ukrainians and for us all.
Ines Schwerdtner is the newly elected cochair of German left-wing party Die Linke. In an interview with Jacobin, she explains how she wants to reconnect the party with a working-class base.
Maccabi Tel Aviv fans rioting in Amsterdam chanted slogans like “There are no schools in Gaza, as there are no children left.” Far from just extremist provocations, their slogans tell the truth about Israeli war aims.
The global left has moved away from social class as an organizing identity, allowing the Right to peddle a working-class identity politics untethered from the socialist vision.
In the name of constructive opposition, Marine Le Pen has issued her conditions for tolerating new prime minister Michel Barnier. Her party wants to show it’s ready for high office — but is vaguer about its stance on Barnier’s austerity plans.
Head of one of the biggest far-left groups in 1970s Britain, Gerry Healy was accused of rape and sexual abuse. A new biography reflects on the swamp from which he emerged — and how his group’s authoritarian model facilitated his crimes.
In Russia, signs of opposition to the war in Ukraine haven’t developed into a mass movement. State repression has closed off the avenues of mass politics, forcing dissidents into mainly symbolic protests.
Emmanuel Macron has appointed Michel Barnier as France’s prime minister, after securing Marine Le Pen’s agreement. The creation of a government reliant on her blessing is another step in the far right’s march toward power.
Emmanuel Macron has ruled out appointing a government led by the biggest force in parliament, the left-wing New Popular Front. His refusal confirms a case long made by the Left: it’s time to get rid of the French president’s monarchical powers.
Pastoral visions of farmwork don’t square with the reality of what it means to live in rural areas today.
Marine Le Pen’s allies celebrated a major advance in the opening round of France’s elections. Emmanuel Macron’s snap election gamble was a miscalculation — but the far right’s rise is also a product of his whole presidency.
This weekend’s European elections saw a swing to the right, including big gains for anti-immigration parties. In most cases, far-right forces have abandoned calls to leave the EU — but they are increasingly able to set the bloc’s own agenda.
Spain’s Socialist Party is Europe’s strongest center-left force, easily winning last Sunday’s Catalan elections. But it’s gaining at the expense of its own coalition partners, whose weakness risks bringing Pedro Sánchez’s broad-left government to its knees.
British journalist Paul Mason has announced plans to run for election in Jeremy Corbyn’s constituency. It’s the culmination of Mason’s war with his former comrades — and it’s important that he is defeated.
Spiritual needs are more likely to be satiated if the basics — food, clothing, shelter, and employment — are met first.