“Trumbo” is a the latest in a series of Hollywood films that looks back nostalgically at the McCarthy era, a time when the good guys were blacklisted writers accused of membership in the Communist…Read more…
The patriotic traitor
The title of Jonathan Lynn’s new play “The Patriotic Traitor” could refer to either of the play’s two protagonists. One, Marshall Philippe Pétain, betrayed France to the Germans in 1940,…Read more…
After just one primary, Bernie Sanders is the most successful socialist politician in the US in 80 years
As someone who enjoys political history and playing around with numbers, here are the vote totals for democratic socialist candidates for US president since 1900, when Eugene Debs first ran. In 1924,…Read more…
Global union target of disinformation campaign
This article appears in the current issue of Solidarity The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) is not an organization that many of you will have heard of. Which is odd, considering that…Read more…
The Sanders Revolution
This article appears in the current issue of Solidarity. Sixty years ago, the Socialist Party ran its last presidential campaign in the United States. In its heyday, the party could capture upwards…Read more…
What’s wrong with Star Wars?
This article appears in this week’s issue of Solidarity. Socialists begin our understanding of culture with Marx’s oft-quoted comments about the ruling ideas of an age being the ideas of…Read more…
Will Bernie Sanders be America’s first socialist president?
Bernie Sanders is not the first socialist to run for President of the United States. He is not even the first socialist to do so with mass support. To understand the Sanders campaign, it is…Read more…
The mass psychology of Islamo-fascism
This article appears in today’s issue of Solidarity. Please feel free to post comments there. There can be little doubt that the murderous ideology of Islamic State is a form of fascism. In…Read more…
Building global labor solidarity – challenges and opportunities
This article appeared in the Labor Day issue of Democratic Left. In 1847, when Marx and Engels issued their ringing call for workers of all countries to unite, it fell on deaf ears. However, by the…Read more…
Dr Arieh Yaari, 1918-2005
Today marks the tenth anniversary of the passing of Dr Arieh Yaari — socialist, Zionist and fighter for peace. I first met Arieh in January 1981 when I arrived at Kibbutz Ein Dor as a new…Read more…
The problem with Bernie Sanders
The Bernie Sanders campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination is probably the most exciting development in US politics since the 1930s. And it’s not a coincidence that both the…Read more…
Organizing the unorganized
No one has any time. We all have too much to do. This is true for businessmen; it’s true for students; it’s true for activists like myself. Is your email inbox overflowing? Do you have…Read more…
West Bank: Police question union leader over LabourStart campaign
This article appears in the next issue of International Union Rights, the publication of the International Centre for Trade Union Rights. In early August 2014, the Workers Advice Center (WAC MAAN)…Read more…
Bernie Sanders and Michael Harrington: A second chance?
My first article ever for Salon. That’s my original title, and this is how my version of it opened: Current speculation about a possible Bernie Sanders challenge to Hillary Clinton in 2016 is…Read more…
Shock victory for the Left as Tories ousted
Tomorrow is election day here in Britain, and that headline is unlikely to grace the front page of any of our newspapers on the morning after. But it’s a real headline and it describes what…Read more…
The Putinisation of Israel
In a sense, not much changed in the Israeli elections of 2015, despite media reports of a “landslide” victory for incumbent Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The country is still almost equally…Read more…
Why Israel is losing the battle in the world’s trade unions
Text of my presentation at Limmud, University of Warwick, 29 December 2014 My name is Eric Lee and I’m speaking to you tonight on behalf of TULIP – Trade Unions Linking Israel and Palestine….Read more…
Combatting human trafficking – without the unions?
A version of this article appears today on Equal Times, a global news, opinion and campaign website about work, politics, the economy, development and the environment which is supported by the 175…Read more…
Solidarity with the Kurds – or NATO-bashing?
This article appears in the current issue of Solidarity. At the November 1st demonstration in Trafalgar Square in support of besieged Kobane, it struck me that the speakers — and more broadly,…Read more…
They shall not pass!
This is the speech I gave today in Trafalgar Square at the demonstration in support of Kobane — part of an international day of action. Comrades and friends, brothers and sisters, good…Read more…