There Is No Such Thing As A Left-Wing Universal Basic Income (UBI#2)
Why do we on the left support the Milton Friedman fix for poverty? We think: Maybe AI led automation will lead to a Leisure Society if we push for a left-wing UBI.
UBI is a Poor Idea, Not an Idea that Helps the Poor (UBI#1)
Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a reactionary Milton Friedman idea supported by many of us on the left. I critique real existing UBI point by point. In UBI#2, I will argue that there is no such thing as a workable or winnable left-wing version of UBI.
Where Will the Post-2008 Left Go Next?
Since 2008, many people are disillusioned with capitalism. Keir Milburn says workplace experiences are more critical to this than many realize. Is he right? What does it imply about how we should organize?
Could Jeremy Corbyn Have Beaten Boris the Actual Incompetent One?
Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn revived the hopes of many people who had given up much hope for real leftward change through electoral politics. On June 8 2017, the Corbyn-led British Labour Party defied the odds and won 40% of the vote, raising hopes for a Left breakthrough. On December 12 2019, Boris Johnson ‘s Conservatives crushed Corbyn and Labour with the slogan “Get Brexit Done”. Was Corbyn’s loss avoidable? Why did he lose?
(A)musings About Marx and the British Left
Is socialism still credible as the alternative to capitalism? If so, what kind of socialism are we talking about? How do we unite today’s Left around that model of socialism? Gavin Kitching draws on Marx to criticize Marx himself, and both Marxists and non-Marxists in the 1970s British Left. He advances some ideas about how to rethink the socialist project.
Unite Around the Basics: Billy Graham’s Lesson for the Left
Can the Left learn from Billy Graham style evangelicals? The answer may be yes.
A Long Struggle for Democracy May Have to Precede Socialism
Gavin Kitching’s Rethinking Socialism: A Theory for a Better Practice (University Paperbacks – Methuen, London 1983) aims to tell uncomfortable truths about Marx, Left activist intellectuals, the working class and socialism in order to advance some bold proposals for rethinking and redirecting the socialist Left in his native Britain.
