New Articles

  • Criticisms and conditions in support for Palestinian resistance

    Tom Dale responds to the Tempest editorial “Toward a free Palestine” and argues for clarifying what socialists mean by “unconditional but critical support” for national liberation struggles.

  • “People have to act collectively”

    Leading historian of McCarthyism Ellen Schrecker explains that McCarthyism was not about one person. And what’s happening today within our society, including the erosion of democratic practices and values, is not just about Donald Trump.

  • Weathering the storm

    Kirstin Roberts and Natalia Tylim report of the 2024 Tempest convention held in Chicago over the long weekend of February 17-19.

  • Comrades, community, and commitment

    Tempest member Aileen Cerrillos reflects on their experience organizing in university and NGO-modeled spaces and their decision to join the Tempest Collective project.

  • “The John Brown way” part 2

    David Whitehouse recounts the battles, up through the Harpers’ Ferry revolt, of anti-slavery militant John Brown, a period that influenced the emergence of the United States Left.

  • Perspectives for socialists in 2024

    The Tempest Collective Editorial Board recently sat down with David McNally to discuss current geopolitical dynamics, economic fault lines, and labor struggles—and perspectives for socialists in 2024. This is the second part of a two-part interview. Part one can be read here.

Recent Articles

  • It’s OK to be angry about Bernie Sanders’ new book

    Tens of thousands of activists were inspired to join socialist Bernie Sanders’ campaigns for president in 2016 and 2020. Shamus Cooke reviews Bernie’s latest book and argues that the Sanders project of shifting the Democratic Party leftward has squandered the movement in a time of crisis and need.

  • A health care worker treats another person in a space with signs reading "Welcome to Chiparawe Rapid Testing Center, on a pink background.

    Fatal abstractions

    There are effective vaccines for COVID-19 and effective treatments for HIV/AIDS, but both remain global epidemics. Medical researcher Sam Friedman explains how the profit system is limiting the reach of life-saving medicines.

  • On the Chicago race for mayor

    Kirstin Roberts argues that given the stark political choice, the broad mobilization of left and movement forces in support of Brandon Johnson, and the groundwork laid over the last decade by union and social struggles in Chicago, the elections offer real opportunities for socialists committed to political independence.

  • Making sense of Chicago’s election

    Joe Allen sets the Chicago mayoral election in historical context and argues that the choice on offer, however stark, also reflects the political limits of the strength of the Left and our (social and trade union) movements.

  • The life and politics of Walter Rodney

    Tempest’s Anyanwu L. reviews A Rebel’s Guide to Walter Rodney by Chinedu Chukwudinma.

  • A protester in front of a building stands behind others. They hold a sign reading "Drag Sets Our Imagination Free."

    Jackson Heights defends Drag Story Hour NYC!

    Tempest members Reuben Abitbol, Thomas Hummel, and Haley Pessin report on a successful campaign action last month in defense of Drag Story Hour NYC against far-right protesters.

  • Three signs in blue on white read UAW on strike in front of a sign reading MADE IN THE [American flag}.

    North Carolina’s factory boom

    National policy is spurring new investment in domestic factories, and North Carolina is one center of the boom. David Leon argues that the growth in factory jobs can enable new organizing and workers’ struggle—and that socialists have a key role to play.

  • Two illustrations sit side-by-side. The left illustration shows a punctured pipeline, with oil spilling out and covering grassy land and plants. Two workers' helmets float at the edges of the oil spill. Smoke arises from three oil frackers lining the horizon. In one of the smoke clouds, it reads ‘CAPITALISM.’ And in the oil spill, it reads ‘HURTS THE WORKER. HURTS THE PLANET.’ The right illustration shows a collage of imagery representing things harming the world with things that could help the world. This includes a sunflower plant destroying a bomb, plants growing out of a police car, mushrooms growing out of a spilled bucket of toxic liquid, a person holding a sword and wearing a t-shirt that says DEMILITARIZE.

    Anti-lamentation

    In this poem, Tempest member Sam Friedman considers how, through collective work, we can resist the apocalyptic threats of capitalism.

  • Health care concessions in the NYC public sector?

    Robert Cuffy and Peter Allen-Lamphere argue that the heralded citywide contract is anything but a victory for New York City public sector workers.