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Brandon Johnson Will Have to Beat Capital Strikes in Chicago / Kevin Young

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I think it is a self-reinforcing cycle. The major structural dilemma that the Democratic Party has faced over the last half century or more is that it's committed at once to serving the interest of business. And it also has these promises, which it needs to make in order to win elections, about progressive reform, healthcare reform, expanding healthcare and educational access, and the rights of workers, all of these progressive things that are very popular among the population, if you look at public opinion polls. But the Democratic Party, because it is so committed to that other objective of wooing business, cannot deliver those progressive reforms. It endangers its own political survival. Ultimately it opens the door to demagogues like Donald Trump to come in and say, “the Democrats haven't done anything for you.”

Historian Kevin A. Young joins us to discuss the challenges of capital strikes, institutional resistance, and potential allies and foes Chicago's Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson will face when he takes office on May 15. He recently published the Jacobin article, "Brandon Johnson Won in Chicago. Now His Movement Will Have to Beat Capital Strikes." Kevin is Associate Professor of History at University of Massachusetts Amherst where he teaches Latin American History.

You can find Kevin's recent Jacobin article here: jacobin.com/2023/04/brandon-joh…l-strikes-movements

 

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Guest

Kevin Young

 Kevin is Associate Professor of History at University of Massachusetts Amherst where he teaches Latin American History. He recently published the Jacobin article, "Brandon Johnson Won in Chicago. Now His Movement Will Have to Beat Capital Strikes." His book Blood of the Earth: Resource Nationalism, Revolution, and Empire in Bolivia (2017) traces Bolivian struggles over mineral and fossil fuel resources in the twentieth century.

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