Webzine

On the Eve of the November US Elections

Kay Mann

Posted November 2, 2026

In the closing weeks and days of the November U.S. “midterm election” campaigns, the likelihood that the Democratic Party will win enough local elections to give them a majority in the House of Representatives and possibly the Senate has significantly increased as the Republicans find themselves on the defensive in several formerly “safe” electoral districts, including some that have not seen a Democratic victory in decades.

After several years of seeming politically invincible, Trump has…

Dolores Huerta: 1930-2026, Complex Life and Legacy

Dan La Botz

Posted October 30, 2026

DOLORES HUERTA, A cofounder and coleader with César Chávez of the United Farm Workers union, became a national icon as the embodiment of Mexican Americans’ struggle for workers’ rights and civil rights, and as a female labor leader and feminist. Huerta spent decades organizing in Mexican American communities and the agricultural fields of California, recruiting workers to the union, organizing strikes and boycotts, lobbying for legislation, and working on political campaigns. She had 14 children,…

Historic Settlement vs. Chicago Police Department

Michael Steven Smith

Posted October 29, 2026

Comedian Lenny Bruce used to say “Chicago is so corrupt it’s thrilling.”

IN OCTOBER 2026, the Chicago City Council authorized payment via plaintiff Anand Swaminathan’s law firm Loevy and Loevy of $260.8 million. That is over a quarter of a billion dollars in compensation for the wrongful murder convictions of the firm’s clients, 17 men imprisoned years ago.

This settlement against the Chicago Police Department is the largest in the city’s history.

The 17 men collectively served nearly…

Lula’s extraordinary victory overnight in Brazil

Iain Bruce

Posted October 26, 2026

Re-elected on 25 October with 51.8 per cent of the vote against the far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro, Lula achieved a comeback unprecedented since Brazil’s return to democracy: never before had a candidate who had been defeated in the first round gone on to win the second. This victory was decided on the streets and on social media.

This is the most important defeat for the far right we have seen anywhere in the world in recent times, and its impact will be felt worldwide. Seeing those millions…

Stop the Far Right: Mobilize to Elect Lula in the Runoff!

Executive Bureau of the Fourth International

Posted October 23, 2026

The first round of Brazil’s presidential election, on October 4, was marked by a resumption of the far right’s electoral offensive at the end of Lula’s third term. With 47.03% of the vote to Lula’s 45.16%, Flávio Bolsonaro led the first round, with an advantage of more than two million votes. The far right also advanced in Congress and in the states: Bolsonaro’s party won 121 seats in the Chamber of Deputies (out of 513) and became the leading force in the Senate.

The results confirm the…

The Rise of Democratic Socialists: Democratic Discontent

Kim Moody

Posted October 23, 2026

This article was written in advance of the November 2026 elections, but the print edition will reach Against the Current readers after the election in our November-December issue. — The ATC editors

MUCH OF THIS article will focus on the Democratic Socialists of America and an analysis of DSA’s electoral perspectives and results going into the midterm elections.

While there are thousands of DSA members engaged in grassroots organizing in unions,…

Get Out the Vote Rallies

Posted October 22, 2026

ON OCTOBER 17, the fourth No Kings day, about 2500 events in all 50 states focused on getting out the vote for the midterm election scheduled for November 3. These included marches, rallies, cookouts and block parties. People arrived with diverse homemade signs and often in costume.

Crowd size ranged from a couple of dozen in small areas to hundreds in most cities. Smaller than previous events, the rallies encouraged voters and potential voters to turn out on or before election day.

Although different…

Introducing Peter Beinart

Alan Wald

Posted October 21, 2026

THE JOURNALIST AND editor Peter Beinart was invited to engage in a dialogue at the University of Michigan on October 19, 2026, on “Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and American Democracy.” The purpose was to “explore the intersection of law, humanity, morality, racism and bigotry and how we can use this knowledge to oppose the rise of fascism and dismantling of our civil rights and constitutionally protected freedoms.”…

A Month to Prepare for the General Strike

Kit Adam Wainer

Posted October 20, 2026

MONDAY, OCTOBER 12 I attended my neighborhood meeting for planning the general strike in the Spanish state on November 11. I live in Barcelona and went to ithe meeting for the Sant Marti barri (neighborhood). The planning meeting was attended by a little over 100 people.

Sant Marti is a long group of smaller neighborhoods that runs east-west, north of the center of the city. It includes Poble Nou, once an industrial center and now a rapidly….

The Trump-Putin Axis

Posted October 14, 2026

WHAT WAS EVIDENT to many observers from the onset of Donald Trump’s second presidency is now out in the open: Trump and Vladimir Putin are allies in Russia’s war to amputate and subjugate Ukraine. What’s in it for each of them in this gangster partnership?

For Putin, the goal is the end of Ukraine as an independent nation-state and the seizure of at least….