Catalyst
A Journal of Theory and Strategy
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Latest posts
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Dr Strangelove Lives On
David Holloway’s Nuclear Weapons: An International History expertly examines the Cold War’s nuclear technologies, strategies, crises, and treaties. This critical assessment highlights the dangerous legacy of nuclear arms and the urgency of activist efforts to confront the…
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Where Is DSA Going?
The rise of the Democratic Socialists of America over the last decade is one of the most striking developments in American politics. This essay surveys the group’s ascent, arguing both that it has successfully responded to the unique obstacles posed by the US electoral system…
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Editorial — Summer 2026
This issue is dominated by strategic and ideological challenges for the Left. In the lead article, Paul Heideman takes up one of the most important political developments of our time: the explosive growth of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). An organization that had…
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Labor Under Socialism
How might a socialist society realistically fulfill its labor needs? This essay advances a moral framework for answering this question. It argues that, in contrast to alternative, utopian proposals, duly constrained labor markets offer a morally desirable and practically…
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The Necessity of Revolution
The era of class compromise will not return. Any serious democratic socialist politics must pursue a politics of rupture with capitalism.
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Woke 1 Wasn’t Just Crazy
Though the reelection of Donald Trump appeared to signal the end of “wokeness,” it remains unclear whether progressives have abandoned the counterproductive assumptions on race and racism that shaped the last decade of left-wing politics and reached an apogee in 2020.
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The Extreme Center Survives
After 2008, the European Union’s ruling “extreme center” claimed to fight populism. Yet during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war, many far-right forces softened their Euroskepticism and joined the EU mainstream. Thereafter, the extreme center avoided further Brexit-style…
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Social Democracy as an Agent of Disruption
This article challenges the view that social democracy achieved its goals by serving as an integrative factor within capitalism. Drawing on the Social Democratic Party of Germany’s experience during the Weimar Republic, it argues that social democratic politics remained…
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Rebuilding the Socialist Horizon
Originally delivered as the inaugural Eric Aarons Memorial Lecture in Sydney, Australia, this essay examines the rise, crisis, and possible renewal of socialism as a political movement for a society beyond class domination. Reflecting on the experiences of Soviet-style planning,…
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Structure, Culture, and Politics
This paper explores the intersection of culture and politics in Marxist theory. It develops a framework linking interest aggregation, ideological transmission, and political struggle, building on Vivek Chibber’s book The Class Matrix.
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Kalecki in Havana
In its early years, the Cuban Revolution attracted some of the leading authorities on planning, among whom was the great Polish economist Michał Kalecki. This article recounts the little-known facts about Kalecki’s visit to Cuba and the somewhat sour terms on which he departed…
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How Trump Tamed Capital
Paul Heideman’s Rogue Elephant: How Republicans Went from the Party of Business to the Party of Chaos moves beyond moralistic denunciation to offer an acute analysis of how the contemporary Republican Party is a product of the disorganization of the capitalist class. Far from…
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Editorial — Spring 2026
The ebbs and flows of socialist politics, from classical social democracy to the contemporary “third way” left to Cuban socialism, frame this issue. David Broder takes up the recent evolution of what Tariq Ali famously called the “extreme center” — erstwhile social democratic…
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Palestinian Dilemmas
The Palestinian liberation struggle is constrained in a way that none other has been in the modern era. This essay describes the nested and mutually reinforcing dilemmas that make a military strategy very unlikely to succeed. Breaking out of this predicament will depend on…
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The Lessons of “Sewer Socialism”
Milwaukee's “sewer socialists” were the most successful socialist organization in US history, running city hall and organized labor for decades. Their experience demonstrates the viability of a nondoctrinaire Marxism that pairs electoral campaigning for reforms with organizing…
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Palestine Solidarity in the South African Mirror
Looking at the Palestine solidarity campaign through the prism of the South African anti-apartheid movement, this paper identifies strategies to put pressure on the Israeli regime from the outside. It identifies parallels between the two solidarity movements as well as crucial…
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The Logic of Mass Deportation
This article reviews the immigration policies of the second Trump administration’s first year, analyzing not only the well-publicized expansion of immigration enforcement but also the quieter moves to ease employers’ access to temporary migrant workers. Taken together, they…
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The Leviathan and the Left
Law and Order Leviathan, David Garland’s sweeping study of mass incarceration in the United States, is both the best recent book on the subject and an ideal guide for students and activists. It shows unequivocally how the carceral state is anchored in the American political…
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Editorial — Winter 2026
Israel and Palestine loom large in this issue of Catalyst . In our lead article, Ahmad al-Sholi offers a sweeping analysis of the Palestinian liberation movement since the 1960s. He suggests that in the wake of the genocide Israel has unleashed beginning in 2023, it is time to…
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Editorial — Summer & Fall 2025
In our first double issue of Catalyst , we examine both the dilemmas of contemporary capitalism and some possible routes out of it. Two essays take on some of the defining horrors of our time. The most immediate of these has, of course, been Israel’s genocidal war on the…