This is the second part of a two-part interview with Sebastian Budgen, senior editor at Verso, about French politics and the state of the French left. In our previous episode, we spoke about developments since the elections two years ago when a left-wing alliance prevented the far right from taking power in Paris. This week, we’re going to be speaking about events so far this year and looking ahead to the presidential election in 2027.

Hear part one of the interview: https://apple.co/48mdnUa

Read the articles from the British press that Daniel and Sebastian discuss in the interview:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/28/political-killing-french-left-quentin-deranque-jean-luc-melenchon

https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/frances-socialists-have-gone-to-the-extreme-6djcpgbzn

Don’t miss Jacobin’s annual May Day sale! For a limited time, we‘re offering digital subscriptions for just $1, or $10 for the print edition. You’ll receive four issues plus access to the complete archive. This offer applies to first-time subscribers, but, if you’re an existing supporter, consider buying a friend or a comrade one as a gift. Just use the code MAYDAY2026R at checkout: https://jacobin.com/subscribe/?code=MAYDAY2026R

Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies with music by Knxwledge.

Suzi speaks with Kate Levin, Janis Yue, and Sanjay Madhav, lead organizers of United Faculty-UAW, about their unionization drive at the University of Southern California (USC), one that would create the largest bargaining unit of non-tenure-track faculty at a private university in the US. Ballots go out April 24 and will be counted on May 18.

The organizers describe two years of faculty-driven organizing, built one conversation at a time. Currently 75% of USC faculty are non-tenure-track, with no job security, no say over working conditions, and no recourse against healthcare cuts or wage freezes — the result of 40 years of academic corporatization. Now they’re fighting back.

USC’s response? The administration has chosen to deploy the same constitutional wrecking-ball legal playbook pushed by SpaceX/Amazon, arguing that the NLRB itself is unconstitutional. No other university has taken such an extreme position.

This is more than a labor story; it’s an account of the assault on democratic institutions, the NLRB, worker rights, and higher education itself at a moment when universities are under attack from federal funding cuts and DEI rollbacks. USC’s non-tenure-track faculty are fighting not just for a contract but for the principle that workers can organize at all.

The organizers highlight the inspiration drawn from the successful NYU contract, and explain why winning this election in this political moment could change academic labor nationwide.

Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

The third episode in a series on the history of Indonesia: a hinge in the world system where colonialism and revolution have decisively shaped the trajectory of global history. This installment picks up with the 1942 Japanese conquest of the Dutch East Indies and takes us through the Revolution, which Indonesian nationalist leaders launched against the Dutch in 1945 after Japan’s surrender to the Allies. Featuring Rianne Subijanto, Made Supriatma, and Farabi Fakih.

Our huge new Thawra study guide and resource website: thawraproject.com

RSVP to the May 20 Dig party in Seattle! eventbrite.com/e/the-dig-x-house-our-neighbors-party-tickets-1986843010930

RSVP to the May 26 Dig party in LA! eventbrite.com/e/a-party-in-la-for-the-dig-friends-tickets-1987008568116?

Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig

The Dig goes deep into politics everywhere, from labor struggles and political economy to imperialism and immigration. Hosted by Daniel Denvir.

Hungary’s long-serving authoritarian prime minister Viktor Orbán was defeated in an April 12 election. We get two views of what that means, from historian Kyle Shybunko and independent scholar Anita Zsurzsán.

Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global.

How effective has the Left’s political strategy been since the first Bernie Sanders campaign? And how has our relationship to the Democratic Party changed?

On this special episode of Confronting Capitalism, recorded live at Littlefield in Brooklyn on April 6, Vivek Chibber and Melissa Naschek are joined by Krystal Ball and Matt Karp to discuss how class politics can convert popular anger into durable power — and why rebuilding labor is the precondition for any serious democratic renewal.

The latest issue of Catalyst is out and you can subscribe for just $20 using the code CONFRONTINGCAPITALISM: https://catalyst-journal.com/subscribe/?code=CONFRONTINGCAPITALISM

Have a question for us? Write to us by email: [email protected]

Confronting Capitalism with Vivek Chibber is produced by Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy and published by Jacobin. Music by Zonkey.

Suzi speaks with political economist Clara Mattei about her new book, Escape from Capitalism. The title is provocative: What does it mean to escape capitalism? Not reform it, regulate it, or make it kinder, but escape it altogether?

Mattei argues that capitalism is not a system gone wrong but one working exactly as intended. Her core claim is that austerity is not a policy mistake or ideological excess, it is structurally necessary. It is how capitalism reproduces itself: maintaining unemployment, disciplining labor, and foreclosing challenges before they can take shape.

Drawing on both historical analysis and present-day realities, Mattei shows how even hard-won social democratic gains are temporary — rolled back as soon as they threaten profits. From post–World War I Europe to today’s neoliberal order and the resurgence of right-wing authoritarianism, austerity remains the system’s core logic. As Mattei puts it: Unemployment isn’t a bug, it’s a feature. And anti-austerity politics already point beyond capitalism itself.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Mattei and Weissman unpack the “capital order,” the role of the state in enforcing it, and what it would actually mean to break free.

Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

Andrew Cockburn, author of Washington Is Burning, examines “the spectacular greed at the heart of the nation’s political system.” Hadas Thier then discusses crypto in the age of Trump.

Read Hadas’s article for Jacobin: https://jacobin.com/2026/04/crypto-trump-etfs-stablecoins-regulation/

Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global.

The second episode in a series on the history of Indonesia: a hinge in the world system where colonialism and revolution have decisively shaped the trajectory of global history. This installment traces the first four decades of the 20th century and the Awakening Period that shaped the foundation of modern Indonesian politics, including its three main currents: communism, nationalism, and Islam. Featuring Rianne Subijanto, Made Supriatma, and Farabi Fakih.

RSVP to the May 20 Dig party in Seattle! eventbrite.com/e/the-dig-x-house-our-neighbors-party-tickets-1986843010930

RSVP to the May 26 Dig party in LA! eventbrite.com/e/a-party-in-la-for-the-dig-friends-tickets-1987008568116?

Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig

Get 50% off Rising for Palestine, or any first book purchase from plutobooks.com with code DIG50.

The Dig goes deep into politics everywhere, from labor struggles and political economy to imperialism and immigration. Hosted by Daniel Denvir.

Two years ago, the French president Emmanuel Macron called snap elections for the National Assembly. The far right was widely expected to win and form a government for the first time since the fall of the Vichy regime, but things didn’t work out that way. The New Popular Front, a left-wing electoral alliance, won a surprise victory.

Sebastian Budgen, senior editor at Verso, joins Long Reads to discuss the state of the French left. Daniel and Sebastian look in particular at La France Insoumise, which has been one of the most successful parties of the radical left in any European country since the start of the decade.

This is a two-part interview. The first part is going to focus on events between the election in 2024 and the start of this year. In our next episode, we’ll be looking at this year’s election results and looking forward to the presidential contest in 2027.

Read the article from Politico that Daniel and Sebastian discuss in the interview: https://www.politico.eu/article/french-left-new-popular-front-alliance-uk-labour-party-raphael-glucksmann-jean-luc-melenchon-jeremy-corbyn/

Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies with music by Knxwledge.

Gabriel Hetland, author of a recent article for the Intercept, looks at what’s been happening in Venezuela since the kidnapping of Maduro. David Griscom, author of The Myth of Red Texas, discusses that state’s forgotten radical history.

Read Gabriel’s article: https://theintercept.com/2026/03/31/trump-iran-war-venezuela-maduro/

Find David’s book: https://orbooks.com/catalog/the-myth-of-red-texas/

And catch The Jacobin Show with David Griscom Fridays at 3pm on our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@JacobinMag

Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global.

Our modern economy is now dominated by massive mega-companies like Amazon and Walmart, with operations spanning many different sectors and employment types. With the US labor movement at historically low levels of unionization, bold strategies are necessary to protect the working class.

On this episode of Confronting Capitalism, Vivek Chibber and Melissa Naschek speak with ASU professor Benjamin Fong about the challenges and opportunities that organizing Amazon presents to the labor movement.

Ben has recently published an essay collection, co-edited with Paul Prescod, on civil rights leader Bayard Rustin. You can find a link to the book and its description here: https://www.damagemag.com/p/rustins-challenge

Join Confronting Capitalism for a live recording in Brooklyn on April 6! Find more details and RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jacobin-who-speaks-for-the-working-class-majority-tickets-1984301239423

TICKETS: $10 solidarity rate. $20 standard entry. Seats are first come, first served.

The latest issue of Catalyst is out and you can subscribe for just $20 using the code CONFRONTINGCAPITALISM: https://catalyst-journal.com/subscribe/?code=CONFRONTINGCAPITALISM

Have a question for us? Write to us by email: [email protected]

Confronting Capitalism with Vivek Chibber is produced by Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy, and published by Jacobin. Music by Zonkey.