Uneven and Combined

Jacobin #19

by Jacobin

“It took several hundred years for feudalism to be finally wiped out and capitalism to emerge as the new dominant mode of production and it will take several hundred years for capitalism to be finally wiped out before socialism becomes the new dominant mode.”
—Maurice Bishop

Genres: Nonfiction

87 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2015

About the author

Jacobin is a leading voice of the American left, offering socialist perspectives on politics, economics, and culture. The print magazine is released quarterly and reaches over 10,000 subscribers, in addition to a web audience of 600,000 a month.

Reviews

[Timothy Riley · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was my least favorite issue. It was difficult to read and was solely economics based rather than previous issues of politics or philosophy. The one takeaway I got was the article on microloans that are decimating the lower classes of Africa and Latin America. They are a neoliberal concept that sprung out of the only way to move people through the ladder of success would be if people moved themselves without governmental interference. Small loans are given to start businesses. Today most loans are for paying back older microloans and the interest is enormous. The only people who have gotten rich so far are the upper classes that offer these loans and foreign stakeholders who feel like they are doing a good deed all while getting rich funneling money from these countries to the west. Who is to say redistribution of wealth isn't happening?

[Leilani Mroczkowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jacobin is certainly one of my favorite publications to read. This issue focuses on economic development within the BRICS nations. Informative, but not a topic that particularly interests me. I found these articles most interesting:
"The Power of a Dollar" - Milford Bateman
"The Philanthropy Hustle" - Linsey McGoey
"The Worst Company in the World" - Judith Marshall
"Thinking Small Won't End Poverty" - Daniel Immerwahr

[Emma Caterine · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite issue so far and yet the worst rated on here because the US Left is allergic to even basic economics. And maybe y'all should wonder if your lack of interest in anything outside of lily white Western issues may demonstrate an important deficiency in your politics.

[Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad issue, but the subject matter is mostly not an area I've been interested in.