Daniel Lazare

Latest articles by Daniel Lazare

Congress does its imperial duty

Biden’s military aid package looks like passing at long last. However, America’s political system is one of almost permanent gridlock, says Daniel Lazare

Two-party dictatorship

Third parties face a whole series of increasingly impossible hurdles. Daniel Lazare looks at how both Republicans and Democrats oppose democracy

Drug war denialism

Marx called for the toleration of the opium trade. Certainly only the legalisation of drugs can end the sort of ongoing tragedy we are seeing in Haiti, argues Daniel Lazare

A very good week

Instead of fighting in the ballot box, the Democrats fight in the courts. It is almost as if they want Trump re-elected, writes Daniel Lazare

Only solution: socialist democracy

Is the People’s Republic heading for a crack-up or uninterrupted progress, asks Daniel Lazare. Perhaps we should ask Frederick Engels - or maybe not

Attacks at every level

Trump faces legal battles in local, state and federal courts. But Democratic attempts to derail his presidential bid may well backfire, reckons Daniel Lazare

Coming apart at the seams

With Biden’s senility all too obvious and Trump looking likely to win a second term, Daniel Lazare sees this as part of a long-term shift to the far right

Why is there a drug war?

Mass incarceration and police brutality are no answer to either the gangs or drug-related health issues, argues Daniel Lazare

Coming apart at the seams

Despite last week’s E Jean Carroll defamation verdict, Trump’s popularity continues to surge. Daniel Lazare explains why events keep boomeranging in his favour

Corrupt Dems hand Trump another win

Moves against the former president continue to backfire. Daniel Lazare reports on the Fani Willis case

Stopping Trump juggernaut

Sleepy Joe is driving voters into Republican arms. The more he tries to stop Trump, the stronger Trump gets, argues Daniel Lazare

Showing exceptional weakness

Claudine Gay wants to defend the status quo against the radical right. But since the status quo is indefensible, it’s a lost cause, says Daniel Lazare

More ballot games

Another year, another legal attempt to stymie Donald Trump. Daniel Lazare detects echoes of 1860

Daniel Lazare has Jesus reaching out to the Roman oppressors, disowning his siblings and mother and affronting popular morality, to promote what was a cause parallel to modern socialism. There is always the danger, when we look back at the past, of finding a reflection of ourselves - but Jesus was undoubtedly a revolutionary

Far from pacified

There can be no possibility of a military solution in Gaza. October 7 was a death trip, argues Daniel Lazare

Class, culture and generation

Daniel Lazare welcomes the Jewish civil war that is being fought out in cancellations, sackings, demonstrations, petitions and boycotts

Zionism needs anti-Semitism

John Hagee’s turn as a key speaker caused much liberal consternation - he is, after all, a notorious anti‑Semite. Daniel Lazare comments on the aftermath of the huge pro-Israel demonstration in Washington DC

America’s neo-Weimar constitution

Outwardly, America still seems like a normal country, so predictions of doom and gloom may seem over the top. But, says Daniel Lazare, the danger of authoritarianism is all too real

The forgotten war

Ukraine demonstrates how the sun is beginning to set on the US empire, argues Daniel Lazare. And now there is Gaza and the danger of a general conflagration in the Middle East

A Jewish crisis

Zionism ≠ Judaism. Daniel Lazare looks at the effect that Israel’s oppression of Palestine is having on American Jews - as more and more of them join protests against the threat of genocide in Gaza

Joe Biden’s two-front war

Economically more and more debt, diplomatically more and more enemies, militarily more and more wars. Daniel Lazare sees imperial overload

Biden’s sinking ship

The greater the disarray, the greater the odds that Trump will return to the White House. Daniel Lazare charts the administration’s self-inflicted woes and the necessity of breaking with the Democrats

Liberals and authoritarians

Joe Biden does not, cannot, understand the MAGA movement. Daniel Lazare looks at his September 28 speech and finds something rotten in the state of America

Opening up yet another front

Saudi Arabia and the US are looking to repair their strained relationship with a strategic deal which could easily lead to a nuclear arms race in the Middle East, says Daniel Lazare

Investigations drag on and on

We all know who did it … and it was not Russia. Daniel Lazare looks at how the right is gaining traction from telling an evident truth

Once more unto the breach

Workers did not rule and suffered terrible oppression, but, sticking to the provisional assessment made by Trotsky in the 1930s, the Soviet Union was still a workers’ state, insists Daniel Lazare

Techno-conservatism

This is no time for degrowth, green reductionism or confining our ambitions to mere custodianship of nature, argues Daniel Lazare

Closer to the brink

Donald Trump faces numerous legal challenges. Despite that he runs neck-and-neck with Joe Biden in the polls and could well win the next presidential election. Daniel Lazare gives his take on the pending constitutional crisis

Year of four trials

Legal case follows legal case. Expect a crack-up even bigger than January 2021, says Daniel Lazare

Their fantasy, our nightmare

Ukraine’s offensive is getting nowhere and when a compromise is eventually reached Zelensky will be in deep trouble, argues Daniel Lazare

Skin colour or social class?

Liberal anti-racism inevitably engenders racism. Affirmative action is collapsing under the weight of its own internal contradictions, argues Daniel Lazare

Both sides cracking

Russia is not the only major power that is feeling the strain, argues Daniel Lazare . The US is too

Bussing and abusing

More and more Republican states are cynically treating migrants as political pawns. But what lies behind the surge in numbers coming over the border? Daniel Lazare blames wars, global warming, economic meltdown and the booming illegal drugs trade

Never same again

Charging Donald Trump has had far-right Republicans reaching for their guns. Will he go down? Daniel Lazare is sure: maybe yes, maybe no

Biden dodges a bullet

While an immediate financial abyss has been avoided, Daniel Lazare sees all the tell-tale signs of long‑term imperial decline

J6ers await their pardon

Stewart Rhodes, leader of the Oath Keepers, has been handed a 18-year sentence. Daniel Lazare gives notice that the ultra-right combatants of Trump’s January 6 self-coup attempt could soon be free

14th amendment threat

The debt-ceiling crisis is the direct result of the antiquated constitution, argues Daniel Lazare, but ‘emergency measures’ would be a gift for Trump

A tale of two liars

Despite the court judgment over defamation and sexual assault, he has come roaring back with a triumphant CNN ‘town hall’ performance. But, argues Daniel Lazare, the liberal bourgeois media is no more reliable than Trump’s fact-free claims

Blame the system itself

Self-defence is no offence, insists Daniel Lazare. The death of Jordan Neely was an avoidable tragedy

Their militia and ours

Workers should not take the second amendment as their starting point when establishing a militia. No, fighting to repeal the second amendment and nationalising guns comes first. Daniel Lazare responds to Jack Conrad

Reinforcing state control

There is a close link between a hegemon’s diminishing role and that of the media, argues Daniel Lazare

End right to bear arms

Spurred on by a whole series of mass killings and a fascist militia movement, Daniel Lazare calls for the repeal of the second amendment

Government by swarm

The former president faces 34 criminal charges. But Trumpism will grow stronger, whatever happens at his trial, argues Daniel Lazare. He is already clear favourite to run in the 2024 election

Creeping civil war

Georgia votes, classified papers and Stormy Daniels hush money. Daniel Lazare weighs up the chances of Donald Trump being paraded before the press in handcuffs

Counting stolen elections

At last we have definitive confirmation that the Republicans were urging Iran not to release US hostages until Ronald Reagan was elected. Daniel Lazare comments

American death trip

The war on drugs has been a horrendous failure. So, asks Daniel Lazare, why do governments remain hooked on repression?

Now it’s Ukrainians

The Nord Stream story continues to grow ever more complex and strange. Daniel Lazare attempts to cut through the confusion

Ohio’s perfect storm

Daniel Lazare warns that, with Trump skilfully championing poor whites, with weak trade unions and a ‘left’ intent on tailing Biden, the danger of a rightwing dictatorship grows

Bellicose balloonacy

Ludicrous allegations against China reveal a political system that is losing touch with rational thought, says Daniel Lazare

Lawless mafia capo

It was always obvious who was responsible for the Nord Stream 1 and 2 explosions. But why did the US do it? Daniel Lazare says it is about asserting control over energy

Resisting the incoming tide

Daniel Lazare pours scorn on the House of Representatives’ utterly incoherent, but revealing, resolution condemning the ‘horrors of socialism’

Barking at the moon

Ignoring the huge catalogue of articles, speeches and resolutions, Daniel Lazare accuses Moshé Machover and the CPGB of silence when it comes to class politics in the context of Israel-Palestine

German Ostpolitik collapses

What lies behind the furore over sending Leopard 2 tanks to the Ukraine battlefield? Something deeper is going on, writes Daniel Lazare

Not equality to compete

Communists should demand special measures to protect women from capitalist exploitation, not ‘genuine equality’ in the workplace. Daniel Lazare investigates the Pump Act

Great American breakdown

As far-right control of the US Congress promises slash-and-burn austerity, Daniel Lazare calls for rejection of the existing constitution and a constituent assembly to establish a real democracy

Mongols versus Vikings

Daniel Lazare examines the dangerous stew of ethno-nationalisms that emerged following the collapse of the Soviet Union

Crime of victimless crime

The harsh treatment meted out to Brittney Griner gives us a glimpse of the human cost of the so-called war on drugs. Daniel Lazare looks at five decades of horror

Israeli far right is making the far right mainstream

If the fight against anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism are closely connected, it is a blunder to have Hamas in the leadership of the BDS campaign, suggests Daniel Lazare

A wave that really happened

Donald Trump has announced his candidacy and the Republican right is getting ready to investigate the president’s son. Daniel Lazare expects the results to be interesting

An ageing republic

The Trumpists did badly but Joe Biden is highly vulnerable. Daniel Lazare looks at what passes for democracy in America

Trump’s bubble bursts

The Republicans’ red wave turned into a ripple. With results still coming in, Daniel Lazare gives his assessment of the US midterms and their likely effects

Ukraine and the ‘left’

When on earth will the DSA and ‘the Squad’ come up with a principled position? Daniel Lazare reports on the dismal failings of the US ‘pwogs’

War intensifies at home

Having defied midterm gravity for months, the Democrats are back to self-destruction. Daniel Lazare reports on the latest legal move against Donald Trump

More on the way

The military top brass were actively blocking presidential orders. Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer were cowering from the neo-fascist mob unleashed by the president. Daniel Lazare sees a constitutional order in an advanced state of decay

Journalism? What journalism?

Daniel Lazare looks behind the anti-Russia lies and spin and finds a corporate media that has no interest nor concern for the truth

Weighing the evidence

After eliminating the improbable, Daniel Lazare points a finger of blame at the probable culprit

The Blob closes in

Trump is a con artist with a transactional approach to the law. However, argues Daniel Lazare, Democrat attempts to prosecute him are political warfare by other means

America’s ‘great game’

With Russia facing humiliation in Ukraine, Daniel Lazare provides his own assessment of US ambitions in the global ‘Heartland’

No substitute needed

American socialists in rapture over Enough is Enough want to avoid the hard work and clear political lines necessary to establish a revolutionary party, says Daniel Lazare

Collection of Euclidean axioms

Daniel Lazare welcomes Joe Biden’s Philadelphia speech on the danger posed by Maga Republicans, but the idea that democracy can be won by upholding an antiquated, undemocratic constitution is risible

What’s the matter with Kansas?

While the cheering is understandable, the results of the abortion referendum are still problematic. Daniel Lazare comments on a so-called victory for ‘individual rights’

Pulling the dragon’s tail

Dan Lazare looks at the dangerous implications of Nancy Pelosi’s provocative trip to Taiwan, and the silence of the congressional left

Coup and collapse

Daniel Lazare looks at the damning made-for-TV congressional hearings on Trump’s coup attempt - and their ultimate futility

Biden’s Middle East stumble

The president’s tour was an embarrassment for the US establishment from start to finish, writes Daniel Lazare

Let’s talk about divorce

Does Biden’s lame response to the Supreme Court mark the end of the line for the DSA’s strategic reliance on the Democrats? Daniel Lazare argues for a break

Democracy in America?

The latest attack on abortion rights shows the danger of worshipping the constitution, writes Daniel Lazare

On a collision course

Daniel Lazare reviews 'The avoidable war: the dangers of a catastrophic conflict between the US and Xi Jinping’s China' by Kevin Rudd (PublicAffairs Books, 2022, pp432, £17)

Revisiting January 6

Hearings into the failed coup bid are all very well and good, says Daniel Lazare. But there is more to the breakdown of the political system than Donald Trump

Guns, class and social decay

After the Uvalde school massacre the question of gun control has once again topped the political agenda. But, argues Daniel Lazare, do not expect anything much to change

Designed to shorten lives

Cars, drugs and now the Uvalde school massacre, Daniel Lazare looks at the American way of death

About-turn at the top

While Democrats stampede to back the war, writes Daniel Lazare, it is the Republican right which is now anti-war

Right strikes at abortion right

Sexual barbarism is about to return with a vengeance, but, Daniel Lazare insists, it would be profoundly mistaken to rely on the constitution to defend the gains made in a past generation

From Biden, to Austin, to Truss

Despite the failure of phase one - the attempt to take Kyiv - Daniel Lazare says it is Nato that is floundering, not Russia’s invasion

Rival nationalist bigotries

Daniel Lazare investigates the thriving rightwing ideology on both sides of the Russia-Ukraine divide

Will the war spread?

It is not just the immediate consequences for Russia and Ukraine that should concern us, argues Daniel Lazare

The war party

With the Republican right still preaching isolationism, it is the Democrats who are now gung-ho for wars and military adventures, writes Daniel Lazare

What hath Zbig wrought?

Zbigniew Brzezinski’s grand strategy is alive and well under Biden, writes Daniel Lazare

Nazis? What Nazis?

One thing is clearly missing from the media coverage of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, argues Daniel Lazare

Four anti-war nos

Daniel Lazare welcomes the refusal of the DSA’s international committee to go along with the Democrats’ warmongering

America’s drive to the east

A volcano of violence has been unleashed by Putin’s invasion, but Daniel Lazare places the main blame on the United States

BDS: for or against?

Israeli settler-colonialism and the appropriate solidarity movement with the Palestinians were debated at the February 13 Online Communist Forum. Daniel Lazare argued that the BDS campaign is a cross-class popular front which therefore should be shunned. Mike Macnair stressed the US alliance with Israel, attempts to outlaw BDS and the ongoing witch-hunt against anti-Zionists in the Labour Party

Dangling in mid-air

Biden’s whole social programme has fallen victim to the undemocratic Senate. Daniel Lazare warns that there is a distinct danger of a minority regime

Path to nowhere

Daniel Lazare accuses his critics of burying their heads in the sand over the nature of the BDS campaign

Taking a pass on Israel

Daniel Lazare denounces the DSA’s unprincipled stand on congressman Jamaal Bowman and controversially questions the whole BDS movement

Exercise in double standards

Joe Biden’s forthcoming ‘summit for democracy’ is all about securing US hegemony, argues Daniel Lazare

Rittenhouse and white backlash

The second amendment provides constitutional cover for a counterrevolutionary army of Boogaloos and freelance ultras, argues Daniel Lazare

Disintegration of Russiagate

Daniel Lazare delves into the murky world of dossiers, secret agents and pro-Democrat conspiracies

All workers lose out

With the Democrats going downhill fast, Daniel Lazare looks at the role played by ‘critical race theory’

The proletarian sovereign

Does the USA have a supreme source of authority? Daniel Lazare takes issue with Mike Macnair

Slow-motion civil war

Donald Trump is gearing up to run in 2024 and the ground is already being laid for another coup attempt. It is time for ‘we, the people’ to act, says Daniel Lazare

Approaching train wreck

With Donald Trump getting ready to run again in 2024, Joe Biden’s support has collapsed in opinion polls. Daniel Lazare explains why

Across the entire spectrum

Whistleblower Frances Haugen said what people wanted to hear. Daniel Lazare scoffs at the moral panic over Facebook and Instagram

Tudor, Whig or what?

No ultimate source of sovereignty: Daniel Lazare takes issue with Mike Macnair on the nature of the US constitution

One coup attempt or two?

There was general Mark Milley too. Daniel Lazare re-examines January 6 in light of the latest revelations

Another ‘flight forward’?

Daniel Lazare asks whether or not any lessons have been learnt from forty years of war and disaster

A wounded giant retreats

America spent, bribed, killed and bungled on a massive scale. Daniel Lazare assesses the consequences

Arms and the duopoly

Afghanistan was a disastrous bipartisan war supported by Democrats and Republicans alike. Daniel Lazare lambasts the idea that the solution lies in a third bourgeois party untainted by the arms industry

Reasons for Afghan debacles

Daniel Lazare reviews: Rodric Braithwaite ‘Afgantsy: the Russians in Afghanistan 1979-89’ Oxford University Press, 2011, pp448, £10.28; Artemy M Kalinovsky ‘A long goodbye: the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan’ Harvard University Press, 2011, pp290, £22.95; Bruce Riedel ‘What we won: America’s secret war in Afghanistan, 1979-89’ Brookings, 2014, pp189, £17