Jacobin Radio Confronting Capitalism: Reviving Class Politics Today
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Oct 8, 2025 
Vivek Chibber, a prominent Marxist theorist and public intellectual, delivers an insightful keynote on the current state of the left. He argues that the left isn't just reviving but starting anew, facing the challenges of neoliberalism and the erosion of class struggle. Chibber highlights the importance of reconnecting with workers and rebuilding unions to strengthen a multiracial working-class coalition. He points to Zohran Mamdani’s campaign as a hopeful example of economic populism gaining traction. The conversation emphasizes reclaiming Marxist theory to advance socialist goals.
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Institutions Severed From The Working Class
- From the late 1970s unions and labor-linked parties were dismantled, severing vertical ties to working-class communities.
- That institutional collapse forced today's left to rebuild connections rather than revive intact structures.
Loss Of Class-Based Political Education
- Four decades without class struggle erased the generational transmission of organizing skills and political education.
- The void was filled by academics and NGOs, producing an elite-led left disconnected from working people.
Elite Left's Ideological Drift
- The left's space was occupied by intellectuals promoting identity-focused politics and questioning class centrality.
- That produced an ideologically confused left unable to conceive workers as the central political agent.