Harold’s Own Favorite Writing From 2019
If Everyone Defined Their Business the Way Uber Does (A Playlet)
Harold responds to Uber’s announcement in September that they would not be bound by a new law classifying their drivers as employees instead of independent contractors, on the grounds that drivers and the rides they provide aren’t part of Uber’s central business mission. He refashions this as a one-act play, imagining if government service providers like the fire department defined their mission this way.
Et Tu, U.K.?
After a crushing loss for the Labour Party in December’s British elections, Harold surveys the transnational defection of the white working class and the global crisis of the social democratic left.
What the Socialists Just Did—and Why
Democratic Socialists of America announced it would not endorse any presidential candidate but Bernie Sanders at its biennial convention in August. Harold, a member of DSA and its predecessor for 44 years, explains the history of the organization, the current schisms, and a way forward that adheres to democratic socialist values and the near-term fight against authoritarianism.
How to Really End Shareholder Capitalism
After the Business Roundtable announced that it would no longer prioritize shareholder value as the only purpose of a corporation, Harold wrote this essay about what that announcement really meant, and why pining for managerial capitalism dominated by CEOs will not empower real stakeholders like workers and communities who need a voice in our economy.
A Groundbreaking New Enterprise: Buybax!
Harold tests out his ad copywriting skills with an exclusive offer for Prospect readers: an early investment in Buybax, a company that issues stock, and then buys it back.
Harold’s Favorite Edits of 2019
Sanders and Warren Take Aim at Taft-Hartley
By Rich Yeselson
Yeselson -- the premier historian of the damage Taft-Hartley did to workers and the nation-- took a deep dive into some sweeping but unreported changes to labor law that Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have proposed, but suggests several more.
It’s Time for Federal Workers to Get Sick
By Joseph McCartin
Georgetown labor historian Joe McCartin, who wrote the seminal study of the PATCO strike, proposed in this piece that air traffic controllers should stage a sick-out that would compel the Trump Administration to end the government shutdown. The day after the piece ran, that's exactly what some local air traffic controllers did, forcing the suspension of flights at LaGuardia, and, indeed, compelling the government to end the shutdown.
Is There Such a Thing as Progressive Nationalism?
By E.J. Dionne
Washington Post writer Dionne wrote this brilliant essay on John Judis's progressive nationalism, which weighs the yin of democracy really only existing on the level of the nation-state against the yang of xenophobia.
‘Why We Wear Red on Thursdays’
By Marcia Brown
Over the past four decades, as unions largely abandoned striking because the game was stacked for employers, the Communications Workers nonetheless kept striking and winning. Prospect writing fellow Marcia Brown reported on this important story that the media largely missed, and figured out how CWA did it.