How Things Worked in 2024
What you read in the past year.
How Things Work was launched in May of 2023. That means that 2024 has been the first full year that this site has been continuously publishing. Before the end of the year, and before I check out for Christmas (although I may well publish one or two more things before the new year), I want to offer you all a look back at some of the highlights of 2024. Well over 20,000 of you now subscribe to How Things Work. The only reason that I can do this is because of my readers. I appreciate each and every one of you.
The Ten Most Popular Essays of 2024
How to Think About Politics Without Wanting to Kill Yourself. On voting in a broken world.
Columnists and Their Lives of Quiet Desperation. On why so many op-eds are bad.
Cars Have Fucked Up This Country Bad. On a better urban future.
The Left Is Not Joe Biden’s Problem. Joe Biden Is. On the need for the White House to look in the mirror.
Everyone Into the Grinder. On making powerful people participate in public systems.
How The “Working Class Republican” Scam Works. On the most tedious trope in politics.
Confiscate Their Money. On taxing billionaires out of existence.
College Is an Education in Bullshit. On what universities really teach.
Demonize the Rich. On creating the correct villain.
Public Ownership of Public Goods. On the value of killing the profit motive.
Interviews
Interesting people are interesting. Some of the interviews we published in 2024:
An organizer building worker cooperatives in the rideshare industry.
A labor attorney, on the right wing quest to destroy labor’s legal protections.
Jeff Schuhrke, on organized labor’s sordid foreign policy history.
Zohran Mamdani, a socialist running for mayor of New York City.
Labor
Writing about labor and the labor movement as it relates to politics, power, and class war is my central beat. Here are ten of my favorite essays on labor from the past year:
Every Pay Bump Is an Admission of Guilt. Your raise is already there.
The Real Immigration Problem Is Capital, Not Labor. Proper perspective.
“What Can I Do to Help the Labor Movement?” A useful explainer.
Trampoline Unionism. Power expands, it doesn’t contract.
You Patsy. On Sean O’Brien’s speech to the RNC.
Remaking the Coalition. Labor must be at the heart of the Democratic Party.
Ten Times This. How much organizing unions actually need to do.
Your Money Is on the Table. If you don’t have a union, you are underpaid.
What It Means to Be “A Tad Radical.” The legacy of Mother Jones.
To Unfuck Politics, Create More Union Members. The lesson of the election.
The Hammer
This was also the year that my first book came out. “The Hammer” is my attempt to explain why strengthening the labor movement is the key to fixing the deepest problem destabilizing America, and why organized labor itself has failed to rise to the occasion for the past half century. Watching our government slide into oligarchy with cartoonist speed, while being subjected to surreal attempts to rebrand the right wing as the “pro worker” side of our political spectrum, has only convinced me more that the book’s thesis is correct. It is not getting less relevant. I think it is a worthwhile read if you are searching for the path out of our political doom loop, and many brave working people across the country were kind enough to let me to tell their stories in its pages. You can order it here, or wherever books are sold.
Finally
Anyone who can write for a living is lucky. I’m grateful to be able to do this. When I think about the year to come, I suspect that a lot of the worlds that I live in, and write about, are going to be in for hard times. Organized labor is in for a hard time. The free press is in for a hard time. The political left is in for a hard time. And many, many people more vulnerable than me are in for a hard time. There is not much point in speculating about what form the hard times will take. We will all find out soon enough.
One thing that I have learned over two decades in journalism is that there is a difference between what people say they wish the media was like, and what they are actually willing to support. I’ve seen many great publications fold—some of them, while I was working there. The truth is that things that people actively support will survive and thrive, and things that people do not actively support will disappear. It has always been thus. I do not spend much time worrying about whether this publication is maximizing its revenue or maximizing its reach with sophisticated marketing strategies. I think that it is (usually) good and (often) worth reading, and that is what I’m going for here.
You do not have to pay to read this site. There is no paywall. I like the fact that anyone, regardless of income, can read it. The tradeoff of this setup is this: If you have read How Things Work for a while now, and you like to read it, and you are generally pleased that it exists, and you would like for it to continue to exist in 2025, and you are not an impoverished person, then it would be helpful if you would strongly consider becoming a paid subscriber. Many of the pieces that I’ve published in the past year are linked in this post. You can decide for yourself if another year of this work is worth paying for. If it is, then please do it. Enough people paying is what makes this place sustainable. As a reader of many things myself, I know that this fact is kind of annoying. But it is a fact. My part of this bargain is that I will continue to do my best to write things worth reading, and continue to make this place better.
Happy holidays, Merry Christmas, and fight the fucking power in 2025, my people. I love you all.
Hamilton
Gladly pay for your work. Thank you for being awesome.
I came across your work by chance while skimming through The Guardian sometime this year, as I do almost every morning. The existence of your Substack and your work is truly inspiring and is evidence that there are and will always be good things to look forward to. Your straightforward style of writing is very satisfying to read as well.
I hope you can find some time outside of doing this difficult, necessary job to disconnect for a bit and recharge.
Power to the people in 2025 and beyond.