Online Reading Group: Basic Income and Socialist Strategy

Should the Left support a demand for a Universal Basic Income (UBI)? This simple question has provoked a fervent and confusing debate. In the midst of a global pandemic and a massive economic crisis discussion over UBI touches on real political and economic anxieties. Over the last 40 years the attack on the social welfare state, the depreciating power of organized labour and an economy producing increasingly low-wage precarious jobs have led many to search for alternative mechanisms and policies to address these problems. The collapse of the labour market and the economy has only added fuel to this debate. Universal Basic Income with its promise of streamlined access to minimal economic security has attracted many adherents on the Left.