Can American Socialism Survive Its Success? The movement has often seen its ideas flourish as its organizations withered. Will today's resurgence follow the same course? In 1912, more than a thousand socialists held office in the United States. Their ambitions ranged from lowering trolley fares to abolishing the Senate. It was American socialism's best year ever. In 1912, the Socialist Party of America tallied a hundred and twenty thousand members, and newsstands groaned under the weight of some three hundred socialist papers and magazines, including the Kansas-based, which had three-quarters of a million subscribers and was committed to the belief that "socialism is not just a theory--it is a destiny."

Video shows AI likenesses of people linked to Pedro Sánchez's Socialist party appearing to admit to wrongdoing A political ad from Spain's main opposition party that used a deepfake video of the prime minister's wife has sparked outrage and set off a wider debate on AI, as the deeply polarised country gears up for general elections next month. Launched this week across the social media channels of the conservative People's party (PP), the video used artificial intelligence to manipulate the likenesses of various people linked to Pedro Sánchez's Socialist party and appeared to show them admitting to acts such as soliciting prostitutes and taking kickbacks. An AI-generated version of Sánchez's wife, Begoña Gómez, for example, speaks about receiving a university post thanks to her husband's job, while a deepfake of the former Socialist president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero speaks about hiding jewellery in a safe. Both lines are nods to ongoing investigations in which Gómez and Zapatero have denied any wrongdoing. The Socialist party was swift to respond to the video, which by Friday had racked up nearly 2m views.

Image caption, Sánchez's announcement comes after a series of measures to tackle the housing crisis was defeated in parliament on Friday Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has called an early election for 29 November after recent defeats on legislation aimed at addressing the country's housing crisis. Speculation about a snap election had been building over the weekend after parliament rejected two decree laws put forward by the minority government to protect tenants in the rental market. The eviction of an 87-year-old woman from her home after she was unable to afford a sharp rent rise has sparked nationwide protests and increased pressure for housing reform. In a televised address on Monday, Sánchez said that to push reforms through he needed a broader progressive majority that can overcome the resistance of the elites. Housing has not been the only issue causing problems for Sánchez's leadership in recent months, with his party having been caught up in numerous corruption scandals and facing pressure on other cost-of-living issues and immigration.

France are eyeing up an inclusive benefits system that would see every adult receive a basic income of €750 in the fear robots will take over 3million jobs. Two of the seven candidates vying to represent the ruling Socialist Party in this year's presidential election are promising the money to all French adults. The radical move is already being tested in Finland and other experiments are planned elsewhere - including in the United States. If implemented in France, the potential costs could be an eye-watering €700billion a year, and critics have said it would promote laziness. French politicians, from left to right, Arnaud Montebourg, Jean-Luc Bennahmias, Francois de Rugy, Benoit Hamon, Vincent Peillon, Manuel Valls and Sylvia Pinel, attend the first prime-time televised debate for the French left's presidential primaries in La Plaine Saint-Denis, near Paris The reason for the drastic measures is the number of automated systems and machines increasingly replacing human workers.