Agelast Podcast

Mass strikes; gun battles with scabs, cops and Pinkertons; revolutionary communists on the picket lines. This is the real history of the American labor movement that Donald Trump and Elon Musk don’t want you to hear.While often presented as a bastion of reaction, the United States has a long and rich history of class struggle. In the first of this two-part series, Fred Weston, leading member of the Revolutionary Communist International, joins Joe Attard to uncover the forgotten history of the US labour movement from the rise of American industrial capitalism to the great class battles of the 1930s – and to draw out the lessons of these struggles for communists and class fighters today.(NOTE: The New Deal will be covered in next episode)📖 Books mentioned 📖Labor's Untold Story, by Richard O. Boyer and Herbert M. MoraisAmerican Labor Struggles: 1877–1934, by Samuel Yellen🫵 Join the Revolutionary Communist International: https://marxist.com/join-us.htm 📚 Marxist literature: https://wellred-books.com/🎧 Spotify:…

Today marks 50 years since the coup that overthrew the government of Salvador Allende in Chile. To remember the revolutionary struggles of this period and to emphasise the invaluable lessons contained therein, International Marxist Radio is back for a special episode. Allende’s Popular Unity government, which carried out a series of major reforms for workers and the poor (but which maintained a naive belief in the loyalty of the state’s armed forces), was brutally crushed by a reactionary military conspiracy, led by General Augusto Pinochet and backed by international imperialism. Carlos Cerpa Mallat, a leading member of the International Marxist Tendency in Chile, explains how Allende came to power, how the workers were ultimately defeated, and why the events of 1973 show the need for revolution, rather than having illusions in a route to socialism through bourgeois democratic channels. For more by Carlos on the 1973 coup, we recommend his recent article, which provides a detailed account of the history and…

Imperialism threatens humanity. Our burning task is to overthrow it – but how? Many revolutionaries have turned to Mao and Stalin for answers, as they are associated with the biggest blows to imperialism in world history: the Russian and Chinese revolutions. But did Stalin and Mao really fight imperialism? And what would we have done differently? These are the questions we set out to answer in the latest episode of Spectre of Communism. As communists, we aim to learn the lessons of the past in order to conquer the future. In the 20th century, no lessons are more important and controversial than those of Stalinism and Maoism. On the one hand, they are associated with anti-imperialist liberation struggles. On the other, they are accused of betraying and undermining those same struggles in their own interests. Brushing aside the vicious lies and attacks of the capitalists, who use Stalin and Mao to slander communism in general, we invited Daniel Morley, member of the Executive Committee of the Revolutionary…

A stereotype holds that British workers have always been conservative and averse to radical class struggle. But a century ago, they waged a general strike that reached revolutionary proportions, threatening the very foundations of capitalist society. The Guardian newspaper declared on 10 May 1926: “It is just a week since Civil War was declared in this country. It is not a war of arms; it is not yet even a war of tempers; it is a trial of strength.” But the strike ended suddenly after 9 days: at its peak. What happened? Shamefully, little has been written to mark the centenary of the 1926 general strike, and the accounts that do exist completely misrepresent it in various ways. Right-wing historians say the unions were simply a ‘boil that needed lancing’ and the workers’ case was a hopeless one (despite the terror the strike struck into the hearts of the establishment at the time). Meanwhile, some left-wingers deny the workers were actually defeated! Which rather raises the question of why they were forced…

Did you know that Adam Smith, the poster child of free-market capitalism… was also a major influence on Karl Marx? While Smith is celebrated today as the father of capitalism and Marx as the founder of communism, they are actually part of the same theoretical tradition of political economy. Unlike the lunatic libertarians and hired guns for capitalism who lay claim to Smith’s legacy today; in his day, he actually aimed to scientifically understand the workings of “commercial society”. Although the apologists of capitalism don't like to admit it, Smith identified labor – not trade or crafty entrepreneurs – as the true source of a nation's wealth. In so doing, he elaborated on the labor theory of value: the idea that a commodity's worth is determined by the labor required to produce it. But his analysis was incomplete and inconsistent, leaving him fundamentally unable to understand the mysteries of the burgeoning capitalist world, with all its inequality, chaos and crisis. By taking Smith's insights and…

Spectre of Communism – the theoretical podcast of the RCI – kicks off a new season by exploring one of the most fundamental and important topics of today: imperialism 💵First explained by Vladimir Lenin in his 1916 book of the same name, imperialism has come to define the past century. From countless wars to the economic dominance of giant monopolies, it has destroyed the lives of billions of people 🦅Much has changed since Lenin put pen to paper, but the core ideas and developments he described remain as relevant as ever. In fact, the parasitic features of imperialism have only become more pronounced, with monopolisation and the concentration of capital reaching truly obscene levels 📈Today, three asset management firms – BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street – control over $22 trillion in assets and hold major stakes in 88% of S&P 500 companies. The world's richest 1% own more wealth than 95% of humanity, while developing countries pay $487 billion to foreign lenders every single year. Meanwhile, the number…

“A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of communism!” These immortal words from the Communist Manifesto (and the title of this podcast!) herald the most important piece of political literature ever written. In our final episode of the season, we go through the Manifesto chapter-by-chapter, and explain the ongoing relevance of this amazing document. In just a few dozen pages, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels describe the development and dynamics of capitalist society, explain the revolutionary role of communists, and issue a battlecry to the workers of the world. They draw the incredibly profound conclusion that the (written) history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles, a discovery that Engels later said had the same impact on political economy as Darwin’s theory of natural selection did on biology. While the Manifesto was written in 1847, in reality it more accurately describes the world of today! As Josh Holroyd, leading member of the Revolutionary Communist International,…

The term ‘postmodernism’ is thrown around a lot by right-wing shock-jocks like Jordan Peterson, often in tandem with Marxism: although these two sets of ideas are totally opposed. In this episode, leading comrade Hamid Alizadeh takes on some of the main luminaries of this obscure, impenetrable and ultimately reactionary school including Foucault, Derrida and Lyotard. Lyotard describes postmodernism as “incredulity towards metanarratives.” In other words: an opposition to ‘big ideas’ about history, truth, science and progress. But with these ‘big ideas’ discarded, what are we left with? As Hamid demonstrates, the answer for all the postmodernists is basically the same: we cannot know the world, let alone change it, all we can do is ‘think differently’, play around with words, and retreat to subjectivity. They even celebrate writing in incomprehensible gibberish and ‘believing in nothing’ as a ‘radical’ act! This cynical philosophy is a total dead-end which winds up in stasis and despair. In total contrast to…

How did Stalin outmanoeuvre Trotsky and take power following Lenin’s death? What do Marxists mean by ‘value’? And what does it really mean to ‘master the dialectic’? We went back to social media and asked for some more burning questions from our audience, for leading communist Niklas Albin Svensson to answer in a quickfire round! Watch our previous viewers’ questions episode with Ben Curry here: 🔗https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=korpvewBWo8&t=3561s 📖 WORKS & SOURCES CITED 📖 Wage, Labour and Capital, Karl Marx: 🔗https://marxist.com/classics-wage-labour-and-capital.htm Value, Price and Profit, Karl Marx: 🔗https://marxist.com/classics-marxism-two-book/value-price-and-profit.htm ABC of Materialist Dialectics, Leon Trotsky: 🔗https://marxist.com/abc-materialist-dialectics-trotsky.htm Revolution Betrayed, Leon Trotsky: 🔗https://marxist.com/classics-the-revolution-betrayed.htm Results and Prospects, Leon Trotsky: 🔗https://marxist.com/results-and-prospects.htm Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism, Vladimir…

Ted Grant is not widely known outside of revolutionary circles, but he was the most important Marxist theorist since the death of Leon Trotsky, who alone predicted the course of world politics after WWII. Amongst other things, he foresaw the post-war economic upswing; the expropriation of capitalism in China and much of Eastern Europe; Stalin’s clashes with Tito and Mao; and much more besides. In this episode, his closest collaborator Alan Woods, the main leader and theorist of the RCI, reminisces about Ted’s life and works, and explains the importance of his contributions. In today’s episode, Alan talks about Ted’s legacy. He emphasises not only Ted’s brilliant mastery of Marxism, which gave him a huge advantage over his contemporaries; but also his humanity, his indignance towards all forms of injustice, and his profound sense of optimism. While the road to revolution is long and often difficult, Ted always said, there are two indispensable traits for any revolutionary: a sense of proportion and a sense of…

A decade ago, Greece became the epicentre of a political earthquake. Brutal EU and IMF-imposed austerity measures provoked a revolutionary struggle by workers and youth, who vested their hopes in the left-wing SYRIZA government to take on the institutions of European capitalism. But in the end, these reformist leaders prepared a betrayal. What are the lessons of Greece that must be learned for the class struggle today? In this episode of the Spectre of Communism podcast, Francesco Merli, leading member of the Revolutionary Communist International, takes us step-by-step through the whole process, beginning with the impact of the financial crisis of 2008 that saw Greece’s creditors inflicting economic warfare against the country. Francesco explains that the Greek workers and youth did not take this lying down, launching multiple back-to-back general strikes over the course of seven years, before finally electing SYRIZA on a radical reformist programme in 2015. Today, class fighters around the world continue to…

Has communism ever been a serious force in the Middle East? Are Marxists in favour of shrinking the economy to save the environment? Has there been a shift to the right in society? We took to social media and asked our viewers to send in questions about communism, Marxism and revolution for leading communist, Ben Curry, to answer in a quickfire round! Chapters: 00:00:54: The History of the Communist Movement/Parties in the Middle East 00:28:05: Marxism vs. Degrowth 00:57:33: Why is the Left so Weak? Works and sources cited: The 1917 Russian Revolution: A Complete Timeline | SPECTRE OF COMMUNISM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXzg544UyJ0&list=PLmkivsu9EhGABC5d-wtbSuk8D9fx55gh1 Molotov’s telegram to Israeli Foreign Minister 1948, cited here: https://marxist.com/stalin-and-the-founding-of-israel.htm ‘Green growth’ doesn’t exist – less of everything is the only way to avert catastrophe, George Monbiot: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/29/green-growth-economic-activity-environment Communism…

Trotsky wrote in ‘The Tragedy of Spain’ (1939) that, despite the Spanish proletariat’s revolutionary heroism, they were “brought to ruin by petty, despicable, and utterly corrupted ‘leaders.’” In this episode, we chart the great triumphs and tragic demise of the Spanish Revolution in a complete timeline. Chapters listed below! The Spanish Revolution that ran from 1931 to 1937 is one of the most remarkable and inspirational events in world history. The Spanish workers brought down the hated regime of King Alfonso XIII in April 1931; and strived to win freedom, dignity and a decent existence, which was continually denied to them by a procession of bourgeois and so-called Popular Front governments of class collaboration. The Spanish workers spontaneously rallied to repel an attempted military coup by General Franco in 1936, and established workers’ power in key cities like Barcelona. Time and again, victory was within reach. But sadly they were betrayed at every step by the bourgeois leaders of the Republic; as…

The Russian Revolution of 1917 was the greatest event in human history. For the first time, ordinary working people were able to win power and hold onto it. Our new season of the Spectre of Communism podcast kicks off with a complete timeline of the revolution, from January to October, charting 10 months that shook the world! The Russian proletariat, allied with peasantry (many of whom were soldiers who had been fighting in the Great War) successfully brought down the brutal regime of Tsar Nicholas II in February and established the soviets (mass workers’ councils). Lenin was able, through patient work, to arm the Bolshevik Party with the correct slogans and tactics to win over the workers and peasants organised in the soviets. Under the leadership of Lenin, Trotsky and the Bolsheviks, the masses finally felled the capitalist provisional government in October and created a workers’ government: the first in history that began to carry out its programme. Fred Weston from the leadership of the Revolutionary…

“Do I really need to read long theoretical books to be a communist?” This is a common question among class fighters today. In our final episode of the season, we make the case that, in order to change the world, it is first necessary to understand it. And for that, we need a philosophy! The American trade unionist Bill Haywood once said: “I’ve never read Marx's Capital, but I've got the marks of capital all over my body!” While it’s true that working people don’t need to pick up any books to understand through bitter experience the horrors of capitalism, is life experience enough? After all, if the experience of exploitation was sufficient to bring about revolutionary change, surely capitalism would’ve been brought down long ago? If we look at the bafflement of the liberals and cynicism of the reformists in the face of politics today, we see the consequences of failing to scratch the surface to the deeper truth of what is going on. Just as a surgeon would not attempt to operate through intuition and…

What is fascism and is it a threat today? In this episode of the Spectre of Communism podcast, we discuss the history of fascism’s rise to power in the 1930s, to learn the lessons for our movement. Our guest, Niklas Albin Svensson, is a leading member of the Revolutionary Communist International and the editor of a brand new collection of articles by Leon Trotsky and Ted Grant: ‘Democracy, Bonapartism and Fascism: Class Struggle in the 1930s’. The book is available to pre-order from Wellred Books here: https://wellred-books.com/democracy-bonapartism-fascism/ The media is full of blood-curdling comparisons between the political situation today and the 1930s, equating current politicians with the likes of Adolph Hitler. But whatever one thinks of Donald Trump, there is a clear difference between America in 2025 and Germany in 1933! The main purpose of such comparisons, Niklas argues, is to prettify ’normal’ capitalist politicians and democracy under the likes of Joe Biden and Keir Starmer, who have carried out…

The Second World War is one of the most-mythologised events in history. In the West, we are led to believe that Winston Churchill and Roosevelt single-handedly led the Allies in a struggle for democracy against the fascist totalitarianism of Nazi Germany. But what’s the real story of WWII: the one they don’t teach you at school or on the History Channel? We welcome Marxist theorist, revolutionary and historian Alan Woods onto the Spectre of Communism to talk about the war, which in the last analysis came down to single combat between Nazi Germany, with all the productive forces of Europe behind it, and the might of the USSR and its planned economy. Thankfully for all of humanity, the latter emerged victorious. The fact that Soviet Russia was chiefly responsible for Hitler’s defeat is often buried in the ‘official’ histories. So too is the fact that the European imperialists (Churchill and the British ruling especially) not only allowed Hitler to run roughshod over Europe for years (indeed, many of the…

Karl Marx was a German philosopher, economist and journalist, and above all a revolutionary. He continues to haunt the nightmares of the rich and powerful, just as he inspires workers, the poor and youth to struggle for a future without exploitation and oppression. The popular CrashCourse channel has attempted to explain Marx’s theories and their continued relevance, but we think we can do better… CrashCourse (established by the Green Brothers) is an educational YouTube channel that provides introductory videos about various topics, including politics and philosophy. A few months ago, they released a video called ‘Who Was Karl Marx? And Why Is Everyone Still Talking About Him?’ (linked below). The video correctly points out that the powers-that-be still invoke Marx’s name as a bogeyman, 150 years after his death: a fact that tells us something about the power of his ideas. CrashCourse says that we need to have an honest discussion about Marx’s actual beliefs, which they attempt to provide in an accessible…

The Chinese Revolution is condemned as a bloody tragedy by bourgeois historians. But if it was all simply a disaster, then how do we explain China going from a backward colonial holding to the second world power today? In this episode, we deal with the truth about the Chinese Revolution of 1949. We welcome Daniel Morley from the Executive Committee of the Revolutionary Communist Party in Britain to talk about the history of the Chinese Revolution and Mao Zedong’s rise to power. He explains that the victory of Mao’s peasant army was based on the rottenness of the capitalist regime of Chiang Kai-shek, which looted China’s wealth, starved its masses, and utterly failed to defend it from Japanese invasion, instead obsessively hunting the communists. While Mao and the Red Army eventually soared to power on a wave of revolution that swept the country after WW2, it was not their intention to expropriate capitalism. But were compelled to do so given the utter bankruptcy of Chinese capitalism. On the basis of the…

Is communism against ‘human nature’? Would workers in charge inevitably be ‘corrupted by power’? Do communists ‘oppose free speech’? Watch a leading communist answer some more typical right-wing talking points! A couple of weeks ago, Fred Weston (a member of the International Secretariat for the Revolutionary Communist International) was on the show replying to slanders about communism from Ben Shapiro, Jordan Peterson, Elon Musk and Alice Weidel. But there are plenty more lies to deal with! Watch Fred face off against Charlie Kirk, Jordan Peterson (again), Peter Hitchens and Donald Trump, defending communists’ ideas and programme from common right-wing lies. Sources: Previous episode: 'Communist replies to right-wing LIES', Spectre of Communism, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOQqVXzgt2g ‘The Psychological Benefits of Volunteering’, Mindstate Psychology, https://www.mindstatepsychology.com.au/blog/the-psychological-benefits-of-volunteering ’New paper reveals impact of first lockdowns on depression and…

Who was Joseph Stalin and what is the legacy of his leadership? In this episode of the Spectre of Communism, we weigh the evidence, based on historical fact and the principles of Marxist theory, to give Stalinism a fair trial. The USSR achieved great things, thanks to the superiority of the planned economy. It defeated the Nazis, expropriated capitalism on a sixth of the earth’s surface and built a superpower in just a few decades. Genuine Marxists celebrate all of these accomplishments. However, we must also acknowledge that there were many mistakes, and many crimes. A line of blood separates Stalinism, by which we mean the bureaucratic counterrevolutionary dictatorship at the head of the workers’ state, from the real principles of Bolshevism and Marxism. Virtually the entire leadership of Lenin’s party that won power for the Russian workers and peasants in 1917 were killed in the frame ups of the 1930s, along with countless others. Meanwhile, the leaders of the USSR actively wrecked revolutionary struggles…

Did communism kill 100 million people? Was Hitler really a communist? Is there no difference between Lenin and Stalin? Right-wing pundits and politicians always throw blood-curdling statistics and historical ‘facts’ to prove that communism is pure evil, while capitalism is the best system that could ever exist. In this video, leading communist Fred Weston takes on three popular right-wing commentators, and separates fact from fiction. Some of these reactionary culture warriors have made entire careers out of ‘proving’ that communism could never work; and has caused chaos, death and misery whenever it has been tried. There are whole libraries of history and political theory books filled with bile ‘proving’ that communism is synonymous with terror and dictatorship. Elon Musk, the richest man on earth with the ear of the President of the USA, spends nearly all of his time demonising socialism and boosting right-wing politicians on the social media platform that he owns. Especially in times such as these, with…

2024 has been a year of war, revolution and crisis on every continent. From the horrors of the Gaza genocide, to the revolutionary summer in Kenya and Bangladesh; from viral assassinations, to to the re-election of Donald Trump. The communists have been offering analysis and perspective at every step of the way, and now: it’s time to put this dramatic twelve months in review with 2024 WRAPPED! The above are not random or isolated incidents. They are all ultimately products of the unprecedented crisis of the capitalist system. The tensions and class anger in one country after another carry revolutionary implications. In response to the mood of profound rage against the system, we launched a new Revolutionary Communist International in 2024: the embryo of the world party of communist revolution so desperately needed by the working class! In a joint season finale, the two podcasts of the RCI – Spectre of Communism and Against the Stream – have come together to provide a round up of this turbulent year. Joe…

We are living through an epoch of war and revolution. In Ukraine, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and countless other countries, wars and civil wars are raging, all with the backing and complicity of various imperialist powers. In these turbulent times, the ideas and methods of Lenin – who fought a relentless struggle against warmongering chauvinism during the First World War – provide the clarity that is so desperately needed in the world today. War tests all political trends to destruction. Then as now, the outbreak of war saw the same ‘socialist’ leaders who had once opposed imperialist conflict abandon their class perspective, and line up behind their respective capitalists in defence of the ‘fatherland’. Lenin waged a merciless crusade against this betrayal, and argued for a class-independent position against the horror of imperialist war. This firm line was instrumental in the Bolsheviks’ eventual seizure of power in October 1917. To discuss Lenin’s masterful approach to the questions of war and imperialism, the…

Trotsky’s theory of the permanent revolution is one of the most important, but also amongst the most misunderstood ideas in the entire Marxist tradition. Does it really mean that revolution needs to happen everywhere, all at once? Does it ignore workers outside of the West? Is it contrary to Lenin’s views? Josh Holroyd, leading member of the Revolutionary Communist International, takes up these questions and explains the real essence of Trotsky’s remarkable contribution to our theoretical arsenal. Trotsky developed his theory based on his experience of the Russian Revolution of 1905, in which he played a leading role. He witnessed first hand the treachery of the ‘liberal’ Russian capitalists, and the immense revolutionary potential of the young Russian working class. He defined the permanent revolution as one that “makes no compromise with any single form of class rule, which does not stop at the democratic stage, which goes over to socialist measures… a revolution whose every successive stage is rooted in…

Three weeks ago, to the horror of the liberal establishment in the USA and internationally, Donald Trump was elected President of the United States for the second time, defeating the hated and discredited Democrats. The capitalist media is filled with hysteria about a dire threat to democracy and the rise of ‘fascism’ posed by Trump’s presidency… just like in 2016! Communists need to cut through all the noise and understand what is really happening here. The US is facing a deep crisis of the regime, following half a century of capitalist decay. After four years of Joe Biden and the Democrats running in the interests of the rich at home, while facilitating war and genocide abroad, people have had enough. They have lost all faith in ‘official’ institutions like the state, the courts, and establishment politicians, and a growing layer is looking towards (self-proclaimed) alternatives. The liberals have nothing to offer, as they preside over a discredited system. Attempts to sell Kamala Harris through identity…

The meteoric rise and catastrophic fall of the Corbyn movement represented a major turning point in British and world politics. It was an object lesson in the betrayals inherent in reformism and the pitfalls of opportunism: i.e. when left-wing leaders make ‘pragmatic’ concessions to the class enemy – with fatal consequences. This week, the Spectre of Communism speaks to Matt Zarb-Cousin, former spokesperson for Jeremy Corbyn, who saw this process unfold from the inside… The election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the British Labour Party in 2015 was an earthquake. Massive support for Corbyn’s left-wing programme from workers and young people, in particular, showed the desperation for an alternative after years of grinding capitalist austerity following the 2008 crash. Corbyn was almost elected as Prime Minister in 2017; but was eventually crushed and the Labour left routed, with the pro-capitalist, genocide-supporting Keir Starmer firmly in the driver’s seat. What happened, and what are the lessons to be…

Right-wingers and reactionaries often hold up Venezuela as an example of why “socialism never works” (notwithstanding the disastrous state of capitalism today). In fact, the Venezuelan Revolution was an inspiring episode in recent history, which showed the immense power of the masses and the potential of workers to run their workplaces without bosses. But it also demonstrated that you cannot have half a revolution: once the process has begun, it must end with the expropriation of capitalism and socialist reconstruction – as our comrade Luis Romero from Caracas explains! The oppressed masses, rallying behind the figure of Hugo Chávez, mobilised to fight imperialism and oligarchy, who used the immense oil of the country for the betterment of the working class and the poor. When the bosses and oil barons tried to sabotage the revolution by halting production, the workers took over the companies and land themselves, and began running them under workers’ control. Luis talks all about these experiences. Despite…

With so much crisis and chaos in the world today, more and more people are turning to the internet for answers about what communism really is. But there’s a lot of propaganda and misinformation out there, so this week we’ve brought on leading RCI member Fred Weston for the Communism Autocomplete Interview: answering the most common questions people are typing into Google about what communists believe, what we want, and how we’re fighting for it! Millions of people around the world are actively looking towards communism to put an end to the misery and barbarism of capitalism. If you are one of them, join the Revolutionary Communist International in the fight for communism! — New episodes of the Spectre of Communism podcast are out every Tuesday! Subscribe and listen at your preferred platform, and find us on social media, here: https://linktr.ee/specom #CommunismPodcast #booksnotbombs #civilwar #communism #marxism #podcast #leninlives

The idea of building socialism in one country alone was alien to Marx, Engels and Lenin. But after the latter’s death, Stalin and his supporters raised the possibility of constructing socialism in the USSR amidst a sea of capitalism. The Young Communist League – the youth wing of the Communist Party of Britain – recently advanced the theory of socialism in one country, as opposed to Trotsky’s Permanent Revolution. Where does the RCI stand on the matter? Was the USSR socialist? Is China today socialist? Is it possible to build socialism in a single country? This week’s episode of Spectre of Communism Podcast welcomes Niklas Albin Svensson from our International Secretariat. He explains that the survival of the Russian Revolution was always dependent on a European and eventual world revolution. Lenin was under no illusions about this. The idea of building socialism in economically backward Russia reflected the narrow interests of the Stalinist bureaucracy, in a period of temporary defeat for the world…

The American Civil War, unlike the conflicts that plague the world today, was just and historically progressive. The Union north smashed the Confederacy of southern slave states and carried out the biggest expropriation of private property in history at the time, with the emancipation of 4 million enslaved people. The Union cause was praised by Karl Marx, who said Lincoln’s battle cry should be: “death to slavery!” With elections in the US just a few weeks away, the American bourgeoisie once again has civil war on its mind…. With recent polls showing nearly half of Americans believe that a new civil war is on the horizon, it is vital that revolutionaries study this period of history to prepare for the third, socialist revolution. This week, Spectre of Communism Podcast welcomes John Peterson – executive editor of The Communist, the organ of the Revolutionary Communists of America. John discusses the enduring lessons and contemporary relevance of the Civil War, which communists consider the Second American…

This year marks 40 years since the release of the film Threads, one of the clearest and most harrowing depictions of the consequences of nuclear war ever produced. With wars and conflicts escalating around the globe, the stark message of this film has never been more relevant. The fight against the barbarity of militarism and imperialism is an existential struggle that communists have a duty to take up. This week’s episode of Spectre of Communism Podcast welcomes Alan Woods, lead editor of marxist.com and leading member of the International Secretariat of the Revolutionary Communist International. Alan discusses not only the powerful artistic impact of Threads, but also its vital message for us today. With Netanyahu hell-bent on escalation in the Middle East, and Zelensky intent on provoking Russia with the West’s help, the possibility of an open confrontation between nuclear powers is closer than ever. If we are to avoid the horrors that Threads so brilliantly depicts, we must wage a relentless struggle…

Around the world, the capitalist establishment is increasingly obsessed with the so-called ‘Culture War’, with conservative journalists and politicians scaremongering about the ‘woke agenda’, while liberals drape rainbow flags on war and austerity and call it ‘liberation’. How can communists cut through this reactionary nonsense and get to the heart of the issues facing us today? To answer this question, this week’s episode of Spectre of Communism Podcast welcomes Yola Kipcak, a leading member of Der Funke, the Austrian section of the Revolutionary Communist International. Yola explains why communists oppose the toxic division sown by identity politics, and instead fight for a class-based approach to fighting for the liberation of humanity. For more from Yola on how communists should fight for liberation, read her article “Marxism vs Queer Theory” here: https://marxist.com/marxism-vs-queer-theory.htm For a longer read on this topic, we recommend the Revolutionary Communist International’s document from 2018,…

The situation in the Middle East is escalating dramatically. Israel’s current invasion of Lebanon has sent shockwaves throughout the region and represents a further step towards the outbreak of a region-wide conflict, risking open war with Iran. As the Middle East grows more unstable, communists need a clear understanding of these events and what we can do to fight against militarism and imperialism wherever we are. This week’s episode of Spectre of Communism Podcast welcomes Fred Weston, from the International Secretariat of the Revolutionary Communist International. Fred discusses recent events in Israel’s escalating military campaign, and explains the need for communists to fight for the real interests of workers and youth, which has nothing to do with the hypocritical warmongering of the ruling class internationally. For further reading on Israel’s war on Lebanon, we recommend this article published on 1 October: https://www.marxist.com/israel-invasion-of-lebanon-starts-fight-war-fight-imperialism.htm…

For decades, undercover police officers with Britain’s Metropolitan Police systematically infiltrated numerous political organisations, posing as activists. These SpyCops not only gathered information on supposed enemies of the state, but went as far as entering romantic relationships and even having children with political activists, in order to maintain their cover. A public inquiry into the outrageous and despicable behaviour of these Spy Cops has been underway since 2015, revealing the depths that the British state is willing to sink to, in order to defend its interests. This episode of Spectre of Communism Podcast welcomes Tom Fowler, presenter of The Spycops Info Podcast, to discuss the details of the case and what it shows about the role of the police in the capitalist state. For more on the ongoing Spycops inquiry, check out The Spycops Info Podcast on Twitter: @SpycopsInfo

Are we on the edge of a third World War? The Spectre of Communism podcast is back for a new season. Our first episode welcomes Hamid Alizadeh, a leading comrade of the Revolutionary Communist International (RCI), to discuss the two central conflicts in the world today: the Middle East and Ukraine, and the madmen driving them forward. We are in a period of wars, revolutions and counter-revolutions. As we release this episode, Israel has unleashed a mass terror attack in Lebanon in an attempt to drag the US into a wider Middle Eastern war. Zelensky is also trying to get the US involved in a direct clash with nuclear-armed Russia. The main imperialist powers could stop both of these wars tomorrow by withdrawing their support. They don’t really want an all-out clash: it would be bad for business. And yet, they drag us closer and closer to the brink. How are we to explain the insanity of the ruling class? As Hamid explains, their actions are symptoms of a senile system, which must be put to an end. At the same…

Fiona Lali recently shot to prominence, and stunned former British Home Secretary Suella Braverman, when she publicly branded Suella a “war monger” and a “liar” for her support for the genocide in Gaza. Fiona’s words chimed with millions of workers and youth who have seen this clip, and who are sick and tired of this rotten imperialist system, of the hypocrites who run it, and of the commentators, media and ‘opposition’ that do nothing to challenge it. In this exclusive interview, Fiona presents the communist approach to war and imperialism, and explains why we need to kick out not only individual Tory politicians, but the whole capitalist system. Fiona Lali is national campaigns coordinator of the Revolutionary Communist Party (the British section of the International Marxist Tendency), which will be holding an important national online meeting this Thursday, to coordinate the immense wave of student protests sweeping British universities. Register for the event here: https://communist.red/palestinemeeting…

As the horrors of Israel’s war on Gaza continue to escalate, a wave of student protests has erupted in solidarity with the Palestinians: drawing comparisons with the anti-Vietnam War movement. Starting in the USA, the encampments quickly spread internationally, meeting with press slander and brutal police repression. In this special episode, we speak with four student communists from Canada, the UK, Austria and the USA, who have been active in encampments at various universities, to hear about their experiences of this inspiring struggle. What is the mood at these encampments? What kind of opposition have they faced from university authorities and state forces? What sort of demands are being raised? We cover all of this and more! Offering context and our general perspective, we welcome back as well Fred Weston from our International Secretariat to talk about the situation in Gaza, Israel’s operations in Rafah, and what is necessary for this movement to escalate. We recommend this statement on a communist…

In June, the International Marxist Tendency will take the monumental step of founding a new Revolutionary Communist International (RCI), to provide communist workers and youth around the world with a bold rallying point in the struggle to overthrow capitalism. In doing so, the RCI will build on the immense revolutionary legacy left behind by the Third (Communist) International, founded by Lenin and the Bolsheviks as the world party of revolution. Register now for the founding of the RCI! https://schoolofcommunism.com/ This week’s episode of Spectre of Communism podcast welcomes Fred Weston, a leading comrade of the International Marxist Tendency, to explain the historic revolutionary importance of the Communist International. In doing so, Fred demonstrates the palpable need for a similar organisation in the world today. This episode will be the finale of the first season of the podcast, which will return with new weekly content after a short break. In addition to registering for the founding conference, we…

Advances in artificial intelligence continue to make headlines, as AI has begun to play a role in everything from art and journalism to conspiracy theories and unemployment. While AI is clearly here to stay, it is equally clear that the capitalist class has no interest in using it to its fullest. Once again, capitalism’s brutal inefficiency and systematic misuse of such technology is profound evidence of the need for communism and economic planning. To discuss the real potential of AI and how this is squandered by the ruling class, this week’s episode of Spectre of Communism podcast welcomes Daniel Morley, a leading member of the Communists in Britain. Countering both the excessively jubilant and the existentially morbid approaches to AI that are common from capitalist commentators, Daniel gives a concrete appraisal of this technology in the class struggle today, and brings out some of the possibilities for the use of AI under a planned economy. For more on artificial intelligence and its role under…

Communism is often presented by its enemies as being at best uninterested in art and culture, and at worst openly hostile to anything but the crudest propaganda. This is completely at odds with the approach of Lenin and the Bolsheviks, and genuine communists today. The Russian Revolution ushered in an explosion of artistic creativity, which for the first time was unshackled from the constraints of class society. This is the legacy that communists must defend. To discuss the important place of art and culture in the Russian Revolution, this week’s episode welcomes Nelson Wan, a leading member of the International Marxist Tendency in Britain. Nelson explains the communist approach to art and culture, and describes some of the immense achievements in this field made by figures such as Sergei Eisenstein, Konstantin Stanislavski and El Lissitzky. This episode is the most recent part of a series of podcasts celebrating the life and ideas of Lenin, 100 years after his death in 1924. For a complete defence of the…

Communists are often slandered by our enemies as wanting to violently suppress and ‘ban’ religion. While Marxism is a materialist philosophy, and therefore uncompromisingly atheist, the policy of Marxists towards religion bears absolutely no resemblance to this crude caricature. As Marx explained, the oppressed and exploited masses turn to religion not for abstract reasons, but as a protest against the real suffering they endure in the land of the living. In a world that offers no hope, the promise of paradise is a balm to the otherwise unconsoled. For this reason, religion is a powerful tool in the hands of the ruling class, who use the religious establishment as an ideological and spiritual lever over the workers and poor. Communists do not conceal their views, but neither do we seek to drive a wedge between ourselves and the masses by denouncing or belittling their religious faith. Instead, we strive to build a society that can give people the paradise on earth, that they are currently only offered after…

Yesterday, the International Marxist Tendency proudly published the Manifesto of the Revolutionary Communist International: a call to arms for all communists who want to put an end to the rotten capitalist system once and for all. This episode of Spectre of Communism podcast welcomes Alan Woods, who was instrumental in its drafting, to introduce the Manifesto: https://www.marxist.com/manifesto-of-the-revolutionary-communist-international.htm If you agree with our analysis, register now for the founding conference of the RCI in June, and help us build an organisation in the traditions of Leninism and Bolshevism: https://schoolofcommunism.com/ The RCI aims to unite communist workers and youth in all countries under a clean banner in the tradition of Lenin and Trotsky. As capitalism continues to die on its feet, more and more people are realising that the only solution is to do away with it in its entirety, so that the working class can finally liberate itself from the endless horrors of the world today. The…

On 25 February, 25-year-old US airforce serviceman, Aaron Bushnell, took his own life by self-immolation outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, in protest at US imperialism’s support for the crimes being carried out by the IDF. His last words, livestreamed to the world, were: “Free Palestine!” Just days later, IDF soldiers murdered over 100 civilians at an aid convoy in Gaza, embodying the horror and injustice that inspired Bushnell’s act. Bushnell’s ‘extreme protest’ sent shockwaves around the world, eliciting much sympathy from workers and youth feeling angry and powerless about the plight of the Palestinians, and indignant at the complicity of their imperialist governments in the slaughter. This week’s episode of the Spectre of Communism podcast welcomes Fred Weston, a leading member of the International Marxist Tendency, for an update on Israel’s war on the Palestinians. Fred discusses the threatened all-out attack on Rafah, the prospect of a wider war or revolutionary explosion in the Middle East,…

Few people in history are more slandered than Vladimir Lenin. From school textbooks to the capitalist press, the ruling class are desperate to blacken Lenin’s name wherever they get the opportunity. But how should communists respond? 100 years after his death, the capitalist smear campaign against the greatest revolutionary that has ever lived has not abated. Communists have a duty not just to study Lenin’s life, but to fight back against the slanders by boldly emphasising Lenin’s achievements for all to hear. To help debunk some of the myths surrounding Lenin’s life and work, this week’s episode features Fiona Lali – a leading comrade of the International Marxist Tendency in Britain. Fiona helps answer some typical slanders about Lenin, such as the claim that he was a dictator, or that he laid the basis for Stalin’s rise to power. The questions for this week’s discussion were taken from submissions to the Lenin Lives website, which brings together invaluable resources that can be used to understand and…

We are often told that capitalism is the most efficient economic system; that markets are rational tools for distribution; and that only under capitalism can people live free and fair lives. However, while capitalism might enrich a parasitic handful, it is fundamentally a system of oppression and exploitation for the vast majority of humanity. But what actually is this system? How does it work, and not work? How do we bring it down; and what can we replace it with? While the right-wing, liberals and even much of the so-called left still fail to grasp the essence of capitalism, Marx elaborated on this in extreme detail over 150 years ago. It is crucial that communists today follow in his example, and grasp the real nature of the capitalist system: how it functions, and why it goes into crisis. This week’s episode of Spectre of Communism podcast welcomes Niklas Albin Svensson, a leading member of the International Marxist Tendency. For more by Niklas on capitalism today, we recommend this article on the…

This week’s special episode was recorded during the recent meeting of the global leadership of the International Marxist Tendency in Italy. We hear reports from the front lines of the class struggle from five leading comrades involved in building revolutionary communist organisations in: South Africa, Argentina, Pakistan, France and the United States. The class struggle is heating up everywhere! As workers and youth internationally struggle to make ends meet, the capitalist class is leading the world down a blind alley of war, crisis and destruction. On all continents, an increasing layer is drawing the inevitable conclusion: we need communism! You can watch a video recording of this episode on our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWlvEZ6wBCY If you are a communist, then get organised! For more information on our sections in these countries, check out these links: South Africa: https://marxist.co.za/ Argentina: https://argentinamilitante.org/ France: https://www.marxiste.org/ Pakistan:…

The Cuban Revolution is rightly considered an inspiration by communists worldwide. This tremendous movement threw off the chains of capitalism and US imperialism, opening the way for incredible social, economic and technological advances in what had previously been a brutally oppressed society. Today, however, the Cuban Revolution faces a number of perils. This week’s episode welcomes Jorge Martin, a leading member of the International Marxist Tendency, to discuss the past, present and future of the Cuban Revolution. Isolated and bullied by US imperialism, it is now more important than ever to defend the gains of the Cuban Revolution and fight to overthrow capitalism internationally. For more by Jorge on the situation today, we recommend this article from last year on the threat of capitalist restoration.

A textbook argument against communism is that, although it may sound nice, it is fundamentally “against human nature”. Many communists will be sick and tired of hearing this accusation, but what actually is ‘human nature’? How should communists respond to this claim? This week’s episode of Spectre of Communism welcomes Ben Curry, writer and editor for marxist.com, to answer one of the most prolific myths about communism. In reality, the idea that human beings are inherently ‘greedy’ and that this makes capitalism an inevitable fact of life could not be further from the truth. Ben considers the wide variety of ideas and systems that have been considered inevitable and natural throughout human history, only to fall by the wayside; and speculates about how humanity will change and develop in a future communist society. For further reading, we would recommend Alan Woods’ editorial for issue 41 of In Defence of Marxism magazine, which looks at human nature and alienation.

With capitalism in its deepest-ever crisis, it is more important than ever for communists to defend the immortal achievements of one of the greatest revolutionaries the world has ever seen. For this reason, 2024’s first episode of Spectre of Communism looks at the real life and ideas of Lenin. The episode welcomes Rob Sewell, editor of The Communist and co-author of a new biography, In Defence of Lenin: an extensive political biography and vindication of Lenin’s revolutionary legacy. Get your copy now! We would also like to draw listeners’ attention to the recent launch of lenin.red. The website includes a number of resources for communists to study and understand Lenin’s life and work. 100 years after his death, the ruling class still wastes no opportunity to slander and malign Lenin. The website also includes a submission form, for sending any such slanderous myths that you might have heard, and want answered on a future episode of the podcast! You can also send us your myths via any of our social media…