Revolutionary Left Radio

We are sharing a recent Guerilla History episode on the Rev Left feed for those that missed it! Make sure to subscribe to Guerrilla History on your preferred podcast app! In this episode of Guerrilla History, we bring on two fantastic guests, Prof. Charisse Burden-Stelly and Prof. Jodi Dean. We discuss their co-edited collection, Organize, Fight, Win: Black Communist Women’s Political Writing, which is an absolutely indispensable resource for those of us serious about achieving liberation!  This collection includes writings focused on the period from 1919-1956, which argue that racial and economic equality can only be achieved by overthrowing capitalism.  Pick up the book! Dr. CBS is an Associate Professor of African American Studies at Wayne State University.  She is an organizer with Black Alliance for Peace and a Co-Author of W.E.B. Du Bois: A Life in American History alongside our mutual friend Gerald Horne.  She can be followed on twitter @blackleftaf or on her website https://www.charisseburdenstelly.c

Bestselling author and literary critic China Miéville joins Breht to discuss his newest book A Spectre, Haunting: On The Communist Manifesto  Together, they discuss the literary merits of the famous text, the historical context in which Marx and Engels wrote it, the increasing contemporary relevance of the Manifesto, and much more!      Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio

Breht was a guest on The Heatwave podcast, the podcast of MECHA, a Marxist organization based in Phoenix. They were essential in making Breht's speech at ASU happen, and Breht sat down with them before the speech for a two hour conversation about spirituality and meditation, socialist organizing, and much more. Learn more about MECHA here: https://linktr.ee/MECHAdeASU Check out The Heatwave on your fav podcast app, or here: https://thwpod.podbean.com/ Follow MECHA on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mechadeasu Follow MECHA on Insta: https://www.instagram.com/mechadeasu/

Labor journalist Mel Buer joins Breht to discuss the recent train derailment in Ohio and the subsequent ecological disaster that ensued, the recent labor union struggles waged by rail workers, the warnings regarding safety that those workers advanced, the role of the Biden administration in all of this, the corporate dictatorship we live under, and much more.   Follow Mel here: https://twitter.com/mel_buer Contact Mel: [email protected] The Real News Network: https://therealnews.com/      Outro music: "I Saw" by Young Fathers Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio

Breht reads a speech he recently gave at Arizona State University on the topic of dialectial materialism, Buddhism, and Marxism.  Huge shout out to the ASU Zen Devils and MECHA for inviting Breht out to Arizona to give this speech, meet listeners, and visit the Sonoran Desert for the first time!   Learn more about MECHA here: https://linktr.ee/MECHAdeASU   If you are interested in having Breht give a speech at your university, contact us at [email protected] with the header "Speaking at our University", so that we can siff out the invites from the other messages!   Outro music: "Be Brave" by Modest Mouse Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio

In this episode of Guerrilla History, we bring back returning fan favorite Professor Gerald Horne to discuss his latest book The Counter-Revolution of 1836: Texas Slavery & Jim Crow and the Roots of U. S. Fascism.  As always, the conversation with Prof Horne is incredibly enlightening and very entertaining.  Support Guerrilla History and access bonus episodes here:  https://www.patreon.com/guerrillahistory

Join the Rev Left Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio Changes Starting Mid-Feb: - Tripling our monthly patreon output  - Covering the headlines more consistently - Being more selective about the topics we cover on the public feed - The integration of Red Menace and Rev Left   

Sopiko Japaridze and Bryan Gigantino from the podcast Reimagining Soviet Georgia join Breht to discuss the history of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. Together they discuss Georgian-born communist Joseph Stalin, what socialist construction in Georgia was like, daily life for working class people in Soviet Georgia, the collapse of the USSR and the hard times of the 1990's, the politics of Georgia today, the Russia-Ukraine war, and more!    Check out the Reimagining Soviet Georgia podcast here: https://anchor.fm/sovietgeorgia Support them on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/reimaginingsovietgeorgia Follow them on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/reimaginingg     Outro music: "Gaprindi Shavo Mertskhalo" by Hamlet Gonashvili (word has it that this was Stalin's favorite song) Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio  

Re-Upload: The book is out now! You can get it here: https://www.iskrabooks.org/teaching-the-actuality The People's Forum Book Launch Here: https://peoplesforum.org/events/book-launch-panel-teaching-the-actuality-of-revolution-aesthetics-unlearning-and-the-sensations-of-struggle/ Derek Ford returns to the show to discuss his upcoming book "Teaching the Actuality of Revolution". Topics discussed include: Marxist pedagogy, sensory perception, education, Althusser, Marx and Engels, ideological struggle, aesthetics, and much more! Learn more here: https://www.liberationschool.org/ Check out our previous episodes with Derek: https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/capital https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/communist-study   Outro music: "Believe These Blues" by Christone "Kingfish" Ingram Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio    

James from Prolekult joins Breht to discuss the nuances and complexities of various forms of reductionism and capitalist-breakdown theory within the Marxist tradition. Their discussion leads them to touch on many other topics and issues that are important for the Marxist left today, including advice for those who are relatively new to Marxism.  Check out and support Prolekult here:  YouTube: http://youtube.com/prolekult Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/prolekult Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/prolekult Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProlekultFilms Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prolekultfilms/   Coalition of Disabled People (as mentioned in the episode): https://gmcdp.com/new-paul-hunt-ebooks Outro music "Your Dog" by Soccer Mommy Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio

William Chaney joins Breht to dive deep on the work and ideas of Louis Althusser, the famous French marxist philosopher. Check out our previous episode on Althusser's work on ideology and ideological state apparatuses here: https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/althusser Feel free to reach out to William for a full list of recommended reading on Althusser -- Contact William here: [email protected] Check out the Center for Popular Economics: https://www.populareconomics.org   Outro music "Attica Blues" by Archie Shepp Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio

Professor of Philosophy and author, Graham Priest, joins Breht to discuss his latest book Capitalism - it's Nature and Replacement: Buddhist and Marxist Insights. Together, they discuss the problems of capitalism, the utter necessity of its transcendence, what Marxism can offer Buddhism, what Buddhism can offer Marxism, and how insights from both traditions can compliment and strengthen one another in the fight against instutionalized greed, hate, and delusion (aka capitalism, imperialism, and ideology)! Learn more about Graham Priest here: https://grahampriest.net/ Check out Kevin's interview with Graham over at Sensible Socialist: https://sensiblesocialist.com/2022/10/18/the-synthesis-of-marxism-and-buddhism/ Outro music "Banquet" by Bloc Party Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio

We close out 2022 with a livestream!  All the members of the Revolutionary Left Radio family of podcasts came together for a two hour live Q&A that we had a ton of fun doing.  We hope you enjoy as we look ahead to 2023!   P.S. If you're on twitter, let us know what your favorite episode of the show was during 2022 - tag us @guerrilla_pod with your pick and we'll hopefully encourage some new people to check that episode out! Link to the video version of this conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2KrBF5xW6c  

Breht responds to the criticism that Marxism is just Christianity mixed with the Enlightenment concept of Progress; that it is basically just a religious faith... Listen to the full episode here: https://redmenace.libsyn.com/desert

Breht welcomes Aaron J. Leonard and Conor A. Gallagher back on the show to discuss the recent release of the revised and updated version of "Heavy Radicals: The FBI's Secret War on America's Maoists: The Revolutionary Union / Revolutionary Communist Party 1968-1980". We discuss the importance of the original book, what changes were made in the updated and revised version (just released Oct. 2022), who the Revolutionary Union (and later the Revolutionary Communist Party) were, the difficulty of writing about Maoist movements in the US, how the FBI and CIA work to destroy left wing movements and organizations, their tactics and strategies, and much more.  Listen to our original interview with Aaron on "Heavy Radicals" here: https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/heavy-radicals-the-fbis-secret-war-on-americas-maoists-1968-1980 Get the book here: https://www.johnhuntpublishing.com/zer0-books/our-books/heavy-radicals Check out more of Aaron's work, including his upcoming book here: http://www.aaronleonard.net/

J. Moufawad Paul returns to the show to discuss his newest book "Politics in Command: A Taxonomy of Economism". Together, Breht and JMP discuss what economism is, what Lenin's critique of it was, how it acts as a keystone of revisionism, its dialectical opposite "voluntarism", how they are tied to movementism, the necessity of a communist vanguard party, how economism distorts our understanding of class, the labor aristocracy, MLM analysis of modern China, Refoundationalism and Regroupment, and much more!  Check out JMP's previous appearences on Rev Left here: https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/size/5/?search=Moufawad Follow JMP on twitter: https://twitter.com/mlm_mayhem Check out MLM Mayhem here: https://moufawad-paul.blogspot.com/ Check out the Politics in Command podcast mentioned in this episode: https://www.politicsincommand.info/podcast/ Outro music "Slight Rebellion off Madison" by Vinnie Paz Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio

Nicholas Richard-Thompson and Tunde Osazua from the Black Alliance for Peace join Breht to discuss AFRICOM, or The United States Africa Command - responsible for U.S. military operations on the continent. Together they discuss BAP's month of action against AFRICOM, the strategic role that AFRICOM plays in the maintenance of US empire, the importance of proletarian internationalism in the fight against capitalism-imperialism, neocolonialism and comprador regimes, the consequences of 14 years of AFRICOM, and much more.   Learn more and support Black Alliance for Peace here: https://linktr.ee/blackallianceforpeace   Follow Nicholas on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Nicholasseanrt   Follow Tunde on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TundeOsazua   BAP Chicago's Twitter: https://twitter.com/bap_chicago Outro music "I'm a African" by Dead Prez Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio

David Icenogle (from No Chaser) returns to the show and joins Breht once again to have a frank, open-ended, wide-ranging discussion about their experiences and struggles with mental health. This is not meant as medical advice, nor scientific analysis; it is meant to simply be two human beings and close friends sitting down and discussing their direct experiences in the hope that it might resonate with, or otherwise provide comfort to, people out there who struggle with this stuff too. Check out Dave's YT channel about his struggles with addiction and his road to recovery here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrmDFdoZQU0CgAZm67Do4BQ Check out our previous episode with Dave titled "On Alcoholism, Relapse, and Recovery" here: https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/dave

Thomas Riggins is a New York university lecturer in philosophy and ancient studies. He is a retired city housing manager and a veteran of the peace and civil rights movements of the 1960s. He holds degrees from Florida State University and the CUNY Graduate Center. He is currently a member of the UAW and a former Teamster.  Professor Riggins joins Breht to discuss a collection of his essays on classic texts by Lenin and Engels put out by the comrades over at Midwestern Marx called "Reading the Classical Texts of Marxism".  Together they discuss Anti-Durhing by Engels, Materialism and Empirio-Criticism, State and Revolution, and Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder by Lenin.  Check out Midwestern Marx here: https://www.midwesternmarx.com/ Find Riggins books, including the one discussed in the episode, here: https://www.midwesternmarx.com/books.html   Outro music "Which Side Are You On" by Pete Seeger Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio

Massimo Pigliucci, philosophy professor and author, joins Breht once again, this time to discuss his newest book "The Quest for Character: What the Story of Socrates and Alcibiades Teaches Us about Our Search for Good Leaders". Topics include: Ethical theories in philosophy, stoicism, theory and practice, cross-cultural virtues, Socrates, the role of role models, how all of this connects up with politics, and much more.  Learn more about Massimo and his work here: https://massimopigliucci.org/ Previous Rev Left episode with Massimo on Stoicism: https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/stoicism Outro music "Boats & Birds" by Gregory and The Hawk Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio