In this talk from Revolution Festival 2019, Natasha Sorrell introduces Engels' ideas about the origins of the family, explaining how these show that the oppression of women is not natural or permanent, but something that can and must be ended as part of the struggle for socialism. In 1884, Engels published his classic of historical materialism, The Origins of the Family, Private Property and the State. This seminal book was based upon the revolutionary work of American anthropologist Lewis Henry...
Mar 06, 2020•45 min
In this talk from Revolution Festival, Fiona Lali - national organiser of the Marxist Student Federation - outlines the ideas of historical materialism: the Marxist theory that provides a scientific explanation for how change and development occurs in society. "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle." So begins the Communist Manifesto, written by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. Rather than trying to make society conform to a timeless ideal, or to discover s...
Feb 27, 2020•41 min
In this talk from the Revolution Festival 2019, Niklas Albin Svensson (writer for In Defence of Marxism) discusses why revolutionaries must oppose any repression of migrants and refugees, and fight instead for workers of all countries to unite. Anti-immigrant rhetoric and far-right parties have risen in recent years on the back of the refugee crisis and the crisis of capitalism. In Britain and elsewhere, right-wing governments are whipping up xenophobia and nationalism in an attempt to divert at...
Feb 20, 2020•54 min
In our latest podcast, Ben Curry (Socialist Appeal editorial board) discusses the results of the recent general elections in Ireland, which have dealt a shattering blow to the Irish establishment and the two-party system. In the past, liberal commentators superficially asserted that Ireland had escaped the political turbulence that has rocked the rest of Europe. But no longer. Now Ireland had caught up with a bang. With Sinn Fein coming out on top, the election results are a political earthquake...
Feb 14, 2020•28 min
In this talk from Revolution Festival 2019, Helena Nicholson of the LSE Marxist society discusses the climate catastrophe facing the planet, and the need for a revolutionary alternative. The question of climate change has become the burning issue of our era, as a result of the fires, floods, hurricanes, and droughts that have devastated communities across the world. Urgent action is required; and yet world leaders have proven that they are incapable of taking any serious steps to address this ex...
Feb 12, 2020•43 min
In this talk from Revolution Festival 2019, Shaun Morris discusses the period known as ‘The Troubles’ in the North of Ireland, which began just over 50 years ago when British troops were sent onto the streets of Derry. In the decades that followed, thousands lost their lives as a result of sectarian violence, whipped up by the British ruling class and Unionist hardliners to divide working-class communities. On the other side, the IRA’s strategy of bombing and terrorism led the Republican movemen...
Feb 07, 2020•45 min
In this talk from Revolution Festival 2019, Fred Weston (editor of www.marxist.com) discusses the crisis in Israel-Palestine, which is back on the agenda thanks to Trump's proposed 'peace plan'. For decades, the conflict in Israel-Palestine has been one of imperialism’s most blatant and persistent acts of oppression. The world watches on as Palestine shrinks and shrinks; settlement after settlement gets built; and bomb after bomb falls on innocent men, women, and children. But, as Marx said, a n...
Jan 31, 2020•48 min
In this talk from the main rally at Revolution Festival 2019, Alan Woods - editor of In Defence of Marxism - discusses his new book on the revolutionary movement that overthrew the Franco regime in Spain in the 1970s. Based on his own personal experiences and involvement, Alan explains how the movement to overthrow the Franco regime was a modern-day revolution, with the working class providing the motor force for change. And as with any revolutionary movement, Alan discusses, this period is full...
Jan 24, 2020•1 hr 5 min
In this talk from last year's Revolution Festival, Daniel Morley (writer for Socialist Appeal) looks back at the events leading up to the 1949 Chinese Revolution, explaining why the revolution played out as it did, and discussing the process that has unfolded since: from revolution to Tiananmen to capitalism. After the 1917 Russian Revolution, as Daniel discusses, the Chinese Revolution of 1949 is the most significant event in history. Fighting first Japanese occupation and then Chiang Kai-shek'...
Jan 16, 2020•49 min
Hamid Alizadeh, editor of www.marxist.com, discusses the recent confrontation between American and Iran, and explains why the left and the labour movement must oppose US imperialist aggression. The current sabre-rattling, as Hamid states, escalated on 3 January with the killing of the Iranian military general, Qassem Soleimani - one of the top figures in the Iranian regime. This was a clear provocation by Trump, designed as a chest-beating exercise to distract from the problems the US President ...
Jan 10, 2020•29 min
Alan Woods - editor of In Defence of Marxism - analyses last week's UK election results, explaining the real reasons behind Labour's dramatic defeat. In doing so, Alan answers the lies of the establishment media and the Blairites, who have falsely attempted to place all the blame for Labour's election loss on Jeremy Corbyn. In reality, however, it is not Corbynism that has failed, but Blairism, liberalism, and the centre ground. The areas that have abandoned Labour are those that have been left ...
Dec 18, 2019•22 min
In this talk from Revolution Festival 2019, Adam Booth - editor of www.socialist.net - compares and contrasts the economic ideas of Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes, and MMT. The crash of 2008 brought all the established neoliberal economic ideas into question. As Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman told an audience at the London School of Economics in the wake of the financial crisis: “Most work in macroeconomics in the past 30 years has been useless at best and harmful at worst.” Over a d...
Dec 04, 2019•46 min
In this talk from Revolution Festival 2019, Ben Curry (of the Socialist Appeal editorial board)discusses the Marxist philosophy of dialectical materialism and its application to the natural world. Dialectics is a philosophy of change, explaining that all matter is in a state of motion and flux. But how does this change take place? Using a number of examples from science - from thermodynamics, to evolution, to chaos theory - Ben demonstrates one of the basic principles of dialectics: that change ...
Nov 27, 2019•45 min
In this talk from Revolution Festival 2019, Jorge Martin - editor of American Socialista and writer for www.marxist.com - discusses the recent revolutionary developments in Latin America, including in Chile, Ecuador, and Haiti. Until recently, commentary about Latin American politics was full of pessimism and talk about a swing to the right, with the election of the Macri and Bolsonaro governments in Argentina and Brazil, respectively; and with Trump's attempted coup against the Maduro governmen...
Nov 21, 2019•41 min
In this talk from the recent Revolution Festival, Marie Frederiksen - editor of the Danish Marxist paper 'Revolution' - discusses the impact of the Berlin Wall, which was broken apart 30 years ago, on 9th November 1989. This marked the beginning of the end for the Stalinist regimes of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Subsequently, liberal commentators declared that these events marked the final victory of capitalism over Communism. As Marie explains, however, what collapsed was not genuine C...
Nov 13, 2019•52 min
Speaking at a day school in Manchester earlier this year, Josh Holroyd of Socialist Appeal discusses the events surrounding the Peterloo massacre of 16th August 1819, when thousands of protestors demanding political rights were brutally repressed by local representatives of the ruling class. As Josh explains, the Peterloo massacre marked a turning point for the working class in England. In the years that followed, powerful trade unions were forged in order to fight back against the attacks of th...
Aug 16, 2019•49 min
Alan Woods, editor of In Defence of Marxism, discusses the current contest between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt to succeed Theresa May as leader of the Conservative Party. As Alan highlights, it is a farce of democracy that a 160,000-strong reactionary rabble of Tory members will decide who becomes the next Prime Minister. Whilst the Tory leadership candidates out-compete each other over Brexit, the right wing of the Labour Party are once again ramping up their efforts to undermine Jeremy Corby...
Jul 12, 2019•16 min
Daniel Morley, writer for Socialist Appeal, discusses the mass movement that is taking place in Hong Kong against the repressive extradition law. Millions have participated in the protests against the newly proposed extradition bill - this in a city of around 7.5 million. This shows the scale of the anger that exists towards the Hong Kong government, and the Beijing regime that stands behind them. Hong Kongers are rightly terrified of seeing their democratic rights torn to shreds, as Xi Jinping ...
Jun 28, 2019•22 min
Hamid Alizadeh, writer for In Defence of Marxism, discusses the increasing friction between the USA and Iran, with Washington accusing the Tehran regime of attacking two oil tankers and shooting down an American drone. The US President, with the support of belligerent influential figures like John Bolton, has escalated tensions and threatened military strikes in retaliation. But he has been forced to pull back, for now. It is clear that the bellicose Trump administration, along with their reacti...
Jun 21, 2019•10 min
Fred Weston, editor of www.marxist.com, discusses the revolutionary events taking place in Sudan. In April this year, after decades in power, long-standing dictator Omar al-Bashir was toppled by a mass movement. Following this, a military junta - the Transitional Military Council (TMC) - stepped into the vacuum. But workers across Sudan recently shut down the economy with a powerful general strike, aimed at wrestling control from the TMC. This terrified the regime, who know that they could lose ...
Jun 14, 2019•21 min
Alan Woods, editor of In Defence of Marxism, comments on President Trump's recent state visit to Britain. With Theresa May stepping down, Tory leadership contenders have made a lot of noise about how Britain will 'reclaim sovereignty' and 'take back control' after Brexit. But the events surrounding Trump's visit expose this as a complete charade. Far from achieving a favourable trade deal with the USA, the Tory government is preparing the ground for American big business to sweep in and pick at ...
Jun 07, 2019•17 min
In this talk from a recent London-wide meeting of the Marxist Student Federation, Daniel Morley discusses the Tiananmen student protests that shook the regime in China 30 years ago. The Tiananmen square protests were the largest student movement in history, with over 1 million involved at the height of the demonstrations. But, as Daniel explains, the protests were not confined just to students. Workers across Beijing also came out in support of the movement, and the initial wave of soldiers sent...
May 31, 2019•42 min
In this talk from a recent London-wide meeting of the Marxist Student Federation, Hamid Alizadeh - writer for In Defence of Marxism - discusses the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, and the links between jihadi organisations and Western imperialism. After every barbaric terrorist attack, right-wing politicians and commentators attempt to whip up the idea of a "clash of civilisations" between Muslims and the Arab world, on one side, and liberal Western democracies, on the other. But the inconvenien...
May 24, 2019•48 min
In this talk from a recent meeting of the Marxist Student Federation in London, Francesco Merli - writer for www.marxist.com - examines the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict, and discusses the solution to the crisis in the Middle East. The chaotic situation in Israel and Palestine is one imperialism's worst ever crimes. By dividing up Palestine and creating the Zionist state of Israel, the imperialists transformed the region - in the words of Leon Trotsky - into "a bloody trap" for both J...
May 17, 2019•51 min
Alan Woods - editor of In Defence of Marxism - discusses the battle in the Labour Party over the question of a second referendum. The Tories are torn apart over Brexit. Yet rather than uniting behind their party leader, right-wing Labour MPs are putting all of their energies into attacking Jeremy Corbyn. Sooner or later, judgement day will come for Theresa May, and the opportunity for Corbyn’s Labour to form a government will present itself. But how will Corbyn deal with the wreckers in his rank...
May 03, 2019•16 min
In this video from the 2018 Revolution Festival, Francesco Merli of In Defence of Marxism (www.marxist.com) discusses the events and lessons of the 1968 Prague Spring - a revolt against the Stalinist bureaucracy that was put down by Moscow. In 1968, over 50 years ago, USSR-backed tanks rolled into Czechoslovakia to crush the Prague Spring. But could the movement have been successful? The Prague Spring was a movement with the potential to develop into a socialist political revolution against the ...
Apr 26, 2019•54 min
In this talk from last year's Revolution Festival, Ben Gliniecki looks at the current collapse of the liberal status quo, providing a Marxist analysis of liberalism's rise and fall. In November 2016, American voters dispatched “the electoral equivalent of a suicide bomber to Washington”, according to the Financial Times. Only months before, the British public had delivered a shocking blow to the European establishment by voting by a narrow majority to leave the European Union. Today, nationalist...
Apr 17, 2019•53 min
Speaking at the recent Peterloo day school in Manchester, Mike Hogan of Liverpool Wavertree CLP discusses the lessons from the struggles waged in the 1980s by Liverpool city against Thatcher and the cuts. With Marxist Labour councillors in the leadership, a mass movement involving the entire labour movement and working class communities was built up in Liverpool in the 80s, in order to oppose cuts and fight for socialist policies. This was part of a national campaign, with anti-cuts councils spr...
Apr 11, 2019•41 min
In this talk from the 2018 Revolution Festival, Ben Curry of the Socialist Appeal editorial board discusses the life of James Connolly: the man, his ideas, and their relevance for Marxists today. James Connolly was born in 1868 to Irish parents in Edinburgh’s Cowgate slum. He would grow to be the greatest Marxist ever produced by these islands; an iconic figure in the history of the Irish working class. Executed by the British army in 1916 following his leading role in the Easter Rising, Connoll...
Apr 05, 2019•53 min
In this talk from the Revolution Festival 2018, Daniel Morley of the Socialist Appeal editorial board examines one of the most long-standing questions of philosophy: what is consciousness?This is a question that has become increasingly relevant with the rise of artificial intelligence.Modern technological advances have raised the idea of creating machines capable of thinking for themselves. This has generated hopes - and fears - that the next generation of robots will be able to display signs of...
Mar 29, 2019•54 min
