We are republishing Alan Wood's series on the Russian Revolution as a podcast, originally released to mark the centenary of the greatest event in human history. In part five, Alan Woods discusses the failed coup attempt by General Kornilov and the impact this had on the political consciousness of the masses. Following the events of the "July Days" in 1917, the Bolsheviks were driven underground and the forces of reaction were emboldened. Nevertheless, the terrible conditions facing the workers, ...
Nov 01, 2023•21 min
We are republishing Alan Wood's series on the Russian Revolution as a podcast, originally released to mark the centenary of the greatest event in human history. In part four, Alan discusses the counter-revolution that reared its head in the July Days. Terrified by the outbreak of mass, armed demonstrations with the slogan "All Power to the Soviets", the Provisional Government suppressed the leaders of the Revolution. The Bolshevik offices and printing press were shut down, with Lenin driven into...
Oct 27, 2023•23 min
We are republishing Alan Wood's series on the Russian Revolution as a podcast, originally released to mark the centenary of the greatest event in human history. In part three, Alan investigates the June Days. Lenin understood that despite the initial popularity of the Provisional Government, the bourgeois coalition would be unable and unwilling to meet the demands of the peasantry and proletariat of peace, land, and bread. As the temperature among the masses rose, the Bolsheviks; the only party ...
Oct 20, 2023•23 min
We are republishing Alan Wood's series on the Russian Revolution as a podcast, originally released to mark the centenary of the greatest event in human history. Alan continues into part two of this series by discussing Lenin's April Theses, in which he sought to theoretically rearm the Bolshevik leaders who were in danger of taking an opportunist route following the February revolution. 🌐 Check out Socialist Appeal's website for theory, news, and analysis: socialist.net/ 🎟 Get your ticket to t...
Oct 12, 2023•22 min
In this episode of Marxist Voice, Khaled Malachi outlines the situation in Israel-Palestine, the position that communists must take, and what we can do here in Britain to get organise international solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. 🎧 Listen to the latest episode of International Marxist Radio on the occupation of Gaza: https://www.marxist.com/podcast-israel-palestine-intifada-until-victory.htm 🌐 Check out Socialist Appeal's website for theory, news, and analysis: https://socialist.net/...
Oct 11, 2023•34 min
We are republishing Alan Wood's series on the Russian Revolution as a podcast, originally released to mark the centenary of the greatest event in human history. Alan continues into part 2 of this series by discussing Lenin's April Theses, in which he sought to theoretically rearm the Bolshevik leaders who were in danger of taking an opportunist route following the February revolution. 🌐 Check out Socialist Appeal's website for theory, news, and analysis: socialist.net/ 🎟 Get your ticket to thi...
Oct 05, 2023•25 min
The socialist revolution cannot win without first of all winning the masses. This is why the Communist International formulated the United Front tactic, which is summarised by the slogan: “March separately, but strike together!” In this episode, Sarah Vedrovitch outlines the events which led to the adoption of this tactic, how it was applied by the Communists, and how it was distorted by the Stalinists. 🌐 Check out Socialist Appeal's website for theory, news, and analysis: socialist.net/ ✊ Join...
Sep 06, 2023•35 min
In a few short years, the Communist International went from being a beacon of internationalism and world revolution, to a tool for the narrow, national interests of the Soviet bureaucracy. How and why did this happen? In this talk, Jack Tye Wilson provides a Marxist response to Stalin's "theory" of 'socialism in one country', and outlines the disastrous consequences of the Comintern's abandonment of internationalism. 🌐 Check out Socialist Appeal's website for theory, news, and analysis: sociali...
Aug 23, 2023•40 min
In the third part of our podcast series on the lessons of the Communist International, Thomas Soud covers the ultra-left mistakes made by the young forces of communism, and how Lenin and the Comintern corrected this "infantile disorder". 📚 Get your copy of the Classics of Marxism vol.2, which contains Lenin's text 'Left-wing Communism: An infantile disorder': https://wellredbooks.co.uk/product/the-classics-of-marxism-volume-two/ 🌐 Check out Socialist Appeal's website for theory, news, and anal...
Aug 16, 2023•44 min
In part two of our series on the lessons of the Communist International, Lubna Badi outlines the events of the German Revolution of 1918-1923 and draws out the lessons for communists today. With power lying in their hands, the masses were able to topple the Kaiser and end Germany's involvement in WWI. And yet, without a well-established Communist leadership, the socialist revolution ultimately failed. The consequences of that failure would be most brutally felt over a decade later with the rise ...
Aug 02, 2023•45 min
To kick off our six-part series on the lessons of the Communist International, Fiona Lali outlines the rich history of Marxist internationalism, stretching from Marx and Engels' efforts to build the First International, through to Trotsky's Fourth International. 🌐 Check out Socialist Appeal's website for theory, news, and analysis: https://socialist.net/ ✊ Join the fight for revolution with the International Marxist Tendency: https://www.socialist.net/join 📰 Subscribe to the Socialist Appeal n...
Jul 26, 2023•39 min
As the working class flexes its muscles on the industrial front today, many have drawn comparisons with the class struggle of the 1970s - a decade which saw workers topple governments, occupy factories, and raise the question of socialism. In this episode of Marxist Voice, Ben Gliniecki draws the lessons from the successes and failures of this decade of struggle. 🌐 Check out Socialist Appeal's website for theory, news, and analysis: https://socialist.net/ ✊ Join the fight for revolution with th...
Jun 29, 2023•55 min
In 1920s Italy, all of the objective conditions were ripe for socialist revolution, and yet this period saw the triumph of Mussolini's fascists. In this talk, Fred Weston discusses why the workers' movement failed, and how its defeat paved the way for the victory of fascism. 🌐 Check out Socialist Appeal's website for theory, news, and analysis: https://socialist.net/ ✊ Join the fight for revolution with the International Marxist Tendency: https://www.socialist.net/join 📰 Subscribe to the Socia...
Jun 13, 2023•56 min
Under capitalism, an ocean of talent is left untapped: creativity is crushed by the profit motive; and culture sector workers endure exploitation and oppression. In this talk, Joe Attard will discuss the links between art, culture, and revolution. 📚 Grab a copy of our pamphlet "Marxism and art": https://wellredbooks.co.uk/product/marxism-and-art/ 🔗 Explore this topic and many others over on our education hub: https://socialist.net/art 🌐 Check out Socialist Appeal's website for theory, news, a...
Jun 07, 2023•49 min
The Marxists in Britain have launched a communist recruitment drive, aimed towards revolutionary workers and youth who want to get organised in the fight to overthrow capitalism. In this episode, we are joined by Ben Gliniecki, the national secretary of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT) in Britain, to discuss why you should get organised, and what being a member of the IMT looks like. ✊ Join the fight for revolution with the International Marxist Tendency: https://socialist.net/join 🌐 Ch...
May 24, 2023•35 min
Karl Popper dedicated his life to dressing up very commonplace arguments against socialism with philosophical and political critiques. The most famous one was to claim that Marxism is not scientific, since it does not satisfy his ‘falsifiability criterion’. Marx’s insights, therefore, did not make any serious advance from the utopian socialists that preceded him. In this episode of Marxist Voice, Khaled Malachi defends the scientific status of Marxism, and reveals the faults in Popper’s one-side...
May 19, 2023•45 min
15 May marks 75 since the 'Nakba', a campaign of terror against Palestinians, led by Zionist paramilitaries as part of the proclamation of Israel in 1948. This resulted in over 700,000 Palestinians being expelled from their land. And it paved the way for the chaos that has engulfed Israel-Palestine ever since. Today, Palestinians continue to suffer under the iron heel of the Israeli imperialist state. In this episode of Marxist Voice, Khaled Malachi outlines the history of the Israel-Palestine c...
May 11, 2023•41 min
With the coronation of Charles III around the corner, many workers and youth are responding with apathy and revulsion at this royal circus. But is the British monarchy just a feudal relic, or does it play a more important role for the ruling class? In this episode of Marxist Voice, Jack Tye Wilson discusses the real role that the monarchy plays, as a reserve weapon that can and will be deployed to defend capitalism against the growing class struggle. 📚 Leon Trotsky discusses the role of the mon...
May 05, 2023•43 min
The crisis of capitalism is not just an economic and political crisis. It is a crisis of culture, of art, and of science. Mysticism and idealism are increasingly being reflected in the sciences. In this episode of Marxist Voice, Ben Curry puts forward a defence of materialism: against idealist interpretations of quantum mechanics, mystical theories of consciousness, Big Bang creationism, and many other examples of the garbage that passes today as ‘science’. 🔗 Read more about Marxism and science...
Apr 28, 2023•52 min
Over the last year, a spectre that was thought by many to be dead-and-buried has returned with a vengeance: the spectre of inflation. Across the world, prices continue to soar. And yet, whilst the capitalists profit from scarcity and shortages, the ruling class scandalously blames workers and their pay demands for causing a ‘wage-price spiral’. In this episode of Marxist Voice, Adam Booth explains the real causes behind inflation, and presents a revolutionary alternative to this menace and madne...
Apr 19, 2023•43 min
From Xi Jinping to Putin, to Stalin and Hitler, strong-man leaders who rule with an iron hand appear throughout history. In this talk, Ben Gliniecki explains the Marxist concept of Bonapartism. 🔗 Leon Trotsky elucidates the concept of Bonapartism in his biography of Stalin. Get your copy from Wellred Books: https://wellredbooks.co.uk/product/stalin/ 🌐 Check out Socialist Appeal's website for theory, news, and analysis: https://socialist.net/ ✊ Join the fight for revolution with the Internation...
Apr 12, 2023•53 min
NATO was founded in 1949, not as an instrument of peace, but as a weapon of the Western imperialists to fight the Cold War. It has remained a weapon of Western imperialism ever since. In this session, Lotta Angantyr will explain the real role and history of NATO and why Marxists are irreconcilably opposed to NATO, as part of our struggle against imperialism and for genuine proletarian internationalism. 🌐 Check out the 'imperialism and war' section of our education hub over on Socialist Appeal's...
Apr 05, 2023•41 min
Class struggle is back on the agenda in the USA. Workers at Amazon, Starbucks, Apple, and elsewhere are beginning to organise and unionise. Workers and youth are becoming increasingly radicalised - looking way beyond the Democrats and left-wingers such as Bernie Sanders, and are instead openly identifying as ‘communist’. These developments have important implications for the perspectives for world revolution. A mass movement of the working class in America, the biggest imperialist power on the p...
Mar 30, 2023•43 min
On 18 March 1871, the masses of Paris rose up and established the first ever workers' state, known as the Paris Commune. In this talk, Josh Holroyd covers these brief but heroic events, and draws out the lessons for revolutionaries today. We apologise for the low audio quality. This was due to a technical error. 📚 Order a copy of Marx's classic text on the Paris Commune 'The Civil War in France' from Wellred Books Britain: https://wellredbooks.co.uk/product/pre-order-women-family-and-the-russia...
Mar 21, 2023•59 min
The Russian revolution made colossal steps in the fight for women's liberation, far greater than any other movement - today or in history. In this talk, Natasha Sorrell discusses how the Bolsheviks approached the women's question, the gains that were won in the Revolution, and the conditions that led to their reversal. 📚 Pre-order our latest book 'Women, Family and the Russian Revolution' from Wellred Britain https://wellredbooks.co.uk/product/pre-order-women-family-and-the-russian-revolution/ ...
Mar 08, 2023•50 min
We are often told that the war in Ukraine is being fought in defence of democracy and national self-determination. In this talk, Jorge Martin details the real reasons for the war, and the complex history of the national question in Ukraine. 🌐 Read our latest article on the situation in Ukraine over on marxist.com: https://www.marxist.com/ukraine-s-bloody-anniversary.htm ✊ Join the fight for revolution with the International Marxist Tendency: https://www.socialist.net/join 📰 Subscribe to the So...
Mar 03, 2023•1 hr
Amidst the carnage of the First World War, Lenin characterised capitalism as “horror without end”. Today, the grim truth of that statement can be seen in the proliferation of brutal conflicts around the world from the industrial slaughter of civilians in Yemen, to the intensification of the proxy war between NATO and Russia in Ukraine. In this talk from last year’s Revolution Festival, Josh Holroyd discusses the nature of capitalism today, how it necessarily leads to imperialist domination and c...
Feb 22, 2023•56 min
From 1925 to 1927, the young Chinese working class waged a revolutionary struggle against the decaying order of the warlords and imperialists. Tragically, the errors of the Stalinist Comintern led to the crushing of this revolution. In this talk, Daniel Morley outlines the key lessons of these events, and draws out the need for class independence and a socialist programme. 🔗 Learn more about the Chinese Revolution in this article by Daniel Morley: https://www.marxist.com/90-years-of-the-chinese...
Feb 15, 2023•1 hr
Within the Irish Republican movement, there have always been two tendencies: one which sees the struggle for Irish liberation as solely a nationalist question, and another which correctly sees it as a class question. In this talk from the book launch of 'Ireland: Republicanism and Revolution', Ben Curry uncovers the revolutionary lessons of Ireland's struggle for liberation. 📚 Get your copy of the book: https://wellredbooks.co.uk/product/ireland-republicanism-revolution/ ✊ Join the fight for re...
Feb 10, 2023•1 hr 6 min
The Great Depression was the most severe crisis of the capitalist system in the 20th century. In the years following the Wall Street Crash, industrial production in the West collapsed, and world trade dried up. The impact of the depression on the working class and poor was severe. Millions across the world faced unemployment, destitution, and hunger. After the initial shock of the crisis passed, workers became increasingly radicalised around the world. The USA saw a wave of industrial militancy,...
Feb 08, 2023•44 min
