In this talk from the recent International Marxist University, Alex Grant - a leading member of Fightback, the Canadian section of the IMT - analyses the role of religion in society. Visit podcast.marxist.com for the full recordings. One of Marx’s best-known quotes is “religion is the opium of the people”, but that is not the end of the question. Marxism rejects all forms of superstition. Religion plays a profoundly reactionary role in society. But it cannot be overcome by argument alone. We mus...
Nov 18, 2020•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast The revolutionary traditions of the British working class are glossed over by the establishment. One such tradition is that of the Chartists. Decades before the formation of the TUC, the British working class dramatically entered onto the stage of history, threatening the ruling class with a mass insurrectionary movement and a general strike. In the process, the Chartists succeeded in building the political party of the working class in history, which drew the support of the young Marx and Engel...
Nov 13, 2020•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this talk from the International Marxist University, Hamid Alizadeh - a leading activist of the International Marxist Tendency - explains the problems with postcolonialism and combats the view that Marxism is 'eurocentric'. Visit podcast.marxist.com for the full recordings. Marxists are often accused of ‘Eurocentrism’ and ‘class reductionism’ (particularly in academic circles) when we argue for the struggle of workers of all races and nations against capitalism. It is said our emphasis on int...
Nov 11, 2020•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Fred Weston, editor for marxist.com, discusses the most polarised US election in living memory. Biden's victory is no cause for celebration for workers and youth. Donald Trump and his supporters are not going away anytime soon. With little genuine enthusiasm for Joe Biden, the highest number of people in a century turned out to essentially vote either for or against Donald Trump. It appears as if Biden has narrowly scraped through to take the presidency, in an election that has thoroughly expose...
Nov 06, 2020•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this talk from the recent International Marxist University, Fred Weston - a leading activist of the International Marxist Tendency - introduces the history of the IMT. Visit podcast.marxist.com for the full recordings. The International Marxist Tendency traces its roots all the way through the First, Second, Third and Fourth Internationals. In the postwar period, there was a general retreat by the forces of genuine Marxism, and the left was dominated by the distortions of Stalinism and reform...
Nov 04, 2020•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast In a special broadcast of Marxist Voice, Rob Sewell discusses the incendiary events surrounding the release of the EHRC report into Labour and anti-semitism. The suspension of Jeremy Corbyn is a declaration of war against the left. This reveals how hollow Keir Starmer’s rhetoric of ‘unity’ really is - and always was. Grassroots activists must not – and will not – stand for this! We must take the fight to the right. Defend Corbyn! Fight for socialism! Join us in the fight for socialism: Join - so...
Oct 29, 2020•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this talk from the International Marxist University, Ylva Vinberg - a leading activist of Revolution, Swedish section of the IMT - provides a marxism explanation for oppression and explains the limits of identity politics. Visit podcast.marxist.com for the full recordings. In the current period, identity politics are in vogue. Along with the related trend of intersectionality, these ideas stress the importance of self-identification, personal experience, and the various layers of oppression p...
Oct 28, 2020•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Wellred Books are proud to announce the publication of 'Chartist Revolution' by Rob Sewell - a Marxist analysis of the inspiring Chartist movement in 19th century Britain. To mark the release of this exciting new book, author Rob Sewell and Socialist Appeal writer Josh Holroyd discuss the key questions raised in 'Chartist Revolution', and the important lessons from these historical events for the struggles of the working class today. Get your copy of 'Chartist Revolution' today from Wellred Book...
Oct 23, 2020•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this talk from the International Marxist University, Josh Holroyd - a leading activist with Socialist Appeal - demonstrates and defends the method of Marxist historical materialism. Visit podcast.marxist.com for the full recordings. Bourgeois, liberal and postmodern historians alike tend to reject the Marxist view that history is driven by material laws and processes. Some also reject the idea of progress, saying this is merely a point of view. They say that history is basically random, punct...
Oct 21, 2020•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this talk from last year's Revolution Festival, Josh Holroyd discusses the rise of the working class in Britain, and the lessons from the revolutionary movement of the Chartists. Find out more on this fascinating topic by getting a copy of Rob Sewell's new book on 'Chartist Revolution', out now through Wellred Books. wellredbooks.net/chartist-revolution.html ----------------------------------------------------------------- The Peterloo massacre took place over 200 years ago in Manchester. Thi...
Oct 16, 2020•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this talk from the International Marxist University, John Peterson of Socialist Revolution USA explores the differences between Marxism and anarchism. Marxists and anarchists share many of the same objectives in common: fighting oppression; smashing the bourgeois state; creating a society without class exploitation and so on. However, there are also important differences in our ideas and methods - particularly relating to the nature of power in general, and of state power in particular. These...
Oct 14, 2020•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this talk from the recent International Marxist University, Rob Sewell - editor of Socialist Appeal - outlines the fundamentals of Marxist economics, and explains why only these revolutionary ideas can offer a way out of the impasse of capitalist crisis. As Rob explains, many attempts have been made over the years to ‘update’ Marx’s economic theories. Inevitably, these ideas jettison the revolutionary core of Marxist economics. Instead of applying a dialectical and materialist method to the e...
Oct 09, 2020•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this online talk organised by the Marxist Student Federation as part of Black History Month, Fiona Lali (national organiser of the MSF) explains why the fight against racism must be a fight against capitalism. In the coming weeks, the MSF will be publishing a series of articles and videos on the origins of slavery; the roots of racism; the black power struggle; from Windrush to the refugee crisis; and how we must fight against capitalism, racism, and all forms of oppression. In the wake of th...
Oct 08, 2020•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Alan Woods – editor of In Defence of Marxism – comments on the situation in the USA, where it was announced last week that President Donald Trump has contracted COVID-19, amidst a farcical presidential election and the greatest crisis in the history of US capitalism. Trump’s reckless response to the pandemic has led to the USA having 7.5m COVID-19 cases and 200,000 deaths: the highest in the world. This catastrophe has caused Trump’s polling figures to plummet, leading him to furiously point the...
Oct 06, 2020•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this talk from the recent International Marxist University, Daniel Morley, a leading activist and writer with Socialist Appeal, provides a Marxist critique of postmodernism - an idealist philosophy that is in vogue amongst certain left-wing activists and academic. Postmodernism is very popular on university campuses, and has also gained an echo in the workers’ movement. This school of thought denies the very idea of historical progress. It echoes Henry Ford, saying “history is just one damn t...
Oct 02, 2020•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this talk from the International Marxist University, Claudio Bellotti - a leading activist of Sinistra Classe Rivoluzione, Italian section of the IMT - discusses the question of sectarianism. Visit podcast.marxist.com for the full recordings. In the socialist movement, there are those who compromise on political principles opportunistically in order to find a short-cut to the masses; and there those who place themselves outside the main workers’ struggle, spending their time attacking other o...
Sep 23, 2020•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast In our podcast series 'The World Turned Upside Down', Alan Woods (editor of In Defence of Marxism) discusses the English Revolution: a colossal event in world history that dealt an irreparable blow to feudal absolutism. In the final episode of this series, Alan Woods explains how Oliver Cromwell - a man who embodied the contradictions of his class - went from revolutionary to counter-revolutionary; how a revolution that overthrew the monarchy ended in its restoration and the lessons of these eve...
Sep 18, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this talk from the recent International Marxist University, Jack Halinski-Fitzpatrick - the director of Wellred Books, the official bookshop of the IMT - discusses the Marxist solution to climate change. Visit podcast.marxist.com for the full recordings. Capitalism’s rampant exploitation of the earth’s resources is wreaking havoc on the natural world: with a spike in freak weather events, floods, wildfires and so on. In recent years, the struggle against climate change has erupted with explos...
Sep 16, 2020•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast In our podcast series 'The World Turned Upside Down', Alan Woods (editor of In Defence of Marxism) discusses the English Revolution: a colossal event in world history that dealt an irreparable blow to feudal absolutism. In the penultimate episode of this series, Alan Woods discusses how the great English Revolution, which embodied the hopes and democratic aspirations of so many ordinary people, ended with the dictatorship of one man: Oliver Cromwell. But the regime over which he ruled was very d...
Sep 11, 2020•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this talk from the recent International Marxist University, Niklas Albin Svensson - a leading activist of the International Marxist Tendency - explains why reformism is a dead end and only revolutionary struggle can improve the lives of working people. Visit podcast.marxist.com for the full recordings. Marxists are frequently attacked as unrealistic utopians. Rather than talking about revolution, the reformists say we should focus on winning achievable goals for workers. But all over the worl...
Sep 09, 2020•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast In our podcast series 'The World Turned Upside Down', Alan Woods (editor of In Defence of Marxism) discusses the English Revolution: a colossal event in world history that dealt an irreparable blow to feudal absolutism. In this latest episode, Alan explains how, with the death of King Charles and the defeat of the Presbyterian counter revolution, Oliver Cromwell moved to crush the most radical wing of the New Model Army. With the Last Stand of the Levellers in 1649 and the suppression of the Dig...
Sep 04, 2020•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this talk from the recent International Marxist University, Ben Curry - a leading activist of Socialist Appeal - discusses Marxism and modern science. Visit podcast.marxist.com for the full recordings. On the anniversary of Engels’ birth, we highlight one of Engels’ greatest works, Dialectics of Nature. With his masterful grasp of dialectics, Engels pre-empted scientific discoveries like the equivalence of matter and energy and the role of labour in the development of modern humans. Ben Curry...
Sep 02, 2020•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast In our podcast series 'The World Turned Upside Down', Alan Woods (editor of In Defence of Marxism) discusses the English Revolution: a colossal event in world history that dealt an irreparable blow to feudal absolutism. In this episode, Alan explains how the split between the New Model Army and parliament was widening, as the former became increasingly radical, particularly the Levellers faction. At the famous Putney Debates, revolutionary ideas (including universal suffrage) were openly discuss...
Aug 28, 2020•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this talk from the recent International Marxist University, Adam Booth - a leading activist of Socialist Appeal - discusses the contradictions of capitalism and explains why it is in crisis. Visit podcast.marxist.com for the full recordings. Apologists for capitalism argue that it is the best, most-efficient system that could ever possibly exist. But the current period of crisis and chaos prove otherwise. Today, the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered an economic collapse that threatens to throw ...
Aug 26, 2020•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast In our podcast series 'The World Turned Upside Down', Alan Woods (editor of In Defence of Marxism) discusses the English Revolution: a colossal event in world history that dealt an irreparable blow to feudal absolutism. In this episode, Alan's discusses how, with the victory of Cromwell's army at the Battle of Naseby, the first English Civil War came to an end. The defeated King handed himself over to the Scots, hoping to play the New Model Army (likened to a combination of the Soviets, the Red ...
Aug 21, 2020•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this talk from the recent International Marxist University, Alan Woods - editor of the In Defence of Marxism website and author of a long list of books on Marxist theory - discusses perspectives for the world revolution. Visit podcast.marxist.com for the full recordings. The year 2020 will enter the annals of history as a decisive turning point. The coronavirus pandemic, the economic collapse and the corresponding wave of popular anger and revolts have brought all the contradictions in capita...
Aug 19, 2020•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Lebanese masses are moving once again. In the wake of the August 4th Beirut blast which devastated much of the city, the masses have taken to the streets to hold those responsible to account. Rightfully, they have aimed their anger at the corrupt government of Lebanon which caused the blast through their neglect and corruption. In the wake of this powerful movement, the government has resigned for the second time in less than a year. This is a great achievement, but the revolution must go fu...
Aug 17, 2020•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast In our podcast series 'The World Turned Upside Down', Alan Woods (editor of In Defence of Marxism) discusses the English Revolution: a colossal event in world history that dealt an irreparable blow to feudal absolutism. In this episode, Alan discusses how, after some losses at the hands of the Royalists, Oliver Cromwell and his new army scored a decisive turning point with a crushing victory at the battle of Marston Moor. But divisions were opening up on the parliamentary side between the radica...
Aug 14, 2020•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast In our podcast series 'The World Turned Upside Down', Alan Woods (editor of In Defence of Marxism) discusses the English Revolution: a colossal event in world history that dealt an irreparable blow to feudal absolutism. In our latest episode, Alan discusses how, with the Parliamentarians in a favourable position at the outbreak of the Civil War, thousands of men enlisted to fight on their side. The Royalists, relying on the less economically developed regions, were dependent on superior cavalry ...
Aug 07, 2020•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast In our podcast series 'The World Turned Upside Down', Alan Woods (editor of In Defence of Marxism) discusses the English Revolution: a colossal event in world history that dealt an irreparable blow to feudal absolutism. Alan continues his series by explained how, by leaving London, King Charles set in motion a chain of events that would lead inevitably to civil war... A careful study of the English Revolution is obligatory for every class-conscious worker, Leon Trotsky noted. So tune in every we...
Jul 31, 2020•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
