Jacobin Radio

Vivek Chibber, author of Confronting Capitalism , joins Jen Pan to explain what we can learn from both the Bolshevik and social democratic past to more effectively challenge and overcome capitalism in the 21st century. David Griscom of Left Reckoning is also with us to discuss whether or not socialists can also be patriots, or if that's playing with fire. Thomas Gokey of the Debt Collective helps...

Matt Colquhoun talks about Mark Fisher on the reissue of his essay collection Ghosts of My Life . Then Matt Huber, author of a recent article for the New Left Review blog Sidecar titled " Mish-Mash Ecologism ," criticizes the climate austerity camp. Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Fi...

This week, Grace talks to Andrew Murray, former chair of the Stop the War Coalition, former chief of staff at the Unite trade union, and former advisor to Jeremy Corbyn. We discuss his forthcoming book, Is Socialism Possible in Britain? Reflections on the Corbyn Years , which examines the Corbyn moment within the long history of the Labour Party. A World to Win is a podcast from Grace Blakeley and...

The new documentary ALEX'S WAR (2022) seeks to "look past the caricature" of the Infowars gadfly Alex Jones. Your hosts find themselves disagreeing on the usefulness of this nonjudgmental profile of the notorious conspiracy theorist. Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hosted by Will Sloan and Luke Savage.

Deepa Kumar joins Long Reads for a discussion about imperial militarism and its relationship to Islamophobic bigotry. Deepa is a professor of journalism and media studies at Rutgers University, and the author of Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire . This is part one of a two-part interview. Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and...

Featuring Quinn Slobodian on his book Globalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism. The story of neoliberalism’s Geneva School—including Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, and Wilhelm Röpke—and their vision for a new global order to protect the market from democratic forces in the metropole and across the decolonizing world. An interview from archives first conducted in November 20...

Historian Gary Gerstle joins us to discuss what gave rise to the New Deal political order, the role that global communism played in the capital-labor compromise, and prospects for renewed social democracy after neoliberalism. Liza Featherstone also joins us to discuss how and why the left gets smeared as sexist or bigoted—and what the left should do about it. Finally, Paul Prescod joins Jen Pan to...

Doug is joined by David Palumbo-Liu to discuss the politics of Stanford University and its infamous alum, Peter Thiel. We then get writer Indrajit Samarajiva 's analysis of the political and economic crisis in Sri Lanka. Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive here: https://...

On October 15th, 1969, over 100,000 people gathered on Boston Common for the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam. It was a country-wide protest in which two million people took part in demonstrations, teach-ins, and other actions in over two hundred cities. For the event, Zinn delivered this speech, discussing the need for immediate withdrawal of US troops, the hypocrisy of American democracy, a...

Grace is joined by James Schneider, former Head of Strategic Communications for Jeremy Corbyn and the co-founder of Momentum, to talk about his book Our Bloc: How We Win . They discuss challenges facing the left—and how we can bring together disparate parts of our movement into a coherent bloc to build power. A World to Win is a podcast from Grace Blakeley and Tribune bringing you a weekly dose of...

Featuring Adom Getachew on the story of how decolonization struggles across the Black Atlantic tried to not only cast off European rule but also to remake the entire world system. An October 2019 episode from the archives. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig

Noam Chomsky and Vijay Prashad, two of the left's most brilliant critics of US empire, sit down with Jacobin Show's Ariella Thornhill to discuss their new book The Withdrawal . To Chomsky and Prashad, US global power acts much the same way a Godfather rules over a Mafia family, imposing its interests on all who stand in its way domestically or internationally. The wide-ranging discussion touches o...

Our Superdelegate patron tier was mad as hell that we hadn't yet discussed Sidney Lumet and Paddy Chayefsky's NETWORK (1976) and wasn't going to take it anymore. We watched an American classic and discovered that Howard Beale's famous speech isn't even the most important speech in the movie. Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hosted by Will Sloan and Luke Sa...

Doug interviews Leigh Phillips on why nuclear power has to be part of any serious decarbonization program. Volodymyr Ishchenko discusses Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as part of a bid to consolidate power—and how the ruling classes of both countries are political capitalists of a sort unknown in the West. Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their...

Suzi talks to economic historian Robert Brenner to get his understanding of this strange economic moment. What makes it strange? Inflation has dampened spending, the economy is shrinking, and many call it "shaky." Yet profits are strong and soaring, especially in the energy sector, in part because of Russia’s war on Ukraine. And job growth continues. Despite wage increases, workers’ wages overall...

Dina Khoury joins Long Reads for the second in a two-part conversation about Iraq since the US occupation. Dina is a historian of the Middle East, and her books include Iraq in Wartime . Listen to part one here: https://shows.acast.com/jacobin-radio/episodes/long-reads-us-destruction-of-iraq-part-1 Read her piece for Catalyst , "Iraq After US Occupation," here: https://catalyst-journal.com/2021/09...

Featuring Kojo Koram on his brilliant book Uncommon Wealth: Britain and the Aftermath of Empire. How neoliberalism reorganized colonial capitalist plunder to survive the Third Worldist challenge, and then boomeranged back into the British metropole—a history obscured by rendering “decolonization” into a symbolic culture war battle.  Check out How to Sell a Poison: The Rise, Fall, and Toxic Re...

Cale Brooks and Jen Pan discuss what is in the Inflation Reduction Act, the dregs of Biden’s Build Back Better plan that corporate Democrats felt they could sign onto, Matthew Cunningham-Cook outlines how the Biden admin has quietly expanded many of the policies from Trump’s Medicare privatization schemes, Rachel Cohen of Vox covers some positive developments in public housing at the state level,...

This week, Grace speaks to Adrienne Buller, author of The Value of a Whale: On the Illusions of Green Capitalism . They discuss what "green capitalism" actually is, how it is being embedded in international law, whether or not it is an inherently anti-democratic movement, and how it is linked to issues today like the cost-of-living crisis. A World to Win is a podcast from Grace Blakeley and Tribun...

Doug speaks with Simon Kuper , Financial Times columnist and author of Chums , on the upper-class caste that’s been ruling Britain for a decade. Then, an interview with James Meadway , director of the Progressive Economy Forum , on the dispiriting economics of the leader of the Labour Party, the drab Kier Starmer. Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politic...

Many movies in the 1980s depicted American urban landscapes as lawless hellholes, but Paul Verhoeven's ROBOCOP (1987) was unique for locating the source of the problem in the corporate world. The Superdelegate patron tier has voted for us to watch one of the most beloved screen satires of all time, and we were happy to oblige. See cohost Will introduce a screening of Don't Let the Riverbeast Get Y...

This week, Grace speaks to Phil Burton-Cartledge, author of Falling Down: The Conservative Party and the Decline of Tory Britain , about the current leadership contest within the Conservative Party. They discuss why there's a dearth of Tory talent, why both candidates, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, are trying to model themselves on Margaret Thatcher, and whether they have any answers to long-term iss...

This week on The Jacobin Show , Jen Pan and Cale Brooks discuss America's pitiful "industrial policy," Paul Prescod discusses the upcoming teamsters contract fight, Matt Huber talks about Joe Manchin and the climate bill, and Branko Marcetic tells us why the Democrats, despite their rhetoric, are failing to do anything about the Jan 6 assault on the capitol. The Jacobin Show is a weekly YouTube sh...

In 1984, Godzilla rose from Tokyo Bay for the first time in nine years for THE RETURN OF GODZILLA. In 1985, an American distributor dramatically recut the movie into GODZILLA 1985. We're joined at long last by Important Cinema Club co-host Justin Decloux to discuss the many structural and ideological changes that were imposed upon Godzilla's big comeback. Michael and Us is a podcast about politica...

Doug interviews Paolo Gerbaudo on the failure of technocracy and the imminence of right-wing rule in Italy. Then Chris Bohner, author of a recent report called Labor's Fortress of Finance and a Jacobin article, "Now Is the Time for Unions to Go on the Offensive," discusses the huge stash unions have but aren't spending. Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and p...