Marx Engels Institute

In which we speak to James Smith from @thepopularshow on everything from Covid to the Corbyn period.  This is part one of the interview, part 2 will be out for patrons next week.   Be sure to check out The Popular Show and their work  

We talk through some initial musings about the quickly-developing situation at the US-Canadian border with respect to the anti-mandate activists blockading the Ambassador Bridge, a key border crossing.

We have Canadian trucker and political commentator Gord Magill on to discuss the ongoing trucker protest in Canada. Check out Gord' latest piece in Newsweek: https://www.newsweek.com/elites-are-smearing-truckers-because-were-doing-their-job-representing-people-opinion-1675022

We speak with Canadian physicist and social theorist Denis Rancourt about the lack of critical thinking in the general population, what's up with COVID "modelling" and more! You can find Denis Rancourt's writing and research here: https://denisrancourt.ca/

The full version of this episode is available for subscribers In this episode we reflect on the latest developments in the Ukraine crisis.  To understand things further we look back over the period since the collapse of the USSR taking in the Kosovo war, the fall of Milosevic, the war on terror, the role of Yeltsin, the rise of Putin and why the US trying to make this into Cold War Part 2 is...

We sit with military analyst Scott Ritter to understand the whys and hows of a possible Russian offensive into Ukraine, and to understand the role of US and NATO in this quickly-escalating situation.

*We're releasing this episode recorded for our monthly reading group due to the large amount of interest in the subject.*   Klaus Schwab and Thierry Malleret have been accused of being globalists and supervillians . We investigate the charge by carefully reviewing their book "COVID-19: The Great Reset" (i.e. Exhibit A) The truth will shock you...

In this, the final episode of the year, we take at this article from the Morning Star and ask whether it represents a reflection of Lenin's thought?   Thanks to all listeners for supporting the show over the last year!  We'll back week beginning January 10th! 

We speak with sociologist and research director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), the largest basic research institute in Europe. Dr. Mucchielli has been critical of France's COVID authoritarianism since the start of the pandemic, and has written and co-signed numerous open letters denouncing the unnecessary and repressive nature of the COVID protocols in France and bey...

We sat down with Tania and Anton from the Belarusian Marxist organisation Poligraf Red to discuss both historical and current events in their country and the former wider ex Soviet states.  Our discussion covers everything from the Gorbachev years, the role of the intellectuals in the counter revolution, the restoration of capitalism in Belarus, the nature of the Lukashenko regime and much mo...

Full episode available here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/end-of-year-q-1-59947648 We talk about the recent British vote to implement vaccine passes, the Trotsky vs Stalin debate, "patriotic socialism" and more.

We sit with Jorge Martin of marxist.com to learn about the recent metalworkers' strike in Cadiz, and why it is a pivotal moment for the Spanish working class.  An article with more information about this here: https://www.marxist.com/cadiz-metalworkers-strike-a-pivotal-struggle-for-the-spanish-working-class.htm Another perspective: https://en.communia.blog/end-of-cadiz-strike-what-can-we-lear...

This week we spoke with Professor Norman Fenton of Queen Mary University, London, to discuss the use and misuse of statistics by governments during the last two years.  We cover the tricks governments have pulled over the presentation of data of infections, the farce regarding testing and vaccine efficacy.  It's a very interesting discussion and we encourage listeners to read the article...

We look at a recent decision by a local of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (a high school teachers' union in Ontario, Canada) which implemented weighted voted system based on race categories. Some news coverage here: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/ontario-teachers-union-implements-controversial-weighted-voting-system-to-increase-minority-representation

In this second part of our climate change episode (now unocked for general release) we look at the dubious origins of "green" policy such as "cap  & trade", why so many Marxists have bought into the climate change  narrative and conclude by examining Marx & Engels views on humans  place within nature.

This is the part one of what will be a two part episode on the science, politics and political economy of climate change.  In this episode we look at the questions regarding the conventional narrative on climate change, the problems with "the science" and why this has come to be adopted by the advanced captialist nations.   Part 2 will be released next week. 

Full episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/supply-chains-58821794 Supply chains are undergoing a well-publicized shock right now. But the root of the crisis goes much further than the current pandemic. The structure and functioning of supply chains was *as a result of* a search for lower costs. This led capitalists to shift much of production to developing countries. The inevitable result is...

We look at the bourgeois media circus surrounding the Rittenhouse trial and ask, why the concept of a fair trial is so alien to many these days? Why are liberals so keen to jettison universalist standards? And who bares responsibility for the riots last year? On side 2 we take a question of socially necessary labor from a listener and look at how the employers manipulate conscientious workers.

Is inflation back?  Is the solution spending more or less? Why are  leftist influencers invested in denying it? What are Hayek &  Friedman right about? What is the point of Kyle Kulinski? All of this  and more will be explained as we dive into the questions of inlfation,  what causes it and what can the Marxist method teach us about it?

Full episode available to patrons: https://www.patreon.com/posts/evergrande-old-58269048 We cover the drama happening around the Evergrande developer group in China, and give our two cents as to whether this spells the end of capitalism in China as we know it.

We're releasing the second part of our discussion with Angela Nagle from back in May of this year.  In the second part of our interview with Angela we discuss the stunted development of Irish capitalism, the inter-imperialist rivalry between the USA and China as well as the impact of the Covid year on art and culture. Be sure to subscribe to Angela's substack page: https://angelanagle.substac...

Here's a preview of part 2 of our AMA episode.  In this one we go everywhere from how "cultural appropriation" is bull shit to the role of the petit bourgeoisie to our favourite tobacco.  Enjoy!

Following the recent Federal elections in Germany Michael Burkhardt returned to Red Star Radio to discuss the results.  We talk about the legacy of Merkel, the Greens, the fall of Die Linke, the German version of Tony Blair and the covid regime.  

This is a preview of Part 1 of our October AMA.  For the full episode subscribe at our patreon page

Nicolas Hausdorf, writer and resident of Melbourne, joins us to give us the inside scoop on Australia's COVID-19 response. Are things as bad as they seem? Listen to find out. Mentioned in the show: Nicolas' review of Benjamin Bratton's book, Revenge of the Unreal