Radio Free Humanity: The Marxist-Humanist Podcast

Co-hosts Andrew Kliman and Gabriel Donnelly dive deep into Henryk Grossman’s model and theory of capitalist breakdown. They discuss Andrew’s upcoming new article on Grossman, and Andrew’s dialogue with a Grossman defender. MHI has recently published an article by Michael Rednitz, “Grossman’s “Correction” of Marx’s Law of the Tendential Fall in the Rate of Profit,” and the co-hosts also discuss its...

Co-hosts Andrew Kliman and Gabriel Donnelly welcome Franz Schaefer, a Communist and political activist in Austria, on the show to discuss Trumpism and the rise of the far-right. The discussants consider how Trumpism in America threatens democracy everywhere. They also discuss the rise of the Freedom Party in Austria. Franz explains the fascist roots of the Freedom Party and how a coalition governm...

Co-hosts Andrew Kliman and Gabriel Donnelly discuss Karl Marx’s 1852 book “The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte,” written soon after French president Louis Napoleon—or, as Marx refers to him, Louis Napoleon—staged an auto-coup in 1851, replacing a parliamentary republic with “rule by bayonet.” Shortly thereafter, he declared himself Emperor Napoleon III. Much of the discussion focuses on how...

Co-hosts Andrew Kliman and Gabriel Donnelly discuss Gabriel’s upcoming article “American Unionism and Trump: Where are the unions in the struggle against Trumpism?” set to be published soon in Marxist-Humanist Initiative’s publication With Sober Senses. The co-hosts, and the article, consider the state of trade unionism after Trump’s second election. In particular, they discuss the regulatory fram...

In honor of Gabriel Donnelly recently finishing his first-time reading of Marx’s “Capital,” Volume I, from cover to cover, Andrew Kliman interviews him about the experience. Gabriel is asked why it took him so long, and what the experience was like. Andrew gets in on the fun, telling the story of his own first-time reading. The co-hosts also discuss several aspects of “Capital,” including the conc...

Resuming a discussion of Paul Raekstad’s “Karl Marx’s Realist Critique of Capitalism,”the co-hosts respond to the book’s interpretation of Marx’s conception of socialist society. Paul contends that socialism, for Marx, centers on democratic planning, ending the division of labor, and distribution according to need. The co-hosts discuss important features of Marx’s concept of socialism that this fo...

Co-hosts Andrew Kliman and Gabriel Donnelly welcome past guest and Marxist-Humanist Ralph Keller on the show to discuss the status of the Ukrainian struggle against Putin’s invasion. They discuss the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk, the rising resistance in Russian, and the imperative need for foreign aid to Ukraine’s struggle. Keller’s report has yet to be released, but keep your eyes on Marxist-H...

Co-hosts Andrew Kliman and Gabriel Donnelly discuss Marxist-Humanist Initiative’s upcoming editorial “The New Stage of Struggle Against Trumpism.” The co-hosts, and the editorial, consider the situation we all face after Trump’s second election. In particular, they discuss the current lack of a concerted resistance, the elected Democrats who are toying with collaboration, and what makes 2024 diffe...

Author and communications expert Tim Ward joins co-hosts Andrew Kliman and Gabriel Donnelly to discuss what it means to stand up for truth in politics. The discussants considered how the Harris campaign handled the issue of post-truth politics, how Trump will continue to erode truth, and cognitive biases that help fuel the power of post-truth lies. Much of the discussion considered how a positive...

Author and communications expert Tim Ward joins co-hosts Andrew Kliman and Gabriel Donnelly to discuss what it means to stand up for truth in politics. The discussants considered how the Harris campaign handled the issue of post-truth politics, how Trump will continue to erode truth, and cognitive biases that help fuel the power of post-truth lies. Much of the discussion considered how a positive...

Carlos Ezquerra and Sebastián Hernandez join co-hosts Andrew Kliman and Gabriel Donnelly to discuss the rising influence of libertarianism in the Spanish-speaking world. Much of the discussion focuses on the influential book “Anti-Marx,” published by Spanish libertarian Juan Ramón Rallo in 2022, and Andrew’s recent response to it. Andrew demonstrated that Rallo’s attempt to destroy “Capital’s” the...

Radio Free Humanity celebrates its 125th episode with a two-hour Zoom chat between participants and the co-hosts, Andrew Kliman and Gabriel Donnelly. Listeners and some former guests joined the co-hosts on Zoom to make comments or ask questions. The discussion was overwhelmingly focused on the 2024 American presidential election and its consequences. Beyond the election, the co-hosts and participa...

The co-hosts welcome Christos Balomenos of the University of Athens to discuss his recent articles that seriously challenge Michael Heinrich’s allegations against Marx’s falling-rate-of-profit theory. After painstaking archival research, Christos flatly rejects Heinrich’s claims that Marx had second thoughts about the theory and that Engels’ editing distorted Marx’s texts on the topic. In addition...

Jane Michaels, a Marxist-Humanist and lifelong rural white Wisconsinite, joins the cohosts to discuss Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman’s recent book, “White Rural Rage.” They talk about the book’s focus on rural whites as the base of Trumpism and resurgent authoritarianism in the US, negative feedback the book has received, J.D. Vance’s “Hillbilly Elegy,” causes of “white rural rage,” and what can be...

The co-hosts interview Paul Reitter and Paul North, co-editors of the new English edition of volume 1 of Marx’s "Capital,” which Reitter also translated. Much of the discussion explores differences between the new translation and previous ones. They also discuss why Reitter decided to produce a new translation; the co-editors’ collaborative process; the “reading” of “Capital” they chose; the theme...

Aaron Williams talks with the co-hosts about his experiences during decades of work as a union staff member. He stresses that the job of a staffer is “not emancipatory,” because a union is a “service organization.” He and the co-hosts also talk about how the labor movement and the challenges it faces have changed over the years, including some positive developments. Plus current-events segment: th...

Episode 116: Is There Life After Tankieism?: BadMouse Recants, BadMouths Stalinism The co-hosts welcome Dave, aka BadMouse, who was a prominent Stalinist YouTuber but has since recanted. They discuss why some youth find Stalinism appealing, and why Dave himself turned to it. He then recounts how and why he became disillusioned. He and the co-hosts discuss “becom[ing] OK with not necessarily having...

Radio Free Humanity Ep. 120: “Marx’s Conceptions of Freedom and Domination—Interview with Paul Raekstad.” On Althusser’s “epistemological break,” self direction, impersonal domination, etc. Current-events segment: the UK and French elections.

The co-hosts welcome Ralph Keller, author of “Treating the TSSI Like a Dead Dog: A Response to Seth Ackerman,” which responds to a “Jacobin” piece by Ackerman. Ralph explains why he regards Ackerman’s conduct as “unscholarly” and “intellectual immorality.” He calls out Ackerman for ignoring the fact that the “Okishio theorem” has been disproven. He and the co-hosts discuss several related issues,...

The co-hosts respond to Suresh Naidu’s piece in “Jacobin,” “What Marx Really Meant.” They begin by discussing norms of interpretation (of texts and of history), with emphasis on why principled interpretation is ethically important. They critique Brill, a major publisher, for insinuating that texts can’t be misinterpreted. They then respond in detail to Naidu, showing that he was not telling the tr...

Gabriel and Andrew welcome William Clare Roberts, author of Marx's Inferno: The Political Theory of “Capital,” in which he reads the first volume of Capital as a work of political theory. They discuss differences between this and other ways of reading Capital, its engagement with Proudhonism and related non-Marxist tendencies on the left, Marx’s relation to the radical republican tradition, an...

The co-hosts expose a real-world case of spurious correlation—the correlation between industry-level “values” and “prices,” drawing on chapter 11 of Andrew’s book, Reclaiming Marx’s “Capital,” and “Christianity versus Alternative Faith Bases,” his parody of the value-price correlation “studies.” They discuss why the value-price correlations are spurious, who started value-price correlation mania a...

Radio Free Humanity Ep. 114: “Canadian Politics: The White-Nationalist Right & Indigenous Nations (with Theresa Henry).” Current-events segment: Victory against both-sidesism at NBC—dictator-enabling Ronna McDaniel fired after news staffers revolt.

Radio Free Humanity Ep. 113: “Marx’s Critique of Darimon in the Grundrisse, Part 2.” Interview on Andrew’s article on the critique and Marx’s fight against Proudhonism. Current-events segment: “Bibi, Go Bye-Bye”—on Schumer’s March 14 speech.

Radio Free Humanity Ep. 112: “Marx’s Critique of Darimon in the Grundrisse, Part 1.” Interview on Andrew’s article on the critique and Marx’s fight against Proudhonism. Current-events segment: Justice Delayed—SCOTUS to hear Trump’s immunity claim.