Red Flag Radio

Red Flag Radio talks to Brendan Stanton, an American socialist and trade unionist living in Melbourne. Brendan organised struggles for immigrant rights and worker solidarity for 12 years in Houston, Texas. He explains what's happening in the US right now from the recent LA protests in response to Trump's anti-migrant escalation, to the origins of ICE and the history of the US-Mexico border.   

After a good result in the federal election, Victorian Socialists is expanding across Australia, bringing sorely-needed socialist politics to the whole country. Emma spoke to the Secretary of Victorian Socialists, Corey Oakley, about the exciting move. Corey gave his thoughts on the federal election and talked about why it's time to expand VS.    Join the Socialists wherever you are: https://www.s...

Emma and Chloe had a live conversation about all the things that make them mad in 2025, at the Marxism conference in Melbourne. They talked about Trump, wacky Auspol, bad takes on the left, lesser-known expropriatable billionaires and more, with fantastic audience participation to boot. 

We spoke to Palestine Action Group leader and socialist Josh Lees about the renewed genocide in Gaza and the disgraceful antisemitism hoax in NSW which has been used to repress pro-Palestine activism.  In a true-crime scandal for the ages, a criminal hoax in NSW was falsely reported as an antisemitic terror plot intended to cause mass casualties. Both the state and federal Labor governments knowin...

We sat down with trans activist April Holcombe to talk about the unrelenting war being waged against trans people. April is a socialist train driver based in Sydney and the co-convener of Community Action for Rainbow Rights. She is the author of many articles for Red Flag newspaper and the Marxist Left Review.  April describes what is happening to trans people as "political sadism". She unpacks wh...

Our guest Rick Kuhn explains the results of the German election. Rick is a socialist economist and political analyst. He is the author of a biography of Marxist economist Henryk Grossman, for which he won the Deutscher Prize.  In understanding the German election, the key word is "polarisation". The fascist AfD have received their best vote yet, of over 20%. Meanwhile the anti-racist left party, D...

Emma and Chloe dunk on the billionaires who run the world. From Silicon Valley freaks like Peter Theil and Mark Zuckerberg, to Australia's own Gina Rinehart, to the world's richest man, Elon Musk. We explain how they accumulated their wealth (hint: they didn't "earn" it), explore the sickening conspicuous consumption of the ultra-rich, and discuss why they need to be expropriated for every cent. ...

An interview with socialist journalist Omar Hassan, editor of and contributor to the Marxist Left Review. Omar spent two weeks reporting on the ground from Syria for Red Flag. He visited cities and towns devastated by regime repression, and he spent time with and interviewed left-wing activists. The result of his travels has been some incredible coverage in English of post-Assad Syria.  This recor...

We're back for 2025! And we're talking about the fucked new mirror world we have stepped into with the second inauguration of Trump.  Emma and Chloe talk through Trump's new cabinet, his executive orders and his big special inauguration day and try to explain what the hell is going on. Why have Silicon Valley ex-liberal billionaires binned their corporate wokeness and lined up to kiss the ring? Wh...

Chloe and Emma cap off a terrible year by compiling some of the chattering classes' worst takes. We hand out prestigious awards for Australian journalism, including "Most Tone-Deaf Commentary on the Cost of Living Crisis" and "Most Hapless Middle-Class Guardian Writer." We survey the ups and (mainly) downs of 2024 and discuss reasons to be hopeful about 2025. 

Workers at Woolworths distribution centres are on strike! For the past 2 weeks, workers have been picketing Woolies warehouses across the country to demand a pay increase and to stop a new performance management program, referred to by Woolworths as the “framework”, which is designed to monitor workers’ every move and increase the pace of work. In an already-dangerous industry where injuries are c...

We chatted with two wonderful socialists: Jordan Van den Lamb, A.K.A. PurplePingers, and Roz Ward, the original host of Red Flag Radio. Jordan will be a senate candidate with the Victorian Socialists in the upcoming federal elections, and Roz is his campaign manager. Jordan has amassed a serious following on Tiktok and Intagram thanks to his unflinching honesty about the housing crisis and his adv...

We spoke to Lance Selfa, a long-time socialist based in Chicago, about Trump's re-election. Lance explains how this could have happened, again, and what lessons socialists can learn from the election.  Lance is the author of The Democrats: A Critical History. He is a member of the International Socialism Project, whose website has published Lance's election coverage and analysis. He has also been...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the leader of India's far-right Hindu nationalist or "Hindutva" movement. Sagar Sanyal, socialist and regular on the pod, delves into the roots of Hidutva in both European fascism and the Indian caste system. He explains how, over the course of 100 years, Indian fascism moved from the margins of Indian politics to the centre of government. Further Reading Sagar's pr...

The Murdoch press has been on a tear against the Palestine movement and particularly "serial protestor" Josh Lees, a leading member of the Palestine Action Group (PAG) and Socialist Alternative, and our guest for this episode. NSW Premier Chris Minns accused Josh of costing tax-payers $5 million to police the protests. The attacks on Josh and PAG are part of a fresh wave of repression and censorsh...

Israel’s invasion of Lebanon with Omar Hassan   After a year of genocidal war in Gaza, Israel has now begun a ground invasion of Lebanon. In less than a week Israel has killed over 2000 people in Lebanon through massive bombardment of civilians in the capital of Beirut and a renewed offensive against the already devastated South. Israeli aggression and repeated military strikes on Yemen, Iraq, Syr...

In one of the worst attacks on a union in Australian history, the Labor government has imposed a dictatorial administrator on the construction union, the CFMEU. This move has disenfranchised the union's entire membership.  Chloe spoke to Jerome Small, ex-construction worker and reporter for Red Flag, about the causes and consequences of this unprecedented anti-union attack.  Further reading "Labor...

The Land Forces weapons expo is Australia's largest get-together and money-making opportunity for the booming business of war. When it came to Melbourne in September, activists from Students for Palestine and Disrupt Wars protested the orgy of militarism and violence. In response, the Victorian police unleashed hell, firing rubber bullets and torrents of pepper spray at protestors. The media follo...

For over 60 days, Tamil and Iranian refugees have maintained a protest camp outside the Department of Home Affairs in Melbourne. Similar protest camps have spread across Australia's major cities. Their demands are permanent protection and justice for almost 10,000 refugees left in limbo by the federal Labor government. Emma spoke to Aran Mylvaganam, a staunch refugee activist and socialist who has...

Emma and Chloe talk about the cops! We analyse their role in capitalist society, their origins, and the case for their abolition.  A big thanks to our producers: Daniel Kenny and Jack Morris.  Further reading: - "Defunding, disarming, defeating and abolishing the police" - Daniel Taylor in Red Flag   - "The police serve the system" - Shirley Killen in Red Flag  

We interviewed Ravibha Jeyanathan about the political situation in India under Narendra Modi, and the task of rebuilding a revolutionary Marxist current. Ravibha is from Tamil Nadu in southern India, having sought refuge there from the Sri Lankan genocide. She completed her PhD research in London, researching post-war asylum experiences among Eelam Tamils in the UK. She is a member of Pothuvudamai...

The US presidential elections are coming up, promising a showdown between Donald Trump and newly-anointed Democratic Party candidate Kamala Harris. Chloe chatted to Ben Hillier to get his analysis of the US political situation. Ben is an editor of Red Flag newspaper and recently visited the US to report for Red Flag on the Gaza Solidarity Camps at American universities. They discuss the Trumpian t...

Historic protests across Kenya in the past week have mobilised a disenfranchised youth enraged at the Government’s attempt to raise taxes on the working class and poor to pay government debt to the IMF and other international creditors. The 2024 Finance Bill has sparked hatred at a political class who flaunt their opulent lifestyles while hiking the price of bread, cooking oil, and many other esse...

Emma and Chloe take on Yanis Varoufakis' new book, Technofeudalism.  Varoufakis argues that capitalism is dead, ushering in a new mode of production he calls technofeudalism. He claims that the system we live under today is more like the feudal system which predated capitalism: the main economic activity today is the collection of rent by big tech "cloudalists". These tech giants, like Amazon and...

"Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other — Bourgeoisie and Proletariat." Chloe and Emma explain the Marxist theory of social class. We go through the Marxist definition of class, and explain the nature and behaviour of the capitalists, the working class, the middle classes and more!    Further reading: https:/...