Rev Left Radio

[Originally released Oct 2020] In this episode of our sister podcast "Red Menace", Alyson and Breht summarize and discuss the fundamental ideas, concepts, and arguments within Marxism. We want this episode to stand as a resource for *everyone* interested in Marxism - from those who are brand new to the Marxist left all the way to veterans of the Left who simply want a concise refresher. If you kno...

[Originally released Apr 2021] Breht is joined by Kevin Rashid Johnson, the incarcerated Minister of Defense for the Revolutionary Intercommunalist Black Panther Party, and Comrade Garlic, the Minister of Justice of the RIBPP. They discuss Rashid's childhood and imprisonment, his and other inmates systematic torture and brutalization within the American prison system, the split from the New Afrika...

[Originally released Aug 2019] Chuka Ejeckam, a graduate student in Political Science at the University of British Columbia, joins Breht to discuss the life and legacy of Malcolm X.  Find Chuka and his work here:  http://www.chukaejeckam.com/ If you liked this episode, check out our other episode on Fred Hampton featuring Chuka here:  http://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/fred-hampton   Support...

[Originally released Oct 2019] Kate Evans, the author and illustrator of "Red Rosa", a graphic novel about the life of Rosa Luxemburg, joins Breht to discuss Rosa's life and legacy! Find her book, and all her other work, here:  https://www.cartoonkate.co.uk/ Outro Music: "Europe is Lost" by Kate Tempest Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio

[Originally released Jun 2018] Yueran Zhang is a PhD candidate in Sociology at Harvard University. Yueran joins Brett to discuss Mao and the Chinese Revolution. Yueran's academic profile is here:   https://sociology.fas.harvard.edu/people/yueran-zhang Here are the recommendations Yueran gave at the end of the episode: - Mao's China and After:  http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Maos-China-and-A...

[Originally released Jan 2021] Twitch streamer CommieCon interviews Breht on a wide range of topics, including common arguments against socialism and how to refute them, Marx's conception of Species-Being and its relationship to alienation and human nature, Marxism v. Anarchism and what both have to offer, the evolution of human civilization through history, how violence is and is not conceived by...

[Originally released Sept 2019] David Swanson of Radical Reflections invites Breht on his show to tackle myths, lies, slanders, and popular criticisms wielded against communism by its (often times lazy and unimpressive) opponents.  Check out Radical Reflections here:  http://www.radicalreflections.co.uk/ Follow them on Twitter @RadReflections Outro music by Jarren Benton ft. EARTHGANG - Anarchy Su...

[Originally released Oct 2019] Alekx and Ethan from Proles of the Round Table podcast join Breht on this All Hallows Eve to deconstruct the myth and logic of the oft-stated claim that Communism is responsible for the deaths of 100 million human beings.  On this Halloween, we urge our listeners to reject the anti-communist propaganda of our enemies, while also realizing that the real blood-drenched...

[Originally released Feb 2018] Debbie Bookchin is a widely-published journalist and author whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Nation, and numerous other publications. She served as press secretary to Bernie Sanders when he served in the U.S. House and she recently co-edited a book of essays by her father, Murray Bookchin, called The Next Revolution:...

[Originally released Mar 2018] J. Moufawad-Paul lives in Toronto and works as casualized contract faculty at York University where he received his PhD in philosophy. He blogs regularly at MLM Mayhem and is the author of The Communist Necessity, Continuity and Rupture, and Austerity Apparatus . Josh joins Brett to discuss Maoism, The Enlightenment, Post-Modernism, the science of Marxism, and much m...

[Originally released Oct 2017] Zoe Samudzi is a black feminist writer whose work has appeared in a number of spaces including The New Inquiry , Warscapes , Truthout , ROAR Magazine ,  Teen Vogue , BGD ,  Bitch Media , and Verso , among others. She is also a member of the 2017/18 Public Imagination cohort of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) Fellows Program, and she is a member of the Blac...

[Orignally released Aug 2020] In this fascinating episode Nick Estes , Historian, author of "Our History is the Future" and co-founder of The Red Nation, joins Breht to discuss the history and legacy of the American Indian Movement, including the history of indigenous resistance in America, the origins and ideology of AIM, the Siege of Wounded Knee in 1973, the FBI's COINTELPRO, the Reign of Terro...

[Originally released Jan 2018] Kristen Ghodsee is an American ethnographer and Professor of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania;  known primarily for her ethnographic work on post-communist Bulgaria as well as being a contributor to the field of postsocialist gender studies . She is the author of many books, including her latest "Red Hangover:Legacies of Twentieth-C...

[Originally released Nov 2017] Dr. Thoreau Redcrow is an American academic with a Ph. D. in Conflict Analysis with a concentration in Global Conflict. Thoreau is a researcher who specializes in studying armed guerrilla movements, and who has over a decade of experience studying the life and legacy of Che Guevara. His prior investigations into Che's biography have taken him to Cuba to speak to thos...

[Orginally released Nov 2018] Historian David Parsons joins Breht to talk about the Vietnam War, Ho Chi Minh, American Imperial War Crimes, Historical Memory, and much more! David Parsons is an author, historian, and leftist podcast host of The Nostalgia Trap. Find The Nostalgia Trap here:  https://nostalgiatrap.libsyn.com Support The Nostalgia Trap here:  https://www.patreon.com/nostalgiatrap Fin...

[Orignally released Oct 2018] Alyson Escalante joins Breht to discuss Lenin's major work of political theory, State and Revolution.  Here is a previous show we here at Rev Left did specifically on the Paris Commune entitled "The Paris Commune: A Brief Blossoming of Proletarian Power", for anyone interested in taking a deeper dive:  https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/the-paris-commune-a-brie...

The month of April will be dedicated to a "Best of Rev Left" series! Every other day for the entire month, a classic Rev Left episode will be uploaded for your enjoyment, starting April 2nd.  In May, we will return to our normal programming, with brand new interviews! Support Rev Left, and get access to monthly bonus episodes, the Rev Left discord, and more here: https://www.patreon.com/join/RevLe...

In this very special episode, Jules (@realjulestaylor) sits down with Brett (@RevLeftRadio) to have a long conversation about the Russian Nationalist philosopher Aleksandr Dugin. They examine his philosophy, core concepts, and influence in Russia. They also discuss the current war in Ukraine at lenght. Check out No Easy Answers: https://smarturl.it/noeasyanswers Outro Music: https://bit.ly/julesta...

David Icenogle joins Breht to discuss his long struggle with alcoholism as well as his long and rocky road to sobriety and recovery. Together, they touch on many different aspects of addiction, the specific struggle with alcoholism, the difficulties of getting and staying sober, the psychology of addiction, the nuances of AA, how relapses happen and how to avoid them, the brutal impact of addictio...

Matthew Segall is Assistant Professor in the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and is an expert of German Idealism and the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. Matthew joins Breht for a wide-ranging conversation on the philosophy of Aflred Whitehead, pan-experientialism, dialectics, organic realism, Marxism, Buddhism, materia...

Chase from Faith and Capital and Breht from Rev Left Radio discuss religious mysticism and the maoist method of criticism and self-criticism. In the end, they connect their religious and spiritual traditions to this method forged through revolutionary struggle. Timeline: 00:01 -- mysticism 01:02:40 -- criticism and self-criticism 01:32:45 -- Buddhism and Christianity mirroring criticism and self-c...

John J. Mearsheimer, the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor in Political Science and Co-director of the Program on International Security Policy at the University of Chicago, assesses the causes of the present Ukraine crisis, the best way to end it, and its consequences for all of the main actors. A key assumption is that in order to come up with the optimum plan for ending the cr...

Members of Brooklyn Eviction Defense (BED) join Breht to discuss their organizing, housing justice, slumlords, the pandemic and moritoriums, what housing could look like under socialism, their confrontations with the paid muscle of landlords, the Eric Adams administration, stoop watches, and much, much more. Learn more about, contact, and support BED: https://brooklynevictiondefense.org/en/ Outro...

Tai Lee joins the show to discuss feminist theory, marxist v. liberal feminism, patriarchal realism, gender abolition, historical and dialectical materialism, why the "gender critical" movement is fundamentally anti-Marxist, key feminist thinkers, and much more! Follow Tai on Twitter: https://twitter.com/yungz0rn Check out Tai's writing: https://taiencounter.substack.com/p/toward-a-revolutionary-f...

In this episode, Breht (while acknowledging this is a fluid situation that can change on a dime) gives his thoughts on the recent invasion of Ukraine, the role that US-led NATO has played in bringing us to this point, what China is (probably) thinking, what Putin's goals might be, the role Nazis play in all of this, the response from the Ukrainian and Russian masses, and how we should think and ta...