The Socialist Program

On today's episode Walter Smolarek and Prof. Richard  Wolff discuss the Biden administration's announcement that Federal  Reserve chairman Jerome Powell would be renominated for a second term.  Powell, a former finance capitalist who has headed the Fed since 2018,  was the Wall Street favorite for the job. What role has Powell played in  the management of U.S. capitalism?...

On today's In the News roundtable, Esther Iverem, Nicole  Roussell and Walter Smolarek discuss how the menace of racist vigilante  violence received a dramatic boost by the U.S. court system with the  acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse on all charges. They also discuss how  protesters took to the streets in outraged response to the verdict, the  victory of pro-Revolution candid...

How does the relentless U.S. war machine sell its operations to the public? Dr. Nazia Kazi, an activist and professor of Anthropology at Stockton University, explains how the managers of the U.S. empire foment Islamophobia and other racist ideas at home as an integral part of waging war abroad. Dr. Kazi challenges theories of racism that ignore U.S. foreign policy, and discusses how Islamophobia h...

On today's episode Brian and Prof. Richard Wolff discuss  the steepest rise in prices in the last 30 years, which has set off  alarm bells and handed politicians like Joe Manchin a convenient excuse  to deepen their opposition to pro-worker social programs. Where does  inflation come from in a capitalist economy? What effect does it have on  the working class and on the ca...

On today's In the News roundtable, Brian Becker, Esther Iverem, Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek discuss a newly-revealed US war crime in Syria that took the lives of over 60 civilians, causing  shock and outrage around the world. They also discuss the trials of Kyle Rittenhouse and the killers of Ahmaud Arbery, CIA-orchestrated efforts to destabilize Cuba, the dangerous ris...

Watch the video version on BreakThrough News here: https://youtu.be/WUHHe6h8iXk What could be the final effort to resuscitate the Iran nuclear deal will begin this month with negotiators meeting in Vienna. The United States,  having violated and destroyed the deal under Trump, is now pushing for new concessions from Iran. This kind of arrogance is nothing new -- it has been the defining featu...

On today's In the News roundtable, Brian Becker, Esther Iverem, Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek discuss how tens of thousands of people marched in Glasgow and all over the world last weekend, chanting “uproot the system!” and demanding the transformation of the world economy to combat the climate crisis. They also discuss developments with the social program budget, the trial of the killers of...

Since 1959, the Cuban Revolution has been a main target of the CIA and the entire U.S. government. Before the Revolution, Cuba was a de facto colony or semi-colony of the United States. Today, efforts to carry out counter-revolution are intensifying. Cuba is in the crosshairs -- what’s at stake? Listen to our inaugural episode as part of BreakThrough News! Brian is joined by Manolo De Los Santos,...

World leaders are gathered in Glasgow, Scotland for a major United Nations conference on climate change. But beyond the false promises and hollow phrases, what will it really take to pull the planet back from the brink of total disaster? What can prevent the capitalists from killing the planet? Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can che...

On today's "In the News" roundtable, Brian Becker, Esther Iverem, Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek discuss the Glasgow climate summit and  Biden's capitulation to the right wing on his social program budget. The Glasgow summit is underway, and yet again the U.S. government has failed to meet the challenge -- coming up with only the woefully inadequate measures contained in Biden’s social s...

In this October 2021 patrons-only seminar, Brian and the crew discuss the Biden administration's "Build Back Better" budget bill and answer a  range of questions, from the efficacy of civil disobedience, to how to organize against the military industrial complex, and more. Check out the preview now and subscribe at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram to hear the rest!

On today's episode, Brian and Ju-Hyun Park discuss the rising tide of labor activism in South Korea demanding not only economic and social justice for workers, but also an expansion of democracy. Braving violent police repression, half a million workers in South Korea went on strike last week in a major show of force. The unfolding political and social struggles in South Korea will have a far-reac...

On  today's episode Brian and Prof. Richard Wolff discuss how the Federal  Reserve has been forced to announce new ethics rules after a scandal  over financial trading conducted by high-ranking officials led to the  resignation of two regional bank presidents. But will this really  prevent Fed officials from using their positions of power to get rich? Profes...

On today's "In the News" roundtable, Brian Becker, Esther Iverem, Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek discuss how Biden is giving away more and more in backroom negotiations with right wing Democrats in Congress like Joe Manchin, imperiling the most important measures in the social program budget. They also discuss resistance to the coup in Sudan, the latest on right wing attacks on education, new...

Today's episode is the second in a multi-part series on Lenin's theory of imperialism and how his ideas apply to the modern day struggle  against war and empire. Brian Becker and Walter Smolarek discuss how nearly the entire globe was divided up by the imperialist powers by the end of the 19th century as part of the expand-or-die nature of the capitalist system. The imperialists then turned t...

On today's episode Brian and Prof. Richard Wolff discuss the Pandora Papers -- the massive leak of financial information exposing how the rich and powerful hide their assets in tax havens around the world. How does this institutionalized system of tax evasion function? What does this tell us about how the capitalist system works? Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organiz...

On today's "In the News" roundtable, Brian Becker, Esther Iverem, Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek discuss the criminal lengths that capitalists in the United States will go to make a profit, from scamming working class borrowers to extorting tax payers for subsidies and so much more. We’ll also discuss the death of Colin Powell and his legacy, right wing Democrats aiming to block passage...

As the U.S. government makes a series of aggressive moves, could moves by the Taiwanese government towards a declaration of independence spark a war with China? Brian and Prof. Ken Hammond also discuss the essential historical background left out by the corporate media, explaining how Taiwan was carved away from the rest of China at the conclusion of the civil war in 1949 with the sponsorship of U...

On today's episode Prof. Richard Wolff joins the show to discuss  major developments in the labor movement as workers grow increasingly  assertive of their rights. Members of the International Alliance of  Theatrical Stage Employees voted almost unanimously  to authorize a strike that would shut down Hollywood, Kellogg’s factory  workers are on strike, and workers at Nabis...

On today's "In the News" roundtable, Brian Becker, Esther Iverem, Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek discuss Indigenous People's Day and the  true history of colonization and how healthcare industry capitalists are seeking to sabotage measures that would cut into their profits as they continue their war on the poor, the elderly and the sick. They also discuss how the far right has set its si...

On today's episode, Brian and Lee Camp discuss the latest revelations about the CIA's attempts to take revenge on Wikileaks for exposing the secret crimes of the U.S. government. This went as far as planning to assassinate Wikileaks' founder Julian Assange, who was at that point confined to the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Now in prison, the fight to free Assange continue...

On today's episode Brian and Prof. Richard Wolff discuss the massive scale of the eviction crisis and the urgent need for struggle in the face of this threat. While billionaires saw their wealth dramatically expand over the course of the pandemic and the government moved swiftly to bail out the rich, working class tenants accumulated crushing levels of rent debt. Now landlords are preparing to kic...

On today's "In the News" roundtable, Brian Becker,  Esther Iverem, Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek discuss how the battle in Congress over the fate of major social programs to address the needs of the people and the planet continues after the House progressive caucus blocked passage of a physical infrastructure bill to  counter efforts by right wing Democrats to kill the much larger...

In this September 2021 patrons-only seminar, Brian and the crew discuss the how socialism can be achieved in the United States and how  revolutions happen, how to organize against imperialist war including from within the ranks of the military, and the internal contradictions of the U.S. government that are preventing Congress from addressing the dire needs of the people. Check out the previe...

Today's episode is the first in a multi-part series on  Lenin's theory of imperialism and how his ideas apply to the modern day  struggle against war and empire. Brian Becker and Walter Smolarek  discuss Lenin's landmark work "Imperialism: The Highest Stage of  Capitalism". Far from being a series of mistaken policy choices, Lenin  proves that imperialism is a compulsory s...