This Wreckage

It's been four years since the demise of Sandersism in the United States. It's been two years since the COVID-19 crisis upended society and Russia invaded Ukraine. Socialist politics is, if anything, even more fractured and impotent than it was last decade. What do we make of the deep melancholy gripping politics today? How have the various political solutions on offer been delegitimated? And why...

Sean and Andy are joined by Reid Kane to discuss the tortured legacy of the Socialist Party of America. Why doesn't the United States have a nominally working class party like the UK, where unions formed the institutional base for an independent party? How come state repression was so effective in undermining working class self-organization in the early-20th century? In which ways did the Old Left...

Sean is joined by friend of the show, Ted Reese , to discuss his brand new book: Abundant Material Wealth for All . How does Henryk Grossman's breakdown theory help us understand the economics and politics of this current moment? In what ways are crisis tendencies affecting the United States and the UK? What type of program should socialists offer as a way out of the crisis? Join us in fleshing ou...

For the tenth episode of our series about the revolutionary culture of the sixties , Andy talks to China scholar Ralf Ruckus about the Cultural Revolution in China, during which large factions of youth competed to renew and complete the revolutionary vision of Mao. The result was a seizure of power by the PLA and an estimated 2.8 million death between 1966-1976. For more episode of Armed Love , an...

We report on our visits to pro-Palestine encampments and take listener questions Join our Discord community by signing up to our Patreon! http://patreon.com/theantifada Check out the ILC BBQ in McCarren park in Williamsburg 3-7 followed by a party/screening at Woodbine: https://www.instagram.com/p/C6Rj8UzuoYs/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== First We Take Columbia text: https...

Boris and Rey from the anti-nationalist Empire Never Ended podcast and Antipolitika journal chat about the far rights in the US and ex-Yugoslavia, the legacy of Balkan nationalism, cursed Balkan Youtube comments and Greater Idaho. For the full episode, support the show at http://patreon.com/theantifada Empire Never Ended patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tenepod Antipolitika journal: Read: https://...

And(y) & And(ers) smoke a hash joint and read selections from the "Protocols of Drug Experiments" in which German Marxist philosopher Walter Benjamin ate a hash edible and wandered around Marseille being weird. For the full episode subscribe at http://patreon.com/theantifada PDF: https://anarch.cc/uploads/walter-benjamin/on-hashish.pdf New Yorker review of On Hashish: https://www.newyorker.com...

The communist milieu lost a titan last week. Our kind friend and mentor, Loren Goldner (1949-2024), passed away on Friday, April 12th 3:00am, at age of 76. As a tribute to his life and legacy we were able to gather a handful of people who were close to him to share stories, memories and inspirations. Special thanks to Arya Zahedi, Zhana Kurti, Jarrod Shanahan, Joe Lombardo, Ross Wolfe and Billy O'...

Enjoy this blast from the distant pass: January 2023! Check out all the other Histories is a Weapon on our patreon In light of the depressing denouement of 2022's railroad conflict, Sean and Matt sit down, in person at last, to discuss the deep history behind how American organized labor got so disorganized and why the labor movement hasn't moved in decades. Why was it that, in the United States,...

Part 2 of our discussion with Middle East scholar Arya Zahedi of Insurgent Notes about the essay Class Struggle, Autonomy, and the State in Iran from Ill Will Editions. He talks about the uprisings in Iran, including the murder of Mahsa Amini , and his feelings about Iran's role in the proxy wars surrounding the siege of Gaza. Full episode available at http://patreon.com/theantifada Read the essay...

Middle East scholar Arya Zahedi of Insurgent Notes discusses his new essay Class Struggle, Autonomy, and the State in Iran from Ill Will Editions. In part 1, he talks about what the left gets wrong about Iran and its political history through the 1979 revolution, hostage crisis, and counterrevolution. For Part 2 of the episode, about the uprisings against the Islamic Republic and expanding conflic...

Anselm Jappe is a professor of philosophy, former member of the Krisis Group, and author of the newly-translate book THE SELF-DEVOURING SOCIETY: CAPITALISM, NARCISSISM, AND SELF-DESTRUCTION with Eric-John Russell. The book’s tagline is: “Everyone can feel that the world is getting angrier. The Self-Devouring Society provides an original and rigorous explanation of why.” Buy the book from Common No...

For the first ever edition of Party Girls Zine Club, Sam and Jamie discuss Inhabit: Instructions for Autonomy, a 2018 broadside (or little orange book, if you will) from Inhabit, which is not a mere media project, but "a collectively and anonymously written strategy emerging from a network of autonomous projects across North America." What do we make of Inhabit's steps to revolution? Why present s...

IfNotNow activist Ignacio Choi chats about the Pro-Palestine movement, which has, like Finkelstein and Rabbani , won the debate within the framework of international law and human rights. But how far does that get us, and where else could the movement go? In the bonus we talk about Israel's leftwing defenders in Germany and the US. For the full episode subscribe at http://patreon.com/theantifada I...

Sean and Varn return with part four of their series on nationalism and the nation state. This episode is about the vexing questions of class and nation that arose in the 20th century and are unresolved today. Why did both the reformist and revolutionary wings of the classical workers movement turn towards state developmentalism? How did really existing class develop to conflict with Marxist theori...

NEWS EP! We discuss Aaron Bushnell, voting uncomitted and hopelessness, UAW and Starbucks union victories, the MTA wildcat strike and working-class demands for safety.  For the full discussion become a patron today at www.patreon.com/theantifada Sign up or upgrade your membership at the discounted $10/month annual membership and DM your mailing address on Patreon for a free postage paid copy...

Sean is joined by political theorist William Roberts to discuss his excellent 2017 book, Marx's Inferno: The Political Theory of Capital which excavates not just Marx's use of the structure of Dante's Inferno but the radical political theory that undergirds it. What is the relationship between the analysis in Capital and the debates within the workers movement of the time typified by the likes of...

Sean and Andy are joined by Mike Macnair, member of the Provisional Central Committee of the Communist Party of Great Britain, columnist at Weekly Worker and author of Revolutionary Strategy (2008) and many other works. We discuss the legacy of Marxist political movements of the 19th and 20th centuries, the role of the party, the importance of patience and republicanism to the working class strugg...

NEWS EPISODE! We talk about the crisis of liberalism in the US and worldwide through the context of the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, the formation of BRICs as a challenge to US-based global order, the economic spiral of Germany and China, class war at the border, and betrayal of every millennial's favorite grocery store. For the full episode, sign up on patreon! If you sign up at the at th...

Sean and Varn return with part three of their series on nationalism and the nation state. This episode is about the only really existing internationalism left: the capitalist infrastructure of globalization. Special emphasis is made of the history of state formation in the Middle East as it pertains to the current conflict. In the second half, the discussion turns to the rise and decay of what is...

Sean and Andy finish reading Settlers, Chapters 13 and 14 For the full episode, support us on patreon: http://patreon.com/TheAntifada + Sign up or upgrade your membership at the discounted $10/month annual membership and DM your mailing address on Patreon for a free postage paid copy of the PM Press George Floyd Uprising book, with contributions by Andy and many past and future friends of the show...

Ex-Militant of the Homosexual Front of Revolutionary Action (FHAR) Lola Mieseroff is our guest on this installment of the Antifada sideproject on the revolutionary culture of the sixties. We talk about growing up in gay South France in the sixties, her experience in May '68 and after, the resonance of Stonewall, what it meant to be a pro-situ and her run-in, with Debord, the revolutionary politics...

In part two of our discussion on the essay Forest and Factory , we foray into fourierism and the whimsical world of life under global communism. Topics include: the mushroom mafia, nomadic pleasure duels, gender orgies, capitalist fantasy camp, and communist santa! For the full episode, sign up on patreon! If you sign up at the at the discounted $10/month annual membership a nd DM your address on...

What will production, consumption, supply chains, and climate policy on a global scale look like under communism? Phil Neel and Nick Chavez has published a compelling vision of the future in their Endnotes essay Forest and Factory Also check out Nick Chavez's piece Technical Expertise and Communist Production in Brooklyn Rail For part 2 of the episode , sign up on patreon! If you sign up at the at...

News episode! We start 2024 by talking about Houthis and global shipping, the Uniparty, the Harvard presidency, and the backlash against Pro-Palestinian protesters as part of the broader backlash against progressive liberalism. *NEW YEARS PROMOTION! * Sign up or upgrade your membership at the discounted $10/month annual membership and DM your address on Patreon for a free postage paid copy of the...