Marxist Voice

Did Napoleon change history? Did Lenin make the Russian Revolution? Or do individuals simply express much deeper historical forces?Jack Tye Wilson tackles one of the biggest questions in Marxist theory: the relationship between the individual and society. This episode explains how history is really made, and why understanding this matters for revolutionaries today.

The Frankfurt School has had an enormous influence on universities, culture and much of the modern left. But how does Critical Theory compare with the Marxist method?Daniel Morley examines the ideas of Adorno, Horkheimer and Marcuse, explaining where they came from, why they became so influential, and why Marxists reject their philosophical and political conclusions.

Trade wars, inflation, recession, debt and protectionism; the world economy has entered a new and unstable period. But why?Adam Booth explains the laws governing capitalism in the imperialist epoch, drawing on Marx, Lenin and Trotsky to explain why the system has entered an era of crisis, conflict and revolutionary upheaval.If you want to understand the world economy through the lens of Marxism, this is the place to start.

Silvia Federici has become one of the most widely read ‘socialist feminists’ of the last fifty years. But is her explanation of women's oppression Marxist, and does it work? Sarah Vedrovitch examines Federici's ideas on housework, social reproduction and the origins of capitalism, comparing them with the revolutionary conclusions of Marx and Engels on freeing women. Frederici imagines she is building on Marx and Engels, looking at capitalism through a lens forgotten by orthodox Marxists. But is this actually true? Books to delve deeper: Origins of the Family, Private Property and the State, The fall of woman, Women, Family and the Russian Revolution 

Marx and Engels didn't develop their ideas in a vacuum. They built on centuries of philosophical development, including the ideas of the English materialists.Georgina Ryan explores how thinkers like Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke challenged religious explanations of the world and helped lay the foundations for modern science and, ultimately, Marxism. At the same time, she explains why Marxism goes beyond the limitations of mechanical materialism.