Marx Engels Institute

This week I speak to Slava, a comrade from the Chicago Workers School.  We cover a lot about recent Ukrainian history, the role of anti-communist propaganda and the actions of US imperialism.  

Recently I spoke to the Editor in Chief and founder of the In Defence of Communism website, Nikos Mottas. We covered a number of issues including the death of the arch traitor Gorbachev, the decline of the USSR and the failure of the left in Greece during the Syriza government. Be sure to check out the In Defence of Communism webiste for more details on Communist Parties and workers actions globally.

Last week I spoke to Steve Sweeney, formerly of the Morning Star now with Russia Today.  We covered a lot of ground from the death of  Gorbachev and it's impact to the reporting Steve has done from the  Syrian war and its many knock on effects around the region and the  world.   Be sure to follow Steve on twitter Episode image is of a US armoured column moving through US occupied Norther Syria

In this episode I interview prominent former Corbyn supporter and Labour MP  Chris Williamson.   We discuss his new book entitled "10 Years Hard Labour" and his experiences of being witch hunted out of the Labour Party, the failings of the Labour left, the McCarthyite expulsions of anti-imperialists and the capitulation of Corbyn.   Be sure to follow Chris on twitter @derbychrisw

This is an early release of what will be a 15 part publicly released  series covering an introduction to Marxism-Leninism.  The aim of this  will be to explain the fundamentals of scientific socialism.   This first episode covers the basics of Marxist view of how human societies develop throughout the different periods of history.   This will be a weekly show and you can find more details of it and a reading on our patreon page.

I recently spoke to the Sociologist Dr Ashley Frawley regarding her latest article in Compact Magazine in which she argues that the triumph of "trauma politics" is an anti working class phenomenon.   The conversation went to a number of interesting places including how we should all read more Hegel.  Be sure to read Ashley's article https://compactmag.com/article/how-trauma-politics-hurts-the-poor

Putin is moving troops to the Ukrainian border and calling in army reserves. Ukraine's comedian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stopped with the jokes and says that he is going to "recover" Crimea for real this time. Biden has put Russia on notice. We look at the recent escalation of aggression in Ukraine and answer the question on everyone's mind: Is WWIII finally going to start? The article we are reviewing: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russian-tanks-move-toward-ukraine-globe-braces-world-war-3

In a special episode @default_friend joins to discuss the family, relationships, trads and the dating world.   Follow @default_friend and be sure to subscribe to her substack Outro music - "If You Want Me To Stay" by Sly and the Family Stone

Financial Times has published an opinion piece "Central bankers’ crypto experiments should put investors on alert". We explain what Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are, why they are definitely going to happen and overtake other digital currencies including Bitcoin, and how the banking system is a huge scam (like the rest of capitalism). Article: https://www.ft.com/content/8356521a-0bb1-4a80-973b-a9c6d60a0f19

In episode we start with a look at the (wildly overhyped) Pro Act. We then move to a detailed discussion of the major themes of Lenins' "State and Revolution" and talk about why it's an essential work.

We speak about a recent article published in the Financial Times entitled "Bank of Japan wrestles with never-ending stimulus". Our discussion looks at the role of Central Banks in propping up decaying monopoly capitalism, why the Japanese working class has not fought back, the effects that hyper-financialization on Japanese society, and explain in detail how states, monopoly capitalism, and finance capital have completely melded to maintain the exploitation of the working-class. Some articles mentioned in the show: Bank of Japan wrestles with never-ending stimulus: https://www.ft.com/content/60c50f7e-b5df-4df3-9481-6159ca405865 Free access to article copied in a comment on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/finance/comments/m650g6/bank_of_japan_wrestles_with_neverending_stimulus/gr48rbi/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 The Class War in Japan: https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/sections/britain/periodicals/communist_review/1922/08/class_war_japan.htm What’s the Fed doing in response to the COVID-19 crisis? What more could it do?: https://www.brookings.edu/research/fed-response-to-covid19/

We look at the issue of borders, using how capitalists use borders within the context of monopoly capitalism. We demonstrate how the contending bourgeois stances of "open" or "restricted" border control makes no sense.

Has Biden reinstituted the New Deal? Social Democracy? Hoxhaism USA?  Or has the much heralded stimulus bill really just another example of the needs of capital being addressed and the left playing salesman for it?  Alex & Leila dive into this and why this has to be seen as another example of dominance of finance capital and the need for the state to act as it's stabiliser.   Outro Music - Ewan Maccoll - The Ballad of Accounting

In this episode our hosts delve into the Meghan Markle scandal and see it as one more piece of evidence of bourgeois decline and degeneracy.  They then turn to an analysis of the seminal work by Lenin "Imperialism - The Highest Stage of Capitalism" and use it's method to analyse our curretn situation.   Outro Music - Ewan Maccoll - The Ballad of Accounting

With Wall Street declaring that they want Covid over and done with by April Alex & Leila examine the states in the US reopening.  They reiterate the case against lockdowns, talk about the gigantic amount of bad science created in the last year and examine the "great reset" theory.   Outro music is "The Ballad of Accounting" - Written by Ewan Maccoll and performed by Maccoll and Peggy Seeger

Are we all all going to be replaced by artificial intelligence? Is the proletariat doomed to be consigned to history and replaced by the robot worker? What is the true state of automation and should we worry about it?  In this episode Alex & Leila dive into the world of capitalist innovation and explain why capitalism for all it's creative powers can never escape the need for workers.   Intro is taken from AT&T Archives - Seeing the Digital Future (1961)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avHo0-qU8xo Outro music is "Computer World" by Kraftwerk form the 1981 album "Computer World" - Composers - Hutter, Schneider, Hult & Bartos

In a special episode Alex & Leila look at the US bombing raid on Syria and examine the history of the war on Syria.  Including a look at the main factions, the history of US and British involvement and pro-imperialist stance taken by much of the US and British left.

In this weeks episode Alex and Leila look at the role of labour unions under captialism, the contraditions that define them, their inherent limitations and why they are still crucial vehicles for class struggle.   The intro and outro to this episode features clips from the Thames Televisions documentary "Arthurs Scargill - Miners" from 1974.  The documentary can be viewed here

In this weeks episode Alex & Leila examine the parlous and decaying state of culture under capitalism in a discussion that ranges from a defence of brutalist acrhitecture to the novels of Isaac Asimov and the cultural demands of the workers movement.

In this weeks episode Alex & Leila examine the reaction of teachers unions in the US, Britain and Canada.  We also look at the class position of teachers with regard to the wider working class, why the teachers unions reactions on school closures have been so wrong and represent a betrayal of working class families.