Revolutionary Left Radio

Santi Elijah Holley joins Breht to discuss his book "An Amerikan Family: The Shakurs and the Nation They Created". For over fifty years, the Shakurs have inspired generations of activists, scholars, and music fans. Many people are only familiar with Assata Shakur, the popular author and thinker, living for three decades in Cuban exile; or the late rapper Tupac. But the branches of the Shakur family tree extend widely, and the roots reach into the most furtive and hidden depths of the underground. Whether founding one of the most notorious Black Panther chapters in the country, spearheading community-based healthcare, or engaging in armed struggle with systemic oppression, the Shakurs were at the forefront.   Drawing from hundreds of hours of personal interviews, historical archives, court records, transcripts, and other rare documents, An Amerikan Family tells the complete and often devastating story of Black America’s long struggle for racial justice and the nation’s covert and repressive tactics to defeat

Alyson and Breht discuss the recent rulings by the Supreme Court, a wildly anti-democratic, thoroughly corrupt, and staunchly reactionary institution that the American right has spent years and billions of dollars capturing in order to impose its minoritarian rule on an American majority that firmly rejects what they stand for. And they do it all without having to worry for even a second about pesky things getting in their way: like democracy, human rights, or basic accountability to the American people. 

ORIGINALLY RELEASED Jun 18, 2021 Kristen R. Ghodsee returns to the show, this time to discuss the life, work, and legacy of the famous Marxist Feminist Alexandra Kollontai. We discuss her life, her radicalization, her relationship with other famous revolutionaries, her role in the October Revolution, her enduring contributions to feminism, Marxism, and proletarian history, and much, much more.  Check out Kristen's work here: https://kristenghodsee.com/ Check out AK-47, Kristen's podcast dedicated to Kollontai here: https://kristenghodsee.com/podcast Here are all the previous episodes of RLR that Kristen has been a guest on: Red Hangover: https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/red-hangover-legacies-of-20th-century-communism-w-dr-kristen-r-ghodsee International Women's Day: https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/womens-day Women Behind the Iron Curtain: https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/women-under-socialism Outro Music: "Blame Game" by Beach Bunny   Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon

ORIGINALLY RELEASED Dec 29, 2019 On this episode of Rev Left Radio, Zoe Samudzi returns to the show to reflect on the life, art, politics, and legacy of the one and only Nina Simone. Check out Zoe and her work here: http://www.zoesamudzi.com/ Follow Zoe on Twitter @ztsamudzi Listen to Zoe's other appearances on Rev Left here: - https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/critical-race-theory-and-black-liberation-w-zo-samudzi - https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/black-feminism-and-queer-theory-w-zoe-samudzi   Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio

ORIGINALLY RELEASED Apr 20, 2019 What is to be Done? is a classic work on the role and organisation of the revolutionary party in the communist movement. Lenin criticises economism, revisionism and spontaneity, and argues persuasively for a centralised and professional vanguard of the proletariat. On this episode of Red Menace Alyson and Breht explain and reflect on the text, and then extract the core lessons for revolutionaries today.  What Is To Be Done? by V.I. Lenin Full text here: https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1901/witbd/ The video episode can be found on youtube at: https://youtu.be/1lRM_fsjanE -------- A very special thank you goes out to our Patreon supporters like:  Zachary Stueland, Anton Pannekoek, Dillon Bussard, Dylan, HN, Das Chunk, Terrence Major, Walter Jay Gunn Please Rate and Review Red Menace on iTunes. This dramatically helps increase our reach. Support the Show and get access to bonus content on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/TheRedMenace  Follow us on Twitter @T

ORIGINALLY RELEASED May 16, 2020 A.M. Glittlitz joins Breht to talk about the Trotskyist sub-tendency of Posadism and discuss his new - and genuinely fascinating - book "I Want to Believe: Posadism, UFOs, and Apocalypse Communism" Check out more of Glittlitz's work  Follow him on Twitter And check out his podcast  Outro music 'UFOF' by Big Thief   LEARN MORE ABOUT REV LEFT RADIO: www.revolutionaryleftradio.com

ORIGINALLY RELEASED Jul 13, 2019 Matt Soener, an economic sociologist, joins Breht to discuss the Great Recession of 2008. Here is the GoFundMe account for Kreetay Briggs Jr., a 12 year old boy hit by a stray bullet while he was playing on a beach: https://www.gofundme.com/f/35gjf-shooting-victim?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fb_dn_cpgnstaticsmall_r   Outro Music: White Male Carnivore by Yak Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio

ORIGINALLY RELEASED Feb 11, 2019 For the debut episode of Red Menace Alyson and Breht discuss Socialism: Utopian and Scientific by Friedrich Engels. The video episode can be found on youtube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKdxX5eqQyk Outro Music by Adia Victoria - Invisible Hands Check out and support her beautiful music here: http://www.adiavictoria.com

ORIGINALLY RELEASED Jan 14, 2020 Prof. Todd McGowan, author of "Capitalism and Desire: The Psychic Costs of Free Markets" and co-host of "Why Theory", returns to the show to talk with Breht about Marxism and Psychoanalysis, Freud, Lacan, Death Drive, Desire, the fundamental sense of Lack at the core of our psyches, and much more!  Check out Todd's book here: http://cup.columbia.edu/book/capitalism-and-desire/9780231178723 Check out Todd's podcast Why Theory here: https://player.fm/series/why-theory Outro music: 'Bowl of Oranges' by Bright Eyes Find more of this music here: https://saddle-creek.com/collections/bright-eyes ------------------- Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio    

ORIGINALLY RELEASED Feb 24, 2019 Chuka Ejeckam joins Breht to discuss and pay homage to the Black Panther Party leader and Marxist Revolutionary, Fred Hampton. Find and support Chuka and his work here: http://www.chukaejeckam.com/ Follow him on twitter @ChukaEjeckam Outro music by: Dead Prez - Food, Clothes, Shelter Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio

ORIGINALLY RELEASED Jul 25, 2019 On this episode of Red Menace Alyson and Breht discuss On Contradiction by Mao Full text here: https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-1/mswv1_17.htm Video version of this episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNnqmbRhcBQ   Check out Bad Mouse’s complementary video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k46uaDvnoYE   Outro Music by K. Flay - The President Has A Sex Tape ------- Support Red Menace, and get up to three bonus episodes a month, here: https://www.patreon.com/TheRedMenace  

ORIGINALLY RELEASED Jul 28, 2018 John from Working Class History joins Brett to discuss the Spanish Civil War! This is a long-anticipated episode on a deeply important and relevant historical event. We spent a LOT of time editing and producing this episode, so we hope you find it informative as well as genuinely moving.  Follow Working Class History on all the major social media sites! Here is the reading guide from WCH on the Spanish Civil War: https://libcom.org/library/spanish-civil-war-1936-39-reading-guide   Their Spanish Civil War merch store is here: https://working-class-history.myshopify.com/collections/spanish-civil-war   Their website is here: https://workingclasshistory.com   Their podcast is here: https://soundcloud.com/workingclasshistory   Outro Songs: Bitter Old Man and Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of Your Fist; both songs by Ramshackle Glory! Go support their music here: https://ramshackleglory.bandcamp.com Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio

ORIGINALLY RELEASED Jun 21, 2020 Alex Aviña returns to RLR to discuss the Haitian Revolution! Alexander Aviña is an associate professor of Latin American history in the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies at Arizona State University. His book, "Specters of Revolution: Peasant Guerrillas in the Cold War Mexican Countryside" , was awarded the Maria Elena Martínez Book Prize in Mexican History for 2015 by the Conference on Latin American History. Outro music 'Africa Hot!'  by Dead Prez and DJ Green Lantern Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio  

  ORIGINALLY RELEASED Feb 3, 2022 In this episode, Alyson and Breht introduce, teach, and discuss the philosphy of two giants in western philosophy: Arthur Schopenhaur and Friedrich Nietzsche.  They discuss their respective philosophies, how they relate, how they differ, the subsequent thinkers and movements they inspired or influened, their relation to politics right, left and center, their connection to eastern philosophies and religions, and much more!  Support Red Menace: https://www.patreon.com/TheRedMenace

ORIGINALLY RELEASED Apr 4, 2020 Listen to the full Red Menace episode (from which this segment was extracted) here:  https://redmenace.libsyn.com/economic-and-philosophic-manuscripts-of-1844-karl-marx Support Red Menace and get access to bonus monthly content on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/TheRedMenace Outro music '9-5ers Anthem' by Aesop Rock   Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio

ORIGINALLY RELEASED Dec 9, 2019  Danny Haiphong, co-author of American Exceptionalism and American Innocence: A People's History of Fake News--From the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror,joins Breht for a long, in-depth conversation about the stories that America tells itself about itself, and why those stories are false. We cover so many topics and ideas that its impossible to summarize them all here, so check it out yourself! Check out Danny's work at the Black Agenda Report here: https://www.blackagendareport.com/author/Danny%20Haiphong Follow Danny on Twitter @SpiritOfHo  Outro music: 'Craazy' by Rebel Diaz (feat. C-Rayz Walz) Check out and Support Rebel Diaz here: https://rebeldiaz.com/ Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio  

David from Anarchospirituality joins Breht to discuss Buddhism, Anarchism, Marxism, and more! After an introduction section, David gives a talk on Buddhism and Anarchism, and then he and Breht discuss the talk before launching into a wide-ranging discussion on anarchism v. marxism, Kropotkin, the Buddhist conception of Karma, individual and collective improvement and struggle, Darwinian evolution, differences between western and eastern approaches to spirituality, the question of revolutionary violence within Buddhism, and much more!     Learn more about Anarchospirituality and his work HERE   Check out Turn Leftist's interview HERE   Check out Breht's talk on Buddhism and Marxism HERE   Check out Red Menace's episode on Conquest of Bread HERE   Outro music: "LIFE" by Saba   Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio

In this second installment of our three-part series on Friedrich Engels' famous work "The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State", Alyson and Breht discuss chapters 4, 5, and 6 titled "The Greek Gens", "The Rise of the Athenian State", and "the Gens and the State in Rome" respectively. Together they summarize the chapters, and then launch into a discussion on the main themes and lessons from this section of the text! 00:15 Intro 1:08 Summary 33:50 Discussion   Check out Red Menace's first installment on this text here: https://redmenace.libsyn.com/the-origin-of-the-family   Support Rev Left, and get up to three bonus episodes a month, here: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio  

Professors James Crossley and Robert J. Myles join Breht to discuss their fascinating work "Jesus: A Life in Class Conflict" put out by Zero Book.  Together, they discuss their application of historical materalism to the life of Jesus, the difficulty of studying and sourcing the ancient past, the gospels and what they offer (as well as how they differ from one another), the mode of production and major classes of Jesus' era, John the Baptist and his ideological influence on the Jesus Movement, Jewish Millenarianism, Jesus' crucifiction, the Jesus Movement after Jesus' execution (and purported resurrection), and much more!      Robert's website: https://www.robertjmyles.com/   James' website: https://censamm.org/about/people/crossley   Robert's Twitter: @robertjmyles   Robert's Substack: https://robertjmyles.substack.com/   James' work on John Ball and the English uprising of 1381: https://johnball1381.org/     Outro music: "All My Tears" by Ane Brun   Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/R

Professor and author Kristen R. Ghodsee returns to Rev Left to discuss her newest book "Everyday Utopia: What 2,000 Years of Wild Experiments Can Teach Us About the Good Life". Together, her and Breht discuss intentional communities, social experiments, what utopia even means in this context, scientific v. utopian socialism, criticisms of the nuclear family and the socialist alternative, the function of student debt in modern america, the relationship between religious and spiritual orientations and radial social experimentation, public education, evolutionary biology, and more!   Check out the book here: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Everyday-Utopia/Kristen-R-Ghodsee/9781982190217   Check out previous Rev Left episodes with Kristen here: https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/size/5/?search=ghodsee   Kristen's website: https://kristenghodsee.com/   The AK47 podcast created and hosted by Kristen: https://kristenghodsee.com/podcast   Outro music: "Kill in a Heartbeat" by Danger, Moth   Support