Marx Engels Lenin Institute posts
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Q&A For May
This is the first in what will be at least three programmes tackling all your questions and comments from the last few months.In this episode I answer questions on the Katyn massacre and the usage of the term "military industrial complex".The next episode will be out later this week.Outro is 'Farewell Germany' a Soviet Victory Day songEpisode Artwork is the work 'Ivanets Flax' by the Soviet Belarusian Artist Leonid Dmitrie...
*Early Release* - Interview With Carlos Garrido
Carlous Garrido, founder and editor of Midwestern Marx, joins us again. This time we are discussing his new book "The Purity Fetish and the Crisis of Western Marxism".This is an early release for patrons. The episode will be on general release at the end of this week.Outro music is 'John Browns Body' as performed by Jim Knable
From Kabul To Kiev - Interview With Kit Klarenberg
Kit Klarenberg returns to the progreamme to talk about his recent article for Mint Press News which covers the collapse of the US trained and quipped Afghan army.We take in the levels of delusion within the government of Ashraf Ghani, the enormous fraud carried out by many "contractors" and the similarities to Ukraine. Along the way we also take in the Balkan wars and how the Bosnians were manipulated and then discarded by US imperialism....
Possible Endgames
In this episode I look over (again) what brought us to this point in the Ukraine war.In doing so I take in the arguments over the allegations of Russian imperialism, the provocations of the US, the disintegration of the EU and the role of our old friends, the mad dogs of Warsaw.Outro music is 'On Our Shoulders We Carry the Sun' a song from the DDR era.Episode artwork is entitled 'From A Mission' by the Soviet Russian artist Gennad...
Introduction To Marxism-Leninism Part 1 - The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism
This is the first episode of what will be an ongoing series entitled 'Intrduction To Marxist Leninism'.In this series I will be introudcing the key concepts of the Marxist-Leninist worldview by studying some classic texts from the great revolutionary thinkers of the last 200 years.In this first episode I look at the 1913 work by Lenin 'The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism'. It is one of the best introductions to ...
The April Theses
106 years ago Lenin addressed an all Russian meeting of delegates from the workers and soliders Soviets. At two meetings of this body he was to outline his own views on the development of and tasks of the Russian Revolution.This address, known as the 'April Theses' became the source of much of the work that Lenin and the Bolsheviks were to engage in culminating in the October Revolution of 1917.In this episode I examine what Lenin put for...
Commodified Rebellions
Capitalism requires it's political superstructure to be continually refreshed and reorganised to reflect it's need to find new ways to attack the working class. This is where the need for commodified rebellions comes in.In this programme I look at why this need arises and how the commodified rebellion has become a key part of bourgeois strategy in the 20th and 21st centuries.Music for this episode is 'Lenin Gave Us Light' a song f...
Offence and Counter Offence
In this episode we look over some of the key events of the recent week including the many rumours of the next Ukrainian/NATO counter offensive.We also look at why US imperialism has such a stranglehold over the European nations.Outro Music is '1st May' performed by Marc OgeretEpisode Artwork is 'The Bridge By The River' by the Soviet Russian artist Margarita Ruban
A Peoples Democratic History
This is the first episode in what will be a new series detailing the histories of the Peoples Democracies of Eastern Europe.In this introductory episode I look at the themes I'll be exploring throughout the coming series and general lessons that can be learned from a study of the Peoples Democracies.Episode Outro is 'The Anthem Of The Warsaw Pact'
What Happened To The Left?
"What Happened To The Left?" is a question that is asked often by many people who used to belong to the collective entity known as "the left". In this programme I attempt to answer that question and in order to do so I start off by defining what "the left" is. I go on to make the case that if you view things through the analytical framework of Marxism-Leninism then "the left" and the function it performs really has...
The Bolivarian Revolution and Anti-Imperialism - Interview With Joti Brar
In this weeks internview I speak with CPGB-ML Vice Chair Joti Brar about her recent visit to Caracas. We talk about the unfolding revolutionary process that is going on there, the masses continued support for a socialist future and their building of workers democratic organisations. We also discuss the recent meeting of the World Anti-Imperialist Platform held in Caracas and the declaration made by those parties attending. Outro Music is 'La ...
Can Russia Lose?
With the war between Russia and US imperialism now stretching into its second year we must ask "Can Russia Lose?"To consider this question we have to examine the latest from the battlefield then look more widely at the economic and political picture unfolding on a global basis.Outro music is "We Will Plant The Banner Of Victory In Taiwan" a song of the Chinese Communists in the later period of the Chinese revolutionary war against...
France Rises Up
As million of workers move into action against the Macron regime we ask several important questions. Are the syndicalists right? Will it be possible to return to the kind of concessions made by De Gaulle after 1968? Is it even possible or desirable to return to the welfare capitalist period? Most urgently of all though, why do we need to build Communist Parties anew with a clear understanding of these questions. Outro music is 'Quand fera-t-i...
Interview With Angie Jones
In this interview episode I speak with Angie Jones from the Youtube channel 'Terf Talk Down Under' about the recent protest staged by feminists in Australia against men being granted access to women only spaces, the perils of 'self ID' and much more. We talk about Angies political background within the Australian feminist and left movements, the growth of gender ideology in Australian public institutions and why she and other femi...
From Trotskyism To Marxist-Leninism Part 3
In the final part of this series I look at the Five Year Plans in the USSR, some of their achievements and how these must be regarded as part of a revolutionary process.I then turn to examine Trotsky's critique of industrialisation and how some of this made it's way into Khruschevite revisionism and Dengism.I conclude the episode by examing why I embraced Trotskyism in the first place why it became essential to reject it.Outro Music is &#...
Constraints and Crises
With the shotgun wedding of UBS and Credit Suisse along with the US governments intervention over Silicon Valley Bank another banking crisis may be upon us. But is this a new crisis or a renewal of an older one that began back in 2008? In this episode I explore why the need for US imperialism is to either find follow Andrew Mellons old advice to "liquidate capital, liquidate labor" to purge the system or to find new places to wage aggress...
Return To Perfidious Albion - Featuring Tara McCormack
In this episode we are joined by International Relations specialist Tara McCormack to talk about Britain, foreign policy and the always interesting topic of the rottenness of the British state.In a wide ranging coversation we cover the Shamina Begum case, the Manchester bombing of 2017, the Ukraine war, the war on terror and much more! So enjoy an excursion to perfidious Albion with two of it's disgruntled residents.Be sure to follow Tara on ...
Israeli Disintegration
What do the recent protests in Israel tell us about the Zionist state? Why has Netanyahu remained at the top of Israeli politics for 25 years? What does Zionist identity politics look like?In this episode I look at the slow disintegration of the Israeli state over the last 50 years and the role of Palestinian resistance in that.Outro music is the Palestinian Communist song 'Rising Against You, My Enemy'
From Trotskyism to Marxist-Leninism Part 2
In this second part of our latest series I look at three of the big international issues relating to the split between Trotskyism and Marxist-Leninism. I start with an examination of the Chinese Communists alliance with the Kuomintang and the critiques launched by Trotsky at the time. I then look at the (so called) third period of Comintern policy and the relationship this has with the KPD's struggle against the Nazis. The episode concludes b...
Georgia On My Mind - Interview With Donald Courter
Following the events in Georgia last week I spoke RT correspondent (and host of the Revolution Report) Donald Courter. He has been reporting from Tbilisi during the riots that were triggered by the governments attempt to pass a law regulating foreign controlled NGOs.We talk about the actual forces in play in Georgia, the long shadow of the 2008 war, former President Saakashvili and the turning of the country into a free market laboratory and the ...
On Color Revolutions
In light of the recent developments in Georgia the subject of, so called, color revolutions is being widely discussed again. In this episode I look at the origins of the color revolution strategy in places like Yugoslavia. I then turn to look at the development of this tactic by US imperialism through the 1990s and how this tactic is able to exploit the weaknesses of the post-soviet states. The failure of these attempts in Cuba, Iran, Venezuela a...
From Trotskyism to Marxist-Leninism Part 1
In this special episode I examine the factors that led to my own move from Trotskyism to Marxist-Leninism.In part one I look at the history of Trotsky himself as a man who repeatedly violated democratic centralism in the inner party debate of the 1920's.Part 2 will be out next week.Episode outro is 'The People and the Party' by The Ensemble of Mirdita produced during the Socialist period in Albania
Once Again On Scottish Nationalism
In this follow up episode on Scottish nationalism we examine some of the reasons why the British left has come to support this particular cause. The reasons range from the ridiculous notion that Scotland is somehow more "progressive" than southern England to the equally ridiculous opportunist reasononing of the Trotskyites. Many of the reasons are more about sounding "left" than they are about actually challenging British imperial...
On Russian Imperialism 1914 - 2014 - 2022
In this episode I revisit the question of whether Russia can be categorised as an imperialist nation. In doing so I work through Lenins definition of imperialism whilst looking at Tsarist imperialism and it's crucial differences to today. Along the way we encounter Trotsky getting the Balkan wars disastrously wrong and the power of the British imperialists over the old Russian bourgeoisie.Outro Music is 'For What Died The Sons of Roisin&#...
Ukraine Year One - Part One
As we reach the one year point of the Russian special military operation we begin a series of programmes looking back over the last year. In this programme we trace some of the origins of the collapse of Ukraine into being merely a colony of the USA. This involves going back to the end of the Soviet Union and development of capitalism and the post Soviet states in both Russia and Ukraine. We also look at the political development of Putin himself...
Interview With Christian Parenti
Christian Parenti joins me for this episode to talk about his two recent articles Trump Against Empire & Will The Left Stand Up To The DeepstateWe had a wide ranging discussion covering how Trumps blundering and crude understanding of American capitalism led to him inadvertantly disrupting certain aspects of the US imperial management system.We also cover the vast expansion in the powers of the security state in the USA and how the brings into qu...
Duelling Speeches
In the first part of our analysis of President Putins speech to the Russian Federal Assembly we examine the part of the speech dealing with the Ukraine war and special military operation. This leads into a discussion of the class war that has been waged upon the Ukrainian working class by the oligarchy and why they turned to a coup when they couldn't get the EU agreement through in 2014. We then turn to look at old man Bidens ramblings in Pol...
Sturgeon Falls
In this special episode I look at the recent resignation of Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. What does this tell us about the state of the SNP? Could they have won a 2nd independence referendum? Why is the Scottish left so bought into the idea of independence? All these questions and more will be addressed in this episode. Due to the lenght of the episode there will be a second part of this released next week looking why petit-bourgeois n...
Paradoxes of Propaganda - Interview With Kit Klarenberg
Reporter for the Grayzone and Mint Press News, Kit Klarenberg returns to the programme today. We talk about the potential British involvement with the Nord Stream pipeline bombings and the Seymour Hersh story neglecting that angle. We then discuss the stitch up job that was done on the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The episode concludes with a discussion of the German "coup" plot and it's mysterious disappearance from the headlines. Th...
Nazism and Bourgeois Ideology
In this latest programme in our ongoing series on World War 2 I consider the question of Nazi ideology. Was Nazism a real deviation with bourgeois ideology at the time, as many later historians will claim. Or was Hitler drawing extensively from ruling class ideology at the time and just presenting this in a new way?Episode outro is Thälmann-Lied (Heimatland, reck deine Glieder) sung by the choir of the German Peoples ArmyEpisode Artwork is a of ...
