Spectre of Communism

RCI - www.marxist.com
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Are you a communist? Think we need a revolution? Tune into the official podcast of the Revolutionary Communist International, for communist theory, analysis and history, every week! Under the crisis-ridden capitalist system, humanity lurches from one disaster to another. War, poverty and precarity are facts of life for millions. Given the circumstances, it is no surprise that an unprecedented number of workers and young people are being drawn to the revolutionary banner of communism. But what does it mean to be a communist? What is the communist perspective on the most pressing questions facing humanity: like armed conflict, the climate crisis, technological development, inequality, and so on? In what philosophical and historical traditions do we stand? How do we answer typical right-wing objections to communism? The purpose of this podcast is to arm our listeners with the ideas and arguments necessary to defend the principles of communism, to win others over to a revolutionary perspective, and develop their own mastery of Marxist theory.

  1. How did Stalin and Mao fight imperialism?

    1 day ago

    How did Stalin and Mao fight imperialism?

    Imperialism threatens humanity. Our burning task is to overthrow it – but how? Many revolutionaries have turned to Mao and Stalin for answers, as they are associated with the biggest blows to imperialism in world history: the Russian and Chinese revolutions. But did Stalin and Mao really fight imperialism? And what would we have done differently? These are the questions we set out to answer in the latest episode of Spectre of Communism. As communists, we aim to learn the lessons of the past in order to conquer the future. In the 20th century, no lessons are more important and controversial than those of Stalinism and Maoism. On the one hand, they are associated with anti-imperialist liberation struggles. On the other, they are accused of betraying and undermining those same struggles in their own interests. Brushing aside the vicious lies and attacks of the capitalists, who use Stalin and Mao to slander communism in general, we invited Daniel Morley, member of the Executive Committee of the Revolutionary Communist Party, to set the record straight. 📺 Related episodes 📺 The truth about Mao and the Chinese Revolution – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXZR5t4Bo4k The Spanish Revolution and Civil War: A Complete Timeline – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjMcYaCMBSY Stalinism on trial – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JevkQNg98E 📖 Texts cited 📖 SPEECHES ON WAR AND PEACE AT A MEETING OF THE C.C. OF THE R.S.D.L.P.(B.). JANUARY 11 (24), 1918 – https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1918/jan/11.htm Out of the Night, Jan Valtin – https://files.libcom.org/files/2025-02/Out%20of%20the%20Night%20(Jan%20Valtin)%20(Z-Library).pdf The Third International After Lenin, Leon Trotsky – https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1928/3rd/index.htm West European Unity Against Hegemonism ls a Historical Necessity (Peking Review 1978 no.9 p.20) – https://www.marxists.org/subject/china/peking-review/1978/PR1978-09.pdf 📖 Recommended reading 📖 Stalinist land programme wins peasants – Chiang’s conscripts roped to prevent escape, by Ted Grant – https://marxist.com/ted-grant-china-jan-1949.htm Reply to David James, by Ted Grant – https://www.marxists.org/archive/grant/1949/james.htm On Imperialist War: Lenin Selected Writings – https://wellred-books.com/on-imperialist-war-lenin-selected-writings/ China: From Permanent Revolution to Counter-Revolution – https://wellred-books.com/china/ ⏱️ Timestamps ⏱️ 00:00:00 Introduction 00:00:59 Why are we so critical? 00:06:43 Comintern: Lenin, Trotsky and the Bolsheviks 00:17:38 Stalin, Zinoviev and the German Revolution 00:23:40 Socialism in One Country + Stalin's Foreign Policy 00:36:19 The Spanish Revolution + Popular Front 00:40:57 WWII 00:48:49 Stalin and the Founding of Israel 00:51:15 Mao's Foreign Policy and the Sino-Soviet Split 01:08:08 China and Western Europe (1960s–1970s) 01:15:00 The Indian Subcontinent 01:21:31 Southeast Asia 01:22:26 Angola 01:26:50 Conclusion 🫵 Join the Revolutionary Communist International: https://marxist.com/join-us.htm 📚 Marxist literature: https://wellred-books.com/ 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5JSs2U1TANlRkawQCH7luP?si=ec9ca883b8f940f0 📱 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/spectre-of-communism/id1659878020 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/revcomintern/ 💬 Twitter: https://x.com/revcomintern/

    1hr 34min
  2. The 1926 General Strike: Britain's revolution betrayed

    26 May

    The 1926 General Strike: Britain's revolution betrayed

    A stereotype holds that British workers have always been conservative and averse to radical class struggle. But a century ago, they waged a general strike that reached revolutionary proportions, threatening the very foundations of capitalist society. The Guardian newspaper declared on 10 May 1926: “It is just a week since Civil War was declared in this country. It is not a war of arms; it is not yet even a war of tempers; it is a trial of strength.” But the strike ended suddenly after 9 days: at its peak. What happened? Shamefully, little has been written to mark the centenary of the 1926 general strike, and the accounts that do exist completely misrepresent it in various ways. Right-wing historians say the unions were simply a ‘boil that needed lancing’ and the workers’ case was a hopeless one (despite the terror the strike struck into the hearts of the establishment at the time). Meanwhile, some left-wingers deny the workers were actually defeated! Which rather raises the question of why they were forced to accept brutal wage cuts, lengthened hours and targeting sackings, leading to a whole period of paralysis on the industrial front. The real story of the 1926 general strike reveals a tragic failure of leadership. Despite the immense power and courage of the British workers – who paralysed the country, established their own embryonic seats of power and even developed a rival press – they were ultimately sold out by the trade union leadership. This major episode in the British and world class struggle is full of lessons for class fighters today, at a time when the capitalist system is one more in an historic crisis and trying to force ordinary people to shoulder the burden. We are delighted to welcome onto the show Ben Gliniecki, General Secretary of the Revolutionary Communist Party and author of A Communist History of the British General Strike, to set the record straight. 📖 RECOMMENDED READING 📖 A Communist History of the British General Strike, Ben Gliniecki: https://wellredbooks.co.uk/product/a-communist-history-of-the-british-general-strike/ Accounts critiqued: The 1926 General Strike: revolutionary potential, reformist betrayal, and the lessons for today, Dylan Murphy: https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/1926-general-strike-revolutionary-potential-reformist-betrayal-and-lessons-today How the 1926 General Strike shaped trade union solidarity, Aslef general secretary David Calfe: https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/how-1926-general-strike-shaped-trade-union-solidarity “Their Greatest Effort Ever”: The British General Strike at 100, Cal Winslow: https://jacobin.com/2026/05/general-strike-britain-labor-history General Strike was 'the boil that needed lancing', BBC (citing David Torrance, author of ‘The Edge of Revolution: The General Strike that Shook Britain’): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c7057jy14j1o Reflections on the General Strike, 100 years on, Paul Nowak, General secretary of the Trades Union Congress: https://www.tuc.org.uk/blogs/reflections-general-strike-100-years

    1hr 37min
  3. How Adam Smith influenced Karl Marx

    28 Apr

    How Adam Smith influenced Karl Marx

    Did you know that Adam Smith, the poster child of free-market capitalism… was also a major influence on Karl Marx?  While Smith is celebrated today as the father of capitalism and Marx as the founder of communism, they are actually part of the same theoretical tradition of political economy. Unlike the lunatic libertarians and hired guns for capitalism who lay claim to Smith’s legacy today; in his day, he actually aimed to scientifically understand the workings of “commercial society”. Although the apologists of capitalism don't like to admit it, Smith identified labor – not trade or crafty entrepreneurs – as the true source of a nation's wealth. In so doing, he elaborated on the labor theory of value: the idea that a commodity's worth is determined by the labor required to produce it. But his analysis was incomplete and inconsistent, leaving him fundamentally unable to understand the mysteries of the burgeoning capitalist world, with all its inequality, chaos and crisis. By taking Smith's insights and pushing them to their logical conclusions, most notably by distinguishing between labor and labor-power, Marx unlocked the secret of profit: workers produce more value than they receive in wages, with the difference – surplus value – falling to the capitalist. By combining the labor theory of value with dialectical materialism, Marx revealed the fundamental laws governing capitalism and demonstrated why the system inevitably generates crises and exploitation.  In this episode of Spectre of Communism, Adam Booth (leading member of the Revolutionary Communist Party and co-author of Understanding Marx’s Capital) joins Joe Attard to explore how two seemingly opposed economists are connected. 📖 RECOMMENDED READING 📖 From Adam Smith to Karl Marx: The Wealth of Nations and Das Kapital https://marxist.com/from-adam-smith-to-karl-marx-the-wealth-of-nations-and-das-kapital.htm Understanding Marx's Capital https://wellredbooks.co.uk/product/understanding-marxs-capital/ ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS ⏱️ 0:00 — Intro — Who was Adam Smith? 8:56 — Division of labour 21:37 — The labour theory of value 43:58 — Exchange-value and price 55:04 — 'The invisible hand of the market' 1:00:36 — Profit and surplus value 1:12:44 — Decay of bourgeois economics 🌐 LINKS 🌐 ✊ Join the Revolutionary Communist International: https://marxist.com/join-us.htm 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/68nGNHz5lB8UZXICGIDMva?si=682ef70551644443 📱 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/against-the-stream/id1777793987 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/revcomintern/ 💬 Twitter: https://x.com/revcomintern/

    1hr 33min
  4. Imperialism in the 21st century – what Lenin would say today

    31 Mar

    Imperialism in the 21st century – what Lenin would say today

    Spectre of Communism – the theoretical podcast of the RCI – kicks off a new season by exploring one of the most fundamental and important topics of today: imperialism 💵First explained by Vladimir Lenin in his 1916 book of the same name, imperialism has come to define the past century. From countless wars to the economic dominance of giant monopolies, it has destroyed the lives of billions of people  🦅Much has changed since Lenin put pen to paper, but the core ideas and developments he described remain as relevant as ever. In fact, the parasitic features of imperialism have only become more pronounced, with monopolisation and the concentration of capital reaching truly obscene levels 📈Today, three asset management firms – BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street – control over $22 trillion in assets and hold major stakes in 88% of S&P 500 companies. The world's richest 1% own more wealth than 95% of humanity, while developing countries pay $487 billion to foreign lenders every single year. Meanwhile, the number of wars and conflicts is at its highest since the Second World War, as rivalry between the major imperialist powers intensifies 🧨In this episode, Joe Attard is joined by Jorge Martín, leading member of the RCI, to discuss why understanding imperialism is a prerequisite for fighting it. That means grasping concretely how imperialist conflicts are bound to unfold in the period ahead – and how the class struggle that imperialism creates will provide immense opportunities to strike blows against the capitalist system the world over ✊Tune in, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, so you don't miss any future episodes of Spectre of Communism 📺

    1hr 53min
  5. The Communist Manifesto Explained

    28/12/2025

    The Communist Manifesto Explained

    “A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of communism!” These immortal words from the Communist Manifesto (and the title of this podcast!) herald the most important piece of political literature ever written. In our final episode of the season, we go through the Manifesto chapter-by-chapter, and explain the ongoing relevance of this amazing document. In just a few dozen pages, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels describe the development and dynamics of capitalist society, explain the revolutionary role of communists, and issue a battlecry to the workers of the world. They draw the incredibly profound conclusion that the (written) history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles, a discovery that Engels later said had the same impact on political economy as Darwin’s theory of natural selection did on biology. While the Manifesto was written in 1847, in reality it more accurately describes the world of today! As Josh Holroyd, leading member of the Revolutionary Communist International, explains in our detailed chapter breakdown, the Manifesto predicts a world in which the entire population is made part of the capitalist machine, and periodically plunged into chaos by crises of overproduction. Marx and Engels fend off bourgeois slanders that communism crushes ‘freedom’ and would ‘make people lazy’. They point to the treacherous role of reformism, and teach communists how they should relate to the wider workers’ movement. And much more besides. These theoretical insights have only gained in relevance in the 150 years since the Manifesto was published. And in practice, the ideas contained in this text have transformed the course of world history, inspiring victorious revolutions and continuing to haunt the nightmares of the capitalists and their agents. We are delighted to end this season of the podcast with a deep dive into the foundational document of our movement. Workers of the world, unite! 📖 WORKS CITED 📖 Manifesto of the Communist Party, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (with prefaces): 🔗https://marxist.com/communist-manifesto-chapter-1.htm Purchase a physical copy here as part of Classics of Marxism Volume One: 🔗https://wellred-books.com/classics-volume-one/ Address of the Central Committee to the Communist League, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels: 🔗https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/communist-league/1850-ad1.htm [Podcast] How Marx became a Marxist: 🔗https://marxist.com/podcast-how-marx-became-a-marxist.htm

    2h 14m
  6. The Philosophy of Despair: Postmodernism Explained

    16/12/2025

    The Philosophy of Despair: Postmodernism Explained

    The term ‘postmodernism’ is thrown around a lot by right-wing shock-jocks like Jordan Peterson, often in tandem with Marxism: although these two sets of ideas are totally opposed. In this episode, leading comrade Hamid Alizadeh takes on some of the main luminaries of this obscure, impenetrable and ultimately reactionary school including Foucault, Derrida and Lyotard. Lyotard describes postmodernism as “incredulity towards metanarratives.” In other words: an opposition to ‘big ideas’ about history, truth, science and progress. But with these ‘big ideas’ discarded, what are we left with? As Hamid demonstrates, the answer for all the postmodernists is basically the same: we cannot know the world, let alone change it, all we can do is ‘think differently’, play around with words, and retreat to subjectivity. They even celebrate writing in incomprehensible gibberish and ‘believing in nothing’ as a ‘radical’ act! This cynical philosophy is a total dead-end which winds up in stasis and despair. In total contrast to Marxism, which recognises the world as made up of complex processes, and driven by an inner lawfulness towards higher and higher complexity. By knowing the world, we can organise ourselves to intervene and change it for the better. Postmodernism is not merely a reactionary worldview, Hamid explains, it has a directly negative impact on society, serving to divide the working class through the related phenomenon of identity politics, and preserve the status quo by hampering unity of the working class. It is our duty as Marxists to oppose these counter-revolutionary ideas, and demonstrate the vast superiority of our dialectical materialist philosophy! 📖 WORKS CITED 📖 The case for theory: why communists should study philosophy | SPECTRE OF COMMUNISM: 🔗https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBQBXX7jZYg Marxism vs. Postmodernism, Daniel Morley and Hamid Alizadeh: 🔗https://marxist.com/marxism-versus-postmodernism.htm Theological-Political Treatise, Baruch Spinoza: 🔗https://assets.cambridge.org/97805218/24118/excerpt/9780521824118_excerpt.htm Hegel, G.F. W. (1975). Hegel's Aesthetics: Lectures on Fine Art [For the quote about an ignorant man not being free] 📖 WORKS CRITIQUED 📖 Gender Trouble (Tenth Edition), Judith Butler: 🔗https://selforganizedseminar.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/butler-gender_trouble.pdf The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, Jean-François Lyotard: 🔗https://monoskop.org/images/e/e0/Lyotard_Jean-Francois_The_Postmodern_Condition_A_Report_on_Knowledge.pdf The Subject and Power, Michel Foucault: 🔗https://www2.kobe-u.ac.jp/~alexroni/IPD2018%20readings/IPD1%202018%20No.8/Foucault%20Subject%20and%20Power.pdf Differance, Jacques Derrida: 🔗https://mforbes.sites.gettysburg.edu/cims226/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Week-5a-Jacques-Derrida.pdf Article about how the CIA used Foucault and postmodern ideas to their benefit: 🔗https://thephilosophicalsalon.com/the-cia-reads-french-theory-on-the-intellectual-labor-of-dismantling-the-cultural-left/ ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS ⏱️ 00:55 - What is postmodernism? 11:40 - Is language oppressive? 25:46 - 'Differance' vs Dialectics 31:58 - Are there objective patterns in the world? 40:42 - Is there a barrier between mind and matter? 01:00:54 - Practical impact of these ideas

    1hr 22min
  7. Communist Answers Most Searched Questions

    09/12/2025

    Communist Answers Most Searched Questions

    How did Stalin outmanoeuvre Trotsky and take power following Lenin’s death? What do Marxists mean by ‘value’? And what does it really mean to ‘master the dialectic’? We went back to social media and asked for some more burning questions from our audience, for leading communist Niklas Albin Svensson to answer in a quickfire round! Watch our previous viewers’ questions episode with Ben Curry here: 🔗https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=korpvewBWo8&t=3561s 📖 WORKS & SOURCES CITED 📖 Wage, Labour and Capital, Karl Marx: 🔗https://marxist.com/classics-wage-labour-and-capital.htm Value, Price and Profit, Karl Marx: 🔗https://marxist.com/classics-marxism-two-book/value-price-and-profit.htm ABC of Materialist Dialectics, Leon Trotsky: 🔗https://marxist.com/abc-materialist-dialectics-trotsky.htm Revolution Betrayed, Leon Trotsky: 🔗https://marxist.com/classics-the-revolution-betrayed.htm Results and Prospects, Leon Trotsky: 🔗https://marxist.com/results-and-prospects.htm Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism, Vladimir Lenin: 🔗https://marxist.com/classics-imperialism-the-highest-stage-of-capitalism/.htm The Wealth of Nations, Book One, Chapter 5: 🔗https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/smith-adam/works/wealth-of-nations/book01/ch05.htm Astronomy Is In Crisis...And It's Incredibly Exciting - 3 million views (discusses crisis in cosmology): 🔗https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zozEm4f_dlw Reason in Revolt, Ted Grant and Alan Woods: 🔗https://marxist.com/reason-in-revolt-marxist-philosophy-and-modern-science.htm Purchase In Defence of Marxism Issue 51 here: 🔗https://magazine.marxist.com/ ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS ⏱️ 00:57 - What is value? 22:18 - How to master the dialectic? 52:20 - How did Stalin come to power? 1:04:23 - How did capitalism affect post-Soviet countries? 🌐 LINKS 🌐 ✊ Join the Revolutionary Communist International: https://marxist.com/join-us.htm 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/revcomintern/ 💬 Twitter: https://x.com/revcomintern/

    1hr 21min
  8. The Marxist Who Predicted the Post-War Order: Ted Grant’s Legacy

    02/12/2025

    The Marxist Who Predicted the Post-War Order: Ted Grant’s Legacy

    Ted Grant is not widely known outside of revolutionary circles, but he was the most important Marxist theorist since the death of Leon Trotsky, who alone predicted the course of world politics after WWII. Amongst other things, he foresaw the post-war economic upswing; the expropriation of capitalism in China and much of Eastern Europe; Stalin’s clashes with Tito and Mao; and much more besides. In this episode, his closest collaborator Alan Woods, the main leader and theorist of the RCI, reminisces about Ted’s life and works, and explains the importance of his contributions. In today’s episode, Alan talks about Ted’s legacy. He emphasises not only Ted’s brilliant mastery of Marxism, which gave him a huge advantage over his contemporaries; but also his humanity, his indignance towards all forms of injustice, and his profound sense of optimism. While the road to revolution is long and often difficult, Ted always said, there are two indispensable traits for any revolutionary: a sense of proportion and a sense of humour! Aside from the organisation we inherit today, Ted’s main legacy can be found in his tremendous contributions to Marxist theory and analysis. The third volume of his collected works will be released in January 2026.  Stalinist land programme wins peasants, Chiang’s conscripts roped to prevent escape, Ted Grant: 🔗https://www.marxists.org/archive/grant/1949/01/china.htm  Democracy or Bonapartism in Europe - A Reply to Pierre Frank, Ted Grant: 🔗https://www.marxists.org/archive/grant/1946/08/frank.htm  Ted’s obituaries in the bourgeois press: 🔗https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1524889/Ted-Grant.html, 🔗https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/jul/27/guardianobituaries.southafrica  Ted Grant: The Permanent Revolutionary, Alan Woods: 🔗https://wellred-books.com/ted-grant-the-permanent-revolutionary/The degeneration and collapse of the Fourth International: in defence of our heritage, RCI: 🔗https://marxist.com/the-degeneration-and-collapse-of-the-fourth-international.htm The TRUTH about World War 2: Marxist historian sets the record straight | SPECTRE OF COMMUNISM:🔗https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1vobbAMUzM&t=1191s The Changed Relationship of Forces in Europe and the Role of the Fourth International, Ted Grant: 🔗https://www.marxists.org/archive/grant/1945/03/changed.htm Economic Perspectives 1946, Ted Grant: 🔗https://www.marxists.org/archive/grant/1946/04/economy.htm Perspectives in Britain, Ted Grant: 🔗https://www.marxists.org/archive/grant/1946/07/britain.htm Czechoslovakia: The Issues Involved, Ted Grant: 🔗https://www.marxists.org/archive/grant/1948/04/czechoslovakia.htm Reply to David James, Ted Grant: 🔗https://www.marxists.org/archive/grant/1949/james.htm Stalinism in the Postwar World, Ted Grant: 🔗https://www.marxists.org/archive/grant/1951/06/stalinism

    1hr 21min
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About

Are you a communist? Think we need a revolution? Tune into the official podcast of the Revolutionary Communist International, for communist theory, analysis and history, every week! Under the crisis-ridden capitalist system, humanity lurches from one disaster to another. War, poverty and precarity are facts of life for millions. Given the circumstances, it is no surprise that an unprecedented number of workers and young people are being drawn to the revolutionary banner of communism. But what does it mean to be a communist? What is the communist perspective on the most pressing questions facing humanity: like armed conflict, the climate crisis, technological development, inequality, and so on? In what philosophical and historical traditions do we stand? How do we answer typical right-wing objections to communism? The purpose of this podcast is to arm our listeners with the ideas and arguments necessary to defend the principles of communism, to win others over to a revolutionary perspective, and develop their own mastery of Marxist theory.

Information

  • Creator
    RCI - www.marxist.com
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    88
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © RCI - www.marxist.com
  • Show Website
    Spectre of Communism

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