Against the Stream

RCI - www.marxist.com
  • 4.8 (36)
  • Politics
  • Updated Weekly

In Against the Stream, our weekly current affairs podcast, members of the International Secretariat of the Revolutionary Communist International sit down to discuss the main events shaping global affairs. In an increasingly turbulent world situation, these discussions look behind the headlines of the mainstream press and the statements of politicians, to bring out the real processes and interests at play.

  1. 6d ago

    The World Economy Faces Perfect Storm

    This week the interest rate on 10-year US government bonds hit 5.3 per cent, and borrowing costs in Britain, France, Germany and Japan are at levels not seen in decades. For ordinary people, that means higher costs at the petrol station, on their energy bills, in their rent and mortgage payments, and public services being cut to balance the books.In this episode of Against the Stream, Victor Murray is joined by Niklas Albin Svensson of the International Secretariat of the Revolutionary Communist International to explain what is happening to the world economy, and what it means for the class struggle.Starting off with the Iran war and the biggest oil supply shock in history they explain how emergency reserves are now running dry. With diesel prices in the US up almost 90 per cent since January, Trump is toying with a diesel export ban that would hit Latin America and Europe the hardest. Central banks are reacting by raising interest rates, but rate hikes won't end the instability in the Middle East. All it will do is squeeze workers.Then there's the debt. US federal debt has passed $40 trillion. Nearly half of all OECD government debt has to be refinanced next year at much higher rates, just as cheap money from Japan dries up. On top of it all sits an AI boom built on borrowed money, now competing with governments for credit.The ruling class has no painless way out. This is a finished recipe for class struggle, as workers and youth in France and Spain have shown this week.New episodes of Against the Stream every Thursday at 6pm London time on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. ⏱️ Timestamps ⏱️0:00 Three forces squeezing the world economy4:36 The Iran war and the biggest oil shock in history14:09 Diesel, food and an America First export ban21:34 Interest rates and the K-shaped economy27:27 $40 trillion of debt and the end of cheap money42:44 The AI bubble55:45 A recipe for class struggle📖 Recommended reading 📖Bond market troubles reveal impending crisishttps://marxist.com/bond-market-troubles-reveal-impending-crisis.htmThe AI Build-Out Is Becoming the Biggest Economic Bet in U.S. Historyhttps://www.wsj.com/economy/the-ai-build-out-is-becoming-the-biggest-economic-bet-in-u-s-history-c60716ddThe west does not have a leadership problemhttps://www.ft.com/content/67f10dca-63f3-4cf8-951b-22d0c87f6be2?syn-25a6b1a6=1 AI hyperscalers are transforming debt https://www.ft.com/content/00f94018-e658-4545-b16e-1bc00e19b754🫵 Join the Revolutionary Communist International: https://marxist.com/join-us.htm 📚 Marxist literature: https://wellred-books.com/📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/revcomintern/💬 Twitter: https://x.com/revcomintern/

    The World Economy Faces Perfect Storm

  2. Sep 24

    The Deepening Crisis of World Capitalism

    Against the Stream is back. After a summer break, Victor Murray joins Jorge Martín of the International Secretariat of the Revolutionary Communist International to take stock of the key processes shaping the world situation.The US-Iran memorandum collapsed just a few weeks after the end of our last season. Now Trump is back to threatening annihilation of Iran. In reality, his stubborn doubling down is preparing an even more humiliating defeat. Iran still controls the Strait of Hormuz. American interceptor stockpiles are drained and will take years to replace. The Pentagon has been reduced to emailing staff to ask for ‘creative ideas’. Meanwhile, the Houthis have routed Saudi-backed forces in Yemen and seized the coast along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, giving them the ability to garrote another critical chokepoint of world trade.In Ukraine, the hype around long-range strikes has faded. The hopes that Ukraine can ‘turn the tide’ are being dashed by a devastating manpower crisis, mass desertions and a string of corruption scandals, which reach right into Zelensky's inner circle. Of course, almost none of this is reported in the West.Meanwhile, a political earthquake has occurred in Germany. The AfD took 44 per cent in Saxony-Anhalt, the CDU was wiped out in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and Die Linke won Berlin with close to half the youth vote. This humiliation of the establishment is a symptom of the crisis of European capitalism, which has reached its very heart. Austerity, militarism, and the cost of living crisis are preparing volcanic class struggle – and not just in Germany.New episodes of Against the Stream every Thursday at 6pm London time on YouTube and podcast platforms. Recommended reading: Something is rotten in the state of Ukrainehttps://marxist.com/something-is-rotten-in-the-state-of-ukraine.htmGermany: why did the AfD win in Saxony-Anhalt?https://marxist.com/germany-why-did-the-afd-win-in-saxony-anhalt.htmGermany: elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania another blow to the CDUhttps://marxist.com/germany-elections-in-berlin-and-mecklenburg-western-pomerania-another-blow-to-the-cdu.htm

    The Deepening Crisis of World Capitalism

  3. Jun 25

    Will Cuba restore capitalism?

    On 18 June, the Cuban National Assembly approved a sweeping package of economic reforms. If implemented, they mean the end of the planned economy and the full restoration of capitalism on the island, which is currently under extreme pressure as the United States tightens a near-total blockade that has caused twenty-two-hour electricity cuts, food shortages, and the suspension of non-emergency surgery. In this special episode of Against the Stream, Hamid Alizadeh and Jorge Martín go through the measures point by point, explain why this is capitalism and not a step towards socialism, and draw out the broader lessons for communists around the world. They cover the Chinese and Vietnamese models, what the NEP actually was and wasn't, the role of the Cuban leadership in the collapse of the Venezuelan revolution, and why the only way out is workers' democracy and world revolution. New episodes of Against the Stream return in mid-September. 📖 RECOMMENDED READING 📖 ⁠Cuban communist intellectuals discuss the future of socialism (2010) https://marxist.com/cuban-communist-intellectuals-discuss-socialism.htm ⁠Where is Cuba going? Towards Capitalism or Socialism? (2010) https://marxist.com/where-is-cuba-going-capitalism-or-socialism.htm Punto y Aparte · Cuba, El Fantasma Y Las Reformas (2026) https://www.facebook.com/pyacuba/posts/pfbid02otuLyoB3Qpqx9LNCUWn6FMbDJJBZzbD83orK2zBr2DNxBermrt7ju2VNteEorDRbl ¿Hay otra alternativa para Cuba? - Juventud Técnica (2026) https://www.juventudtecnica.cu/articulos/hay-otra-alternativa-para-cuba/ The State and Revolution – V.I. Lenin (1917) https://marxist.com/the-state-and-revolution.htm The story of Hugo Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution | AGAINST THE STREAM (2026) https://youtu.be/nnGzwqX25Jk?si=FoDPGRM5nigsNKoA ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS ⏱️ 🌐 LINKS 🌐 🫵 Join the Revolutionary Communist International: https://marxist.com/join-us.htm 📚 Marxist literature: https://wellred-books.com/ 🎧 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/

    Will Cuba restore capitalism?

  4. Jun 18

    Iran Deal: the Biggest Defeat in US History

    World School of Communism 2026: https://schoolofcommunism.com/ - The United States and Iran have signed a deal to end the war. Looking through the fourteen points of the ‘Memorandum of Understanding’, it becomes clear that America has conceded everything Iran demanded, and Iran has given up nothing in return. In this week's Against the Stream, Hamid Alizadeh and Ben Curry break down the deal point by point: the three hundred billion dollar reconstruction fund, the end of sanctions, Iran's new control over the Strait of Hormuz, the prospect of Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, and the collapse of America’s regime change agenda. They explain the meaning of a defeat that many are calling worse than Vietnam, what it means for Israel, the Gulf states, China, Russia, and the world economy, and why this represents a turning point in America’s imperial decline. New episodes of Against the Stream return in mid-September. 📖 Recommended reading 📖 Does Israel control the United States? – https://marxist.com/does-israel-control-the-united-states.htm Israelis angry over U.S.-Iran peace deal lash out at Netanyahu – https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/israelis-argry-over-u-s-iran-peace-deal-lash-out-at-netanyahu ‘American Surrender’: Conservatives React in Horror to Formal Iran Deal Announcement – https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/american-surrender-conservatives-react-in-horror-to-formal-iran-deal-announcement/ Iran Is a Bigger Defeat Than Vietnam – https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/06/16/iran-vietnam-strategy-defeat/ ⏱️ Timestamps ⏱️ 0:00 Intro 2:15 The peace deal point by point 19:22 What does this mean for the US? 25:40 Splits in the MAGA-movement 33:26 Freedom of navigation no more 37:29 What does this mean for Israel? 58:40 What does this mean for Europe? 1:03:25 The impact on world relations 1:08:06 The impact on the world economy 1:13:57 Will the deal hold? 🫵 Join the Revolutionary Communist International: https://marxist.com/join-us.htm 📚 Marxist literature: https://wellred-books.com/ 📸 Instagram: / revcomintern 💬 Twitter: https://x.com/revcomintern/

    Iran Deal: the Biggest Defeat in US History

  5. Jun 11

    Could America go Communist?

    Five hundred days of Trump in power. No more forever wars – except there is a war. The biggest paychecks in history – except hundreds of millions of Americans say the cost of living is the worst they can ever remember. And thirty-four percent of young Americans now hold a favourable view of communism. In this week's episode of Against the Stream, Victor Murray and Fred Weston take stock of Trump's second term so far, discuss the shifting consciousness of the American working class, and how communists need to fill the vacuum on the left. The episode traces the roots of Trump's appeal to the long-term decline of US capitalism, the betrayals of the Democrats, and the lessons of lesser-evilism in Italy and asks: with Minneapolis, Mamdani, and the growing RCA, is a genuine revolutionary alternative beginning to take shape in the belly of the beast? New episodes of Against the Stream every Thursday at 6pm GMT on YouTube. 📖 RECOMMENDED READING 📖 Lesser-evilism, Italian style – and how it destroyed the left 🔗 https://marxist.com/lesser-evilism-italy.htm Italy: Meloni becomes lame duck premier after referendum defeat 🔗 https://marxist.com/italy-meloni-becomes-lame-duck-premier-after-referendum-defeat.htm The RCA’s third national congress: preparing for the next American revolution 🔗 https://marxist.com/the-rca-s-third-national-congress-preparing-for-the-next-american-revolution.htm ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS ⏱️ 🌐 LINKS 🌐 🫵 Join the Revolutionary Communist International: https://marxist.com/join-us.htm 📚 Marxist literature: https://wellred-books.com/ 🎧 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/

    Could America go Communist?

  6. Jun 4

    The Ruling Class Has No Answer – Does the Left?

    The Iran war has set off a cascade of crises working their way through the world economy. Oil reserves are at a twenty-year low, inflation is rising, bond yields are spiking, and the IMF is warning of a worldwide slump. But is there a way out on a capitalist basis? In this week's Against the Stream, Hamid Alizadeh and Niklas Albin Svensson examine four of the proposed solutions for the crisis: the defence of liberal world order, protectionism and nationalism, Modern Monetary Theory, and a planned economy. They explain why free trade and protectionism both lead to crises, why MMT cannot resolve a problem rooted in production by tweaking the circulation of money, and why a democratically planned economy is not utopia but the only rational way to organise the world's resources. New episodes of Against the Stream every Thursday at 6pm GMT on YouTube. 📖 Recommended reading 📖 The economic consequences of the war in Iran – https://marxist.com/the-economic-consequences-of-the-war-in-iran.htm Marxism vs Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) – https://marxist.com/marxism-vs-modern-monetary-theory-mmt.htm Draft of an Article on Friedrich List’s book: Das Nationale System der Politischen Oekonomie – ⁠http://hiaw.org/defcon6/works/1845/03/list.html On the Question of Free Trade – https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1888/free-trade/index.htm ⏱️ Timestamps ⏱️ 00:00:00 Intro 00:00:49 The status quo (post-WWII liberal world order) 00:27:05 Protectionism and nationalism 00:47:19 Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) 01:08:57 Socialism 🫵 Join the Revolutionary Communist International: https://marxist.com/join-us.htm 📚 Marxist literature: https://wellred-books.com/ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/revcomintern/ 💬 Twitter: https://x.com/revcomintern/

    The Ruling Class Has No Answer – Does the Left?

  7. May 28

    Communists Answer Your Toughest Questions

    What will be the future of Israel and the Gulf countries? What is the possible order of the Middle East and Asia? Those questions are the starting point for this week's Against the Stream – a special Q&A episode where Hamid Alizadeh and Jorge Martín work through the best and toughest questions from our comment section. Starting with the events in Iran, Hamid and Jorge explain that any end to the war will not be a compromise on Iran's part. Iran has achieved all of its aims while the United States has achieved none. The Gulf states are quietly making their own arrangements with Tehran. Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan, and Egypt are moving away from the American camp. China is positioned to broker the new regional order. Next, they dig into one of the most common theoretical questions in our comment section: is China capitalist? For Marxists this is a concrete question that can only be answered by looking at the real development of China. The past thirty years paint a clear picture: privatisation, industrial capacity sitting idle, hundreds of millions in precarious work, youth unemployment, and more billionaires than any country on earth. Understanding why and how this happened is key to putting forward a programme for socialism in China and internationally. From there the episode turns to Venezuela, and to a particular kind of argument that circulates on the left – that Western Marxists are too dogmatic, too Eurocentric, too theoretical to understand developments taking place in other continents. The answer lies in the facts. Since the kidnapping of Maduro, Venezuela has become a US protectorate. Its oil income goes into a Washington-controlled bank account. Chávez himself said in 2012 that the greatest mistake of the revolution was not taking it to its final conclusion. Only theory and an honest appraisal of events can give us foresight – and be an antidote to identity politics, which explains nothing at all. Finally, Hamid and Jorge answer whether international revolution is actually on the agenda – and whether there is any point in joining a union today. New episodes of Against the Stream every Thursday at 6pm GMT on YouTube. 📖 RECOMMENDED READING 📖 Revolution and counter-revolution in Venezuela: https://marxist.com/book-the-venezuelan-revolution-marxist-perspective/revolution-andnbspcounter-revolution-in-venezuela.htm China's long march to capitalism https://marxist.com/china-long-march-capitalism021006.htm Leon Trotsky: Trade Unions in the Epoch of Imperialist Decay (1940) https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1940/xx/tu.htm What is to be Done? How Lenin built a battle organisation https://marxist.com/what-is-to-be-done-how-lenin-built-a-battle-organisation.htm ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS ⏱️ 00:01:24 How will the Iran war impact the future of the Middle East?00:14:56 Is China really capitalist?00:32:26 If China is capitalist, why do many own their own homes?00:40:05 Will multipolarity make China move towards socialism?00:44:19 Will defeating US imperialism benefit the Chinese/Iranian masses?00:48:37 Does the RCI only support 'pure and perfect' revolutionary struggles?01:00:44 Is international revolution possible?01:07:32 Is there any use joining the unions? 🫵 Join the Revolutionary Communist International: https://marxist.com/join-us.htm 📚 Marxist literature: https://wellred-books.com/ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/revcomintern/ 💬 Twitter: https://x.com/revcomintern/

    Communists Answer Your Toughest Questions

  8. May 21

    Capitalism is ungovernable.

    Six prime ministers in ten years. Labour just lost fifteen hundred council seats. Has Britain become ungovernable? In this week's Against the Stream, Hamid Alizadeh sits down with Adam Booth, editor of The Communist, the paper of the Revolutionary Communist Party in Britain, to give a Marxist answer to that question. And the answer is not what most commentators want to hear. The episode traces the deep roots of the British crisis: from the deindustrialisation that began over a century ago, to the Thatcherite turn to financialisation and the City of London, to the mountain of debt that now costs Britain 110 billion pounds a year in interest payments alone. That is three point six percent of everything the British working class produces every year, going straight into the pockets of the banks.The episode explains why the revolving door of prime ministers is not a problem of individual incompetence but a symptom of the terminal decline of British capitalism. Trotsky predicted this degeneration a hundred years ago, and the process he described has only accelerated. Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Keir Starmer are not anomalies. They are the natural political products of a speculative, financialised economy with no industrial base left to speak of. The episode also takes on the bond markets, the so-called vigilantes who now openly dictate who should lead the Labour Party. It explains concretely what a bond is, why the markets reacted the way they did to Liz Truss, and why no government, however well-intentioned, can simply ignore these mechanisms under capitalism. And crucially, it goes through the left alternatives on offer, including Modern Monetary Theory, borrowing to invest, taxing the rich, and defaulting on the debt, and explains clearly why none of these, on their own, offer a way out. Not because they are too radical, but because they do not go far enough. The only real solution is democratic control over the commanding heights of the economy. New episodes of Against the Stream every Thursday at 6pm GMT on YouTube. 🌐 Links 🌐 🫵 Join the Revolutionary Communist International: https://marxist.com/join-us.htm 📚 Marxist literature: https://wellred-books.com/ 🎧 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/

    Capitalism is ungovernable.
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About

In Against the Stream, our weekly current affairs podcast, members of the International Secretariat of the Revolutionary Communist International sit down to discuss the main events shaping global affairs. In an increasingly turbulent world situation, these discussions look behind the headlines of the mainstream press and the statements of politicians, to bring out the real processes and interests at play.

Information

  • Creator
    RCI - www.marxist.com
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    75
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © RCI - www.marxist.com
  • Show Website
    Against the Stream

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