All That's Left

In this episode, Oden talks to Sasha Yaropolskaya, a Russian revolutionary trans activist and immigrant in France, about the rightward shift on LGBTQ+ rights. They discuss what it means to be at the end of the era of progressive neoliberalism, and how decades of pursuing a strategy of lesser evilism has led to betrayal for the oppressed. But LGBTQ+ people are not powerless in the face of these attacks. The antidote is working-class unity and revolutionary politics to overcome the Right's divisive tactics. It means building up a working-class party with an internationalist, socialist perspective, able to fight exploitation and all oppression. 

Sasha is organized in Revolution Permanente (Left Voice's sister group) and its feminist and LGBT group, Du Pain et Des Roses. 

Listen to our previous episode about the fight for trans rights. 

 Learn More:
- A Marxist Take on the Attack on Trans Rights

- The Working Class Must Fight for Trans Rights

- Nancy Fraser and Counterhegemony

- The Antidote to Midterm Despair Is Socialist Feminism

Support Left Voice on Patreon 
 
Follow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok as @left_voice, on Facebook as @leftvoice, and Bluesky at leftvoice.bsky.social. 

In this episode, Oden talks to rank-and-file union member and college professor Jason Koslowski about President Trump's tariffs. They discuss the growing capitalist crises that have led to these policies, and what Trump is hoping to gain  from them — both internationally and domestically. Importantly, Jason explains why labor leaders' support for the tariffs is a form of chauvinism that will only hurt workers in both the U.S. and abroad. The working class paid the price for neoliberalism, and we will also pay the price for protectionism. We cannot fight on the capitalists' terrain. Instead, we need to organize from below to fight for a different system. 

 Learn More:
- Trump's Tariffs Are Causing Chaos on Wall Street, but It's the Working Class Who Will Pay the Price

- Notes from a Wall Street Sewer: Tariff Edition

- Why Is Shawn Fain and the UAW Leadership Supporting Trump's Trade Policies?

- Trump, Engineer of Chaos

Support Left Voice on Patreon 
 
Follow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok as @left_voice, on Facebook as @leftvoice, and Bluesky at leftvoice.bsky.social. 

In this episode, Left Voice editor Samuel Karlin interviews immigrant rights activist and writer Silky Shah about the growing attacks on immigrants. They discuss the root causes of migration, the divisive narrative of “good” and “bad” immigrants, and how both parties have helped build the war on immigrants in recent years. Most importantly, Silky explains how we resist these attacks through unity across movements and countries, and by fighting U.S. militarism and deportations.

To read a transcribed version of this interview: https://www.leftvoice.org/immigrants-have-become-the-target-interview-with-silky-shah/

Read Silky Shah's book, Unbuild Walls: Why Immigrant Justice Needs Abolition

Learn More:
- To Stop Deportations, We Need a Mass Movement of the Working Class and Oppressed
- Trump's War on Immigrants Pulls from a Long U.S. History of Creating Domestic Enemies

- "It's Time for Us to Speak Up and to Demand Better": Interview with an Undocumented Activist

Support Left Voice on Patreon

Follow Left Voice on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok as @left_voice, on Facebook as @leftvoice, and Bluesky at leftvoice.bsky.social. 

In this episode, Oden talks to Leonie Lieb, a revolutionary socialist running for a seat in the German parliamentary elections as part of the Revolutionary Internationalist Organization (RIO). Leonie explains the rightward shift in German politics, the popularity of the AfD, and Die Linke's failed strategy of defeating the right in elections rather than through class struggle.

RIO's candidates are providing an example of an independent socialist political alternative to the bourgeois parties, and fighting to promote the independent self-organization of the working class. 

Building a socialist alternative is the way to fight the growing Far Right, whether in Germany, Europe, in the United States, or elsewhere. And it’s the only way to win victory for the working class.

 Learn More:
- Revolutionary Socialists Are Running in the German Federal Elections
- Government Crisis in Germany: 10 Theses on the Political Situation for 2025

- Millions of People in Germany Protest Against the Right — and the Parties Respond by Shifting to the Right
- Who Should Socialists Vote for in the Upcoming German Elections?
- What Is Class Struggle Unionism?

Support Left Voice on Patreon

Follow Klasse Gegen Klasse on Instagram

Follow Left Voice on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok as @left_voice, on Facebook as @leftvoice, and Bluesky at leftvoice.bsky.social. 

In this episode, Oden talks to Left Voice editor James Dennis Hoff and union organizer and college professor Jason Koslowski about how labor prepares for the second Trump term. They discuss the kinds of attacks on workers that we can expect from the new administration, and how neither Democrats nor Republicans offer anything to the working class. Most importantly, they explain why unions need to break from their failing approach of constraining themselves to laws that are meant to limit our power as the working class. In the coming period, class struggle will be decisive — and the labor movement needs to be ready to break laws, disobey leaders when we have to, and build power from the bottom up. 

 Learn More:
- Is the Labor Movement Ready for Trump 2.0?
- Class Struggle and the Relation of Forces Under Trump 2.0: Three Counter-Tendencies to the Rightward Shift
- No, the NLRB Is Not on Our Side and Never Has Been
- What Is Class Struggle Unionism?

Support Left Voice on Patreon 
 
Follow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok as @left_voice, on Facebook as @leftvoice, and Bluesky at leftvoice.bsky.social. 

In this episode, Oden speaks to Jimena Vergara, an editor at Left Voice and former UNAM professor, about Mexico's role in President Trump's hawkish, imperialist agenda. Jimena explains how the U.S.-Mexico relationship is one of subordination,  and how this relationship has profoundly shaped both countries' working classes, economies, and politics. Importantly, we discuss how neither the ruling party, MORENA, nor the Democratic Party can offer true liberation for the U.S. and Mexican working classes. Instead, we need international unity, and a staunchly anti-imperialist, anti-chauvinist leftist perspective. 

Learn More:
- Trump's "New Golden Age" Is Nationalist, Expansionist, and Anti-rights

- Statement: Stop Trump's Anti-immigrant Offensive! Down with Imperialism in Latin America and the Caribbean!

- A Socialist Take on the Election Mexico and Anti-Imperialism across Borders

- The End of AMLO's Six-Year Term and His Legacy: Debates on Progressivism and Socialism

Support this podcast on Patreon 

Follow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok as @left_voice and Facebook as @leftvoice. Follow us on Bluesky at leftvoice.bsky.social.

Exciting news: Left Voice has a new podcast!

It's called The Red Thread, and it's a shorter form podcast that offers a sharp and concise perspective on the fight against capitalism and oppression, particularly in the context of the new Trump presidency, the emboldened Far Right, and the working class's growing role in the political arena.

The Red Thread will explore workers’ struggles, union organizing, socialist theory, social movements, imperialism, climate change, the ongoing fight for socialism, and more.

On the All That's Left feed this week, we're sharing the first episode in a series titled "What we talk about when we talk about socialism." Make sure to subscribe to The Red Thread wherever you get your podcasts to listen to the rest of the episodes. 

All That's Left will be back with a new episode next week. 

In this episode, Oden and Left Voice editor Sybil Davis discuss the contours of the incoming Trump administration. They explore the Republicans' contradictions and points of unity, and how differences in political priorities among the various groups in the administration may lead to problems for Trump. In the coming era,  in a context of an emboldened Far Right, class struggle will be decisive.

Note: This episode was recorded before the publication of UAW president Shawn Fain's Washington Post op-ed about working with the Trump administration.

Learn More:
- Trump Has No Mandate and His Administration Is Full of Contradictions
- The Rise of the New Right and How We Fight It
- From America First to Peace Through Strength: Understanding Trump's Foreign Policy
- Trump's Success, the Democrats' Failure, and the Fight for a Working-Class Alternative

Support Left Voice on Patreon 

Follow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok as @left_voice, on Facebook as @leftvoice, and Bluesky at leftvoice.bsky.social.

In this episode, Oden and Left Voice editor Madeleine Freeman unpack the 2024 U.S. elections and what lies ahead. They discuss why Trump won, the Democrats' rightward shift, the crisis of neoliberalism, the roles played by the labor movement and the movement for Palestine, and more. Importantly, they emphasize the need for a class-independent alternative that fights against both exploitation and oppression. One thing is clear: What happens next depends on us. 

Learn More:
- The Democrats Couldn't Beat Trump with Hot Air and Coconut Trees — An Organized Working Class Can
- The Democrats Have Moved Right — And Paved the Way for Trump
- The Reconfiguration of the Capitalist Parties in Light of Trump's Victory
- Trump Wants to Divide the Working Class — We Must Fight to Unite It
- Trump's Success, the Democrats' Failure, and the Fight for a Working-Class Alternative

Support this podcast on Patreon 

Follow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok as @left_voice, on Facebook as @leftvoice, and Bluesky at leftvoice.bsky.social.

In this episode, Oden interviews author and independent Marxist historian Doug Greene about his book "The New Reformism and the Revival of Karl Kautsky: Renegade's Revenge." They discuss how Kautsky's reformism led to repeated defeats, and why there is renewed — but misguided — interest in Kautskyism on the left. Importantly, Doug explains the relevance of Kautskyism to the present day, and why we need to leave Kautsky's ideas and politics in the dustbin of history if we're serious about fighting capitalism. 

Learn More:
- Why Kautsky Was Wrong (And Why You Should Care)
- Karl Kautsky: From Pope to Renegade
- An Introduction to the Kautsky Debate
- Kautsky, Luxemburg, and Lenin in Light of the German Revolution

Listen to our previous interviews with Doug on Michael Harrington and Democratic Socialism and on Stalinism, Anti-Communism, and the Fate of the Soviet Union

Read more of Doug’s work: https://blanquist.blogspot.com/
https://www.patreon.com/enaa_doug_blanqui

Follow Doug on Twitter: @DougGreene1917

Check out Doug's book: https://www.routledge.com/The-New-Reformism-and-the-Revival-of-Karl-Kautsky-The-Renegades-Revenge/Greene/p/book/9781032758787

Support this podcast on Patreon 

Follow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok as @left_voice, on Facebook as @leftvoice, and Bluesky at leftvoice.bsky.social.