Marxist Voice

Fred Weston (editor of marxist.com) discusses the world situation as the coronavirus pandemic rages on.

The bourgeois are trying to blame the current social and economic turmoil on the virus alone. But it was in fact just the trigger for a crisis that was prepared in the last period.

The anaemic recovery of world capitalism after 2008 was coming to an end even before the virus hit. China once held the system together, but it has become a centre of the current crisis. The EU is mired in in-fighting. And in countries like Pakistan, where healthcare infrastructure and public sanitation are in a dire state, the coronavirus will lead to a nightmare scenario.

People are sick of the system. Years of austerity have cultivated a radical mood, which found an expression through the Corbyn and Sanders movements in Britain and the USA, and in mass protest movements worldwide. Now, a layer of workers and youth are further enraged by the callous and inept response to this public health emergency, with strikes breaking out in Italy, Spain, Canada, the USA etc.

The bourgeois are desperately printing money to save the system today - but this will mean more austerity in future, which will provoke workers even further.

The period we will enter into after the pandemic is one of extreme crisis and struggle, where the ruling class will find it impossible to govern in the old way, and the workers will move to change society. It is vital to build up the forces of Marxism to prepare for these titanic events.

In our latest episode of Marxist Voice, we're joined again by Rob Sewell - editor of Socialist Appeal - to discuss the explosive revelations surrounding Blairite sabotage against the Corbyn movement.

The recently released report documenting the right wing's shenanigans proves what grassroots activists have long known: that the Blairites and bureaucrats actively campaigned for years against the election of a socialist Labour government.

We must organise and mobilise to sweep this damaging detritus into the dustbin of history.

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In our latest episode of Marxist Voice, we're joined again by Rob Sewell - editor of Socialist Appeal - to discuss the perspectives for the Labour Party in the wake of Keir Starmer's leadership victory.

Starmer is promising 'unity'. And grassroots activists are hoping he will deliver on his left-wing pledges. But the Blairites are already sharpening their knives, hoping for revenge against the Corbyn movement. Which direction is the Labour Party heading, in this time of deep capitalist crisis?

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Alan Woods (editor of marxist.com) joins us for a special broadcast, to discuss the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the worst-ever crisis of capitalism.

The coronavirus outbreak has dealt a savage blow to the world economy and political situation. The leaders of most countries initially downplayed the severity of the emergency in an attempt to keep business going, and are now desperately scrambling to stabilise the situation and avoid social unrest.

They are breaking all their own rules in the process: underwriting wages, taking certain industries under state control and spending huge sums of money to keep the system afloat. They will try to retract these short-term solutions and investments when the dust settles, and issue a bill to the working class in the form of cuts and austerity, but appetite comes with eating, and the bourgeoisie might not find it so easy to take back tomorrow what they give today.

The bosses, meanwhile, are pressuring the workers to choose between health and employment. In countries like Italy, the bosses’ organisations are pushing back against the government to keep the factories open, by arguing that arms manufacture and textiles are “essential industries”, for example. At the same time, health services everywhere are struggling to cope, with health workers increasingly becoming casualties in the fight against the virus.

Despite a temporary ‘wartime spirit’ of national unity causing people to rally behind their governments for a time, as the body count rises and the rotten nature of the capitalist system is laid bare, millions of people will undergo a political awakening. The coronavirus pandemic has unleashed a new, tumultuous period in world politics.

In our latest episode of Marxist Voice, we're joined by Josh Holroyd - of the Socialist Appeal editorial board - to discuss the national tensions that are rising between the different European Union member states.

How much longer can the European project survive? Will the liberal dream of European unity be another victim of the coronavirus pandemic?

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In this talk from Revolution Festival, Jack Halinski-Fitzpatrick - Socialist Appeal activist and manager of Wellred Books - introduces the revolutionary philosophy of Marxism: dialectical materialism.

As Marx famously stated: “philosophers have only interpreted the world, the point however is to change it.” In order to change the world, however, we need to understand how it works. And for that we need philosophy.

Dialectical materialism is a philosophy of change, recognising that nothing in the universe is static but in a constant motion, in a process of evolution. Nothing simply ‘is’, but is in a stage of becoming - of going beyond its limits to become something new. As the Greek philosopher Heraclitus once profoundly noted: one can never step into the same river twice.

In the natural world, Darwin’s theory of evolution was - to Marx and Engels - a vindication of their philosophy. Human society, meanwhile, is emergent from the material world, and thus also operates dialectically. Hence, Marx and Engels explained that our current society - capitalism - is just one stage in a historical process; a stage that has now reached its limits.

Only with a firm grasp of dialectical materialism can we understand the capitalist system and its contradictions. And only by understanding capitalism can we fight to overthrow it.

In our latest episode of Marxist Voice, we're joined by Ian Hodson - President of the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union - who discusses the impact of the pandemic on precarious workers, and the need to fight back against the unscrupulous bosses.

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In our latest episode of Marxist Voice, we're joined by Natasha Sorrell - a teacher and NEU activist - who discusses the difficulties and dangers facing essential workers, as the Tory government turns a blind eye to rule-dodging bosses.

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In our latest episode of Marxist Voice, Helen O'Connor - former nurse and union organiser for healthcare workers - discusses the desperate situation facing NHS staff, who are on the frontline in the fight against the covid-19 pandemic.

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In our latest episode of Marxist Voice, Rob Sewell - editor of Socialist Appeal - discusses the global economic crisis that has been triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.

What's the scale of the slump? Will the economy ever recover? And how can we get out of the crisis? Watch to find out Rob's thoughts on these questions, and more!

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