ORIGINALLY RELEASED Jun 21, 2020

In this episode, we explore the Haitian Revolution—the only successful slave revolt in history and a landmark event in the global struggle against colonialism and white supremacy. From the brutal plantation economy of Saint-Domingue to the rise of revolutionary leaders like Toussaint Louverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines, we trace how enslaved Africans overthrew French rule and declared the world's first Black republic. We also examine how this radical uprising shook the foundations of empire, inspired abolitionist movements, and remains a crucial—yet often erased—chapter in revolutionary history.

Alexander Aviña is an associate professor of Latin American history in the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies at Arizona State University. His book, "Specters of Revolution: Peasant Guerrillas in the Cold War Mexican Countryside" , was awarded the Maria Elena Martínez Book Prize in Mexican History for 2015 by the Conference on Latin American History.

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ORIGINALLY RELEASED Jan 23, 2020

On this episode, Melody (aka A World to Win!) joins Breht to introduce and discuss the work of Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser, specifically his work on ideology.

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ORIGINALLY RELEASED Feb 16, 2023

Breht gives a moving speech on the topic of dialectial materialism, Buddhism, and Marxism. After explaining the philosophy of dialectical materialism in depth, he uses it to unite core insights from Buddhism and Marxism, arguing that their combination offers a potent path toward inward and outward liberation. He ends by advancing the archetype of the Bodhisattva Revolutionary, asserting it as a uniquely well-rounded and profoundly deep path for revolutionaries interested in radical transformation. Huge shout out to the ASU Zen Devils and MECHA for inviting Breht out to Arizona to give this speech, meet listeners, and visit the Sonoran Desert for the first time! Learn more about MECHA here: https://linktr.ee/MECHAdeASU

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ORIGINALLY RELEASED Nov 2018

Historian David Parsons joins Breht for a deep and wide-ranging conversation on the Vietnam War, Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnamese National Liberation struggle, unforgivable American imperial war crimes, historical memory, and much more! David Parsons is an author, historian, and leftist podcast host of The Nostalgia Trap. Find The Nostalgia Trap here: https://nostalgiatrap.com/

Find his book, Dangerous Grounds: Antiwar Coffeehouses and Military Dissent in the Vietnam Era here: https://www.uncpress.org/book/9781469632018/dangerous-grounds/ The Documentary used for most of the clips in the show is "Hearts and Minds" (1974)

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ORIGINALLY RELEASED Jul 28, 2018

John from Working Class History joins Brett to discuss the Spanish Civil War! This is a long-anticipated episode on a deeply important and relevant historical event. We spent a LOT of time editing and producing this episode, so we hope you find it informative as well as genuinely moving.

Here is the reading guide from WCH on the Spanish Civil War: https://libcom.org/library/spanish-civil-war-1936-39-reading-guide Working Class History website is here: https://workingclasshistory.com

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ORIGINALLY RELEASED Apr 10, 2024

In this episode, Alyson and Breht wrestle with the possible rise of artificial general intelligence and its implications. Together they discuss the Silicon Valley Techno-Cult and their dark religious search for immortality, their hubristic attempts to "build god" and escape death, their neoliberal subjectivities and how that manifests in their work, how AI might manifest under the capitalist mode of production, the horrors and contradictions of "capitalism without workers", deflationary critiques of AI, humans as transitional creatures, consciousness and its complexities, intelligence without consciousness (philosophical zombies), Nietzchean nihilism, real religion and what it offers, embracing the inevitability of your own death, and much more!

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ORIGINALLY RELEASED Apr 20, 2019

What is to be Done? is a classic work on the role and organisation of the revolutionary party in the communist movement. Lenin criticises economism, revisionism and spontaneity, and argues persuasively for a centralised and professional vanguard of the proletariat.

On this episode of Red Menace Alyson and Breht explain and reflect on the text, and then extract the core lessons for revolutionaries today.

What Is To Be Done? by V.I. Lenin

Full text here: https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1901/witbd/

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Best Of Series (creating a clean back-catalogue) starts tomorrow. Join the Patreon - even for free - to get new public episodes in the meantime. We will also be putting new episodes out on the Red Menace feed (subscribe on your preferred podcast app)

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Directors Michael T. Workman and Kei Pritsker join Breht to discuss The Encampments, their award-winning new documentary chronicling the 2024 student-led pro-Palestinian uprisings at Columbia, UCLA, and beyond. We talk about the ethical challenges of filming, the fascist state repression faced by people who speak out against Israel, the story of Mahmoud Khalil's ICE detention and its relationship to the film, this film as revolutionary cultural production and political education, the universities dereliction of duty in keeping their students safe from violent zionist thugs, and the film's role as a tool for organizers. With campuses - and society - under a reactionary crackdown and solidarity rising, this episode explores how cinema, student resistance, and revolutionary struggle converge in the fight for Palestinian liberation.

Follow Justice 4 Mahmoud on IG

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In this powerful episode, we sit down with a frontline activist from Palestine Action, the UK-based direct action network targeting Elbit Systems—the Israeli weapons manufacturer responsible for arming and enabling genocide in Palestine and beyond. We dig into the strategy of physically dismantling the military-industrial complex, the stakes of this fight, and the growing number of political prisoners facing terror charges for their resistance.

Max, from Palestine Action, joins Breht to discuss the organization, the moral responsibility those in the imperial core have toward the victims of imperialism, Palestine Action's tactics and strategy, why they focus on Elbit Systems in particular, the role weapons manufacturers play in the ongoing genocide of Palestinians as well as perpetuating imperialism and colonialism around the planet, The Filton 18 and other political prisoners, the deafening silence and lack of solidarity shown by liberal and mainstream pro-Palestine movements, and much more.

Learn more, support, and donate to PalAction HERE

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