SpartTalk

Mansa is joined by Marilyn Vogt-Downey, translator and editor of "Notebooks for the Grandchildren", the memoirs of Mikhail Baitalsky, a left oppositionist who spent decades in Stalin's prisons, and Comrades Jon and Helene, to discuss who Baitalsky was, some of his experiences under Stalin's terror and his recollections and reflections on the bureaucratisation of the Soviet Union. Most of our discussion naturally ends up centering on how to understand Stalinism and the struggles of Trotsky and the left opposition-an important discussion which is relevant for advancing political clarification today. 

You can buy Baitalsky's memoirs, "Notebooks for the Grandchildren: Recollections of a Supporter of the Marxist Opposition to Stalin Who Survived the Stalin Terror" at Haymarket Books: https://www.historicalmaterialism.org/book-series/notebooks-for-the-grandchildren-recollections-of-a-supporter-of-the-marxist-opposition-to-stalin-who-survived-the-stalin-terror/ 

Marilyn will be discussing Baitalsky's memoirs at the upcoming Red Roundtable hosted by the Prometheus Research Library on 13 November at 6 pm in Manhattan. Email [email protected] to register and for directions.

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Mansa is joined by Comrade Michael from Workers Vanguard (Spartacist League US) to discuss the meaning and implications of the Democrats winning the midterm elections. We discuss what drove the anger at Trump, whether the Democrats really have a plan or any real appeal to voters, the DSA building the Democratic Party, and how to prepare to fight back.

• Dems win, workers still lose: Prepare to fight!
• Dems won't protect us - We need to build workers power 
• A revolutionary road in reactionary times
• Perspectives and tasks towards the DSA
• Democrats ruined NYC public housing - Only the working class can save it
• Labor must lead the fight against AI bosses

Follow Workers Vanguard on X and Insta @workersvanguard

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Mansa is joined by Toralf, a dockworker in Hamburg who organises with Hafenarbeiter für eine kämpferische ver.di (Dockworkers for a fighting ver.di), to discuss the realities of the international day of action by dockworkers which took place on 30 October. The action saw workers from 113 ports in 22 countries take part in rallies, strikes and pickets, but with uneven results. Toralf's experience speaks to the difficulty of mobilising workers when the questions of opposing war are not connected to the needs of workers on the job, and how the mistrust in the union leaderships and the left acts as an obstacle to workers' action. Our lesson for the left: while these actions are important, we must not overlook the immense obstacles which prevent them from becoming a real challenge to the powers that be.

Follow Toralf's on Insta @toralf_endruw_oxtxo

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Mansa is joined by Comrade Anna to discuss the huge protests which have rocked Albania. We put the protests in the context of the Balkans, historically divided by imperialist domination, and point to the need to make anti-imperialism a central pillar of the movement as the means to genuinely meet the demands of the movement. We also caution against blindly cheering on adventurist methods in the protest movement, and the urgent need to bring the organised working class into the movement. 

• Albania - Organise the movement, center the fight against imperialism
• In defense of permanent revolution - For communist leadership of the anti-imperialist struggle!

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Mansa is joined by Comrade Alexis to discuss Brazil where the elections have returned Lula to a historic fourth term in office. While much of the left cheers Lula's victory for keeping the right out of office, we warn that this can only be disarming: the parliament and senate are firmly in control of the right wing, and there is a lot of discontent at Lula's conciliation of the ruling class and imperialism. All these considerations make Lula's victory pyrrhic and pose even more urgently the need for communists to draw lessons of Lulismo. 

• In defense of permanent revolution - For communist leadership of the national liberation struggle!

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A sick Mansa sits down with Comrades Vincent and Perrault, co-hosts of the French podcast Communiste en tabarnak!, to discuss the huge protests which erupted in France on 17th October. A huge outpouring of anger amongst students and other layers in French society, the protests culminated in riots of unprecedented scale and a new wave of police terror, with thousands of arrests and injuries. Have the protests put revolution on the agenda, or has the rioting provoked a right-wing backlash and strengthened the right? 

• Follow Communiste en tabarnak! on Youtube
• Read Le Bolchevik, the paper of our comrades in France
  • A plan for the start of the school year - What do we do after the 17th? (French)
  • Against the reactionary torrent - Let's close ranks and get organised! (French)

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Mansa ropes in Comrade Elizabeth to play guest host so that she can discuss the ongoing protests in India demanding the resignation of the Election Commissioner (EC) after the removal of 130 million names from voter lists, a blatant attack on basic democratic rights, especially of the most oppressed layers. We discuss the aims and methods of the movement, why they must expand beyond just the question of the EC and take aim at the entire rotting government, and why the Congress is an obstacle to doing so. Crucial in this whole situation is the traitorous alliance by the communist and left parties with Congress which serves to funnel anger back into the dead end of the status quo of Indian society.

• Congress & allies contain struggle - Down with the Modi-Adani regime!
• The fight against Modi - What next?
• South Asian Powder Keg
• R G Kar rape and murder - What should communists do? 
• For communist leadership of the anti-imperialist struggle!

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Mansa sits down with Comrade Perrault to discuss a burning question for the revolutionary left: the popular front. As the right grows and sweeps various elections, the pressures on the left and workers organisations to make alliances with progressive bourgeois forces to keep the right out are only growing. But this is a dead-end; not only does the popular front not work, but it fuels the growth of the right, helping it to come back stronger. Revolutionaries must break the popular front! 

• AfD's triumphant march - firewall in ruins. What to do? (in German)
• Zohran Mamdani and the DSA - How to avoid another situationship
• Your Party: Ditch the liberals, win the workers!
• France: Popular front paves way for Le Pen
• The fight against Modi - What next?
• SL/US class series: United fronts yes, popular fronts no!

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Mansa is joined by Comrade Badr from the International Socialist Alternative (Revolutionary) to discuss, in broad strokes, the dynamics of the Middle East. Divided and ravaged by imperialism and its Zionist outpost, we discuss why anti-imperialism is key to unifying the region, but why this anti-imperialism must be rooted in the working masses, and why it must champion the rights of the national, religious and other minorities in order to succeed. 

• Iran War - Prospects and Tasks
• Marxists and Palestine - 100 years of failure
• In defense of permanent revolution - For communist leadership of the anti-imperialist struggle!

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Mansa is joined by Rizwana Karim and Eibhlin to discuss the situation in Pakistan. While the military establishment and government courts Trump, the most popular leader of the country, Imran Khan, is behind bars at U.S. orders and unrest is rising.  From the mass uprising in Azad Kashmir to  skyrocketing inflation and political repression throughout the country, Pakistan is on knife's edge. Rizwana and Eibhlin discuss some of the internal dynamics, the Pakistan-U.S. relation, why socialists must champion the freedom of Imran Khan to lead the fight against imperialism, and the necessity to unite the nationalities in the country.

• South Asian Power Keg
• Pakistan - General strike to free political prisoners!
• For united class struggle defence to free political prisoners in Pakistan
• On the re-arrest of Imaan Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chattha (Amnesty International)

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sparttalk.org | Like the episode and subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts, and follow us on X @SpartacistICL, YouTube @Spartacist, or follow Mansa on Insta @punjabibolshevik