Mansa is joined by Comrade Erica from Workers Vanguard, the newspaper of our comrades in the United States. We start off with the context in the country and the domestic response to Trump's war on Iran as well as his attacks at home. We then discuss the problem with the dominant strategies on offer--a repeat of the so-called general strike in Minneapolis, and No Kings--both of which lead back to the Democrats, and why class independence is the only way to stop Trump.

Check out the latest Workers Vanguard here: https://iclfi.org/pubs/wv/1189

• Wars, deportations, inflation: What can stop Trump?
• Colorado Meatpackers: Expand strike, win safety (in English, French and Spanish)

Check out other articles from their press at https://iclfi.org/pubs/wv and follow them on X and Insta @workersvanguard

*Correction - The UAW worker who heckled Trump on Epstein was not actually fired. https://www.reuters.com/world/uaw-says-ford-worker-who-heckled-trump-kept-job-not-disciplined-2026-02-09/ 

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Mansa is joined by Comrade Julia to discuss the rapidly worsening situation in Cuba and what is being done to help Cuba in its hour of need. Julia explains our fundraising efforts in the Partisan Defence Committee, which launched an international fundraising effort which has so far raised nearly £19,000 to donate to efforts to help Cuba, as well as our comrades who are bringing material aid to Cuba with Nuestra América Convoy.

*I mistakenly use USD instead of pounds to refer to the amount of money we have raised.

• The PDC is taking urgent aid to Cuba!
• Donate to break the blockade here!
• Cuba under seige: An eyewitness report 

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Mansa is joined by Comrade Perrault to look at why a lot of analysts and the left think the U.S. will emerge weaker out of the Iran war. There is a lot of fatuousness that the Iranian regime's strategy will lead it to victory, but we ask: what constitutes victory? Our starting point is that communists and anti-imperialists should approach this question from the point of view of which class force emerges strengthened out of this conflict. Will this war lead to a strengthening of the oppressed internationally, or no? 

• U.S. imperialism turns the screws
• The world at a turning point

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Mansa is joined by Comrade Elizabeth to discuss how the left finds itself divided and disoriented yet again on Iran. Whether it's the 12-day war, the Dey uprising, or now, the two trends persist and keep getting ever more polarised: denounce the regime for being repressive and therefore refuse to defend Iran from attack by the U.S. and Israel, or support the regime for being anti-imperialist. This binary is not new. We put forward a framework to resolve this and urge leftists to face reality, and draw the hard lessons, no matter how bitter and painful. 

Our recent propaganda on/relevant to Iran: 

• Why leftists shouldn't celebrate Khamenei's death, by Mansa Kaur
• Stop U.S.-Israel rampage - Defend Iran
• Iran still needs to be defended
• Iran - The revolution must be anti-imperialist
• Iran - Marxists who failed the test
• Iran and the national question
• Why can't anyone stop Netanyahu?

Previous SpartTalk episodes:

• Why workers should stand with Iran!
• Iran and the Marxists who failed

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Mansa is joined by Comrade Perrault to discuss the resumption of war against Iran by the U.S. and Israel. As we publish, there is news that they have murdered Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran. We discuss what this and the recent escalation on Iran means in terms of the balance of forces in the region, and as always, the problems with the left and what socialists should do.

Check out our recent statements on Iran:

• Stop U.S./Israel Rampage, Defend Iran!
• Iran Still Needs to be Defended! 
• Iran: The Revolution Must be Anti-Imperialist 

Get in touch!

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Mansa and Cairo pick up their discussion from the previous episode on how liberalism destroyed the black struggle in the U.S. They begin with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the hyper-liberalism of the Clinton years to Obama's post-racial society which eventually gave us MAGA, only for the anti-Trump resistance to then give us Biden which brought Trump back with a vengeance. In all this, the black struggle in America was further weakened due to its liberal politics. 

• "Liberalism destroyed the black struggle: How to rebuild it"
• Read the issue of Black History here: https://blackstruggle.org/27/

Follow the work of our comrades in the US on X and Insta @workersvanguard

Get in touch!

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Mansa is joined by Cairo Turner, editor of the newly relaunched Black History and the Class Struggle. We discuss how the current near non-existent state of the black movement is a result of decades of liberal politics. We start with the Civil Rights movement and how its massive potential was undermined by the likes of MLK Jr who hitched it to the progressive wing of the American ruling class, and how these politics paved the way for the backlash and reaction in the late 70s and 80s. Ultimately, the lesson from this period is that the struggle for black liberation must be tied to the struggle for the liberation of the working class - both go forward together or fall back separately.

• "Liberalism destroyed the black struggle: How to rebuild it" 
• Read the issue here: https://blackstruggle.org/27/

Follow the work of our comrades in the US on X and Insta @workersvanguard

Get in touch!

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In a special episode, Mansa is joined by Comrades Bourchier and Edith from Australia to discuss the merger of their two organisations, the Spartacist League of Australia and the Revolutionary Communist Organisation, respectively. We discuss the basis for the merger, what led to this despite differences on some questions of analysis and programme, what this merger means for rebuilding the Australian left and lessons for the left internationally. The merged organisation will be relaunched as Communist Unity in May 2026.

Reports on the RCO conference and RCO-SLA merger which give a somewhat different taste:

• Communist Unity's 2026 General Conference, by Anthony Furia and Christina Veselovskiy of the RCO
• Factions, nameswitching and unity, by Mia Volkova of the RCO

SLA articles:

• Why we are joining the RCO, and you should too, by the SLA

Check out the issues of Red Battler, the now-ceased paper of the Spartacists in Australia.

For more from the RCO:

• The website of the RCO can be found here: https://revcomorg.info/
• Partisan! the official publication of the RCO, can be found here: https://partisanmagazine.org/articles/
• Follow RCO on Insta @rev_com_org

Get in touch!

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Mansa is joined by Jens from Autoarbeiter für eine kämpfende IG Metall (Autoworkers for a fighting IG Metall) and Steffen from Spartakist-Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands to discuss the attacks raining down on workers in the auto industry. As Germany's economy continues to reel from being cut-off from cheap Russian energy and increasing competition from China, the German auto bosses are seeking to cut their losses on the backs of autoworkers. Jens discusses what he and his co-workers have been doing to bring pressure to bear on the IG Metall, the largest union in auto, to fight against the massacre of jobs. 

• Jetzt erst recht: Unterschreibt unsere Petition an die IG Metall! (now more than ever: Sign our petition to IG Metall!) 
• Das Massaker an Industriearbeitsplatzen muss aufhoren! Stoppen wir es jetzt! Auch in Marienfelde! (The massacre of industrial jobs must stop! Let's stop it now! Including in Marienfelde!) 

Get in touch with Jens at [email protected]

Get in touch!

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Mansa is joined by Comrade Anacleto from Mexico City to discuss how Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum's decision to suspend oil shipments to Cuba is aiding the imperialist chokehold on the island and why communists must fight to break this blockade as a means of defending not just Cuba and the Cuban Revolution, but also to defend Mexico and the Mexican working class and peasantry from imperialist aggression. We discuss the challenges of building the anti-imperialist struggle in a context where Latin America is under attack but where there seems to be a growing right-ward shift. 

• Break the blockade! Double the oil shipments to Cuba!
• Front page of El Antiimperialistia #5 - No resistir significa mas subordinacion
• The world at a turning point

Follow our comrades in Mexico on X and Insta @gem_lci

Get in touch!

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