The Left Opposition Podcast

On the program today we have on three former members of the US military who each found their way to Marxism. Matthew you already know as a regular but we also hosted Tyler and Ben of the Denver Communists to discuss their experience in joining and serving in the military as pawns of the imperialist war machine and coming out of it as radicalized Marxists. Tyler recently had his article published on Firebrand reflecting on what potential for socialist organizing in the military and what Aaron Bushnell has to teach us about anti-imperialist resistance.

The episode opens with a clip of Mike Prysner protesting Bush, and Aaron Bushnell's final words of rebellion, closing with Woody Guthrie's "So Long It's Been Good to Know You" war song.

https://firebrand.red/2024/03/a-communist-military-veteran-on-aaron-bushnell-imperialist-war-and-resistance/

https://denvercommunists.org/

https://www.youtube.com/@denvercommunists

Recommended reading this week is Alexandra Kollontai's "Who Needs the War?" https://www.marxists.org/archive/kollonta/1915/whoneeds.htm

If you like what you hear why not throw $5 our way on our Patreon? Doug needs a new computer and we are literally useless without him. https://www.patreon.com/TheLeftOP/posts

Chris shares his thoughts on his visit to Venezuela back in the day in which he witnessed first hand the incredible potential of worker's control of the means of production and the current election contest of Maduro against a Trump clone. Chavez instituted an incredible amount of reforms for the working class and laid a foundation for the Bolivarian revolution. Unfortunately under Maduro and the crippling sanctions put forth by US imperialism, the country caved to capitalist restoration. As Marxists we defend the gains made by the Bolivarian Revolution while decrying the limits of bourgeois democracy, and using Trotsky's Permanent Revolution to understand how to fight for something better.

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https://twitch.tv/radicalizeme

https://twitch.tv/marxistarchaeologist

Further Reading

https://www.marxist.com/urgent-note-on-venezuela-how-did-we-reach-this-dead-end.htm

https://www.marxist.com/presidential-elections-in-venezuela-between-death-by-asphyxiation-and-decapitation.htm

https://socialistrevolution.org/supreme-court-approves-assault-on-communist-party-of-venezuela/

You think you're a coconut? Or something like that I don't fucking know any more. We discuss the ongoing endless american bourgeois election cycle, some hot gossip surrounding it, and ultimately why these elections are essentially a waste of time and deeply unserious. There is still a genocide happening folks! Solidarity with those on the ground who stood up against police repression at Netanyahu's speech in Congress, across the country, and to all those facing oppression around the world.

Speaking of unserious, this week saw the launch of yet another MAGAcommunist scam in the form of a new party, the American Communist Party. We talk a bit about what it is and the shady links behind it.

Support the show on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/TheLeftOP

Doug's new book on Kautsky https://bit.ly/4bW2Q12

Join Chris at the Socialist Party conference this weekend https://socialistorganizing.org/index.html

Check out Joe's new music video on the Chiquita Death Squads! https://youtu.be/3l2pduEJSg4

Follow Aaron at https://twitch.tv/marxistarchaeologist and on twitter https://twitter.com/ArchaeoMarxist

The boys are back in town after a hiatus of holidays with families and loved ones. I hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July in which you eat a bald eagle or whatever you Americans do. The news is as dumb as ever as we take a dive into Biden's post-debate interviews and clean up after the disastrous performance at the debate. The Labour Party in the UK won a decisive victory over the Tories only to implement Tory policies, while a Popular Front in France defeated Marine Le Pen's fascist party, and what this might mean for the working class going forward.

Check out Doug's new book on Karl Kautsky!

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

Please support us on Patreon

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We catch up with our good MAGA communist friends to see what they're up to, where one of them likes a Nazi Fancam on Twitter, Alex Jones has to liquidate InfoWars to pay off his settlement with the Sandy Hook families, and the launch of the Freedom Institute for A Free American Freedom led by a coalition of Infrared, Midwestern Marx and Jackson Hinkle. AOC platforms some renowned Zionists to combat anti-semitism. That expensive pier was used in a raid that killed 270 people while rescuing 4 well fed and taken care of hostages, while a shocking new report comes from an Israeli prison and treatment of palestinian prisoners. We close off discussing the 34th anniversary of Thomas Sankara's assasination and his legacy in Burkina Faso.

Don't forget to subscribe to our Patreon!

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Tonight's episode was nearly cancelled due to allergies but thankfully Chris, Joe and Matt stepped up and banged out a solid episode with my congested ass occasionally weighing in. No Doug this week as he is focusing on some articles and putting the finishing touches on his new book coming this summer!

On the program we discuss American democracy, how much of a sham it is, why Trump's conviction doesn't really mean much, and in contradiction: exploring two Marxists participating in bourgeois elections, including Fiona Lali in the UK. We also get into the death of Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi and why his death should not be mourned by genuine leftists, but is bizarrely mourned by the MAGAcoms.

Included is audio of street interviews by comrade Alex Steinberg, their writings can be found here

http://forum.permanent-revolution.org/

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Apologies comrades, we recorded this just after May 1st of this year, and due to a number of family issues, world events that demanded our participation in the streets, and technical issues, I finally found time to salvage and fix this episode.

In this episode we have a conversation with some comrades over at Independent Socialist Group. We go over their various takes and positions on world events and circumstances. This will be an ongoing series of interviews with comrades from different organizations. If you'd like your org featured on the podcast, reach out to us and we can schedule an interview! [email protected]

Article in discussion in this episode:

It's the Haz episode! We go over some classic clips but more importantly we take a dive into the theory behind MAGA communism as it pertains to the working class, Trumpism, as well as its relationship to previously similar movements like Strasserism, Larouchism, etc.... where these mass movements of people with socialist aesthetics become anti-communist setbacks. What Haz essentially is pushing for is a Mass line tailored to the right wing petty bourgeois elements of the United States: your small business owner types which was primarily Trump's base of support. This really more speaks to a failure of the Left and of the CPUSA to unite and build the working class uprising to take power for itself.

Show Notes

https://classconscious.org/2023/05/27/maga-communism-and-beyond-the-left-right-spectrum-how-nationalism-bolshevism-has-emerged-in-the-us/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR3upMMbtD26hvvopsGal6c1nMpyvghA_hUPP19Qzk02hgywOQU2RLrIe2c_aem_AQW7it88S0xVDwlD_3nwdepPmULwJsaxM-HnxGBTAwoBTWW6AV3RRO_prAAFbl8SX58IaIsmqFeWbxgTTeXz_oci

https://platypus1917.org/2024/02/01/the-epoch-of-empires-an-interview-with-haz-al-din/

Shoutout to Wow Mao for this brilliant clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYWIyG3hUlQ&ab_channel=wow_mao

Go check out Joe's youtube page: https://www.youtube.com/@radicalizeme5380

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Support the podcast on Patreon! $5 goes a long way for us.

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Haz and Hinkle kicked off campus and whine about it. Fetterman and the NYPD are liars.

Chris and Aaron back with a news episode, discussing May Day, Marx's birthday, and Soviet Victory day, and connecting the workers movement with the student encampments for a Free Palestine and the qualitative differences the new movement has from older events like Occupy and the George Floyd uprising. Needless to say, the kids are alright.

Next we look at the incident at Emory University where Haz gave a dumb speech capped by screaming at students booing him for defending Jackson Hinkle. Jon Fetterman lies about students demands while the NYPD goes to a library for the first time. Biden says there is no red line for Israel.

The lads open with another bizarre conversation between recurring characters Alex Jones and Jackson Hinkle analyzing the Trotskyist movement in America which led to us reading out an argument between Noah from Midwestern Marx and some actual Trotskyist comrades in the replies. We then talk seriously about the ongoing encampments popping up on campuses across the United States opposing genocide, with some fresh hot takes coming from Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and her former protege Caleb Maupin. We also discuss the attempts by zionist propagandists to portray the student protests as violent only for it to backfire in their faces.

If you are a student involved on campus protests, feel free to reach out to us, [email protected] if you'd like to be interviewed!

Solidarity with the students on campus! For a revolutionary intifada!

End music, sung by the students at Columbia University joined by Pete Seeger's "We Shall Not Be Moved"