With the NYC mayoral elections just two months away, we’re talking about one of the most important developments for the Left right now: Zohran Mamdani’s win in the Democratic mayoral primary and his ongoing campaign to win the election in November.

Mamdani’s mostly progressive platform speaks to the aspirations of working-class New Yorkers, and his mayoral primary victory reflects an important progressive shift in a context of right-wing attacks by the Trump administration, revealing broad discontent with an unaffordable city, anger at the Democratic Party establishment, a desire to fight the Far Right, pro-Palestine sentiment, and hunger for new political representation. His win was a rejection of the corrupt, pro-cop mayoralty of Eric Adams, the Zionist lobby, and the racist, multi-million-dollar campaign against him by Andrew Cuomo.

But it’s definitely not without its contradictions and limits, and is functioning to rebuild the Democratic Party — the same capitalist party that’s responsible for building up ICE, funding the genocide in Gaza, and advancing the neoliberal austerity project that created the affordability crisis in the first place.

We’ll talk about what the “Mamdani moment” means for the fight for socialism, the creeping limits of reformism, the dangers of the Democratic Party, and our ideas for the way forward as revolutionary socialists.

Hosts: Emma and Melanie
Producer: Luigi Morris
Music: Griffin Brown

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Read more: leftvoice.org
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In this episode, we discuss the dire situation in Gaza and urgent need to end this genocide. Israel is advancing with its recently approved plan to invade and “take over” Gaza City. At the same time, Palestinians in Gaza are starving and being attacked at aid sites by the IDF, and the UN has declared a famine. Official figures say over 60,000 people have been killed since Israel's onslaught began — but the real toll is likely tens of thousands higher than that.

We must fight against the starvation, the genocide, the siege, and against Israel’s brutal occupation of Palestine. Our fight is for full liberation of the Palestinian people, against the 76 years of dispossession, displacement, apartheid, occupation, and ethnic cleansing. 

Workers and youth are pointing the way forward in this struggle through protests of thousands all over the world, a historic student movement, and port workers who have used their strategic position to block arms shipments to Israel.

To end the genocide, all workers and unions must rise, join the protests and strikes for a free Palestine, and fight until we win.

Read more:
https://www.leftvoice.org/un-officially-declares-famine-as-israel-ivades-gaza-city/

https://www.leftvoice.org/trump-state-department-blocks-lifesaving-visas-for-gazas-wounded-children-after-far-right-smear/

Hosts: Emma and Melanie
Producer: Luigi Morris
Music: Griffin Brown

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Read more: leftvoice.org
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As Donald Trump ramps up attacks on immigrant communities, he’s building the machinery for a far-reaching authoritarian project. In this episode of The Red Thread, we unpack how anti-immigrant rhetoric is being weaponized to supercharge ICE, recruit a new wave of agents, and quietly expand the domestic role of the U.S. military.

From billion-dollar budget boosts and “Defend the Homeland” recruitment drives to National Guard troops in detention centers and Pentagon land grabs, we trace increased militarization  inside U.S. borders — and why it won’t stop with immigrants.

Finally, we discuss what it will take to fight back, why the working class must take coordinated action, and how a mass, working-class movement can confront and dismantle the repressive state — for immigrants, for workers, and for all oppressed people.

Read more:
https://www.leftvoice.org/ices-recruitment-campaign-is-desperate-and-dangerous-workers-must-lead-the-fightback/

https://www.leftvoice.org/trumps-war-on-immigrants-is-a-trojan-horse-for-domestic-militarization/ 

Hosts: Emma and Killian
Producer: Luigi Morris
Music: Griffin Brown

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Read more: leftvoice.org
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This month, we saw one of the most alarming escalations in the Middle East in years: the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran, targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities, murdering hundreds of civilians in the process. This situation gives us a glimpse at the “Trump and J.D. Vance doctrine:” not stepping back from war, but using military power to bully other nations into submission — or to force them into war on U.S. terms. 

Trump and Netanyahu’s attacks have nothing to do with peace or democracy. This is about U.S. and European domination of the region — and defending their imperialist outpost: Israel, a state built on ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and genocide.

As Lenin wrote more than a hundred years ago, imperialism, as a stage of capitalism, opens the gates for crisis, war, and revolution. And when we look around us, it’s clear that we are living through great upheaval. The ruling class is gearing up for more war. And we need to gear up for more resistance.

Read more:
https://www.leftvoice.org/permanent-revolution-in-iran/
https://www.leftvoice.org/trumps-attack-on-iran-resonates-beyond-the-middle-east/

Hosts: Emma and Melanie
Producer: Luigi Morris
Music: Griffin Brown

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Read more: leftvoice.org
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In this episode, we celebrate International Workers' Day by looking back at how it started: in Chicago, in 1886, where tens of thousands of workers were going on strike and taking to the streets.

One of their main demands was for an eight-hour workday, which was also taken up by workers internationally — and it sent capitalists into a panic in May 1886, when it seemed like that struggle might turn into a full-on rebellion.

We’ll talk about how this movement grew, and how it was crushed by capitalists and the government, who wanted to ensure their exploitive system would continue unabated. Still, the eight-hour workday demand was taken up internationally, and the workers from this moment in history will never be forgotten. 

Today, the same exploitation that sparked the events of May 1886 is still as ruthless as ever. Many of us still work 10 or 12 hours a day, if not more. We've seen the U.S. go through wars, waves of class struggle, and mass movements against racism and police brutality, but capitalist exploitation and oppression continue.

And therefore, so does the fight for socialism. 

From Haymarket to Amazon warehouses. From Chicago to Gaza. From gig workers to teachers on strike—May Day reminds us that we have the power to win everything we're fighting for.

Read or watch more:

https://www.leftvoice.org/may-1-a-day-for-the-workers-of-the-world/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WViBBoDEAC0&t=76s&ab_channel=LeftVoice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=samhLAyTp0s&t=3s&ab_channel=LeftVoice

Hosts: Killian and Melanie
Producer: Luigi Morris
Music: Griffin Brown

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Read more: leftvoice.org
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In this episode, we're talking about Severance, which Apple TV claims is its most-watched show ever. And it has a cult following, including us!

There are so many angles to analyze this show from, but in this episode we're focusing on Marx's idea of the alienation of labor.

So, let’s head down to the severed floor of Lumon. Here, the “innie” exists only to work. They’re cut off from their own memories, so they have no access to their own history, culture, or any sense of life outside the office. And the work they’re doing is simple, repetitive, and seemingly pointless.

Meanwhile, the “outie” faces everyday life—depression, stress, trauma—but is very much bound to the same system. The characters' outies know even less about what Lumon does, but they still rely on their jobs doing who-knows-what to survive.

So, what does this separation between work life and real life, between the labor we perform and the products that result from that labor, have to do with Marxism? Join us as we go from Helly and Mark to Hegel and Marx.

Hosts: Melanie and Emma
Producer: Luigi Morris
Music: Griffin Brown

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In this episode, we’re continuing our series, “What we talk about when we talk about socialism.” We'll discuss key definitions about socialism, explore the challenges we face in the current stage of capitalism, and respond to the myths and misconceptions that capitalists use to insist that there are no alternatives — or that fighting for a society free from exploitation and oppression isn’t worth it.

In our last episode, we talked a bit about wealth inequality, and the extreme exploitation that has made Amazon and Jeff Bezos so successful. Today we’re diving deeper into how that exploitative relationship is the blueprint for the whole capitalist system, and also for its destruction.

Wealth is a product of social effort. Workers in warehouses, factories, offices, farms, and more all contribute their skills and energy to create the things we rely on, from the food on our tables to the apps on our phones. At the end of the day, workers are the people who create all the wealth in society — we should also be the ones who control it.

Hosts: Killian and Melanie
Producer: Luigi Morris
Music: Griffin Brown

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Read more: leftvoice.org
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In this episode of The Red Thread, we reveal Amazon’s true secret to success. Spoiler alert: it’s not about innovation, technology, or entrepreneurship, but something far older: capitalist exploitation.

The are over a million workers who make Amazon run. They are subjected to long hours, mandatory overtime, surveillance, union-busting, and injuries caused by their work. They're paid a tiny fraction of the value they produce, and the rest of it gets pocketed by Bezos and other shareholders, making them incomprehensibly rich.

Amazon embodies capitalism’s worst features, hiding behind an image of convenience while exploiting a workforce that’s constantly under surveillance. But we know that Amazon workers hold a huge power, and once that giant wakes up, it can shake the world.

Read more:

https://www.leftvoice.org/the-myth-of-our-disposability-reflections-from-an-amazon-warehouse-worker-on-prime-day/
https://www.leftvoice.org/inside-amazon-exploitation-and-the-fight-against-capitalist-dystopia/

Hosts: Killian and Melanie
Producer: Luigi Morris
Music: Griffin Brown

Stay connected and solidarity forever.

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Read more: leftvoice.org
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In this episode of the Red Thread, we’re exposing the truth behind the anti-immigrant lies being spread as “common sense.” These myths about immigration aren't just misconceptions - they're deliberately being used by the ruling class to justify horrific policies and divide workers. 

Since Trump’s return to office, his administration has unleashed a wave of anti-immigrant attacks — from mass deportations and militarized borders to shuttered asylum programs and anti-immigrant rhetoric. And while the Democrats' rhetoric is less overtly hostile, they're just as aggressive in terms of policy and sheer number of deportations. In this climate of escalating attacks on immigrant communities, it’s crucial to examine and debunk the persistent myths used to justify these policies and manufacture consent. 

And, rather than allowing xenophobic rhetoric to divide and demoralize us, workers must unite across borders to protect immigrants’ rights and fight against capitalist exploitation. Only through solidarity between immigrant and U.S.-born workers can we effectively fight back against the politicians and corporations that profit from exploitation while trying to pit workers against each other. 

¡La lucha obrera no tiene fronteras!

Read more:

https://www.leftvoice.org/the-truth-about-immigration-combating-myths-in-an-era-of-intensified-attacks/

Hosts: Sarah and Emma
Producer: Luigi Morris
Music: Griffin Brown

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For our Valentine's Day edition of The Red Thread, Melanie and Emma discuss the "profoundly social" emotion of love from a revolutionary socialist perspective, with the help of Alexandra Kollontai's work "Make Way for Winged Eros: A Letter to Working Youth." The nuclear family unit and the "love" ties of marriage have been essential for capitalist production for centuries. Women have been burdened with almost all the unpaid labor of family care, and queer people have been criminalized and oppressed with the help of this rigid formula. 

So this Valentine's Day, we wonder: is legally binding, eternal monogamy truly the highest ideal of love?

While capitalism limits love in profound ways, a socialist vision of love is one where relationships aren't shaped by exploitation but by genuine connection and collective solidarity.

So, if you're thinking about roses, chocolates, and romance this February, stick around because we've got a very different take on love coming your way.

Read more:

https://www.leftvoice.org/love-and-socialism
https://www.leftvoice.org/queer-oppression-is-etched-in-the-heart-of-capitalism/

Hosts: Melanie and Emma
Producer: Luigi Morris
Music: Griffin Brown

Stay connected and solidarity forever.

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Instagram: @theredthreadpod
Read more: leftvoice.org
Support us at patreon.com/leftvoice