The Socialist Program with Brian Becker

On today's episode Walter Smolarek and Prof. Richard Wolff discuss the devastating residential fire over the weekend in New York City that  claimed 17 lives, including 8 children. Coming on the heels of a similar deadly blaze in Philadelphia public housing that killed 4 adults and 8 children, this tragedy highlights the complete inability of the capitalist system to provide safe, dignified housing for workers. Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can check out his work at rdwolff.com. Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram.  We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

On today's In the News roundtable, Brian Becker, Esther Iverem, Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek discuss how the Biden administration is sending stronger and stronger signals that it is effectively surrendering to the COVID pandemic – urging the public to “learn to live with” the deadly disease that has killed well over 800,000 people in the United States alone. They also discuss high profile talks taking place between US and Russian officials, the sentencing of the killers of Ahmaud Arbery, and devastating residential fires that took place in New York City and Philadelphia; and speak with Toronto-based organizer Aminah Sheikh about recent successes in the labor movement. Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

Brian Becker and Dr. Gerald Horne discuss the one-year anniversary of the January 6th assault on the U.S. Capitol, encouraged and organized by Donald Trump. It was the first time since 1812 that the U.S. government was under attack on its home soil, yet the leaders of the attack have still not been prosecuted – just the soldiers. What’s happened in the year since the assault? What does it tell us about what’s coming? And how can we fight back? Brian is joined by Dr. Gerald Horne. He holds the Moores Professorship of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston and is the author of many books, including “The Color of Fascism: Lawrence Dennis, Racial Passing, and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism in the United States,” and “The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America.” Watch the NEW video edition of “The Real Story” on BreakThrough News! Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

On today's episode Walter Smolarek and Prof. Richard Wolff discuss how wage theft is rampant across the United States -- Workers are sent to jail for theft, but under capitalism corporate executives have impunity to steal on a massive scale. They also discuss why socialists believe that in fact all wages are a form of theft. Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can check out his work at rdwolff.com. Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram.  We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you  consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more  are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

On today's In the News roundtable, Brian Becker, Esther Iverem, Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek discuss Donald Trump's plan to speak at a  nationally televised press conference on the anniversary of the January 6 assault on Congress, Israel's massive bombing of a Syrian port city, the havoc caused by the Omicron variant, how the United States is moving aggressively toward war with Russia over Ukraine, and more. Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

The Soviet Union survived its tumultuous first post-revolutionary years of civil war and imperialist invasion, but found itself isolated in a hostile, capitalist-dominated world. The Soviet government embarked on an all-out campaign of industrialization and collectivization that achieved a pace of economic development unparalleled in human history. But at the same time, the menace of fascism was rising, and the leadership of the Communist Party struggled through a string of shifts and policy reversals in international politics. In the end, 27 million Soviet citizens gave their lives in World War Two to defeat the Nazi war machine.   To discuss this period from the 1920s to the onset of World War II, Brian is joined by Carlos Martinez, author of “The End of the Beginning: Lessons of the Soviet Collapse,” co-founder of the No Cold War Campaign, and editor of the political analysis site Invent-The-Future.org.  This is part 3 of the series “The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union -- Lessons for Socialists.”  Watch the NEW video edition of “The Real Story” on BreakThrough News! Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

On today's episode Brian and Prof. Richard Wolff discuss how Joe Manchin took his war on workers to new lows over the weekend as he announced on Fox News that he was pulling out of negotiations with the White House over the “Build Back Better” social programs. But these negotiations have long been a farce. From the beginning, Biden pursued a ridiculous strategy, praising Manchin in public instead of building pressure and offering concession after concession. Now the situation has reached an impasse that only mass struggle can break. Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can check out his work at rdwolff.com. Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

On today's In the News roundtable, Brian Becker, Esther Iverem, Nicole  Roussell and Walter Smolarek discuss how after months of talking,  begging and offering concessions the Biden administration’s dead-end  strategy of appeasing right wing Democrat Joe Manchin  has gone up in flames. Now Manchin wants to pulls the plug on the  “build back better” social programs entirely, and only a people's  movement can stop him. They also discuss the victory of Gabriel Boric  over his fascist opponent in the Chilean presidential  election, new revelations about the scale of civilian casualties from  U.S. airstrikes, the spread of the omicron variant, and more. Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram.  We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you  consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more  are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

Russia’s October Revolution in 1917 and the rise of Soviet power reverberated across the world, from Latin America to Africa to Asia, and Middle East – that part of the world that lived under the ravages of colonialism and under-development. To discuss the impact of the Russian Revolution on the peoples of the world who lived under the yoke of colonial and domination, Brian is joined by Vijay Prashad, the Executive Director of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, Chief Editor of LeftWord Books, a prolific author and the author  of “Red Star Over the Third World.” This is part 2 of the series “The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union -- Lessons for Socialists.” Watch the NEW video edition of “The Real Story” on BreakThrough News! Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

Elon Musk is TIME magazine's Person of the Year this year, despite gaining more than $225 billion dollars over the course of the pandemic, while hundreds of thousands of Americans died. Why does the mainstream capitalist culture worship him and billionaires like him? Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can check out his work at rdwolff.com. Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.