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The Left Opposition Podcast

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Sep 28, 2024 • 1h 23min

Escalate to Deescalate?

I hope you are well, friends! It's been another week of decades worth of news as Israel bombards Lebanon as we speak, murdering hundreds of civilians, further escalating a potential regional war drawing the US directly into conflict with Israel's neighbours while the operation in Gaza is almost a year old and not really going well. The world is bleak so we look to the working class to give us hope, and that is in the Boeing workers' strike for better wages and pensions. The student movement for Palestine must link up with these workers to support each other and deal a crippling blow to the USA's ability to export weapons to Israel. For a bit of levity we read a student newspaper discussing antisemitism on Columbia's campus with concern by Jewish students who ultimately rejected their acceptance due to being uncomfortable with their colleagues protesting genocide. We find out why and its exactly as stupid as you think it is. Lastly we check in on what renowned pervert Mark Robinson has been up to. Are you interested in learning Marxist theory? Message us on social media and we can organize a reading group where we cover the introductory and basic texts! This week's readings: https://www.marxist.com/united-states-turbulence-ahead-as-class-struggle-heats-up-at-boeing.htm https://www.leftvoice.org/boeing-workers-are-uniquely-situated-to-disrupt-the-global-economy/ https://www.leftvoice.org/the-pro-palestine-student-movement-should-unite-with-the-historic-boeing-workers-strike/ The article in question https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2024/09/23/i-already-felt-unwelcome-jewish-students-decline-admission-offers-to-columbia-over-antisemitism-concerns/ Palestine Activist Defense Fund: https://palestineaction.org/defence-fund/ Episode cover art photo (Peyton Wilson, Middle East Eye, Nov 2023)
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Sep 21, 2024 • 53min

Marxism and Immigration

RIP James Earl Jones. We were a bit pressed for time when we recorded this one, hope you like it! We get into the Marxist approach to mass immigration, drawing upon what Marx wrote about the Irish and English proletariat and what our task as revolutionaries is. In other news the Teamsters endorse no candidate for president! We read some liberal meltdowns Chris gathered on Threads in a new experimental segment. Opening segment is from Matewan (1987) one of the most important union movies ever made. Support us on Patreon if you like what you hear, and check out our Facebook page for all the latest leftist memes kids are sharing these days.
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Sep 14, 2024 • 1h 2min

Do Not Vote For Your Enemy

If you caught the debate between Kamala and Trump earlier this week this should already be obvious, that as socialists, Marxists, communists we do not support neither the Republican Party nor the Democrat party, each with their violently reactionary or inaction toward key issues that affect the working class. Both are puppets for imperialism, war, genocide, strike breaking and will do nothing to halt climate change. So what do we do? What is the Marxist position on bourgeois elections? We are joined by Mark Jay of Firebrand to discuss his recent article "Why Socialists Don't Vote For 0ur Enemies." We then get into the A"C"P Patzi position on immigration regarding the debunked and slanderous Haitian migrant rumors about pet eating. https://firebrand.red/2024/08/why-socialists-dont-vote-for-our-enemies/ To watch us live record every Thursday at 730 EST https://twitch.tv/marxistarchaeologist Doug's latest article: https://firebrand.red/2024/09/wandering-in-the-void-the-dead-end-of-national-bolshevism/
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Sep 8, 2024 • 1h 12min

The Problem of the Israeli Proletariat

Conditions are grim in Gaza as doctors, physicians, nurses and aid workers describe the scene that is hundreds of times worse than what we see on alternative media like X and TikTok. The death toll at this point is in the hundreds of thousands with no apparent help coming nor the bombing to be let up with the looming US election of Harris, who vows to continue the weapons faucet to Israel. Their other ally, Germany, is experiencing a resurgence in the far right party AfD as they climb in the polls as the crisis for the working class gets worse and worse with no viable Left option. The second half of the program, Aaron explores an article by the ISR and Matzpen on the problems of the Israeli proletariat. Are they even capable of breaking with Zionism? What would a revolution in Palestine look like and who would lead it? These are not easy questions and frankly I hope I can be convinced otherwise but I see no help coming from the Israeli proletariat either. https://www.marxist.com/explosion-of-anger-against-netanyahu-in-israel-hostages-blood-is-on-his-hands.htm https://isreview.org/issue/110/whats-matter-israeli-working-class/index.html https://youtu.be/xwsq3PIQmSI
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Sep 1, 2024 • 1h 16min

Boo This Man

Israel invades the West Bank, JD Vance gets boo'd by firefighters, and the American Communist Party keep doing incredible things like posting wonderful takes and then deleting them before we have a chance to dunk on them.
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Aug 19, 2024 • 1h 9min

Fighting the Far Right

The boys are back together again to discuss the race riots in the UK, Venezuela, Israel, Elon Musk and Trump. It's a packed episode folks, glad we got this one out!
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Aug 18, 2024 • 1h 26min

Better Late Than Never

Apologies folks, some technical glitches with Audacity and scheduling conflicts delayed the release of this episode in which we go over the current state of the Venezuela election, our first impressions of Tim Walz. Kamala Harris girlbosses her way around. Rathbone releases another banger. Right wingers believe in magic. All this and more on this episode! Edit: Fixed a glitch that resulted in a pause in the audio 30 min in. This episode is two shorter episodes stitched together.
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Aug 10, 2024 • 1h 5min

Military Veterans and Marxism

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
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Jul 31, 2024 • 1h 7min

Venezuela Elections

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. Sign up for the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheLeftOP 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/
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Jul 27, 2024 • 1h 21min

Kamala the Coconut Cop

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

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