Class Unity

Join Speaker 2, an astute commentator on political dynamics, as they delve into the 2024 elections and the frustrations in the current electoral landscape. They address the disillusionment voters feel toward both parties, critiquing the influence of donors on candidates. Explore the evolution of culture wars in mobilizing political support, along with the challenges of re-industrialization amid economic shifts. The discussion extends to the complexities of class dynamics and shifting loyalties, revealing a landscape rife with skepticism towards established political structures.

Radhika Desai talks with Class Unity about geopolitical economy, imperialism, realism, the state of the left, and and dollar hegemony. She is the author of “Geopolitical Economy: After US Hegemony, Globalization and Empire” (2013) and “Capitalism, Coronavirus and War” (2022). You can find Class Unity here: https://classunity.org Please consider making a donation or joining today!

In this episode, Jamal, Heph and Daniel speak to Ben Thomason, an expert on American culture and politics, on so-called “democracy promotion,” and the way in which the US uses media and civil society to manipulate other countries in furtherance of corporate interests. Here is some of Thomason’s recent work: 2022 article, “Save the Children, Launch the Bombs: Propaganda Agents Behind The White Helmets (2016) Documentary and Media Imperialism in the Syrian Civil War” – https://www.theprojectorjournal.com/save-the-children 2022 blog post, “directing the moderat rebels: Syria as a Digital Age Crucible for Information and propaganda warfare” – https://www.hamptonthink.org/read/directing-the-moderate-rebels-syria-as-a-digital-age-crucible-for-information-and-propaganda-warfare 2024 article, “The moderate rebel industry: Spaces of Western public–private civil society and propaganda warfare in the Syrian civil war” – https://doi.org/10.1177/17506352241239142 2024 dissertation on democracy promotion, “Making Democracy Safe for Empire: A History and Political Economy of the National Endowment for Democracy, United States Agency for International Development, and Twenty-First Century Media Imperialism” – http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1711480290212777 References: Marcie Smith (2019), “Change Agent: Gene Sharp’s Neoliberal Nonviolence” https://nonsite.org/change-agent-gene-sharps-neoliberal-nonviolence-part-one/ Thomason can be followed on Twitter/X @BenThomason95. 

Christian Parenti talks with Class Unity about the “compatible left”, so-called Wokeness, contemporary politics, and institutions like the CIA. Parenti is the author of “Radical Hamilton” (2020) and “Tropic of Chaos” (2011). You can find his article here: https://catalyst-journal.com/2024/06/… You can find Class Unity here: https://classunity.org Please consider making a donation or joining today!

Michael Heinrich talks to Class Unity about Marx’s Capital, Politics, and the contemporary Left.  

Welcome to Transmissions Episode 14! In this episode, Jamal, Heph, and Daniel discuss the recent political victory of George Galloway, the Workers Party, and Joti Brar on “Class Unity”, and the prospects for class politics at present. On the Class Unity podcast channel you can find Transmissions, our podcast for topical discussions and interviews, and PoliEdPod, the podcast featuring great content from our Political Education Committee. If you are interested in this discussion, consider joining Class Unity today, and get involved in our Political Education Committee. Please follow us on your podcast app of choice, and leave a kind review! https://classunity.org Tweets by Class_Unity

Welcome to Episode 8 or CU’s PoliEdPod series! In this episode, Catherine Liu joins us for a discussion of recent debates about the relation between Republican and Democratic parties and labor. For background, listeners may want to check out the articles which initiated this debate, by Sorab Amari and Dustin Guastella, along with a contribution by Liu herself: Sohrab Ahmari, “How the GOP Can Mend Fences With Unions,” https://www.compactmag.com/article/how-the-gop-can-mend-fences-with-unions/ Dustin Guastella, “Can the Republican Party Become A Vehicle for Equality?,” https://damagemag.com/2023/12/07/can-the-republican-party-become-a-vehicle-for-equality/ Catherine Liu, “Self Defeating Personality Disorder: some thoughts about the Ahmari/Guastella debate,” https://cliuanon.substack.com/p/self-defeating-personality-disorder?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2 A video recording of this episode can be found at the link below: —//— https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5EEdzUdlcE&t=31s

One of the worlds leading Marxist economists talks to us about the recent problems of inflation, class politics, and the global economy. Check out Lapavitsas’s latest collaborative efforts here: “The State of Capitalism: Economy, Society, and Hegemony,” with the EReNSEP Writing Collective (2023): https://www.versobooks.com/products/2727-the-state-of-capitalism “The Cost of Living Crisis: (and how to get out of it),” with James Meadway and Doug Nicholls (2023): https://www.versobooks.com/products/3146-the-cost-of-living-crisis You can listen to the audio-only version of this event in our podcast feed, or you can watch the livestream via YouTube, below:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7apucd9kUKg&t=71s  

Hello friends! Welcome to another episode of Class Unity ‘Transmissions’!  Our guest for this episode is none other than James A. Smith, co-host with David Slavick of The Popular Show. Smith is also the author of Other People’s Politics: Populism to Corbynism (Zer0 Books, 2019) and coauthor with Mareile Pfannebecker of Work Want Work: Labour and Desire at the end of Capitalism (Bloomsbury, 2020). Smith is a defender of the idea that the 2016-2020 “Bernie moment” was a real opportunity to advance the cause of socialism. While it can be tempting today to look back and think that it was doomed from the start, Smith argues that the failure was largely self-inflicted. This means there are lessons that can be learned from the failure. However, he notes, the left today “seems worryingly uncurious about the regressive influence earlier defeated lefts have sometimes inadvertently had.”  Smith believes that the left needs to rethink its approach to political freedom. Following up on our recent episode with Efraim Carlebach on the 10-year anniversary of Mark Fisher’s famous essay, “Exiting the Vampire Castle,” we chat with Smith about his recent Sublation essay, “Capitalist Realism All Over Again” (3.17.2023).  As he puts it, the left has “struggled to apply the book’s insights,” all too often succumbing to political correctness and “anti-political moralism.” Meanwhile, as evidenced in the government response to the coronavirus pandemic, capitalist elites are claiming that crises that are “too important to be hazarded to democratic oversight or protest.” When the left abandons this fight, the right will try to fill in the gap, claiming that only it can stop the power grab.  We also ask Smith about some of his recent episodes, including his interview with Matt Taibbi, one of the main journalists behind The Twitter Files. Like Taibbi, Smith believes that capitalist elites today are leveraging state powers to censor social media activity, essentially constituting a strategy of “revenge against both left and right populism.”  We also discuss a number of foreign policy matters, from the west’s war for NATO expansion in Ukraine to the iconoclastic left’s bankrupt analysis of Israel’s war in Gaza. Concerning the latter, many otherwise insightful critics have suggested that Hamas is essentially a bonapartist organization, seeking to create an islamic state. How does Smith respond to these critics? Moreover, given the difficulty of imagining the construction of a working class party in Gaza today, what should be the left position on this terrible war? Smith can be followed on Twitter/X @thepopularpod. Curious listeners can also follow up on Smith’s work on Jacobin, where he has published numerous articles on the state of the British left: “The Labour Party Is Ignoring Britain’s Muslims. A Judge-Led Inquiry Won’t Change That” (12.12.2023) “Labour’s Left Needs to Regain the Insurgent Spirit That Made Jeremy Corbyn Leader” (07.31.2023) “The Labour Left’s Fatal Contradictions Are Still Unresolved” (11.04.2021)

Welcome to Episode 12 ‘Transmissions,’ a Class Unity podcast. In this lighthearted episode we discuss the question of Leftoid Busywork. We open with an except from The Phantom Tollbooth (1970), an animated adaptation of the novel by the same name, by Norton Juster. In the clip, the young protagonist Milo meets a character named the Terrible Trivium. Milo is on a mission but he needs to make some allies along the way. The Trivium seems aware of this, and offers to help. But first, he needs hand with some tasks! “First, please help me move this pile of sand with tweezers…” Is this cartoon a metaphor for the left? Why do so many leftist organizations engage in wasted forms of activity? In this episode, your hosts Daniel B, Katie F, Steph K, and Nick K explore these questions, and share stories from their own organizing of “time wasted doing pointless leftoid busy work.”