

Rev Left Radio
Revolutionary Left Radio
Discussing political philosophy, current events, activism, and the inevitable historical downfall of capitalism from a revolutionary leftist perspective.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jun 8, 2022 • 1h 11min
Power Struggle: Hip Hop For the People!
Nomi (aka Power Struggle) from the Beatrock Music label, joins Breht to discuss his latest album "Aspirations", the role of hip hop in both of their lives, its influence on their politics, their favorite albums and artists, revolutionary politics, working shitty jobs for shitty pay, embracing the working class over personal ambitions, and much more! Check out Aspirations here: https://powerstrugglemusic.bandcamp.com/album/aspirations Check out Beatrock Music here: https://beatrockmusic.com/ Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio

Jun 3, 2022 • 3h 11min
Deep Dive 5: Hegel and Deleuze on the Concept of Negation
In this fifth installment of the Dialects Deep Dive subseries, Matthew Furlong joins Breht once again - this time to discuss, at length, the concept of negation and its role in philosophy and dialectics. Check out our first installment of "Dialectics Deep Dive" here: https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/dialectics Check out our second installment here: https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/spinoza Check out our third installments here: https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/deep-dive-3a https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/deep-dive-3b Here's a link also to the `974 Deleuze seminar from which I read: https://deleuze.cla.purdue.edu/seminars/anti-oedipus-iii/lecture-02 Ai Siqi, "Antagonistic and Non-Antagonistic Contradictions" (1957): http://marxistphilosophy.org/AntagonisticASQ.pdf Mao Zedong, "Talk on Problems of Philosophy" (1964): http://marxistphilosophy.org/mao64.pdf Outro music: 'Workers Song' by Michael Hanrahan from the album "Freeing Lonesome Tune". Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio

Jun 2, 2022 • 1h 15min
[UNLOCKED] American Carnage: Mass Shootings, Gun Policy, & Root Causes
Breht and Alyson discuss the recent barrage of mass shootings, how Marxists should think about these issues, what the root causes of american mass shootings are, policies/reforms that the socialist left might be able to support, and much more. Outro music: 'Pray for Newtown' by Sun Kil Moon Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio

May 23, 2022 • 1h 17min
Waste Colonialism, Recycling, & Microplastics
Jesi Taylor joins Breht to discuss waste management, how the racialized, colonial and imperialist world order dictates where certain kinds of trash ends up, the impact of landfills on communities, the hyper-localism of recyclying and its effectiveness, the fear of microplastics, and more! Find Jesi on twitter: https://twitter.com/moontwerk Check out Discard Studies: https://discardstudies.com/ Wired Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUBHyTM3VEg&ab_channel=WIRED Outro music: 'American Garbage' by AJJ Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio

May 20, 2022 • 1h 47min
US-Mexico Borderlands: War, Colonialism, and Imperial Formation
Professor Alex Avina returns to the show, this time to discuss the US-Mexico borderlands, its fascinating history, its deep relationship to colonialism and imperialist formation, the current Mexican president AMLO, the spectre of the border in american's minds, and much more. Find more of Alex's work here: https://alexanderavina.com/ The American Maginot Line parts 1 and 2: https://fx.substack.com/p/the-american-maginot-line?r=12vpd&s=r https://fx.substack.com/p/the-american-maginot-line-part-2?s=r Outro music: Ramon Casiano by Drive-By Truckers Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio

May 19, 2022 • 42min
Red Hot Take: The American Ruling Class and Its Depravities
[ Edit: this was recorded hours BEFORE Biden invoked the Defense Production Act ] Breht discusses the infant formula crisis and its relationship to capitalist profiteering, how Tucker Carlson displaces blame from the actual ruling class and onto the most vulnerable and defenseless people in our society, how the Democratic Party elite look down their nose at regular people, Sweden and Finland applying for NATO membership and its implications for Russia, the Biden administration making it rain on Ukraine while working class Americans, Ukrainians, and Russians alike suffer needlessly, and much more. Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio

May 14, 2022 • 52min
Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else) by Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò joins Breht to discuss his book "Elite Capture". Together, they discuss what elite capture is, how the language of social justice has been co-opted by liberal elites, the difference between deference politics and constructive politics, and much more! Find the book here: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1867-elite-capture Outro music: Organizing Steadily (ft. Amihan and RAHSELLA) by Power Struggle Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio

May 12, 2022 • 33min
The Anti-Choice Onslaught and American Institutional Decay
Red Menace Teaser: Alyson and Breht discuss the recent Supreme Court leak and the implications of Roe's dismantling... Listen to the full episode here: https://redmenace.libsyn.com/roe-scotus-friedmann https://www.revolutionaryleftradio.com/

May 1, 2022 • 58min
The Wobblies: Breht Goes on NPR to talk about the IWW
Breht was invited onto the local NPR station in Omaha to discuss the classic documentary from 1979 "The Wobblies" to help promote its remastering and re-release in theaters across the country this May Day! Find a showing near you here: https://kinomarquee.com/film/venue/624202eb7b0e1200011ce8c3 Find the original version of The Wobblies for free on YT here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr7U9wQ7La4&ab_channel=TretanoTrampo Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio

Apr 30, 2022 • 1h 27min
[BEST OF] The Fundamentals of Marxism: Intro to Political Economy
[Originally released Feb 2021] In this episode of Red Menace, Alyson and Breht introduce the core concepts of Marxist political economy by an analysis of the history of political economy, core economic concepts within Marxism, and much more! Make sure to subscribe to Red Menace on your favorite podcast app, and leave us a positive review! Outline for this episode with timestamps Political Economy: [5:00] Definition: Political economy as the study of economics as played out in reality. Economics in relation to society, production, culture, politics, etc. [12:28] History: Adam Smith’s development of economics in the wealth of nations, alongside Mill’s principles of political economy. [20:05] So what does Marxism have to do with political economy? [33:31] Critique of capitalist economics today The Details and Concepts 1) [35:30] the Means of Production and Productive Forces 2) [43:20] Class as a relation to Production 3) [47:00] Value, Use, and Exchange 4) [58:05] Surplus Value and Wages 5) [61:09] Money, Capital, and the M-C-M Cycle 6) [68:35] Commodity Fetishism Closing Questions Questions: [74:43] Why does this matter? If Marxism is about revolution, what's the deal with all this abstract economic analysis? [78:13] Marxian economics vs Marxism: what's the difference, is there an issue with the former? Support Rev Left Radio: https://www.patreon.com/RevLeftRadio