The Magnificast

In this episode, Matt and Dean talk about Frei Betto's book "Fidel and Religion," Religion in Cuba, Communism, and Revolution. They also desperately try not to cough into their microphones.

In this episode, Dean and Matt interview George Ciccariello-Maher about Chavismo, Venezuela, dual power, the communes, Maduro and the ways Christianity might have informed Hugo Chavez' political imagination.

When Dean met Dave McKee at a karaoke night hosted by the Communist Party of Canada, he wasn't expecting to find out the provincial leader of the party in Ontario had once studied theology and even spent time with Nicaraguan Christians in base communities. Needless to say, we had to have him on the podcast, and we finally did! We talk about Marxism-Leninism in Canada, how violence and nonviolence factor into the CPC's goals as a revolutionary party, and a bunch of other things we keep circling around on this podcast. We also talk about Dave's history with Christian base communities, materialism and faith, and what Christians can contribute to leftist struggles in North America. If you're a Christian and you're afraid of getting out and organizing, hopefully this conversation gives you a reason to take a leap! And if you're a materialist cranky about Christians, maybe Dave's experiences will help you see another angle on the need for coalitions across theological lines.

Different Christian traditions have different potentials for leftist thought. Throughout The Magnificast, we've talked about a number of different Christian and Leftist perspectives, but we've never quite made it to the Orthodox Church. That all changed this week when Matt and Dean talked with Jonathan Murden about the history of the Orthodox Church and its interaction with the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution!

Derek Ford is back on the 'cast to defend his title as Most Faithful Guest with a whopping three visits. After talking with Jodi Dean in episode 24 about the People's Congress of Resistance, we wanted to follow up and hear how it went. Derek gives us a full report of some of the most exciting parts of the project, talks about what it might mean for future organizing, and gives a few suggestions about how Christians might get involved! **SPOILER** The Juggalo March makes an appearance.

It's time for another user created episode of the Magnificast! This episode is brought to you by all of you nice folks who send us your questions! Also, later in the episode Matt and Dean dunk on Joe Carter and the Acton Institute and talk a little bit about identity politics.

The late 19th and early 20th century saw an immense struggle between labor and capital in the United States. From the Haymarket Massacre to the Pullman Strike, Chicago was the site of many significant victories and defeats for the labor movement. There are loads of great histories attending to the burgeoning socialist movements in the midst of those struggles, but what were the Christians up to in Chicago, especially following revivals rolling across the country and a strong Catholic presence there? That's what Heath Carter asks in his book Union Made: Working People and the Rise of Social Christianity in Chicago. Unsurprisingly, the establishment Christian community is often on the side of capital. But the workers movement had an interesting strategy for dealing with this problem--identify Jesus as what he was, a worker. We talk to Heath about some of the interesting characters he discovered, how he pulled his research together, and what strategies Christians might find today to evangelize the churches for the sake of justice for working people. It's a mission that's increasingly important, and one that Christians slowly came around to in the last century in an effort to meet the demands in their pews for a pro-labor faith.

In this episode, Matt and Dean talk about The People's Congress of Resistance with Jodi Dean. The People's Congress of Resistance is an upcoming event (sept 16-17) in Washington D.C. In this episode, the three discuss what the People's Congress is about, what its demands entail, the importance of organization in politics, and what Christians can contribute to leftist struggle. You can learn more about the People's Congress of Resistance here:http://www.congressofresistance.org/

Christians on the Left are pretty good at being suspicious of things like the state or big business. After all, Jesus got killed by an empire and big businesses aren't exactly known for their sacrificial values. In this suspicion though, a lot of Christians (and even a lot of newly minted Leftists in the wake of Bernie Sanders) don't think very much about the problem of private property itself, which has been one of the grounding problems for radical leftists since Marx, Proudhon, Bakunin, and other Lefty saints. In this episode Matt and Dean give some quick overviews of anarchist and Marxist problems with private property and try to offer examples of where those problems have manifested today. But it's not just Lefty saints that have a problem with private property--the Christian tradition, too, was around before capitalism, and with its own suspicion of private property it can help build a world after capitalism, too.

This week, Dean and Matt circle back to review some user created content that all of you good Magnificasters have sent in over the past few weeks! Also, this episode launches a new segment (#theorytime) featuring The Lit Crit Guy, Jon Greenaway, that gives a 101 level introduction to Marx's theory of revolution!