Rev Left Radio

Breht sits down with philosopher Colin Bodayle for a wide-ranging exploration of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, one of the most influential and notoriously difficult works in modern philosophy. Together they unpack Hegel's account of consciousness, contradiction, freedom, recognition, history, and the dialectical movement through which human beings come to understand themselves and the world. Along the way, the conversation traces Hegel's immense influence on Marx and considers why his philosophy remains so important for anyone trying to think seriously about liberation, social transformation, and the development of human consciousness.

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Breht reads, reflects upon, and elaborates on Che Guevara's famous essay "Socialism and Man in Cuba" wherein Che argues that socialism cannot be reduced to changing property relations or economic structures; it must also produce a new kind of human being, less alienated, less governed by private self-interest, and more conscious of themselves as a social being. His central claim is that material transformation and the transformation of consciousness have to develop together, through education, collective struggle, moral incentives, self-discipline, and revolutionary practice.

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Aminah Sheikh joins Breht to discuss the mass resistance that erupted in Minneapolis against the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, the subsequent repression of organizers, and the contours of an emerging new Red Scare. They discuss the current political moment, DSA's growing electoral insurgency, and the struggle to build independent working-class power before turning to Islam, Marxism, anti-imperialism, and the role faith can play in revolutionary politics.

DSA Program: Workers Deserve More

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In this episode, Alyson and Breht examine the Trump administration's emerging campaign against what it calls "far-left terrorism." We begin with NSPM-7, the presidential directive encouraging federal agencies to investigate not only alleged political violence, but the organizations, funders, media networks, and ideological communities surrounding it. We then look at two distinct examples of this framework in practice: the sweeping Prairieland prosecutions in Texas, where defendants received extraordinarily severe terrorism-related sentences, and the separate crackdown in Minnesota following anti-ICE mobilizations and political unrest. From there, we analyze Marco Rubio and Stephen Miller's international counterterrorism summit, the effort to redirect the machinery of the War on Terror toward the anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist left, and the State Department's Cuba document, which portrays socialism, anti-imperialism, Palestine solidarity, and antifascism as parts of a foreign-influenced revolutionary network. Finally, we ask whether the United States has entered a new Red Scare, what may come next, and how left-wing individuals, media outlets, and organizations can protect themselves without abandoning their political work.

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Breht gives details on his upcoming speech and Q and A at the Socialism Conference in Chicago this September, the listener meet-up afterwards, and the patreon raffle for TWO FREE TICKETS!

ENTER THE RAFFLE HERE Check out the Socialism Conference HERE

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In this episode, Breht speaks with his guests Pavin and Jennifer Marley from Total Sovereignty Working Group about George Manuel's Fourth World theory and the Indigenous Marxist traditions of Howard Adams and Lee Maracle. Together, they examine the conflict between land as capitalist property and land as a living relationship; the formation of colonial-racial capitalism; and the limitations of state-recognized self-government, "Red capitalism," and settler socialism. They also explore the tension between Indigenous self-determination as a transitional stage toward universal socialism and as the permanent reconstruction of Indigenous nationhood, territorial authority, and collective responsibility, as well as Maracle's insistence that decolonization must include feminism, rematriation, and the restoration of Indigenous women's governing power. Ultimately, the conversation asks what it would mean to abolish capitalism and settler colonialism together—and to create forms of collective life grounded in reciprocity, land, care, and genuine self-determination.

Total Sovereignty Working Group is a Native focus group dedicated to building a strategy for winning back our land and caring for our nations. Check out their work HERE

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In this unlocked patreon episode Breht traces and explains a subterranean philosophical lineage running from Spinoza through Hegel to Marx and Louis Althusser. Beginning with Spinoza's conception of God or Nature as a single, immanent Substance, he explores how Hegel transforms Substance into a self-developing Subject, how Marx grounds the dialectic in material social life and class struggle, and how Althusser attempts to remove the final hidden Subject from Marxist theory.

Along the way, he examines the concept of immanent critique, Kant's transcendental idealism, Hegel's master-slave dialectic, Marx's materialist transformation of idealism, and Althusser's concepts of overdetermination, interpellation, theoretical anti-humanism, and history as a "process without a Subject."

What emerges is an ongoing struggle over immanence, contradiction, human agency, and whether history possesses either a sovereign author or a guaranteed destination.

Listen to these related episodes to learn more:

Economics and Philosophical manuscripts of 1844

Louis Althusser: Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses

The Nature of All Things: Spinoza's Philosophical Odyssey

Intro to German Idealism: Kant, Fichte, Schelling, & Hegel

Hegelian Dialectics: Contradiction, Marxism, & the Freudian Unconscious

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"From each according to their ability, to each according to their need." Steve's guest, Breht O'Shea of Rev Left Radio and Red Menace podcast, believes that dedicating one's life to fighting for this vision, even without knowing the outcome, is more meaningful than pursuing capital's vision of wealth and status. Steve invited Breht to help tackle one of the most misunderstood and weaponized texts in Marxist theory: Vladimir Lenin's Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder, a book sometimes misused as a cudgel to pressure leftists into voting for the Democratic Party. To set the record straight, Breht places the 1920 pamphlet in its proper historical context. It was written after the successful Bolshevik Revolution to advise European socialist movements on how to avoid fatal mistakes. Together, Breht and Steve break down Lenin's dual critique: the ultra-left "infantile" error of purity-spiraled sectarianism, and the right-wing "opportunist" error of liquidating the revolutionary movement into bourgeois liberal politics. Lenin's strategic genius lies in maintaining firm revolutionary principles while remaining tactically flexible. The discussion extends beyond the text to cover the necessity of organization and discipline (democratic centralism), the constant threat of counter-revolution, the failure of social democracy, and how fascism functions as capitalism's immune response to left-wing threats.

Breht O'Shea is the host of Rev Left Radio, the co-host of the Red Menace podcast, and author of the upcoming book "Letters to a Young Revolutionary" published by Iskra Books.

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Chris Alfonso joins Breht to have a wide ranging discussion on the dialectics of our personal and political lives. In the process, they discuss Marxist philosophy, Dialectial materialism, the mass line and its development, Chris's oragnizing and education work in prisons, the profound radicalism of Buddhism, Hegelian Freedom and its unfolding through history, thoughts on pedogogy and organizing, how we can contribute to and participate in human evolution, the importance of putting love and compassion at the center of our lives and work, responding to egoism in ourselves and others, ego/insecurity vs. confidence/humility, and so much more!

Follow Chris and his work on IG HERE

No Casino in Queens HERE

No Brooklyn Jail HERE

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Alyson and Breht reflect on recent Democratic Socialist electoral victories, the ongoing contradiction between the progressive left and the corporate center within the Democratic Party, the principled and strategic approach to this development that Marxists should take, the implications for the near future of american politics, what it all means for the broader socialist left in this country, proletarian internationalism, the anti-imperialist red line, and much more.

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Economist Rob Larson joins Breht to discuss his book Mastering the Universe: The Obscene Wealth of the Ruling Class, What They Do With Their Money, and Why You Should Hate Them Even More. Together they explore the billionaire class not merely as a collection of rich individuals, but as a ruling class whose ownership of corporations, finance, media, housing, technology, and political access gives them extraordinary power over society. They discuss the staggering scale of wealth inequality, the grotesque lifestyles of the ultra-rich, the myths used to justify their rule, and the psychological and social damage that extreme inequality inflicts on everyone; rich and non-rich alike. They also examine how concentrated wealth makes genuine democracy impossible, why capitalism is structurally incapable of solving the major crises of the 21st century, and why taxing the rich is not enough. Finally, Rob makes the case for socialist expropriation: taking the productive wealth of the ruling class out of private hands and reorganizing society around democracy, human need, ecological sanity, and collective flourishing -- before advancing his positive vision of human civilization after capitalism.

Check out our other two episodes with Rob HERE

Outro Music: "Rich People" by Carsie Blanton

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In this episode, Breht goes on The Left Page podcast as a guest to explore the role that science fiction plays as part of the cultural superstructure of empire: a genre born in the shadow of British and American imperial power, shaped by colonial assumptions, and increasingly haunted by attempts to critique the very structures it once blindly reproduced. From early invasion fiction and dreams of space conquest to modern works like Dune, Blade Runner, The Expanse, and The Three-Body Problem, Leon, Frank and Breht examine how sci-fi imagines the future through the unresolved contradictions of the present: capitalism, colonialism, racial hierarchy, technological domination, corporate sovereignty, and imperial war. Along the way, they discuss the role of Rome in the Western political imaginary, especially for reactionaries and fascists; extend Mark Fisher's concept of capitalist realism into colonial and imperialist realism; and ask why science fiction can so easily imagine interstellar travel, artificial life, alien civilizations, and cosmic catastrophe, yet so often struggles to imagine a future beyond empire and capital.

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In this episode, Breht O'Shea and Alyson Escalante join forces for a deep philosophical conversation on Marxism, consciousness, and the mind-body problem. Using China Miéville's essay on consciousness and materialism as a starting point, they explore why the nature of subjective experience remains such a profound challenge for crude or reductionist forms of materialism -- and why this question matters for Marxists.

Alyson begins by carefully summarizing Miéville's original essay and its challenge to conventional Marxist materialism. From there, Breht lays out several major positions in the philosophy of mind, including dualism, physicalism, idealism, panpsychism, neutral monism, emergentism, eliminativism, and epiphenomenalism. Together, they then work through two responses to Miéville's essay, clarifying the arguments, tensions, and stakes of the debate.

In the second half, Breht argues for a different approach: a dialectical monism informed by dependent origination. Rather than reducing consciousness to matter, escaping into idealism, or treating mind and matter as separate substances, this view understands reality as a single, dynamic, relational process in which consciousness, embodiment, nature, society, and practice arise interdependently.

The conversation closes by bringing Buddhist philosophy and phenomenology into dialogue with Marxism, exploring emptiness, experience, nonduality, and the limits of conceptual thought. What emerges is not a rejection of materialism, but a call to deepen it -- beyond reductionism, beyond dualism, and toward a more dialectical understanding of consciousness & reality. Find Fluss and Frim's response (Their Materialism and Ours) to Mieville HERE

Find Pineda's response (Naturalized Dialectics) to Mieville HERE

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In this episode, Breht sits down with Mohamed Khougali, author of Politically Unconscious: The Psychic Aftermath of the Sudanese Revolution (Iskra Books) for a sweeping and deeply illuminating conversation on Sudanese history, revolution, counterrevolution, and the current catastrophe unfolding in Sudan. Together, they discuss the 2018–19 Sudanese Revolution, how it erupted, what forces animated it, his direct participation in it, how it was contained, and what its aftermath reveals about the dynamics of counter-revolution and co-optation. Mohamed also walks us through the history of the revolutionary left in Sudan, from the period after independence through the rise and repression of the Sudanese Communist Party, and the weakened but still significant state of the Left today. Along the way, we touch on the civil war, Darfur, the RSF, the unfathomable human suffering and staggering acts of brutality taking place in Sudan, and why revolutionaries everywhere need a much deeper understanding of this country, its people, and its unfinished struggle for liberation.

Politically Unconscious: The Psychic Aftermath of the Sudanese Revolution is Mohamed Khougali's reflection on what it means to organize and think after a revolution has been usurped. Written as both a participant in Sudan's 2018-19 uprising and a working psychotherapist, Khougali weaves together a history of the Sudanese Left, an account of the current war and the racialized financialization that informed the various factions, alongside the development of a new clinical modality he calls "praxis psychotherapy." Refusing the reductive binaries of international media coverage and the moral puritanism he sees paralyzing contemporary leftist thought, Khougali argues that Sudan cannot be understood apart from a longer "irrational revolution" linking Khartoum to Darfur, and Sudan to Palestine, through the same circuits of imperial accumulation and waste. At once political history and clinical experiment, Politically Unconscious is a work with lessons for comrades involved in the struggle; in Sudan, and far beyond.

Outro music: Lunch Break by spinitch

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In this episode, Breht is joined by organizer, educator, and Marxist feminist scholar Comrade Gabi for a discussion on patriarchy, misogyny, and power within contemporary socialist and organizing spaces. Together they explore the relationship between capitalism and patriarchy, the contributions of Marxist feminism, the persistence of sexist attitudes and behaviors among those committed to liberation, the politics of the sex trade, and the challenges of building healthy cultures of accountability. Grounded in both theory and lived organizing experience, this conversation examines what it would take to cultivate a genuinely anti-patriarchal socialist movement capable of embodying the liberatory values it seeks to bring into the world.

Check out more of Gabi's work here: https://medium.com/@comrade_gabi

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Breht and Alyson spend over three hours answering your questions on a wide range of topics!

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In this installment of our All Too Human interview series, Breht and Dave welcome Dr. John Ukadike, a physician and emergency medicine specialist, into the Shoeless Shed to have a fascinating conversation about his experiences as an ER doctor, his treatment of many patients who struggle with addiction in various forms, his personal relationship with religion and death, his understanding of and approach to general health, the challenges of informing family members that a loved one has passed away, his critiques of the for-profit American healthcare system, and so much more! Check out John's articles on a wide range of topics here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=john+ukadike

Follow John on IG HERE

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Outro music: Millionth Time - Spinitch

https://spinitch.bandcamp.com/album/run-for-the-arts-spinstrumentals

Breht is joined by A.J.A. Woods, author of The Cultural Marxism Conspiracy: Why the Right Blames the Frankfurt School for the Decline of the West. In this conversation, they explore the genealogy of the "Cultural Marxism" myth, the reactionary forces that shaped it, and the way it continues to animate right-wing attacks on liberation movements, critical thought, and social progress. Moving from the upheavals of the long 1960s through Lyndon LaRouche, the New Right, the Tea Party, and today's panics over "wokeness," CRT, and gender, Woods shows how "Cultural Marxism" functions less as a coherent theory than as a flexible ideological weapon: one that explains away popular struggles for equality and emancipation as elite manipulation, cultural subversion, and civilizational decay. The result is a rich historical and political analysis of one of the contemporary right's most influential myths, and of the broader culture-war terrain on which reaction, neoliberalism, and authoritarianism increasingly converge.

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Myriam Charabaty, a Lebanese political analyst and journalist, joins Breht for a wide-ranging discussion on Lebanon, the struggle against imperialism and Zionism, the nature of solidarity and resistance, and the rapidly shifting political landscape of West Asia. Drawing from both personal experience and political analysis, Myriam helps unpack the history, forces, and contradictions shaping the country while challenging many of the assumptions commonly found in Western media and political discourse.

The conversation ranges from questions of sovereignty, faith, and national liberation to the human realities of war, occupation, and collective struggle. Along the way, Breht and Myriam explore the relationship between Christianity, Islam, and anti-imperialism, the criminal pager terrorist attack by Israel, what meaningful solidarity from those of us in the imperial core looks like, the role of Hezbollah in Lebanese society, the religious diversity within Lebanon, and the challenges facing those committed to self-determination and liberation in an era of deepening global crisis.

Follow Myriam and her work: X: https://x.com/miriam00961 Substack: https://substack.com/@myriamch Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liberationchronicles?igsh=c2NnenNscG5uZ3Zn

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Breht listens, reacts, and elaborates on a lecture by the late professor Michael Sugrue on the religious philosophy of the famous German Christian Mystic and Theologian, Meister Eckhart. In the process Breht touches on a dizzying array of spiritual, existential and religious themes. This is a classic Rev Left "Spiritual" episode that doubles as a sort of weird Dharm Talk... capped off with a 15 minute guided meditation.

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In this episode, Breht is joined by writer, intellectual, and poet Too Black to discuss his essay "Nonviolence is Violence, Too (Part 2)—We're All in the Gunk." Together, they critically examine the liberal mythology of "nonviolence" as a pure moral alternative to violence, arguing instead that all movements operate within conditions already structured by state, colonial, racial, and imperial violence.

Drawing from the Black freedom struggle, Ghana's independence movement, Kwame Nkrumah, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, the Black Panther Party, Gandhi, Indian independence, riots, armed resistance, and the "positive radical flank," Too Black shows how so-called nonviolent movements have often depended on the threat, presence, displacement, or redirection of violence in order to win concessions.

Rather than offering a simplistic celebration of violence, this conversation asks us to think more honestly about power, confrontation, sacrifice, propaganda, state repression, and the real historical conditions under which oppressed people struggle to breathe beneath the boot. At its core, this is a discussion about what movements actually do, how victories are actually won, and why peace is not the absence of conflict, but something that must be fought for.

Listen to our previous discussion on Part 1 of Too Black's essay here: https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/nonviolence-is-violence-too-somebodys-gotta-die

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Historian David Yaghoubian joins Rev Left Radio to discuss the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, the genocide in Gaza, the assault on Lebanon, and the broader imperial-Zionist project to dominate West Asia. Drawing from his 2014 monograph Ethnicity, Identity, and the Development of Nationalism in Iran, Yaghoubian explains why Washington and Tel Aviv have repeatedly misunderstood Iranian society, underestimated Iranian national cohesion, and fantasized that sanctions, bombing, covert operations, or minority pressure could fracture the country from within.

Together, Breht and David explore Iran's history of resisting foreign domination, the reactionary nature of the Iranian diaspora in the United States, the ethno-religious complexity of Iranian society, Iranian national cohesion, the strategic significance of the Strait of Hormuz, the relationship between Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran, and the ideological inversion through which the U.S. and Israel present themselves as defenders of "stability" while unleashing coups, sanctions, assassinations, occupations, and genocide across the region. They also discuss how anti-imperialists should defend Iran against U.S.-Zionist aggression without flattening Iranian society or denying its internal contradictions.

This is a conversation about nationalism, sovereignty, resistance, and the failure of empire to understand the peoples it seeks to dominate.

Dr. David N. Yaghoubian is Professor of Modern West Asian and Islamic History at California State University-San Bernardino and author of "Ethnicity, Identity, and the Development of Nationalism in Iran" (Syracuse, 2014) and co-editor of "Struggle and Survival in the Modern Middle East" (3rd edition forthcoming).

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In this episode, Breht sits down with filmmakers and journalists Abby Martin and Matthew Belen from BreakThrough News to discuss their new documentary Cuba After Castro — an unprecedented and historic film featuring the first major interview Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has ever given to American journalists.

At a moment when Cuba faces intensifying economic warfare, sanctions, destabilization efforts, and renewed aggression from the Trump administration, the film offers a rare look inside contemporary Cuban society beyond the lies, distortions, and Cold War mythology of U.S. corporate media. Together, they explore the realities of post-Castro Cuba, the enduring legacy of the Cuban Revolution, the devastating day-to-day effects of the U.S. blockade, the 2021 protests and media disinformation campaigns surrounding them, and the broader struggle for sovereignty against the most powerful empire on Earth.

They also discuss why mainstream outlets refused to platform the film, what Abby and Matt observed while speaking with ordinary Cubans on the ground, and what Cuba's extraordinary endurance under more than six decades of siege can teach the international left today.

Cuba After Castro is more than a documentary about Cuba — it is a meditation on imperialism, resistance, dignity, and the ongoing fight to build a world beyond capitalist domination.

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In this episode, Breht speaks with scholar Angie Bittar about the life, thought, and enduring relevance of Carl Jung. Together they explore Jung's understanding of the unconscious, archetypes, the shadow, individuation, dreams, symbols, myth, and the modern search for meaning.

After introducing Jung on his own terms, Breht and Angie place Jung in conversation with Marxism, historical materialism, and revolutionary politics. They discuss alienation, spiritual hunger, reactionary projection, fascist myth, scapegoating, bourgeois individualism, and the ways unconscious forces shape ideology and political life. They also ask what radicals can usefully take from Jung, what they should remain cautious about, and how the left might confront its own shadow without reducing politics to therapy.

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In this episode, Breht and Alyson sit down with Arlene Eisen to discuss her new memoir, In the Worldwide Family of Militant Women. Eisen reflects on her political formation across the upheavals of the 1960s through the early 1980s, her encounters with Black liberation and anti-imperialist struggle, and the forgotten history of militant women who built relationships of solidarity across borders. Together they explore internationalism, revolutionary commitment, movement fragmentation, and what younger generations can still learn from an era when women fought empire not from the margins, but from the heart of the struggle. The result is a rich conversation about memory, political development, and the urgent need to build durable anti-imperialist movements in our own time.

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In this episode, Breht speaks with Mohanad Alsayed about his memoir Scars and Medals (Iskra Books), a powerful and deeply human account of growing up Palestinian under occupation, carrying exile across continents, and trying to make sense of memory, loss, family, and resistance. Through the story of his grandmother Jamila, his missing uncle Ghazi, and his own journey from Palestine to the United States, Alsayed offers an intimate portrait of how dispossession enters not only history and politics, but childhood, identity, and the inner life.

The conversation explores occupation as a lived and psychological reality, the tension between assimilation and memory, the many meanings of resistance, and the current situation across West Asia - including how Palestinians view Iran. At once personal and collective, Scars and Medals opens onto the wider Palestinian experience with honesty, dignity, and emotional force.

Buy or get a FREE pdf of Scars and Medals here: https://www.iskrabooks.org/books/p/scars-and-medals

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In this episode, Breht sits down with Suzin Green, author of The Goddess Remedy, to explore the psychological, spiritual, and civilizational roots of modern disconnection. Moving beyond conventional political understandings of patriarchy, Green presents it as a deeper structure of domination that shapes not only institutions, but consciousness itself -- fueling alienation, compulsive striving, inner fragmentation, and a profound loss of connection to self, others and the living world.

Together, they unpack Green's concepts of "dismemberment," the "inner patriarch," and the tension between "being" and "doing," while probing the experiential realities beneath the book's symbolic language. The conversation explores how ego, social conditioning, and modern systems of competition shape subjectivity; whether inner healing can meaningfully intersect with broader social transformation; and what it might mean to reclaim wholeness in an age defined by burnout, anxiety, and disconnection.

Drawing connections between mysticism, psychology, and political life, this dialogue examines the possibility that genuine transformation may require not only structural change, but a radical reorientation of consciousness itself. For listeners interested in spirituality, liberation, psychology, and the crisis of modern life, this is a rich exploration of what it means to heal both self and society.

Outro Song: Semolina Pudding by Spinitch

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In this episode, Breht sits down with Ashwin Shantha to discuss the argument that China's green development is not only an environmental achievement, but also a profoundly political one. Drawing on Ashwin's essay "China's Green Development is Both Anti-Imperialist and Socialist," the conversation explores how China became the global leader in solar, wind, and electric vehicles through long-term planning, industrial policy, state capacity, and the disciplining of capital to broader social goals.

Together, they examine the relationship between green development, national sovereignty, and anti-imperialism, asking why China has been able to carry out a large-scale green industrial transition while Western capitalist states have largely failed. The discussion also takes up the deeper theoretical question at the heart of the essay: whether China's model is best understood not as "state capitalism," but as a socialist market economy in which capital is subordinated to national development, ecological sustainability, and public need.

Read more essays at Journal of International Solidarity HERE

Follow Ashwin's International Solidarity on IG HERE

Check out Breht's appearance on International Solidarity podcast HERE

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In this episode, Breht speaks with professor of history Dr. Afshin Matin-Asgari to discuss his book Axis of Empire: A History of Iran–US Relations, about the long arc of Iranian–American relations from the nineteenth century to the present. Matin-Asgari argues that U.S. policy toward Iran has been structured by enduring "imperial priorities," a framework that reframes familiar episodes such as the 1953 coup, the consolidation of the Shah (Pahlavi) client state, the revolutionary rupture of 1978–79, the hostage crisis, and the sanctions-and-war paradigm of the twenty-first century . Together, they discuss how state power, oil, militarization, the Israel lobby, imperialist aggression, American arrogance, and transnational political movements shaped this relationship. Finally, they analyze the current war in Iran through the lens of the history discussed.

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Alyson and Breht apply dialectical and historical materialist analysis to the current war of aggression in Iran. Together they break down the Marxist methodology into its three main parts - dialectics, materialism, and history - and showcase how they apply to the US and Israeli war on Iran, before bringing them back together into a coherent whole. Then they compare and contrast dialectical and historical materialism as a mode of analysis to other forms of analysis: from academic modes like liberal internationalism and Realism to common popular modes like conspiracy theories and moralism. Throughout the process, they aim to show the superior clarity and demystification offered by Marxism in understanding our world, as it unfolds in real time.

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In this episode, public school history teacher Gianni joins Breht to trace the historical roots of our current political and economic crisis -- democratic breakdown, endless war, institutional distrust, rising authoritarianism, and deepening inequality -- back through the George W. Bush administration and the early 2000s. Together, they explore the contested election of 2000 and the Supreme Court's decisive intervention, the burial of that crisis in American political memory, the continuation and intensification of neoliberal economics through tax cuts, deregulation, and financialization, the role of No Child Left Behind in reshaping public education along market lines, the rise of neoconservatism and the ideological drive toward the Iraq War, the structural forces behind U.S. imperial policy across administrations, the relationship between U.S. foreign policy and Israeli strategic interests, the 2008 financial collapse and the total lack of accountability for elites, the devastation of working-class communities through war and economic crisis, the transition from Bush to Obama and the limits of liberal restoration, the conditions that gave rise to Trump, and more!

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Breht reads and reacts to "A Letter To The American People" written by Masoud Pezeschkian, the Iranian president, as a ground invasion of some sort seems imminent. Check out our new design in collaboration with Goods for the People HERE

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In this episode, we're joined by professor Joel Wainwright (co-author of Climate Leviathan) to discuss his newest book, The End: Marx, Darwin, and the Natural History of the Climate Crisis. Together, Breht and Joel explore the intellectual impact Charles Darwin had on Karl Marx, and why it matters for the ecological crisis of our time. Wainwright argues that Marx's study of Darwin helped him develop a distinctly Marxian concept of natural history, reshaping how he understood history, nature, and capitalism itself. Reading Capital through this lens, they unpack how Marx's critique becomes an ecological critique: capitalism as a social formation that reorganizes the human–Earth relation, producing crisis, "surplus" populations, and new forms of domination - and have some fun disagreements along the way. They close by asking what this natural-historical Marx can contribute to building an eco-socialist alternative beyond capitalist growth and climate catastrophe.

Check out Breht and Alyson's previous episode on Climate Leviathan HERE

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Matthew Vernon Whalan joins the show to discuss Bullock: Chronicles of Deprivation and Despair in an American Prison, an interview-driven, investigative journalistic, and collectively narrated portrait of life inside Bullock Correctional Facility in Alabama. Through the words of incarcerated people themselves, we explore the everyday realities that rarely make it into public view: mental health crisis and predation, sewage and infrastructure collapse, cruel and unusual punishment, sleep deprivation, violence, drugs and overdose, and the informal social orders that take shape when official protection fails. This book is truly an act of witness -- and a demand that we look directly at what incarceration actually does to human beings. Once examined, we can see the U.S. prison system as a disturbing microcosm of the pathologies infecting and eating away at the broader American society.

Support Matthew and his work directly on Venmo @Matthew-Whalan-1

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Check out our previous episode with Project Hope t0 Abolish the Death Penalty HERE

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In this episode, Breht interviews Adnan Husain -- Professor of Medieval history and Chair of the Religious Studies department at Queens college -- about the deep historical roots of today's Middle East. The conversation traces the arc from ancient Persia to the Islamic era, explores how Iran became a center of Shi'a Islam, and examines the long rivalry between Persian and Ottoman power. Along the way, they unpack the Sunni-Shia split, the political role of Turkey in the region, the ways Western narratives about Islam were forged through the Crusades and carried forward into the modern world, Zionist Expansionism, and the ongoing illegal war of aggression waged by the U.S. and Israel against Iran, and indeed, the whole region. Check out Adnan's previous appearences on Rev Left HERE

Subscribe to Adnan's YouTube channel HERE

Watch Adnan's 2 Part episode on Yemen HERE

Listen to Guerrilla History podcast HERE

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Torkil Lauesen joins us to discuss his book Unequal Exchange: Past, Present, and Future and the hidden mechanics of modern imperialism. Lauesen returns to the tradition of Arghiri Emmanuel to argue that while the world market tends to equalize prices, wages remain radically unequal across borders -- driving a structural transfer of value from low-wage production zones to high-wage consumer economies.

We walk through Lauesen's reconstruction of unequal exchange through Marx's value theory, the leading approaches to measuring global value transfer, and what contemporary estimates imply about the scale of the drain. From there, we explore the political consequences inside the Global North: why reformism and social democracy have often been stabilized by imperial arrangements, what that means for internationalism, and why the "imperial mode of living" is increasingly unstable.

Finally, we turn to the shifting world order -- especially Lauesen's argument that a new mode of production may be emerging, best exemplified by China -- and what that implies for the future of capitalism, multipolarity, and socialist transition. We also discuss the ongoing war/conflict involving Iran and what it reveals about crisis, hegemony, and the changing methods of imperial power.

Check out our other episodes with Torkil HERE

outro Music: 'Antithesnails' by spinitch and Chaz Matador

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(recorded on 3/1/26) - Breht went on Workers' Lit as a guest!

"The American ruling class is at war.

Physically, they are at war with Iran, pummeling the country with unrelenting airstrikes, slaughtering civilians, and doing their best to make yet another nation unlivable.

But they are fighting another war: a psychological war against every one of us. They are building a world of declining literacy, misinformation, confusion, and fear.

Combine those two wars and you get an apathetic American populace even as its own country murders untold innocents

Breht O'Shea of RevLeft joins Aysha, Jen, and Jacob to discuss these dual wars and how we can fight back."

Check out more from Workers' Lit here: https://www.workerslit.com/

Make a donation to Socialist Night School via Venmo @OmahaNightSchool

On this YT livestream (3/1/26) Alyson and Breht discuss the illegal war of aggression launched by the US and Israel against Iran. Throughout the discussion they take live questions from the chat.

Subscribe to your YouTube Channel HERE

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Alyson and Breht discuss a range of current events, including Cuba, the Epstein Files, Iran and much more.

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Outro Song: "to each their dot" by Haley Heynderickx & Max Garcia Conover

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In this episode, we're joined by author and poet Too Black to unpack his essay "Nonviolence is violence, too: Somebody's gotta die," and to challenge the comforting myths that often surround "nonviolent" struggle. We dig into what he means by the claim that nonviolence is never actually bloodless, why he prefers the term "sacrificial violence," and how nonviolent movements frequently gain leverage precisely because an opponent supplies the repression that shocks the public, shifts legitimacy, and forces concessions. Along the way, we talk through the research Too Black draws on including Erica Chenoweth's work on lethal repression, and we explore his core metaphors and case examples, from confronting power like "poking a bear over honey" to the method-independent brutality of settler colonialism in Palestine.

At the heart of our conversation is a deep dialectic between Martin Luther King Jr. and Frantz Fanon, and how both frameworks, in different ways, move through violence as an unavoidable terrain of liberation. For King, suffering becomes the redemptive path, a willingness to absorb brutality to expose evil and transform the political and spiritual situation. For Fanon, revolutionary violence itself is the redemptive force, the route through which the colonized reclaim dignity, agency, and self-respect. We close by asking what this reframing means for organizers today: if rights require enforcement and "dramatizing evil" often demands real sacrifice, how should movements talk about nonviolence honestly and strategically in the world as it actually is?

Subscribe to Black Myths Podcast

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Outro Beat Prod. by flip da hood

Syria is entering a new and terrifying phase.

In this episode Breht is joined by a panel of scholars and activists (Angie Bittar, Adam, Joma, Nur and Jalyssa) to take a clear-eyed look at what's unfolded over the last year and how it fits into the longer arc of the Syrian civil war, including the rapid collapse of the Assad-era order and the emergence of a new regime centered around HTS and Ahmad al-Sharaa (Jolani). Together, they break down the latest waves of mass violence and displacement across the coast, Suwayda, Aleppo, and Rojava, and ask what these events reveal about the new Syria.

From there, they turn to the Kurdish question. They discuss the SDF, the long history of US imperial instrumentalization of Kurdish forces, the recurring pattern of abandonment, and the growing pressure now facing Rojava amid shifting regional and international priorities. They also examine ongoing kidnappings and sect-based killings, the breakdown of accountability, and what the allegations surrounding Syrian security institutions tell us about the direction of the new order.

Finally, they zoom out to the information war. They map the propaganda narratives being pushed in Western and Zionist media, and offer practical "tells" for separating genuine reporting from information operations. Then, they close by asking what Syria teaches us about the current political moment: imperial strategy, proxy warfare, sectarian fragmentation, and what real solidarity demands.

Access a full list of all the sources used for this episode HERE

Donate to Jalyssa on Cash App: $JalyssaDugrot

Or donate at: BuyMeACoffee/Jalyssa

Check out Joma's great podcast: JDPOD

Previous Episodes on Syria and Rojava:

"The Situation in Syria" Episode w/ Angie last year

"On Syria: Civil War and US Imperialism" with Rania Khalek from 2018

"The Kurds and Revolutionary Rojava" with Dr. Redcrow from 2017

Interview with Murray Bookchin's Daughter on his Life and Legacy

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Breht discusses recent events in Minneapolis...

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Outro Song: Song for Alicia by Haley Heynderickx and Max Garcia Conover

In this episode, Breht is joined by Kristen R. Ghodsee to dig into her provocative essay on the political economy of love under capitalism. Using Marx's distinction between use value and exchange value, Ghodsee argues that love is not just a private feeling but a material necessity for human flourishing -- and that our economic system systematically depletes the time, energy, and security required to sustain it. Together, they explore how capitalism commodifies two core components of love, attention and affection, turning them into scarce resources bought and sold in everything from therapy and childcare to the attention economy and the market for professionalized intimacy.

But the heart of the conversation is the one thing capitalism can't truly monetize: reciprocal flow -- the non-transactional rhythm of giving and receiving that emerges in long relationships, cooperative play, music, community, and solidarity itself. Breht and Ghodsee discuss how inequality and insecurity train people into transactionalism, why loneliness is not an individual failure but a structural outcome, and what a genuine politics of love might look like beyond mere self-help or lifestyle fixes.

Learn more about Dr. Ghodsee and her work HERE

Check out AK-47, Kristen's podcast dedicated to Alexandra Kollontai here: https://kristenghodsee.com/podcast

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In this episode, Breht is joined by philosopher, author, and cultural critic Gabriel Rockhill to discuss his new book Who Paid the Pipers of Western Marxism? The Intellectual World War: Marxism vs. the Imperial Theory Industry.

Rockhill argues that the Cold War was not only fought with bombs, coups, and sanctions -- but with ideas, institutions and intellectuals. Drawing on extensive archival research, Rockhill shows how U.S. imperial power built a vast apparatus of foundations, universities, media outlets and cultural organizations to shape what kinds of Marxism were allowed to exist in the West.

Rather than simply repressing Marxism, empire promoted a "compatible left"; a version of critical theory and Western Marxism that rejected actually existing socialist struggles and experiments, detached theory from mass struggle, and helped neutralize anti-imperialist politics. Together, they explore the role of the Frankfurt School, Herbert Marcuse, Cold War cultural warfare, and the long shadow this history still casts over today's left.

This episode was recorded in the immediate wake of the U.S.'s invasion of Venezuela and kidnapping of President Maduro and his wife, which they discuss at the beginning of the conversation.

Check out Critical Theory Workshop HERE

Follow Rockhill's work on his Substack HERE

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In this episode, Breht is joined by revolutionary feminist and author Madeline Lane-McKinley to discuss her recent book "Solidarity with Children: An Essay Against Adult Supremacy", in which she argues for a politics that centers young humans as essential comrades in the struggle for a better world! In the process they examine the concept of childhood as historically structured, which children are granted innocence and which are robbed of it, how to parent through a lens that respects children as unique and autonomous human beings instead of the property of their parents, and much more! You can follow Madeline @la_louve_rouge_ (on twitter and IG)

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Nov 5, 2025

In this episode, public school history teacher Gianni Paul joins Breht to trace the historical roots of our current crisis — stagnant wages, mass homelessness, collapsing infrastructure, rising fascism, Gilded Age inequality, and a beaten down working class — back to Reagan's counter-revolution against the New Deal and the forty-year neoliberal project that followed. Together, they explore how neoliberalism emerged out of the crises of the 1970s, Carter's role in laying the groundwork before Reagan, the destruction of unions and working-class power, the ideological weaponization of anti-communism, the bipartisan consolidation of neoliberalism under Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden, the ways Reagan and Trump represent two phases of the same class project, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of capitalist triumphalism, the slow disintegration of America's middle class into debt and precarity, the explosion of homelessness and hopelessness, the erosion of U.S. imperial dominance alongside the emergence of a multipolar world, and why the U.S. repeatedly chooses reaction over social transformation — raising the question of whether genuine change can still emerge from within the imperial core or whether new possibilities are taking shape elsewhere. Understanding this history is key to understanding why everyday life in America feels increasingly unstable, and what futures remain possible beyond neoliberal decay.

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Jun 18, 2025

In this powerful and wide-ranging conversation, Margaret Kimberley—senior columnist at Black Agenda Report and a leader in Black Alliance for Peace—joins Breht to dissect the spectacle of American decline and, as usual, Kimberley offers a razor-sharp analysis of late-stage capitalism's collapse into cruelty, chaos, and confusion.

Together, they explore the Democratic Party's complicity in ushering in this moment, U.S. weapons transfers to Ukraine in support of their proxy war against Russia, and the genocidal assault on Gaza as a revealing - if disturbing - lens into the true nature of the American empire. Kimberley also shares firsthand insights from delegations to Nicaragua, Venezuela, and China, illuminating how the Global South is resisting U.S. domination and reshaping global power.

For those feeling the weight of worsening economic conditions, rising fascism, and political demobilization, Kimberley offers hard-won wisdom about organizing in the belly of the beast. We close with discussion about where real hope can still be found. Check out Black Agenda Report

Black Agenda Radio

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Outro Beat Prod. by flip da hood

recorded January 3rd 2026

Revolutionary Guerrilla Menace's 2025: A Year in History! A fantastic discussion with blistering analysis from the crew. We discussed US criminal assault on Venezuela and its consequences geopolitically and economically on US empire and its designs in Latin America and implications for West Asia and especially subversion or assault on Iran. We analyzed US/Western imperialism and how it is the primary contradiction in global capitalism. Other topics we touched on were far right politics and "divisions" obfuscating the central class politics, the demonization of refugees, climate/ecology, big tech and AI in the infrastructure of empire, and much more! Lots of great audience comments, provocations and interaction as well.

Check out this annual year-end collaboration among Revolutionary Left Radio, Guerrilla History, and Red Menace podcasts with hosts Breht, Alyson, Henry, and Adnan.

Check more of Adnan's work HERE

Check out Guerrilla History HERE and HERE

Check out Red Menace HERE

Feb 10, 2025

Willy Massay returns to the show to discuss his recent (second) trip to Gaza as a medical volunteer. He got back two weeks ago and stayed for over a month. He discusses his heart-wrenching experiences, the wintry conditions and terrible air quality in Gaza and how both are impacting the health of every single Palestinian on the ground. He also discusses the ceasefire, the spirit of the Palestinian people, the insane cruelty and horrific war crimes of Israel, and his personal relationships and experiences with Palestinians. Outro Song: "Kettering" by The Antlers

Donate to 3 displaced families in Gaza HERE

Donate to Fidaa and her children in Gaza HERE

Learn more about Rahma Worldwide HERE

Learn more about Jewish Voices for Peace HERE

Learn more about Nebraskans for Palestine HERE

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Feb 17, 2025

Dr. Rory Dickson is a professor of Islamic Religion and Culture and author of several publications on Sufism, the mystical path within Islam. He joins Breht to have an incredibly deep conversation about the Sufi poet Rumi, his life and work, Rumi's relationship to his teacher Shams of Tabriz, the concepts of fana (annihilation of the self) and baqa(subsistence in God), the spiritual practices of Sufism, non-duality and perennialism, "dying before you die", Buddhist enlightenment, the Quran, Serving the People in politics and religion, the role of Divine Love in spiritual transformation, transcending the ego, Bodhicitta and the Heart of the Bodhisattva, the counter-cultural aspects of the historical dervishes, The Masnavi (aka the "Persian Quran"), Christian Mysticism, the evolution of human consciousness, the linguistics of translation, and much, much more!

Check out Rory's book "Dissolving into Being: The Wisdom of Sufi Philosophy"

Recommendations for Further Exploration:

Rumi's World: The Life and Work of the Great Sufi Poet

The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi

Check out our related episodes with Dr. Adnan Husain:

Sufism: Islamic Mysticism and the Annihilation of Self in God

St. Francis of Assisi: Patron Saint of Ecology & Brother to All Creation

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Outro Music: Something's Out There by Neva Dinova

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Jun 25, 2025

One of the most radical things you can do is live your life in direct opposition to the forces that control our society. Not just fighting for policies or organizing your community, although those are certainly important parts of it, but also living with values that oppose the values of our dominant society. And even more importantly, raising the next generation to embody those values—not in a coercive way, but through organic parenting and role modeling that make radicalism irresistible. This is how we raise revolutionaries: instilling community, love, egalitarianism, and a need for justice into children. And this is just what our guest in today's episode has devoted himself to doing.

Breht O'Shea is an activist, organizer, political educator, and host of the podcast Revolutionary Left Radio and co-host of the podcasts Red Menace and Shoeless in South Dakota. He is a father of three based out of Omaha Nebraska.

In this conversation, Part 3 of our Post Capitalist Parenting series, Breht shares with us insights about parenting that he's learned over the years as a father of three and what Marxism teaches us about parenting. We discuss the classic text by Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, which is a dialectical materialist analysis of patriarchy and the family, tracing the emergence of the patriarchal family and it took through various iterations of class society but also exploring what families have looked like under actually-existing socialism and also what it might look like under communism. We also explore the anti-natalist position which attempts to argue that having children is immoral, why this perspective is deeply flawed, what Buddhism can teach us about parenting, and much, much more.

Support Breht and Rev Left Radio, and join their community HERE

Further Resources

The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, Freidrich Engels

Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence, by Kristen Ghodsee

Related Episodes:

Post Capitalist Parenting Pt. 1: Parenting Under Capitalism w/ Toi Smith

Post Capitalist Parenting Pt. 2: Reimagining the Family w/ Kristen Ghodsee

Revolutionary Leftism with Breht O'Shea

Buddhism and Marxism with Breht O'Shea

What is To Be Done? with Breht O'Shea and Alyson Escalante

Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism w/ Breht O'Shea and Alyson Escalante

Red Menace: "The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and The State" by Friedrich Engels (Pt. 1)

Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism w/ Kristen Ghodsee

Intermission music: "Cool 4 U" by Club Cafe

Upstream is a labor of love—we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support

If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship

For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

Sep 10, 2025

Alyson and Breht critically engage with the concept of "technofeudalism" from a Marxist (and thus historical materialist) perspective, analyzing its origin and recent popularity, critiquing its depoloyment and the implication that it represents a "new mode of production", explaining related concepts like rent-seeking, discussing the role of private equity in the modern American economy, the politics of Yanis Varoufakis, and much, much more.

Private Equity Explainer HERE

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Jun 16, 2025

In this episode, Alyson and Breht explore Friedrich Engels' Dialectics of Nature, a bold and underappreciated attempt to apply dialectical materialism to the natural sciences. Often dismissed or misunderstood, this unfinished work offers a sweeping view of reality - from physics and chemistry to evolution, human consciousness, and ecological breakdown - through the lens of Marxist philosophy. Together, they unpack Engels' central claim that nature itself unfolds dialectically: through contradiction, motion, transformation, and interconnection.

They cover the three laws of dialectics, Engels' materialist account of human evolution, his critique of mechanistic science, vulgar materialism, and metaphysical thinking, as well as his early warnings about capitalism's ecological consequences. Along the way, they connect these insights to Marx's concept of species-being, and reflect on what this revolutionary worldview offers in the age of climate crisis, hyper-alienation, and late capitalist decay. Finally, Alyson and Breht have a fascinating open-ended discussion about the existential and spiritual implications of dialectical materialism as a worldview.

Whether you're new to dialectical materialism or looking to deepen your understanding, this conversation reframes Engels' work as a profound contribution not just to Marxism, but to the philosophy of science itself.

Here are the episodes recommended for further listening in the episode:

Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 - Karl Marx

On Contradiction - Mao

Marxism 101: Intro to Historical Materialism (and the Necessity of Socialism)

The Nature of All Things: Spinoza's Philosophical Odyssey

All Dialectic Deep Dive Episodes

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In this Christmas special, Alyson and Breht reinterpret Jesus through Jewish mysticism, Christian contemplative traditions, and Buddhist conceptions of Enlightenment, offering an understanding of his teachings and words as attempts to articulate the ineffable and non-dual, rather than metaphysical propositions to be believed. Drawing heavily on the Gospels, the Gospel of Thomas, the Christian concept of Agape, and early Christian scholarship, they explore the possibility of a Christianity beyond fear, hell, and conceptual belief -- one rooted in a radical transformation of consciousness, a revolutionary confrontation with injustice everywhere, and an embodied love for all creation.

Merry Christmas.

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What does it really mean to speak of "socialism with Chinese characteristics"? Is it simply a matter of policy and political economy, or does it require grappling with thousands of years of civilizational history, philosophy, and culture?

In this episode, Breht is joined by Zhao, the mind behind Goods for the People and author of Chinese Characteristics of Socialism: Civilizational Factors in CPC Governance to explore a bold and provocative argument: that while class struggle and material conditions must remain primary, China's socialist path cannot be understood without its deep Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist inheritance. From Yu the Great's flood control and the origins of infrastructural legitimacy, to the Mandate of Heaven, Da Tong, and the tributary system, we examine how ancient ideas of harmony, moral legitimacy, and collective responsibility continue to shape contemporary Chinese governance and foreign policy.

This is a wide-ranging conversation for Marxists, socialists, and anti-imperialists interested in China beyond caricature, reductionism, and Cold War myths -- one that asks how history, philosophy, and material struggle converge in the making of a socialist future, and what China's trajectory might mean for the global path toward communism.

Other episodes mentioned in this episode:

Check out our 7 hour episode on the last 250 years of Chinese History HERE

Check out our episode on Italy's Years of Lead HERE

Check out our episode on the German Revolution HERE

Check out our episode on the Spanish Civil War HERE

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Breht speaks with veteran organizer, revolutionary strategist, Elder of the movement, and author Eric Mann. Together they discuss Eric's life and work, including his book on George Jackson, the Hard Hat riot against Vietnam protesters, how to organize effectively in the work place, Eric's personal relationship with Howard Zinn, the importance of revolutionary journalism, combatting chauvinism, and SO much more.

Check out Part One of Breht's discussion with Eric HERE

Opening clip from Mother Country Radical podcast More Biography of Eric Mann: Eric Mann (born December 4, 1942) is a civil rights, anti-war, labor, and environmental organizer. He has worked with the Congress of Racial Equality, Newark Community Union Project, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the Black Panther Party, the United Automobile Workers (including eight years on auto assembly lines) and the New Directions Movement. He was also active as a leader of SDS faction the Weathermen, which later became the militant left-wing organization Weather Underground. He was arrested in September 1969 for participation in a direct action against the Harvard Center for International Affairs and sentenced to two years in prison on charges of conspiracy to commit murder after two bullets were fired through a window of the Cambridge police headquarters on November 8, 1969. He was instrumental in the movement that helped to keep a General Motors assembly plant in Van Nuys, California open for ten years. Mann has been credited for helping to shape the environmental justice movement in the U.S. He founded the Labor/Community Strategy Center in Los Angeles, California and has been its director for 25 years. In addition, Mann is founder and co-chair of the Bus Riders Union, which sued the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority for what it called "transit racism", resulting in a precedent-setting civil rights lawsuit, Labor Community Strategy Center et al. v. MTA.

Get 15% off any book at Left Wing Books HERE

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This is a small snippet from a much larger patreon exclusive episode, which you can sign up for (and support the show in the process) here: www.patreon.com/revleftradio

Most people, even on the Left, only know fragments of Italy's "Years of Lead." This episode pulls the whole picture into focus: the mass worker upsurge after the boom years, the 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing and the death of Giuseppe Pinelli, the rise of the Red Brigades, the kidnapping and execution of Aldo Moro, and the 1980 Bologna massacre. Alyson and Breht trace how far-right stragismo (mass bombings) intersected with far-left clandestinism, and how segments of the deep state, intelligence services, and the Cold War Gladio architecture shaped a strategy of tension that isolated social movements, kept the socialist and communist left from power, and cleared the way for the establishment of neoliberalism in Italy and beyond. Alyson and Breht then discuss what lessons we can learn from this history and if there are any similarities to the contemporary United States.

Clips for this episode are pulled from this YT documentary HERE

Check out our episode on the Italian fascist Julius Evola HERE

Check out our episode on Carl Schmitt's Concept of the Political HERE

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In this episode, Breht speaks with Jacob Dallas-Main, co-host of Workers' Lit and author of They Called Her Rebel; a dazzling fusion of fantasy, class struggle, and storytelling set in a world of debtors' camps, collapsing empires, and revolutionary possibility.

The two discuss how speculative fiction can illuminate political struggle, not merely as metaphor but as a call to break the boundary between audience and participant. They explore what makes a work of art revolutionary rather than consumable, the dangers of reactionary storytelling in popular culture, declining literacy in the U.S., the threats posed by AI, the need for socialist transformation, and why imagination is a vital force in times of despair.

From Le Guin to Kim Stanley Robinson to Lee Mandelo, they trace a lineage of speculative art that refuses cynicism and insists on transformation -- both political and personal.

Check out our episode with Kim Stanely Robinson on his book "Ministry for the Future" HERE

Subscribe to Workers Lit podcast on youtube HERE

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This is an unlocked patreon episode. To support the show and get access to monthly bonus episodes like this one, join our patreon: www.patreon.com/revleftradio

In this unlocked Patreon episode, Breht reads and responds to an article in the Tehran Times on the NYC mayoral race and left strategy around Palestine, then he plays and analyzes a Kurzgesagt video on the science and experience of marijuana dependency in your 20s and 30s, and finally Breht discusses his ongoing grieving process surrounding his Dad's death and the life lessons he's learned in the wake of it. In the process, he articulates what we need in left leaders, cultivating psychological resilience, the importance of sobriety as a baseline, the benefits of behavioral moderation, accepting worse case scenarios in life, the sweetness inherent in grief, dead loved ones visiting you in dreams, and much more.

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In this episode, Breht speaks with Dr. Richard Wolin, author of Heidegger in Ruins: Between Philosophy and Ideology, about the dark entanglement between Martin Heidegger's philosophy and his lifelong commitment to National Socialism. Heidegger is often hailed as the most important philosopher of the 20th century, yet his work was deeply shaped by the reactionary politics of his time. Wolin explains how Heidegger's central ideas -- Being, Dasein, authenticity, rootedness, and the "decline of the West" -- became intertwined with fascist notions of destiny, hierarchy, and belonging. They discuss the long history of attempts to sanitize Heidegger's record, what the Black Notebooks reveal about his true convictions, the interwar period in Germany and the conservative revolution, Heidegger's spiritual racism, and how the same civilizational despair and longing for renewal echo through today's far-right political movements. This conversation explores how the search for meaning and authenticity, when divorced from solidarity and democracy, can turn toward reactionary myth-making, hierarchical exclusion, and fascist authoritarianism.

Check out Dr. Wolin's articles in the LA Review of Books HERE

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In this episode, public school history teacher Gianni Paul joins Breht to trace the historical roots of our current crisis — stagnant wages, mass homelessness, collapsing infrastructure, rising fascism, Gilded Age inequality, and a beaten down working class — back to Reagan's counter-revolution against the New Deal and the forty-year neoliberal project that followed. Together, they explore how neoliberalism emerged out of the crises of the 1970s, Carter's role in laying the groundwork before Reagan, the destruction of unions and working-class power, the ideological weaponization of anti-communism, the bipartisan consolidation of neoliberalism under Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden, the ways Reagan and Trump represent two phases of the same class project, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of capitalist triumphalism, the slow disintegration of America's middle class into debt and precarity, the explosion of homelessness and hopelessness, the erosion of U.S. imperial dominance alongside the emergence of a multipolar world, and why the U.S. repeatedly chooses reaction over social transformation — raising the question of whether genuine change can still emerge from within the imperial core or whether new possibilities are taking shape elsewhere. Understanding this history is key to understanding why everyday life in America feels increasingly unstable, and what futures remain possible beyond neoliberal decay.

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In this episode, Breht speaks with Aminah Sheikh -- Vice President of the Canadian Freelance Union, member of the Twin Cities DSA Steering Committee, and longtime labor organizer -- about the intersection of Islamic faith, union organizing, and the collective vision of socialism.

Aminah shares her journey from growing up in a devout religious household to discovering belonging and political consciousness through the labor movement. She reflects on how organizing gave her safety and solidarity as a Muslim born in the West, and how faith, class struggle, and proletarian internationalism can coexist and reinforce one another.

Together, they discuss her work organizing in rural and Indigenous communities, her experiences with the Che Guevara Brigade in Cuba, and her ongoing solidarity with Palestine. The conversation explores how spiritual and socialist traditions both point toward a shared horizon: a world rooted in justice, dignity, and collective liberation. Follow Aminah on X @AminahSheikh

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Breht is joined by Nick from MEANS TV and JT from Second Thought and The Deprogram, to have an unstructured conversation about fatherhood, parenting, role modeling, masculinity, marriage, children, and much more!

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Outro Beat Prod. by flip da hood

Alyson and Breht analyze current events, including the ceasefire in Gaza and its implications, the newest round of US imperialist aggression against Venezuela, Regime Change aspirations in Iran and Venezuela, the absolutely horrific state of the American economy, the AI bubble, Free Speech, ICE raids, and more.

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In this episode, Alyson joins members of the Ultra-Red collective to discuss their recent trip to Central America where they learned first hand about popular education movements of the past and present. The discussion gets into the history of popular education, existing social movements in Central America today, and what we can learn from these movements in our organizing work. The journal of Ultra-Red can be found here:

Breht went on How The Red Was Won to talk about the current state of the left, the contradictions of American trade unions, American geopolitics, and much more! From the original description: You know him. You love him. It's everyone's favorite Breht O'Shea from such fine podcasts as RevLeft Radio, The Red Menace, Shoeless in South Dakota, and more! We talk about what organizing in the USA looks like 2025 - from unions to the socialist orgs, mutual aid, resisting fascism, and raising anti-fascist kids.Part 2 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-AxFA8SnBU

For over a century, the U.S. ruling class has waged war on communists, anarchists, and radicals. From the Palmer Raids of 1919 to McCarthyism in the 1950s, from COINTELPRO in the Cold War to today's MAGA rhetoric about "woke communists" and his crackdown on "Antifa Radicals", state repression has always sought to crush revolutionary politics before they could take root; especially in times of capitalist crisis.

In this episode, historian Aaron J. Leonard joins us to discuss his new book Menace of Our Time: The Long War Against American Communism. We trace how the U.S. developed its arsenal of anti-radical laws and FBI surveillance programs, and how these were deployed against generations of activists, workers, and organizers. We talk about the Communist Party USA's early growth, its leaders like William Z. Foster and Earl Browder, and its contradictory relationship with Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who both advanced social reforms hated by capitalists and cracked down on communists in his time. Leonard explains how McCarthyism and COINTELPRO not only repressed communists but created a climate where the majority of Americans came to accept mass violations of civil liberties in the name of anti-communism. As Trump and the far right recycle the language of anti-communism to justify repression in 2025, Leonard argues that knowing this history is not just an academic exercise -- it's a weapon for the struggles ahead.

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Outro Beat Prod. by flip da hood

Breht speaks with veteran organizer, revolutionary strategist, and author Eric Mann.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Mann reflects on his decades of struggle; from his early work with SNCC and SDS, through his involvement with the Weather Underground and his time as a political prisoner, to his rank-and-file organizing as a UAW autoworker. Along the way, Mann wrestles with the realities of repression and counterinsurgency, the need for disciplined cadre and a Black-led united front against imperialism, and the history of the Marxist Left in the 60's and 70's in the USA as told through his personal experiences. His story is both a living history of the U.S. Left and a revolutionary call for commitment and organization for a new generation of revolutionaries. More Biography of Eric Mann: Eric Mann (born December 4, 1942) is a civil rights, anti-war, labor, and environmental organizer. He has worked with the Congress of Racial Equality, Newark Community Union Project, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the Black Panther Party, the United Automobile Workers (including eight years on auto assembly lines) and the New Directions Movement. He was also active as a leader of SDS faction the Weathermen, which later became the militant left-wing organization Weather Underground. He was arrested in September 1969 for participation in a direct action against the Harvard Center for International Affairs and sentenced to two years in prison on charges of conspiracy to commit murder after two bullets were fired through a window of the Cambridge police headquarters on November 8, 1969. He was instrumental in the movement that helped to keep a General Motors assembly plant in Van Nuys, California open for ten years. Mann has been credited for helping to shape the environmental justice movement in the U.S. He founded the Labor/Community Strategy Center in Los Angeles, California and has been its director for 25 years. In addition, Mann is founder and co-chair of the Bus Riders Union, which sued the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority for what it called "transit racism", resulting in a precedent-setting civil rights lawsuit, Labor Community Strategy Center et al. v. MTA.

Mann is the author of books published by Beacon Press, Harper & Row and the University of California, which include Taking on General Motors; The Seven Components of Transformative Organizing Theory; and Playbook for Progressives: 16 Qualities of the Successful Organizer. He is known for his theory of transformative organizing and leadership of political movements and is acknowledged by many as an veteran organizer on the communist left.

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In 1917, Russia went from a centuries-old monarchy to the world's first workers' state in just eight months. From the February Revolution and the fall of the Tsar, to the July Days and the failed Kornilov coup, and finally to the decisive October insurrection, the Bolsheviks and the Soviets navigated setbacks, repression, reactionary coups, bourgeois opportunism, and unprecedented opportunities with remarkable clarity, unmatched strategy, and resolute discipline.

Breht is joined by Daniel, host of The Sickle and the Hammer: A Socialist History of the Soviet Union, to walk through the year that shook the world. Together they trace the month-to-month developments from February to October 1917, bringing new depth and insight to a revolution that toppled an empire, established the world's first socialist state, and still looms over our present and future. Check out our episode on "What Is To Be Done" by Lenin HERE

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Outro Beat Prod. by Spinitch 'Bitter Cocona'

In this episode, Breht speaks with Robert E. Wilson, author of The Football Manifesto and The Supporters Trust League Manifesto. Together they explore what it means to socialize sports; to reclaim the Beautiful Game from billionaire owners, corrupt institutions, and imperial powers, and return it to the people as a democratic, community-owned, and liberatory project.

Together, they examine the ways professional sports in the imperial core normalize colonialism, militarism, racism, and capitalism, while grassroots football worldwide has long been a site of resistance, solidarity, and struggle.

From the NFL's "plantation economics" to the vision of supporter-owned clubs, equal pay for women's teams, and football as a hub of political education and mutual aid, this conversation makes clear that sports are never "just games." They are battlefields for ideology and community -- as well as an expression of our nature as social beings -- and if reclaimed, they can become engines of solidarity,healthy communities, and socialist culture. Whether you are a sports fan or not, you will get a LOT out of this fascinating and surprisingly wide-ranging conversation!

Gaia Labs HERE

Behind the Shield documentary on the NFL by Dave Zirin HERE

Black Alliance for Peace petition to ban Israel and US HERE

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Outro Beat Prod. by flip da hood

Alyson and Breht critically engage with the concept of "technofeudalism" from a Marxist (and thus historical materialist) perspective, analyzing its origin and recent popularity, critiquing its depoloyment and the implication that it represents a "new mode of production", explaining related concepts like rent-seeking, discussing the role of private equity in the modern American economy, the politics of Yanis Varoufakis, and much, much more.

Private Equity Explainer HERE

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Breht went onto the International Solidarity Podcast with host Ashwin! "In this latest episode, I'm joined by Breht O'Shea (who many of you will know as the host of Revolutionary Left Radio and co-host of Red Menace) for a pretty wide-ranging discussion. We talk about the state of the left in the global north amidst the Gaza genocide and its inability to effectively do something about it, we talk about broader global shifts taking place at the moment, how the rest of this century is shaping up to look like, the role of spirituality or humanism in our left politics, combatting fear, cynicism, and individualism, the case for hope, and a whole bunch more.

Journal of International Solidarity Links

Instagram: / journalofintlsolidarity

Substack: https://intlsolidarity.substack.com/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@JournalofIntlSolidarity

Breht updates listeners on the fundraiser for the family we are supporting in Gaza, updates listeners on his new job and talks about the challenges and rewards of joining a trade union, explores the economic developments in and around AI (the hype, the bubble, and the infrastructure build-out), and then discusses the US sending troops to Venezuela and the response from Latin America and China.

Here is the new link to the Gaza family fundraiser: https://www.spotfund.com/story/c600f234-0528-4498-809b-88b76a159c9d

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outro music 'Xtruhhturrestreeall' by Spinitch

find and support more of their work here:

https://spinitch.bandcamp.com/album/com-postables-4-dessert

Alyson and Breht are guests on the Red Star Ministry Podcast, a Christian Communist outlet. Together with the host Christian, they discuss Alyson and Breht's evolving personal relationship with religion and atheism, the Dialectics of Nature and Human Consciousness, Spinozist Philosophy, Marxist Philosophy, Post-Atheism and much more.

Part Two: Breht listens to, comments on, and expounds upon a public lecture by the late professor of philosophy Rick Roderick from 1989 on Hegel, Marx, and modern American capitalism. Along the way he discusses the central role of reproductive labor, the dialectic of feminism in the US across the last century, identifying with your job under capitalism, reactionary psychology and understanding the joy they take in cruelty, the insane irony of "Make America Great Again" under both Reagan and Trump, the prescience of Professor Roderick, socially necessary labor, and more. Finally, Breht opines at length on a crucial and often overlooked dimension of a truly present, meaningful life.

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outro music 'Mooncakes' by Spinitch

find and support more of their work here:

https://spinitch.bandcamp.com/album/com-postables-4-dessert

Breht listens to, comments on, and expounds upon a public lecture by the late professor of philosophy Rick Roderick from 1989 on Hegel, Marx, and modern American capitalism. Along the way he explicates the Hegelian notion of Freedom, Right and Left Hegelianism, the End of History, Communism as the Dawn of History, Cognitive Dissonance among the American People, Moral Critiques of Capitalism, Contradictions within Ideology, Dialectical Inversions of Liberal Pretense, and much more.

Part 2 coming soon!

outro music 'Antithesnails (spinstrumental)' by Spinitch

find and support more of their work here:

https://spinitch.bandcamp.com/album/boxorama-spinstrumentals

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This is a small snippet from a full episode currently up on patreon in which Breht discusses a crucial dimension of a well-lived, meaningful existence, and explicates the transformative power of meditation practice,when done sincerley and consistently over time within an established philosophical and religious framework (as opposed to the stripped down, commodified, bastardized version of it often offered in western capitalist societies).

These are two snippets from a full episode which is currently up on our patreon in which Breht dialectically inverts core aspects of liberal philosophy (i.e. freedom and democracy) from a Marxist perspective, and then explains how the contradiction between the relations and forces of production under capitalism create an untenable and abjectly immoral situation wherein profit maximization for a few is always and everywhere prioritized over the wellbeing and flourshing of the vast majority.

Transition song 'Antithesnails (spintstumentals) by Spinitch

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Update and Reupload Sept. 25th: The extended family we have been supporting for over a year needs another influx of support as they try to move themselves and their stuff south, as the IOF closes in on their area. Make a direct intervention in the lives of Palestinians enduring genocide:

Donate directly to the Rayyan family in Gaza: https://www.spotfund.com/story/c600f234-0528-4498-809b-88b76a159c9d

In this episode, Breht sits down with Ahmed and Luisa - two members of the Democratic Socialists of America's National Political Committee and leaders within the Springs of Revolution Platform. With the August 2025 DSA Convention approaching, this episode dives into the growing struggle between the organization's revolutionary left and its more moderate, staff-driven tendencies.

Representing a strategic coalition of rank-and-file organizers from across the country -including Red Star, Liberation Caucus, MUG, and Emerge - Springs of Revolution is fighting to remake DSA into a bottom-up, anti-imperialist, and internationally rooted revolutionary organization. From prioritizing local chapters and doubling their funding, to instituting anti-Zionist political commitments and unified electoral strategies, their platform directly challenges the right-wing of the organization and sets out a more radical vision for this evolving organization.

We discuss what it means to build DSA into a revolutionary mass force, why Palestine is the "moral compass" of the left, the material lessons of recent uprisings like the George Floyd rebellion and Pro-Palestine Campus Uprisings, and how deep organizing is key to seizing future ruptures.

If you're a delegate heading into convention, a DSA member on the fence, or an outsider wondering what the internal political battles of the U.S. left really look like, this episode is essential listening.

Learn more about the platform here: https://sordsa.org/

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Outro Beat Prod. by flip da hood

In this episode of Red Menace, Breht and Alyson dive into Mao Zedong's pivotal 1957 speech On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People. This foundational text offers insight into Mao's dialectical approach to politics, particularly in navigating the complex terrain of class struggle within socialist society.

Together they explore Mao's crucial distinction between antagonistic and non-antagonistic contradictions, and how this distinction can guide revolutionary praxis. The discussion includes an analysis of the "unity–struggle–unity" dialectic, the historical context and lessons of the Hundred Flowers and Hundred Schools campaigns, and the subsequent Anti-Rightist backlash. They also examine Mao's critique of Han chauvinism and draw parallels to white chauvinism in the contemporary U.S., as well as Mao's position on Tibet and the historical legacy of how that conflict played out, and how it is still weaponized today.

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In this episode, Breht is joined by Alex Zambito, the voice behind the Instagram account Southern Catholic Worker, for a wide-ranging conversation on the intersections of Christianity and revolutionary struggle. Together, they explore Alex's journey into the Catholic Worker movement, how his Southern roots and spiritual convictions shaped his politics, and what the life and teachings of Jesus Christ - himself a Palestinian born to working people - have to offer a world ravaged by capitalism, empire, and despair.

The conversation dives deep into liberation theology, the legacy of figures like John Brown, St. Francis of Assisi, Fanny Lou Hamer, Dorthy Day and Thomas Merton, and the ways theology can inform and animate anti-capitalist resistance. Alex discusses the contradictions between mainstream American Christianity and the gospel's radical call to justice, post-atheism, and the possibilities for a spiritual reawakening amid the decay of late capitalism.

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Outro Beat Prod. by flip da hood

One of the most radical things you can do is live your life in direct opposition to the forces that control our society. Not just fighting for policies or organizing your community, although those are certainly important parts of it, but also living with values that oppose the values of our dominant society. And even more importantly, raising the next generation to embody those values—not in a coercive way, but through organic parenting and role modeling that make radicalism irresistible. This is how we raise revolutionaries: instilling community, love, egalitarianism, and a need for justice into children. And this is just what our guest in today's episode has devoted himself to doing.

Breht O'Shea is an activist, organizer, political educator, and host of the podcast Revolutionary Left Radio and co-host of the podcasts Red Menace and Shoeless in South Dakota. He is a father of three based out of Omaha Nebraska.

In this conversation, Part 3 of our Post Capitalist Parenting series, Breht shares with us insights about parenting that he's learned over the years as a father of three and what Marxism teaches us about parenting. We discuss the classic text by Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, which is a dialectical materialist analysis of patriarchy and the family, tracing the emergence of the patriarchal family and it took through various iterations of class society but also exploring what families have looked like under actually-existing socialism and also what it might look like under communism. We also explore the anti-natalist position which attempts to argue that having children is immoral, why this perspective is deeply flawed, what Buddhism can teach us about parenting, and much, much more.

Support Breht and Rev Left Radio, and join their community HERE

Further Resources

The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, Freidrich Engels

Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence, by Kristen Ghodsee

Related Episodes:

Post Capitalist Parenting Pt. 1: Parenting Under Capitalism w/ Toi Smith

Post Capitalist Parenting Pt. 2: Reimagining the Family w/ Kristen Ghodsee

Revolutionary Leftism with Breht O'Shea

Buddhism and Marxism with Breht O'Shea

What is To Be Done? with Breht O'Shea and Alyson Escalante

Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism w/ Breht O'Shea and Alyson Escalante

Red Menace: "The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and The State" by Friedrich Engels (Pt. 1)

Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism w/ Kristen Ghodsee

Intermission music: "Cool 4 U" by Club Cafe

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If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship

For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

"In this episode we are joined by Breht O'Shea to talk about fascism and it's peculiarities in the 21st Century."

I went on The Pokepreet Podcast for a second time recently and had a really in-depth and nuanced conversation about fascism, presently and historically; together we discuss how American fascism arising out of the ruins of neoliberalism is qualitatively different than previous fascisms, the role of insecure masculinity in all fascist movements, the implications of a lack of an organized and militant working class to combat it, the feckless liberal (non)response, the Democrats embrace of the "Abundance" agenda, the Palestinian liberation struggle, and MUCH much more.

You can find Henri's work at:

⁠https://substack.com/@henrimartel ⁠

Support Pokepreet on Patreon:

⁠https://www.patreon.com/thepokepreetpod

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In this episode, Breht welcomes on Seth from Omaha Tenants United for an in-studio discussion about OTU's slate of recent successes organizing several tenant unions, and a subsequent new legal assault on the organization by the local landlord lobby. The legal implications of this attack are truly monumental for virtually all forms of organizing. They also discuss how landlordism is a feudal hangover with modern capitalist dynamics, the differences between tenant organizing and labor organizing, tenant organizing as a particularly potent site of struggle, and the material underpinnings of recent superstructural shifts in many people's views of landlords.

Local media interviews Seth on the issue: https://www.3newsnow.com/central-omaha/omaha-tenants-united-faces-allegations-of-unauthorized-practice-of-law

OTU's Drake Court Tenant Union (Local 252) covered in local media: https://www.3newsnow.com/central-omaha/drake-court-tenants-unite-to-demand-better-living-conditions-from-property-management

Increasing number of renters turning to tenant unions in the Omaha metro: https://www.wowt.com/2025/01/25/increasing-number-renters-turning-tenant-unions-omaha-metro/

Fed up tenants: Renters form unions to hold leasing companies accountable: https://www.ketv.com/article/omaha-renters-form-unions-to-hold-leasing-companies-accountable/62684760

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In this incisive conversation, Breht welcomes poet, scholar, and organizer, filmmaker, and host of the Black Myths Podcast Too Black back to the podcast to critically examine the recent attacks on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Anchored by the penetrating analysis in Too Black and Rasul Mowatt's article, "Bootleg Rehab: Still Laundering Black Rage," this episode dissects DEI as a capitalist pacification strategy, historically rooted in reaction to radical Black movements and inherently limited in delivering meaningful change.

Too Black articulates how DEI serves capitalist interests by redirecting genuine Black rage into symbolic, surface-level victories that do little to alter the underlying structures of oppression. Together, they explore DEI's historical development, its market-friendly evolution under Nixon, and its role in creating internal class contradictions within oppressed communities.

Through the powerful analogy of a "bootleg rehab," Too Black vividly illustrates how superficial reforms pacify demands for revolutionary change without addressing systemic injustices like police violence, economic deprivation, and racialized exploitation. They also unpack the dialectical relationship between DEI initiatives and reactionary anti-DEI backlash, showing how both reinforce capitalist stability and deepen racial and class divides.

Finally, Too Black outlines practical approaches for organizers to bypass capitalist traps, emphasizing the need for movements grounded in materialist analysis and authentic community needs. This essential discussion equips listeners with critical insights to recognize, resist, and transcend the limitations of DEI, advancing a revolutionary politics that refuses to settle for symbolic concessions in the face of real suffering. Check out Black Myths Podcast HERE

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In this powerful and wide-ranging conversation, Margaret Kimberley—senior columnist at Black Agenda Report and a leader in Black Alliance for Peace—joins Breht to dissect the spectacle of American decline and, as usual, Kimberley offers a razor-sharp analysis of late-stage capitalism's collapse into cruelty, chaos, and confusion.

Together, they explore the Democratic Party's complicity in ushering in this moment, U.S. weapons transfers to Ukraine in support of their proxy war against Russia, and the genocidal assault on Gaza as a revealing - if disturbing - lens into the true nature of the American empire. Kimberley also shares firsthand insights from delegations to Nicaragua, Venezuela, and China, illuminating how the Global South is resisting U.S. domination and reshaping global power.

For those feeling the weight of worsening economic conditions, rising fascism, and political demobilization, Kimberley offers hard-won wisdom about organizing in the belly of the beast. We close with discussion about where real hope can still be found. Check out Black Agenda Report

Black Agenda Radio

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Outro Beat Prod. by flip da hood

In this episode, Alyson and Breht explore Friedrich Engels' Dialectics of Nature, a bold and underappreciated attempt to apply dialectical materialism to the natural sciences. Often dismissed or misunderstood, this unfinished work offers a sweeping view of reality - from physics and chemistry to evolution, human consciousness, and ecological breakdown - through the lens of Marxist philosophy. Together, they unpack Engels' central claim that nature itself unfolds dialectically: through contradiction, motion, transformation, and interconnection.

They cover the three laws of dialectics, Engels' materialist account of human evolution, his critique of mechanistic science, vulgar materialism, and metaphysical thinking, as well as his early warnings about capitalism's ecological consequences. Along the way, they connect these insights to Marx's concept of species-being, and reflect on what this revolutionary worldview offers in the age of climate crisis, hyper-alienation, and late capitalist decay. Finally, Alyson and Breht have a fascinating open-ended discussion about the existential and spiritual implications of dialectical materialism as a worldview.

Whether you're new to dialectical materialism or looking to deepen your understanding, this conversation reframes Engels' work as a profound contribution not just to Marxism, but to the philosophy of science itself.

Here are the episodes recommended for further listening in the episode:

Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 - Karl Marx

On Contradiction - Mao

Marxism 101: Intro to Historical Materialism (and the Necessity of Socialism)

The Nature of All Things: Spinoza's Philosophical Odyssey

All Dialectic Deep Dive Episodes

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This is small snippet from a much larger episode coming soon wherein Alyson and Breht cover Friedrich Engel's famous text "Dialectics of Nature", in which Engels argues for dialectical materialism as a scientifically grounded, philosophically rigorous, and holistic worldview—one that understands nature, society, and thought as deeply interconnected and constantly evolving.

Find the clip used at the end of this teaser here: https://youtu.be/YbgnlkJPga4

Recorded on June 8th: Alyson and Breht record an emergency podcast on the current riots in LA, and resistance across the country, to mass deportations. Together they highlight recent events, discuss the function of mass deporations in a decaying capitalist system, analyze the spontaneous and militant community response, how terrorizing undocumented workers is a form of labor discipline, the fascist tactic of scapegoating the powerless for the crimes and chaos of the powerful, the role of AI in both displacing labor as well as bolstering the repressive state apparatus, and much more.

Learn more about Red Menace and Rev Left Radio: www.revleftradio.com

As we wrap up our Best Of Series, get ready for brand new episodes coming soon... Learn more and support the show at: RevLeftRadio.com

[Originally released Oct 2020]

Alyson and Breht summarize and discuss the fundamental ideas, concepts, and arguments within Marxism. We want this episode to stand as a resource for *everyone* interested in Marxism - from those who are brand new to the Marxist left all the way to veterans of the Left who simply want a concise refresher. If you know someone who is moving leftward but still struggling with understanding Marxism, please point them toward this episode!

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ORIGINALLY RELEASED Feb 3, 2021

[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

[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?

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From the Taiping and Boxer Rebellions, to the Chinese Revolution and Civil War, through the Long March and the rise of Mao Zedong, to the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, all the way to Deng's Reform and China today, Professor of East Asian and Global History Dr. Ken Hammond walk us through 200 years of Chinese history to highlight in detail how modern China was forged through centuries of class struggle, resistance, rebellion, and revolution. After listening to this mega-episode you will have a profound, and deeply inspired, understanding of the rich modern history of China, and be much better able to understand its present and future.

This series originally aired on Guerrilla History in the Spring of 2024

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ORIGINALLY RELEASED Dec 15, 2019

David Swanson, Marxist organizer and host of Radical Reflections, joins Breht to talk about the history and legacy of the famous guerrilla warfare organization: the Irish Republican Army, known colloquially as the IRA. Together, they dive into the history and politics of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), exploring its role in the struggle against British imperialism and for Irish national liberation. The discussion covers the roots of the conflict, the tactics and theory of guerrilla warfare, the political evolution of the IRA, and its broader relevance to anti-colonial movements around the world. A historical and revolutionary analysis of one of the most well-known resistance movements of the 20th century.

Here is our episode on the Easter Uprising of 1916, as mentioned in the intro: https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/irish-insurrection-the-easter-rising-of-1916

Outro music: 'The Internationale' by Pol MacAdaim.

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ORIGINALLY RELEASED Oct 19, 2024

Alyson and Breht reflect on the life and death of the Palestinian resistance leader Yahya Sinwar.

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ORIGINALLY RELEASED Jun 4, 2018

In this episode, Breht is joined by Yueran Zhang, a PhD candidate in Sociology at Harvard University, to discuss the Chinese Revolution and the legacy of Mao Zedong. Together, they explore the historical context of China's revolutionary transformation, socialist construction, contradictions in post-revolutionary society, and how Maoist thought continues to shape political struggles today. A nuanced and rigorous conversation grounded in historical materialism.

Here are the recommendations Yueran gave at the end of the episode: - Mao's China and After: http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Maos-China-and-After/Maurice-Meisner/9780684856353 Rise of the Red Engineers: https://www.eastwestcenter.org/publications/rise-red-engineers-cultural-revolution-and-origins-chinas-new-class The Cultural Revolution at the Margins: http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674728790

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