Revolutionary Left Radio

Alyson - a lifelong and current resident of Los Angeles - and Breht discuss the wildfires ravaging L.A. Together they discuss the acute and structural causes of the fires, the role played by Climate Change, the reactionary propaganda surrounding the fires, the class dynamics at play, the self-serving careerist motivations of bourgeois politicans, the organized grassroots community response on the ground, and what it all means for the future of California, the US, and the world.  Outro Song: Forest Fire by Mount Eerie

Thuraya, Angie, Mohammad, and Edward join Breht to discuss recent events in Syria. Together they discuss what happened, Syria under the Assad government, the hope and concerns of the the Syrian people,  the role Syria plays in the axis of resistance, Syria's connections to Palestine, current conditions in Gaza, Israel's ongoing genocide and its actions in Syria, Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and their governing promises, the history of the Syrian civil war and its continued relevance, the role of US-led imperialism in the region and its backing of HTS, Turkey and Iran, sanctions on Syria and the role they've played in destablizing the country, the uncertainty for Syrians about what comes next, and much, much more.  Recommendations and Resources: The Origins of the Syrian Crisis Lecture Decolonize The Classroom Guerrilla History's episode on Syrian Sanctions The Cradle News Gaza Funds Al Mayadeen News Educators for Palestinian Liberation   Support Rev Left and get access to bonus episodes: www.patreon.com/revleftradio Follow RLR on IG HERE Make a one-time donation to Rev Left at BuyMeACoffee.com/revleftradio  

It's time for our annual Revolutionary Guerrilla Menace episode, where we crossover with Rev Left and the Red Menace in order to review the past year in world events and look forward to what we think will be coming in the next year. Breht, Alyson, Adnan, and Henry discuss Palestine, BRICS, the Alliance of Sahel States, global capitalism, and much more, so be sure to tune in and share widely! This episode will also be on Guerrilla History and Red Menace! Support Rev Left and get access to bonus episodes: www.patreon.com/revleftradio Follow RLR on IG HERE Make a one-time donation to Rev Left at BuyMeACoffee.com/revleftradio

Alyson and Breht were invited to join Robbie on the Upstream podcast to talk about Lenin's "Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism".  Capitalism, imperialism, monopoly—far from being separate concepts that just happen to take shape parallel to one another or to overlap from time to time, these terms all really refer to the exact same overall process. We call it capitalism because it’s not always practical to call it “monopoly capitalism in its imperialist stage” or something like that, but really, capitalism is, as we’ll see, inevitably monopolistic and imperialist. The process of capitalism’s historical evolution from its so-called, and somewhat fabricated stage of free-enterprise to monopoly capitalism, and then further into what we refer to as imperialism, was outlined both theoretically and empirically by Vladamir Lenin well over a century ago in his classic text, Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism. The connection between monopoly and imperialism might not seem quite straightforward to you at first, and an understanding of imperialism itself as a process grounded in political economy may seem somewhat counterintuitive—especially if you’re used to thinking of imperialism and empire in the more popular sense of the words. But that’s why we’ve brought on two guests to walk us through this crucial text and help us make sense of it all.  Alyson Escalante and Breht O’Shea are the hosts of Red Menace, a podcast that explains and analyzes revolutionary theory and then applies its lessons to our contemporary conditions, and they’re both return guests of the show. In fact, they’ve been on a number of times to talk about other texts by Lenin but also to explore a wide variety of topics from trans liberation to revolutionary Buddhism. Breht is also the host of the terrific podcasts Revolutionary Left Radio and Shoeless in South Dakota.  In this episode, we unpack Lenin’s Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism. This episode is an excellent introduction to the text but it also takes deep dives and gets granular at times, picking apart the nuances and various interpretations of the text. We explore the historical context in which Lenin wrote this book and then trace capitalism’s history from its early stages into its monopoly form. We explore how finance capital emerged and became similarly concentrated, how this merging of concentrated finance and industrial capital began to spread out from capitalist countries into the periphery and began to carve up the world, and how this process led to what we now understand to be capitalism’s final and highest stage: imperialism. And, of course, we apply the text to a variety of current events and explore how we can apply Lenin’s ideas in ways that help us grow and strengthen our socialist movements globally.  Learn more about Upstream HERE Make a one-time donation to Rev Left at BuyMeACoffee.com/revleftradio