In this episode, Oden speaks to Philippe Alcoy, an editor of Revolution Permanente's international section, about the War in Ukraine. Philippe describes how the war has developed into a stalemate, how pessimism is setting in among Ukraine's allies in the West, and how we need an independent, working-class solution out of the conflict — in this proxy war, in which NATO and the U.S. are fighting Russia on Ukrainian territory, there are no progressive sides. We also discuss the broader global context, including an increasingly dangerous world where imperialist powers are being drawn back into the Middle East. Learn More:- Stalemate in Ukraine- Five Theses on the War in Ukraine- Understanding the Global Context of the Ukrainian Conflict- The U.S. Working Class Must Organize against the Reactionary War in UkraineCheck out our previous episode with Philippe on Spotify or Apple, as well as our episode with Juan Ferre on imperialism.  Support this podcast on Patreon Follow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok as @left_voice and Facebook as @leftvoice. Follow us on Bluesky at leftvoice.bsky.social.

Will socialism create a society of freeloaders? Are socialists hypocritical for using iPhones? Does socialism mean we  have to give up all our possessions and live under totalitarianism? These are the kinds of questions leftists get asked all the time, and that Oden and Left Voice member Madeleine Freeman tackle in this episode. Happy Holidays!Learn More:- 5 Questions About Socialism You'll Get at the Holiday Dinner Table (And How to Answer Them)- Stalinism, Anti-Communism, and the Fate of the Soviet UnionSupport this podcast on Patreon Follow us on social media! We’re on Instagram and Twitter as @left_voice, on TikTok as @leftvoice. Follow us on Bluesky at leftvoice.bsky.social.

In this episode, Oden speaks to Left Voice member and Princeton Postdoctoral Fellow in Latin American Studies Juan Ferre about Javier Milei, the far-right libertarian economist who has just been inaugurated as president of Argentina. Juan describes how Argentina's economic and political crises set the stage for Milei's rise, the parallels that this moment has with the 1990s, and the failures of the establishment parties to pose an alternative to the status quo. We also discuss what lessons this situation has for leftists internationally and in the United States, and the importance of organizing an independent, working-class resistance to capitalism and imperialism. Learn More:- What Explains the Rise of the Far Right in Argentina?- International Statement in Support of the Left and Workers Front - Unity (FIT-U) in the Argentinian Elections- Building "A Real Alternative to the Bosses' Parties": Interview with Argentinian Socialist Congresswoman Myriam BregmanSupport this podcast on Patreon Follow us on social media! We’re on Instagram and Twitter as @left_voice, on TikTok as @leftvoice. Follow us on Bluesky at leftvoice.bsky.social.

In this episode, Oden speaks to Left Voice editor and PSC-CUNY member James Hoff and Left Voice member and native Detroiter Tristan Taylor about the historic UAW victory against the Big 3 automakers. James and Tristan explain the context of the strike, how the UAW won, and some of the strike's limitations. Importantly, they discuss what the victory means for U.S. labor and for the working class, and what lessons we can draw from fight.  Unions, including the UAW, need to break free from both the ideological and structural chains of the Democratic Party and the state. Rank-and-file members need to be empowered, and we need self-organization of the labor movement to build the power to challenge the bosses and the tyranny of capital. Labor must use its full power to wage political struggles for the whole working class, and to build a working-class party that fights for socialism.Learn more: - The UAW Won Big. What Does It Mean for the U.S. Labor Movement? - To win, the UAW Strike Must Be Organized from Below- What Are Unions and Why Do They Matter?- Why Are There So Few Large Strikes? Blame the Democratic Party- Now, More than Ever, the Working Class Needs Independent, Democratic UnionsSupport this podcast on Patreon Follow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok as @left_voice and Facebook as @leftvoice. Follow us on Bluesky at leftvoice.bsky.social.

In this episode, Oden talks to Nathaniel Flakin, a historian in Berlin, about the history of socialist anti-Zionist Jews. Nathaniel explains the context surrounding the rise of Zionism, including the age of nationalism, imperialism, and colonization, as well as why socialism is fundamentally incompatible with Zionism. Importantly, Oden and Nathaniel explore the lessons we can draw from this history, and why the solution to the conflict is to fight for a single, secular, socialist Palestine on its historic territory, with democratic rights for all its inhabitants. Nathaniel has published the anticapitalist guide book “Revolutionary Berlin,” as well as a biography of the Jewish Trotskyist resistance fighter Martin Monath, both available from Pluto Press. He writes for Left Voice, for our German sister site Klasse Gegen Klasse, and for the German publication ND. Learn More:- A Brief History of Anti-Zionist Jews- Does the State of Israel Protect Jews from Antisemitism?- A New Nakba against the Palestinian PeopleSupport this podcast on Patreon at https://patreon.com/leftvoiceFollow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok as @left_voice and Facebook as @leftvoice. Follow us on Bluesky at leftvoice.bsky.social.

On today’s episode, Oden talk to Maryam Alaniz, a PhD student and writer for Left Voice’s international section, about the struggle in Palestine. Maryam explains how the rightward shift in Israeli politics and decline of U.S. hegemony globally has sowed the seeds for the current conflict. They discuss how support for Palestinian liberation does not mean supporting the tactics and strategy of Hamas, and why popular support for the struggle in Palestine has surged around the world. Finally, they discuss they see as the solution to this conflict and what the role is of the working class and the Left. Workers across the world have the power to mobilize to grind the war machinery to a halt, and to unite to fight for a single, secular, socialist Palestine on its historic territory, with democratic rights for all its inhabitants. To Learn More:- The Israeli War on the Palestinian People- Does Supporting Palestinian Resistance Mean Supporting the Strategy and Methods of Hamas?- Bipartisan Support for Israeli Aggression Shows Leftists Must Break with the Democrats- Does the State of Israel Protect Jews from Antisemitism?- The Senate Is Demonizing Pro-Palestine Protests at Universities — They're Scared of Our PowerSupport this podcast on Patreon at https://patreon.com/leftvoiceFollow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok as @left_voice and Facebook as @leftvoice. Follow us on Bluesky at leftvoice.bsky.social.

This episode is a reading of an article by two Chilean socialists from the Revolutionary Socialist Party (PTR), Pablo Torres and Dauno Totoro, about the CIA-backed military coup in Chile in 1973.  Salvador Allende’s election was the most radical attempt to achieve socialism through elections and gradual reforms. This article, titled “Chile 1973: Was victory possible?” examines what was behind the coup, the lead-up to Allende's overthrow, and what the lessons are for the Left. To learn more:- https://www.leftvoice.org/chile-73-was-victory-possible/- https://www.leftvoice.org/47th-anniversary-of-the-1973-coup-in-chile-lessons-of-a-revolutionary-process/- https://www.leftvoice.org/letter-from-the-cordones-industriales-to-president-salvador-allende/- https://www.leftvoice.org/september-11-in-chile-how-reformism-disarmed-the-working-class-in-the-face-of-cia-backed-coup/- https://www.leftvoice.org/does-lenin-apply-today-historical-lessons-from-chile/Support this podcast on Patreon at https://patreon.com/leftvoiceFollow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok as @left_voice and Facebook as @leftvoice. Follow us on Bluesky at leftvoice.bsky.social.

In this episode, Oden is joined by Left Voice member Enid Brain to discuss the ongoing entertainment industry strikes by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA). They discuss the key lessons this struggle has for the labor movement, what the tasks are for the Left, and why entertainment workers need to go beyond just fighting for a better contract in the here and now. To learn more: - https://www.leftvoice.org/entertainment-industry-strikes-show-the-power-and-potential-of-worker-solidarity/Support this podcast on Patreon at https://patreon.com/leftvoiceFollow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok as @left_voice and Facebook as @leftvoice. Follow us on Bluesky at leftvoice.bsky.social. Follow Enid on twitter @enidbrain.

In this episode, Oden talks to author and independent Marxist historian Doug Greene about his new book “Stalinism and the Dialectics of Saturn: Anti-Communism, Marxism, and the Fate of the Soviet Union.” They discuss what characterized Stalinism, the approaches to understanding it which incorrectly framed it as an inevitability, and how these explanations fail to take a historical materialist perspective. Most importantly, Greene explains why Stalinism is not the inevitable end road of socialism: “The Stalinist outcome in Russia was not a fated outcome as if preordained by some god of history. Stalinism can only be claimed as inevitable by ignoring the communist roads not taken.”Read our interview with Doug in Left Voice magazine: https://www.leftvoice.org/does-the-revolution-eat-its-children/Read more of Doug’s work: https://blanquist.blogspot.com/https://www.patreon.com/enaa_doug_blanquiFollow Doug on Twitter: @DougGreene1917Check out his book: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781666930900/Stalinism-and-the-Dialectics-of-Saturn-Anticommunism-Marxism-and-the-Fate-of-the-Soviet-UnionSupport this podcast on Patreon at https://patreon.com/leftvoice.Follow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok as @left_voice

In this episode, Left Voice member Ben Douglass interviews Richard Hooker, a former UPS inside worker now the principle officer of Teamster Local 623. They discuss the UPS contract struggle, which is heating up after the July 5 collapse in negotiations. They discuss the impending strike, organizing part-time workers, the need for a working-class political party, the importance of workers taking up the fight for Black lives and other struggles, and other important topics.Note: An earlier version of this episode mistakenly referred to Richard Hooker as a current UPS employee.  To learn more:- https://www.leftvoice.org/as-negotiations-collapse-historic-ups-strike-looms-large/- https://www.leftvoice.org/the-fight-of-our-lives-2023-ups-teamsters-contract-campaign/- https://www.leftvoice.org/grueling-working-conditions-and-low-wages-a-testimonial-from-a-ups-warehouse-worker/Support this podcast on Patreon at https://patreon.com/leftvoiceFollow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok as @left_voice and Facebook as @leftvoice.org. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @BenFredericks.

In this episode, Oden is joined by Left Voice members Enid Brain and Reba Landers to discuss the escalating attacks on trans people. They explore why these attacks are increasing from both the Right and liberals and why neither party is our friend in the fight for oppressed people. They also discuss what it'll take to win: a mass movement and an independent party that not only defends but fights for trans lives. To learn more:- https://www.leftvoice.org/this-pride-month-there-is-hope-in-fighting-back-pride-is-in-the-streets/- https://www.leftvoice.org/the-new-york-times-is-wrong-trans-kids-need-support-not-gender-skepticism/- https://www.leftvoice.org/the-unprecedented-attack-on-trans-rights/- https://www.leftvoice.org/the-antidote-to-midterm-despair-is-socialist-feminism/- https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/progressive-neoliberalism-reactionary-populism-nancy-fraserSupport this podcast on Patreon at https://patreon.com/leftvoiceFollow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok as @left_voice and Facebook as @leftvoice.

In this episode, Oden is joined by Left Voice member Tristan Taylor and Wayne State University professor Jonathan Flatley to reflect on the 2020 George Floyd Uprising which began three years ago. They discuss how to turn the energy of a moment like the 2020 protests into a sustained movement, and the kind of revolutionary leadership that’s required to do so. To learn more:- https://www.leftvoice.org/from-black-lives-matter-to-revolution/- https://www.leftvoice.org/two-years-after-the-george-floyd-uprising-a-changed-generation-an-unchanged-system/- https://www.leftvoice.org/first-we-mourn-then-we-organize-a-letter-to-weary-black-organizers-who-have-had-enough/Support this podcast on Patreon at https://patreon.com/leftvoiceFollow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok as @left_voice and Facebook as @leftvoice.

In this May Day episode, Oden is joined by Left Voice member and UPS worker Luigi to talk about the impending contact struggle at UPS, what the Teamsters union is demanding, and what's at stake for these workers and for the labor movement as a whole. To learn more:- https://www.leftvoice.org/grueling-working-conditions-and-low-wages-a-testimonial-from-a-ups-warehouse-worker/Support this podcast on Patreon at https://patreon.com/leftvoiceFollow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok as @left_voice and Facebook as @leftvoice.org. You can follow Luigi on both Twitter and Instagram as @LuigiWMorris.

In this episode, Sam is joined by Ines, a member of the French socialist organization and publication Revolution Permanente, to discuss the massive mobilizations that have rocked France since January. They discuss how the crisis of the French bourgeoisie has created the conditions for historic class struggle, how the movement has developed so far, and why a revolutionary leadership is needed to break with the losing strategy of the French reformist left and the labor bureaucracy. To learn more:- https://www.leftvoice.org/france-on-the-frontlines-of-the-war-against-austerity/- https://www.leftvoice.org/no-faith-in-the-constitutional-council-the-movement-in-france-needs-a-winning-strategy/- https://www.leftvoice.org/french-march-the-right-to-revolutionary-optimism/- https://www.leftvoice.org/the-european-strike-wave-and-the-potential-of-the-working-class/Support this podcast on Patreon at https://patreon.com/leftvoiceFollow us on social media! We’re on Instagram and Twitter as @left_voice and Facebook as @leftvoice.org. You can follow Sam @saminthecan.

In this episode, Oden digs into the history of the U.S. revolutionary Left and Trotskyism with Bryan Palmer, a historian focusing on labor and the Left who is a lifelong advocate of revolutionary politics. They discuss James P. Cannon, the broader U.S. socialist movement at the start of the 20th century, class struggle in the 1920s and 30s, and Stalinism and the Comintern, among other topics that are key to understanding the history of the revolutionary Left. Find Brian's work here: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/authors/665-bryan-d-palmerSupport this podcast on Patreon at https://patreon.com/leftvoiceFollow us on social media! We’re on Instagram and Twitter as @left_voice and Facebook as @leftvoice.org

In this episode, Oden and Sam discuss U.S. imperialism under Biden's two years in office so far. They discuss the major contours of the Biden administration's foreign policy during this time, particularly the conflict with Russia and Ukraine, and the strategies for countering Chinese power. Sam also shares his thoughts on what the future holds, especially with a Republican-led House of Representatives, and the importance of internationalist, anti-imperialist leftism. To learn more:- https://www.leftvoice.org/with-the-ndaa-biden-advances-towards-greater-conflict-with-russia-and-china/- https://www.leftvoice.org/geopolitical-tensions-increase-amid-growing-economic-and-political-crises/- https://www.leftvoice.org/is-america-back-biden-and-imperialist-decline/- https://www.leftvoice.org/america-is-back-joe-biden-promises-an-unlikely-return-to-normalcy-in-foreign-relations/Support this podcast on Patreon at https://patreon.com/leftvoiceFollow us on social media! We’re on Instagram and Twitter as @left_voice and Facebook as @leftvoice.org. You can follow Sam @saminthecan.

In this episode, Sam talks to Antoine Ramboz, a member of Révolution Permanente, about the founding of a new revolutionary socialist organization in France. They discuss the current terrain of French politics, class struggle, and socialist organizing, and the lessons that building a new socialist organization can hold for leftists everywhere. To learn more:https://www.leftvoice.org/revolutionary-alternatives-in-france-building-a-new-socialist-organization-to-overcome-the-failure-of-the-npa/https://www.leftvoice.org/why-is-the-new-anticapitalist-party-in-france-trying-to-kick-out-its-left-wing/https://www.leftvoice.org/the-terminal-crisis-of-the-npa/Join Bread and Roses: https://www.leftvoice.org/we-need-socialist-feminism-join-bread-roses/Support this podcast on Patreon at https://patreon.com/leftvoiceFollow us on social media! We’re on Instagram and Twitter as @left_voice and Facebook as @leftvoice.org

In this episode, Oden talks to Left Voice editor James Hoff and Philadelphia-area college professor Jason Koslowski about President Biden and the Democrats' betrayal of U.S. railway workers. They discuss what it says about the President, the Democratic Party, and the state, and what this means for the Left going forward. To learn more:https://www.leftvoice.org/biden-congress-and-the-squad-just-voted-to-block-a-rail-strike-workers-should-be-the-ones-to-decide/https://www.leftvoice.org/sorry-jacobin-but-crushing-rail-workers-right-to-strike-is-not-progressive/Join Bread and Roses: https://www.leftvoice.org/we-need-socialist-feminism-join-bread-roses/Support this podcast on Patreon at https://patreon.com/leftvoiceFollow us on social media! We’re on Instagram and Twitter as @left_voice and Facebook as @leftvoice.org

In this episode, Oden talks to Left Voice members Tatiana Cozzarelli and Ezra Brain about the results of the U.S. midterm elections on November 8th. They discuss how the elections played out for Republicans and Democrats, what they say about the future of the parties, and what this all means for the Biden administration. They also talk about the important tasks that lie ahead for the Left. To learn more: https://www.leftvoice.org/the-red-wave-crashes-on-the-rocks-of-voter-rejection/https://www.leftvoice.org/the-antidote-to-midterm-despair-is-socialist-feminism/Join Bread and Roses: https://www.leftvoice.org/we-need-socialist-feminism-join-bread-roses/Support this podcast on Patreon at https://patreon.com/leftvoiceFollow us on social media! We’re on Instagram and Twitter as @left_voice and Facebook as @leftvoice.org

In this episode, Oden talks to Giacomo Turci, an editor at Left Voice's sister publication La Voce Delle Lotte and a leader of the Revolutionary Revolutionary Internationalist Fraction (FIR), about the victory of the Italian far-right in last month's elections. They discuss the fall of the government of Mario Draghi, what's behind the rise of the Right, how to characterize Giorgia Meloni and Fratelli d'Italia, tasks for the Left in the coming period, and other important topics for understanding Italy at the current conjuncture. To learn more: https://www.leftvoice.org/elections-in-italy-amid-political-crisis-interview-with-an-italian-socialist/https://www.leftvoice.org/right-wing-coalition-wins-italian-elections-amid-record-low-turnout/Support this podcast on Patreon at https://patreon.com/leftvoice.Follow us on social media! We’re on Instagram and Twitter as @left_voice and Facebook as @leftvoice.org