Month: February 2024

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Spectre of Communism

Lies about Lenin: DEBUNKED

Few people in history are more slandered than Vladimir Lenin. From school textbooks to the capitalist press, the ruling class are desperate to blacken Lenin’s name wherever they get the opportunity. But how should communists respond?

100 years after his death, the capitalist smear campaign against the greatest revolutionary that has ever lived has not abated. Communists have a duty not just to study Lenin’s life, but to fight back against the slanders by boldly emphasising Lenin’s achievements for all to hear.

To help debunk some of the myths surrounding Lenin’s life and work, this week’s episode features Fiona Lali – a leading comrade of the International Marxist Tendency in Britain. Fiona helps answer some typical slanders about Lenin, such as the claim that he was a dictator, or that he laid the basis for Stalin’s rise to power.

The questions for this week’s discussion were taken from submissions to the Lenin Lives website, which brings together invaluable resources that can be used to understand and defend the ideas of this great revolutionary. You can watch the video version of this episode on YouTube.

For a complete and thorough defence of Lenin’s life and ideas, get your copy of In Defence of Lenin now!

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Spectre of Communism

What is capitalism?

We are often told that capitalism is the most efficient economic system; that markets are rational tools for distribution; and that only under capitalism can people live free and fair lives. However, while capitalism might enrich a parasitic handful, it is fundamentally a system of oppression and exploitation for the vast majority of humanity. But what actually is this system? How does it work, and not work? How do we bring it down; and what can we replace it with?

While the right-wing, liberals and even much of the so-called left still fail to grasp the essence of capitalism, Marx elaborated on this in extreme detail over 150 years ago. It is crucial that communists today follow in his example, and grasp the real nature of the capitalist system: how it functions, and why it goes into crisis. 

This week’s episode of Spectre of Communism podcast welcomes Niklas Albin Svensson, a leading member of the International Marxist Tendency. For more by Niklas on capitalism today, we recommend this article on the looming global recession.

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Spectre of Communism

Unrest on every continent: how communists are mobilising!

This week’s special episode was recorded during the recent meeting of the global leadership of the International Marxist Tendency in Italy. We hear reports from the front lines of the class struggle from five leading comrades involved in building revolutionary communist organisations in: South Africa, Argentina, Pakistan, France and the United States.

The class struggle is heating up everywhere! As workers and youth internationally struggle to make ends meet, the capitalist class is leading the world down a blind alley of war, crisis and destruction. On all continents, an increasing layer is drawing the inevitable conclusion: we need communism!

You can watch a video recording of this episode on our Youtube channel.

If you are a communist, then get organised! For more information on our sections in these countries, check out these links:

South Africa

Argentina

France

Pakistan 

United States

If you’re based elsewhere, find the communists where you are via our main website: https://www.marxist.com/ 

Note: this video was recorded at the end of January, before the results of the Pakistan elections that Paras discusses.

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Spectre of Communism

Defend the Cuban Revolution!

The Cuban Revolution is rightly considered an inspiration by communists worldwide. This tremendous movement threw off the chains of capitalism and US imperialism, opening the way for incredible social, economic and technological advances in what had previously been a brutally oppressed society. Today, however, the Cuban Revolution faces a number of perils.

This week’s episode welcomes Jorge Martin, a leading member of the International Marxist Tendency, to discuss the past, present and future of the Cuban Revolution. Isolated and bullied by US imperialism, it is now more important than ever to defend the gains of the Cuban Revolution and fight to overthrow capitalism internationally.

For more by Jorge on the situation today, we recommend this article from last year on the threat of capitalist restoration. 

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