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Against the Stream Spectre of Communism

2024 Wrapped: a year of war and revolution

2024 has been a year of war, revolution and crisis on every continent. From the horrors of the Gaza genocide, to the revolutionary summer in Kenya and Bangladesh; from viral assassinations, to to the re-election of Donald Trump. The communists have been offering analysis and perspective at every step of the way, and now: it’s time to put this dramatic twelve months in review with 2024 WRAPPED!

The above are not random or isolated incidents. They are all ultimately products of the unprecedented crisis of the capitalist system. The tensions and class anger in one country after another carry revolutionary implications. In response to the mood of profound rage against the system, we launched a new Revolutionary Communist International in 2024: the embryo of the world party of communist revolution so desperately needed by the working class!

In a joint season finale, the two podcasts of the RCI – Spectre of Communism and Against the Stream – have come together to provide a round up of this turbulent year. Joe Attard, Hamid Alizadeh and Jorge Martín look at the events that have defined 2024, and the strides forward we have taken in the RCI.

We would like to thank everyone who has listened to Spectre of Communism and Against the Stream this year. We’d love to hear about your favourite episodes. Stay tuned in the new year, when both podcasts will return for brand new seasons!

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Recommended reading/viewing:

Analysis of the Gaza and Ukraine Wars:

https://marxist.com/israel-palestine.htm

https://marxist.com/tag-menu-item/ukraine-russia-conflict

Article and speech about Bangladesh: 

https://marxist.com/bangladesh-the-unfinished-revolution.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5Z-mcO80OE

Speeches from the founding Conference of the RCI:

https://podcast.marxist.com/category/international-marxist-university-2020

Manifesto of the RCI:

https://marxist.com/manifesto-of-the-revolutionary-communist-international.htm

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Against the Stream

French government falls, Syrian Civil war reignites, Biden pardons corrupt son, and Korean President gambles on martial law

This week has been full of sharp and sudden turns. The Syrian civil war has suddenly reignited due to the shock advance of a Turkey-backed rebel group. The French president was forced to resign after trying to force through an austerity budget. Joe Biden has used his last few weeks in power to pardon his corrupt son. And, to top things off, the president of South Korea declared martial law, only to be quickly defeated by opposition from the whole of parliament and mass mobilisations. 


Everywhere we see increasing instability, war and political turmoil. All of these are symptoms of the profound economic and social crisis, a product of the complete impasse of the capitalist system.

Such developments can be incredibly disorienting. So in order to break them down, link them together, and draw out the general processes driving them forwards, Hamid and Jorge from the International Secretariat of the Revolutionary Communist International sat down for another episode of Against the Stream.

If you’re hungry for more communist analysis of an increasingly unstable world situation, tune in to Against the Stream every week on Thursday at 3pm GMT.

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Spectre of Communism

What is the Permanent Revolution?

Trotsky’s theory of the permanent revolution is one of the most important, but also amongst the most misunderstood ideas in the entire Marxist tradition. Does it really mean that revolution needs to happen everywhere, all at once? Does it ignore workers outside of the West? Is it contrary to Lenin’s views? Josh Holroyd, leading member of the Revolutionary Communist International, takes up these questions and explains the real essence of Trotsky’s remarkable contribution to our theoretical arsenal.

Trotsky developed his theory based on his experience of the Russian Revolution of 1905, in which he played a leading role. He witnessed first hand the treachery of the ‘liberal’ Russian capitalists, and the immense revolutionary potential of the young Russian working class. He defined the permanent revolution as one that “makes no compromise with any single form of class rule, which does not stop at the democratic stage, which goes over to socialist measures… a revolution whose every successive stage is rooted in the preceding one and which can end only in the complete liquidation of class society.”

In other words, the proletariat in underdeveloped nations, at the head of other oppressed layers, particularly the peasantry, is the only class capable of leading and winning a revolution for democratic demands (freedom of assembly, free speech, land reform etc.) Having done so, rather than hand power back to the capitalists and ‘wait their turn’ for socialist revolution, the workers will move to socialist tasks of expropriating capitalism and planning the economy. 

The revolution will also not limit itself to national borders, but become the spark for an international revolutionary process that can only truly end with the overthrow of capitalism in the most advanced countries. Thus, the revolution occurs not in predetermined ‘stages’, but constitutes a ‘permanent’ chain of development, ending with the victory of socialism throughout the world. 

This important theory was proved correct in practice, both positively with the victory of the Russian workers and peasants in October 1917, and negatively with the defeat and deformation of revolutions throughout the 20th Century and beyond. 

Overcoming the myths and grasping the essence of Trotsky’s analysis is critical for class fighters striving to understand the dynamics of revolution today, and bring the world socialist revolution to victory!

We recommend this episode be viewed in conjunction with this one on the question of Socialism in One Country: https://marxist.com/podcast-is-socialism-in-one-country-possible-a-reply-to-the-young-communist-league.htm 

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Against the Stream

Biden escalates Ukraine war, Trump vs the ‘deep state’, and the death of the American dream

In this episode of Against the Stream, Hamid Alizadeh and Niklas Albin Svensson, from the International Secretariat of the Revolutionary Communist International, discussed the reckless escalation of the Ukraine war by Biden, Trump’s controversial picks for his administration, and the death of the American Dream.

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind in world politics. As the hosts of Against the Stream have discussed, the German government has collapsed, the Spanish monarch has been pelted with mud, Trump has returned to power, and Biden has now escalated the Ukraine war by permitting the Ukrainians to strike into Russia with American long-range missiles.

In order to penetrate the fog created by the hysterical media and liberal establishment, Hamid and Niklas focused on the incoming Trump presidency and its implications for world imperialism relations.

As we have discussed in previous weeks, Trump’s victory was based on his demagogic appeal to the working class, as well as his promise to pull the US out of the costly war in Ukraine. Now, months away from power, he has started to appoint a coterie of loyalists, all set on purging the state of any opposition to Trump’s programme of tariffs and deportations.

In the meantime, Biden has tried to undermine his arch nemesis Trump by enabling Ukraine to strike into Russia with American missiles, to which Russia has responded with the launch of an ICBM.

All this chaos, on the backdrop of the crisis of the world economy will usher in mighty class struggles which will shake American imperialism to its foundations. 

We’ll be back next week for a special episode on the world economy. As per usual, we’ll be streaming live to YouTube from 3pm GMT.

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Against the Stream

The implications of Trump’s victory, the Ukraine war, and protests in Spain

This week on Against the Stream, Hamid Alizadeh and Jorge Martin from the International Secretariat of the Revolutionary Communist International sat down once again to discuss the implications of Trump’s victory on the class struggle in America, the Ukraine war, and the floods in Valencia, Spain, which have led to protests of hundreds of thousands of people against the regime.

Every week, members of the International secretariat pick a number of flashpoints in current affairs to discuss, using articles from the billionaire press as a starting point.

Contrary to the liberals, who respond to these events with hysteria and confusion, we, as Marxists, seek to explain and understand what is going on beneath the surface, and what is driving these events forward.

Tune in to Against the Stream every Thursday at 3pm (GMT). New episodes are streamed live to YouTube. We’d love to hear your feedback along with any articles or questions you want discussed on the podcast.

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Against the Stream

Rage against the ruling class in Spain, Trump and the class struggle in the US, and the German government collapses!

Closely following our special episode with Alan Woods covering Trump’s victory in the US election, Against the Stream went live again this week for another discussion. This time, Hamid Alizadeh and Fred Weston from the International Secretariat of the Revolutionary Communist International met to talk about the devastating floods in Spain and the resulting  rage of the masses against the ruling class, the abrupt collapse of the German government, and more on the implications of Trump’s victory.

Read the articles discussed by Hamid and Fred here:

Trump victory: a kick in the teeth for the establishment / https://marxist.com/trump-victory-2024.htm

How Trump Won the Economy-Is-Everything Election / https://www.wsj.com/economy/economy-election-trump-voters-c4c2e9a3

Germany’s coalition government falls apart — how it happened / https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-coalition-government-falls-apart-how-it-happened/a-70717066

Spain: monarchs pelted with mud as rage over avoidable deaths boils over in Valencia / https://marxist.com/spain-monarchs-pelted-with-mud-as-rage-over-avoidable-deaths-boils-over-in-valencia.htm

Feijóo and Sánchez take note of the social discontent and order to “calm down” the public battle / https://www.elconfidencial.com/espana/2024-11-05/feijoo-y-sanchez-toman-nota-hartazgo-social-ordenan-serenar-combate-publico_3997241/

The king surrounds himself with employers and unions with the message of avoiding the political battle after the altercation in Paiporta / https://www.eldiario.es/economia/rey-rodea-patronal-sindicatos-mensaje-evitar-batalla-politica-altercado-paiporta_1_11797536.html

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Against the Stream

Trump’s victory: What does it mean? – A communist analysis with Alan Woods

This week, Against the Stream podcast went live for a very special episode. Now that the results of the US election have come in, Hamid Alizadeh and Alan Woods from the International Secretariat of the Revolutionary Communist International (RCI) sat down to discuss the implications of Trump’s victory and what it means to communists. Alan is the editor of marxist.com, the author of numerous books on Marxist theory and the lead theoretician of the RCI.

This year’s election has been one of the most turbulent in US history. It comes amidst rising class contradictions and great instability on the world stage.

Never before has American bourgeois democracy been so discredited, and never has it been so confronted with so many challenges to its position as the world imperialist power. Trump’s victory – against the hysterical attacks of the liberal establishment and media – will mark a milestone in the US’s tumble towards further crisis and instability.

A Marxist analysis of this election, and its implications on the already fragile world situation, is of huge importance to communists.

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Spectre of Communism

Communist answers the web’s most searched questions

With so much crisis and chaos in the world today, more and more people are turning to the internet for answers about what communism really is. But there’s a lot of propaganda and misinformation out there, so this week we’ve brought on leading RCI member Fred Weston for the Communism Autocomplete Interview: answering the most common questions people are typing into Google about what communists believe, what we want, and how we’re fighting for it!

Millions of people around the world are actively looking towards communism to put an end to the misery and barbarism of capitalism. If you are one of them, join the Revolutionary Communist International in the fight for communism!

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Against the Stream

Spanish floods, war in the Middle East, and the US elections

This week, Jorge and Hamid sat down to discuss three flashpoints in the world crisis of capitalism: the floods that are devastating Spain, the spiralling conflict in the Middle East, and the impending US election.

In each episode of our new podcast Against the Stream, members of the International Secretariat of the Revolutionary Communist International meet to talk about the most pressing events in the world today. With the help of a few articles selected from the capitalist press, they reveal the interests and processes guiding these developments which the mainstream media won’t talk about.

This week, Jorge and Hamid look at the current flooding in Spain, a symptom of climate catastrophe made dramatically worse by the short sighted, profit driven policy of the government; the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, and Israel’s missile strikes on Iran, which for the first time put Iran and Israel in open, direct conflict; and the American election, the discrediting of the mainstream media, and the economic crisis in the USA which is driving deep polarisation.

This episode was streamed live to YouTube, and you can catch new episodes of Against the Stream weekly at 3pm (GMT). We’d love to hear your feedback along with any articles or questions you want discussed on the podcast.

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Spectre of Communism

Is socialism in one country possible? A reply to the Young Communist League

The idea of building socialism in one country alone was alien to Marx, Engels and Lenin. But after the latter’s death, Stalin and his supporters raised the possibility of constructing socialism in the USSR amidst a sea of capitalism. The Young Communist League – the youth wing of the Communist Party of Britain – recently advanced the theory of socialism in one country, as opposed to Trotsky’s Permanent Revolution. Where does the RCI stand on the matter? Was the USSR socialist? Is China today socialist? Is it possible to build socialism in a single country?

This week’s episode of Spectre of Communism Podcast welcomes Niklas Albin Svensson from our International Secretariat. He explains that the survival of the Russian Revolution was always dependent on a European and eventual world revolution. Lenin was under no illusions about this. The idea of building socialism in economically backward Russia reflected the narrow interests of the Stalinist bureaucracy, in a period of temporary defeat for the world revolution.

The notion of achieving socialism within any single nation’s borders – even a very advanced one – was and remains a utopian fantasy; as attested by the experience of the USSR: a workers’ state encompassing a huge geographical area and vast resources, that lasted far longer than expected, yet still ultimately collapsed.

Modern capitalist production is global: with supply chains and manufacturing processes for all manner of commodities, from smartphones to aeroplanes, distributed across the world. Socialism can only be built based on the highest possible level of productivity, harnessing the full potential of the international working class. Therefore, socialism being built anywhere depends on a victorious revolutionary process overthrowing capitalism in one counter after another!

While the YCL heavily quotes Lenin, the ‘theory’ of socialism in one country represents a total break with his ideas and the authentic traditions of Marxism. We must return to these traditions if we hope to overthrow capitalism and achieve socialism in our lifetimes!

Niklas’ article on socialism in one country is available in issue 47 of the In Defence of Marxism magazine, available to purchase now: https://marxist.com/magazine.htm

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