Marx Engels Lenin Institute

Q&A For May

This is the first in what will be at least three programmes tackling all your questions and comments from the last few months. 

In this episode I answer questions on the Katyn massacre and the usage of the term "military industrial complex".

The next episode will be out later this week. 

Outro is 'Farewell Germany' a Soviet Victory Day song

Episode Artwork is t...

*Early Release* - Interview With Carlos Garrido

Carlous Garrido, founder and editor of Midwestern Marx, joins us again.  This time we are discussing his new book "The Purity Fetish and the Crisis of Western Marxism". 

This is an early release for patrons. The episode will be on general release at the end of this week. 

Outro music is 'John Browns Body' as performed by Jim Knable

From Kabul To Kiev - Interview With Kit Klarenberg

Kit Klarenberg returns to the progreamme to talk about his recent article for Mint Press News which covers the collapse of the US trained and quipped Afghan army. 

We take in the levels of delusion within the government of Ashraf Ghani, the enormous fraud carri...

Possible Endgames

In this episode I look over (again) what brought us to this point in the Ukraine war. 

In doing so I take in the arguments over the allegations of Russian imperialism, the provocations of the US, the disintegration of the EU and the role of our old friends, the mad dogs of Warsaw. 

Outro music is 'On Our Shoulders We Carry the Sun' a song from the DDR era. 

Epis...

Introduction To Marxism-Leninism Part 1 - The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism

This is the first episode of what will be an ongoing series entitled 'Intrduction To Marxist Leninism'.

In this series I will be introudcing the key concepts of the Marxist-Leninist worldview by studying some classic texts from the great revolutionary thinkers of the last 200 years.

In this first episode I look at the 1913 work by Lenin 'The Three Sources and Three Component Parts o...

The April Theses

106 years ago Lenin addressed an all Russian meeting of delegates from the workers and soliders Soviets. At two meetings of this body he was to outline his own views on the development of and tasks of the Russian Revolution. 

This address, known as the 'April Theses' became the source...

Commodified Rebellions

Capitalism requires it's political superstructure to be continually refreshed and reorganised to reflect it's need to find new ways to attack the working class. This is where the need for commodified rebellions comes in.

In this programme I look at why this need arises and how the commodified rebellion has become a key part of bourgeois strategy in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Music...

Offence and Counter Offence

In this episode we look over some of the key events of the recent week including the many rumours of the next Ukrainian/NATO counter offensive. 

We also look at why US imperialism has such a stranglehold over the European nations. 

Outro Music is '1st May' performed by Marc Ogeret

Episode Artwork is 'The Bridge By The River' by the Soviet Russian artist Ma...

A Peoples Democratic History

This is the first episode in what will be a new series detailing the histories of the Peoples Democracies of Eastern Europe.

In this introductory episode I look at the themes I'll be exploring throughout the coming series and general lessons that can be learned from a study of the Peoples Democracies. 

Episode Outro is 'The Anthem Of The Warsaw Pact'

What Happened To The Left?

"What Happened To The Left?" is a question that is asked often by many people who used to belong to the collective entity known as "the left". In this programme I attempt to answer that question and in order to do so I start off by defining what "the left" is. I go on to make the case that if you view things through the analytical framework of Marxism-Leninism then "the left" and the function i...

The Bolivarian Revolution and Anti-Imperialism - Interview With Joti Brar

In this weeks internview I speak with CPGB-ML Vice Chair Joti Brar about her recent visit to Caracas. We talk about the unfolding revolutionary process that is going on there, the masses continued support for a socialist future and their building of workers democratic organisations. We also discuss the recent meeting of the 2023-04-04 21:56:02 +0000 UTC View Post

Can Russia Lose?

With the war between Russia and US imperialism now stretching into its second year we must ask "Can Russia Lose?"

To consider this question we have to examine the latest from the battlefield then look more widely at the economic and political picture unfolding on a global basis. 

Outro music is "We Will Plant The Banner Of Victory In Taiwan" a song of the Chinese Communists in ...

France Rises Up

As million of workers move into action against the Macron regime we ask several important questions. Are the syndicalists right? Will it be possible to return to the kind of concessions made by De Gaulle after 1968? Is it even possible or desirable to return to the welfare capitalist period? Most urgently of all though, why do we need to build Communist Parties anew with a clear understanding o...

Interview With Angie Jones

In this interview episode I speak with Angie Jones from the Youtube channel 'Terf Talk Down Under'  about the recent protest staged by feminists in Australia against men  being granted access to women only spaces, the perils of 'self ID' and  much more. We talk about Angies political backg...

From Trotskyism To Marxist-Leninism Part 3

In the final part of this series I look at the Five Year Plans in the USSR, some of their achievements and how these must be regarded as part of a revolutionary process. 

I then turn to examine Trotsky's critique of industrialisation and how some of this made it's way into Khruschevite revisionism and Dengism. 

I conclude the episode by examing why I embraced Trotskyism in...

Constraints and Crises

With the shotgun wedding of UBS and Credit Suisse along with the US  governments intervention over Silicon Valley Bank another banking crisis  may be upon us. But is this a new crisis or a renewal of an older one  that began back in 2008? In this episode I explore why the need for US  imperialism is to either find follow Andrew Mellons old advice to  "liquidate capital,...

Return To Perfidious Albion - Featuring Tara McCormack

In this episode we are joined by International Relations specialist  Tara McCormack to talk about Britain, foreign policy and the always  interesting topic of the rottenness of the British state.

In a wide ranging coversation we cover the Shamina Begum case, the  Manchester bombing of 2017, the Ukraine war, the war on terror and much  more! So enjoy an excursion to per...

Israeli Disintegration

What do the recent protests in Israel tell us about the Zionist state? Why has Netanyahu remained at the top of Israeli politics for 25 years? What does Zionist identity politics look like? 

In this episode I look at the slow disintegration of the Israeli state over the last 50 years and the role of Palestinian resistance in that. 

Outro music is the Palestinian Communist ...

From Trotskyism to Marxist-Leninism Part 2

In this second part of our latest series I look at three of the big international issues relating to the split between Trotskyism and Marxist-Leninism.  I start with an examination of the Chinese Communists alliance with the Kuomintang and the critiques launched by Trotsky at the time.  I then look at the (so called) third period of Comintern policy and the relationship this has with ...

Georgia On My Mind - Interview With Donald Courter

Following the events in Georgia last week I spoke RT correspondent (and host of the Revolution Report) Donald Courter.  He has been reporting from Tbilisi during the riots that were triggered by the governments attempt to pass a law regulating foreign controlled NGOs.

We talk about the actual forces in play in Georgia, the long shadow of the 2008 war, former President Saakashvili and...

On Color Revolutions

In light of the recent developments in Georgia the subject of, so called,  color revolutions is being widely discussed again.  In this episode I  look at the origins of the color revolution strategy in places like  Yugoslavia.  I then turn to look at the development of this tactic by US  imperialism through the 1990s and how this tactic is able to exploit  the...

From Trotskyism to Marxist-Leninism Part 1

In this special episode I examine the factors that led to my own move from Trotskyism to Marxist-Leninism. 

In part one I look at the history of Trotsky himself as a man who repeatedly violated democratic centralism in the inner party debate of the 1920's. 

Part 2 will be out next week. 

Episode outro is 'The People and the Party' by The Ensemble of Mirdita prod...

Once Again On Scottish Nationalism

In this follow up episode on Scottish nationalism we examine some of the  reasons why the British left has come to support this particular cause.   The reasons range from the ridiculous notion that Scotland is somehow  more "progressive" than southern England to the equally ridiculous opportunist reasononing of the Trotskyites.  Many of the reasons are more about soundi...

On Russian Imperialism 1914 - 2014 - 2022

In this episode I revisit the question of whether Russia can be categorised as an imperialist nation.  

In doing so I work through Lenins definition of imperialism whilst looking at Tsarist imperialism and it's crucial differences to today. Along the way we encounter Trotsky getting the Balkan wars disastrously wrong and the power of the British imperialists over the old Russian bour...

Ukraine Year One - Part One

As we reach the one year point of the Russian special military operation we begin a series of programmes looking back over the last year.  In this programme we trace some of the origins of the collapse of Ukraine into being merely a colony of the USA.  This involves going back to the end of the Soviet Union and development of capitalism and the post Soviet states in both Russia and Uk...

Interview With Christian Parenti

Christian Parenti joins me for this episode to talk about his two recent articles Trump Against Empire & Will The Left Stand Up To The Deepstate 

We had a wide rangin...

Duelling Speeches

In the first part of our analysis of President Putins speech to the  Russian Federal Assembly we examine the part of the speech dealing with  the Ukraine war and special military operation.  

This leads into a  discussion of the class war that has been waged upon the Ukrainian  working class by the oligarchy and why they turned to a coup when they couldn't get the...

Sturgeon Falls

In this special episode I look at the recent resignation of Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.  What does this tell us about the state of the SNP? Could they have won a 2nd independence referendum? Why is the Scottish left so bought into the idea of independence?  All these questions and more will be addressed in this episode.  Due to the lenght of the episode there will be...

Paradoxes of Propaganda - Interview With Kit Klarenberg

Reporter for the Grayzone and Mint Press News, Kit Klarenberg returns to the programme today.  We talk about the potential British involvement with the Nord Stream pipeline bombings and the Seymour Hersh story neglecting that angle.  We then discuss the stitch up job that was done on 2023-02-16 18:26:31 +0000 UTC View Post

Nazism and Bourgeois Ideology

In this latest programme in our ongoing series on World War 2 I consider the question of Nazi ideology.  Was Nazism a real deviation with bourgeois ideology at the time, as many later historians will claim.  Or was Hitler drawing extensively from ruling class ideology at the time and just presenting this in a new way? 

Episode outro is Thälmann-Lied (Heimatland, reck deine...