Spectre of Communism

The term ‘postmodernism’ is thrown around a lot by right-wing shock-jocks like Jordan Peterson, often in tandem with Marxism: although these two sets of ideas are totally opposed. In this episode, leading comrade Hamid Alizadeh takes on some of the main luminaries of this obscure, impenetrable and ultimately reactionary school including Foucault, Derrida and Lyotard. Lyotard describes postmodernism as “incredulity towards metanarratives.” In other words: an opposition to ‘big ideas’ about history, truth, science and progress. But with these ‘big ideas’ discarded, what are we left with? As Hamid demonstrates, the answer for all the postmodernists is basically the same: we cannot know the world, let alone change it, all we can do is ‘think differently’, play around with words, and retreat to subjectivity. They even celebrate writing in incomprehensible gibberish and ‘believing in nothing’ as a ‘radical’ act!This cynical philosophy is a total dead-end which winds up in stasis and despair. In total contrast to Marxism, which recognises the world as made up of complex processes, and driven by an inner lawfulness towards higher and higher complexity. By knowing the world, we can organise ourselves to intervene and change it for the better.Postmodernism is not merely a reactionary worldview, Hamid explains, it has a directly negative impact on society, serving to divide the working class through the related phenomenon of identity politics, and preserve the status quo by hampering unity of the working class. It is our duty as Marxists to oppose these counter-revolutionary ideas, and demonstrate the vast superiority of our dialectical materialist philosophy!📖 WORKS CITED 📖The case for theory: why communists should study philosophy | SPECTRE OF COMMUNISM: 🔗https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBQBXX7jZYgMarxism vs. Postmodernism, Daniel Morley and Hamid Alizadeh: 🔗https://marxist.com/marxism-versus-postmodernism.htmTheological-Political Treatise, Baruch Spinoza:🔗https://assets.cambridge.org/97805218/24118/excerpt/9780521824118_excerpt.htm Hegel, G.F. W. (1975). Hegel's Aesthetics: Lectures on Fine Art [For the quote about an ignorant man not being free]📖 WORKS CRITIQUED 📖Gender Trouble (Tenth Edition), Judith Butler: 🔗https://selforganizedseminar.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/butler-gender_trouble.pdf The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, Jean-François Lyotard:🔗https://monoskop.org/images/e/e0/Lyotard_Jean-Francois_The_Postmodern_Condition_A_Report_on_Knowledge.pdf The Subject and Power, Michel Foucault: 🔗https://www2.kobe-u.ac.jp/~alexroni/IPD2018%20readings/IPD1%202018%20No.8/Foucault%20Subject%20and%20Power.pdf Differance, Jacques Derrida: 🔗https://mforbes.sites.gettysburg.edu/cims226/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Week-5a-Jacques-Derrida.pdf Article about how the CIA used Foucault and postmodern ideas to their benefit: 🔗https://thephilosophicalsalon.com/the-cia-reads-french-theory-on-the-intellectual-labor-of-dismantling-the-cultural-left/ ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS ⏱️00:55 - What is postmodernism?11:40 - Is language oppressive?25:46 - 'Differance' vs Dialectics 31:58 - Are there objective patterns in the world?40:42 - Is there a barrier between mind and matter?01:00:54 - Practical impact of these ideas

How did Stalin outmanoeuvre Trotsky and take power following Lenin’s death? What do Marxists mean by ‘value’? And what does it really mean to ‘master the dialectic’? We went back to social media and asked for some more burning questions from our audience, for leading communist Niklas Albin Svensson to answer in a quickfire round!Watch our previous viewers’ questions episode with Ben Curry here:🔗https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=korpvewBWo8&t=3561s 📖 WORKS & SOURCES CITED 📖Wage, Labour and Capital, Karl Marx:🔗https://marxist.com/classics-wage-labour-and-capital.htm Value, Price and Profit, Karl Marx: 🔗https://marxist.com/classics-marxism-two-book/value-price-and-profit.htm ABC of Materialist Dialectics, Leon Trotsky: 🔗https://marxist.com/abc-materialist-dialectics-trotsky.htmRevolution Betrayed, Leon Trotsky: 🔗https://marxist.com/classics-the-revolution-betrayed.htm Results and Prospects, Leon Trotsky: 🔗https://marxist.com/results-and-prospects.htm Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism, Vladimir Lenin: 🔗https://marxist.com/classics-imperialism-the-highest-stage-of-capitalism/.htm The Wealth of Nations, Book One, Chapter 5: 🔗https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/smith-adam/works/wealth-of-nations/book01/ch05.htm Astronomy Is In Crisis...And It's Incredibly Exciting - 3 million views (discusses crisis in cosmology): 🔗https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zozEm4f_dlw Reason in Revolt, Ted Grant and Alan Woods: 🔗https://marxist.com/reason-in-revolt-marxist-philosophy-and-modern-science.htm Purchase In Defence of Marxism Issue 51 here: 🔗https://magazine.marxist.com/ ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS ⏱️00:57 - What is value?22:18 - How to master the dialectic?52:20 - How did Stalin come to power?1:04:23 - How did capitalism affect post-Soviet countries?🌐 LINKS 🌐✊ Join the Revolutionary Communist International: https://marxist.com/join-us.htm 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/revcomintern/💬 Twitter: https://x.com/revcomintern/

Ted Grant is not widely known outside of revolutionary circles, but he was the most important Marxist theorist since the death of Leon Trotsky, who alone predicted the course of world politics after WWII. Amongst other things, he foresaw the post-war economic upswing; the expropriation of capitalism in China and much of Eastern Europe; Stalin’s clashes with Tito and Mao; and much more besides. In this episode, his closest collaborator Alan Woods, the main leader and theorist of the RCI, reminisces about Ted’s life and works, and explains the importance of his contributions.In today’s episode, Alan talks about Ted’s legacy. He emphasises not only Ted’s brilliant mastery of Marxism, which gave him a huge advantage over his contemporaries; but also his humanity, his indignance towards all forms of injustice, and his profound sense of optimism. While the road to revolution is long and often difficult, Ted always said, there are two indispensable traits for any revolutionary: a sense of proportion and a sense of humour!Aside from the organisation we inherit today, Ted’s main legacy can be found in his tremendous contributions to Marxist theory and analysis. The third volume of his collected works will be released in January 2026. Stalinist land programme wins peasants, Chiang’s conscripts roped to prevent escape, Ted Grant:🔗https://www.marxists.org/archive/grant/1949/01/china.htm Democracy or Bonapartism in Europe - A Reply to Pierre Frank, Ted Grant: 🔗https://www.marxists.org/archive/grant/1946/08/frank.htm Ted’s obituaries in the bourgeois press: 🔗https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1524889/Ted-Grant.html, 🔗https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/jul/27/guardianobituaries.southafrica Ted Grant: The Permanent Revolutionary, Alan Woods: 🔗https://wellred-books.com/ted-grant-the-permanent-revolutionary/The degeneration and collapse of the Fourth International: in defence of our heritage, RCI: 🔗https://marxist.com/the-degeneration-and-collapse-of-the-fourth-international.htm The TRUTH about World War 2: Marxist historian sets the record straight | SPECTRE OF COMMUNISM:🔗https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1vobbAMUzM&t=1191s The Changed Relationship of Forces in Europe and the Role of the Fourth International, Ted Grant:🔗https://www.marxists.org/archive/grant/1945/03/changed.htm Economic Perspectives 1946, Ted Grant: 🔗https://www.marxists.org/archive/grant/1946/04/economy.htm Perspectives in Britain, Ted Grant:🔗https://www.marxists.org/archive/grant/1946/07/britain.htm Czechoslovakia: The Issues Involved, Ted Grant:🔗https://www.marxists.org/archive/grant/1948/04/czechoslovakia.htm Reply to David James, Ted Grant:🔗https://www.marxists.org/archive/grant/1949/james.htm Stalinism in the Postwar World, Ted Grant: 🔗https://www.marxists.org/archive/grant/1951/06/stalinism

A decade ago, Greece became the epicentre of a political earthquake. Brutal EU and IMF-imposed austerity measures provoked a revolutionary struggle by workers and youth, who vested their hopes in the left-wing SYRIZA government to take on the institutions of European capitalism. But in the end, these reformist leaders prepared a betrayal. What are the lessons of Greece that must be learned for the class struggle today?In this episode of the Spectre of Communism podcast, Francesco Merli, leading member of the Revolutionary Communist International, takes us step-by-step through the whole process, beginning with the impact of the financial crisis of 2008 that saw Greece’s creditors inflicting economic warfare against the country. Francesco explains that the Greek workers and youth did not take this lying down, launching multiple back-to-back general strikes over the course of seven years, before finally electing SYRIZA on a radical reformist programme in 2015. Today, class fighters around the world continue to draw inspiration from the heroism and fighting spirit that the Greek people displayed over this long struggle. We point to the experience of the SYRIZA government as a concrete illustration of the betrayal inherent in reformism. The lessons of Greece are invaluable for the victory of the future European and world revolution!📖 SOURCES CITED 📖‘Lessons from Greece’, In Defence of Magazine Issue 50, Summer 2025, Arturo Rodriguez: 🔗 https://marxist.com/magazine.htm‘The class struggle in Greece’, Alan Woods:🔗 https://communist.red/the-class-struggle-in-greece/‘Tsipras addresses American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce’, Tovima,🔗https://www.tovima.gr/2013/12/03/international/tsipras-addresses-american-hellenic-chamber-of-commerce/‘Greece: SYRIZA leaders preparing for government – what is the next step?’, Fred Weston and Stamatis Karagiannopoulos: 🔗 https://marxist.com/syriza-leaders-preparing-for-government-what-is-the-next-step.htm ‘Greece: Historic victory of left - First time in history a party with roots in Communist movement wins elections’, Communist Tendency of Syriza:🔗 https://marxist.com/historic-victory-of-the-left-in-greece-for-the-first-time-in-history-a-party-with-roots-in-the-communist-movement-has-come-to-power.htm ‘SYRIZA in power, the crisis and the Greek revolution’, Marie Frederiksen:🔗 https://marxist.com/syriza-in-power-the-crisis-and-the-greek-revolution.htm ‘Why Greek Exit From The Euro Would Be A Very Bad Idea’, Frances Coppola, Forbes:🔗https://www.forbes.com/sites/francescoppola/2015/02/17/why-greek-exit-from-the-euro-would-be-a-very-bad-idea/ ‘Greece: No surrender to the Troika!’, Fred Weston:🔗 https://marxist.com/greece-no-surrender-to-the-troika.htm ‘Greece: A troika by any other name would smell as rotten’, Jorge Martin:🔗 https://marxist.com/greece-a-troika-by-any-other-name-would-smell-as-rotten.htm ‘Greece: The moment of decision’, Alan Woods:🔗 https://marxist.com/greece-the-moment-of-decision.htm ‘Varoufakis’ mission “to save European capitalism from itself”’, Fred Weston: 🔗 https://marxist.com/varoufakis-mission-to-save-european-capitalism-from-itself.htm ‘Greek default approaching – what next?’, Fred Weston:🔗 https://marxist.com/greek-default-approaching-what-next.htm ‘Greek crisis: the only way to break with austerity is to break with capitalism’, Jorge Martin: 🔗 https://marxist.com/greek-crisis-the-only-way-to-break-with-austerity-is-to-break-with-capitalism.htm

Has communism ever been a serious force in the Middle East? Are Marxists in favour of shrinking the economy to save the environment? Has there been a shift to the right in society?We took to social media and asked our viewers to send in questions about communism, Marxism and revolution for leading communist, Ben Curry, to answer in a quickfire round!Chapters:00:00:54: The History of the Communist Movement/Parties in the Middle East00:28:05: Marxism vs. Degrowth00:57:33: Why is the Left so Weak?Works and sources cited:The 1917 Russian Revolution: A Complete Timeline | SPECTRE OF COMMUNISM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXzg544UyJ0&list=PLmkivsu9EhGABC5d-wtbSuk8D9fx55gh1  Molotov’s telegram to Israeli Foreign Minister 1948, cited here: https://marxist.com/stalin-and-the-founding-of-israel.htm  ‘Green growth’ doesn’t exist – less of everything is the only way to avert catastrophe, George Monbiot: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/29/green-growth-economic-activity-environment  Communism and the Iraqi Revolution, Ben Curry: https://marxist.com/communism-and-the-iraqi-revolution-part-one.htm  Population Matters, David Attenborough: https://populationmatters.org/news/2020/10/attenborough-film-saving-our-planet-requires-ending-population-growth/  A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, Karl Marx: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1859/critique-pol-economy/preface.htm  The Communists Are Coming – A Visual Manifesto | RCI Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhOCEYM8LZE