Episodes
“Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism", by Lenin, describes the function of financial capital in generating profits from imperial colonialism, as the final stage of capitalist development to ensure greater profits. The essay is a synthesis of Lenin's modifications and developments of economic theories that Karl Marx formulated in "Das Kapital" --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/foreign-languages-press/support
Published 05/22/24
This short anthology comprises Mao’s key essays on organization and mass line, including “On Correcting Mistaken Ideas in the Party”, “Combat Liberalism”, and “Rectify the Party’s Style of Work”, which offer ideological and theoretical insight and analysis into the complexities of organizational structures and practices. This collection addresses critical issues such as combatting bourgeois ideas, opposing bureaucracy, and adhering to the discipline of mass line. --- Support this podcast:...
Published 04/14/24
The First Time in History offers a firsthand account of life in Soviet Russia during a critical period of its history, from 1921 to 1923. Anna Louise Strong, a journalist who was politicized by the political upheavals in her time such as the Everett Massacre and the Seattle General strike, was invited to the USSR to document the work of building the world’s first socialist State. Her work of political journalism in to this end offers keen observations and insights that provide a vivid and...
Published 02/25/24
“On Contradiction” is Mao Zedong’s seminal text on dialectical materialism. Perhaps his most well-known work, it’s been read and studied by millions all over the world and is required reading for all those who seek to objectively analyze the world and struggle to solve the contradictions in it. The Redspark Collective prepared this study companion to assist readers by providing historical and modern day context and examples. --- Support this podcast:...
Published 12/31/23
In imperialist countries like the US, many oppose capitalism and are engaged in the struggle against its countless injustices. Far fewer are engaged with the intention and determination not only to win the protracted struggle, but to prepare ourselves in a systematic way for what we will need to construct in its place. Released as a pamphlet in the early 1970’s, Education To Govern is the result of James Boggs and the Advocators and the All-African People Union to attempt to map out a plan in...
Published 11/03/23
Written in the 1970s by San Francisco Bay Area activist Vicki Legion, “Constructive Criticism” is an accessible resource for people who want to understand and implement the practice of criticism and self-criticism. The handbook is written with exercises and concrete examples, taking the reader through the process to internalize this critical practice in a step-by-step fashion. As Legion says, “A new generation of activists is discovering the joys and challenges of working with other people to...
Published 10/13/23
“Marxism is a scientific theory that grasps the laws of the development of society and bases itself on practice for making history. Post-modernist thoughts stand against this, and any rational thinking. Revisionism, seen (posing) as Marxism, is a vulgarisation of the original, depriving it of its scientific essence, and making it, therefore, unattractive to those who desire change.” --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/foreign-languages-press/support
Published 10/08/23
“Marxism is a scientific theory that grasps the laws of the development of society and bases itself on practice for making history. Post-modernist thoughts stand against this, and any rational thinking. “Revisionism, seen (posing) as Marxism, is a vulgarisation of the original, depriving it of its scientific essence, and making it, therefore, unattractive to those who desire change.” --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/foreign-languages-press/support
Published 08/31/23
Written between 1965 and 1967 at a time when the Communist movement in India was at a crossroads between parliamentarism and the path of the people’s war, these Historic Eight Documents were the main ideological basis of the Naxalbari uprising. They continue to have a deep influence on those who persevered in waging this protracted struggle of over 50 years. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/foreign-languages-press/support
Published 06/20/23
Since the economic crisis of 2008, the concept of social class emerged again as central in critical theory. Temporarily eclipsed in the metropoles by the focus on other sites of oppression, the possible return of class and class struggle to the centre of academic and activist discourse brings with it the same economism that other radical conceptions of politics seemed to displace. Politics in Command seeks to understand what economism is, how it is deployed through socialist analyses, and the...
Published 05/22/23
Essays in part 2 include: The Maoist Party, The Working of the Neo-Colonial Mind, Politics of Liberation, among others. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/foreign-languages-press/support
Published 03/11/23
Of Concepts and Methods is K. Murali’s new collection of essays, which covers a wide range of topics that are tied together by the author’s ongoing endeavor of “deepening the critique of mechanical thinking.” Written mostly in prison, these texts grapple with different trends of post modernism which have had a stranglehold on “new” thought for that last several decades, Chavismo and “21st Century Socialism,” and the particularities of the manifestation of fascism in India. The essays not...
Published 02/18/23
Written in a time when the left in Turkey was divided on the question of a nation’s right to self-determination (i.e. the right to secede), Ibrahim Kaypakkaya’s essay was a concrete study of the Kurdish question and, more broadly, an analysis of the revolutionary standpoint towards national minorities. Still relevant today, this essay can help us understand current and ongoing national liberation movements --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. ...
Published 11/04/22
Stand for Socialism against Modern Revisionism was published in 1992. It is a major document of the Second Rectification Movement and a counter to all the attacks on the socialist cause churned out by the imperialists and the petty bourgeois anti-communists in the aftermath of the rapid full restoration of capitalism in the revisionist-ruled countries.
Published 09/05/22
Published in 1975 when the anti-revisionist movement in the US was upholding an openly homophobic line, this essay provided a scientific analysis of the “Gay Question.” Today, it teaches us how, beyond rejecting an incorrect line, the MLM still has to synthesize a proletarian line on the LGBT struggle based on the experiences in semi-colonies as well as imperialist countries.
Published 06/19/22
This essay succinctly answers the question “Is China still socialist?” and tries to give an objective analysis of the reasons behind the defeat of socialism in China.
Published 05/30/22
This compilation contains Mao Zedong’s most important philosophical writings, covering topics on dialectical materialism, the importance of practice, and how to differentiate between antagonistic and non-antagonistic contradictions and how to resolve them.
Published 04/08/22
Essays in part 2 include: Basic Problems of the Filipino People, People’s Democratic Revolution, and Declaration of the New People’s Army
Published 04/03/22
The essays included in part 1 are: A review of Philippine History, Rectify Errors and Rebuild the Party, and Program for a People’s Democratic Revolution
Published 01/23/22
The Mass Strike, the Political Party and the Trade Unions is a 1906 booklet by Rosa Luxemburg that evaluates the events of the 1905 Russian Revolution, poses them as an analogy for German socialists to learn from, and argues for a political mass strike.
Published 01/04/22
This compilation includes the most important documents of the Organization of Iranian People’s Fedai Guerrillas, which conducted armed struggle against the Iranese State in the 1970’s. It includes a new introduction by Ashraf Dehghani to Massoud Ahmadzadeh’s “Armed Struggle: Both a Strategy and a Tactic”
Published 12/26/21
The Mass Strike, the Political Party and the Trade Unions is a 1906 booklet by Rosa Luxemburg that evaluates the events of the 1905 Russian Revolution, poses them as an analogy for German socialists to learn from, and argues for a political mass strike.
Published 12/17/21
Utilizing the term “critique” in the philosophical sense implied by Kant, Sartre, Mbembe, and others, J. Moufawad-Paul offers an exacting analysis of the different trends that emerged out of the victory, development, and ultimate defeat of the Chinese revolution. Markedly and intentionally different from a polemic, Critique of Maoist Reason is a text for all who consider themselves “Maoists,” as it clarifies and contextualizes various modes of thought within or associated with Maoism....
Published 11/05/21
Utilizing the term “critique” in the philosophical sense implied by Kant, Sartre, Mbembe, and others, J. Moufawad-Paul offers an exacting analysis of the different trends that emerged out of the victory, development, and ultimate defeat of the Chinese revolution. Markedly and intentionally different from a polemic, Critique of Maoist Reason is a text for all who consider themselves “Maoists,” as it clarifies and contextualizes various modes of thought within or associated with Maoism....
Published 10/18/21