Podcast
Marxist Voice
Hosted by Revolutionary Communist Party · EN
Marxist Voice is the official podcast of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) in Britain. We discuss Marxist theory, revolutionary history, and current events.
Head to our website for daily news and analysis, as well as links to join and support the party, and to subscribe to our various publications.
14episodes
Episodes
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1945: Liberation, revolution and betrayal
6d ago00:40:11Tap to summarizeA revolutionary wave swept through Europe towards the end of the Second World War. In France, communists formed the backbone of the armed resistance to fascism. In Italy, workers occupied the factories, peasants took over the land, and communists led a mass armed partisan force. In Greece, the communist party led the resistance movement, and was in a strong position to take power. But in all these countries, capitalism survived. In this session, leading member of the RCI James Kilby, will explain the revolutionary process that developed towards the end of the war. He will explore how and why the Stalinists in one country after another betrayed these incredible movements, thus setting back the world revolution by decades.
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What would socialism look like?
2w ago00:40:10Tap to summarizeMost people today are well aware of what they are against, poverty, austerity, racism, imperialism and much more. However, very few people have an idea of what they are fighting for. Politics promises things it can never achieve, demoralising people in the process. This is where Marxism is different. Instead of starting with what we want, we begin with what is possible and what is getting in our way. In this talk, Sarah Vedrovitch explains the world which communists are fighting for and how to get to it from what exists today.
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Revolutions in Materialist Philosophy
3w ago00:48:21Tap to summarizeFrom the Renaissance to Marx, this talk from the London Marxist School traces the revolutionary developments of materialist philosophy. Beginning with the scientific breakthroughs of figures like Francis Bacon and Isaac Newton, it explores how humanity fought to understand the world through reason, science, and experience.The talk examines the limits of English empiricism, explaining the triumph of Marx and Engels in using dialectics to elevate materialism onto a higher plane. In doing so, they uncovered the laws of historical development and the contradictions of capitalism itself.As Khaled Malachi explains, Marxist philosophy is a guide to revolutionary action: a method for understanding society, exposing the roots of class exploitation, and fighting consciously for a socialist future.
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Defying US imperialism: Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution
4w ago00:49:35Tap to summarizeThe Cuban Revolution stands as one of the most revered revolutions in the history of capitalism. Fidel Castro and Che Guevara began as anti-imperialists and did not initially consider the revolution to be socialist.However, in the course of the struggle, they realised that the fight against imperialism, if it was to succeed, also had to be a fight against capitalism. With this understanding, they heroically ended capitalism on the island, leading to a long list of gains for Cuban workers.With the struggle against imperialism taking on renewed importance today, the lessons of the Cuban Revolution should be studied by all those who want to end the barbarism created by imperialism.In this talk, RCP Central Committee member Keelan Kellegher will draw out the lessons of the Cuban Revolution, explaining the most important conclusions we can take from this inspiring event.
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Feuerbach, philosophy, and the birth of Marxism
May 2600:44:51Tap to summarizeDialectical materialism, the philosophy of Marxism, did not fall from the sky. Nor was it just a ‘good idea’ that Marx came up with one afternoon. As Marxists we owe an immense debt to the philosophers of the past, in particular the German idealist Hegel. Before Marx was a ‘Marxist’, he was a student of Hegel, and was amongst those who saw in Hegelian philosophy a revolutionary method of understanding the world: the Young Hegelians. This talk will explain the contributions of Hegel and the Young Hegelians in developing philosophy. In particular, the work of Ludwig Feuerbach, whose attempt to critique Hegel showed the way forward, even if it ultimately failed to go all the way. Of the Young Hegelians, it was Marx and Engels alone who fully grasped the revolutionary spirit of Hegel’s philosophy. This talk, given by leading RCP comrade Nye Shaw, will explain what set these two giants apart from the rest, and how, on this basis, the revolutionary philosophy of Marxism was born.
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100 years of Malcolm X: From Nation to Revolution
May 1900:48:43Tap to summarizeThe name Malcolm X is synonymous with the black liberation movement internationally. His life was dedicated to this struggle, ultimately leading to his murder in 1965. His view that liberation should be fought for 'by any means necessary' was a battle cry to the oppressed masses globally, who could see the limits of peaceful protest and abiding by a law set up to oppress you. Beginning as black nationalist and member of the Muslim Brotherhood, in his life he experienced the development of the civil rights movement in the US and saw a series of revolutions against colonialism in Africa. These experiences moved him towards socialist and international and anti-capitalist ideas. Later in his life he proclaimed 'you cannot have capitalism without racism'. In this talk Fiona Lali, RCP Executive Committee member, will discuss the life and ideas of Malcolm X and how we can honour his legacy by overthrowing the oppression and exploitation which still plagues the world today.
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World Perspectives 2026
May 1201:09:36Tap to summarizeIn order to change the world, you must first understand it. This is why communists discuss politics, economics and the state of class consciousness. In a world defined by economic collapse, political turmoil and growing anger at the establishment, the 3rd Congress of the Revolutionary Communist Party met to discuss this. Here we share the introduction on World Perspectives given by Alan Woods.
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Science, the crisis in cosmology and the Big Bang
Apr 2800:54:46Tap to summarizeMen and women have looked up at the night sky and speculated about the nature of the universe since prehistoric times. Those speculations were the first gropings towards science. But science was bound up with myth; cosmology with cosmogeny; astronomy with astrology.Since the scientific revolution of the 16th century, however, myth has been squeezed in cosmology. But in the last century, a century of capitalist decline, it has made a comeback under the guise of a new Creation myth, the Big Bang.Since the 1990s, this has ossified into the so-called Standard Model. Today, advances in observational astronomy are fatally undermining that model. In this discussion, Ben Curry, leading member of the Revolutionary Communist International, will look at how the philosophical thought of an age impinges on this science where a clear philosophy is above all necessary if we are to relate the finite sphere of our observations to the infinite cosmos beyond, and the little sliver of time we are able to study its magnificent unfolding to the whole eternity that stretches behind us and ahead of us.
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Mao Zedong: His life, legacy, and limits
Apr 2100:53:51Tap to summarizeThere is no doubt that the Chinese revolution is one of the greatest events in human history. It freed China from the shackles of imperialism after a heroic, decades-long struggle.This revolution was the fruit of the tremendous determination and spirit of sacrifice of the Chinese masses. And at the head of this movement was Mao Zedong.Since Mao’s death, capitalism in China has been gradually restored by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) bureaucracy.Mao is seen to have led a struggle against ‘capitalist roaders’ in the CCP in his final years. Thus many revolutionaries both inside and outside China have understandably looked towards the ideas of Mao as a guide to action in the struggle towards a new revolution.However, just as much as he achieved incredible things, there were not a few tragedies and horrors under his leadership that must be explained, such as the famines of the Great Leap Forward and China’s de facto alliance with the USA against the USSR.Is there a connection between these serious errors and crises, and the CCP’s eventual return to capitalism? And do communists need to make use of the best of Mao’s ideas to abolish once again capitalism in China? In this talk, Daniel Morley, from the RCP Central Committee, will answer these questions.
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The Chartist Revolution
Apr 1400:52:12Tap to summarize“Let there be no blinking the question. These are not the times to be nice about mere words: the fact is that there is but one mode of obtaining the Charter, and that is by insurrection.” George Julian HarneyChartism was the first time ever that British workers fixed their eyes on the seizure of political power: in 1839, 1842 and again in 1848. In this struggle, they conducted a class war that at different times involved general strikes, battles with the state, mass demonstrations and even armed insurrection. They forged weapons, illegally drilled their forces, and armed themselves in preparation for seizing the reins of government. Such were the early revolutionary traditions of the British working class, deliberately buried beneath a mountain of falsehoods and distortions.In this talk given at the London Marxist School, Rob Sewell draws out the lessons of the Chartist movement. You can get your copy of Rob's book here https://wellredbooks.co.uk/product/chartist-revolution/
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