Podcast Summary: Leon Trotsky’s Revolution Against God and Christ with James Tunney

Podcast: New Thinking Allowed Audio Podcast
Host: Jeffrey Mishlove
Guest: James Tunney
Episode Title: Leon Trotsky’s Revolution Against God and Christ
Date: March 18, 2026

Overview: Main Themes and Purpose

This episode explores the revolutionary legacy of Leon Trotsky, his militant atheism, and the spiritual and civilizational consequences of materialist revolutions. James Tunney, an author and fine artist, discusses the intersections of politics, spirituality, technocracy, and the ongoing tension between revolution and tradition—contrasting Trotsky’s worldview with that of Jesus Christ. The conversation delves into why Trotsky remains culturally relevant, the dangers of dismissing spiritual dimensions, and the significance of Catholicism as a bulwark against posthumanist and technocratic trends.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Who Was Leon Trotsky and Why Does He Matter Today?

• Trotsky was one of the 20th century’s most significant revolutionaries, a key leader in the 1905 and 1917 Russian revolutions, and a theorist of permanent, global revolution ([04:17]).
• Despite claims that “Trotskyism is over,” Tunney argues Trotsky's influence persists in unexpected ways and underpins many modern movements, from anti-war activism to anti-fascism ([04:17], [10:15]).
• Trotsky advocated revolutionary techniques involving subterfuge, making his methods less visible but deeply influential ([04:17]).

“He keeps coming up again and again in unexpected places… I had to try and make sense of what drove him.” — James Tunney, [04:17]

2. Trotsky’s Ruthlessness and the Myth of the “Good Revolutionary”

• Trotsky was not just a theorist; as Red Army founder, he instituted concentration camps and ruthless discipline, including summary executions ([07:15]).
• The contrast with Stalin can obscure Trotsky’s own authoritarian tendencies. Many believe Trotsky would have created a freer society, but historical evidence suggests otherwise ([07:15]).

3. Militant Atheism as Trotsky’s Core Motivation

• Trotsky saw religious belief as deception for economic power. He remained openly and defiantly atheist to the end of his life ([10:03], [10:15]).
• Tunney connects Trotsky’s militant atheism with that of admirers like Christopher Hitchens, seeing it as a hallmark of a worldview unable to countenance the spiritual dimension ([10:15]).
• This atheism ties into an ultra-materialist worldview, one that leads logically to technocracy and posthumanism.

“The last thing that he is saying about himself is his atheism… It’s the alpha and the omega.” — James Tunney, [10:15]

4. Trotsky’s Brilliance in Strategy and Propaganda

• Trotsky is recognized for tactical genius in the Russian Civil War and for pioneering propaganda and networked organization, especially through print media ([16:25]).
• His methods—such as commandeering printing presses and targeting strategic nodes—prefigure modern information warfare ([16:25]).
• The motif of the “dynamo” or constant movement underpins his theory of permanent revolution: change as necessary, relentless, and international ([16:25]).

5. Core Tenets of Trotskyism

• Permanent Revolution: The revolution must be ongoing, never stabilizing, and ultimately global in scope ([23:32]).
• Entryism/Infiltration: Adoption of strategic subterfuge—Trotsky’s followers often joined and sought to influence rival organizations from within ([23:32]).
• Global Perspective: Trotsky was distinguished from Stalin and Mao by his unwavering commitment to international revolution ([29:02], [29:04]).

“He did really have such incredible ambition that he’s one of few people that could believe they could literally take over the world.”—James Tunney, [29:04]

6. The Dialectic with Spirituality: Trotsky vs. Jesus

• Jesus is frequently labeled a revolutionary, but only in a spiritual sense, not a political or materialist one ([32:07]).
• Tunney argues that Jesus represents the counter-revolution to the materialist (and atheistic) revolutionary tradition—a spiritual dialectic in opposition to Trotsky’s materialism ([32:07]).
• Modern technocracy and Silicon Valley posthumanist ideas are, for Tunney, the inevitable outworking of this atheistic, materialist trajectory ([36:16]).

“When you remove the spirituality from the idea, you’re limited in your answer… the result of that mechanistic mindset will be a mechanical world.”—James Tunney, [32:07]

7. Technocracy, Transhumanism, and the New World Order

• Trotsky’s legacy and Marxist materialism are seen as leading inevitably to technocracy, whether via left or right political vehicles ([36:16]).
• Today’s global technological elite—Silicon Valley, digital currency advocates, and AI visionaries—reflect the same drive toward material control, with parallels in both capitalist and communist paradigms ([36:52]).
• Tunney warns of a new posthumanism, arguing that without a spiritual anthropology, society is careening toward a system reducing humans to mechanistic, controllable entities ([36:52]).

“Whether you’re on Elon Musk’s team or Leon Trotsky’s team, it comes to the same result once you have a lack of theology… and you have no anthropology of the human.” — James Tunney, [36:52]

8. Defending the Catholic Tradition in a Technocratic Age

• Tunney calls for renewed appreciation of the Catholic Church’s civilizational, legal, and anthropological legacy ([42:53], [43:46]). He critiques the modern habit of dismissing it based on “propagandistic” caricatures.
• The Catholic tradition, with its emphasis on the Incarnation and the dignity of the human person, offers the strongest antidote to the dehumanizing thrust of technocracy and AI-driven posthumanism ([54:42]).
• Other faith systems are discussed, but Tunney stresses Catholicism’s unique continuity and deep intellectual tradition—especially as a defense of personhood ([54:42], [64:30]).

“Most of the things that people see at the base of Western society go back to the Catholic Church… If you go back and look at the magisterium of the Catholic Church… they’re the same problems that people are talking about today.”—James Tunney, [43:46]

9. The Concept of the Magisterium (and Authority in Catholic Tradition)

• Magisterium: the accumulated, authoritative teaching body of the Catholic Church, ensuring continuity, coherence, and context for interpreting the Christian message ([64:17], [64:30]).
• Tunney explains its importance as a civilizational framework, rather than a mechanism for total societal control ([64:30]).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “[Trotsky] was always a revolutionary. He wasn’t against, of course, he wasn’t against violence… The revolutionary has absolutely no restraints on what their conduct is.” — James Tunney, [07:15]
• “The permanent revolution… it can’t end till everything is in revolution. And this is… a great danger to other contexts because Trotskyism is like big business. It’s anti-homeostatic.” — James Tunney, [23:32]
• “The idea that it is this… it’s just been caricatured… Most of the things that people see at the base of Western society go back to the Catholic Church.” — James Tunney, [43:46]
• “The one [tradition] that has the best antidote to that is the Catholic trajectory, because it focuses on a continuous connection back to Christ, which emphasizes the Incarnation, which emphasizes the dignity of the human.” — James Tunney, [54:42]

Timestamps of Important Segments

• Trotsky’s Forgotten but Enduring Relevance: [04:17]
• Trotsky’s Ruthlessness & the Red Army: [07:15]
• Atheism as Trotsky’s Driving Force: [10:15]
• Trotsky’s Strategic Brilliance & Propaganda: [16:25]
• Permanent Revolution and Entryism: [23:32]
• Worldwide Revolution: [29:04]
• Jesus as Spiritual Counter-Revolutionary: [32:07]
• Materialism, Technocracy & AI: [36:52]
• Catholicism’s Civilizational Importance: [43:46]
• Catholicism vs. Other Traditions & Posthumanism: [54:42]
• Definition and Role of the Magisterium: [64:17], [64:30]

Conclusion: Final Reflections

The conversation concludes with Tunney affirming his shift toward promoting the Catholic intellectual tradition as a necessary counterbalance to the materialist, technocratic trajectory he sees evolving from Trotskyism and its modern iterations ([67:20]). He urges a deeper, less caricatured engagement with longstanding religious traditions, particularly Catholicism, to resist a future defined solely by technology, global governance, and the diminishing of spiritual and human dignity.