Podcast
Red Menace
Hosted by Red Menace · EN
Red Menace is a podcast that explains and analyzes revolutionary theory and then applies its lessons to our contemporary conditions.
Hosted by Alyson Escalante and Breht O'Shea.
15episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Substance, Spirit, Struggle: From Spinoza through Hegel to Marx (and Beyond)
5d ago01:22:40Tap to summarizeIn this unlocked patreon episode Breht traces and explains a subterranean philosophical lineage running from Spinoza through Hegel to Marx and Louis Althusser. Beginning with Spinoza's conception of God or Nature as a single, immanent Substance, he explores how Hegel transforms Substance into a self-developing Subject, how Marx grounds the dialectic in material social life and class struggle, and how Althusser attempts to remove the final hidden Subject from Marxist theory. Along the way, he examines the concept of immanent critique, Kant's transcendental idealism, Hegel's master-slave dialectic, Marx's materialist transformation of idealism, and Althusser's concepts of overdetermination, interpellation, theoretical anti-humanism, and history as a "process without a Subject." What emerges is an ongoing struggle over immanence, contradiction, human agency, and whether history possesses either a sovereign author or a guaranteed destination. Listen to these related episodes to learn more: Economics and Philosophical manuscripts of 1844 Louis Althusser: Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses The Nature of All Things: Spinoza's Philosophical Odyssey Intro to German Idealism: Kant, Fichte, Schelling, & Hegel Hegelian Dialectics: Contradiction, Marxism, & the Freudian Unconscious Check out our new merch designs and support the show HERE Learn more here: https://revleftradio.com/
Transcribe →Democratic Socialist Electoral Victories and the Implications for American Politics
2w ago01:18:49Tap to summarizeAlyson and Breht reflect on recent Democratic Socialist electoral victories, the ongoing contradiction between the progressive left and the corporate center within the Democratic Party, the principled and strategic approach to this development that Marxists should take, the implications for the near future of american politics, what it all means for the broader socialist left in this country, proletarian internationalism, the anti-imperialist red line, and much more. Learn more and support the show at https://revleftradio.com/ Check out Unlearning Capitalism for more political educational resources
Transcribe →Philosophy of Mind: Marxism, Materialism, and Dialectical Monism
Jun 2902:03:46Tap to summarizeIn this episode, Breht O'Shea and Alyson Escalante join forces for a deep philosophical conversation on Marxism, consciousness, and the mind-body problem. Using China Miéville's essay on consciousness and materialism as a starting point, they explore why the nature of subjective experience remains such a profound challenge for crude or reductionist forms of materialism -- and why this question matters for Marxists. Alyson begins by carefully summarizing Miéville's original essay and its challenge to conventional Marxist materialism. From there, Breht lays out several major positions in the philosophy of mind, including dualism, physicalism, idealism, panpsychism, neutral monism, emergentism, eliminativism, and epiphenomenalism. Together, they then work through two responses to Miéville's essay, clarifying the arguments, tensions, and stakes of the debate. In the second half, Breht argues for a different approach: a dialectical monism informed by dependent origination. Rather than reducing consciousness to matter, escaping into idealism, or treating mind and matter as separate substances, this view understands reality as a single, dynamic, relational process in which consciousness, embodiment, nature, society, and practice arise interdependently. The conversation closes by bringing Buddhist philosophy and phenomenology into dialogue with Marxism, exploring emptiness, experience, nonduality, and the limits of conceptual thought. What emerges is not a rejection of materialism, but a call to deepen it -- beyond reductionism, beyond dualism, and toward a more dialectical understanding of consciousness & reality. Find Fluss and Frim's response (Their Materialism and Ours) to Mieville HERE Find Pineda's response (Naturalized Dialectics) to Mieville HERE ----------------------------------------------------------------- Follow, Subscribe, & Learn more about Rev Left Radio https://revleftradio.com/
Transcribe →Alyson and Breht Answer Your Questions
Jun 603:13:27Tap to summarizeAlyson and Breht spend three hours answering your questions about politics, theory, socialist stragey and much more! Watch the video version on Youtube HERE ----------------------------------------------------------------- Follow, Subscribe, & Learn more about Rev Left Radio https://revleftradio.com/
Transcribe →The Worldwide Family of Militant Women
May 1201:34:16Tap to summarizeIn this episode, Breht and Alyson sit down with Arlene Eisen to discuss her new memoir, In the Worldwide Family of Militant Women. Eisen reflects on her political formation across the upheavals of the 1960s through the early 1980s, her encounters with Black liberation and anti-imperialist struggle, and the forgotten history of militant women who built relationships of solidarity across borders. Together they explore internationalism, revolutionary commitment, movement fragmentation, and what younger generations can still learn from an era when women fought empire not from the margins, but from the heart of the struggle. The result is a rich conversation about memory, political development, and the urgent need to build durable anti-imperialist movements in our own time. ----------------------------- Check out a great new resource for revolutionary education, Unlearning Capitalism: https://unlearn.capital/ Follow, Subscribe, & Learn more about Rev Left Radio https://revleftradio.com/
Transcribe →The Iran War: A Dialectical and Historical Materialist Analysis
Apr 902:25:01Tap to summarizeAlyson and Breht apply dialectical and historical materialist analysis to the current war of aggression in Iran. Together they break down the Marxist methodology into its three main parts - dialectics, materialism, and history - and showcase how they apply to the US and Israeli war on Iran, before bringing them back together into a coherent whole. Then they compare and contrast dialectical and historical materialism as a mode of analysis to other forms of analysis: from academic modes like liberal internationalism and Realism to common popular modes like conspiracy theories and moralism. Throughout the process, they aim to show the superior clarity and demystification offered by Marxism in understanding our world, as it unfolds in real time. ---------------------------------------------------- Check out our NEW REV LEFT MERCH with Goods For The People HERE Follow, Subscribe, & Learn more about Rev Left Radio https://revleftradio.com/
Transcribe →Iran Under Attack
Mar 201:43:52Tap to summarizeOn this YT livestream (3/1/26) Alyson and Breht discuss the illegal war of aggression launched by the US and Israel against Iran. Throughout the discussion they take live questions from the chat. https://www.youtube.com/@revleftradio ---------------------------------------------------- Support Rev Left and get access to bonus episodes: www.patreon.com/revleftradio Make a one-time donation to Rev Left at BuyMeACoffee.com/revleftradio Follow, Subscribe, & Learn more about Rev Left Radio https://revleftradio.com/
Transcribe →Guillotines for the Epstein Class
Feb 1701:46:42Tap to summarizeAlyson and Breht discuss a range of current events, including Cuba, the Epstein Files, Iran and much more. Make a donation to Socialist Night School via Venmo @OmahaNightSchool Outro Song: "to each their dot" by Haley Heynderickx & Max Garcia Conover
Transcribe →Minneapolis on Fire
Jan 2501:23:23Tap to summarizeBreht discusses recent events in Minneapolis... --------------------------------------------------------------------- Outro Music: Haley Heynderickx & Max García Conover - Song For Alicia
Transcribe →Jesus Christ Beyond Belief: A Mystical Reading of the Gospels
Dec 2402:11:52Tap to summarizeIn this Christmas special, Alyson and Breht reinterpret Jesus through Jewish mysticism, Christian contemplative traditions, and Buddhist conceptions of Enlightenment, offering an understanding of his teachings and words as attempts to articulate the ineffable and non-dual, rather than metaphysical propositions to be believed. Drawing heavily on the Gospels, the Gospel of Thomas, the Christian concept of Agape, and early Christian scholarship, they explore the possibility of a Christianity beyond fear, hell, and conceptual belief -- one rooted in a radical transformation of consciousness, a revolutionary confrontation with injustice everywhere, and an embodied love for all creation. Outro Song: Time to Wake Up by Pat the Bunny ---------------------------------------------------- Follow, Subscribe, & Learn more about Red Menace: https://revleftradio.com/
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