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Marxist Voice
by Revolutionary Communist Party
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.
Episodes
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The fall of British capitalism
Britain was once the workshop of the world. Today, British capitalism is struggling with stagnant growth, declining productivity, collapsing public services and a deepening economic crisis. In this discussion, Adam Booth examines the decline of British capitalism and the historical roots of...
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The state and the crisis of bourgeois democracy
In this episode of Marxist Voice, Ben Gliniecki, General Secretary of the RCP, outlines the Marxist theory of the state, explains why the Epstein revelations have exposed the true nature of liberal democracy, and discusses how a working-class alternative to bourgeois rule can emerge through dual...
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People, parties, and psychology: The role of the individual in history
Did Napoleon change history? Did Lenin make the Russian Revolution? Or do individuals simply express much deeper historical forces? Jack Tye Wilson tackles one of the biggest questions in Marxist theory: the relationship between the individual and society. This episode explains how history is...
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Is the Frankfurt school Marxist?
The Frankfurt School has had an enormous influence on universities, culture and much of the modern left. But how does Critical Theory compare with the Marxist method? Daniel Morley examines the ideas of Adorno, Horkheimer and Marcuse, explaining where they came from, why they became so…
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Capitalism in the imperialist epoch
Trade wars, inflation, recession, debt and protectionism; the world economy has entered a new and unstable period. But why? Adam Booth explains the laws governing capitalism in the imperialist epoch, drawing on Marx, Lenin and Trotsky to explain why the system has entered an era of crisis…
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Is Silvia Frederici a Marxist?
Silvia Federici has become one of the most widely read ‘socialist feminists’ of the last fifty years. But is her explanation of women's oppression Marxist, and does it work? Sarah Vedrovitch examines Federici's ideas on housework, social reproduction and the origins of capitalism, comparing them...
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The English Materialists | A Revolution in Philosophy
Marx and Engels didn't develop their ideas in a vacuum. They built on centuries of philosophical development, including the ideas of the English materialists. Georgina Ryan explores how thinkers like Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke challenged religious explanations of the world and...
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Plato, Aristotle & the Origins of Philosophy
How did philosophy begin? And why are arguments from over 2,000 years ago still central to Marxism today? In this episode of Marxist Voice, Khaled Malachi traces the origins of materialism and idealism in Ancient Greece. From Plato's world of perfect ideas to Aristotle's more grounded approach…
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Can art change the world?
Art is a necessity of life which is kept shackled by the profit motive. Art is something which workers yearn for. But what really is art? And can it change the world? What is the relationship between art and revolution, and revolutionaries? In this talk from the RCP summer camp, Nelson Wan...
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Will America go Communist?
The United States has existed as the dominant imperialist power for over 80 years. In that time it has meddled in countries across the entire globe, setting the world order. Now that is coming to an end. The American Empire is collapsing and the anger of the workers in the US is growing. In this...
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What Are The Prospects for World Revolution?
Despite vast technological progress, modern society has yet to achieve abundance. Instead, global capitalism continues to drive deepening contradictions, regional conflicts, and an accelerating crisis of imperialism. In this talk from the RCP Summer School, Lubna Badi explores the main forces...
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Traore, Sankara's legacy and imperialism in West Africa
Since he came to power in September 2022, the leader of Burkina Faso’s military government, Ibrahim Traore, has attracted attention all over the world. Echoing Thomas Sankara, the leader of the Burkinabé Revolution of 1983-87, Traore has used radical anti-imperialist and pan-Africanist rhetoric,...
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How China became capitalist
Whilst the Chinese Communist Party rule over China, it works with a capitalist mode of production. This is a historic peculiarity which originates with the successful Chinese Revolution in 1949. This revolution overthrew capitalism, but without workers power. This meant a slow return to…
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Rise and fall of US Imperialism
The relative decline of US imperialism is a process having enormous effects on every corner of the globe and every capitalist market. The US is struggling through its death agony which is resulting in a deeply unpredictable world. From wars to trade wars, to foreign policy on truth social, anger…
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The failures of 'lesser evilism' and the popular front
Those on the left are increasingly being pushed the idea that we must support, vote for and publicly defend the 'lesser evil' in politics. Many liberal politicians orient their campaign around the idea that they are not as bad as the other candidate. This is not a new phenomenon but a rehashing…
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1945: Liberation, revolution and betrayal
A 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...
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What would socialism look like?
Most 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...
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Revolutions in Materialist Philosophy
From 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…
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Defying US imperialism: Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution
The 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...
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Feuerbach, philosophy, and the birth of Marxism
Dialectical 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...
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100 years of Malcolm X: From Nation to Revolution
The 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…
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World Perspectives 2026
In 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...
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Science, the crisis in cosmology and the Big Bang
Men 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…
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Mao Zedong: His life, legacy, and limits
There 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...
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The Chartist Revolution
“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 Harney Chartism was the first time ever that British workers fixed their eyes on the seizure of...
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The Easter Rising of 1916
The Easter Rising of 1916 is one of the most inspiring events in Irish revolutionary history. The rising saw Europe’s first Red Army, the Irish Citizen’s Army, fight the forces of British Imperialism on the streets of Dublin and sacrifice their lives for the cause of a free Ireland for the Irish...
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The Reformation: religion, revolution and the rise of the bourgeoisie
“The long fight of the bourgeoisie against feudalism culminated in three great, decisive battles. The first was what is called the Protestant Reformation…” Engels When Martin Luther pinned his ninety-five thesis to the door of a church he set in motion a struggle on a scale that he did not…
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For an independent revolutionary art: Marxism and Surrealism
Surrealism was a revolutionary artistic movement founded in 1922 and led by writer and poet André Breton. The movement produced and influenced a galaxy of the 20th centuries finest artists. Surrealist artwork deals in the bizarre and the strange. On the surface, it can seem as if this is all it…
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How to end women's oppression
Sunday March 8th marked International Working Women's Day. This day was created by Socialists and Communists to highlight the role of working women under capitalism and in overthrowing it. Communists have always been at the forefront of the struggle against women's oppression. But what is it that...
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How do Marxists view history?
From the comfort of their cosy armchairs and university lecterns, the well-learned professors of bourgeois academia throw all manner of wild accusations at the Marxist view of history. Fatalistic, teleological, economically deterministic, class reductionist, Messianic... there’s no end to the...
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The British General Strike: A Communist History
Hear the author of A Communist History of the British General Strike talk on the contents of his new book. And order your copy of the book. In May 1926 the working class of Britain moved in its millions. Whispers of a new world — one run by the workers, without the need for bosses, bankers or...
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Does Britain have free speech?
Questions of free speech and state repression have reared over the recent period. The right wing cynically uses the idea of free speech to pretend figures like Farage are being silenced. In reality, however, those defending the needs of capitalism and the status quo are given all the free speech...
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Year One of the Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was the greatest event in human history, where the workers took power into their hands and grasped the state. But revolution is never a one act drama, it is a transition from one mode of production into another. This means that the revolution does not create socialism or...
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Sudan: From Revolution to Barbarism
Friedrich Engels once said 'bourgeois society stands at the crossroads, either transition to socialism or regression into barbarism.' In many countries, this barbarism is already upon us. This is the topic of the latest In Defence of Marxism magazine. Here we share the author of the lead article,...
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Imperialism in the Middle East
The middle east has been the playground of western imperialism for decades. With tensions raising in Iran, and western imperialism attempting to use this for its own gains, it is the job of communists to understand the role of imperialism in this region. For this reason, we publish here Lubna...
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Europe in crisis: How the working class can win
In September and October 2025, 2 million workers came to the streets of Italy to fight against the genocide in Palestine. This is representative of the crisis in Europe which has plagued the European working class in 2025. It is clear that actions such as these in Italy are the way forward. We…
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Monopolies and imperialism
2026 has started with an almighty imperialist bang. Given the current actions of US imperialism, kidnapping the president of Venezuela and threatening the rest of Latin America and Greenland, it is clear that imperialism is something communists must understand. Liberal media will tell you that…
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Hands Off Venezuela
On Saturday January 3rd 2026, Nicolas Maduro was kidnapped from his home by the United States. This is a clear act of Western Imperialist aggression which all communists should be opposed to. But why is it happening? What does this mean for US imperialism, world capitalism and countries like...
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What do communists say about migration?
Every day the news in the Western world is full of stories about migration. Major political parties are forming their messaging around anti-migrant rhetoric. At the same time, the left is organising protests and holding signs which say 'refugees are welcome here'. But migration didn't come out...
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The Origins of Christianity
Merry Christmas! But what is Christmas? What is Christianity, and where did it come from? From a small, radical sect, to the world's most popular religion, spanning from West to East. Here, we republish a talk from 2 years ago given by Alan Woods, theoretical leader of the RCI, on the origins of...
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Shostakovich: The musical voice of the Russian Revolution
From this year's Revolution Festival, Peter Kwasiborski, introduces Shostakovich. Stalin's bureaucracy waged a campaign of hate against artists who defied their narrow doctrine of 'Socialist Realism'. Dmitri Shostakovich's 'Anti-formalist Rayok' lambasts these cultural crimes, and defends the...
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Lenin and Trotsky: What they really stood for
Lenin and Trotsky stand as two of the most slandered men in history. Whether from the bourgeois, or from the Stalinists, their ideas are constantly misappriopriated. Stalinists have spent a century trying to divide Lenin and Trotsky. But was there really any difference between their ideas? In…
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The Russian Revolution of 1917
Whatever you think of the Russian Revolution, it transformed the 20th century. For us, this event is the greatest in human history. Where the masses not only entered the scene of history but took their lives' into their own hands. This incredible event is rich in lessons for how to overthrow...
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Understanding Marx's Capital
Marx's masterpiece, Das Kapital, is dripping with the most important lessons for humanity to understand. How does capitalism, the system we live under, actually work? What are the contradicitions inherent in how our economy runs, and how does this impact our lives as workers? At Revolution…
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Hugo Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution
Recently there has been a renewed effort by the US to clamp down on Venezuela. Given this, we are publishing a talk by Jorge Martin from this year's Revolution Festival on the history of the Bolivarian Revolution and Hugo Chavez. This incredible event is rich in lessons for those wanting to fight...
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The 1917 Russian Revolution
Continuing with our series on the Russian Revolution of 1917, we republish here an episode from our sister podcast Spectre of Communism. In this discussion Fred Weston, alongside host Joe Attard discuss this monuments event; the first time the workers took power into their hands. This episode is...
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In Defence of Lenin: special Q&A episode with Rob Sewell
In honour of the anniversary of the Russian Revolution, Marxist Voice is proud to present a special episode. This Q&A with Rob Sewell, author of In Defence of Lenin, was recorded last night in front of an audience of communists in London eager to hear about the life and ideas of Lenin. The crisis...
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1905 and the Permanent Revolution
In the latest In Defence of Marxism magazine, Trotsky's theory of the Permanent Revolution is explained. This theory has gone down in history, as Stalin used it to try and divide Lenin and Trotsky. By the time these debates arose, the question had already been solved by history, in Trotsky's...
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Lessons of the Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War was one of the greatest revolutionary struggles of the 20th century—and one of its greatest betrayals. At the RCP Summer Camp, Joe Russell explained how the working class of Spain rose against fascism and capitalism, only to be betrayed by the Stalinists, the reformists, and...
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How apartheid was ended
The struggle against South African apartheid is a source of inspiration across the world. However, the understanding of how it was overthrown is limited, especially in the West. With the struggle to free Palestine, this topic holds a particular importance, as many on the left explain their…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
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.
HOSTED BY
Revolutionary Communist Party
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