What is this “Left” we hear so much about? Contemporary leftist discourse, concerns, and policies range from bourgeois to petty-bourgeois to proletarian in both form and content. Mixing these under the single rubric of “the Left” is part of the problem we face today. In this episode of Morbid Symptoms, Tara is joined by Joti Brar of the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist–Leninist) @ProlTV to separate proletarian politics from bourgeois liberalism—showing how the postwar Left, despite its rhetoric, has become a mechanism for managing capitalism’s excesses rather than achieving socialism, where workers—the vast majority—are in charge instead of rentiers and warmongers. They clarify the Leninist definition of imperialism: nations whose main export is finance capital. Imperialism, they argue, hollows out the core, exploits the periphery, and sustains itself through hot, cold, and proxy wars to prevent most of the world from exercising economic, thus political sovereignty. The discussion spans the true nature of the “Left”, the role of NATO and the UN in maintaining imperial domination, and the pitfalls of identity politics. Joti Brar elucidates the distinctions between bourgeois and proletarian politics, highlighting the centrality of class struggle and the need for a scientific, materialist approach to building socialism and understanding political economy.
22:50 Intro
24:00 Joti's Communist Background
30:33 Marxist Theory and Revisionism
39:54 Imperialism and Capitalism
1:03:36 Class Struggle, Parties, movements
1:09:00 Clarifying Proletarian Politics
1:11:01 The Role of Intellectuals in Marxism
1:13:20 Home Ownership in Late Stage Capitalism
1:16:49 NATO and Proletarian Politics
01:25:41 The UN and Imperialism
01:30:52 Human Rights and Capitalism
01:37:35 Women's Liberation and Socialism
01:44:35 The Reality of Job Choices
01:48:29 Subsidizing Wage, Tax Credits and Unemployment
01:52:43 The Role of the Working Class in Socialism
01:57:52 Identity Politics vs. Class Politics
02:11:21 The Green Party and Political Disillusionment
02:24:30 Imperialism and Economic Decline
