Victors Children podcastit

The Most Important Strike in Years: the Education Workers Strike in OntarioThe law-defying strike by the 55, 000 workers in CUPE's Ontario School Board Council of Unions in November 2022 was brief but arguably the most important strike in so-called Canada in almost two decades. Peter Hogarth talks about the background to the strike, how it unfolded…

Future on Fire: Capitalism and the Politics of Climate ChangeOn this episode, Sara Birrell, Saima Desai, James Hutt and David Camfield discuss ideas raised by David's Future on Fire: Capitalism and the Politics of Climate Change in an online book launch event hosted by Fiona Jeffries. In Canada you can order the book from Fernwood Publishing:https:…

Sexual Violence, Feminism and Socialist OrganizingA discussion with three thoughtful socialists and feminists, Hazel, Jamie and Sheila, about feminism, the left and sexual violence. How can left activists get better at preventing and responding to sexual violence?Some readings:Articles by Hazelhttps://www.rs21.org.uk/author/hazel-croft/Why I Left F…

Ecosocialism and the Ecological CrisisFaced with the worsening ecological crisis caused by capitalism, what's the ecosocialism we should aim for and what climate justice reforms should we fight for in the here and now? How should ecosocialists relate to degrowth politics? How should we respond to the immediate concerns of working-class people as th…

The Labour Front in Canada TodayThe cost of living is rising, unemployment is low, and a recession triggered by the Bank of Canada pushing up interest rates is coming. The number of strikes is also up, with the number of private sector workers who struck in the first half of 2022 being especially noteworthy. What's happening? How can workers take a…

Moralism: A problem for the leftMoralism -- which assumes that moral judgment can change society and thinks about people and what they do as either good or bad -- is a powerful influence today. It's a barrier to thinking about social structures, how change happens, and left strategy. Barnaby Raine and Vanessa Wills dissect what moralism is, how it …

History of the Reproductive Justice StruggleThe overturning of Roe v Wade in the US puts the spotlight back on the politics of abortion. David speaks with Jocelyn Piercy about the movement organizing that eventually led to the decriminalization of abortion in so-called Canada and defeated the Mulroney Tory government's attempt to recriminalize it, …

The Politics of War from Ukraine to CanadaA discussion with Olena Lyubchenko and Dru Oja Jay about Ukraine in the years before Russia's invasion, the impact of the war on politics in so-called Canada, and what the left should do in relation to the war.To learn more:Olena Lyubchenko, On the Frontier of Whiteness? Expropriation, War, and Social Repro…

Anti-racism and SocialismThe problems with liberal responses to racism are no reason to dismiss or downplay the importance of anti-racist struggle as some on the left do. A discussion with Sharmeen Khan and Teddy Zegeye-Gebrehiwot on the politics of representation, multiculturalism, allyship and other aspects of anti-racist politics from socialist …

The Anti-Girlboss Socialist ClubThis episode is an interview with Paniz and Tamsyn, the hosts of the socialist-feminist podcast The Anti-Girlboss Socialist Club (https://harbingermedianetwork.com/show/the-anti-girlboss-socialist-club/). They discuss topics covered in two episodes of AGSC: the “Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Industry” and sexual vi…

Understanding Russia Today, w/ Simon PiraniAnyone trying to understand Russia in the context of the war unleashed by Putin and co. on Ukraine will find little of use in the mainstream media, and a lot of left media isn't much better. This episode presents an interview with Simon Pirani about capitalism and politics in Russia today. Simon has writte…

The Far Right Mobilizes & Workplace Organizing at Canada PostThe far right-led action in Ottawa against pandemic public health measures was the largest mobilization by the far right in so-called Canada since the 1930s, so this episode opens with analysis from Todd Gordon. Next is an interview with Edmonton CUPW organizer Roland Schmidt about buildi…

The Politics of the PandemicA discussion with Nora Loreto, Daniel Sarah Karasik and Corvin Russell about the politics of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Canadian state, how the NDP and the radical left have responded, and the politics we need going forward.Nora Loreto (@nolore)'s new book Spin Doctors: How Media andPoliticians Misdiagnosed the COVID-1…

Transgender Liberation, Transgender MarxismAn interview with Jules Joanne Gleason, co-editor of Transgender Marxism, about gender, the politics of trans liberation and their universal implications, and transgender marxism.If you're unfamiliar with the subject of this episode, this is worth reading:Notes on women, men, trans and intersex: "the gende…

China Today & the Politics of China in Canada w/ Ralf Ruckus and Vincent WongChina's growing power in the world and the worsening rivalry between "Western" states and China make it ever-more important for leftists to understand China. This episode presents an interview with Ralf Ruckus, author of the new book The Communist Road to Capitalism: How S…

Imperialism, w/ Todd GordonAn interview with Todd Gordon about imperialism today and Canadian imperialism. This is a rerelease of a recent episode of the Solidarity Winnipeg Podcast.Some of Todd's writing on imperialism:Todd Gordon, Imperialist Canadahttps://arpbooks.org/Books/I/Imperialist-CanadaTodd Gordon and Jeffery Webber, Blood of Extractionh…

Dialectics Demystified, w/ David McNallyMarxism is usually associated with the concept of dialectics, but what is dialectics? Is Marxist theory "dialectical materialism"? Should dialectics be rejected as "unscientific," as mainstream academics argue? Or should it be discarded as part of European Enlightenment ideology that makes false claims to uni…

Is The Enemy of My Enemy My Friend? Campism and Emancipatory Politics Today, w/Barnaby RaineIn recent years the influence of "campist" politics within the left has grown. Barnaby Raine goes beyond explaining what's wrong with campism by explaining why its influence has grown and discussing what this says about our times and some implications for em…

Should Socialists Take Union Staff Jobs?Katherine Grzejszczak, Gene McGuckin and Sherry Wolf, three socialists with a lot of union experience, discuss this question.If you want to learn more:Kim Moody's writing on "the rank-and-file strategy" is a must-read for socialists. For a start, check out "In Defense of the Rank-and-File Strategy"https://www…

In this episode, Alex de Jong discusses Stalinist politics, including Maoism, outside the so-called "Communist" societies, and why it's still important to understand them today. If you haven't listened to Episode 3: Stalinism and the Future of Socialism (Part I), which deals with the history of the USSR and China, you might want to listen to that f…

An interview with Harsha Walia about the politics of Canadian nationalism, including left-nationalism, followed by a discussion about Midnight Sun, a new online magazine, with Daniel Sarah Karasik, Lina Nasr El Hag Ali, and David.Harsha Walia's Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism and the Rise ofRacist Nationalismhttps://fernwoodpublishing…

May 2021 marks the centenary of the formation of the Communist Party of Canada (CPC), so David interviews marxist historian Bryan Palmer about the CPC's history.If you want to read about the CPC:David Camfield, "The History and Politics of the Communist Party of Canada: An Overview"https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/the-history-and-politi…

Stalinism and the Future of Socialism (Part I)At the end of the 1920s a new social order emerged in the USSR. This Stalinist model later became the basis for reorganizing society in a series of other countries. It was criticized by anti-communists and supported by many people on the left, but other socialists challenged the claim that this was soci…

What is class struggle? Why does it matter? What's happened to classstruggle in Canada? What are the implications for socialists? A discussion of these and other questions with Kate Jacobson (Alberta Advantage podcast, in Calgary) and John Clarke (former organizer with the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, in Toronto).Email:victorschildren at gmai…

Victor's Children is named after Victor Serge, so in this first episode David introduces the podcast and interviews Suzi Weissman, author of the political biography Victor Serge: The Course is Set on Hope, about this socialist fighter and writer and why Serge matters today.https://www.versobooks.com/authors/1615-susan-weissman…