loader from loading.io

The State of the American Left (w/ How The Red Was Won)

Rev Left Radio

Release Date: 10/04/2025

Jesus Christ: The Revolutionary Mystic show art Jesus Christ: The Revolutionary Mystic

Rev Left Radio

In 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...

info_outline
Chinese Characteristics of Socialism: Civilizational Factors in CPC Governance show art Chinese Characteristics of Socialism: Civilizational Factors in CPC Governance

Rev Left Radio

What does it really mean to speak of “socialism with Chinese characteristics”? Is it simply a matter of policy and political economy, or does it require grappling with thousands of years of civilizational history, philosophy, and culture? In this episode, Breht is joined by Zhao, the mind behind and author of to explore a bold and provocative argument: that while class struggle and material conditions must remain primary, China’s socialist path cannot be understood without its deep Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist inheritance. From Yu the Great’s flood control and the origins of...

info_outline
Eric Mann on Revolutionary Struggle Part 2: Labor Organizing, The Working Class, and Proletarian Internationalism show art Eric Mann on Revolutionary Struggle Part 2: Labor Organizing, The Working Class, and Proletarian Internationalism

Rev Left Radio

Breht speaks with veteran organizer, revolutionary strategist, Elder of the movement, and author Eric Mann. Together they discuss Eric's life and work, including his book on George Jackson, the Hard Hat riot against Vietnam protesters, how to organize effectively in the work place, Eric's personal relationship with Howard Zinn, the importance of revolutionary  journalism, combatting chauvinism, and SO much more. Check out Part One of Breht's discussion with Eric Opening clip from More Biography of Eric Mann: Eric Mann (born December 4, 1942) is a civil rights, anti-war, labor, and...

info_outline
Eric Mann on Revolutionary Struggle: The Weather Underground, the Long 1960s, and the Fight for Liberation Today (Part 1) show art Eric Mann on Revolutionary Struggle: The Weather Underground, the Long 1960s, and the Fight for Liberation Today (Part 1)

Rev Left Radio

Breht speaks with veteran organizer, revolutionary strategist, and author Eric Mann. In this wide-ranging conversation, Mann reflects on his decades of struggle; from his early work with SNCC and SDS, through his involvement with the Weather Underground and his time as a political prisoner, to his rank-and-file organizing as a UAW autoworker. Along the way, Mann wrestles with the realities of repression and counterinsurgency, the need for disciplined cadre and a Black-led united front against imperialism, and the history of the Marxist Left in the 60's and 70's in the USA as told...

info_outline
[TEASER] The Anti-Human Nihilism of the Techno-Oligarchs show art [TEASER] The Anti-Human Nihilism of the Techno-Oligarchs

Rev Left Radio

This is a small snippet from a much larger patreon exclusive episode, which you can sign up for (and support the show in the process) here:

info_outline
The Years of Lead in Italy: Strategy of Tension, Operation Gladio, & the Long 1970s show art The Years of Lead in Italy: Strategy of Tension, Operation Gladio, & the Long 1970s

Rev Left Radio

Most people, even on the Left, only know fragments of Italy’s “Years of Lead.” This episode pulls the whole picture into focus: the mass worker upsurge after the boom years, the 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing and the death of Giuseppe Pinelli, the rise of the Red Brigades, the kidnapping and execution of Aldo Moro, and the 1980 Bologna massacre. Alyson and Breht trace how far-right stragismo (mass bombings) intersected with far-left clandestinism, and how segments of the deep state, intelligence services, and the Cold War Gladio architecture shaped a strategy of tension that isolated social...

info_outline
They Called Her Rebel: Speculative Fiction, Revolutionary Art, and the Politics of Imagination show art They Called Her Rebel: Speculative Fiction, Revolutionary Art, and the Politics of Imagination

Rev Left Radio

In this episode, Breht speaks with Jacob Dallas-Main, co-host of and author of ; a dazzling fusion of fantasy, class struggle, and storytelling set in a world of debtors’ camps, collapsing empires, and revolutionary possibility. The two discuss how speculative fiction can illuminate political struggle, not merely as metaphor but as a call to break the boundary between audience and participant. They explore what makes a work of art revolutionary rather than consumable, the dangers of reactionary storytelling in popular culture, declining literacy in the U.S., the threats posed by AI, the...

info_outline
UNLOCKED: Mamdani, Marijuana Dependency, and Unconditional Life Acceptance show art UNLOCKED: Mamdani, Marijuana Dependency, and Unconditional Life Acceptance

Rev Left Radio

This is an unlocked patreon episode. To support the show and get access to monthly bonus episodes like this one, join our patreon: In this unlocked Patreon episode, Breht reads and responds to an article in the Tehran Times on the NYC mayoral race and left strategy around Palestine, then he plays and analyzes a in your 20s and 30s, and finally Breht discusses his ongoing grieving process surrounding his Dad's death and the life lessons he's learned in the wake of it. In the process, he articulates what we need in left leaders, cultivating psychological resilience, the importance of sobriety...

info_outline
Heidegger in Ruins: Philosophy, Fascism, and the Politics of Being show art Heidegger in Ruins: Philosophy, Fascism, and the Politics of Being

Rev Left Radio

In this episode, Breht speaks with , author of , about the dark entanglement between Martin Heidegger’s philosophy and his lifelong commitment to National Socialism. Heidegger is often hailed as the most important philosopher of the 20th century, yet his work was deeply shaped by the reactionary politics of his time. Wolin explains how Heidegger’s central ideas -- Being, Dasein, authenticity, rootedness, and the “decline of the West” -- became intertwined with fascist notions of destiny, hierarchy, and belonging. They discuss the long history of attempts to sanitize Heidegger’s...

info_outline
From Reagan to Trump: Neoliberalism, Class War, and American Decadence show art From Reagan to Trump: Neoliberalism, Class War, and American Decadence

Rev Left Radio

In this episode, public school history teacher Gianni Paul joins Breht to trace the historical roots of our current crisis — stagnant wages, mass homelessness, collapsing infrastructure, rising fascism, Gilded Age inequality, and a beaten down working class — back to Reagan’s counter-revolution against the New Deal and the forty-year neoliberal project that followed. Together, they explore how neoliberalism emerged out of the crises of the 1970s, Carter’s role in laying the groundwork before Reagan, the destruction of unions and working-class power, the ideological weaponization of...

info_outline
 
More Episodes

Breht went on How The Red Was Won to talk about the current state of the left, the contradictions of American trade unions, American geopolitics, and much more!

From the original description: You know him. You love him. It's everyone's favorite Breht O'Shea from such fine podcasts as RevLeft Radio, The Red Menace, Shoeless in South Dakota, and more! We talk about what organizing in the USA looks like 2025 - from unions to the socialist orgs, mutual aid, resisting fascism, and raising anti-fascist kids.

Part 2 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-AxFA8SnBU