Foreign Languages Press - Audiobooks: Recent Episodes
Foreign Languages Press - Audiobooks
“Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism", by Lenin, describes the function of financial capital in generating profits from imperial colonialism, as the final stage of capitalist development to ensure greater profits. The essay is a synthesis of Lenin's modifications and developments of economic theories that Karl Marx formulated in "Das Kapital"--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/foreign-languages-press/support
This short anthology comprises Mao’s key essays on organization and mass line, including “On Correcting Mistaken Ideas in the Party”, “Combat Liberalism”, and “Rectify the Party’s Style of Work”, which offer ideological and theoretical insight and analysis into the complexities of organizational structures and practices. This collection addresses critical issues such as combatting bourgeois ideas, opposing bureaucracy, and adhering to the discipline of mass line.--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/foreign-languages-press/support
The First Time in History offers a firsthand account of life in Soviet Russia during a critical period of its history, from 1921 to 1923. Anna Louise Strong, a journalist who was politicized by the political upheavals in her time such as the Everett Massacre and the Seattle General strike, was invited to the USSR to document the work of building the world’s first socialist State. Her work of political journalism in to this end offers keen observations and insights that provide a vivid and nuanced portrayal of the social, economic, and political changes that took place during this pivotal time. Her reflections on the meaning of revolution, the nature of power, and the struggle for liberation remain as relevant today as they were nearly a century ago.--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/foreign-languages-press/support
“On Contradiction” is Mao Zedong’s seminal text on dialectical materialism. Perhaps his most well-known work, it’s been read and studied by millions all over the world and is required reading for all those who seek to objectively analyze the world and struggle to solve the contradictions in it. The Redspark Collective prepared this study companion to assist readers by providing historical and modern day context and examples.--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/foreign-languages-press/support
In imperialist countries like the US, many oppose capitalism and are engaged in the struggle against its countless injustices. Far fewer are engaged with the intention and determination not only to win the protracted struggle, but to prepare ourselves in a systematic way for what we will need to construct in its place. Released as a pamphlet in the early 1970’s, Education To Govern is the result of James Boggs and the Advocators and the All-African People Union to attempt to map out a plan in education to develop our capacity to govern ourselves - not for the bourgeoisie, but for the people.--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/foreign-languages-press/support
Written in the 1970s by San Francisco Bay Area activist Vicki Legion, “Constructive Criticism” is an accessible resource for people who want to understand and implement the practice of criticism and self-criticism. The handbook is written with exercises and concrete examples, taking the reader through the process to internalize this critical practice in a step-by-step fashion. As Legion says, “A new generation of activists is discovering the joys and challenges of working with other people to build a movement; this classic little book can help.”--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/foreign-languages-press/support
“Marxism is a scientific theory that grasps the laws of the development of society and bases itself on practice for making history. Post-modernist thoughts stand against this, and any rational thinking.Revisionism, seen (posing) as Marxism, is a vulgarisation of the original, depriving it of its scientific essence, and making it, therefore, unattractive to those who desire change.”--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/foreign-languages-press/support
“Marxism is a scientific theory that grasps the laws of the development of society and bases itself on practice for making history. Post-modernist thoughts stand against this, and any rational thinking.
“Revisionism, seen (posing) as Marxism, is a vulgarisation of the original, depriving it of its scientific essence, and making it, therefore, unattractive to those who desire change.”
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Written between 1965 and 1967 at a time when the Communist movement in India was at a crossroads between parliamentarism and the path of the people’s war, these Historic Eight Documents were the main ideological basis of the Naxalbari uprising. They continue to have a deep influence on those who persevered in waging this protracted struggle of over 50 years.
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Since the economic crisis of 2008, the concept of social class emerged again as central in critical theory. Temporarily eclipsed in the metropoles by the focus on other sites of oppression, the possible return of class and class struggle to the centre of academic and activist discourse brings with it the same economism that other radical conceptions of politics seemed to displace. Politics in Command seeks to understand what economism is, how it is deployed through socialist analyses, and the ways in which various categories (economy, politics, class, practice, revolution, etc.) are mobilized and classified according to its imaginary.--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/foreign-languages-press/support
Essays in part 2 include: The Maoist Party, The Working of the Neo-Colonial Mind, Politics of Liberation, among others. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/foreign-languages-press/support
Of Concepts and Methods is K. Murali’s new collection of essays, which covers a wide range of topics that are tied together by the author’s ongoing endeavor of “deepening the critique of mechanical thinking.”Written mostly in prison, these texts grapple with different trends of post modernism which have had a stranglehold on “new” thought for that last several decades, Chavismo and “21st Century Socialism,” and the particularities of the manifestation of fascism in India. The essays not only delve into critique and analysis of contradictions in the world today, but also investigate questions about the basis for a materialist ethics, the politics of liberation, and the essential qualities of a vanguard party in current times.--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/foreign-languages-press/support
Written in a time when the left in Turkey was divided on the question of a nation’s right to self-determination (i.e. the right to secede), Ibrahim Kaypakkaya’s essay was a concrete study of the Kurdish question and, more broadly, an analysis of the revolutionary standpoint towards national minorities. Still relevant today, this essay can help us understand current and ongoing national liberation movements
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Stand for Socialism against Modern Revisionism was published in 1992. It is a major document of the Second Rectification Movement and a counter to all the attacks on the socialist cause churned out by the imperialists and the petty bourgeois anti-communists in the aftermath of the rapid full restoration of capitalism in the revisionist-ruled countries.
Published in 1975 when the anti-revisionist movement in the US was upholding an openly homophobic line, this essay provided a scientific analysis of the “Gay Question.” Today, it teaches us how, beyond rejecting an incorrect line, the MLM still has to synthesize a proletarian line on the LGBT struggle based on the experiences in semi-colonies as well as imperialist countries.
This essay succinctly answers the question “Is China still socialist?” and tries to give an objective analysis of the reasons behind the defeat of socialism in China.
This compilation contains Mao Zedong’s most important philosophical writings, covering topics on dialectical materialism, the importance of practice, and how to differentiate between antagonistic and non-antagonistic contradictions and how to resolve them.
Essays in part 2 include: Basic Problems of the Filipino People, People’s Democratic Revolution, and Declaration of the New People’s Army
The essays included in part 1 are: A review of Philippine History, Rectify Errors and Rebuild the Party, and Program for a People’s Democratic Revolution
The Mass Strike, the Political Party and the Trade Unions is a 1906 booklet by Rosa Luxemburg that evaluates the events of the 1905 Russian Revolution, poses them as an analogy for German socialists to learn from, and argues for a political mass strike.
This compilation includes the most important documents of the Organization of Iranian People’s Fedai Guerrillas, which conducted armed struggle against the Iranese State in the 1970’s.
It includes a new introduction by Ashraf Dehghani to Massoud Ahmadzadeh’s “Armed Struggle: Both a Strategy and a Tactic”
The Mass Strike, the Political Party and the Trade Unions is a 1906 booklet by Rosa Luxemburg that evaluates the events of the 1905 Russian Revolution, poses them as an analogy for German socialists to learn from, and argues for a political mass strike.
Utilizing the term “critique” in the philosophical sense implied by Kant, Sartre, Mbembe, and others, J. Moufawad-Paul offers an exacting analysis of the different trends that emerged out of the victory, development, and ultimate defeat of the Chinese revolution. Markedly and intentionally different from a polemic, Critique of Maoist Reason is a text for all who consider themselves “Maoists,” as it clarifies and contextualizes various modes of thought within or associated with Maoism. Moufawad-Paul’s latest contribution satisfies its intention to sharpen Maoist thinking through rigorous investigation.
“J. Moufawad-Paul’s Critique of Maoist Reason is an important book which should be interesting and useful even for non-Maoist leftists. However, the study of this book is essential for Maoists, since it paints a comprehensive picture of the whole international Maoist movement and its different divisions and tendencies; this, and similar efforts that help clarify the situation, can and must contribute to the struggle for uniting the international Maoist movement. Although some of this book’s issues warrant further discussion–which comes with anything new that is worth discussion–I recommend this book to all Maoists and non-Maoists.” – Zia, Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan
Utilizing the term “critique” in the philosophical sense implied by Kant, Sartre, Mbembe, and others, J. Moufawad-Paul offers an exacting analysis of the different trends that emerged out of the victory, development, and ultimate defeat of the Chinese revolution. Markedly and intentionally different from a polemic, Critique of Maoist Reason is a text for all who consider themselves “Maoists,” as it clarifies and contextualizes various modes of thought within or associated with Maoism. Moufawad-Paul’s latest contribution satisfies its intention to sharpen Maoist thinking through rigorous investigation.
Seamus Costello was the founder of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) and the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA).
Declaring as a principle, “I owe my allegiance only to the working class,” he is considered the most important republican socialist after James Connolly.
La Stratégie pour la Libération de la Palestine est un document idéologique, politique et organisationnel qui a été préparé pour le Deuxième Congrès du FPLP en février 1969. Il analyse les forces révolutionnaires et les forces de l'ennemi, propose une analyse de classe et montre quelles sont les perspectives pour la révolution en Palestine. Cette traduction française inédite contient une nouvelle introduction.
The following document was published by the Popular Front of the Liberation of Palestine in February 1969. It was translated at that time by the PFLP Information Department and widely circulated in English and other languages.
This comprehensive political and organizational document was prepared by the Second Congress of the PFLP.
La Stratégie pour la Libération de la Palestine est un document idéologique, politique et organisationnel qui a été préparé pour le Deuxième Congrès du FPLP en février 1969. Il analyse les forces révolutionnaires et les forces de l'ennemi, propose une analyse de classe et montre quelles sont les perspectives pour la révolution en Palestine. Cette traduction française inédite contient une nouvelle introduction.
La Stratégie pour la Libération de la Palestine est un document idéologique, politique et organisationnel qui a été préparé pour le Deuxième Congrès du FPLP en février 1969. Il analyse les forces révolutionnaires et les forces de l'ennemi, propose une analyse de classe et montre quelles sont les perspectives pour la révolution en Palestine. Cette traduction française inédite contient une nouvelle introduction.
The following document was published by the Popular Front of the Liberation of Palestine in February 1969. It was translated at that time by the PFLP Information Department and widely circulated in English and other languages.
This comprehensive political and organizational document was prepared by the Second Congress of the PFLP.
The following document was published by the Popular Front of the Liberation of Palestine in February 1969. It was translated at that time by the PFLP Information Department and widely circulated in English and other languages.
This comprehensive political and organizational document was prepared by the Second Congress of the PFLP.
The Activist Study (Araling Aktibista), or ARAK as it’s known, is part of the required study for activists in the Filipino revolutionary movement. The study includes Mao Zedong’s Five Golden Rays, along with lessons on Revolutionary Study and Analysis, the Mass Line, and Democratic Centralism and the Committee System–all essential texts for studying and forming revolutionary practice.
Ce "Cours de Base" a été rédigé par le Parti communiste d'Inde (maoïste) afin qu'il serve de guide d'étude pour leurs cadres. Avec des chapitres concis, il donne un aperçu de l'histoire du marxisme-léninisme-maoïste et du mouvement communiste international.
The Activist Study (Araling Aktibista), or ARAK as it’s known, is part of the required study for activists in the Filipino revolutionary movement. The study includes Mao Zedong’s Five Golden Rays, along with lessons on Revolutionary Study and Analysis, the Mass Line, and Democratic Centralism and the Committee System–all essential texts for studying and forming revolutionary practice.
Ce "Cours de Base" a été rédigé par le Parti communiste d'Inde (maoïste) afin qu'il serve de guide d'étude pour leurs cadres. Avec des chapitres concis, il donne un aperçu de l'histoire du marxisme-léninisme-maoïste et du mouvement communiste international.
This is a text written by Anuradha Ghandy, also known as Avanti. She was spearheading the proletarian feminist movement in India, and was a Central Committee member of the underground Communist Party of India (Maoist). This text is considered to be one of the seminal proletarian feminist texts.
This document is written by the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and is used as a study guide for their cadre. It is an exemplary summary and outline of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and the history of the International Communist Movement.
Ce "Cours de Base" a été rédigé par le Parti communiste d'Inde (maoïste) afin qu'il serve de guide d'étude pour leurs cadres. Avec des chapitres concis, il donne un aperçu de l'histoire du marxisme-léninisme-maoïste et du mouvement communiste international.
This document is written by the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and is used as a study guide for their cadre. It is an exemplary summary and outline of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and the history of the International Communist Movement.
This document is written by the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and is used as a study guide for their cadre. It is an exemplary summary and outline of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and the history of the International Communist Movement
According to most historians, "until 1938, there was no organized resistance in Germany". Its birth in 1939 is often attributed to aristocrats and the big bourgeoisie. As for the workers, according to David Schoenbaum, "they failed, in any effective sense, to produce resistance. Their marginal protest in the years 1933-39 was economic, not political, a matter of wages and hours not, it seems, of fundamental opposition."
So what happened to the powerful German Communist Party then? When the KPD was banned, its paramilitary formations numbered over 100,000 members. The Antifa league had 250,000 members. Nazi repression left activists who had been unable or unwilling to leave Germany with a choice between three mindsets. Some, discouraged by the terrible defeat of the communist movement, deprived of leadership and intimidated by state terror, abandoned the struggle, and a small number collaborated with the regime. But tens of thousands of communists adopted a position of resistance. Party structures crumbled, cadres were imprisoned or exiled, sympathizers were watched. But clandestine Party organizations were reconstituted very quickly, to be generally just as quickly dismantled...and rebuilt again. This book tells the forgotten story of this communist resistance.
Basic Principles of Marxism-Leninism: A Primer was written by Jose Maria Sison from his prison cell in 1981-1982. It is a comprehensive and modern introduction to the study of the three components of Marxism.
"Cet essai offre une réponse claire et directe à la question "La Chine est-elle toujours socialiste ?" en donnant une analyse objective des raisons de la défaite du socialisme en Chine."
Repenser le Socialisme par Deng-yuan Hsu et Pao-yu Ching, édité en français par Éditions en Langues Étrangères, 2020
How can a country that developed the most advanced socialist society in the history of the world change directions so quickly and so completely? In From Victory to Defeat Pao-yu Ching dissects this question, providing economic analysis of what it means to actually “build socialism” with all of the necessary contradictions and obstacles that must be overcome.
Addressing seven commonly asked questions, Pao-yu Ching gives accesible explanations to the complicated issues China faced in its socialist transition and the material basis for its capitalist reversal.
The Communist Necessity is a polemical interrogation of the practice of “social movementism” that has enjoyed a normative status at the centres of capitalism. Moufawad-Paul argues that a refusal to recognize contemporary revolutionary movements from the 1980’s to the present results in the reification of capitalist “end of history” discourse within this movementist conceptualization of theory and practice.
The Communist Necessity sketches out the boundaries of the movementist terrain, as well as its contemporary ideologues, so as to raise questions that may be uncomfortable for those who are still devoted to movementist praxis, particularly if they define themselves as Marxist. Aware of his past affinity with social movementism and some apprehension of the problem of communist orthodoxy, the author argues that the recognition of communism’s necessity “requires a new return to the revolutionary communist theories and experiences won from history.”
"Urban Perspective" is a document issued in the time of the unity congress of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). It identifies, analyses, and proposes solutions to the recruiting weakness of the naxalite movement in India: how to build the revolutionary movement in the cities, far from their strongholds and liberated zones in the countryside. In this document, Indian comrades systematically analyse the kinds of work they need to do in each sector, the strategy, tactics and methodology, and how to put their theory into practice.
"From the great treasury of Marxism-Leninism, we draw basic principles and historical lessons to shed light on the people's war that we are waging. But these are of general value; they are a general guide to our action. To rest content with them, without integrating them with our concrete practice, is to turn them into lifeless dogma. To dispense with them is to engage in blind action"