Nov 06 2023 70 mins 15
Germany 1923: A New Perspective on a Failed Revolution (& a Poem for Palestine) One hundred years ago, a socialist revolution came close to happening in Germany. This episode is an interview with Sean Larson, who has written an article that draws on original research to illuminate what happened and why: https://spectrejournal.com/germany-1923/ For further reading: On the revolution of 1918: https://jacobin.com/2018/11/german-revolution-centennial-rosa-luxemburg-social-democrats On Germany 1918-1933: Germany’s Counterrevolution Paved the Way for the Rise of Nazism https://jacobin.com/2022/02/german-revolution-november-weimar-republic-luxemburg-nazis On an important German marxist: Ernst Meyer, Theorist of Revolutionary Realpolitik https://jacobin.com/2019/09/ernst-meyer-germany-weimar-republic-communism-realpolitik-rosa-luxemberg On the history of the global workers’ movement: https://salvage.zone/what-happened-to-the-workers-movement/ ***Israel's war on Gaza is on our minds and I hope listeners are involved in Palestine solidarity activity wherever you are.*** At this time, I recommend reading the classic document by Palestinian marxist Jabra Nicola: Theses on the revolution in the Arab East https://matzpen.org/english/1972-09-14/theses-on-the-revolution-in-the-arab-east-a-said-jabra-nicola/ While obviously over-optimistic, and much has changed in the half-century since it was written, Nicola's analysis helps us understand the impasse into which the PLO led the Palestinian struggle, which allowed Hamas's rise to begin, and why ultimately, because of the specific character of Israeli settler-colonialism, the possibility of radical change within Israel depends on the struggles of the masses in the region, outside as well as inside its borders.
