Listen Now

Interested in learning more about the Latin American School of Medicine and the US Elam Medical School Scholarship? Visit https://ifconews.org/medical-school/ To learn more on how to join and support Cuban doctors and Cuba’s Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade, which has saved over 80,000 lives since 2005 and has been fighting COVID-19 in 27 countries, in asking the Nobel Committee to award Cuba’s Henry Reeve Brigade a Nobel Peace Prize visit: https://www.cubanobel.org/ Arianne Aquino, a current medical student studying in Cuba, can be contacted for questions here at aquinoa25@gmail.com or via Instagram @ayrang. Tony Ryan, can be contacted for questions at Tonybook@att.net.

In this week's episode of The Specter, Aleena and Susie are joined by Jose Santiago, a life long Autism advocate and author, who helps us dive deep into the conversation on Neurodiversity and advocacy. Jose’s book, Lenses of Autism, can be purchased here as an eBook: https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/LensesofAutism Link to Jose’s website: https://www.josetheautismadvocate.org/

Tony Pecinovsky sits down with the Edna Griffin Club in Iowa during Black History Month to give a presentation of his recent book, Let Them Tremble: Biographical Interventions Marking 100 Years of the Communist Party, USA. In this talk, he speaks on the life of Black Communist and former Chairman of the CPUSA, Henry Winston, and speaks about how important of a role he played in the movement during his tenure in the Party. Suggested reading through International Publishers: https://www.intpubnyc.com/?s=let+them+tremble

The Specter speaks with Jaimee Swift, founder of Black Women Radicals, about the life of Black Communist, Claudia Jones. Jones was an immigrant from the British West Indies (now known as Trinidad), and spent most of her youth and adult life in Harlem, New York. She joined the Young Communist League at the age of 19 during the Scottsboro Case and went on to become a leader in the Communist Party, USA. As the executive secretary for the CPUSA’s women’s commission, Jones quickly became an astounding writer, journalist and also theoretician for the Party—known widely for her work in “An End to the Neglect of the Problems of Negro Women.” She was eventually tried and imprisoned under the fascist McCarthyite Smith Act and soon deported to London thereafter where she spent the rest of her life organizing the Notting Hill Carnival and the West Indian Gazette Newspaper.

The Specter talks with comrades from the Communist Party in Washington, D.C., about their history in the youth and liberation movements during the 1970s and 1980s. The Young Workers Liberation League was a successor of the Du Bois Clubs of America and was officially established in 1970. Jaime, Gato, and Carl speak of their experiences as “shock troops” for the Free Angela Davis campaign, which eventually led to the founding of the National Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression (naarpr.org). They also discuss organizing in the Rainbow/PUSH coalition in the 1980s, participating in the Venceremos brigades in Cuba, and many more interesting stories of their youth organizing. They also speak briefly about the newly established Claudia Jones School for Political Education in D.C. The conversation ends with some advice for new youth organizers in the CPUSA and broader movements.

The communist party of Cyprus, known as the “Progressive Party of Working People” or by its Greek acronym “AKEL”, has fought for the unification of their island country for nearly a century. In this week’s episode of The Specter, special guest Vera Polycarpou, gives us an inside look into Cyprus’s struggle for unification and socialism. Vera currently serves as Head of the International Relations Bureau of AKEL and is a member of the party’s Central Committee. Vera previously served as head of AKEL’s delegation in the European Parliament from 2004 to 2015. U.S. imperialism often dominates the conversation, but what about Turkish and British imperialism from these two other prominent members of NATO? Turkish imperialism plagues Cyprus and currently occupies 37% of the island. Despite imperialist occupation in the north, unoccupied Cyprus is a member of the European Union and AKEL won a historical victory with its election of the first communist president in the EU in 2008. How will the island be united? How will socialism be established under the leadership of AKEL? How does AKEL play a unifying role to lead the working-class in the direction of a unified, multi-ethnic, sovereign state? The working-class must be unified in order to advance toward socialism, and above all, we must unite to defeat the coronavirus pandemic and growing fascist and imperialist threat to world peace around the globe! Join Vera and Maicol while they discuss all of this and more on the latest episode of “The Specter”!

The Specter sits down with Party co-chair Joe Sims to discuss the Communist Party’s historical involvement with the Black liberation movement. Sims goes into detail about his own involvement with the movement, specifically as a member of the Young Workers Liberation League and as editor of the Party’s theoretical journal Political Affairs, and his involvement with the international youth festivals and the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. They discuss current struggles in the fight against racism in the criminal justice system, the racial/social division of labor, voter suppression, and the racial wealth gap and finding permanent solutions to these problems. Sims dives into why the capitalist economic system is an oppressive system and why Black people cannot achieve liberation without developing an anti-capitalist framework, further saying that “this country [the United States] was built on a racist foundation.” They discuss in detail why socialists should not think in a class-reductionist framework while fighting racism. The national question and how it pertains to Black Americans and different forms of oppression are also discussed. Sims touches on struggles that the CPUSA has been involved in, such as the fight to free the Scottsboro Nine, Black workers being unionized in the CIO, the fight against segregation in the South, and the fight against apartheid in South Africa. They end this conversation talking about different forms of Black nationalism and some critiques of it.

In this episode of The Specter, Comrade Ian Goodrum explains how the coronavirus pandemic emerged in Wuhan and what his experience was like as an American Communist living in China during the initial outbreak. China has been able to contain the virus while the confirmed cases of infected persons and death toll continue to rise in the United States. Only a system which puts people before profits will be able to save humanity.

This event took place at the Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library in Oakland, California on November 16, 2019 and brought a much needed dialogue to the Bay area in which its residents have been suffering at the hands of police violence and the prison industrial complex. Vitale’s book is available at Verso books. For more information on the event, please see the People’s World article written on it: https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/topic-at-coming-west-coast-gathering-imagining-a-world-without-police/

The Specter’s Dante sits down with Nicholas Danby, a member of the Communist Party and a local barista organizer in the SF bay area. Dante and Nick discuss organizing tactics of baristas throughout SF and the country and talk about different ways to organize labor through unions, worker cooperatives, and more. Nick also details the current struggles of coffee workers and challenges they face for living wages and fighting discrimination in the workplace.

The Specter's Dante sits down with Tony Ryan, a member of the Communist party and a founder of the National Network on Cuba. Tony has also created a Facebook page called The Turquino Project, which features progressive information on Cuba and its revolutionary process. Dante and Tony discuss the myths and truths about U.S. sanctions on Cuba and the Cuban Revolution, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year.

This podcast episode celebrates our party’s centennial and analyzes our party’s role within the concept of a “party of a new type” which focuses on uniting the working class and other social forces in a united front – the basis for leading a movement for revolutionary change; a Bill of Rights Socialist USA. CPUSA co-chairpersons Rossana Cambron and Joe Sims answer the hard questions.

What is the Green New Deal? Why should we, as Communists, support it and push for an even more socialist orientation? Can Marxist-Leninists also be “eco-socialists”? Prepare for the September 20 Climate Strike by listening to this episode featuring Comrade Marc Brodine, author of Green Strategy: Path to Fundamental Transformation, available from International Publishers.

In celebration of Labor Day, Zach Carlson talks with Nicole, a young electrician and union organizer from Texas, about the nuts and bolts (and conduit and wiring) of trade unionism. How is her union getting young people involved and making apprenticeships more accessible? What does an organizer do, and what does an organizing drive look like? What rights do workers have in the workplace, and what does it take to protect them? What’s it like being a woman and an open Communist in the building trades?

Is Venezuela socialist? The Bolivarian Revolution first declared by Hugo Chavez lifted millions from poverty, gave communities a voice in development, and made Venezuela a bastion of resistance to U.S. imperialism. However, it has had to contend with falling oil prices, economic sabotage, U.S. sanctions, and a right-wing opposition supported by the capitalist powers. Can the Bolivarian project survive without advancing down the socialist path? Alex Granados, a Venezuelan Communist, joins The Specter's Maicol David to talk about the struggle to shape Venezuela's future.

In this episode, recorded at CPUSA’s 31st National Convention, Zach, Cori, and Scott examine our party’s decision-making process. ‘Democratic centralism’ is the technical term in Marxism-Leninism, but it’s just working class democracy: a process of open deliberation leading to united action. How is it different from capitalist democracy and what does it look like in practice? Listen to find out.

In this episode of The Specter, Cleveland-based host Susie is joined by Rick Nagin to discuss the fundamentals of Socialism and Communism.

In this episode, The Specter talks with Victor Grossman, who joined the Communist Party USA when he was a student at Harvard, in 1951. Shortly after, he fled McCarthyist persecution, crossing from West Berlin into the German Democratic Republic, where he lived until the demise of the socialist bloc. In this interview, Grossman talks about the achievements and challenges of the GDR, as well as the need for socialism to secure a peaceful, livable world for humanity.

In this episode of The Specter, Cleveland-based hosts Susie and Aleena are joined by their comrade Cameron from New York to discuss their recent trip to China. Topics include what socialism in China means and looks like, China’s history of socialism, and China’s current economic climate.

Aleena and Susie introduce The Specter in this first episode. They dive into why the decided to join the Communist Party, and what it means to be a communist in today's world.