The Current Political Moment, U.S. Imperial Decline, and Organizing a Revolutionary Vanguard Party
Revolutionary Left Radio
Breht O'Shea
4.8 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 19 March 2025
⏱️ 88 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode Breht sits down with Brian Becker, a longtime socialist organizer and leading member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), to break down the current political and economic crisis in the United States and the urgent need for revolutionary organization. As Trump-aligned forces consolidate power, billionaires tighten their grip over the state, and the feckless Democratic Party continues its self-imposed paralysis, Brian and Breht examine what this moment signals about the trajectory of U.S. capitalism and imperialism. Is the U.S. empire in irreversible decline, or is it adapting to sustain itself through repression and restructuring?
Brian shares insights from decades of organizing, discussing the lessons PSL has learned in building a revolutionary party, the importance of anti-imperialism in U.S. revolutionary work, and the key weaknesses and strengths of today’s left. Finally, Brian offers concrete advice for listeners looking to move from political awareness to active participation in the struggle.
If you’re serious about understanding and engaging in revolutionary politics, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.
Outro Song: "Gangster" by Good Luck Chuck Feat. Rocky Rivera & Bambu
Learn about and Join the PSL HERE
Check out Liberation News HERE
Check out Brian's podcast "The Socialist Program" on YOUTUBE or subscribe to the show on your preferred podcast app
Learn more about the ANSWER Coalition HERE
Check out BreakThrough News HERE
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello everybody and welcome back to Rev Left Radio. |
| 0:08.2 | On today's episode, I have one of the original founders and leaders of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, Brian Becker, on the show to talk about the current political moment, whether this is an acceleration of neoliberalism or a new |
| 0:22.8 | phase in sort of capitalist development, how to organize to fight back, the different lessons that |
| 0:30.2 | PSL and the answer coalition, et cetera, have learned over the years with regards to effective |
| 0:35.3 | organizing, cadre building, how you can get involved. Because I always |
| 0:39.7 | say that a core part of Rev Left Radio is not only to equip you with the inspiration and the knowledge, |
| 0:45.0 | but to activate you and get you involved in your community. And there are many good organizations |
| 0:49.9 | out there doing great work. And every community is going to have a different landscape of |
| 0:54.1 | organizations to join. But if you're a Marxist, if you're a Marxist Leninist and PSL is in your area, |
| 1:00.0 | it is a wonderful organization to join, to bolster, to contribute to their growth. I'm also, |
| 1:06.5 | I just have to say, the sound quality on my hand is a little lower than usual because I am |
| 1:10.6 | recording from |
| 1:11.1 | home. I had surgery last week, as some of you may know, and I'm still recovering. It's really |
| 1:15.9 | hard to drive over to Dave's house to the recording shed as usual. So I apologize for that, but |
| 1:22.2 | hopefully the dip in my audio quality isn't too distracting. And as always, if you like what we do here at Reveleft Radio, we are 100% listener funded, |
| 1:31.7 | always have been, always will be. |
| 1:33.9 | You can support us at patreon.com forward slash RevLeft Radio in an exchange for five bucks a month. |
| 1:39.1 | You not only support the show, but you get early releases, bonus episodes, and access to a back catalog |
| 1:46.1 | now of over 300 Patreon exclusive episodes over the eight years that we've been on the air. |
| 1:51.0 | But if you don't want to join a subscription service or you don't have the continuity of income |
| 1:55.5 | to do a monthly subscription, you can also donate a one-time donation at buy meacophie.com forward slash |
| 2:02.2 | rev left radio. It really helps Dave and I are fathers. We're family men. We're struggling like |
... |
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