2026 is only a few weeks old, yet world events are already unfolding at breakneck speed. From Donald Trump’s kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, to the killing of Renee Good and the protests against ICE in Minneapolis, and now the growing mass movement and the prospect of US intervention in Iran, huge events are shaking up the world situation.

On Saturday 3 January 2026, Nicolás Maduro was kidnapped from Miraflores presidential palace by the United States. This is a clear act of western imperialist aggression, which communists oppose. But why is it happening? What does this mean for US imperialism, world capitalism and countries like Venezuela?

“A spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of communism!” These immortal words from the Communist Manifesto (and the title of this podcast!) herald the most important piece of political literature ever written. In our final episode of the season, we go through the Manifesto chapter by chapter and explain the ongoing relevance of this amazing document.

The term ‘postmodernism’ is thrown around a lot by right-wing shock-jocks like Jordan Peterson, often in tandem with Marxism: although these two sets of ideas are totally opposed. In this episode, leading comrade Hamid Alizadeh takes on some of the main luminaries of this obscure, impenetrable and ultimately reactionary school including Foucault, Derrida and Lyotard.

As 2025 draws to a close, workers and young people around the world will look back on a year that has starkly exposed the blind alley of world capitalism. Trump’s return to the White House has only deepened the disorder, with his administration’s foreign and economic policies causing chaos on the world stage. The recently released National Security Strategy makes one thing unmistakably clear: the United States is not in the position it used to be, no longer capable of policing the globe on its own.

How did Stalin outmanoeuvre Trotsky and take power following Lenin’s death? What do Marxists mean by ‘value’? And what does it really mean to ‘master the dialectic’? We went back to social media and asked for some more burning questions from our audience, for leading communist Niklas Albin Svensson to answer in a quickfire round!

This week, in Britain, Your Party – led by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana – held its inaugural conference. Zarah Sultana spoke there about not only taxing the rich, but of nationalising the entire economy! What does this development signify? And what would it take for Your Party to pose a real threat to capitalism in Britain?

Ted Grant is not widely known outside of revolutionary circles, but he was the most important Marxist theorist since the death of Leon Trotsky, who alone predicted the course of world politics after WWII. Amongst other things, he foresaw the post-war economic upswing; the expropriation of capitalism in China and much of Eastern Europe; Stalin’s clashes with Tito and Mao; and much more besides. In this episode, his closest collaborator Alan Woods, the main leader and theorist of the RCI, reminisces about Ted’s life and works, and explains the importance of his contributions.

With Trump’s proposed peace plan in Ukraine, Europe is once again finding itself sidelined by its former ally and benefactor, the United States. Having staked their crisis-ridden regimes on a Russian defeat in Ukraine, the Europeans are now waking up to the stark reality – Ukraine has lost the war, and Zelensky has his back against the wall.

A decade ago, Greece became the epicentre of a political earthquake. Brutal EU and IMF-imposed austerity measures provoked a revolutionary struggle by workers and youth, who vested their hopes in the left-wing SYRIZA government to take on the institutions of European capitalism. But in the end, these reformist leaders prepared a betrayal. What are the lessons of Greece that must be learned for the class struggle today?

The biggest crisis of Trump’s second term is unfolding over the Epstein files. Having initially promised to release the trove of documents detailing Epstein’s crimes and his rich and powerful customers, Trump – one of those customers – quickly changed his tune once in power.

Has communism ever been a serious force in the Middle East? Are Marxists in favour of shrinking the economy to save the environment? Has there been a shift to the right in society?

A major corruption scandal is rocking Ukraine. Cabinet ministers and one of Volodymyr Zelensky’s own business partners are implicated in a war profiteering scheme worth more than 100 million dollars. Meanwhile, on the front, the situation is getting even worse. Pokrovsk – a key defensive position in the Donbass – is falling to the Russians. Zelensky’s days are numbered.

Trotsky wrote in ‘The Tragedy of Spain’ (1939) that, despite the Spanish proletariat’s revolutionary heroism, they were “brought to ruin by petty, despicable, and utterly corrupted ‘leaders.’” In this episode, we chart the great triumphs and tragic demise of the Spanish Revolution in a complete timeline.

108 years ago today, the Bolshevik Party, led by Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky seized power at the head of the Russian proletariat and peasantry. This was the first time in history that working people won power over their own destinies, and held it.