Socialism

25 - Soul and the City: Plato's Political Philosophy

Posted on 20 March 2011

In his masterpiece the Republic, Plato describes the ideal city and draws a parallel between this city and the just soul, with the three classes of the city mirroring the three parts of the soul. Peter discusses this parallel and the historical context that may have influenced Plato's political thought.

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353. The Good Place: Utopias in the Italian Renaissance

Posted on 12 July 2020

Tommaso Campanella’s The City of the Sun and other utopian works of the Italian Renaissance describe perfect cities as an ideal for real life politics.

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72. In A Class of Their Own: Early African American Socialism

Posted on 21 March 2021

Around the time of World War One, Hubert Harrison (pictured), A. Philip Randolph, and other black socialists argue that racial oppression is caused by capitalism.

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73. Vanessa Wills on Africana Marxism

Posted on 4 April 2021

Vanessa Wills speaks  to us about Marx and his Africana legacy, with a special focus on black women Marxists.

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83. Songs of the People: Paul Robeson and the Negro Spiritual

Posted on 19 September 2021

The career of the multi-talented activist and performer Paul Robeson, and the place of the Negro spiritual in the Harlem Renaissance.

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84. Live Long and Protest: W.E.B. Du Bois, 1920-1963

Posted on 3 October 2021

Du Bois moves to the left, and revisits and refines older positions during the latter half of his very long life.

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91. Massa Day Done: Oliver Cox and Eric Williams

Posted on 9 January 2022

Two Trinidadian political thinkers: sociologist Oliver Cox analyzes the nature of racial prejudice, and historian Eric Williams connects capitalism to slavery.

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92. Half the World: Claudia Jones

Posted on 23 January 2022

Claudia Jones argues that Communism provides the remedy for racism and imperialism.

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93. Carole Boyce Davies on Claudia Jones

Posted on 6 February 2022

Interview guest Carole Boyce Davies joins us to talk about the radical ideas of Claudia Jones.

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94. How Did You Happen? Richard Wright

Posted on 20 February 2022

Famous for his incendiary novel Native Son, Richard Wright responds in his multifaceted writings to sociology, communism, colonialism, and existentialism.

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95. Black and Blue: Ralph Ellison

Posted on 6 March 2022

Ralph Ellison provides a new metaphor for the experience of racism in his Invisible Man and tackles topics of art and identity in his essays.

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100. Chike Jeffers on the First Half of the Twentieth Century

Posted on 15 May 2022

Chike joins Peter to look back at our coverage of Africana philosophy in the first half of the 20th century.

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101. Crossing Paths: the Last Years of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr

Posted on 29 May 2022

After 1963, the views of Malcolm X and MLK came closer together, on topics including internationalism, political engagement, and economics.

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102. From Cuba with Love: Juan Rene Betancourt

Posted on 12 June 2022

The Cuban activist and author Juan Rene Betancourt urges racial solidarity and reckons with the revolution under Castro and the island’s turn towards Communism.

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103. A Federal Case: Nnamdi Azikiwe and Obafemi Awolowo

Posted on 26 June 2022

Two Nigerian activists lead the struggle for independence, and clash over the competing values of national unity and ethnic diversity.

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104. In Unity Lies Strength: Kwame Nkrumah

Posted on 10 July 2022

The first leader of independent Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, writes against neocolonialism and in favor of socialism and Pan-Africanism.

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110. Politics with Bloodshed: the Black Panthers

Posted on 30 October 2022

The philosophical underpinnings of a “vanguard of revolution” led by Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale, and Eldridge Cleaver: the Black Panther Party.

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111. A Kwanzaa Story: Maulana Karenga

Posted on 13 November 2022

The Pan-Africanist philosopher Maulana Karenga defends the importance of cultural revolution and invents the holiday Kwanzaa.

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112. Poems That Kill: the Black Arts Movement

Posted on 27 November 2022

African American literature of the late 1960s reflects the Black Power movement, in the works of such authors as Amiri Baraka, Nikki Giovanni, Haki Madhubuti, Larry Neal, and Sonia Sanchez.

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114. Teacher Taught Me: Julius Nyerere

Posted on 25 December 2022

The first leader of independent Tanzania grounds his socialist ideas in traditional African values.

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115. Weapon of Choice: Amílcar Cabral

Posted on 8 January 2023

Amílcar Cabral, leader of a revolution against colonialism in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, rethinks culture and Marxist theory as bases for his struggle.

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116. Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò and Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò on Cabral

Posted on 22 January 2023

Two scholars of the same name join us to shed further light on freedom fighter and political theorist Amílcar Cabral.

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117. Spear of the Nation: Nelson Mandela and the ANC

Posted on 5 February 2023

The career and ideas of Nelson Mandela up to the time of his imprisonment, in the context of the founding of the African National Congress.

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