Recently, there has been increasing interest in some of the ideas of communism, as expounded by Marx in the mid 19th century. This interest has been kindled because of certain perceived failures of the Western consensus that emerged after the fall of Eastern Bloc communism in 1989.

Communism

Here is some information about the Communist Manifesto, and the document itself, which was originally published as a 'political pamphlet'.

• Communist Manifesto, by Marx and Engels (1847)
• Background
• The Manifesto was written at a time when Europe was going through a series of upheavals , and may perhaps be first appreciated in this context

These audio podcasts discuss the ideology of communism in the current context

• David Harvey with Russell Brand
  • David Harvey is one the most important current interpreters of Marxism, and discusses this in this interview with Russell Brand. Harvey has made an effort to make the work of Marx more accessible.
• BBC Arts and Ideas
  • In this episode of BBC's Arts and Ideas, Anne Applebaum, Gregory Claeys, Jane Humphries and Richard Seymour join Rana Mitter to assess the legacy of Marx. What separates this from other podcasts available on the internet is that it offers several perspectives, some quite critical, from current thinkers in a relatively short session of 45 minutes.
• Martin Luther King
  • It is interesting to compare Marx to MLK. In this short podcast from ABC RN (Australia), the philosophy of MLK is discussed.

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Neoliberalism, Capitalism and Democracy

Much of the 20th century can be considered in retrospect as the triumph of the ideas "capitalism", "democracy" and "neoliberalism". This victory was explicitly declared in "The End of History and the Last Man" in 1992 by Francis Fukuyama, in which he stated that there could be no further progress. More recently however, particularly in the last decade since the financial collapse in 2008, and with the seemingly exponential growth in inequality worldwide the rise of authoritarian regimes, these ideas have been questioned.

• Neoliberalism
  • The term liberal has become ambiguous. In one sense, it is synonymous with 'left-leaning', but when modified slightly, as in 'classic liberal', 'neoliberal', and 'libertarian', can take on significantly different meanings. Neoliberal now typically refers to an advocacy for free-market capitalism, and support for deregulation, privatization, and austerity.
  • In these two podcasts, this ideology and its impact are discussed:
    • The Guardian
    • Radio Open Source
• Capitalism
  • Rational, well-informed, self-interested actors when participating in a fair-market lead to mechanisms that promote growth and appropriately distributed economic output. This has been the mantra of advocates of free market capitalism. However, it has becoming increasingly clear that individual actors, while they may be selfish, are usually neither rational nor well-informed, and the market is often not fair. Further, unfettered capitalism has not led to optimal distribution of output, and it remains unclear whether 'growth' is the exclusive or even best measure of well-being.
  • Mariana Mazzucato questions the origins of wealth in capitalism and discusses aspects of the current system that are parasitic: LSE lecture
  • David Pilling questions the utility of growth generally, and the notion of 'GDP' specifically: podcast on ABC Radio National
  • Thomas Piketty discusses the worsening of income and wealth inequality under the economic regime of the last few decades: Talk at the Sydney Opera House
  • In "Doughnut Economics", Kate Raworth offers some alternatives to orthodox economic thinking, which she discusses in this episode of the Lift Economy podcast, emphasizing regenerative and distributive aspects of the economy.
• Democracy
  • There are two aspects of what we may refer to as the current crisis of democratic governance: The rise of anti-democratic authoritarian movmements and a critique of how democracy is currently practiced.
  • On BBC's ' Start of the Week', David Runciman, Nic Cheeseman, and Anne Applebaum discuss what ails democracy and what may be done about it.
  • In a lecture at the LSE, Dambisa Moyo considers ten ways to improve democracy.
  • On KCRW's 'To the Point ', Bruno Kaufman discusses the status of democracy globally, and brings up the old notion of 'direct democracy'( 1, 2, 3).