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Class Unity

We are a Marxist pole of attraction that works both within the DSA and outside of it to support the development of class struggle politics.

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August 20 · length unknown
Steve Keen & Michael Hudson | Iran, AI, & the Climate Crisis
Steve Keen is an Honorary Professor UCL, and Distinguished Research Fellow at the Institute for Strategy Resilience & Security, University College London. Michael Hudson is an American economist who is Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri–Kansas City and a researcher at the Levy Economics Institute at Bard College. For donations, educational courses, and membership inquiries please visit www.ClassUnity.org
August 17 · length unknown
Michael Hudson & Steve Keen | The Federal Reserve, The Constitution, and the End US Hegemony
Steve Keen is an Honorary Professor UCL, and Distinguished Research Fellow at the Institute for Strategy Resilience & Security, University College London. Michael Hudson is an American economist who is Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri–Kansas City and a researcher at the Levy Economics Institute at Bard College. For donations, educational courses, and membership inquiries please visit http://www.ClassUnity.org
August 2 · 1 hr 45 min
Ali Alizedeh | Iran, Empire, and the New Global Order (re-upload)
Ali Alizadeh is an Iranian-British political commentator, broadcaster, and the founder of Jedaal TV, an independent internet-based media organization. Based in London, he provides commentary on international geopolitics, Middle Eastern affairs, and Iranian foreign policy. YouTube: ⁠@jedaalenglish
May 11 · 1 hr 22 min
Steve Hall | Crime, Finance Capitalism, and the Left
Steve Hall is Professor Emeritus of Criminology at Teeside University (UK). He writes on criminology, sociology, political economy and leftist politics. Among many other publications, is the author of The Rise of the Right (2017) and The Death of the Left (2022), which has a really interesting description: “The left is dead. Its ailments cannot be cured. The only way to resurrect what was once valuable in leftist politics is to declare the left dead and begin from the beginning again.” You can find Steve on Twitter/X at @ProfHall1955. For donations, membership inquiries, and educational courses visit us at: http://www.ClassUnity.org
March 23 · 1 hr 17 min
David Abraham | Why Capitalism Can’t Fix This Crisis
Abraham taught German and European history at Princeton University from 1977 to 1985. After transitioning to law, he clerked for Judge Leonard Garth of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from 1989 to 1990 and then worked as an associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York City. In 1991, he joined the faculty at the University of Miami School of Law, becoming a full Professor in 1996 and later Professor Emeritus. He has taught courses in Labor and Employment Law, Property Law, Immigration Law, and Jurisprudence and Political Theory. He has also lectured internationally at institutions such as the University of Tübingen, Deakin University, the Jena Center for 20th Century History, and the University of Ulster.
February 11 · 1 hr 51 min
L. Randall Wray | MMT, Heterodox Economics, and the Future of Economics
Prof. L. Randall Wray joined Class Unity to talk about Modern Monetary Theory, heterodox economics, and the future of economic studies. Prof. Wray is a professor of Economics at Bard College and Senior Scholar at the Levy Economics Institute. Previously, he was a professor at the University of Missouri–Kansas City in Kansas City. In this episode we are discussing his book, Macroeconomics; Author(s): William Mitchell, L. Randall Wray, Martin Watts; Red Globe Press, Macmillan International; February 2019; https://www.macmillanihe.com/page/detail/Macroeconomics/?K=9781137610669. For donations, membership inquiries, or educational courses, check out our website here: https://classunity.org
February 9 · 1 hr 23 min
William I. Robinson | The Epochal Crisis of Global Capitalism
We are joined by William I. Robinson for a conversation on the global implications of the recent US attack on Venezuela. The discussion will place this and other acts of US aggression within the broader crisis of world capitalism, the breakdown of the post-WWII international world order, and the emergence of a global police state. Prof. Robinson’s area of study is in macro and comparative sociology, globalization and transnationalism, political economy, political sociology, development and social change, immigration, Latin America and the Third World, class and capitalism. He attempts to link his academic work to struggles in the United States and around the world for social justice. Among the undergraduate classes he teaches are: Globalization and Resistance, Sociology of Globalization, Global Inequalities, Development and Social Change in Latin America, and Twentieth-Century Revolutions in Theory and Practice. His publications and professional activities are discussed on his web page: http://robinson.faculty.soc.ucsb.edu/ Link to the article from the discussion: https://nacla.org/global-meaning-us-attack-venezuela/ For donations, membership inquiries and educational courses please visit: http://www.ClassUnity.org
January 26 · 1 hr 27 min
Michael Hudson & Vijay Prashad | Hyper-Imperialism, Imperialism, and Global Politics
Welcome to another Class Unity speaker event. Today we will be joined by authors Vijay Prashad and Michael Hudson to discuss hyper-imperialism, imperialism, and the state of global politics. Michael Hudson is a professor of economics at the University of Missouri–Kansas City, a researcher at the Levy Economics Institute at Bard College, and the author of many books and papers on political economy, the history of economics, economic history, finance, and imperialism. Vijay Prashad is an Indian author, journalist, political commentator, and Marxist. He is the executive-director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, editor of LeftWord Books, Chief Correspondent at Globetrotter, and a senior non-resident fellow at Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China. For donations, educational courses and membership inquiries, please visit us at ClassUnity.org
January 20 · length unknown
Class Unity News Round Up #1
Members of class unity discuss recent events in domestic and geopolitics: Venezuela, Iran, Greenland, Denmark, Bulgaria, NATO, ICE, the Fed, Powell, Trump
January 19 · length unknown
Transmissions Ep. 20: Philip Cunliffe | Is Globalization Over?
Welcome to Episode 20 of Class Unity: Transmissions. For this episode, Nick is joined by Class Unity member Dave for a wide-ranging conversation with Philip Cunliffe on the question of the national interest. Cunliffe is Associate Professor of International Relations at University College London, author of The National Interest: Politics After Globalization, and co-founder and contributing editor of Aufhebunga Bunga. The discussion centers on Cunliffe’s argument that the “national interest”—long treated with suspicion on both the left and the libertarian right—has returned not as a coherent doctrine, but as a symptom of the collapse of globalization and liberal internationalism. Cunliffe defends a sovereigntist, rather than nationalist, conception of politics, insisting that the national interest should be understood as a democratic process of contestation defined by citizens rather than insulated elites. Nick and Dave press Cunliffe on whether appeals to global problems and global governance have allowed ruling classes to evade democratic accountability, and whether it is possible to retain global awareness while re-anchoring politics at the level of the nation state. The episode also digs into the book’s historical and theoretical core. Cunliffe discusses classical realism, liberal internationalism, and the Cold War transformation of the national interest into a technocratic and national security–state project. Nick and Dave challenge Cunliffe on whether realism genuinely reflected mass politics or instead replaced aristocratic judgment with expert management, and whether liberal internationalism restrained power or dissolved political responsibility by moralizing foreign policy. Throughout, the conversation returns to a central tension: how to avoid reifying the national interest while still treating it as a necessary framework for democratic struggle. Recorded on December 15, 2025, the episode also serves as a kind of end-of-year reflection on contemporary politics. From Israel and Gaza to the advent of a second Trump administration, MAGA fragmentation, and competing claims over what counts as “America First,” the discussion explores whether renewed appeals to the national interest can meaningfully hold elites accountable—or whether they risk being captured once again by narrow sectional interests and the national security state. Cunliffe reflects on the limits of optimism, arguing that while democratic contestation offers no guarantees of good outcomes, abandoning the national interest altogether leaves politics empty, moralized, and unaccountable. For donations, membership inquiries, and educational courses please visit ClassUnity.org
January 5 · 1 hr 31 min
Ingo Schmidt | Economics as Class Struggle
In today’s episode, we’re joined by Professor Ingo Schmidt for a wide-ranging discussion on economic theory and left politics. Dr. Schmidt is a Professor of Labour Studies at Athabasca University in British Columbia, Canada. His PhD research focused on trade unions and Keynesianism, and his work has placed him at the center of critical debates […]
Dec 22, 2025 · 1 hr 27 min
Clyde W. Barrow | Marxist State Theory Today
In this episode, we are joined by political theorist Clyde W. Barrow to revisit the classic debates in Marxist state theory and to consider their renewed relevance in the present conjuncture. Barrow was a guest speaker in the CU “State Theory” course that ran earlier this year, and we thought we’d invite him back for […]
Dec 10, 2025 · 1 hr 37 min
Benjamin Studebaker on The Chronic Crisis of American Democracy | A Q&A with Class Unity
Benjamin Studebaker talks with Class Unity about his new book, “The Chronic Crisis of American Democracy: The Way is Shut” (2023). You can find him here: https://benjaminstudebaker.com/about/ And his book here: https://www.amazon.com/Chronic-Crisis-American-Democracy-Shut/dp/3031282094 And you can find Class Unity here: https://classunity.org Please consider donating or joining today!
Dec 3, 2025 · 1 hr 31 min
Vivek Chibber on The Class Matrix | A Q & A with Class Unity
Vivek Chibber discusses his latest book, “The Class Matrix” (2022), as well as the so-called “cultural turn”, with Class Unity. You can find his book here: https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674245136 And you can find Class Unity here: https://classunity.org
Nov 27, 2025 · 1 hr 25 min
Class, Higher Education, and Consciousness | Q&A with Gary Roth
Gary Roth talks to Class Unity about class, higher education, and consciousness. Gary teaches Sociology at Rutgers University. He is the author of “The Educated Underclass” (Pluto, 2019) and “Marxism in a Lost Century: A Biography of Paul Mattick” (Brill/Haymarket Books, 2015). For a sample of his work, see his essay “The Overproduction of Intelligence” […]
Nov 20, 2025 · 1 hr 42 min
The Return of Inflation with Paul Mattick Jr. | A Q & A with Class Unity
Paul Mattick Jr. talks with Class Unity about his new book, “The Return of Inflation” (2023), about money, capital, capitalism, class, politics, and inflation. See the following interview for details about his latest book: https://brooklynrail.org/2024/02/field-notes/Understanding-Inflation-Friends-of-the-Classless-Society-speak-with-Paul-Mattick
Nov 13, 2025 · 1 hr 36 min
Sarah Knuth on “Rentiers and the Green Economy”
Sarah Knuth talks to Class Unity about rentiers, the political economy of green energy, neoliberalism, and capitalism. You can find her essay here: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1215052 And here: https://www.durham.ac.uk/research/current/thought-leadership/renewable-energy-us-tax-credits-for-wind-and-solar-mostly-benefit-big-banks/ Check out our website at: https://classunity.org
Nov 6, 2025 · 1 hr 31 min
Thomas Fazi on the European Union and the Contemporary Left
Thomas Fazi talks with Class Unity about the politics and economics as well as the problems of the European Union and issues with the contemporary left. He is the author of: “The Covid Consensus: The Global Assault on Democracy and the Poor: A Critique from the Left”, with Toby Green. Hurst. (2023)“Reclaiming the State: A […]
Nov 3, 2025 · 1 hr 41 min
Woke Imperium: How the U.S. Uses Social Justice to Sell Empire | Christopher Mott
In this episode, we discuss geopolitics and the emerging age of multipolarity with Dr. Christopher Mott, Research Fellow at the Institute for Peace & Diplomacy. Dr. Mott is an international relations scholar specializing in historical geopolitics, grand strategy, and the intersection of defensive realism and sovereignty in an increasingly multipolar world. Previously, he served as […]
Oct 30, 2025 · 1 hr 30 min
Steve Keen on the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-8 | A Teach-in for Class Unity
Prof. Steve Keen talks with Class Unity about the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-8, the problems with mainstream understandings of it, and the contemporary situation. He is the author of:The New Economics. A manifesto. Polity. (2021)Can We Avoid Another Financial Crisis? Polity. (2017)Developing an economics for the post-crisis world. World Economics Association and College Publications. […]

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