Jacobin Radio

The rise of the far right is the defining political crisis of our time. But are we analyzing it correctly? Suzi speaks with David Ost about his book Red Pill Politics: Demystifying the Far Right from Fascism to Right-Wing Populism. David argues that by focusing on whether Trump, Orban, or Netanyahu is or isn’t a fascist, we’re missing the deeper question: what political species do fascism and right-wing populism share? And what does understanding that species tell us about why the left keeps losing workers it once counted as its core constituency?

It’s a sweeping comparative political analysis that argues fascism and today’s right-wing populism are not separate phenomena but two expressions of the same underlying political species, that of the Red Pill (a loose acronym of Right-wing, Exclusionary Nationalist-Democratic, Populist Illiberalism). From the Boulanger Affair in 1880s France to Tucker Carlson, from Mussolini's syndicalist unions to Orban’s welfare chauvinism, the radical right has won by offering workers something — economic recognition, belonging, enemies to hate — that the neoliberal center-left abandoned along with NAFTA and the Third Way.

David ends with a diagnosis of the left’s own failures and a prescription for what it would take to turn things around.

Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

This one is different: an episode cross-posted from the new podcast Fighting Fascism, where Dig host Daniel Denvir gets behind the guest mic to discuss his political work beyond the pod. Speaking at length for the first time about his own organizing project in Rhode Island, he elaborates his theory of class and political power building.

Check out Fighting Fascism and subscribe at thenation.com/content/fighting-fascism

Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig

Our huge new Thawra study guide and resource website thawraproject.com

RSVP to the May 26 Dig party in LA! eventbrite.com/e/a-party-in-la-for-the-dig-friends-tickets-1987008568116?

The Dig goes deep into politics everywhere, from labor struggles and political economy to imperialism and immigration. Hosted by Daniel Denvir.

Britain held local and regional elections earlier this month that proved to be catastrophic for the Labour government of Keir Starmer. Labour fell behind the right-wing party Reform UK, which is led by Nigel Farage. Ten years after the Brexit referendum of 2016, could Farage be on track to become Britain’s next prime minister?

Phil Burton-Cartledge, lecturer in sociology at the University of Derby and the author of The Party’s Over: The Rise and Fall of the Conservatives from Thatcher to Sunak, joins Long Reads for a conversation about the state of British politics.

Phil spoke with us two years ago to discuss the UK general election that brought Starmer to power. Read or listen to that interview here: https://jacobin.com/2024/07/uk-elections-tory-party-conservatives-defeat-labour

Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies with music by Knxwledge.

Featuring New York U.S. House candidate Claire Valdez, Colorado U.S. House candidate Melat Kiros, Michigan U.S. House candidate William Lawrence, Massachusetts state Senate candidate Erika Uyterhoeven, New York State Assembly candidate Conrad Blackburn, and Washington D.C. mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George. The second episode in a series of short interviews with left-wing and socialist candidates at every level of US politics.

Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig

Our huge new Thawra study guide and resource website thawraproject.com

RSVP to the May 20 Dig party in Seattle! eventbrite.com/e/the-dig-x-house-our-neighbors-party-tickets-1986843010930

RSVP to the May 26 Dig party in LA! eventbrite.com/e/a-party-in-la-for-the-dig-friends-tickets-1987008568116?

Buy Revolutions of Our Times at Haymarketbooks.org

Find Queering Economics at UCPress.edu

The Dig goes deep into politics everywhere, from labor struggles and political economy to imperialism and immigration. Hosted by Daniel Denvir.

Suzi speaks with Simon Pirani about his book Voices Against Putin’s War: Protesters’ Defiant Speeches in Russian Courts and the film Try Me For Treason. Russian exile activist Aleksandra Zapolskaia also joins the conversation to discuss Azat Miftakhov’s case, one of thousands. Currently, there are more political prisoners in Russia than at any time since the post-Stalin thaw of the 1950s, and the state is killing them; at least seven political prisoners died in Russian custody in the first four months of 2026.

We will also hear actors from the film read courtroom speeches from Igor Paskar and Andrei Trofimov. Paskar, who was tortured after protesting at an FSB office, asked the court what future generations will be told about these times. Trofimov received three additional years of imprisonment for his initial courtroom statements; his second speech concludes with the line that gave the film its title: “Try me for treason. I betrayed your deranged state.”

Aleksandra Zapolskaya (Sasha) shares the story of Azat Miftakhov, the mathematician and anarchist who was tortured at an Arctic penal colony just down the road from where Navalny was killed. After his torturers were publicly identified, prison officials called Azat to their office and promised to treat him “respectfully” if he would stop talking to the media. “Being silent doesn’t help,” Sasha says. “Being loud helps.”

The discussion covers prisoner solidarity, the duration of the war, and the implications of Russia’s current trajectory. Sasha offers a warning to Western listeners regarding the speed of political shifts: “It changes very slowly. And then it happens very fast.”

Watch the film: youtube.com/watch?v=7FHacVH8tK8

Jacobin article: https://jacobin.com/2026/05/film-russia-ukraine-antiwar-prisoners

Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.