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This podcast is a collation of talks and lectures given by Padraic Gibson since 2012. Paddy lives on stolen Bidjigal land in Sydney and is member of Solidarity, a revolutionary socialist organisation with branches across Australia. Most of the podcasts will be 20-30 minute recordings of introductions given by Paddy to educational meetings hosted by Solidarity, examining a range of historical and theoretical topics from a Marxist perspective. Paddy is also a Senior Researcher at the Jumbunna Institute at the University of Technology in Sydney with a research focus on the history of the labour movement and its relationship to struggles for Aboriginal rights. Some podcasts are recordings of academic lectures on this topic, along with theoretical discussions about Australian capitalism and Aboriginal oppression.
Episodes
Wednesday Jun 26, 2024
Ep13 - The Communist Party of Australia's 1931 Program for Aboriginal Liberation
Wednesday Jun 26, 2024
Wednesday Jun 26, 2024
In September 1931, the Communist Party of Australia printed an extraordinary program for Aboriginal liberation. Written by CPA leader Herbert Moxon, the program condemned continuing genocide in Australia and called for the abolition of the Protection regime controlling Aboriginal lives, respect for self-determination and return of stolen lands. In this talk, Paddy explains how the party moved beyond earlier ignorant and racist attitudes towards Aboriginal people to produce this important document. The influence of an all Black organisation, the Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association, was critical. You can read the full program here.
This is a recording of a talk given to the Labour History Conference in Brisbane, September 24, 2017.
A fuller, updated analysis of the program is provided in chapter 4 of Paddy's PhD thesis you can read here.
Thursday Jun 20, 2024
Ep 12: Race, Empire and Settler-Colonialism in the work of Marx and Engels
Thursday Jun 20, 2024
Thursday Jun 20, 2024
In the classical Marxist tradition, anti-racist and anti-colonial struggles are of central importance for the revolutionary working-class movement. This talk explores the the roots of these ideas in Marx and Engels' foundational analysis of race and empire, that developed in profound ways from the 1850s through to Marx’s death in 1883. This development came in response to resistance movements of colonised people around the world. The talk also provides a critique of their weakness on settler-colonialism in particular, Engel’s acceptance of some of the racist ideas of bourgeois ethnography from this time and the way Marx overcame many of these assumptions in his late notebooks. Meeting organised by International Socialists (Canada).
Thursday Jun 20, 2024
Ep 11: The nature of the Australian Labor Party
Thursday Jun 20, 2024
Thursday Jun 20, 2024
This talk explores the contradictory nature of the Australian Labor Party. While founded by the trade unions, the ALP is committed to running Australian capitalism, leading to vicious attacks on its working-class base throughout it's history. The talk argues that socialists need to adopt a non-sectarian attitude to Labor supporters, while agitating for struggle against Labor governments that is every bit as intense as that needed when fighting the Liberals. Delivered at a Solidarity meeting in April 2022.
Thursday Jun 20, 2024
Ep 10: 15 years of the Northern Territory Intervention
Thursday Jun 20, 2024
Thursday Jun 20, 2024
This talk provides and analysis of the Northern Territory Intervention, a racist policy aimed at controlling Aboriginal people and their land that was launched in 2007. It was given at a Solidarity meeting in June 2022 marking 15 years since the policy was announced and explores the dynamics driving the Intervention, its impact and political legacy.
Saturday Mar 05, 2022
Ep 9: Anti-colonialism and the Communist International
Saturday Mar 05, 2022
Saturday Mar 05, 2022
This talk outlines the anti-colonial politics of the early years of the Communist International (Comintern), formed in the wake of the Russian Revolution in 1919. Paddy explores the way the Comintern theorised the relationship between workers' revolution in imperialist countries and anti-colonial revolts shaking the world, particularly the importance of anti-racism and commitment to the defeat of imperialist forces. Recorded at a Solidarity meeting in June 2016.
Saturday Mar 05, 2022
Ep 8: Capitalism and anti-Aboriginal racism
Saturday Mar 05, 2022
Saturday Mar 05, 2022
This talk outlines the importance of anti-Aboriginal racism to the ruling class in Australia. Paddy explores the ways that the so-called "Aboriginal problem" has posed challenges for Australian capitalism and the way Aboriginal resistance continues to threaten the system. Recorded at a Solidarity meeting in April 2016, this podcast is dedicated to the memory of Arrente and Alyawarr Elder Rosalie Kunoth-Monks, who famously asserted "don't try and suppress me. I am not the problem. I have never left my country, nor have I ever ceded any part of it".
Tuesday Mar 01, 2022
Ep 7: Invasion and resistance in early colonial Sydney
Tuesday Mar 01, 2022
Tuesday Mar 01, 2022
This talk provides an historical account of the invasion by British imperialism of Eora and Darug Country, what is now known as Sydney, Australia. Paddy discusses the dynamics driving the invasion and the war of resistance waged by Aboriginal people defending their homelands. Recorded at a Solidarity meeting in January 2015. Since this talk, historian Stephen Gapps has published a major book The Sydney Wars which contains lots of new research into these issues and is highly recommended.
Sunday Feb 27, 2022
Ep 6: What’s wrong with capitalism? What’s the alternative?
Sunday Feb 27, 2022
Sunday Feb 27, 2022
An introduction to Karl Marx's theory of historical materialism. Basic explanations of the concept of alienation, surplus value, the centralisation and concentration of capital and what we mean by workers' power and socialist revolution. Talk to a Solidarity student club meeting at Sydney University in August 2014.
Sunday Feb 27, 2022
Ep 5: Imperialism and contemporary geopolitics
Sunday Feb 27, 2022
Sunday Feb 27, 2022
Saturday Feb 26, 2022
Ep 4: Frontier warfare and colonial capitalism
Saturday Feb 26, 2022
Saturday Feb 26, 2022