BOURGEOIS LEFT

GABRIEL ROCKHILL—The video presents a comprehensive lecture on the global theory industry, its intellectual history, and the material social forces shaping it, particularly emphasizing left anti-communism and its impact on critical theory. Prof. Rockhill traces their personal intellectual journey from an initial engagement with radical critical theory rooted in the Frankfurt School and French theory (structuralism and post-structuralism) to a materialist critique of these traditions and the broader apparatus of knowledge production under neoliberal capitalism. The central argument is that the dominant global theory industry promotes a generalized critical theory that cloaks conservative and anti-communist worldviews in radical discourse, limiting genuine revolutionary and anti-capitalist thought.

WSWS—The veteran, award-winning actor was fired shortly afterward. “I was not given a hearing with Netflix. My request to meet one-on-one with the actress was denied. The directors and the producer stopped answering my emails and phone calls. Within 30 minutes of my firing, a letter went out to cast and crew and a full press release was sent immediately,” he writes.

In a telling aside, Langella recalls that he had been warned by his producer that he couldn’t “joke” or “compliment” or “touch. It’s a new order.” Advice from Langella’s managers and lawyers suggested he not “play the victim.” “Don’t sue. They’ll dig into your past.” “Sign the NDA [non-disclosure agreement], take the money and run.” “Do the talk shows, show contrition, feign humility. Say you’ve learned a lot.” In other words, Langella adds, “Apologize. Apologize. Apologize.”

In the fevered atmosphere stoked by the #MeToo frenzy, allegations become “fact.” No sooner did Langella’s firing occur than his name was being dragged through the mud.

NIKOS MOTTAS—In Khrushchev Lied, Professor Furr deals with the speech that arguably exerted the greatest political influence in the 20th century, namely, the notorious “Secret Speech” delivered by Nikita Khrushchev at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The significance of this speech lies in the fact that it actually became the basis for the launch of a huge campaign of slander, both of Joseph Stalin, and of the cause of socialism-communism more broadly.

DD—Mamdani Hires Corporate DNC LACKEY as Comms Director. The team discusses candidate Mamdani’s recent choices of Democrat spinmasters for campaign advisors, detonating fears in radical quarters that Mamdani will prove to be just another treacherous fake socialist. 

MONDE DIPLO—Why do the cultivated, liberal, open elites who lead democracies (sic) borrow methods from hated despots? One explanation is the loss of trust in governments. ‘Secure and confident institutions of authority can give the people over whom they rule a greater degree of freedom because they know that those people trust those institutions and they’re not in danger of being threatened,’ suggests journalist Glenn Greenwald. ‘When those institutions fall into pervasive disrepute, when they’re held in contempt, as is the case quite validly for most Western political and media institutions, that’s precisely when they become more authoritarian. When they start cracking down further on dissent [it’s] because they’re afraid’ .