Communist Replies to Right-Wing Lies: Musk, Peterson, Shapiro

Spectre Of Communism · 2025-03-18

Core Argument

The central thesis is that the ruling class's obsessive anti-communist propaganda — exemplified by figures like Ben Shapiro, Elon Musk, Alice Weidel, and Jordan Peterson — is not a sign of communism's irrelevance but of capitalism's deepening crisis. The episode argues that these attacks serve a dual function: to discredit any alternative to capitalism by distorting historical record, and to pre-empt the inevitable radicalisation of a working class whose conditions are deteriorating across the advanced capitalist world.

The specific claims addressed are: that communism killed 100 million people (Shapiro); that Hitler was a socialist or communist (Musk/Weidel); and that Lenin was a monster whose henchman was Stalin (Peterson). Each is refuted not merely as false but as ideologically necessary for a system that senses it is "sitting on a volcano which is about to erupt."

Theoretical Grounding

The analysis draws on several distinct Marxist traditions:

Classical Marxism — The episode grounds its refutation of Shapiro in the basic Marxist categories of class and exploitation. The claim that America offers "80 years of health, wealth and ease" is countered with data on wealth concentration (top 1% rising from 22.8% to 31% of national wealth since 1989; bottom 50% falling from 3.5% to 2.8%), wage stagnation relative to productivity growth, and the systematic denial of healthcare. This is a direct application of Marx's theory of surplus value: workers produce more wealth but receive less of it.

Trotskyist analysis of Stalinism — The episode's treatment of the Lenin-Stalin relationship is explicitly Trotskyist. It distinguishes sharply between Lenin's revolutionary internationalism and the bureaucratic degeneration that followed the isolation of the Russian Revolution. Lenin's Testament, his attempt to remove Stalin as General Secretary, and his fight against bureaucratism are presented as evidence that Stalinism was a betrayal of, not a continuation of, Leninism. The theoretical grounding here is Trotsky's analysis of the Soviet Union as a degenerated workers' state, and the impossibility of socialism in one country.

Imperialism and war — The Ukraine war is analysed through Lenin's theory of imperialism: inter-imperialist rivalry driven by overproduction and competition for markets. Biden's strategy is presented as an attempt to weaken Russia as a precursor to confronting China, consistent with Lenin's analysis of interimperialist conflict.

Social murder — Engels' concept is deployed to argue that capitalist austerity and the denial of healthcare constitute systematic killing, not merely neglect. The episode draws a direct line from the defunding of the NHS to avoidable deaths, and from the denial of healthcare in the US to the 14 million adults owing over $11,000 in medical debt.

Conjunctural Relevance

The episode connects its arguments to several specific features of the current conjuncture:

The US healthcare crisis and the Luigi Mangione effect — The assassination of the UnitedHealthcare CEO and the widespread public sympathy for the killer are presented as evidence that class anger is breaking through left-right divisions. The episode notes that even Trump voters expressed support, demonstrating that "it's not a left-right question, it's a class question."

The rise of the far right in Germany — The AfD becoming the second-largest party in the German elections is situated in the context of a deep capitalist crisis. The episode argues that the attempt to rebrand Hitler as a socialist is a deliberate historical falsification designed to distance the AfD from its Nazi heritage while simultaneously tarring communism with the Nazi brush.

The Ukraine war — The war is analysed as an interimperialist conflict driven by capitalist competition, not a defence of democracy. The episode notes that the war is killing hundreds of thousands over "who controls the markets."

The cost of living crisis — The episode cites inflation at 3% in Britain, projected to reach 4% by year-end, as evidence that the system is delivering worsening conditions for the working class.

The NHS crisis — The defunding of the NHS is presented as a form of "social murder," with the money redirected to military spending.

Where the Argument Continues

The episode deliberately leaves several threads open:

The Black Book of Communism and the Black Book of Capitalism — The episode references the latter but does not develop its argument. This is taken up in the broader corpus of the RCI, particularly in Fred Weston's four-part series "A History of Horror Without End," which provides a detailed accounting of capitalist mass death.

Cuba — The episode mentions but does not develop the comparison between US and Cuban life expectancy. This is likely addressed in other Against the Stream or Spectre of Communism episodes dealing with Cuba specifically.

The Lenin biography — The episode references a two-part biography of Lenin by Rob Sewell and Alan Woods, which is recommended for a fuller treatment of the Lenin-Stalin relationship.

Further right-wing commentators — The episode explicitly states that there are "plenty more right-wing idiots and slanderers to respond to" and suggests a follow-up episode.

Connections

Against the Stream — The sister podcast, which provides rolling analysis of world politics from a communist perspective, is the natural companion to this episode. It would develop the conjunctural analysis of the Ukraine war, the German elections, and the US healthcare crisis.

Trotsky, The Revolution Betrayed — The theoretical foundation for the distinction between Lenin and Stalin, and the analysis of the Soviet bureaucracy.

Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England — The concept of social murder, deployed in the episode's argument about capitalist healthcare denial.

Lenin, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism — The theoretical framework for the analysis of the Ukraine war and interimperialist rivalry.

The Black Book of Capitalism (1998) — Referenced but not named; the counterpoint to the Black Book of Communism, providing a comparable accounting of capitalist mass death.

Key Quotes

1. "Nobody goes around saying 'oh, feudalism is a thing of the past and you shouldn't fall for the ideas of feudalism'... and yet with Communism, which is presented as having failed, is constantly being attacked. That actually means that the ruling class senses — what they sense is that their system is in deep crisis."

2. "It's not a left-right question, it's a class question."

3. "The logic always appears to be that when people die under regimes that describe themselves as communist or workers' states or socialists, it's because of socialism and communism — but when people die under capitalist regimes or as a result of capitalist wars, capitalist-imposed poverty, that's not because of capitalism, that's just something that happens, like the weather or a natural disaster."

4. "Lenin actually promoted the idea of an inspectorate to fight bureaucratism... who was at the head of that? Stalin. Now you would think that if Stalin is his henchman, Lenin would be full of praise... but over time Lenin realised that the very same body set up to fight bureaucracy was itself becoming a tool of the bureaucracy."

5. "The purpose of these kind of videos is not to discuss real history, not to discuss the real facts — it's the same as the 100 million dead or 'Hitler was a communist' — it's to throw as much mud at communism as possible, with the idea that some of it will stick, to dirty the image of communism in an attempt to stop people looking towards the ideas of genuine communism in a period where capitalism is in deep crisis."