In this episode GloboidTV and RedArmyCapybara discuss left-communism: what it is, where it came from, and why it remains influential in online left spaces today.

They also examine some core disagreements between Marxism-Leninism and left-communist tendencies such as council communism, Bordigism, and communization theory. What separates leftcoms from Marxist-Leninists? Where do left-com tendencies overlap with ultra-left Marxist-Leninist currents like Trotskyism, Maoism, and Hoxhaism, and where do they fundamentally diverge?

In this episode we cover

• What left-communism is.
• What the origins of left-communism are.
• The factory/worker committee system in soviet Russia and its absorption into the union system.
• The efficiency of the worker committee system vs a cohesive national economic plan.
• Left-Bolshevism in the early 1900s.
• The problems with leftcoms & what it has to do with dogmatism and purity fetishes.
• Lenin's 'What is to be done?'
• Should communists take part in reactionary unions and Bourgeois parliaments?
• Pragmatism in practical applications of Marxism.
• Left-coms (councilists, Bordigists, communizers) vs ML left-deviations (Maoism, Hoxhaism, Trotskyism, etc). Do they share things in common? Where do they depart?
• State-capitalism and preliminary phaes pf socialism are steps forward not backward.
• Dogmatism among leftcoms and how Lenin criticized dogmatism in 'Left-communism an Infantile Disorder.'
• Dogmatism among Marxist-Leninists.
• The vanguard party and how they function: In response to Maoist critiques of modern Marxists view on the vanguard.
• The function of newspapers in the USSR.
• The election of delegates to people's assemblies in the DPRK.
• Direct democracy is unfeasible and inefficient.
• Practical considerations regarding praxis.
• The collapse of Yugoslavia
• The Unity of Theory and Practice.
• Marx was not a rigid thinker and his views shifted frequently
• The Paris Commune and its failure.
• Bureaucracy and its inevitability.
• Opportunism.
• Maoism vs Gonzaloites
• Is protracted people's war a universal principle of Marxism?
• Have Left-coms ever had revolutions?
• Left-anticommunism and "pure" socialists.
• Why is left-communism relevant today?
• Do leftcoms only exist online?
• Multipolarity
• Can MLs and leftcoms work together?
• Why should we support actual existing socialist movements, despite any flaws they have?

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Globoidtv and Redarmycapybara discuss the recent discourse surrounding Hasan Piker after he was spotted reading ‘What Is To Be Done?’ by Lenin, in the midst of growing backlash.

The episode explores whether this moment represents a genuine shift, a calculated response to pressure, or simply another layer of performance in the world of political streaming. Along the way, they break down Hasan’s role as a lightning rod for liberal outrage, Hasan's purpose and intent as a leftist, if he is a democratic shill, the broader question of what a serious communist presence in streaming spaces would actually look like, and a brief exploration of Lenin's work.

In this episode we cover:

• Hasan being photographed reading What Is To Be Done? following public backlash and political scrutiny.
• Whether this was a genuine engagement with Marxism, a signal to his audience, or a form of damage control.
• The idea of Hasan as a “lightning rod” for liberal electoral anger, especially in the aftermath of Democratic losses.
• Whether Hasan is actually a communist, a socialist entertainer, or something in between.
• Hasan’s political positions: anti-imperialism, electoral strategy, NATO, Israel-Palestine, and his relationship to the Democratic Party.
• His history with electoral politics, including third-party voting, “uncommitted” campaigns, and refusal to support candidates like Gavin Newsom.
• The contradiction between criticizing the Democratic Party while still operating within its broader political orbit.
• The function of political streamers as entertainers vs. organizers.
• What Lenin actually argues in What Is To Be Done?, including:
  • The critique of spontaneity and economism
  • The need for a disciplined, professional revolutionary party
  • The role of theory and conscious leadership
  • The importance of political agitation beyond trade union struggles
• What Hasan could take away from Lenin’s work if engaged with seriously.
• What a “perfectly executed” communist streamer would actually look like in practice.
• Intermittent communizer, leftcom, and anarchist slander
• General banter about Marxism-Leninism.

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