Jacobin Radio w/ Suzi Weissman: October 1917

On the 104th anniversary of the Russian revolution, Suzi Weissman switches seats with Robert Brenner: She is the guest and he does the interviewing. The podcast begins with Suzi on "One Hundred Years Since October: When the Russian Working Class Opened the Possibilities For Humanity." Robert and Suzi then discuss the significance of October 1917, when workers took power with profoundly democratic institutions of popular control from below in the Russian empire, creating the Soviet Union.

The program ends with the song that revolutionaries around the world sing: the International. Billy Bragg wrote new lyrics for the song that was first written in 1871 at the time of the Paris Commune. On May 3, 2020, Billy Bragg joined a live stream celebration of Pete Seeger's 101st birthday. Bragg explains how he came to write his striking version of the 'Internationale' and Pete Seeger's role in the evolution of this song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBgfNy7dk4I