The history of the British Empire is littered with horrendous crimes. From the partitions of India and Ireland, to the suppression of the Mau Mau uprising, to the violent Jallianwala Bagh massacre, to its murderous role in the Easter Rising and Bloody Sunday; it is impossible to mention all the brutalities of British imperialism.Many brave anti-imperialists ... Show More
May 26
Feuerbach, philosophy, and the birth of Marxism
Dialectical materialism, the philosophy of Marxism, did not fall from the sky. Nor was it just a ‘good idea’ that Marx came up with one afternoon. As Marxists we owe an immense debt to the philosophers of the past, in particular the German idealist Hegel. Before Marx was a ‘Marxi ... Show More
44m 51s
Jul 2024
The Mighty Ashanti: Rival to the British Empire
<p>At the end of the 17th century, a small clan - the Akan - in West Africa began growing into what would later become the powerful Ashanti Empire. The state grew rapidly in both wealth and land until it spanned most of modern day Ghana, the Ivory Coast, and Togo. </p> ... Show More
29m 42s
Mar 2025
235. The Viceroy, The Psychopath, and The Merchant: The Irish in Empire (Ep 3)
Ireland may have been England’s first colony but, by the 17th century, Irishmen were carving out their own imperial legacies in India. Gerald Aungier, an ambitious East India Company official, saw Bombay as a new frontier for plantation and trade. Drawing from his family’s planta ... Show More
51m 58s
Sep 2024
190. Rags to Riches: The Scots in India
In the wake of Culloden, much of Scotland was on its knees. Crippled by defeat and the subsequent backlash of the British government, along with famine and poverty, they were in dire need of new horizons. The nascent British Empire would provide it. The Scottish Highlanders had d ... Show More
51m 7s
Mar 2025
239. Ireland’s Fight For Freedom: The Rise of The IRA (Ep 2)
The Irish republicans who led the Easter Rising of 1916 are tried for treason by the British government, and sentenced to death. Some are so unwell they have to be tied to a chair to be killed, and the brutality of these executions turns the tide of public opinion in Ireland, inc ... Show More
1 h
Feb 2025
229. Britain’s Last Colony: The Second World War, Forced Deportations, and 9/11 (Ep 1)
The Chagos Islands have dominated news headlines over the past few months, but the struggle of the Chagossian people to reclaim their island home has spanned decades. First colonised in 1513 by the Portuguese, the archipelago shifted from one imperial master to another over the c ... Show More
32m 54s
Oct 2024
The Poet Who Toppled The British Empire
India, 1930. Sarojini Naidu is marching towards a British-controlled saltwork; behind her is a long column of protestors all dressed in white. The great campaigner for India's Independence, Gandhi, is now in jail. In his place, he's chosen Naidu to lead this movement against the ... Show More
43m 53s
May 2023
Arthur Snell, "How Britain Broke the World: War, Greed and Blunders from Kosovo to Afghanistan (1997-2021)" (Canbury Press, 2022)
Arthur Snell's book How Britain Broke the World: War, Greed and Blunders from Kosovo to Afghanistan (1997-2021) (Canbury Press, 2022) critically assesses UK foreign policy over the past 25 years, from Kosovo in 1998 to Afghanistan in 2021, while also scrutinising British policy t ... Show More
1 h
Sep 2023
Ian Patel, "We're Here Because You Were There: Immigration and the End of Empire" (Verso, 2021)
What are the origins of the hostile environment against immigrants in the UK? In We’re Here Because You Were There: Immigration and the End of Empire (Verso, 2021), Patel retells Britain's recent history in an often shocking account of state racism that still resonates today.
In ... Show More
1h 1m