The Problem with Western Marxism with Gabriel Rockhill

<p>In this episode, I’m joined by guest host Ashwin Shantha of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0C_D6OE1kuURWJ5hyLhCyAhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0C_D6OE1kuURWJ5hyLhCyA" target="_blank"><em>Journal of International Solidarity </em></a>podcast to interview Gabriel Rockhill, professor of philosophy at Villanova University and author of <em>Who Paid the Pipers of Western Marxism? </em>(Monthly Review Press, 2025) about how the ‘imperial theory industry’ has served to undermine actually-existing socialist projects and national liberation struggles while maintaining a superficial guise of ‘radical’ politics. We discuss the political economy of knowledge production, the longstanding entanglements between Western academia, the national security state, and the capitalist ruling class, and what it means to understand the cultural and intellectual spheres as sites of political struggle. </p><p><strong>About the show:</strong></p><p><em>Return to Bandung</em> is hosted by Pranay Somayajula, an Indian-American writer, researcher, and organizer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His work explores themes of diaspora, (inter)nationalism, anticolonial politics, and the many lives and afterlives of empire. You can learn more about Pranay and read his writing on his <a href="https://www.pranaysomayajula.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">website</a>, as well as on his Substack blog, <a href="https://www.culture-shock.xyz/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"><em>culture shock</em></a>.</p><p><strong>Support </strong><em><strong>Return to Bandung</strong></em><strong>:</strong></p><p>If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave a review or rating, and subscribe to the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts! If you’re able, please also consider supporting my work—which encompasses both my writing and this podcast, as well as various other political education projects by signing up as a paid subscriber to my Substack or making a one-off contribution:</p><ul><li><p><a href="http://www.culture-shock.xyz/subscribe" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Become a paid Substack subscriber</a></p></li><li><p><a href="https://buymeacoffee.com/returntobandung" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Buy Me a Coffee</a></p></li></ul><p><strong>Sources and helpful links:</strong></p><ul><li><p>Gabriel Rockhill — <a href="https://monthlyreview.org/9781685901349/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer"><em>Who Paid the Pipers of Western Marxism?</em></a> (Monthly Review Press, 2025)</p></li><li><p>Domenico Losurdo — <a href="https://monthlyreview.org/9781685900632/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer"><em>Western Marxism: How it was Born, How it Died, How it Can be Reborn</em></a><em> </em>(Monthly Review Press, 2024)</p></li><li><p>Frances Stonor Saunders — <a href="https://granta.com/products/who-paid-the-piper/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer"><em>Who Paid the Piper?: The CIA and the Cultural Cold War</em></a><em> </em>(Granta Books, 1999)</p></li><li><p>Gabriel Rockhill and John Bellamy Foster — <a href="https://monthlyreview.org/articles/western-marxism-and-imperialism-a-dialogue/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Western Marxism and Imperialism: A Dialogue</a> (<em>Monthly Review</em>, March 2025)</p></li><li><p><a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/5oGhEhx8qMMTUtwKpun4J8" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Return to Bandung episode with Ashwin Shantha on anti-imperialist political education</a> (October 2025)</p></li><li><p>Roberto Fernández Retamar — <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25088398" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Caliban: Notes towards a Discussion of Culture in Our America</a> (<em>The Massachusetts Review</em>, Winter/Spring 1974)</p></li><li><p>Fidel Castro — <a href="http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/2004/ing/f051204i.html" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Speech at the