The Socialist Program with Brian Becker

According to a recent national survey, 62 percent of Americans aged 18–29 say they hold a “favorable view” of socialism, and 34 percent say the same of communism. Why is this happening inside the very center of the world capitalist system? And what does it mean for the future? Professor Richard Wolff and Brian Becker discuss. Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can find his work at rdwolff.com. Join the The Socialist Program community at http://www.patreon.com/thesocialistprogram to get exclusive content and help keep this show on the air.

In 1953 the CIA secretly organized a coup to overthrow the democratically elected leader of Iran. This was the CIA's first regime change operation — code-named 'Operation Ajax' — becoming the playbook for later CIA operations. Its consequences are still reverberating around the world. In this episode we take a deep dive into how Operation Ajax was planned and executed, it's motivations, the political context locally and globally, what happened in Iran after 1953, its impact on US-Iran relations up to today, and more. We've added many archival audio clips, including first-hand accounts on both sides, sound effects, music, and more. This is the first episode in our new series on The Socialist Program. In each episode we will unpack a different CIA/Pentagon operation, each which was given its own code-name as Operation Ajax was. Join the The Socialist Program community at http://www.patreon.com/thesocialistprogram to get access to the next episodes in this series, more exclusive content, and help keep this show on the air. Credits: Brian Becker - writer, narrator Layan Fuleihan - writer, narrator John Prysner - audio engineer, producer Emily Brease - archival producer