Podcast

How Capitalism Kills: Social Murder and Covid-19

Nate Holdren, Artie Vierkant, and Abby Cartus speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2023. This session was sponsored by Death Panel. https://www.deathpanel.net Capitalism exploits not just the surplus labor of the working class; it also exploits our health. This panel will discuss Friedrich Engels’ concept of “social murder,” the structural forces within capitalism that abandon populations to injury, debility, and premature death. Marxist historian Nate Holdren is joined by co-hosts of the Death Panel podcast Artie Vierkant and Abby Cartus to discuss how “social murder” can be used to understand the politics inherent to things like workplace injuries and the capitalist normalization of covid-19, and how under capitalism, “social murder” is a feature, not a bug. Nate Holdren will participate in this session remotely. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on Soundcloud for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

More Episodes

Nov 9, 2025

Bottom Up for Liberation: An Anti-Imperialist Strategy for our Movement

Sal Ami, Rebecca John, Carl Redwood, and Sara Roschdi speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2025. This session was sponsored by Bottom Up for Liberation.

We are an emerging cadre formation of social movement leftists, growing out of the LeftRoots process. Too often internationalism is an obligatory footnote to local and electoral struggles--but for us, anti-imperialism is essential to our daily and long-term work to win ecofeminist socialism, from our communities to the world.

The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, September 4-7, 2026. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org.

Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org

Follow Haymarket on podcast platforms for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings!

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Nov 9, 2025

All Our Movements in this Together

Silky Shah, Eman Abdelhadi, Mariah Parker, Mikaela Loach, and Scout Bratt speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2025.

Amid relentless authoritarian attacks and power grabs, it will take all our movements to bring down the oligarchs and build a different kind of future. Join us for the Socialism 2025 final plenary as we confront a pivotal political moment and ground ourselves to come out stronger on the other side.

The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, September 4-7, 2026. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org.

Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org

Follow Haymarket on podcast platforms for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings!

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Nov 20, 2025

Migrant Sex Workers Against Fascism: Lessons from 150 Years of Resistance

Chanelle Gallant, Elene Lam, Emi Koyama, and Yves Tong Nguyen speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2025.

Travel bans, ICE abductions and deportations of green card holders are nothing new for migrants in the sex industry. But their lives and struggles also offer us a blueprint for resisting surveillance, criminalization and the “good immigrant” vs “bad immigrant” division. Instead they inspire us to transform fear and uncertainty into creativity, power, empathy and noncompliance.

The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, September 4-7, 2026. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org.

Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org

Listen now