Episode 143: The Gerry Healy Scandal and “Democratic Centralism” (interview with Aidan Beatty)

Co-hosts Andrew Kliman and Gabriel Donnelly welcome Aidan Beatty, a lecturer in the Department of History at Carnegie Mellon University, to discuss his book The Party is Always Right: The Untold Story of Gerry Healy and British Trotskyism. In the first part of the discussion, we discuss the Gerry Healy scandal and the fallout from Healy’s abuse as well as how Aidan researched the book.

The interview then moves into a more general discussion of “democratic centralism.” Aidan attributes the abusiveness of Healyism not just to Healy and his particular organization, but also to the “democratic centralist” form of organization in general. Gabriel and Andrew question this thesis, arguing that so-called decentralized movements, and “centers” and projects without a formal organizational structure, can be just as abusive and undemocratic as centralized parties.

Plus current-events segment: Epsteingate! Trump keeps hoping that the scandal will go away, but his conspiratorial followers won’t let it go.

Radio Free Humanity is a podcast covering news, politics and philosophy from a Marxist-Humanist perspective.
It is co-hosted by Gabriel Donnelly and Andrew Kliman. We intend to release new episodes every two weeks.
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