Hitting Left With The Klonsky Brothers

Jay Schaffner and Geoffrey Jacques join Mike to talk about their new volume, Red Lives: Our Years in the U.S. Communist Party (1950–2000).

Joining Mike in the Lumpen Radiio studio on this editon of Hitting Left are Shirin Vossoughi and Elham Hoominfar — two Northwestern scholars who bring depth, clarity, and a refusal to let Iran be reduced to headlines or talking points.

Back in February of 2017 the Klonsky brothers decided to do a radio show. Hitting Left is still on the air with Mike as the host. This edition of the show has the two joiining up qgain to talk about today and the last ten years of politics and strugglle. Fred zooms in from Brooklyn.

Mike's guests on this edition of Hitting Left are filmmaker and cultural historian Floyd Webb, who is promoting a new film, 'Rediscovering Fanon'. Floyd joins us with his ongoing excavation of Frantz Fanon's legacy, how Fanon's ideas move through film, memory, and current anti-colonial movements. Floyd will be joined by Peter Hudis, author of Frantz Fanon: Philosopher of the Barricades.

Joining Mike in the Lumpen Radio studio today is former Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot. They discuss Trump, his SOTU address and the threat of war. 

Joining Mike and Susan Klonsky in the Lumpen Radio studio is Michael Ansara. Michael is an organizer, writer, and longtime movement builder.

Joining Mike in the Heading Left Lumpen Radio studio is David Stovall, professor of Black Studies and Criminology, Law & Justice at UIC, and one of the sharpest voices on the intersections of race, education, and the carceral state.

On this cold artic-like day in Chicago Mike is joined by Mae Ngai, one of the most influential historians of immigration, labor, and Asian American politics. Her work has reshaped how we understand the making of "illegal immigration," the global forces behind anti‑Chinese politics, and the long arc of U.S. exclusion laws. We'll talk about how past regimes of race and labor still structure the present, and what it means to confront that history honestly.

We're closing out the year with a compelling guest. Carlos Martinez, London‑based writer, researcher, and co‑founder of Friends of Socialist China. Martinez is known for his sharp analysis of global politics, U.S.–China relations, and the shifting landscape of a multipolar world. His work challenges conventional narratives and opens space for deeper conversations about power, ideology, and the future of the left — exactly the kind of dialogue Hitting Left was built for.

On this edition of Hitting Left Mike is joined by Ilya Sokolov, the manager behind two powerhouse acts: the Roma punk energy of Fugu Dugu and the legendary klezmer innovators The Klezmatics. They talk about the politics of music, the labor of keeping bands alive, and how art rooted in tradition can still shake the walls of the establishment. 

Joining Mike on this edition of Hitting Left is Prexy Nesbitt. Prexy is a veteran activist, educator, and internationalist whose decades of work have connected Chicago's struggles with global movements for justice. From fighting apartheid to challenging systemic racism here at home, his voice carries both history and urgency.

Joining MIke on this edition of HItting Left is Martha Biondi. Martha is a historian and the Lorraine H. Morton Professor of African American Studies and Professor of History at Northwestern University. She is author of We Are Internationlists: Prexy Nesbitt and the Fight for African Liberation.  

Joining Mike in the Lumpen Radio studio is nationally recognized journalist and communications expert, Meredith Shiner. We'll be unpacking the widening rift within the Democratic Party over the vote to end the government shutdown.

Joining Mike on Hitting Left this week is President of the Chicago Federation of Labor, Bob Reiter, Jr. to discuss the role of organized labor in Chicago and nationally and the fight against Trumpism and fascism.

Joining Mike in the Hitting Left studio this week is brother Fred Klonsky Zooming in from Brooklyn, taking a deep dive into last week's No Kings protests.

Joining Mike on this edition of Hitting Left are veteran civil rights activist/educator Jimmy Garrett and movement historian Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz.   Jimmy Garrett, A founding force behind the Black Student Union movement, helped ignite a wave of campus activism that reshaped American education. As a SNCC organizer and radical intellectual, Garrett fused Marxist analysis with Black liberation, challenging both liberal complacency and institutional racism.   Historian, activist, and truth-teller, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz has spent decades dismantling colonial myths and amplifying Indigenous resistance. From the '60s Women's Liberation Movement to authoring An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, her work exposes the empire’s foundations.

Joining Mike in the Lumpen Radio studio is Colin Kramer, an environmental scientist with the EPA’s Region 5 office in Chicago, where he monitors pollution, enforces cleanups, and responds to hazardous waste emergencies across the industrial Midwest. He’s also an active member of AFGE Local 704, which has been disbanded by Trump.

Mike's  guests on this edition of Hitting Left show are two militant voices from Chicago’s grassroots resistance. Kathy Tholin and Laura Tanner of Indivisible. Kathy is the Board Chair of Indivisible Chicago. She helped lead the massive “No Kings” protest that brought tens of thousands to Daley Plaza to challenge authoritarian drift and defend immigrant rights. Laura is the co-founder and co-leader of Indivisible Evanston and has been instrumental in mobilizing neighborhood chapters and amplifying progressive coalitions across the city.

Joining Mike in the Lumpen Radio studio today is Flint Taylor. Flint is a founding partner of the People’s Law Office in Chicago. His career has spanned more than five decades of legal resistance to state violence and police misconduct. Flint was part of the original legal team that investigated the assassination of Fred Hampton in 1969, and he’s been at the forefront of exposing the Chicago Police Department’s long history of torture, cover-ups, and racist abuse.

Joining Mike in the studio this week is film maker Floyd Webb. Zooming in from Brooklyn is Fred Klonsky. A brief report on the New York mayoral race is followed by a discussion of the fight against Trump fascism and the role of the Arts in that fight. All this as Trump threatens a military occupation of Chicago and other cities with Black mayors.