[BEST OF] Buddhism and Marxism w/ Della from Upstream

Revolutionary Left Radio

Breht O'Shea

Communism, Politics, Liberalism, Society & Culture, Philosophy, News, History, Leftwing, Socialism, Marxism

4.8 • 3.4K Ratings

🗓️ 28 May 2025

⏱️ 82 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

ORIGINALLY RELEASED Aug 1, 2023

When you think about the philosophies and practices of Buddhism and Marxism, you might not immediately think that they have much in common. However, you might be surprised at how much overlap and complementary resonance there actually is between these two rich and beautiful traditions.

We’ve brought on Breht O’Shea, a Buddhist practitioner and Marxist political educator based out of Omaha, Nebraska. Breht is the host of the podcast Revolutionary Left Radio and co-host of the podcasts Red Menace, Guerrilla History, and, most recently, Shoeless in South Dakota.

In this conversation, we explore how both Buddhism & Marxism offer helpful pathways to liberation and provide a spot-on analysis of the root causes of suffering. We also explore some of the potential tensions between Buddhism and Marxism, as well as what each tradition can learn from the other. And we end with a powerful invitation to embark on the path of the Bodhisattva Revolutionary to both end the internal and structural causes and conditions of suffering and to bring forth the systemic changes necessary for the transition to a socialist and eventually communist economy based on liberation, equity, and justice for all.

This interview was inspired by an episode of Revolutionary Left Radio titled Dialectics & Liberation: Insights from Buddhism and Marxism where Breht read a speech he gave at Arizona State University on the topic of dialectical materialism, Buddhism, and Marxism. Definitely check that episode out when you’re done listening to this — it’s a great complement to this conversation.

Thank you to Carolyn Raider for this episode’s cover art and to Mount Eerie for the intermission music. Upstream theme music was composed by Robert Raymond/Lanterns.

Further Resources:

Upstream: Revolutionary Leftism with Breht O'Shea (In Conversation)
Dialectics & Liberation: Insights from Buddhism and Marxism, by Breht O’Shea on Revolutionary Left Radio

For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before we get started on this episode, if you can, please go to Apple Podcasts and rate, subscribe,
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0:23.0	And also, Upstream is a labor of love. It's really important for us to keep our biweekly
0:28.0	conversation series and quarterly documentaries free of charge and accessible to anyone who's
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0:46.9	please consider going to upstreampodcast.org forward slash support
0:51.2	to make a one-time or recurring monthly donation.
0:55.0	Thank you. Buddhism is interested in the inward of the human mind from sort of self-imposed
1:24.8	limitations and delusions and the incessant fear-produced need to cling
1:31.3	on to things that we like and to run away from things that hurt us. And then of course,
1:35.1	Marxism, in simplest terms, wants to seek humanity from dividing us up into classes. There
1:40.9	should be, ultimately, no poor people and super rich people.
1:45.6	There should not be a world in which we have billionaires that own everything and don't
1:50.1	have to work who live exclusively off the toil of other human beings, while huge masses
1:56.4	of people suffer, live lives of extreme precarity, are brutally exploited for the billionaires,
2:03.2	classes, and the owning classes profits, and who live half lives, deformed lives, so that
2:09.0	the richest among us can live lives of utter luxury and opulence and unknown comfort.
2:14.9	You are listening to Upstream.
	...

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