Welcome to The Socialist Program.

This is the audio of our monthly seminar.

Subscribe and support this programming at patreon.com slash the Socialist Program to join live once a month and ask Brian Becker your questions and listen to them as soon as they come out.

Thanks so much for your help in keeping this independent show going.

We can make this program with you,

but not without you. I want to start by talking about tomorrow's show, actually, with Daniel

Ellsberg. We pre-recorded the show yesterday, and I think it's a really important interview.

It's interesting. I learned something. I thought I pretty

much knew the Daniel Ellsberg story. When we were talking and sort of towards the end of the

interview, which is about 45 minutes long, he talks about the fact that the Pentagon Papers

actually had a very big impact on ending the U.S.

war against Vietnam.

That was interesting to me because when the Pentagon Papers came out, which was in

1979, 50 years ago this week, which is why we contacted Daniel. The country had already turned against

the war. I mean, everybody was in the streets. Kent State was the year before. That was these

massive protests that took place when people found out that Nixon had secretly expanded the war

into Laos and to Cambodia.

And the country was in great ferment.

And actually, when the Pentagon Papers came out, it was a big deal.

But I didn't think at the time, well, it didn't really impact public opinion that much,

except it sort of validated the anti-war position that the government had been lying

to the people. So that strengthened our hand. And it also showed that there was really a sharp

...