The podcast of Sosialis Alternatif, the Malaysian section of the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI). We strive to build an independent mass workers’ party in Malaysia, to advocate for the working class of Malaysia and the workers of the world—free of capitalist influence.
Podcast Sosialis Alternatif, bahagian Malaysia dari Jawatankuasa Antarabangsa Pekerja (CWI). Kami berusaha membina parti pekerja massa yang bebas di Malaysia, untuk memperjuangkan kelas pekerja Malaysia dan pekerja di seluruh dunia—bebas daripada pengaruh kapitalis.
Liberalism arose alongside the rise of the bourgeoisie, expressing the material needs of a new capitalist class seeking to overthrow feudal privilege and establish freedom for trade, property, and capital. Thinkers like Locke, Hume, and Adam Smith gave philosophical form to these needs, transforming “freedom” into the right of private ownership and market exchange. Yet this freedom was inherently contradictory: it liberated the capitalist while binding the worker to wage labour.
As capitalism developed, liberalism evolved into the ideological mask of bourgeois domination. Its focus on individualism and formal equality conceals the deep social and economic inequalities of class society. Electoral democracy and “free speech” exist alongside the private ownership of production and wealth, maintaining what Lenin called “democracy for the rich.”
Liberalism’s notion of “negative freedom” mystifies genuine liberty, which requires material means and social equality. Marx’s distinction between personal and private property clarifies that socialism does not abolish personal possessions but seeks to end exploitation through collective ownership of the means of production.
Thus, liberalism functions as the ideological armor of capitalist rule. Only socialism (through democratic control, workers’ power, and collective ownership) can transform formal freedom into real human emancipation.
Join us ( https://sosialisalternatif.org) today to shape a better tomorrow.
Further reading:
Leon Trotsky, “The Transitional Programme” (1938)
Committee for a Workers’ International, “Trotsky’s Transitional Method” (https://www.socialistworld.net/2024/02/24/trotskys-transitional-method-how-to-win-workers-and-youth-for-socialism/)
6 Apr 2025TRANSCRIPT
3. 56 Years After May 13
May 13, 1969, remains one of the darkest days in Malaysian history—a violent racial clash that left hundreds dead and entrenched ethnic divisions in the country’s political landscape. But what really caused this tragedy? And who benefited from the bloodshed?
In this podcast, we examine May 13 from a socialist perspective, uncovering how Malaysia’s capitalist ruling elite—then and now—has exploited racial tensions to divide the working class and maintain power. We’ll dissect the economic inequalities, colonial legacies, and political manipulations that led to the riots, and explore how the same tactics are used today to pit Malay, Chinese, Indian, and Indigenous workers against each other.
Join us as we revisit this painful history—not just to remember, but to resist the forces that continue to divide us.
Further reading:
https://sosialisalternatif.org/50-tahun-selepas-peristiwa-13-mei-sentimen-perkauman-masih-berleluasa-apakah-jalan-penyelesaian/
13 Dec 2024TRANSCRIPT
2. Kapitalisme dan Rasisme Berpisah Tiada
Malaysian economist and activist, , examines how capitalism and racism are intertwined, exploiting the working class and hindering class unity against the true enemy: the capitalist system.
15 Oct 2024TRANSCRIPT
Apa Tu' Sosialisme
Apakah sosialisme? Kami mendalami apa yang dimaksudkan oleh Sosialis Alternatif dengan sosialisme dan apa yang diperjuangkan oleh Sosialis Alternatif.
Bacaan lanjut yang berguna:
'Capitalism in crisis' dari CWI: https://www.socialistworld.net/2024/01/24/capitalism-in-global-crisis-and-conflict-and-the-struggle-for-socialism/ (https://www.socialistworld.net/2024/01/24/capitalism-in-global-crisis-and-conflict-and-the-struggle-for-socialism/)
'Analisa PRN 2023' dari SA: https://sosialisalternatif.org/analisa-prn-2023-krisis-politik-berterusan-apakah-jalan-keluar-kepada-kelas-pekerja-dan-rakyat-biasa/ (https://sosialisalternatif.org/analisa-prn-2023-krisis-politik-berterusan-apakah-jalan-keluar-kepada-kelas-pekerja-dan-rakyat-biasa/)
'Trotskyism what is it' dari SP: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/23350/11-08-2016/trotskyism-what-is-it/ (https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/23350/11-08-2016/trotskyism-what-is-it/)
Inside a recent episode
4. Liberalism, the Ideology of Capitalism
Published 12 Oct 2025 · Transcript excerpt
[…] So then some people in Malaysia would also say that our type of capitalism is a bit weird, it's a bit distorted, it's not real capitalism, it's not the normal capitalism, it's not laissez -faire capitalism of the United States, for example. And people would then say this is a crony capitalism, we have people are leaching off, siphoning off funds, left -right center, like for example, the, the result of nudging, right? He's just a leech and a product of crony capitalism, but isn't that true for every other state in the world that there exists some form of leech in the system and that leech is, well you could say, Trump is a leech, Warren Buffet is a leech, the late Queen Elizabeth was a leech, the minority of people who own the vast majority of things, the land, the technology, the factories, and yet the people who work there, they own nothing. […]
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