
Nathaniel Flakin
Nathaniel is a freelance journalist and historian from Berlin. He is on the editorial board of Left Voice and our German sister site Klasse Gegen Klasse. Nathaniel, also known by the nickname Wladek, has written a biography of Martin Monath, a Trotskyist resistance fighter in France during World War II, which has appeared in German, in English, and in French, and in Spanish. He has also written an anticapitalist guide book called Revolutionary Berlin. He is on the autism spectrum.
Robert Habeck Wrote a Play Praising a Right-Wing Mass Murderer
Germany's Green vice chancellor strikes many as an idealist who has been struggling with the tough realities of government. Yet before he was a national politician, he wrote a play that opens a window into a dark soul.
Nathaniel Flakin
December 1, 2023Fact Check: Did German Leftists Try to Bomb West Berlin’s Jewish Community Center in 1969?
Answer: No. The bombing was undertaken by West Germany’s domestic secret service, originally founded by Nazis.
Nathaniel Flakin
November 29, 2023“Stop Thief!” The German State Attacks Migrants to Distract from Its Own Antisemitism
German politicians claim that antisemitism is an “imported problem.” Even a cursory look at the facts, however, shows that anti-Jewish hatred is not caused by pro-Palestinian protests. No, the source is German capitalism.
Nathaniel Flakin
November 21, 2023Competing Rallies at Berlin’s Free University
On successive Fridays, there was a pro-Palestinian and a pro-Israeli rally at the Free University. One was dominated by international students, including many Jews and Palestinians, calling for solidarity — the other was dominated by German politicians spewing racism. Guess which was which.
Nathaniel Flakin
November 13, 2023In Berlin, Jews and Palestinians Are Demonstrating Together
This Saturday, Jewish and Palestinian groups are organizing a demonstration against the war.
Nathaniel Flakin
November 4, 2023Does the State of Israel Protect Jews from Antisemitism?
Western governments claim that the Zionist state is necessary to protect Jewish life. Yet a look at history shows that the colonization of Palestine was motivated by imperialism, not by any desire to help Jews.
Nathaniel Flakin
October 31, 2023Germany’s Die Linke Splits: Social Chauvinists vs Government Socialists
Sahra Wagenknecht is splitting from Die Linke and forming a new party. Her "left conservatism" is bad for immigrants but bad for German workers too.
Nathaniel Flakin
October 28, 2023A Brief History of Anti-Zionist Jews
We are told that the war in Gaza is the product of an ancient conflict between Israeli Jews and Palestinians. Yet there is a long history of Jewish socialists fighting against Zionism which offers lessons for today's struggle.
Nathaniel Flakin
October 21, 2023Berlin Bans All Solidarity with Palestine
Hundreds of thousands around the world are demonstrating in solidarity with the people in Gaza. Except in Berlin. The government has banned all expressions of solidarity.
Nathaniel Flakin
October 17, 2023Germany’s Establishment Lines Up Behind Colonialism and Apartheid
All German parties, from the reformist Left to open Nazis, are declaring their unconditional solidarity with Israel. In Berlin, all solidarity with Palestinians is banned.
Nathaniel Flakin
October 11, 2023Another Referendum to Expropriate Berlin’s Biggest Landlords
Two years ago, 59.1 percent of Berliners voted to socialize real estate companies. But nothing has happened. Now another referendum has been launched.
Nathaniel Flakin
October 6, 2023At Argentina’s Presidential Debate, Far-Right Milei Got Slapped Down by Socialist Bregman
On Sunday, five candidates in Argentina's presidential elections faced off on live TV. Socialist Myriam Bregman showed that far-right economist Javier Milei, who won a surprise victory in the primaries, was no "libertarian lion" — he's a "cuddly kitten of the rich and powerful."
Nathaniel Flakin
October 2, 2023For Climate Leninism!
Andreas Malm has called for “ecological Leninism” to fight the climate emergency. Good. But above all, Leninism means smashing the capitalist state.
Nathaniel Flakin
October 1, 2023How East Germany Got Overrun by Nazis
The far-right AfD is riding high in the polls, and get their best results in East Germany. What happened to the former GDR?
Nathaniel Flakin
August 24, 2023How the Daughters of a Nazi General Became Communist Spies
As Hitler rose to power, two daughters of Germany’s top general became spies for the Communist Party. A new biography tells the story of how hatred for fascism and its aristocratic collaborators led them to become class traitors.
Nathaniel Flakin
August 12, 2023Marx21 in Germany Is About to Split
Marx21, a post-Trotskyist network inside the reformist party Die Linke, is just weeks away from a three-way split. A former member looks at the debates inside Marx21 and draws lessons for revolutionary socialists.
Nathaniel Flakin
August 9, 2023Berlin Has a New Pride Demonstration That Cops Hate
Pride should be a protest, not a party. The Internationalist Queer Pride in Berlin takes up the tradition of the Stonewall Riots. Cops hate it — and that's a good thing
Nathaniel Flakin
July 30, 2023Trans Liberation and Socialist Revolution — A Debate with the IMT
Trotskyists should aim to be in the front lines of all struggles against oppression. This is a debate with Alan Woods's International Marxist Tendency (IMT) on how socialists should relate to the movement for queer and trans liberation.
Nathaniel Flakin
July 29, 2023The Worker Bees of the Comintern
The Communist International was not only a revolutionary organization, but also an employer. Brigitte Studer's global history of the Comintern, “Travelers of World Revolution,” was just published in English by Verso Books.
Nathaniel Flakin
July 20, 2023Does the Revolution Eat Its Children?
An interview with historian Doug Greene about his new book on Stalinism, The Dialectics of Saturn.
Nathaniel Flakin
July 11, 2023Ukraine Is Not Vietnam
What is the class character of the war in Ukraine? Some socialists see it as a war of national liberation against Russian “imperialism,” and so they support the Ukrainian side. But this leads them to align with Western imperialism. Socialists need an independent position.
Nathaniel Flakin
July 1, 2023The Institute for Sexual Science: Berlin’s Forgotten Centre for Trans Activism
In the 1920s, a fancy Berlin villa was home to a gay Jewish doctor who facilitated the very first gender-affirming surgeries. In the same building, communist leaders held secret meetings with anti-colonial guerrilla fighters. The Institute for Sexual Science was like something out of a Fox News fever dream.
Nathaniel Flakin
June 29, 2023A New Film Shows How to Blow Up a Pipeline — But Would That Save The Planet?
The new film based on Andreas Malm’s book offers lots of fun action — but very individualistic politics.
Nathaniel Flakin
June 6, 2023Berlin Police Attack Jews and Palestinians Commemorating the Nakba
On the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, the Berlin police banned all Palestinian demonstrations, and broke up a demonstration of Jewish Berliners in solidarity with Palestinians.
Nathaniel Flakin
May 22, 2023There’s No Democracy Under Apartheid
75 years after its founding, the state of Israel is being rocked by massive protests in defense of democracy. Yet Israel never was a democracy — and never can be.
Nathaniel Flakin
May 15, 2023Not Syriza, Not Podemos, But a Working-Class Party Fighting for Socialism
What lessons can U.S. socialists draw from the experiences of Syriza, Podemos, and other broad left parties? Nathaniel Flakin and Jimena Vergara of Left Voice respond to Andrew Sernatinger of Tempest.
Nathaniel Flakin
April 18, 2023On Monday, Germany Will Experience a “Mega-Strike”
On March 27, German railway workers and public sector employees will shut down the whole country. All trains are being canceled. Airports, freeways, hospitals, and daycare centers will all be affected.
Nathaniel Flakin
March 25, 2023Turning the Greatest Anti-war Novel Ever into Bourgeois Propaganda
All Quiet on the Western Front won four Oscars, and it’s not hard to see why. The production — depicting the horrors of World War I — is spectacular. Yet the producers did not at all understand Erich Maria Remarque’s novel. Spoilers follow.
Nathaniel Flakin
March 16, 2023Pro-NATO Positions Split a Trotskyist Tendency
The war in Ukraine has led to intense debates on the international socialist Left. In November, the Socialist Labor Party (SEP) of Turkey announced it was breaking with the Socialist Workers Movement (MST) of Argentina, in a serious blow to their common project, the International Socialist League (ISL-LIS). What can we learn from this split?
Nathaniel Flakin
March 10, 2023Berlin’s Repeat Elections: Racist Campaign Pushes the City to the Right
Last Sunday, the conservative party won the most votes in Berlin’s local elections. It remains unclear who will be the city’s next mayor.
Nathaniel Flakin
February 19, 2023