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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.

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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, 2023

Fact 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, 2023

Competing 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, 2023

In Berlin, Jews and Palestinians Are Demonstrating Together

This Saturday, Jewish and Palestinian groups are organizing a demonstration against the war.

Nathaniel Flakin

November 4, 2023

Does 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, 2023

Germany’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, 2023

A 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, 2023

Berlin 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, 2023

Germany’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, 2023

Another 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, 2023

At 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, 2023

For 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, 2023

How 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, 2023

How 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, 2023

Marx21 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, 2023

Berlin 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, 2023

Trans 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, 2023

The 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, 2023

Does 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, 2023

Ukraine 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, 2023

The 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, 2023

A 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, 2023

Berlin 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, 2023

There’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, 2023

Not 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, 2023

On 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, 2023

Turning 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, 2023

Pro-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, 2023

Berlin’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