McCarthyism and its lessons for the left today..The Trump administration's repressive moves have sparked talk of a "new McCarthyism" so this episode presents an interview with Alan Wald about McCarthyism -- the "Second Red Scare" in the US in the late 1940s and 1950s -- and its lessons for the left in our time..UPDATE - Helpful clarification from one of our listeners on information mentioned in this episode's intro: "Of the two recent faculty firings in Texas, only one of them (Tom Alter’s case) was at Texas State. The other was at Texas A&M. And, of course, there have been numerous other cases around the country."..Readings and Resources..Ashley Smith, Against the New McCarthyismhttps://tempestmag.org/2025/09/against-the-new-mccarthyism/..United States: Texas State Terminates Alter, National Campaign Fights Backhttps://lis-isl.org/en/2025/10/united-states-texas-state-terminates-alter-national-campaign-fight-back/..Alan Wald Homepagehttps://sites.google.com/a/umich.edu/alan-wald-homepage/..Bill Keach, Rehabilitating McCarthyismhttps://tempestmag.org/2025/10/rehabilitating-mccarthyism/