“He was a seven-year-old in the Russian Revolution. I was a seven-year-old in the Chinese Revolution… We both saw incredible violence. We both understood totalitarianism and the danger of Marxism.”

The moment that author and social critic Os Guinness describes his conversation with one of the greats of Western philosophy, Isaiah Berlin, he provides a window into a world that it is too easy to forget.

Many of the most eloquent defenders of Western civilisation are those who lived under Marxist tyranny. In the words of Dr Guinness: “I would never be naïve: Their revolutions never succeed. Their oppressions never end. Their promises never are fulfilled.”

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In the first of our ARC off-stage conversations, Os Guinness and Winston Marshall explore the story of the development of Marxism and Cultural Marxism, and the different stories about freedom that we have.

Is freedom found in the absence of constraint? Is it found in the absence of economic and social inequality? Or is there a deeper story to tell?

These are the questions which animate the discussion. We hope you enjoy the conversation.