April 30th marks the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. But although the conflict still looms large in American memory, the reasons why the US went to war have been distorted in the mainstream account.

In this episode of Confronting Capitalism, Vivek Chibber and Melissa Naschek explain the real imperialist history and remember the courageous struggles of both the Vietnamese resistance and the US anti-war movement.

Confronting Capitalism with Vivek Chibber is produced by Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy, and published by Jacobin. Music by Zonkey.