Cosmopod
Cosmopod is the official podcast of Cosmonaut Magazine, a project dedicated to expanding the project of scientific socialism in the 21st Century. In our feed we have a combination of podcast episodes and audio articles from our website.
Sun, April 13, 2025
City Time: Life as Political Prisoners on Rikers with Jarrod Shanahan and David Campbell
Isaac and Jack are joined by David Campbell and Jarrod Shanahan to discuss their new book City Time: On Being Sentenced to Rikers Island , an ethnography of Rikers Island based on the author’s experiences as inmates on Rikers. We discuss the unwritten social codes that order life on Rikers, the social function of jails (and some surprising similarities to the New Deal), the differences between urban jails and rural prisons, the relationship between inmates and jail staff, and the labor struggles that play out in jails and prisons. Resources: NY’s Prison Guard Strike Has Roots in Decades of Racialized Deindustrialization Andrea R. Morrell - Prison Town Making the Carceral State in Elmira, New York Truthout interview about the Wildcat Strike Hard Crackers " Stick-Up on Rikers Island " piece by David Campbell. Kim Kelly - Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor Revolutionary Affinities: Toward a Marxist-Anarchist Solidarity https://stopcop.city/ https://www.abcf.net/ https://intlantifadefence.wordpress.com/ https://x.com/ab_dac https://www.patreon.com/davidcampbelldac
Sun, March 23, 2025
The Contemporary Irish Left with Oisín Gilmore & David Landy
Rudy joins Oisín Gilmore and David Landy, authors of Fragments of Victory Fragments of Victory: The Contemporary Irish Left for a discussion on the unique political history of the Republic of Ireland. We talk about why the country never developed a strong social democratic tradition, the dominance of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, the economic turmoil of the Celtic Tiger crash, and Ireland’s distinctive response to austerity compared to Southern Europe. We then move to the major social movements—water charges, abortion rights, and housing—highlighting their impact and legacy. The discussion also covers the role of trade unions, the evolution of the Irish left from Labour’s decline to the rise of Sinn Féin and Trotskyist parties, and the influence of figures like Clare Daly and Mick Wallace. Finally, the episode reflects on the recent election results and what they mean for the future of Ireland’s left-wing politics.
Mon, March 10, 2025
The German Left w/ Carlos from Licht & Luft
Rudy joins Carlos of Licht & Luft for a discussion on the Licht & Luft project and the broader German left, with a focus on Die Linke. We discuss the decision to organize within Die Linke, the political debates within the organization including the focus on economistic demands or on more political demands, a read on the recent elections, the issue of Zionism, before turning to discussing BSW & Sahra Wagenknecht's project. We finish with a discussion on European solidary and the extraparlamentarian left in Germany. References: https://lichtundluft.org/2024/12/15/die-linke-und-palaestina-teil-1-die-lage-der-partei/ https://lichtundluft.org/2025/01/12/die-linke-und-palaestina-teil-2-von-der-hottentottenwahl-lernen/ https://weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/1524/firewall-and-hot-air/ https://weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/978/die-linke-rotten-politics-and-rotten-terms/
Mon, February 24, 2025
Tricontinentalism: North Korea in Havana & Georgetown with Moe Taylor
Rudy talks with Moe Taylor, author of North Korea, Tricontinentalism, and the Latin American Revolution, 1959–1970 to explore the overlooked role of North Korea in the revolutionary internationalist movement of the 1960s, particularly its influence on Latin America and the Global South. We highlight how the DPRK, alongside Cuba and Vietnam, contributed to Tricontinentalism -a movement distinct from Soviet and Chinese approaches to internationalism. The conversation delves into North Korea’s attraction to Cuba, its navigation of the Sino-Soviet split, and its support for Latin American revolutionary movements. The discussion also examines Guyana’s unique position in the Cold War, from Cheddi Jagan’s ousting with U.S. backing to Forbes Burnham’s later embrace of “cooperative socialism,” influenced by North Korea’s emphasis on discipline and self-reliance. The episode concludes by analyzing why this period of North Korean influence waned, while still maintaining ties with Guyana and African nations into the 1980s.
Tue, January 14, 2025
White Hoods and Pinkertons with Chad Pearson
Isaac, Cliff, and Jay interview Chad Pearson, author of the book Capital's Terrorists: Klansmen, Lawmen, and Employers in the Long Nineteenth Century . We discuss the armed, violent employer associations of the turn of the century, from the Klan to the Pinkertons. While most of our episodes look at the organization and self-activity of the oppressed, here we look at the organizers, activists, and agitators of the propertied. We discuss the ideological underpinnings of American vigilantism and the legacy of violence in American history.
Mon, December 16, 2024
Spanish Anarchism and the New Economy
Rudy joins Miguel Gómez, author of La CNT y la Nueva Economía: Del colectivismo empresarial a la planificación de la economía confederal (1936-1939) for a discussion on the most prominent Spanish anarchist union, the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo. We talk about the origins of the CNT, its base, its history under the Primo de Rivera dictatorship and its reactions to the formation of the Spanish Republic. We then talk about the currents within the CNT, and their ideas for what the economy should look like after the revolution, before turning to the time where they were able to put those ideas into practice during the Civil War. Finally, we discuss the intellectual highpoint of the CNT's economic program: the ideas about cooperative socialism proposed in 1938.
Tue, December 10, 2024
Mexico 1920-40: Building the Revolutionary State
Amelia, Carlos and Rudy sit down for the follow-up episode on the Mexican revolution to discuss the consolidation of the revolutionary state with a focus on the figure of Lázaro Cárdenas. They discuss the origins of yellow unionism and agrarian reform in Mexico, the presidency of Plutarco Calles and the Cristero War, and the radical period in the 1930s which led to mass expropriations, the nationalization of oil and a radical international policy. Bibliography: B. Carr - Marxism & Communism in Twentieth-Century Mexico J. Cockroft - Mexico, Class Formation, Capital Accumulation, and the State G. Correa-Cabrera, R. A. Ragland - Workers, parties and a “New Deal:” A comparative analysis of corporatist alliances in Mexico, and the United States, 1910–1940 E. Ginzberg - Revolutionary Ideology and Political Destiny in Mexico, 1928-1934: Lazaro Cardenas and Adalberto Tejeda A. Knight - The Mexican Revolution: A Very Short Introduction T. Rath - Cardenismo, Revolutionary Citizenship, and the Redefinition of Mexican Militarism, 1934–1940 M. K. Vaughan - Cultural Politics in Revolution: Teachers, Peasants, and Schools in Mexico, 1930-1940 M. K. Vaughan, S. Lewis (ed.) - The Eagle and the Virgin: Nation and Cultural Revolution in Mexico, 1920–1940
Fri, November 22, 2024
The Untold Story of Gerry Healy and British Trotskyism by Aidan Beatty
James and Rudy join Aidan Beatty, author of The Party is Always Right: The Untold Story of Gerry Healy and British Trotskyism for a discussion on Gerry Healy. We discuss the figure of Gerry Healy, and his contextualization within the British left in the interwar and post-WW2 period and the evolution of his organization up to its dissolution by its own members. We also discuss the strict internal regime of the organizations he lead, the Socialist Labour League and the Workers Revolutionary Party, relating them to wider practices or accusations of cult-like behavior on the left. Warning: this episode includes some minor references to the sexual harassment cases in the SLL/WRP.
Sun, November 10, 2024
Somalia: Colonialism, Socialism and War
Eric and Rob join Abdi for a discussion on Somalia from the colonial period to the present. They discuss the formation of the Somali people, the long and conflictual relationship to Ethiopia, British and Italian colonization and Somali independence before moving on to the scientific socialist period under Siad Barre. They discuss the achievements of this period, the origins of the Ogaden War conflict, and the abandonment of the USSR and of Socialism. They then discuss the disintegration of the Somali state, the long civil war, and the Islamic Court Union period, before giving some thoughts on the present.
Mon, October 28, 2024
Where is the working class' power? An interview with Peter Olney and John Womack
Peter Olney is a labor organizer of over half a century, long-time organizing director at the ILWU, and researcher on labor strategy. John Womack is a Harvard historian of the labor movement and the Mexican Revolution. In this episode they sit down with Ira and Rudy to discuss Peter and John’s 2023 book Labor, Power, and Strategy . They discuss the controversial approach of organizing workers in the choke points of production, what it will take to rebuild the labor movement, and new opportunities for working class internationalism.
Sun, October 13, 2024
Ba'ath and Ba'ath: Arab Socialism in Syria and Iraq
Eric, Andrew and Rudy join for a discussion on the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party in the two regions where it held power: Syria and Iraq, covering the history of both countries from the dissolution of the Ottoman empire up to the Hama Rebellion in Syria and the Kuwait War in Iraq. Among other topics we discuss the more military and sectarian character of the party in Syria, the 'left' and 'right' wings of Ba'athism, the figures of Salah Jadid, Hafez Assad and Saddam Hussein, the relationship between Ba'athism and Communism in Syria and Iraq, and what Ba'athism actually was as well as its relationship to Nasserism. S. Aburish - Saddam Hussein: The Politics of Revenge H. Batatu - The old social classes and the revolutionary movements of Iraq N. van Dam - The Struggle for Power in Syria: Politics and Society under Asad and the Ba'th Party R. A. Hinnebusch - Syria: Revolution from Above E. Kienle - Ba'ath vs Ba'ath: The Conflict Between Syria And Iraq, 1968-1989 M. Khadduri - Independent Iraq 1932-1958: A Study in Iraqi Politics M. Khadduri - Republican Iraq: A Study in Iraqi Politics since the Revolution of 1958 M. Khadduri - Socialist Iraq: A Study in Iraqi politics since 1968 T. Ismael - The Communist Movement in Syria and Lebanon T. Ismael - The rise and fall of the Communist Party of Iraq
Sun, September 29, 2024
Marxism, Labourism, and the Roots of British Communism, 1884-1921 with Tony Collins
Rudy and Andreas join Tony Collins, author of Raising the Red Flag. Marxism, Labourism, and the Roots of British Communism, 1884–1921 for a discussion on the origins of the British Marxist movement from the creation of the Social Democratic Federation to the foundation of the Communist Party. We cover some of the important groups of the British Left at the time, the labor militancy before and during and after the First World War, and the founding of the Communist Party of Great Britain detailing which groups did not join the party. We discuss the weaknesses of the CPGB in the issues of Colonialism and its relationship to the Labour party before finishing with a discussion of how past issues can be reflected in the present.
Tue, August 27, 2024
Ending the One Party State: Reflections on Rhode Island Democratic Socialists of America
Tony Unger sets the record straight on Rhode Island DSA’s political experiences with the Democratic Party and need for class independence. Read By: Christina Carman Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Mon, August 19, 2024
Pacific Gibraltar: A soft introduction to Hawai'i
Rudy joins Miguel, amateur historian of Hawai'i for a discussion on the history and present of the islands. We cover the first contact, the unification of the Hawai'ian kingdom, its pan-Oceanic profile, the overthrow of the Monarchy which leads to annexation and the Democratic Revolution before talking about the present struggles around military bases, tourism, land and water as well as the way that Hawai'ian identity has changed through the years. References: No Makou Ka Mana: Liberating the Nation Paperback – Kamanamaikalani Beamer Who Owns the Crown Lands of Hawai‘i? - Jon M. Van Dyke A Power in the World: The Hawaiian Kingdom in Oceania - Lorenz Gonschor Pacific Gibraltar: U.S.-Japanese Rivalry Over the Annexation of Hawaii, 1885-1898 - William Michael Morgan From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawaii - Haunani-Kay Trask Articles: Amid Calls For Diversification, A Look Back At Hawaii's History of Single-Industry Dominance When a State of Emergency is Declared, We Should All be Alarmed Ige and Integrity: Machine Politics and Special Interests
Mon, July 29, 2024
The Italian Communist Party: From Resistance to Dissolution
James, Steven and Rudy sit down to talk about the Italian Communist Party (PCI) from its foundation to its dissolution, with a focus on its period of maximum influence from the post-WW2 refoundation to the unraveling of the Historic Compromise in 1980 as well as the differences and similarities to the French Communist Party. We discuss the founding of the PCI in the aftermath of the First World War, followed by its destruction during the fascist period and how this destruction was a historic trauma of fascism that colored its post-WW2 strategy. We discuss how the party negotiated a place in the Italian political system, and how different tendencies within the party responded to events in the 50s and 60s. We then turn to the historic compromise, what it was and how it can be seen as a right-wing interpretation of the Popular Front. We finish by discussing the unraveling of the Popular Front, the dissolution of the party in the 1990s and the consequences on the present Italian left. Bibliography: G. Amyot - The Italian Communist Party: The Crisis of the Popular Front Strategy P. Daniels, M. J. Bull - Voluntary Euthanasia: From the Italian Communist Party to the Democratic Party of the Left S. Hellman - Italian Communism in Transition: The Rise and Fall of the Historic Compromise in Turin, 1975-1980 L. Magri - The Tailor of Ulm: A History of Communism M. A. Macciocchi - Letters from inside the Italian Communist Party to Louis Althusser D. Sassoon - The Strategy of the Italian Communist Party: From the Resistance to the Historic Compromise R. Rossanda - The Comrade from Milan J. B. Urban - Moscow And The Italian Communist Party: From Togliatti to Berlinguer Pre-fascist period: J. M. Cammett - Antonio Gramsci and the origins of Italian Communism P. Spriano - The occupation of the factories, Italy 1920 G. Williams - Proletarian Order: Antonio Gramsci, Factory Councils and the origins of Italian communism, 1911-1921
Mon, June 17, 2024
The New Thing: Jazz Music in the Cold War, 1950-1970 with Christian Noakes
Jackson and Donald are joined by Christian Noakes author of Do It Yourself, Brother: Cultural Autonomy and the New Thing to discuss jazz music and musicians during the Cold War. We cover the U.S. state department's attempts to weaponize Jazz for imperial cultural diplomacy and how artists in the Jazz avant-garde of the 1950s-60s resisted the exploitation of their music by both the U.S. government and the capitalist music industry.
Mon, June 03, 2024
Sports and Straight Edge in Red Vienna with Gabriel Kuhn
We join Gabriel Kuhn , author of books like Soccer vs. the State and Antifascism, Sports, Sobriety: Forging a militant working-class culture for a discussion on sports, sobriety and also the ways Austromarxism applied these principles during the interwar period. We discuss Gabriel's attraction to the Straight Edge movement as well as its contemporary transformations, as well as sports and left-wing interventions. We then focus on his study on Austromarxism, Red Vienna, and working-class culture, discussing key figures like Julius Deutsch and the Schutzbund and examining their historical impact and relevance today. We conclude with reflections on the legacy of the Schutzbund, the Worker’s Olympics, and the applicability of these historical lessons to contemporary health and sports interventions.
Mon, May 27, 2024
Nasserism and the Egyptian Revolution of 1952
Rudy, Andrew and Eric sit down to discuss Egypt from its origins as an independent polity under Mehmed Ali up to the Sadat years, with a focus on the Nasserist revolutionary period. We discuss the origins and aims of the 1952 coup and revolution, the relationship between communists and Nasser(ism), the three periods of Nasserism, the national and international character of the government periods, the (lack of) institutionalization of Arab Socialism and the Arab Socialist Union, the unraveling of Arab Socialism under Sadat and much more! References: A. Abdel-Malek - Egypt: Military society: The Army Regime, the Left, and Social Change under Nasser S. Aburish - Nasser: The Last Arab: A Biography K. J. Beattie - Egypt During the Sadat Years M. Hussein - Class Conflict in Egypt: 1945-1970 E. Kienle - Egypt: A Fragile Power
Mon, May 13, 2024
Escaping the Constitutional Bind with Aziz Rana
Donald and Luke talk with Aziz Rana about his latest book, The Constitutional Bind: How Americans Came to Idolize a Document That Fails Them. Rana discusses why constitutional veneration has remained (for now) "a naturalized, unremarked-upon feature” of American life despite the Constitution's flagrantly undemocratic nature. Along the way, he touches on the Socialist Party of America's constitutional skepticism, the impact of war and foreign revolutions on constitutional ideology, and the risks and rewards of our current moment. Rana integrates the lives of several important people, including Crystal Eastman, W.E.B DuBois, Eugene Debs, Afemi Shakur, and Charles Beard.
Mon, May 06, 2024
The Making of a Working Class Revolutionary: an Interview with Jerome Scott
We sit down with Jerome Scott, former Detroit Auto worker and founding member of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers to learn about Black working-class radicalizing during the Vietnam War and Detroit uprisings and to get advice on directions for the revolutionary movement today.
Sun, April 21, 2024
Artificial Intelligence
Ian, Nico, Matt, Chas and Rudy join for a general discussion on artificial intelligence. They cover the early origins of AI as a field, with the debates of the time, all the way up to the present state. They then discuss what to expect from AI in the near future, and give aspects where the prospects may be optimistic, pessimistic or neutral. They finish with a discussion on how Marxists should relate to AI in the present, trying to avoid overly pessimistic or uncritical attitudes.
Mon, April 15, 2024
The Frankfurt School in Context (1923-69)
Exir, Toby and Jackson join for a discussion on the (in)famous Frankfurt School. They discuss the history of the Institute for Social Research from its founding as a think tank for the study of the workers’ movement, through the turn to critical theory and empirical social research in the 1930s, its flight to America in the wake of the Nazis’ rise to power, and its return to Germany after the Second World War. Focusing in on Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, and Herbert Marcuse, they use the trajectory of these thinkers and the Institute to consider questions of how intellectuals should relate to political movements, the relationship between theory and empirical research, and the possibility and desirability of intellectual independence. They also discuss some of the key ideas of the Frankfurt School, including the critique of instrumental reason, the concept of the totally administered society, and Marcuse’s development of psychoanalytic ideas.
Mon, April 01, 2024
Mining and the Environment with Martin Lallana
Rudy joins Martín Lallana for an introductory discussion on mining. We talk about the importance of mining to capitalism, the ecological impacts of different kind of mining, the way that the materials extracted have changed along history focusing on the materials needed for an energy transition and the way the Ukranian war has changed the needs of European countries before discussing the possibilities to have more just forms of mining and the potentialities of "urban mining"
Sun, March 24, 2024
Jihadism and Military Juntas in the Sahel with Alexander Thurston
Rob joins Alexander Thurston for a discussion on his work on the Sahel region, focusing on the interplay between radical Islamic groups, the civilian governments/military juntas of the regions and international players like the US and France. They discuss the social basis of the groups, the role of different countries and different armies, the reasons behind the military coups and their possible future paths as well as how much is not really known about these groups.
Mon, March 11, 2024
[REMASTER] Communism in the Colours of France: The French Communist Party (1920-2024)
Steven, James and Rudy sit down for a long discussion on the French Communist Party from its inception all the way to its present state. We cover all the periods in its history: the Pre-WW2 Popular Front, the post WW2 entrance into government, its isolation, and its coming back into government with Mitterrand in the 80s, before discussing its decline and the reasons for it. References: M. Adereth - The French Communist party: A Critical History (1920-1984), from Comintern to "the colours of France" J. Friend - The Long Presidency: France in the Mitterrand Years J. T. Jackson - The Popular Front in France: Defending Democracy, 1934-38 D. Joly - The French Communist Party and the Algerian War R. Martelli, J. Vigreux, S. Wolikow - One Hundred Years of History of the French Communist Party: The Red Party
Thu, March 07, 2024
The Value of Dune: a Communistic Perspective
Rejecting recent interpretations in the U.S. socialist press as truistic, Jackson Albert Mann makes a case for a particular communistic reading of the first novel in Frank Herbert’s Dune franchise. Read By: A Darlymple Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Mon, March 04, 2024
Towards the Abyss: Ukraine from Maidan to War with Volodymyr Ishchenko
Rudy joins Volodymyr Ishchenko, author of Towards the Abyss: Ukraine from Maidan to War , for a discussion on Ukraine and the broader post-Soviet sphere. We discuss the formation of the Ukranian identity under the USSR, the story of Ukraine after independence through the Orange Revolution, Euromaidan and up to the recent war, and the failures of its elites to enact a political project. We also talk about the role of the far-right, whether the war was preventable, Military Keynsianism in Ukraine and Russia, and compare Euromaidan to the Belarus protests of 2020.
Fri, February 23, 2024
Letter: Llorente v. Schaeffer
Written By: Abner Dalrymple Read By: Will Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Tue, February 20, 2024
Gene Bruskin: A Life in the Labor Movement
Aliyah VanPelt and Cliff Connolly sit down with longtime organizer Gene Bruskin to get his advice and hear stories from his time in the movement, including with US Labor Against the War.
Thu, February 15, 2024
The Korean Miracle’s Rural Legacy
Alex Witherspoon, Yu Zhou, and Alle Fang give an account of socialist agriculture in rural North Korea, arguing that the difficulties faced by the country’s economy have been primarily caused by deteriorating trade conditions. Read By: Allen Lanterman Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Mon, February 12, 2024
The Mexican Revolution
Amelia, Carlos and Rudy sit down to discuss the revolutionary period of Mexico in the decade of 1910. We talk about the Porfiriato period which led up to the revolution, the conjecture which led to the events of 1910, the three stages of the revolutionary wars, and the diverse factions acting in each stage. We discuss the relevant figures of the revolution, including Francisco Madero, Emilio Zapata, Pancho Villa, the Flores Magón brothers, as well as the ultimate victors in the Sonora clan. We also talk about the end point of the war, and why the state-building faction was able to consolidate rule over Mexico. A second episode will discuss the consolidation of the revolutionary regime in Mexico up to the 1940s. Bibliography: J. Cockroft - Mexico: Class Formation, Capital Accumulation, and the State A. Knight - The Mexican Revolution: A Very Short Introduction A. Knight - The Mexican Revolution, Volume 1: Porfirians, Liberals, and Peasants A. Knight - The Mexican Revolution, Volume 2: Counter-revolution and Reconstruction A. Gilly - The Mexican Revolution J. Reed - Insurgent Mexico
Mon, February 05, 2024
Seeds of Power: The Global Food System and The Green Revolution with Raj Patel
Rudy joins Raj Patel for a discussion on the global food system. We discuss how food serves as a powerful educational tool , the paradox of global hunger amidst food abundance and obesity , linking it to the systemic issues in food production and consumption. We discuss producers, vendors and how supermarkets dictate what is cultivated and sold. We also talk about Raj's work on the Long Green Revolution , challenging the conventional view of the Green Revolution as a historical event and presenting it as an ongoing process. We dissect the impact of the Green Revolution, its role in geopolitics, and the emergence of a new Green Revolution and increased financialization in agriculture. The discussion extends to the topic of food sovereignty and food security, and the socio-economic fault lines within the global food system. Lastly, we discuss Raj's recent co-authored book, Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Justice providing a brief overview of its content and relevance in the context of contemporary health and societal challenges.
Thu, February 01, 2024
Just Another Kautsky Fan
Interpreting Stalin’s fledgling revolutionary career through his later status as a brutal labor dictator obscures an early whole-hearted admiration for the works of Kautsky and Lenin. By Lawrence Parker. Read By Luke Pickrell Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Mon, January 22, 2024
Captives: the History of Rikers Island and New York City with Jarrod Shanahan
Isaac and Jack join Jarrod Shanahan, an activist, educator, and the author of Captives: How Rikers Island Took New York City Hostage , for a wide-ranging conversation. We cover the last 70 years of New York City's political history from the lens of the city's jails. We discuss the various actors fighting for control in the city: the politicians and bureaucrats responsible for the administration of jails, the repressive jailers and their corrupt labor union, the revolutionary social movements struggling for liberation inside and outside prison, the non-profits brought in to plug the budget holes and keep the peace, and the capitalists profiting from it all. After examining the shifts in political hegemony within New York City - from liberal "penal welfarism" to the neoliberal "war on crime" to a resurgent, reactionary "revanchism" - we reflect on how this history informs our current organizing in the abolitionist and public sector union movements. We end with a discussion on the 2024 elections and Jarrod's most recent article for Hard Crackers, “ Iowa Bluffs ,” focused on his experiences at a recent Trump rally in Dubuque, Iowa.
Mon, January 15, 2024
Citizen Marx: Republicanism and the Formation of Karl Marx’s Social and Political Thought with Bruno Leipold
Donald and Luke talk with Bruno Leipold about his forthcoming book, Citizen Marx: Republicanism and the Formation of Karl Marx’s Social and Political Thought . Bruno touches on several topics including English Chartism, democratic republicanism, national constitutions, and the political development Marx and Engels’s over the years. Bruno emphasizes the democratic republican foundation of Marxism and why it needs to be rediscovered.
Thu, January 04, 2024
Solidarność and the Polish People's Republic
Chas, James, and Rudy delve into the history of the Polish People's Republic in this episode, focusing on the influential Solidarity movement. They explore communism's roots in Poland from the interwar period to WWII, highlighting the challenges posed by the Soviet invasion. The conversation covers the post-WWII liberation, the establishment of the Polish nation-state, and the diverse governmental shifts leading up to the 1980s. They also discuss how Solidarity emerges from the Workers' Defense Committee, leading to discussions on the events preceding martial law and the eventual decline of communism in 1980s Poland. They conclude by examining Solidarity's post-communist path and comparing the varied trajectories of the People's Republics. References: F. Bartel - The Triumph of Broken Promises: The End of the Cold War and the Rise of Neoliberalism J. M. Bloom - Seeing Through the Eyes of the Polish Revolution: Solidarity and the Struggle Against Communism in Poland F. Fejtö - A history of the people's democracies: Eastern Europe since Stalin P. J. Kenney - Rebuilding Poland: Workers and Communists, 1945–1950 D. Ost - Defeat of Solidarity: Anger And Politics In Postcommunist Europe D. Ost - Solidarity and the Politics of Anti-Politics: Opposition and Reform in Poland since 1968 A. J. Prazmowska - Civil War in Poland: 1942-1948 A. Szymanski - Class Struggle in Socialist Poland: With Comparisons to Yugoslavia
Mon, December 11, 2023
The Algerian Revolution II (1965-99): Developmentalism, Marketization and War
Rob, Eric and Rudy continue their discussion of the Algerian revolution from the fall of Ben Bella to the end of the Black Decade (known in the West as the Algerian Civil War). We discuss the starting point of Boumedienne's government, the agrarian reform and the developmentalist program undertaken in industry, as well as the internal divisions of the FLN during this period which led to widespread sabotage of this developmentalist program. We then talk about Boumedienne's death, and the change in the direction of the country taken by his successor Benjadid, and how political liberalization was attempted to counteract decaying life quality. We discuss the underlying events and rifts that led to the start of the Civil War, as well as discuss why scholars question that it was a Civil War at all. We end by shortly discussing the character of the Algerian Government that came out of the Civil War. References: M. Bennoune - The Making of Contemporary Algeria, 1830-1987 J. Mcdougall - A History of Algeria K. Pfeifer - Agrarian Reform Under State Capitalism in Algeria H. Roberts - The Battlefield: Algeria 1988-2002, Studies in a Broken Polity E. Wolf - Peasant Wars of the Twentieth Century
Thu, December 07, 2023
Endless Muddle
Renzo Llorente critically responds to Gil Schaeffer’s views on democratic rights and socialism. Read By: Will Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Mon, November 27, 2023
Inside the CR-CPUSA/Red Guards: Cults, Violence and the Left
Gus, Donald and Isaac join Esra, author of the webside CR-CPUSA Exposed: Hub for Information and Recovery for a discussion on their experience inside the Committee to Reconstitute the Communist Party of the USA, also known as the Red Guards. We go into a lot of detail on how the CR-CPUSA operated, how it related to its locals and how it was basically centered around the personality of Jared Roark, also knon as Comrade Dallas. We talk about how the CR-CPUSA came to dissolve by a process initiated from its own membership and how that relates to other accounts of leaving cults. We then pivot to the term 'brainwashing', cultic studies and how people on the left can relate to this field. We finish with the often conflictual relationship between the Red Guards and other leftist movements and the role of violence and abusive persolaities in leftist organizations.
Mon, November 13, 2023
Commune or Nothing!: Venezuela’s Communal Movement with Chris Gilbert
Rudy and Christian join Chris Gilbert for a discussion on his new book Commune or Nothing! Venezuela’s Communal Movement and its Socialist Project . We cover the history of the Venezuelan communal project, and how it relates to previous attempts of the government to build a socialist economy including the Venezuelan cooperative movement or the drive to build state-run industry. We discuss the ideas of István Mészáros on how the commune centers the communal control of the labor process, and attempts to solve problems found during the socialist transition, before pivoting to ground data on the communes, the economic relationships between them and towards the outside, the issues with voluntarism, the problem of attracting the youth and the structure of the new Communard Union. We finish with an outlook for the future and a discussion on how communes center all around human development and have a more mystical side to them.
Mon, October 30, 2023
A Participant's History of the Students for a Democratic Society with Gil Schaeffer
Luke joins Gil Shaeffer, a former member of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and author of " You Can’t Use Weatherman to Show Which Way the Wind Blew ” to talk about the SDS, the New Left, and the centrality of democratic republicanism to Marxism. Gil discusses his path to joining SDS in the late 1960s, the impact of figures like C Wright Mills, the little-remembered March on Fort Dix, and the meaning of “participatory democracy.” He explains how SDS and the New Left are presented in popular histories (including the work of Kirkpatrick Sale), and the motivation behind writing his history of the period. Gil ends by discussing the present moment and the ongoing struggle for a democratic revolution.
Thu, October 19, 2023
Race, Class and the Zionist State
Gus Breslauer responds to Angry Workers of the World on the issue of Palestine and Zionism. There is no path “around” Intifada, the working class must go in-and-through it. Read by: Will Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Tue, October 17, 2023
Between Market and Plan: the Soviet Union in the Era of the NEP
Donald, Christian, and Connor sit down to discuss the political economic conditions of the Soviet Union during the period of the New Economic Policy. Over the course of the episode, they cover War Communism, the intellectual currents and debates within the Party, the importance of the peasant question, the geopolitics of isolation, and the NEP’s long term viability. References: R. C. Allen - Farm to Factory: A Reinterpretation of the Soviet Industrial Revolution V. Barnett - The Revolutionary Russian Economy, 1890-1940 Ideas, Debates and Alternatives V. Brovkin - Russia After Lenin: Politics, Culture and Society, 1921-1929 E. H. Carr and R. W. Davies – Foundations of a Planned Economy 1926-1929, Volume 1 R. W. Davies - From Tsarism to the New Economic Policy: Continuity and Change in the Economy of the U.S.S.R. R. W. Davies - Soviet Economic Development from Lenin to Khrushchev R. W. Davies - The Socialist Offensive: The Collectivisation of Soviet Agriculture, 1929-1930 R. B. Day - Leon Trotsky and the Politics of Economic Isolation A. Ehrlich – The Soviet Industrialization Debate, 1924-1928 S. Fitzpatrick, A. Rabinowitz and R. Stites (eds.) - Russia in the Era of NEP: Explorations in Soviet Society and Culture P. R. Gregory - Before Command: The Russian Economy from Emancipation to the First Five-Year Plan J. B. Hatch - Labor and Politics in NEP Russia: Workers, Trade Unions, and the Communist Party in Moscow, 1921-1926 M. L. Hilton - Selling to the Masses: Retailing in Russia, 1880-1930 M. Reiman - The Birth of Stalinism: the USSR on The Eve of The Second Revolution S. A. Resnick, R. D. Wolff - Class Theory and History: Capitalism and Communism in the USSR O. Sanchez-Sibony - Red Globalization: The Political Economy of the Soviet Cold War from Stalin to Khrushchev. D. Shearer - Industry, State, and Society in Stalin's Russia, 1926-1934 K. A. S. Siegel - Loans and Legitimacy: The Evolution of Soviet-American Relations, 1919-1933 L. H. Siegelbaum - Soviet State and Society Between Revolutions 1918-1929 D. R. Stone - Hammer and Rifle: The Militarization of the Soviet Union, 1926-1933
Mon, October 02, 2023
The Wars of Reconstruction with Douglas Egerton
Luke joins Douglas Egerton, author of The Wars of Reconstruction: The Brief, Violent History of America's Most Progressive Era , for a conversation about an epoch-defining period in U.S. history. Drawing from the lives of lesser-known actors, Douglas details attempts to transform the foundation of society following the Civil War and the vociferous resistance to those changes. Douglas provides an overview of Reconstruction, the forces involved, and, crucially, the way in which the period has been memorized and presented in academia and popular culture.
Mon, September 25, 2023
The Libyan Arab Jamahiriya with Matteo Capasso
Rudy joins Matteo Capasso, author of Everyday Politics in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya for a discussion on Libya with a focus on the period from 1969 to 2011. We delves into Matteo's research on Libya, exploring the myths and stories surrounding Libya's history, aiming to dispel the notion of Qaddafi's authoritarianism and the concept of statelessness among the Libyan people. The conversation takes a historical journey, discussing the antecedents of the Libyan revolution, the formation of the "Jamahiriya," and Qaddafi's rise to power. They analyze the authoritarian nature of Qaddafi's rule, Libya's anti-imperialist role in the world, and key events that marked the decline of the revolution. The podcast also examines the role of Saif al-Islam, the framing of opposition in Islamic terms, the economic benefits of the revolution, and the surprising insights gained from conversations with refugees. Finally, the discussion delves into the complexities of the 2011 Libyan revolution and its enduring impact on Libyan politics, especially present with the recent floods.
Wed, September 13, 2023
The Algerian Revolution I (1954-65): Decolonization, Self-Management and Internationalism
Rob, Eric and Rudy delve into the Algerian revolution, tracing its roots back to French colonization, through the liberation war, and the Ben Bella period. This first part of the discussion on Algeria explores the 19th-century French settlement of Algeria and the various phases of colonization. It also examines the impact of Algerian labor migration to France and its role in the liberation war. We provide insights into the National Liberation Front (FLN), highlighting its different factions and also discuss key events during the war. We go on to analyze the Ben Bella era, shedding light on the myth of Algerian self-management and its failure to meet expectations. Additionally, the episode covers Ben Bella's economic and internationalist program, discussing both its achievements and shortcomings. We then explore the fault lines within Algerian leadership that ultimately led to Ben Bella's ousting in the 1965 coup d'etat by Boumédiène. In part two we will discuss Algeria through Boumédiène's government, the Civil War and up to the present. References : M. Bennoune - The Making of Contemporary Algeria: 1830-1987 J. J. Byrne - Mecca of Revolution: Algeria, Decolonization, and the Third World Order I. Clegg - Worker's Self Management in Algeria M. H. Davis - Markets of Civilization: Islam and Racial Capitalism in Algeria A. Horne - A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962 E. R. Wolf - Peasant Wars of the Twentieth Century
Thu, September 07, 2023
Democratic Rights and Socialism
Gil Schaeffer responds to Renzo Llorente’s “The Contradictions and Confusions of ‘Democratic Socialism” and argues that socialists need to base their politics on a coherent ethical theory of democratic rights. Read by: Will Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Mon, September 04, 2023
Migration as Economic Imperialism with Immanuel Ness
Rudy joins Immanuel Ness to discuss his recent work Migration as Economic Imperialism: How International Labour Mobility Undermines Economic Development in Poor Countries . We begin by explaining why migration is economic imperialism and addressing key questions about who migrates, their reasons, and destinations, highlighting evolving migration patterns. We explore how migration patterns are designed to meet labor demands and the role of recruitment agencies. Ness distinguishes between temporary and undocumented migrants, emphasizing the differences and discussing circular migration for highly-skilled individuals. Furthermore, he delves into the impact of skilled vs. unskilled migration on countries and the idea of migration as both individual freedom and national catastrophe. Ness also examines remittances, their framing by organizations like NGOs and the UN, their real-world implications, and how they tie into neoliberal ideology. We then discuss migration in the political realm: immigrant organization, their vulnerabilities, and reliance on personal actions or NGO support, with examples from the US and South Africa.
Thu, August 31, 2023
From Champion of the Oppressed to Truth, Justice, and the American Way: Who Took the Socialism Out of Superman?
Hank Kennedy traces the ideological history of Superman, arguing that the populism of the character’s early iterations would eventually be shed as a result of commercial interests. Read by: Keir Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Mon, August 28, 2023
A History of the Home and the Fight for Free Time with Helen Hester and Nick Srnicek
Rudy joins authors Helen Hester and Nick Srnicek to explore their latest book, After Work: A History of the Home and the Fight for Free Time . The conversation commences with a clear definition of domestic work, setting the stage for the book's unique perspective on this issue in contrast to other theoretical frameworks. The dialogue delves into 20th-century trends in household labor within the global North, with a special focus on Cowan's paradox. Additionally, the episode explores the realm of electronic smart homes and introduces the "maids over machines" principle, highlighting regional variations in caregiving from the global North to the global South. The discussion culminates in an examination of alternative paradigms for addressing household labor, including historical collective infrastructure initiatives from the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as contemporary endeavors like those found in Cuba.
Tue, August 22, 2023
Marxism and the Democratic Republic
Luke Pickrell of Marxist Unity Group emphasizes the centrality of radical democracy to the communist project and reintroduces the construction of the democratic republic as the foundational political goal for socialists today. He emphatically asserts that if socialists are to defeat the tricephalic hydra of capitalist domination, we must aim for the heart – “the source and parent of all the other atrocities” – the US Constitution. Read by: Aliyah Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Mon, August 21, 2023
Marxist Unity Group & the Democratic Socialists of America’s National Convention
Amelia joins Amy, Steven, and Greg for a discussion centered around the Marxist Unity Group (MUG) in the aftermath of the recent Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) convention. Amy, who earned a seat on the National Political Committee (NPC) through her election at the convention, as well as the others provide an insider's perspective on the organization of DSA and the significance of the National Convention. The conversation delves into the inner workings of DSA, exploring its structural dynamics, the purpose of the National Convention, and the extent of its influence. Factions within DSA, the culture of open debate, and the underlying divisions within the organization come under scrutiny. The team then dissects the proceedings and outcomes of the convention itself. Shifting the focus to the youth wing of DSA, they talk about Marxist Unity Group's strategic approach here. The episode concludes with an exploration of MUG's immediate and medium-term political aspirations, offering listeners a comprehensive overview of their vision and trajectory.
Mon, August 14, 2023
Czechoslovakia's Quest for Reform: Unraveling the Prague Spring
Chas, Christian, Rudy, and James come together to delve into a comprehensive conversation about the Prague Spring, a significant Czechoslovak reform movement. Their discussion begins by tracing the roots of Czechoslovak communism, recounting the post-World War II Communist ascension to power, and elaborating on the gradual and intricate reform drive that eventually culminated in Dubček's rise to leadership during the Prague Spring of 1968. Subsequently, they explore the ideologies championed by key reformists, analyze the factors that prompted the Soviet Union's intervention, and dissect the shortcomings of the USSR's intervention strategy. Lastly, the conversation concludes by dissecting the reformers' envisioned goals and actual accomplishments. Bibliography: G. Golan - Reform Rule in Czechoslovakia: The Dubcek Era 1968–1969 J. Krejčí - Social Change and Stratification in Postwar Czechoslovakia V. Kusin - The Intellectual Origins of the Prague Spring: The Development of Reformist Ideas in Czechoslovakia, 1956-1967 V. Kusin - From Dubcek to Charter 77: A Study of 'Normalization' in Czechoslovakia, 1968-1978 Z. Mlynář - Nightfrost in Prague: The end of humane socialism O. Šik - Czechoslovakia: The Bureaucratic Economy. I. Svitak - The Czechoslovak Experiment: 1968 - 1969 K. Williams - The Prague Spring and its Aftermath: Czechoslovak Politics, 1968-1970
Mon, August 07, 2023
Labor Republicanism and the Freedom Question in 19th Century North America
Luke and Donald join Alexander Gourevitch, author of From Slavery to Cooperative Commonwealth: Labor and Republican Liberty in the 19th Century, for a wide-ranging discussion about the republican conception of freedom and how republicanism was taken up by workers in the United States. They begin by discussing older conceptions of freedom and slavery and how those ideas evolved. They consider the Workingmen’s Parties and the Knights of Labor as examples of ‘labor republicans’ who saw wage labor as a form of slavery. They discuss Supreme Court rulings that embody the distinction between ‘laissez-faire’ and ‘labor republicanism,’ as well as different conceptions of ‘civic virtue.’ They conclude by exploring the potential for a universal struggle under the banner of freedom from domination and all forms of servitude.
Mon, July 31, 2023
Nurturing Minds, Uniting Movements: Exploring Political Education in the Communist Movement
Jackson, Rudy and Steve sit down to talk about political education in the communist movement. They explore their personal experiences with education in both formal and political settings, highlighting the contrasting dynamics. Delving into the models of political education within a party, they emphasize the significance of cultivating a shared language and vision. The trio generously shares practical examples and tips for organizing engaging and diverse reading and study groups, ensuring a captivating learning experience that transcends demographics.
Thu, July 27, 2023
There Is Never One Lamb Alone: On Finding Unity in Diversity
Splits and purges are no solution to the problem of disagreement in the socialist movement. Marisa Miale calls for unity in diversity in the context of the DSA. Read By: LC Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Mon, July 24, 2023
The Mexican Dirty War: From Cárdenas to Zapatismo with Adela Cedillo
Rudy joins Adela Cedillo, co-editor of Challenging Authoritarianism in Mexico Revolutionary Struggles and the Dirty War, 1964-1982 , and author of several studies on the Mexican dirty war such as El Fuego y El Silencio, Historia de las Fuerzas de Liberación Nacional Mexicanas (1969-1974) , for a conversation on this period of history. We discuss the mixed legacy of the Mexican revolution, the state of the left after the progressive presidency of Lazaro Cárdenas, the two periods in Mexican insurrectionism: before and after the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre and how the left responded to this event. We continue by discussing the origins of the Frente de Liberación Nacional (FLN), how its strategy evolved, and how it laid the base for the Zapatistas. We finish by briefly discussing how the Zapatistas are different from their predecessors and how the dirty war slowly evolved into the drug war.
Thu, July 20, 2023
The Contradictions and Confusions of “Democratic Socialism”
Renzo Llorente engages with contemporary advocates of Democratic Socialism and argues that they ultimately fail to demarcate between liberal and socialist visions of democracy, resulting in capitulation to the liberal status quo. Read By: Will Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Mon, July 17, 2023
The World System and The Beautiful Game ⚽ with Sam Parry
Rudy and Djamil join Sam Parry, author of The Ugly Economics of the Beautiful Game for a discussion on how capitalism interacts with the sport most of the world knows as football. We talk about the many ways in which capitalism interacts with international football from a world-systems perspective including how the periphery ends up supplying talent to the economic core, the tendencies towards vertical integration, the stickiness of capital, the historic patterns of club ownership, and the recent irruption of oil-money clubs. We also briefly talk about the ways national teams, race and football interact.
Thu, July 13, 2023
The Question of Worldview and Class Struggle in Philosophy
Daniel Tutt looks to the philosophy of Georg Lukács and his critique of bourgeois irrationalism to explicate the role of intellectuals and worldviews in the class struggle. Read By: Allen Lanterman Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Thu, July 06, 2023
The African Blood Brotherhood, its Relations and Legacy
Combining the insights of previous scholarship with information gathered from Bureau of Investigation (BOI, predecessor of the FBI) surveillance documents, Ian Szabo presents a new angle on the history of the African Blood Brotherhood (ABB), illustrating the organizations’ particular synthesis of Black radical politics and Marxism, as well as revealing the racial fantasy through which contemporaneous mainstream U.S. media and the state understood its methods and goals. Read by: Luke Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Tue, July 04, 2023
The U.S. Constitution and the Struggle for Democracy with Robert Ovetz
Luke and Donald join Robert Ovetz, author of We the Elites: Why the Constitution Serves the Few , for a discussion on the Constitution as a potent obstacle to political and social democracy in the United States. They begin with a discussion about the history and context of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and the various anxieties the Framers held toward indigenous resistance, slave rebellions, and debtor revolts. They explore the document’s inner workings, including the various minoritarian checks scattered throughout. They comment on previous critiques of the Constitution and where those critiques have gone. They conclude by emphasizing why people concerned with any of the numerous problems of contemporary society should position the Constitution at the heart of their attack.
Thu, June 29, 2023
ACT UP, Fight Back
Charlie Frank gives an overview of the forms of social mobilization that developed as a response to the AIDS pandemic as well as what lessons the left can draw from this chapter of history. Read by Will Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Mon, June 26, 2023
The People's Republic of Mozambique with Colin Darch
Rudy joins Colin Darch , author of several books on Mozambique and curator of Mozambique History Net for a discussion on Mozambique from the colonial period to the unraveling of the socialist period. We discuss Portuguese colonialism and the economic system the country had, the liberation movement FRELIMO with attention to its origins and its historical leader Eduardo Mondlane, before talking about Samora Machel, the first leader of an independent Mozambique. We discuss the Machel period and its achievements, and also what changes after Machel's death and Joaquim Chissano's take over.
Thu, June 22, 2023
Socializing Care: Against Domestic Realism
The Cibcom Collective take aim at domestic realism, arguing that feminist planning of the domestic economy is necessary to the communist project. This is a translation of an article originally published in Jacobin América Latina. Read By: Luke Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Thu, June 15, 2023
Karl Marx and Radical Indigenous Critiques of Capitalism
Nodrada explores the tensions and resonances between Marxism and Indigenous thought, putting the writings of Native theorists such as Vine Deloria Jr., Luther Standing Bear, Winona LaDuke, and many others in dialogue with those of Marx. Read By: Aliyah Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Mon, June 12, 2023
The People's Republic of Bulgaria: From the Fields to the Cyberstars with Victor Petrov
Rudy joins Victor Petrov, author of Balkan Cyberia: Cold War Computing, Bulgarian Modernization, and the Information Age behind the Iron Curtain for a discussion on The People's Republic of Bulgaria and its computing industry and offshoots. They discuss the history of socialism in Bulgaria, how it changed the country's productive basis from an agricultural nation to one that could produce an all-Bulgarian satellite in 1981 and be a worldwide leader of computing. We talk about how the computing industry took advantage of Comecon and of intelligence services to grow, how Bulgaria related to other countries like Japan and India, Bulgarian modernization and the cultural space the computing industry took including sci-fi and the Bulgarian laws of robotics. We end by talking about how reformers tried to use computers to reform socialism, and industry professionals took a role in the fall of socialism in Bulgaria.
Mon, June 05, 2023
Cop City will never be built with Kei and Leila
Isaac joins Kei and Leila from Stop Cop City/Defend Atlanta Forest for a discussion on the movement, its strategy and its ultimate goals. They discuss what brought them into the movement, what the Weelaunee coalition and the Atlanta Police Foundation are, how the movement uses three prongs to aim for victory, and how it relates to the political landscape in Atlanta. They also touch on the centrality of care in a movement which has seen someone murdered, as well as the links to contemporary ecosocialism and abolitionism. You can donate to the Atlanta Solidarity Fund here .
Thu, June 01, 2023
Letter: "Lines of flight" for undeniable problems
Cibcom Collective's Response to Luke P Read by: Will Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Mon, May 29, 2023
Entropy and the Capitalist System with Robert Biel
Rudy joins Robert Biel, author of The Entropy of Capitalism, The New Imperialism and Sustainable Food Systems for a discussion on systems approaches to analyzing capitalism. They cover Robert's earlier work on entropy and capitalism, how the capitalist system externalizes disorder on the periphery, the role of China in the world-system, the potentialities of agriculture and much more.
Thu, May 25, 2023
Letter: On Sortition and Democratic Decision-making
This letter is in response to Conquering Democracy, Abolishing Political Representation by the Cibcom Collective. I appreciated the comrades’ thought-provoking work and the opportunity to clarify my ideas in response. I have several peripheral agreements regarding the importance of democracy and the utility of workers’ councils, and one fundamental disagreement about the nature of the democratic republic. Read by: Will Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Sun, May 21, 2023
Neither Vertical nor Horizontal: A Theory of Political Organization with Rodrigo Nunes
Rudy and Harry join Rodrigo Nunes, author of Neither Vertical nor Horizontal: A Theory of Political Organization for a discussion on Rodrigo's approach to thinking about the problem of organization. We cover the need to move beyond certain dichotomies like vertical and horizontal, self-organized vs organized from the outside, the need for understanding organization ecologically, the problem of organizational fitness, and discuss the potential applications of the ideas in this book.
Mon, May 08, 2023
The Beijing Revolutionary Women’s Conference of '49 with Elisabeth Armstrong
Annie joins Elisabeth Armstrong, author of Bury the Corpse of Colonialism: The Revolutionary Feminist Conference of 1949 for a discussion of the Beijing conference and the international women's movement of the period. They discuss the composition and politics of the Women’s International Democratic Federation, the key figures in the WIDF who played a role in the Asian Women’s Conference, the different rhetorical strategies formulated through the conference, including revolutionary motherhood and women’s anti-colonialism, as well as the political and interpersonal dynamics between women in the WIDF from the imperial core and women from colonized countries. They then discuss the place of the conference in the broader communist movement, the role of state repression, and how the terrain of feminist politics has changed since the peak of the WIDF, drawing lessons for contemporary feminist and socialist movements.
Thu, May 04, 2023
Is This the Left that Jacobin Wants?: Chris Maisano’s Perilous Drift Towards Post-Marxism
A recent Jacobin piece by Chris Maisano argues that building “a Left that matters” requires focusing on Democratic Party electoral work, but we must be clear about the consequence of such an orientation: a middle-class Left that remains disconnected from the proletariat and abandons the fundamentals of Marxism. By Jacque Erie. Read By: Keir Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Thu, April 27, 2023
Conquering Democracy, Abolishing Political Representation
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Mon, April 24, 2023
Cultivating the City with George Martin and Salvatore Engel
Rudy joins Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro and George Martin, authors of Urban Food Production for Ecosocialism: Cultivating the City for a discussion on urban agriculture. We talk about the history of food and the city, the ways the Global North/South divide is reflected in food, before focusing on the authors' fieldwork on what the political uses as well as limitations of urban food gardens are. We discuss examples in Ghana, Italy, the US, China and Cuba, and what is done right and wrong in each of these cases.
Thu, April 20, 2023
American Socialism from 1892 to 1908
Transcription and commentary by SA Reed. Read by Cliff Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Tue, April 11, 2023
H. T. Odum's Environment, Power and Society
Amelia, RK, Harry and Rudy sit down for a discussion on systems approaches to ecology using as a basis H. T. Odum's Environment, Power, and Society for the Twenty-First Century: The Hierarchy of Energy . We talk about Odum's innovations in the field of ecology, his ideas about the hierarchies of energy and matter, how to use Odum's framework to extend Marxist analysis of society towards constructing an eco-socialist program, and use that to critically evaluate several current political proposals including degrowth, unequal ecological exchange and eco-modernism. Other references: “Limits to growth” in communism? Bonaiuti, M. From bioeconomics to degrowth . London: Routledge, 2011. http://www.georgescuroegen.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/From_Bioeconomics_to_Degrowth_def.pdf Cockshott, Paul. "Calculation in-Natura, from Neurath to Kantorovich." University of Glasgow (2008). https://www.academia.edu/download/68627453/standalonearticle.pdf Foster, J. B., and Holleman, H. "The theory of unequal ecological exchange: a Marx-Odum dialectic." Journal of Peasant Studies 41.2 (2014): 199-233. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03066150.2014.889687 Kikstra, J. S., Mastrucci, A., Min, J., Riahi, K., & Rao, N. D. (2021). Decent living gaps and energy needs around the world. Environmental Research Letters, 16(9) https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac1c27 O’Neill, John. "Socialist calculation and environmental valuation: money, markets and ecology." Science & Society 66.1 (2002): 137-151. https://guilfordjournals.com/doi/pdf/10.1521/siso.66.1.137.21006 Pirgmaier, E. (2018) Value, Capital and Nature. Rethinking the foundations of ecological economics. PhD thesis, University of Leeds. https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/22895/
Sun, April 09, 2023
Letter: MUG and R&R’s Joint Resolutions for the 2023 DSA National Convention
links to read and sign resolutions here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfXgSds8qpoyqfwY-wXfs00htSRExsofCdvgLDRN-_Zn82IsQ/viewform https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc_9gWNbmroeapzEBICuZotHoLElzUalW_jD84jxqqkVF8L-w/viewform
Mon, April 03, 2023
Democracy and Socialism, the Two Edges of Marxism’s Knife
Gil Schaeffer responds to Ben Grove’s “ Twelve-Step Program for Democrat Addiction ” and its arguments about the need for a mass party, critiquing Mike Macnair, Ben Lewis and Lars Lih’s concept of Erfurtian Marxism. Read By: Will Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Mon, March 27, 2023
Unite the Pro-Party Wing to Revolutionize the DSA!!
Shuvu Bhattarai of the Marxist Unity Group outlines an overview of the recent history of DSA and finds a demarcation between pro-party and anti-party tendencies, calling on those sympathetic to the former to join the fight for a mass socialist party in the United States of America. Read by: Aliyah Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment. Part 2 of Shvu's response to Lazare will deal with building a United Front Campaign of the Working Class in time for the 2024 US Presidential Elections . Special thanks to members and sympathizers of the Marxist Unity Group, Reform and Revolution, Tempest, and Socialist Alternative for helping compile some of the information here about the DSA and other socialist groups, as well as providing some resources to help build this article’s argument.
Mon, March 20, 2023
Marxist approaches to International Law with Robert Knox
Anton joins Robert Knox for a discussion of Marxist approaches to law, with a focus on international law. We discuss critical legal studies, international law and how it compares to other branches of law, its origins and how it has evolved through the years focusing on the cases of Haiti, the USSR and decolonization movement, and law and neocolonialism. We also discuss how Marxists can approach law in general through principled opportunism.
Fri, March 17, 2023
Why Socialists Must Reject the Yimby-Nimby Binary
Harry Zehner analyzes the discourse and politics of the YIMBY-NIMBY divide and argues that socialists should reject this binary entirely. Read By: Aliyah Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Thu, March 09, 2023
The People's Democratic Republic of Yemen
Rudy, Carson, Eric and Rob sit down to talk about the only socialist state in the Arab peninsula, and arguably in the Arab world: The People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, also known as South Yemen. We discuss its origins, the struggles of the left factions to pursue a socialist path, its economic policies and political turns, as well as the factors that led to its demise through reunification with the north. We also briefly talk about the revival of South Yemeni sentiment during the present war. References: Articles: Helen Lackner - Yemen’s Socialist Experiment Was a Political Landmark for the Arab World Books: Anne-Linda Amira Augustin - South Yemen's Independence Struggle: Generations of Resistance Noel Brehony - Yemen Divided: The Story of a Failed State in South Arabia Fred Halliday - Revolution and Foreign Policy: The Case of South Yemen, 1967-1987 Joseph Kostiner - The Struggle For South Yemen Joseph Kostiner - South Yemen's Revolutionary Strategy, 1970 1985: From Insurgency To Bloc Politics Helen Lackner, Husayn Abd Allah Amri - P. D. R. Yemen: Outpost Of Socialist Development In Arabia Miriam M. Müller - A Spectre Is Haunting Arabia: How the Germans Brought Their Communism to Yemen
Mon, March 06, 2023
The Problem of Unity
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Mon, February 27, 2023
Montreal is an Island: 1968 and the Black International Left with David Austin
Isaac and Jackson join David Austin, author of Fear of a Black Nation and Dread Poetry and Freedom: Linton Kwesi Johnson and the Unfinished Revolution , for a discussion of the Afro-Caribbean diasporic left, focusing on Montreal in the late 60s. They discuss the influence of the U.S. black power movement on the world, the black left in Montreal, and in particular the confluence between Caribbean nationalism and Quebec nationalism. They discuss the Congress of Black Writers, Walter Rodney's presence in it and how the development of the Afro-caribbean left literature creates a fertile ground for the development of politics.
Mon, February 20, 2023
The Rise of Revolutionary Abolitionism with Jesse Olsavsky
Cliff and Isaac join Jesse Olsavsky, author of The Most Absolute Abolition: Runaways, Vigilance Committees, and the Rise of Revolutionary Abolitionism, 1835–1861 , for a discussion on his book on the early abolitionist movement. They discuss the textbook history of abolition, and how this masks the role of runaways and other radicals substituting them for a white middle-class leadership, what Vigilance Committees were and how they acted, the exchange of ideas between different social groups in the abolitionist movement, the role runaway interviews had on the movement and its parallels today. They also talk about the Fugitive Slave Act and its effect on the Committees, the international dimension of abolitionism, the abolitionist view of the U.S. republic and the links between abolitionism and other movements. Prof. Olsavsky recommended these texts as good primary sources on revolutionary abolitionism. Thomas Smallwood ( https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/smallwood/smallwood.html ) Harriet Jacobs ( https://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/jacobs/jacobs.html ) Phillip Foner's edited collection of speeches by Frederick Douglass ( https://archive.org/details/DouglassSelectionsWritings ) Frances Ellen Walker's poems ( https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/frances-ellen-watkins-harper ) Martin Delany's novel Blake ( https://archive.org/details/blakeorhutsofame00dela ) Harriet Beecher Stowe's second novel Dred ( https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/55012 )
Fri, February 17, 2023
Naming The System
Isaac KD and Jack L defend their critique of DSA’s dominant strategic orientation towards reform campaigns in a response to Sam Lewis’ “ In Defense of Campaigns “. Read by: Allan Lanterman Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Thu, February 09, 2023
The Hungarian Tragedy of '56: Origins, Events and Consequences
James, Cliff, Chas and Rudy join for a discussion on the events that take place in Hungary in 1956. We discuss the origins of the revolt, talking about the short lived Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919, the People's Democracy period under Rakosi, the New Course and the roots of discontent. We then discuss the events themselves, as well as the reactions of the USSR and the wider Eastern Bloc and those of the West. We also talk about the program of the uprising, and what possible consequences it could have had had it succeded, and how it reshaped Hungary after the Soviet intervention. References: Csaba Békés - Hungary's Cold War: International Relations from the End of World War II to the Fall of the Soviet Union Peter Fryer - Hungarian Tragedy Charles Gati - Failed Illusions: Moscow, Washington, Budapest, and the 1956 Hungarian Revolt Bennett Kovrig - Communism in Hungary: From Kun to Kádár William Lomax - Hungary 1956 Mark Pittaway - From the Vanguard to the Margins: Workers in Hungary, 1939 to the Present
Mon, February 06, 2023
To Talk of Organization - On Nunes' Neither Vertical nor Horizontal
A l e x J a m e s r e v i e w s R o d r i g o N u n e s ’ l a t e s t b o o k N e i t h e r V e r t i c a l n o r H o r i z o
Mon, January 30, 2023
Cuba in Africa with Piero Gleijeses
Rudy joins Piero Gleijeses, author of Conflicting Missions: Havana, Washington and Africa, 1959–1976 and Visions of Freedom: Havana, Washington, Pretoria, and the Struggle for Southern Africa, 1976–1991 for a short discussion on Cuba's internationalist efforts in Africa. We discuss the start of Piero's project, and how he was allowed access to the Cuban archives and his interactions with Cuban official Jorge Risquet during his research on Cuba in Algeria. We then talk about what moved Cubans to focus on solidarity work in Africa, why Cuba intervened in Angola, and what was the USSR's role in this. We discuss the significance of the Angolan struggle, as well as the end of the Cold War and Apartheid and how they were related. We finish by discussing the memory of Cubans in Africa. Further interviews: The Dig Radio Radio War Nerd EP #232 — Cuba in Angola Wars, with Piero Gleijeses Cadre Journal's Podcast Episode from 25 May 2022: Cuba's War Against Apartheid: The Heroic Cuban Operation in Angola, with Piero Gleijeses
Mon, January 23, 2023
Knowledge: Power and Emancipation
Renato Flores discusses the privatization of scientific knowledge and examines efforts of revolutionary movements to democratize this knowledge to help develop a communist approach to science. Narrated By: Allen Lanterman Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Sat, January 21, 2023
The Twilight of the Sweatshop Age: Labor, Monopsony and Supply Chains with Ashok Kumar
Rudy joins Ashok Kumar author of Monopsony Capitalism: Power and Production in the Twilight of the Sweatshop Age for a discussion on global sweatshops, labor and commodity chains. We start off by comparing the Triangle Shirtwaist fire of 1912 and the Rana Plaza disaster of 2013, and explaining what has changed and what has stayed the same. We talk about the particular role of the textile industry in capitalism, how it changed under globalization and what it reveals for the capitalist system focusing on the topic of monopsony, i.e. single buyer markets. We discuss the position of labor in the textile industry, how it has shaped global supply chains, and what types of organizing have won concessions from capital in the past and present.
Mon, January 16, 2023
Legislative Campaigns and Policy Feedback
With a focus on the recent organizing work of New York City Democratic Socialists of America, Comrades Isaac KD and Jack L critique the notion of a “policy feedback” loop as the guiding element of DSA’s legislative strategy, as well as provide an alternative socialist framework for how DSA can engage with reform campaigns. Narrated by: Aliyah Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Thu, January 12, 2023
The Conservative Party and the Decline of Tory Britain with Phil Burton-Cartledge
James and Harry join Phil Burton-Cartledge, author of Falling Down: The Conservative Party and the Decline of Tory Britain for a discussion on his book. They discuss the Tories' crisis of political reproduction, how the party set the grounds for this with the Thatcher reforms, the class basis of the Conservative party before turning to explaining why understanding the Conservative party is important for the left not only in the United Kingdom but in the world. They follow by talking about the Tory reinvention during the New Labour period of dominance, the class dynamics behind the Brexit votes and how that was reflected in the two following general elections, how Phil would extend the book to cover Boris Johnson's downfall, Liz Truss's short interregnum and Rishi Sunak's rise before reflecting on what the future holds for the Tories and the possible ways they could reinvent themselves.
Sun, January 08, 2023
Coalitions of the Liberal and Socialist Left
How should socialists engage in coalitional politics? Jack L draws conclusions based on historical lessons and recent experiences in the housing struggle. Narrated by: Cliff Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Tue, January 03, 2023
Soviet Cybernetics and the Promise of Big Computer Socialism
Amelia, Djamil, Christian, and Rudy join for a discussion on the history of Soviet Cybernetics and the use of computers for socialist planning. We discuss the origins of Cybernetics, its role as a reform movement in the sciences, and why cybernetics became attractive to the Soviet academy in the 50s, before moving to the biographies and projects of Anatoly Kitov and Viktor Glushkov. We reflect on the failures of OGAS, and what could have been done better, as well as its positive legacy and finish by discussing the ways in which cybernetics was kept alive until the collapse of the USSR and the remaining possibilities for computerized planning. References: B. Peters - How Not to Network a Nation: The Uneasy History of the Soviet Internet L. Graham - Science, Philosophy and Human Behavior in the Soviet Union S. Gerontovich - InterNyet: Why the Soviet Union did not build a nationwide computer network S. Gerontovich - From Newspeak to Cyberspeak: A History of Soviet Cybernetics O. V. Kitova & V. A. Kitov - Anatoly Kitov and Victor Glushkov: Pioneers of Russian Digital Economy and Informatics V. Pikhorovich - Glushkov and His Ideas: Cybernetics of the Future Y. Revich - The Story of How the USSR Did Not Need the Pioneer of Cybernetics D. West - <a class
Wed, December 14, 2022
Probabilistic Approaches to Political Economy and Labor with Machover, Farjoun & Zachariah
Rudy joins Emmanuel Farjoun, Moshé Machover and David Zachariah for a discussion on their two books Laws of Chaos: A Probabilistic Approach to Political Economy (EF&MM only) and How Labor Powers the Global Economy: A Labor Theory of Capitalism . We cover the origins of the project to develop a probabilistic approach to political economy and how it has developed, what are its basic assumptions, what sort of theory of value it proposes, why it treats labor preferentially and how it compares to other schools. We also discuss ways of extending the project to account for imperialism and other factors. We mention in the podcast Moshé's lecture How Labour Powers the Global Economy which gives an introduction to the book.
Wed, December 07, 2022
The Workers' Opposition in the Russian Communist Party with Barbara C. Allen
Annie and Lucas join Barbara C. Allen, editor of the recent collection of documents The Workers' Opposition in the Russian Communist Party: Documents, 1919-30 and author of Alexander Shlyapnikov, 1885-1937: Life of an Old Bolshevik for a conversation on the Workers' Opposition in the Russian Communist Party. They discuss what the Workers' Opposition was, as well as the biographies of the more important members such as Alexander Shlyapnikov and Sergei Medvedev, what the Workers' Opposition stood for, focusing on its relationship to specialists and to purges and the peasantry and the Workers' Opposition. They finish with the story of the eclipse of the Workers' Opposition, the fate of the trade unions and of Alexandra Kollontai after the demise of the organization.
Mon, November 28, 2022
New York City Food Worker Organizing, 1912-37 with Kevin Bruce
Last week, over 100 Starbucks stores went on strike, the latest step in the astonishing growth of organizing in the restaurant industry. Astonishing now, but as Kevin Bruce writes in his excellent new book We Have Fed You All For A Thousand Years: New York City Food Worker Organizing, 1912-1937 , in the long run of working class history, this is nothing new. Kevin is joined by Jackson and Isaac for a discussion on present and past labor organizing in the restaurant industry.
Mon, November 21, 2022
Twilight of World Trotskyism with John Kelly
Warning: Sexual abuse is discussed in this episode. Brendan and James join John Kelly, author of Contemporary Trotskyism and The Twilight of World Trotskyism for a discussion on the history of world Trotskyism. They talk about the primacy of doctrine, the structure of Trotskyist parties around the world and their difference in structures and tactics, Trotskyism's lack of success in building mass parties, Latin American Trotskyism and the outlook of world Trotskyism. They also discuss the small-scale organizational dynamics of Trotskyist parties, their charismatic leaders, and their historical struggles to develop an understanding of topics outside the canon such as gender and sexuality.
Mon, November 14, 2022
From Guerrilla Mime to Brecht & Ecology: An Interview with Ron G. Davis
Rudy joins Dr. Ron G. Davis, founder of the San Francisco Mime Troupe in 1959, for a reflection of a life in art and politics. We discuss the SFMT's beginnings during the civil rights era, how it turned into a "guerilla" operation, the relationship to Teatro Campesino, civil rights and the black radical movement, why his time with the SFMT came to an end, and the influence of Brecht and his PhD work on a Brechtian ecology.
Thu, November 10, 2022
Addiction is not a Crime
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Mon, November 07, 2022
The Goal: Scientific Management, Lean and Safe Organizations
Matt, Rudy, and Amelia sit down for a critical discussion about contemporary scientific management practices and frameworks, ranging from Lean, the Theory of Constraints, Improvement Kata to safety culture. Drawing on The Goal by E. M. Goldratt, Toyota Kata by Mike Rother, The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim et al. , and other works, they explore what socialists can learn from scientific management to apply in their organizations and in economic planning. They also discuss critiques of scientific management by associates of the Monthly Review School including Harry Braverman and Michael D Yates, explore how J Sakai's idea of organizational Kata and security culture fits in with Toyota's Katas, and finish with the connections between the theories behind Lean/ToC and ecological theory and economic planning.
Mon, October 31, 2022
Larouche: a Warning for us All
Donald Parkinson argues the seeds of what Lyndon LaRouche would become were present from the very beginnings of his organization in this analysis of the early days of his career. Read By: Riley Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Wed, October 26, 2022
Ecological Leninism with Kai Heron
Rudy joins Kai Heron for a discussion on ecological political strategy. We discuss his political background, how to develop an ecological program out of the different ecology schools, the agrarian and land questions and how to approach liberal climate movements and trade unions. We also talk about the Green New Deal, the debates around focusing on production or consumption, eco-modernism and degrowth. We finish by talking about Kai's articles on Ecological Leninism. Links: Revolution or Ruin and Climate Leninism and Revolutionary Transition co-authored with Jodi Dean. We also mentioned the books Colin Duncan's The Centrality of Agriculture , and David Noble's Progress Without People: In Defense of Luddism .
Fri, October 21, 2022
State, Democracy, and Transition: Is There a “Democratic Road” to Socialism?
Maxi Nieto critiques the perspectives of the “new democratic socialism” and argues they are based on a misunderstanding of capitalism as a structural totality. Read By: Riley Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Tue, October 18, 2022
Stalin pt. 2: the Second World War, Reconstruction, and the Making of High Stalinism
Donald, Christian, and Connor return to the subject of Stalin and Stalinism. Picking up from the Great Purge, the episode covers the Second World War through the death of Stalin, or the High Stalinist period. Among other things they take up the questions of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Gulag system, and the rise of technocracy in the postwar years. The episode ends by exploring the lessons to be learned from studying Stalin and Soviet history, and what a lot of the Left gets wrong in their orientation toward the past. References : M. J. Carley - 1939: The Alliance That Never Was and the Coming of World War II S. Davies, J. Harris - Stalin’s World: Dictating the Soviet Order M. Djilas - Conversations with Stalin J. E. Duskin - Stalinist Reconstruction and the Confirmation of the New Elite, 1945-1953 D. Filtzer - Soviet Workers and Late Stalinism: Labor and the Restoration of the Stalinist System after World War II B. Kagarlitsky - The Thinking Reed: Intellectuals and the Soviet State from 1917 to the Present N. Khrushchev - Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev: Volume 2 M. P. Leffler- A Preponderance of Power: National Security, the Truman Administration, and the Cold War M. Lewin - The Soviet Century N. Naimark - Stalin and the Fate of Europe: The Postwar Struggle for Sovereignty R. C. Raack - Stalin’s Drive to the West: 1938-1945 The Origins of the Cold War G. Roberts - Stalin’s Wars: From World War to Cold 1939-1953 A. Weiner - Making Sense of War: The Second World War and the Fate of the Bolshevik Revolution
Sun, October 09, 2022
Women, Life, Freedom: The Iranian Protests with Slingers Collective
Annie and Matthew sit down with Foroogh, Niloo, and Ida from the Slingers Collective, an Iranian leftist media project, to discuss the ongoing protest wave in response to the killing of Mahsa Amini. The conversation covers the history of the imposition hijab in the Islamic Republic and the position of women in Iranian society, including how this varies by class and ethnic background, the status and history of peripheral areas and ethnic minorities in Iran, the state of the Iranian Left and workers’ movement, and the accelerating pace of social protest and revolt in the country. Resources: @Slingerscollect1 on twitter http://slingerscollective.net/ Blackfishvoice: https://instagram.com/blackfishvoice__ Sarkhatism: https://instagram.com/sarkhatism T.me/SarKhatism Collective98: https://instagram.com/collectif98 T.me/Collective98 Collective interview: https://crimethinc.com/2022/09/28/revolt-in-iran-the-feminist-resurrection-and-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-the-regime @Feminists4Jina https://instagram.com/feminists4jina
Fri, September 30, 2022
From Petrograd to Shanghai: The Party and Mass Democracy in Lenin and Mao
James, Matthew and Rudy join for a followup on From Paris to Petrograd: State and Revolution in Practice to discuss how the ideas of the party, the masses and democracy changes from Lenin's State and Revolution to the proclamation of the Shanghai Commune during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. We start off talking about Lenin's attitude towards the problem of specialists in the RSFSR, how this was solved by Stalin by strengthening the Party, and how Mao made an immanent critique of Stalin's solution. We then detail the process leading up to the formation of the Shanghai commune, outline the main actors involved and discuss what was unique in Shanghai with respect to other cities in this period. We finish talking about the aftermath of the commune and compare different readings on the GPCR and the Shanghai commune. References : N. Hunter - Shanghai Journal: An Eyewitness Account of the Cultural Revolution E. Perry, L. Xun - Proletarian Power: Shanghai in the Cultural Revolution A. Russo - Revolutionary Culture and Cultural Revolution H. C. Topper - From the commune to the cultural revolution: A discussion of party leadership and democracy in Lenin and Mao Y. Wu - The Cultural Revolution at the Margins: Chinese Socialism in Crisis
Mon, September 26, 2022
Leon Trotsky and Cultural Revolution
Doug Enaa Greene argues that in Trotsky’s work a theory of cultural revolution can be found, one which differs from Mao Zedong’s that was developed in the context of the Russian Revolution and its struggle against bureaucracy. Narrated by: Will Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Mon, September 19, 2022
A New Jihad: Afghanistan from 1992 to the Present
Eric, Rob and Rudy join for the second part of the Afghanistan podcast, which covers the start of the Afghan civil war, the birth of the Taliban and their takeover of the country, 9/11 and the US Invasion, the period of the occupation government and the Taliban resurgence and return. We discuss the origins of the Taliban, and what has made them popular throughout the decades, what the US occupation government meant to the Afghan people, the differences between the first and second Emirates, the enigmatic figure of Mullah Omar, as well as the Taliban-Bin Laden relationships. We conclude with thoughts on what can we learn from this whole period, including thoughts on the topics of stageism and ethnicity. References: Betty Dam - Looking for the Enemy: Mullah Omar and the Unknown Taliban Antonio Giustozzi - The Islamic State in Khorasan Anand Gopal - No Good Men Among The Living: America, the Taliban and the War through Afghan Eyes; The Other Afghan Women Alex van Linschoten, Felix Kuehn - An Enemy We Created: The Myth of the Taliban-Al Qaeda Merger in Afghanistan, 1970-2010
Mon, September 12, 2022
Communists and the National Question in the 21st Century
Stani Bjegunac takes a look at different approaches to the national question by historical communists and how we may approach issues of national oppression in a 21st-century context. Narrated by: Allan Lanterman Allen Lanterman Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Mon, September 05, 2022
Science Fiction, Emancipation and Yugoslavia with Darko Suvin
Rudy joins Darko Suvin, author of many books and pieces on science-fiction and also, an Splendour, Missery and Possibilities: An X-Ray of Socialist Yugoslavia for a discussion on his life-long work. We talk about the role of science fiction in socialist politics, Bertolt Brecht and the estrangement effect, and what emancipation means. We also talk about his life in Yugoslavia, and what he saw as positive and negative from the Yugoslav experience, and what were ultimately the hurdles that prevented Yugoslavia from achieving full emancipation.
Mon, August 29, 2022
Long, Queer Revolution
Revolution won’t follow a neat and clean schema, fitting easily into one stage or another, argues Tom Frome. Instead, revolution will be a long process, a process that cannot always be categorized with preconceived definitions. The ideal of revolutionary vision never fully survives contact with the messy and unpredictable realities of political change. Narrated by: Riley Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Wed, August 17, 2022
Disculpe, No Entiendo: Language Justice with Esme and Lizette
Rudy joins Esme and Lizette, from the LA Tenants Union for an introductory discussion on language justice. We discuss what language justice and linguicism are and what kind of barriers people face, before discussing the ways the LATU tries to bridge these barriers through their language justice work. We talk about interpretation, how it can be categorized as a service, how to adequately relate to bilingual members in organizing and why they can often feel alienated or burnt out. We finish by discussing where to start with language justice in an organization that has no prior experience with it. Links / Resources mentioned : Antena Aire's Language Justice Resources Language Justice Curriculum at the Center for Participatory Change Simultaneous Interpretation Drives the LA Tenants' Movement
Wed, August 10, 2022
Under the Socialist Banner with Mike Taber
Donald Parkinson sits down with Mike Taber, editor of 'Under the Socialist Banner', a collection of resolutions from the Congresses of the Second International's revolutionary period (1889-1912). Donald and Taber go through the various Congresses and discuss their approaches to a variety of issues such as imperialism, the general strike, immigration, women's emancipation, colonialism, and cooperatives. Struggles between reformists and revolutionaries, militarists and militarists, orthodox Marxists and revisionists would culminate in the collapse of the International with the outbreak of World War One. Taber and Parkinson discuss these struggles and the overall strengths and weaknesses of the Second International.
Mon, August 08, 2022
The Platform is the Message
Amelia Davenport and Renato Flores argue that social media cannot be ignored despite its negative effects on modern culture. Instead, the left needs its own approach to social media that takes into account the values encoded into tech platforms. Narrated by: Allen Lanterman Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Mon, August 01, 2022
The Tortoise and the Hare: Cybernetics, Evolution, and Socialism
Amelia Davenport argues for the relevance of cybernetics to the project of developing a communism that transcends the modernist project. Read by Will Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Sun, July 24, 2022
Ireland: Colonialism and the Unfinished Revolution with Robbie McVeigh and Bill Rolston
Rudy joins Robbie McVeigh and Bill Rolston, authors of Anois ar theacht an tSamhraidh: Ireland, Colonialism and the Unfinished Revolution for a discussion on Irish history from colonization to the present. We discuss the earliest colonization attempts, the Ulster plantation and the formation of the planter/gael binary and Protestant Ascendancy, the Act of Union and how the Act co-opted a Catholic minority and made colonialism in Ireland distinct. We then follow by discussion how Partition came about and the resulting Northern Ireland state through the Protestant Ascendancy period to the post-troubles Good Relations state. We also discuss the remaining the story of the remaining 26 counties, how they were thrust into whiteness first as a White Dominion and later as part of the EU, and how the contradiction between anti-imperialism and European citizenship plays out. We finish by discussing the prospects of a unified Ireland.
Thu, July 21, 2022
No End in Sight: On the War in Ukraine
Alexander Gallus pushes against the haze of propaganda to assess the current course of the war between Ukraine and Russia. Article read aloud by John Turner.
Sun, July 17, 2022
Constructive Criticism: The Dialectics of Unity & Struggle
Jean, Jess, Annie and Rudy sit down to discuss Gracie Lyons' Constructive Criticism: A Handbook based on their organizing experiences. They discuss the events that led them to take an interest in this book, how this book uses Marxism and Maoism to frame (self)criticism in ways that go beyond-self help, before going through the methods the book proposes to improve giving and receiving criticism giving ample examples along the way. They finish with a reflection on the role of criticism and personal growth in cadre organizations.
Tue, July 12, 2022
Christianity and the Revolutionary Origins of the Jesus Movement
Lydia Apolinar, Alexander Gallus, and Ryan Tool pay tribute to the revolutionary and plebeian origins of Christianity. Read by William (Note: Originally Published December 25th 2020)
Mon, July 04, 2022
Passing the Torch: The Art of Communist Mentorship
Dillon, Rudy, Amelia and Lucas sit down to discuss the art and practice of mentorship. We talk about how to assert yourself as a mentor without being resented or developing an unbalanced relationship, one-on-one mentorship vs group mentorship and what makes a good mentor. We follow up by discussing how to adequately make a person feel welcome and contribute to the movement and allowing them to grow, the art and practice of delegation, and give ample examples on our experiences with these topics. References : Ted Lasso (on Apple TV) Nancy McWilliams - Psychoanalytic Supervision (Chs. 4 & 6) Labor Notes - Steward's Corner: Helping New Stewards Nick Drediger - It won’t grow if you don’t delegate Lauren Katz & Ryan Mosgrove - The Metro DC Socialist Mobilization Model
Sun, June 26, 2022
From Paris to Petrograd: State and Revolution in Practice
Parker, James, Rudy and Cliff join for a discussion on the context of Lenin's State and Revolution , and how those ideas were applied in the early years of the Soviet government. We start by discussing the context of the book, especially in relationship with the recent audiobook by Kautsky on Democracy and Republicanism . We continue by discussing the debates in the Second International around the Paris Commune, the Immediate Genesis of the Book during the First World War, the text itself and its surrounding context, the ways in which the principles of the book were implemented after 1917, and why the early RSFSR government gave way to the dictatorship of the politburo. References: Étienne Balibar - On the Dictatorship of the Proletariat Lara Douds - Inside Lenin's Government Ideology, Power and Practice in the Early Soviet State Shiela Fitzpatrick - The Russian Revolution Neil Harding - Lenin's Political Thought Alexander Rabinowitch - The Bolsheviks in Power: The first year of Soviet rule in Petrograd S. A. Smith - Red Petrograd: Revolution in the Factories, 1917-1918 Mark von Hagen - Soldiers in the Proletarian Dictatorship: The Red Army and the Soviet Socialist State, 1917-1930
Mon, June 13, 2022
Roots of the Rank and File Strategy with Kim Moody
Annie and Paul join Kim Moody, a socialist and labor movement theorist and author of The Rank and File Strategy and Breaking the Impasse . We discuss Kim's political origins between the civil rights movement and labor unionism; his experience with unions and rank-and-file rebellion in the 1970s as a member of International Socialists; the history, purpose and achievements of Labor Notes, Kim’s vision of political change through mass action, including his thoughts on the Amazon Labor Union, and what socialists today can learn from the work of him and his comrades.
Mon, June 06, 2022
Value Chains, Supply Chains and Economic Imperialism with Intan Suwandi
Rudy joins Intan Suwandi, author of Value Chains: The New Economic Imperialism and co-author of Covid-19 and Catastrophe Capitalism: Commodity Chains and Ecological-Epidemiological-Economic Crisis for a discussion on Global Commodity Chains. We discuss supply chains from a bird's eye, the theoretical development of the concept, and why they are so crucial to capitalist production and why they consolidate inequality and imperialism. We discuss how large companies use 'arms-length' contracting to discipline suppliers, and how that causes a race to the bottom that leaves very little benefits to the host countries. We continue by discussing why Covid-19 became such a catastrophe for supply chains, and what little changes have occurred to supply chains since the start of the pandemic. We finish by discussing what supply chains teach us about potential forms of struggle and alternative futures.
Thu, June 02, 2022
[Audiobook] Karl Kautsky on Democracy & Republicanism: Part IV
This is a narration of chapters 9-13 of Karl Kautsky's Parliamentarism and Democracy (1893-1911), from Karl Kautsky on Democracy & Republicanism by Ben Lewis. The full audiobook is currently in production by the team at Cosmonaut Magazine. A copy of the book itself can be purchased at Haymarket Books . Narration and editing by Myk Labas, with apologies for the microphone difficulties. Music: ' Red Sleeping Beauty' by McCarthy
Sat, May 28, 2022
Redefining Environmentalism: Unions, Workers and Nature with Chad Montrie
Isaac and Rudy join Chad Montrie, author of numerous books on the intersection of workers' movements and the environment for a discussion on the often ignored facets of working class environmentalism. We begin by discussing Chad's earlier work To Save the Land and People , on the worker and farmer opposition to strip mining in Appalachia in the 1970s, and how that movement interfaced with the United Mine Workers of America and the Sierra Club. We continue by reflecting on what the definition of environmentalism should be, and how the workers' changing relationship to nature has been reflected in workers' movements from the Lowell Mill Girls to the United Auto Workers' outdoor camps that led to Earth Day. We also discuss Wilbur Thomas's organizing of black workers for drinking water and the Civilian Conservation Corps before finishing with a reflection on the false jobs vs nature dichotomy.
Tue, May 24, 2022
The Machiavellian State, Fascism, and the Tribune of the Proletariat
Sam Thomas argues that Machiavelli can help us understand the bourgeois nature of fascism, and how anti-fascism must empower the proletariat.
Sat, May 21, 2022
Stalin pt. 1: The Long Road to the Red Inquisition
Donald, Christian, and Connor sit down and discuss the man of steel: Joseph Stalin. Less of a focused biography, we put Stalin in his historical context. In this episode we focus primarily on his ascension to power over the course of 1920s and the road to the Great Terror. Other important topics covered include the Agrarian Question, the First Five Year plan, along with a brief detour into the adventures of a young Stalin and the Russian Civil War. We end the first part here because of the important historical lessons to be drawn from the logic of the purges. A second episode will cover Stalin through World War 2 up to his death. References: Farm to Factory: A Reinterpretation of the Soviet Industrial Revolution - Robert C. Allen Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives: From Stalinism to the New Cold War - Stephen F. Cohen Everyday Stalinism: Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times : Soviet Russia in the 1930s - Sheila Fitzpatrick The Road to Terror: Stalin and the Self-Destruction of the Bolsheviks, 1932-1939 - J. Arch Getty and Oleg V. Naumov Let History Judge - Roy Medvedev Russian Peasants and Soviet Power: A Study of Collectivization - Moshe Lewin Stalinism and the Politics of Mobilization: Ideas, Power, and Terror in Interwar Russia - David Priestland Stalin's Library: A Dictator and his Books - Geoffrey Roberts Factory and Community in Stalin’s Russia: The Making of an Industrial Working Class - Kenneth M. Straus Stalinism: Essays in Historical Interpretation - Robert C. Tucker Stalin in Power: The Revolution from Above, 1928-1941 - Robert C. Tucker
Sat, May 14, 2022
The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan: Origins to Collapse
Eric, Rob and Rudy join to discuss Afghanistan, focusing on its socialist period from 1979 to 1992. We discuss the history of the Afghan state from its beginnings as the Durrani empire, its interactions with Russia and the British empire, the Zahir Shah monarchy and the Daoud period all the way up to the Saur revolution, including a discussion of the communist and Islamist factions in the country. We talk about the initial reforms the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) tried to make, and why this caused uprisings that would eventually lead to the long Soviet intervention in the 80s. We discuss the war, including the radical changes of policies of the government, which slowly abandoned the idea of socialism in the late 80s. We end by discussing the Soviet withdrawal and the ultimate causes for the collapse of the government of Najibullah. Main References: Niamatullah Ibrahimi - The Hazaras and the Afghan State: Rebellion, Exclusion and the Struggle for Recognition Antonio Giustozzi - War, Politics and Society in Afghanistan, 1978-1992 Gilles Dorronsoro - Revolution Unending: Afghanistan, 1979 to the Present Rodric Braithwaite - Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan 1979-89 Jonathan Neal - Remembering the Saur Revolution
Wed, May 11, 2022
[Audiobook] Karl Kautsky on Democracy & Republicanism: Part III
This is a narration of chapters 4-8 of Karl Kautsky's Parliamentarism and Democracy (1893-1911), from Karl Kautsky on Democracy & Republicanism by Ben Lewis. The full audiobook is currently in production by the team at Cosmonaut Magazine. A copy of the book itself can be purchased at Haymarket Books . Narration and editing by Myk Labas. Music: 'Class War' , the Dils 'Aired Out' , blackchai
Thu, May 05, 2022
Marxism and the Philosophy of Science with Helena Sheehan
Djamil and Donald join Helena Sheehan, author of Marxism and the Philosophy of Science: A Critical History for a deep dive on the interactions between these two fields. They start off with Sheehan’s intellectual history, before discussing what Marxism is and how it relates to other philosophies of science. They talk about Marx & Engels’ relationship to science, in particular to Darwinism, Engels’ much maligned Dialectics of Nature , its relationship to Hegel, and the laws of dialectics. They continue with the Austromarxists and Neokantianism, its influence on Bogdanov and the Bolshevik Machists, and Lenin’s reply in Materialism and Empirio-criticism . They also discuss the criterium of practice, Bukharin’s philosophy of science and his influence via Science at the Crossroads on a generation of British Marxists including Bernal, Haldane and Caudwell. They finish with discussing the cold & warm split in Marxism.
Thu, April 28, 2022
Socialism of the Oppressed: The Stakes of the Bowman Affair
Jean Allen and Marisa Miale, authors of For An Internationalist DSA , sketch out a strategy for building a left opposition committed to electoral discipline and unity between socialism and the international working-class. Read by LC
Mon, April 25, 2022
Organizing The Social Care Factory: Careworkers, Houseworkers and the Women's Strike with Imogen Woods
Lydia and Rudy join Imogen Woods from Prometheus Journal to discuss her articles on organizing social care workers and houseworkers . We talk about the concept of social care factory, and how the mass privatization has resulted in declining care standards as well as working standards. We talk about how democratically run care system can look like, how to organize social care workers and how "love" is used as a currency. We then switch to a discussion of the International Feminist Collective and the Wages for Housework movement, and contrast it to Maria Macciocchi's political work with the housewives of Naples. We briefly discuss the use/exchange value debate of housework, and what the role of a housewife or women's strike can be, and finish off by discussing how women should address sexism in the left. Aside from Imogen's two articles, we mention Louise Toupin's history of the Wages for Housework movement.
Thu, April 21, 2022
[Audiobook] Karl Kautsky on Democracy & Republicanism: Part II
This is a narration of the two prefaces, introduction, and chapters 1-3 of Karl Kautsky's Parliamentarism and Democracy (1893-1911), from Karl Kautsky on Democracy & Republicanism by Ben Lewis. The full audiobook is currently in production by the team at Cosmonaut Magazine. A copy of the book itself can be purchased at Haymarket Books . Narration and editing by Myk Labas.
Fri, April 15, 2022
A Brief History of The Paris Commune with Carolyn Eichner
Charlie and Rudy join Carolyn Eichner, author of The Paris Commune: A Brief History and Surmounting the Barricades: Women in the Paris Commune for a discussion on the Paris Commune, its origins, its place as a transitional state in a civil war, its tragic end as well as its legacies. We talk about the situation of Paris in 1871, the forming of the Commune, the meaning of "social republic" and how women had to fight for a place in it, the political tendencies in the Commune, the cooperatives and their contradictions, and the grassroots movements in the form of political clubs. We discuss the Union des Femmes (Women's Union), the struggle against patriarchy and the Catholic church, how public space was reclaimed and how education and culture were re-imagined. We continue with the end of the commune in the Bloody Week, how women were particularly demonized through the myth of the pétroleuses, and the mass executions. We end by discussing the legacies of the Commune in feminisms and political thought, as well as the more negative episodes with the deportation of communards to New Caledonia and their role in upholding settler-colonialism.
Mon, April 11, 2022
[Audiobook] Karl Kautsky on Democracy & Republicanism: Part I
This is a narration of the preface and introduction for Karl Kautsky on Democracy & Republicanism by Ben Lewis, who has also provided a preface to the audiobook. The full audiobook is currently in production by the team at Cosmonaut Magazine. A copy of the book itself can be purchased at Haymarket Books . Narration and editing by Myk Labas.
Thu, April 07, 2022
Dissolving the People and Electing Another
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Mon, April 04, 2022
Western Sahara: Colonialism, Settler-Colonialism and Resistance with Garazi Hach Embarek
The Spanish government has just sided with the Moroccan government on the issue of the Western Sahara. Djamil and Rudy join Garazi Hach Embarek for an introductory discussion on the history and present of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic of the Western Sahara. We discuss the pre-colonial and Spanish colonial history, the context and formation of the Polisario Front liberation organization. We follow up by talking about the liberation wars against Morocco and Mauritania, the place of the Polisario in the national liberation movement, as well as the occupation and repression of the Western Sahara, and the situation of the refugee camps in western Algeria. We continue by speaking on the ongoing process to colonize and settle the Western Sahara by Morocco and the role of the UN, the African Union, as well as Algeria and Libya in the situation. We finish by analyzing the present situation, Trump's declaration in 2020 to support Moroccan colonization as quid pro quo for Moroccan recognition of Israel, as well as the Spanish governments flip from “neutrality” to a blatantly Moroccan position.
Thu, March 31, 2022
Disarming the Magic Bullet
Renato Flores responds to Cam W’s argument for Maoism and the mass line. Gabriel Palcic reads aloud.
Mon, March 28, 2022
American Communist Labor Strategy during the Third Period (1929-34) with Victor Devinatz
Annie and Cliff join Victor Devinatz, a management theorist and labor historian, to discuss the formation of the Trade Union Unity League (TUUL), its successes and failures, and the role it played in the development of the labor movement. We focus on its emergence from the end of the Trade Union Education League (TUEL), its relationship between bottom-up initiative and Comintern direction in the shift toward dual unionism; CPUSA’s three-pronged strategy of constructing the TUUL, building an opposition within the American Federation of Labor, and working with independent unions; the united front from below policy; and the transition toward the Popular Front and the formation of the Congress of Industrial Unions (CIO) after the mass strikes of 1934. Check out Victor's A reevaluation of the Trade Union Unity League 1929-1934 .
Thu, March 24, 2022
Which Way Forward for the Marxist Left?
In light of the liquidation of DSA’s BDS working group, Charlie Frank argues that Marxists must continue the political fight rather than turn towards localist activism or the various left-wing sects. Comrade Mike reads aloud.
Mon, March 21, 2022
The Farthest Promised Land: An Introduction to New Zealand's Political Economy
Giacomo Bianchino and Rudy join Amal for an introductory discussion on New Zealand's (Aotearoa in the Maori language) political economy, with a focus on how the country was settled and connected to the world market. We discuss the nature of the first settlements, the dispossession of the Maori, the Treaty of Waitangi and why it is a cornerstone of the myth of biculturalism, why the colonization process of the Maori was different when compared to the one in Australia and why New Zealand is an independent country. We continue by discussing the Maritime Strike and the origins of arbitration, the birth of the Labour party, the formation of the welfare state, the Labour party's political degeneration and the 1951 Waterfront process. We finish by discussing New Zealand's (sub-)imperialism in the Pacific and the 1999 voting reform. References: Rollo Arnold - The Farthest Promised Land: English villagers, New Zealand immigrants of the 1870s James Robb's series on the Origins of the Working Class in New Zealand ( Pts 1 , 2 , 3 ), his history of the founding of the labour party , and the history of the Waihi strike ( Pts 1 , 2 ) Towards a Socialist Polynesia (Spartacist League of New Zealand program of 1982) Phillip Ferguson - New Zealand: Neo Colony or Junior Imperialist? D. Bedggood - Rich and Poor in New Zealand A Critique of Class, Politics and Ideology Te Ahu - The Evolution of Contemporary M
Mon, March 14, 2022
Beyond Son Nica: Revolutionary Popular Music in Sandinista Nicaragua with T.M. Scruggs
Jackson joins ethnomusicologist and anthropologist T.M. Scruggs to discuss Nicaraguan popular music in the decades leading up to the 1979 Sandinista Revolution, as well as during the first Sandinista government from 1979 to 1990. With a focus on the work of FSLN-affiliated musician Carlos Mejía Godoy, we dive into the history of the Nicaraguan political song movement that emerged in the late-60s and early 70s and discuss how, especially after the 1972 earthquake that devastated Nicaragua’s capital of Managua, this musical movement merged with the FSLN to form a part of its artist-intellectual cadre. We also take a look at the FSLN’s post-revolutionary musico-cultural policy in the 1980s, exploring the work of the Empresa Nicaragüense de Grabaciones Artisticas y Culturales (ENIGRAC), the state-owned record company established as a part of the FSLN’s Ministry of Culture. Tracklist: Carlos & Luis Enrique Mejía Godoy - 'Que Es El FAL?' (0:00) Elías Palacios - 'Aquila Indita' (12:45) Carlos Zapata - 'Flor de mi Colina' (17:10) <div class= "public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offse
Fri, March 11, 2022
Why Machines Don't Create Value
Ian Wright defends Marx’s theory of surplus-value and its claim that human labor is the ultimate cause of economic profit. Gabriel Palcic reads aloud.
Tue, March 08, 2022
The Historic Defeat of the Female Sex: Revisiting Engels' The Origin of the Family
Agata, Anne, Lydia and Rudy join to talk about the historic context of Engels' The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State , and how we can apply it today. We discuss Engels' theories on the historically evolving family structure and the origin of the state, how the evolution of women's conditions in the 20th century changed from what he expected, how the economic base interacts with the family structure and women's liberation, how families today both help and oppress people, the issues of housework and domestic violence, the present image of 'perfect families' and the striving for a new culture. We also discuss some pitfalls of the book such as homosexuality and the absence of "third genders" and finish by reflecting on the issues women face when joining leftist groups.
Thu, March 03, 2022
Five Letters On Russia/Ukraine
Myk Labas reads five letters in dialogue with each other around the topic of Alexander Gallus' recent article " The Russian "Threat to Freedom and Democracy" ". Letters can be read at: 1. " Comments On "The Russian Threat" " 2. " Letter on the Reply to "The Russian 'Threat to Freedom and Democracy' " 3. " Regarding Gallus' The Russian "Threat to Freedom and Democracy" " 4. "</
Mon, February 28, 2022
The Eco-Centrist Movement: The Sierra Club & Earth First! with Keith Makoto Woodhouse
Rudy joins Keith, author of The Ecocentrists: A History of Radical Environmentalism for a discussion on the history of the mainstream environmental movement in the US. We discuss the term ecocentrist, the philosophy behind the environmental movement, how it led to Neo-Malthusianism as well as the critics of this philosophy like Murray Bookchin. We also discuss the Sierra Club's origins as a promoter of Nature and how it turned into an organization for the defense of Nature, its defeat around Glen Canyon Dam and how that changed the strategies and the position of environmentalism in the mid-20th century, its complicated relationship to the New Left, and why Nixon became the greatest environmental president. We then turn to RARE II and how this led to the birth of Earth First! and the slogan of No Compromises, what Earth First! was, the differing class and geographical bases of Earth First, its relationship to the indigenous movement and the figure of Judi Bari and the debate around tree spiking. We finish by discussing the disappearance of Earth First!, the rise of the Earth Liberation Front, as well as the lobby-fication of the Sierra Club. References: Book Roundtable Chad Montrie's webpage
Sun, February 27, 2022
The Russian "Threat to Freedom & Democracy"
Gabriel Palcic reads The Russian "Threat to Freedom & Democracy" , wherein comrade Alexander Gallus takes a closer look at the developments leading up to this week’s dramatic events and offers some explanations for how we got to this moment.
Mon, February 21, 2022
Understanding & Learning with the Working Class: Workers' Inquiry and Social Investigation
AJ, Annie, Ira and Rudy discuss the methods of workers' inquiry and social investigation and how they have applied it to their organizing. They talk about the history of workers inquiry and its uneven use across tendencies, the usefulness of the method and the varying objects and objectives of the investigation. They also reflect on the ways that have used the methods of inquiry in their organizing. References: A Workers Inquiry (1880) - K. Marx Struggle at FIAT - R. Alquati Socialist Uses of Workers Inquiry - R. Panzieri Workers’ Inquiry: A Genealogy - A. Haider, S. Mohandesi Workers' Inquiry and Global Class Struggle: Strategies, Tactics, Objectives - R. Ovetz (ed.) Sites of a Communist beginning - M. Ely Class Consciousness or Class Composition? - S. Mohandesi (Science & Society) A Worker in a Worker's State: Piece-rates in Hungary - M. Haraszti A call for communist social investigation a year after the summer of rebellion - Kites Journal Workers Inquiry and Social Composition - Notes from Below No Politics Without Inquiry - Notes from Below
Thu, February 17, 2022
The Genesis of the Transformation Problem
The infamous Transformation Problem has long stood as a supposed example of the failure of Marx’s economic theories. Ian Wright gives an explanation of the problem to help pave the way for a possible solution. Gabriel Palcic reads aloud.
Mon, February 14, 2022
From the Fields to the Stars!: Sputnik, Spaceflight and the Soviet Imagination
For our 100th episode, we go back to our roots. Djamil, Virginia and Rudy sit down to discuss the launch of Sputnik, using Asif A. Siddiqi's The Red Rockets Glare: Spaceflight and the Soviet Imagination 1853-1957 to ground the discussion. We talk about the intellectual origins of the Soviet space program in Cosmism, the figures in the space race, the science-from-below and from-above aspects of the space program, how the space program evolved through the eras of NEP, Five Year Plans, Purges and the Zhdanov doctrine, the influences of WW2 and Nazi Germany and the Cold War, and how the launch of Sputnik became a global event which started the Space Race. We finish by reflecting on 'science from below' in today's context, and on space exploration, its links to colonialism and our imaginaries.
Thu, February 10, 2022
Profits Beyond Reason and Reason Beyond Profit
Is the economic calculation problem a valid argument against planned economies? Max Black argues that this so-called problem is based on flawed reasoning and that a world beyond markets is possible. Robert Fisher reads aloud.
Mon, February 07, 2022
Modes of Production and the Transition to Capitalism with Jairus Banaji
Donald and Rudy join Jairus Banaji, author of Theory as History and A Brief History of Commercial Capitalism to discuss his theoretical contributions around the mode of production debates. We begin with his political starts in the UK and in India, and how he saw the organizational and cultural failures of the left in both countries, the debates on the mode of production in India and what he brought to this debate using the theories of formal and real subsumption. We turn to his analysis of the modes of production in Ancient Rome, the method of historical materialism, the origins of capitalism and the moments of truth in the existing camps, the very particular emergence of capitalism in the US, the importance of vertical integration and how all of this plays in to the debates around merchant capitalism. Finally, we discuss capitalism in the Islamic world, imperialism and unequal exchange, and the importance of having open theoretical debate in Marxism.
Thu, February 03, 2022
On the Stalin Question
Parker McQueeney introduces two of Paul Costello’s essays on the topic of Stalin and Stalinism: Stalin and Historical Reality and Stalin and the Problem of Theory .
Mon, January 31, 2022
The Unknown Cultural Revolution: Life and Change in a Chinese Village with Dongping Han
Matt and Rudy join Dongping Han, author of The Unknown Cultural Revolution: Life and Change in a Chinese Village for a discussion on his experiences growing up in Maoist China. We discuss his hometown in Jimo County, his experiences with the Great Leap Forward and how they compare to common historiography of the period, the attitude of Communist Party officials and how the Cultural Revolution changed the long tradition of politics in rural China by empowering the common people to fight back against corrupt officials, the educational reforms during the Cultural Revolution and how it helped bridge the urban-rural divide. We finish by discussing the end of the Cultural Revolution and how the Deng reforms set back the countryside.
Thu, January 27, 2022
Historiography Wars: The French Revolution
Historiographical debates around the French Revolution are ultimately political debates, not just debates about the facts. Donald Parkinson argues for revitalizing the tradition of the social historians against the new revisionist orthodoxy. Myk Labas reads aloud. https://cosmonautmag.com/2019/09/historiography-wars-the-french-revolution/
Tue, January 25, 2022
The Colony Hates its Own Black People: Australian Indigenous Struggles with Boe & Kieran
Rudy and Giacomo Bianchino join Boe Spearim, host of Frontier Wars and Kieran from the Australian Communist Party and the NSW Aboriginal Land Council association for an introductory discussion on indigenous Australians. We discuss the history of indigenous Australians before the arrival of Europeans, what the "Frontier Wars" were and the "historiography wars" around their story, how the indigenous struggle changed after the "end" of these wars, including the day of mourning protests, the Freedom rides, the Springbok boycott and the tent embassy, and how land back was put into the Australian political agenda. They tell us about the international relationships of the black Australian struggle including their the US Black Panthers and solidarity with other indigenous groups around the world. We also discuss the relationship between indigenous struggles and Marxism, the history of solidarity among oppressed groups in Australia, before finishing with the prospects for anti-colonial solidarity and the issues aboriginal people usually face when trying to build this solidarity.
Fri, January 21, 2022
Workers and Writers: The Communist Novel in Britain
The history of the British communist novel is ultimately the story of the political degeneration of the Communist Party of Great Britain. By Lawrence Parker. Narration by LC.
Mon, January 17, 2022
End of an Era: 30 Years After the Soviet Collapse
Connor, Christian and Donald sit down to discuss the collapse of the Soviet Union. They begin by situating the economic and political problems of the system, such as the siege economy and the centralization/decentralization dichotomies which led to the general malaise of the late Brezhnev period. They continue by discussing the rise of Andropov and Gorbachev, and what reforms they tried to implement: bans on alcohol and the opening of political discussion, and how those reforms ended up backfiring. They follow up by discuss the Five Year Plan of 86-90, the two stages of economic reforms and their adverse effects, the coalition that appears which pushes for the dismantling of the Soviet Union, the rise of Boris Yeltsin and his association to Russian nationalism and the failed coup and how it signaled the transition of sovereignty and the end of the USSR. They also discuss what happened after the collapse, including shock therapy, the 1993 bombing of the parliament and the legacy of the USSR's collapse in Russia's present political system and economical situation, before finishing with an evaluation of all attempts to reform the Soviet Union. References: The Russian Revolution 1917-1932 - Sheila Fitzpatrick Revolution from Above: The Demise of the Soviet System - David M. Kotz Inside Gorbachev's Kremlin: The Memoirs of Yegor Ligachev - Yegor Ligachev Soviet Baby Boomers: An Oral History of Russia's Cold War Generation - Donald J. Raleigh Everything was Forever, Until it was No More: The Last Soviet Generation - Alexei Yurchak
Fri, January 14, 2022
Bismarck, Browder, Biden: Joe's Hegemony versus Ours
Sam Miller polemicizes against the delusions of the left in the Biden administration and proclaims the necessity for a class independent approach to politics. Myk Labas reads aloud. https://cosmonautmag.com/2021/10/bismarck-browder-biden-joes-hegemony-versus-ours/
Tue, January 11, 2022
The Dialectic of Assimilation
How have Jews in the US have gone from an unwelcome immigrant group prone to left-wing radicalism to Zionists and beneficiaries of whiteness? Lane Silberstein investigates. Harley Oliviera reads the article aloud.
Tue, January 04, 2022
On the Giving of Orders: Power and Freedom in Democratic Organizations
Dillon, Jake, Rudy and Amelia discuss the work of management consultant Mary Follett and how to use her ideas to enable democratic problem-solving and functioning of mass organizations. We discuss several common problems faced when organizing such as how to adequately replace leaders, how the person who does the work leads and how to effectively give orders. We follow by talking about how we can use Follett's ideas on integrating experience and the law of the situation to make leadership increasingly invisible. We also discuss her ideas on the role of experts and managers, power with vs power over and how to better relate to new members of an organization. We end by contextualizing Follett's ideas with other better known methods such as the Maoist mass line, and how they can be applied to the current debates around Jamaal Bowman. References: Mary Follett - Creative Experience H. C. Metcalf, L. Urwick (ed.) - Dynamic Administration: The Collected Papers of Mary Follett
Wed, December 29, 2021
Plowed Under: Communist Folk-Revival and Mid-Century Suppression with Aaron J. Leonard
Donald and Jackson are joined by historian Aaron J. Leonard , author of The Folk Singers and the Bureau: The FBI, The Folk Artists and the Suppression of the Communist Party USA 1939-1956 , to discuss the folk-revival music scene that emerged within and around the American Communist Party in the mid-1930s and which continued through the early 1950s. We dive into the scene’s relationship with the Party’s changing strategy and platform, how Earl Browder related to this revival, the scene’s institutional development in the late-1940s, as well as the suppression and surveillance of its leading members in the immediate post-WWII period and beyond.
Fri, December 24, 2021
The Counterinsurgency State
To commemorate the anniversary of Salvador Allende’s death and the fall of Chile’s Popular Unity government, we present this analysis of reactionary military governments in Latin America by Ruy Mauro Marini in honor of all who have died fighting for socialism in the hands of Pinochet’s counter-revolutionary military regime. Translation by Jorge M and introduction by Renato Flores. Mick Labas reads the article aloud.
Tue, December 21, 2021
The History of Palestine Solidarity in the US with Michael Fischbach
Josh and Rudy join Michael Fischbach, author of Black Power and Palestine: Transnational Communities of Color and The Movement and the Middle East: How the Arab-Israeli Conflict Divided the American Left for a discussion on the history how the Left and the black liberation movements have historically related to the Israel-Palestine conflict, exploring the distinct factions of these movements which were pro-Zionism and pro-Palestinian. We discuss the initial reaction of the left parties to the '48 war and to the Suez invasion of '56, how Malcolm X reacted to, and influenced pro-Palestine solidarity before his murder, how Zionism divided the black struggle, how the Andrew Young affair solidified black mainstream attitudes towards Palestine and the meetings between black leaders and Arafat in the late 70s-early 80s. We then talk about how the Old and New left reacted to the '68 war, and how Zionism generated a 'civil war' between Jewish leftists and helped form a Jewish conservative base. We finish off by talking about the role of Zionism in the founding of DSA and how Palestinian solidarity today sees very similar faultlines.
Thu, December 16, 2021
[Audiobook] Revolutionary Strategy - Chapter Nine
This is a narration of Chapter Nine of Mike Macnair's groundbreaking book Revolutionary Strategy. Narration and editing by Lydia Apolinar. The free market triumphalism of the 1990s is over. Early 21st century capitalism looks like Karl Marx’s description: growing extremes of wealth and poverty, and irrepressible boom-bust cycles. But for the moment, rightwing religious and nationalist nostalgia politics is the main beneficiary of the opposition this has spawned. The political left remains in the shadow of its disastrous failures in the 20th century. The centre-left - where it has not joined forces with the neoliberal right - clings to nationalist and bureaucratic-statist nostalgia for the social-democratic Cold War era. The far left clings to the coat-tails of the centre-left. It cannot unite itself - let alone anyone else - because it is unwilling to reinterrogate the ideas of the early Communist International, especially on the ‘revolutionary party’. To move beyond this impasse we need to re-examine critically the strategic ideas of socialists since Marx and Engels’ time. This book begins the task. You can purchase a physical copy of the book itself at Lulu . To support the project, sign up for our Patreon .
Mon, December 13, 2021
Voices from the Bolivarian Revolution: Communes and the Transition to Socialism with Chris and Cira
Christian and Rudy join Chris Gilbert and Cira Pascual Marquina, authors of Venezuela, The Present as Struggle: Voices from the Bolivarian Revolution for a discussion on the past, present and future of the Bolivarian revolution. We cover the history of the revolution from its origins as a reaction against the neoliberal adjustments in the late 80s, through the electoral victory up to the declaration of the revolution as socialist in 2006. We discuss Communes in both urban and rural settings, and their role in the transition to socialism, the questions around Oil and the Economy, the economic problems of the revolution, the shadows of bureaucratization, the differences between the cities and the countryside and possible way forwards for the revolution. Make sure to check Venezuela Analysis , and in particular their Youtube videos where they visit the Panal and Che Guevara communes.
Mon, December 06, 2021
Class Struggle in the Carpenters Union with Art Francisco
Annie talks with Art Francisco, a rank-and-file carpenter in the Seattle area and leader of the Peter J McGuire Group, a caucus in the United Brotherhood of Carpenters that fights for accountability and class struggle in the union. They discuss the origins of the recent carpenters strike in the Pacific Northwest, corruption and bureaucracy in the UBC, City Councilor Kshama Sawant’s relationship to the strike, and the Peter J McGuire Group’s unique vision of unionism and how it compares to other efforts of union reform. The Peter J McGuire Group's Gofundme for legal aid is linked.
Thu, December 02, 2021
[Audiobook] Revolutionary Strategy - Chapter Eight
This is a narration of the eighth chapter of Mike Macnair's groundbreaking book Revolutionary Strategy. Narration and editing by Lydia Apolinar. The free market triumphalism of the 1990s is over. Early 21st century capitalism looks like Karl Marx’s description: growing extremes of wealth and poverty, and irrepressible boom-bust cycles. But for the moment, rightwing religious and nationalist nostalgia politics is the main beneficiary of the opposition this has spawned. The political left remains in the shadow of its disastrous failures in the 20th century. The centre-left - where it has not joined forces with the neoliberal right - clings to nationalist and bureaucratic-statist nostalgia for the social-democratic Cold War era. The far left clings to the coat-tails of the centre-left. It cannot unite itself - let alone anyone else - because it is unwilling to reinterrogate the ideas of the early Communist International, especially on the ‘revolutionary party’. To move beyond this impasse we need to re-examine critically the strategic ideas of socialists since Marx and Engels’ time. This book begins the task. You can purchase a physical copy of the book itself at Lulu . To support the project, sign up for our Patreon .
Mon, November 29, 2021
Zapatismo through Women's Eyes: Democracy, Autonomy and Liberation with Hilary Klein
Rudy joins Hilary Klein, author of Compañeras: Zapatista Women Stories for a discussion on the history of the Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional (EZLN) from its foundation in the 1980s through their 1994 uprising and their continued existence as a social movement that holds power in areas of Chiapas. We focus on the alternative government structures of the movement: participatory democracy, economic cooperatives, transformative justice and Juntas de Buen Gobierno . Other things we discuss are : the rise and fall of Zapatismo as a north star for the American left, how Zapatismo built a mass base, the dynamics of women's liberation within the Zapatista movement and the broader population, as well as their multiple efforts to win the local population, the local splits between pro-Government and pro-Zapatistas and the future of the movement.
Thu, November 25, 2021
[Audiobook] Revolutionary Strategy - Chapter Seven
This is a narration of the introduction to Mike Macnair's groundbreaking book Revolutionary Strategy. Narration and editing by Lydia Apolinar. The free market triumphalism of the 1990s is over. Early 21st century capitalism looks like Karl Marx’s description: growing extremes of wealth and poverty, and irrepressible boom-bust cycles. But for the moment, rightwing religious and nationalist nostalgia politics is the main beneficiary of the opposition this has spawned. The political left remains in the shadow of its disastrous failures in the 20th century. The centre-left - where it has not joined forces with the neoliberal right - clings to nationalist and bureaucratic-statist nostalgia for the social-democratic Cold War era. The far left clings to the coat-tails of the centre-left. It cannot unite itself - let alone anyone else - because it is unwilling to reinterrogate the ideas of the early Communist International, especially on the ‘revolutionary party’. To move beyond this impasse we need to re-examine critically the strategic ideas of socialists since Marx and Engels’ time. This book begins the task. You can purchase a physical copy of the book itself at Lulu . To support the project, sign up for our Patreon .
Mon, November 22, 2021
Socialist States and the Environment with Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro
Rudy sits down with Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro, author of Socialist States and the Environment , for a discussion on environmental history of socialist states, as well as on doing science from a socialist standpoint. We cover what studying soils reveals, why they had an impact on Marx, and what the history of soils shows about economic transitions in Hungary. We talk about the unfairness of comparisons done in current scholarship, the environmental record of the USSR and what happened after the collapse of the Soviet union, the effects of the economic transition of China on its environment, and the heroic achievements in Cuba to overcome the legacies of colonialism in the environment. We apologize for the lower than usual quality on this audio. We had sound issues which are unfortunately reflected throughout the episode.
Thu, November 18, 2021
[Audiobook] Revolutionary Strategy - Chapter Six
This is a narration of the introduction to Mike Macnair's groundbreaking book Revolutionary Strategy. Narration and editing by Lydia Apolinar. The free market triumphalism of the 1990s is over. Early 21st century capitalism looks like Karl Marx’s description: growing extremes of wealth and poverty, and irrepressible boom-bust cycles. But for the moment, rightwing religious and nationalist nostalgia politics is the main beneficiary of the opposition this has spawned. The political left remains in the shadow of its disastrous failures in the 20th century. The centre-left - where it has not joined forces with the neoliberal right - clings to nationalist and bureaucratic-statist nostalgia for the social-democratic Cold War era. The far left clings to the coat-tails of the centre-left. It cannot unite itself - let alone anyone else - because it is unwilling to reinterrogate the ideas of the early Communist International, especially on the ‘revolutionary party’. To move beyond this impasse we need to re-examine critically the strategic ideas of socialists since Marx and Engels’ time. This book begins the task. You can purchase a physical copy of the book itself at Lulu . To support the project, sign up for our Patreon .
Mon, November 15, 2021
Cambodia 1975-89: From Year Zero to Capitalism
Donald, Connor, Christian and Rudy sit down for a discussion on Cambodia throughout the Democratic Kampuchea period under Pol Pot (75-79) and the People's Republic of Kampuchea period under Heng Samrin (79-89). We talk about the ideological and material origins of Pol Pot's faction within the Communist Party of Kampuchea, and clarify its relationship to the other pro-Vietnamese factions in the CPK. We discuss what the material conditions were in '75 when the CPK takes power, the events during the Pol Pot period including city evacuations, ethnic repression, party purges and the relationships of production in the countryside. We follow with talking about how the DK's aggressive border policies led to the Vietnamese invasion in '79 and the PRK period. We also discuss the PRK period, and how it ended up restoring capitalist relationships and paving the way for the return of Sihanouk and the current form of the Cambodian state. Primary References: Red Brotherhood at War: Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos since 1975 - Grant Evans & Kelvin Rowley The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-79 - Ben Kiernan The People’s Republic of Kampuchea, 1979-1989: The Revolution After Pol Pot - Margaret Slocomb Cambodia, 1975-1982 - Michael Vickery Secondary references: Kampuchea: Politics, Economics and Society - Michael Vickery What Went Wrong with the Pol Pot Regime - F.G. Kampuchea: The Revolution Rescued - Irwin Silber
Thu, November 11, 2021
The Worker and the Hydra: A Reply to Partisan Mag
The development of working-class consciousness requires more than struggles against the employer on the shopfloor, argues Marisa Miale. Mick Labas reads the article aloud.
Mon, November 08, 2021
Indigenous Flows of Resistance with Mike Gouldhawke
Jackson and Rudy join Mike Gouldhawke , a Métis and Cree writer whose family is from kistahpinanihk (City of Prince Albert) and nêwo-nâkîwin (Mont Nebo) in Treaty 6 territory in Saskatchewan, for a discussion on indigenous issues in Canada with a focus on the Métis. We talk about the history of the Métis, through ethnogenesis, the Red River Resistance and the North-West Resistance. The conversation continues with cross-border organizing, the similarities and differences between Canadian and US Indian populations, the red power movement in the 60s and the origin of the Land Back demand and how that demand has become popular again. We also discuss the different meanings of Land Back in the present, solidarity across Indigenous Nations, and the recent small bouts of solidarity between unions and indigenous struggle, the George Williams affair and alliances between Canadian diasporic communities and indigenous nations, indigenous thinkers who have tried to bridge Marxism and Indigenous thought. We finish by discussing the relationships to the Quebec sovereignty movement and the new relationships between the Canadian state and indigenous nations. Further reading Books: Prison of Grass - Howard Adams Bobbi Lee, Indian Rebel - Lee Maracle Roots of Oppression - Steve Talbot Articles: Marxism from a Native Perspective – John Mohawk The Red Path and Socialism – ᐊᓯᓂ Vern Harper Marxism and Native Americans – Reviewed by Howard Adams Below the Barricades: On Infrastructure, Self-Determination, and Defense - Cam Scott
Fri, November 05, 2021
The Fight for a Marxist Program in the DSA
Donald Parkinson assesses the 2021 DSA Convention and imagines a path forward beyond its current political and strategic deadlock. Cliff Connolly reads the article aloud.
Wed, November 03, 2021
[Audiobook] Revolutionary Strategy - Chapter Five
This is a narration of the introduction to Mike Macnair's groundbreaking book Revolutionary Strategy. Narration and editing by Lydia Apolinar. The free market triumphalism of the 1990s is over. Early 21st century capitalism looks like Karl Marx’s description: growing extremes of wealth and poverty, and irrepressible boom-bust cycles. But for the moment, rightwing religious and nationalist nostalgia politics is the main beneficiary of the opposition this has spawned. The political left remains in the shadow of its disastrous failures in the 20th century. The centre-left - where it has not joined forces with the neoliberal right - clings to nationalist and bureaucratic-statist nostalgia for the social-democratic Cold War era. The far left clings to the coat-tails of the centre-left. It cannot unite itself - let alone anyone else - because it is unwilling to reinterrogate the ideas of the early Communist International, especially on the ‘revolutionary party’. To move beyond this impasse we need to re-examine critically the strategic ideas of socialists since Marx and Engels’ time. This book begins the task. You can purchase a physical copy of the book itself at Lulu . To support the project, sign up for our Patreon .
Mon, November 01, 2021
Untold Stories of the United Electrical Workers with Chris Townsend
Annie joins Chris Townsend, longtime organizer with both the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers (UE) and the Amalgamated Transit Union for an oral history on UE from the second World War, through their split with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, the offshoring wave of the late 20th century and the collapse of the USSR. They discuss how UE develops a militant class consciousness in its members, their survival through the dark years of the 1990s, organizing the unorganized, their attitude towards union bureaucracy and much more! Check out Chris's Letter to the Socialists, Old and New and his previous podcast appearance in From Trade Union Consciousness to Socialist Consciousness .
Fri, October 29, 2021
To Hell With The American Gentry
Nicolas D Villarreal argues against populist appeals for a common front between the working-class and small business owners. Mick Labas reads the article aloud.
Mon, October 25, 2021
The Value of Law: The Judiciary and the State with Mike Macnair
Anton and Donald join Mike Macnair for a discussion on law in history and in Marxist thought. They discuss the purpose of law, the different schools of philosophy of law, how Hegel conceived law and the state, and what Marx and Engels took from it, the legal theories of the Soviet theoretician Pashukanis, the role of the constitution in a bourgeois state, what is the role of judges in capitalism and how to organize law in a socialist society. References : Mike Macnair - Law and State as Holes in Marxism A brief and short introduction to philosophy of law is provided by the aptly titled Philosophy of Law: A Very Short Introduction by Raymond Wacks.
Fri, October 22, 2021
Trans-cending the Market: How Socialist Planning Can Meet the Needs of Transgender People
Stani Bjegunac lays out the ways a planned economy could contribute to the project of transgender liberation, focusing on the issues of bathrooms and medical transition. Marina reads the article aloud.
Wed, October 20, 2021
[Audiobook] Revolutionary Strategy - Chapter Four
This is a narration of the introduction to Mike Macnair's groundbreaking book Revolutionary Strategy. Narration and editing by Lydia Apolinar. The free market triumphalism of the 1990s is over. Early 21st century capitalism looks like Karl Marx’s description: growing extremes of wealth and poverty, and irrepressible boom-bust cycles. But for the moment, rightwing religious and nationalist nostalgia politics is the main beneficiary of the opposition this has spawned. The political left remains in the shadow of its disastrous failures in the 20th century. The centre-left - where it has not joined forces with the neoliberal right - clings to nationalist and bureaucratic-statist nostalgia for the social-democratic Cold War era. The far left clings to the coat-tails of the centre-left. It cannot unite itself - let alone anyone else - because it is unwilling to reinterrogate the ideas of the early Communist International, especially on the ‘revolutionary party’. To move beyond this impasse we need to re-examine critically the strategic ideas of socialists since Marx and Engels’ time. This book begins the task. You can purchase a physical copy of the book itself at Lulu . To support the project, sign up for our Patreon .
Mon, October 18, 2021
Class Struggle and Corporatism: A Brief History of Australian Colonialism
Rudy joins Roxy Hall and Giacomo Bianchino for a discussion on the past, present and future of the Australian state. We talk about the history of Australian colonization with its differences and similarities with US and Canada, the squatter vanguard of settler-colonialism, the failed attempt at a bourgeois revolution that was the Eureka Stockade and the process of Federation. We then turn to the formation and pivotal role of the Australian Labor Party in Australian politics, outlining the broad pacts between labour and capital which included White Australia, the Whitlam government and the New Left period, and finish off by discussion the present prospects for struggle around the AUKUS military pact, migrant workers, housing and the environmental and indigenous struggles. Check out Jack's article on Agricultural Labor in Australia . Further reading: J. Roberts - "Massacres to Mining: the Colonisation of Aboriginal Australia" H. McQueen- "A New Britannia: An Argument concerning the social origins of Australian radicalism and nationalism." R. W. Connell and T. H. Irving - "Class Structure in Australian History " E. Humphrys - "How Labour Built Neoliberalism: Australia’s Accord, the Labour Movement and the Neoliberal Project" Erratum: Harold Holt was the Prime Minister that enfranchised indigenous peoples.
Thu, October 14, 2021
The Class Struggle in Afghanistan and its Future
In light of the Taliban’s consolidation of power in response to U.S. withdrawal from the region, Rob Ashlar predicts not the foreclosure of class struggle in Afghanistan but new beginnings. LC reads the article aloud.
Mon, October 11, 2021
The World-Ecology: Capitalism and Nature with Jason Moore
Niko and Rudy sit down with Jason Moore, author of Capitalism in the Web of Life and The Capitalocene ( Part I , II ) for a discussion on his approach to world-ecology including the concepts of Capitalism as a way of organizing nature and of the Web of Life. We discuss how Capitalism has organized nature since its inception and why it is necessary to begin a periodization of capitalism's effects on nature in the colonization of the Atlantic Islands, the debates around Metabolic rift/shift, the role of climate changes in history and what that can teach us for today's struggles, the concept of the four Cheaps and appropriation of unpaid labor, internationalism, the pitfalls of 70s ecology, the Green New Deal, how scientists should relate to radical politics and how to adequately incorporate the concept of Capitalism as a method for organizing Nature in our politics.
Thu, October 07, 2021
[Audiobook] Revolutionary Strategy - Chapter Three
This is a narration of the introduction to Mike Macnair's groundbreaking book Revolutionary Strategy. Narration and editing by Lydia Apolinar. The free market triumphalism of the 1990s is over. Early 21st century capitalism looks like Karl Marx’s description: growing extremes of wealth and poverty, and irrepressible boom-bust cycles. But for the moment, rightwing religious and nationalist nostalgia politics is the main beneficiary of the opposition this has spawned. The political left remains in the shadow of its disastrous failures in the 20th century. The centre-left - where it has not joined forces with the neoliberal right - clings to nationalist and bureaucratic-statist nostalgia for the social-democratic Cold War era. The far left clings to the coat-tails of the centre-left. It cannot unite itself - let alone anyone else - because it is unwilling to reinterrogate the ideas of the early Communist International, especially on the ‘revolutionary party’. To move beyond this impasse we need to re-examine critically the strategic ideas of socialists since Marx and Engels’ time. This book begins the task. You can purchase a physical copy of the book itself at Lulu . To support the project, sign up for our Patreon .
Mon, October 04, 2021
Imperialism in the 21st century with John Smith
Donald and Rudy join John Smith, author of Imperialism in the 21st Century: Globalization, Exploitation and Capitalism's Final Crisis for a discussion on imperialism and unequal exchange. We discuss the history of three global commodities: t-shirts, iPhones and coffee and what they can tell us about the worldwide social relationships of capitalism, why GDP and productivity are illusions that hide exploitation and super-profits, the concept of labor aristocracy and super-profits and the political programs of Arghiri Emmanuel, Samir Amin and Ruy Mauro Marini. We then turn to the present, including capitalism's crisis, decaying US hegemony, the possibilities of North-South solidarity and the existing actual solidarity links in trade unions. We finish by discussing what fair trade relationships between socialist countries could look like.
Thu, September 30, 2021
Ten Theses on the Gender Question
Roxy Hall makes an intervention into debates around transgender issues, critiquing both trans liberalism and anti-trans radical feminism to stake out a position that seeks the abolition of gender. Annie Rose reads the article aloud.
Mon, September 27, 2021
Radical Approaches to Mental Health: Decolonial and Democratic Psychiatries with Sasha Durakov
Matt and Rudy join Sasha Durakov Warren from An Unsound Mind for a discussion on the history of psychiatry reform movements and radical mental health. We discuss how the definition of mind has changed across history, and how the internal movements to reform psychiatry and mistakenly grouped under broad umbrellas that hide a myriad of approaches and contradictions. We also discuss the Franco Basaglia's Democratic Psychiatry movement and Fanon's decolonial psychiatry, and end by envisioning what therapy could look like in a communist society.
Fri, September 24, 2021
Intro to Historical Materialism by Nikolai Bukharin
Written by Bolshevik philosopher, economist, and statesmen Nikolai Bukharin in 1921, Historical Materialism: A System of Sociology was the standard primer on sociology and the historical materialist method in the early Soviet Union. Christian Cail introduces the text in the latest offer from Cosmonaut Press, which Cliff Connolly reads aloud. The book is available for purchase at cosmonautmag.com and a reading group starting Sept 30th will be available to all Patreon subscribers.
Thu, September 23, 2021
[Audiobook] Revolutionary Strategy - Chapter Two
This is a narration of the introduction to Mike Macnair's groundbreaking book Revolutionary Strategy. Narration and editing by Lydia Apolinar. The free market triumphalism of the 1990s is over. Early 21st century capitalism looks like Karl Marx’s description: growing extremes of wealth and poverty, and irrepressible boom-bust cycles. But for the moment, rightwing religious and nationalist nostalgia politics is the main beneficiary of the opposition this has spawned. The political left remains in the shadow of its disastrous failures in the 20th century. The centre-left - where it has not joined forces with the neoliberal right - clings to nationalist and bureaucratic-statist nostalgia for the social-democratic Cold War era. The far left clings to the coat-tails of the centre-left. It cannot unite itself - let alone anyone else - because it is unwilling to reinterrogate the ideas of the early Communist International, especially on the ‘revolutionary party’. To move beyond this impasse we need to re-examine critically the strategic ideas of socialists since Marx and Engels’ time. This book begins the task. You can purchase a physical copy of the book itself at Lulu . To support the project, sign up for our Patreon .
Mon, September 20, 2021
The Practice of Marxist Psychoanalysis with Daniel Tutt
Donald and Rudy join Daniel Tutt for a discussion on the history and present of psychoanalysis and its relationship to Marxism. We discuss whether psychoanalysis can be considered a science and how psychoanalysts produce knowledge before explaining the libidinal economy and possible psychoanalytic interventions in the sphere of exchange. We also discuss Wilhelm Reich: his claim to being the first Marxist psychoanalytic as well as his writings on fascism and its relationship to the family. We continue with family abolition, psychoanalysis in the New Left, and Christopher Lasch's project in the context of psychoanalysis, and finish with the relevance of Ernst Bloch and utopia in Marxist propaganda today.
Thu, September 16, 2021
[Audiobook] Revolutionary Strategy - Chapter One
This is a narration of the introduction to Mike Macnair's groundbreaking book Revolutionary Strategy. Narration and editing by Lydia Apolinar. The free market triumphalism of the 1990s is over. Early 21st century capitalism looks like Karl Marx’s description: growing extremes of wealth and poverty, and irrepressible boom-bust cycles. But for the moment, rightwing religious and nationalist nostalgia politics is the main beneficiary of the opposition this has spawned. The political left remains in the shadow of its disastrous failures in the 20th century. The centre-left - where it has not joined forces with the neoliberal right - clings to nationalist and bureaucratic-statist nostalgia for the social-democratic Cold War era. The far left clings to the coat-tails of the centre-left. It cannot unite itself - let alone anyone else - because it is unwilling to reinterrogate the ideas of the early Communist International, especially on the ‘revolutionary party’. To move beyond this impasse we need to re-examine critically the strategic ideas of socialists since Marx and Engels’ time. This book begins the task. You can purchase a physical copy of the book itself at Lulu . To support the project, sign up for our Patreon .
Mon, September 13, 2021
Revisiting the Agrarian and National Questions with Paris Yeros
Rudy joins Paris Yeros editor of Reclaiming the Nation: The Return of the National Question in Africa, Asia and Latin America and Reclaiming the Land: The Resurgence of Rural Movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America for a discussion on the agrarian and national questions in the 21st century, with a focus on the Zimbabwe land occupations of the 2000s. We discuss the semi-proletarization and land hunger in the Global South, the relevance of the peasantry as a social class, national sovereignty and South-South cooperation before moving on to discuss the land occupations and land redistribution process in Zimbabwe that started in 2000 and how they centered the race and national questions. We also discuss the challenges Zimbabwe has faced since then, and compare the militancy of the Zimbabwe occupations to other movements today such as La Via Campesina and MST in Brazil. Further reading: Paris Yeros - A New Bandung in the Current Crisis Sam Moyo - The Land Occupation Movement and Democratisation in Zimbabwe: Contradictions of Neoliberalism Sam Moyo & Paris Yeros (2007), The Radicalised state: Zimbabwe’s interrupted revolution, Review of African Political Economy , 34 (111), 103–121. Sam Moyo & Paris Yeros (2013), ‘The Zimbabwe model: Radicalisation, reform and resistance’, in S. Moyo & W. Chambati (eds), Land and agrarian reform in Zimbabwe: Beyond white-settler capitalism (pp. 331–358). Dakar: CODESRIA.
Thu, September 09, 2021
[Audiobook] Revolutionary Strategy - Preface & Introduction
This is a narration of the introduction to Mike Macnair's groundbreaking book Revolutionary Strategy. We have also included a preface from Parker McQueeney on what this book means in the context of 2021. Narration and editing by Lydia Apolinar. The free market triumphalism of the 1990s is over. Early 21st century capitalism looks like Karl Marx’s description: growing extremes of wealth and poverty, and irrepressible boom-bust cycles. But for the moment, rightwing religious and nationalist nostalgia politics is the main beneficiary of the opposition this has spawned. The political left remains in the shadow of its disastrous failures in the 20th century. The centre-left - where it has not joined forces with the neoliberal right - clings to nationalist and bureaucratic-statist nostalgia for the social-democratic Cold War era. The far left clings to the coat-tails of the centre-left. It cannot unite itself - let alone anyone else - because it is unwilling to reinterrogate the ideas of the early Communist International, especially on the ‘revolutionary party’. To move beyond this impasse we need to re-examine critically the strategic ideas of socialists since Marx and Engels’ time. This book begins the task. You can purchase a physical copy of the book itself at Lulu . To support the project, sign up for our Patreon .
Mon, September 06, 2021
Canadian Settler-Capitalism with Brendan and Tyler Shipley
Rudy and Brendan join Tyler Shipley, author of Canada in the World: Settler Capitalism and the Colonial Imagination , for a discussion on the past, present and future of the Canadian state. We discuss the terms "Settler Capitalism" and "Colonial Imagination", the formation of Canada through Confederation, the historical policy of Canada towards indigenous people and the current debates around residential schools and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), how Canada is falsely posited as a gentler alternative to the U.S. and the difference between the "Canadian mosaic" and "American melting pot" approaches to immigration. We also discuss the centrality of decolonization and the impossibility of santizing the signifier of Canada. We strongly recommend checking out American Indian voices on the topics covered. Aside from the classics by Howard Adams: Prison of Grass and A Tortured People , and Glen Sean Coulthard's Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition , the book Stringing Rosaries: the History, the Unforgivable, and the Healing of North American Indian Boarding School Survivors by Denise Lajimodiere and Mary Annette Plumber 's numerous articles are good ways to continue learning. M. Gouldhake's writings are also an invaluable source on the Canadian context and aswell as a resource on Marxism/anarchism and Indigenous people. We also recommend the following Red Nation Podcast episodes as a basic introduction to the ways indigenous people are organizing around these issues: No Apologies, Land Back (on Boarding Schools) and MMIWG2S+: No more red hand prints! We also alluded to (non-indigenous) Patrick Wolfe's Traces of History: Elementary Structures of Race in the episode.
Mon, August 30, 2021
Capitalism, Socialism and Subsistence in Laos with Boike Rehbein
Rudy joins Boike Rehbein, author of Globalization, Society and Culture in Laos and Society in Contemporary Laos for a discussion on the past, present and future of the Lao People's Democratic Republic. We start by discussing the concept of habitus and how it can be used to study Laotian society. We then talk about the structure of pre-communist society, the communist takeover in 1975 and the early attempts to build a centralized economy, and the market reforms of 1986. We finish by discussing the bases of the Communist Party and the recent events in 2016 which saw the return of hardliner socialists to power. A brief and comprehensive introduction to his work on Laos is the chapter Capitalist Transformation and Habitus in Laos he authored in the book The Socialist Market Economy in Asia: Development in China, Vietnam and Laos .
Tue, August 24, 2021
Communism and the Disabled with Maddie and Jess
Rudy joins Maddie and Jess from Philly Socialists to discuss the politics of disability and its relationship with organizing. We discuss different models of disability and how they operate under capitalism, what disability can teach us about organizing methods, and the disability rights movements in the US. We the dive into how to relate to accessibility in our organizing, and how to handle conflicting needs around it. We end by discussing the liberatory horizons for disabled people under socialism. Transcript available in cosmonautmag.com Resources mentioned: It takes Organizers to make a Revolution - Rodrigo Nunez Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution From Tide to Wave - Jean RD Allen & Teresa Kalisz No, you can't speak to the Manager - Mara Henao Zoe Belinsky's Medium
Thu, August 19, 2021
[Audiobook] Lenin Rediscovered: Chapter Nine and Conclusion
This is a narration of the ninth chapter and conclusion of Lars Lih's excellent book Lenin Rediscovered: What Is to Be Done? In Context. In this chapter, Lih explores the debates between Bolshevik and Menshevik RSDWP members after their infamous split at the party's Second Congress. The conclusion hammers home Lih's insightful critique of the "textbook interpretation" of Lenin broadly and WITBD in particular, revealing the former as an optimistic and dedicated Erfurtian revolutionary. The full book contains much more content, including informative appendices and Lih's original translation of WITBD. You can purchase a physical copy of the book itself at: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/... Narration and editing by Cliff Connolly.
Mon, August 16, 2021
Lifting the Double Burden: The Women’s Movement under State Socialism
Lydia, Agata, Anne and Rudy join for a discussion of Kristen Ghodsee's Second World, Second Sex: Socialist Women's Activism and Global Solidarity during the Cold War . We begin with the forgotten Communist history of International Women's Year (1975) which later became the United Nations Decade for Women (75-85), and the conflicts between the Western and Eastern blocs regarding women's liberation. We also discuss the double burden of women in Bulgaria, and how women's associations interfaced with the government. We then contrast Bulgaria to other Eastern Bloc countries, and also to the women's liberation movement in socialist Zambia, discussing how the double burden of women was alleviated but not eliminated in these countries. We also discuss the differences with Western feminism, and its pitfalls and advantages over the horizons of women's liberation under state socialism, highlighting the role of women's self-emancipation.
Thu, August 12, 2021
The Procedural is Political
Renato Flores argues for a culture shift around meeting procedures that takes into account differing backgrounds to make our organizing spaces more accessible to everyone regardless of education and time available. Unoriginal Smack reads the article out loud.
Mon, August 09, 2021
Communists and the Miners' Upsurge with Mike Ely
Rudy and Annie join Mike Ely, a veteran of the Revolutionary Union and the wildcat strike movement in the West Virginia coalfields of the 1970s. Drawing from Ely's experiences as a communist in West Virginia, we discuss the practice of social investigation, the role of communists in strike struggles, the structural and conjectural views of revolution and the connection to Alain Badiou, and state repression of the radical left. Contact Mike at wildcatincoal@gmail.com References by Mike Ely: Ambush at Keystone: Inside the Coal Miners’ Great Gas Protest of 1974 Sites of Beginning <div class= "public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleD
Sun, August 01, 2021
Grenada: Volcanic Memories and Stone Legacies of Revolution with Shalini Puri
Isaac and Rudy join Shalini Puri, author of The Grenada Revolution in the Caribbean Present: Operation Urgent Memory, and the companion website urgentmemory.com , for a discussion on the Grenadian Revolution and its legacies in both the island itself and the wider Caribbean. We cover the Revolution's accomplishments as well as some of its pitfalls, the contradictions and mutual strengthening of Marxism and regional liberation movements, and the Revolution's collapse. We then discuss the concepts of volcanic and stone memory, and how memories of the Revolution remain alive in the Caribbean today. Further reading: The Grenada Revolution Online – Free and thorough online resource that includes many speeches ‘Is Freedom We Making’; the New Democracy in Grenada – Merle Hodge (ed.), Chris Searle (ed.) Maurice Bishop Speaks: The Grenada Revolution and Its Overthrow, 1979–83 – M. Bishop, S. Clark Grenada: The Jewel Despoiled – G. K. Lewis African & Caribbean Politics: From Kwame Nkrumah to Maurice Bishop – M. Marable The Grenada Chronicles, v. 1-34 – Grenada National Museum, Ann Elizabeth Wilder (maintainer of TGRO website)
Thu, July 29, 2021
[Audiobook] Lenin Rediscovered: Chapter Eight
This is a narration of the eighth chapter of Lars Lih's excellent book Lenin Rediscovered: What Is to Be Done? In Context. In this chapter, Lih examines the culture of the Russian revolutionary underground to elucidate the world that Lenin's organizational proposals in WITBD would go on to shape. The full audiobook is currently in production by the team at Cosmonaut Magazine. You can find more episodes (and other audio books) on our Youtube channel , and you can purchase a physical copy of the book itself at Haymarket books . Narration and editing by Cliff Connolly.
Mon, July 26, 2021
Californian Dreams: Tech Utopia or Dystopia
Donald has a chat with Richard Barbrook, author with Andy Cameron of The Californian Ideology and the book Imaginary Futures . The two discuss Silicon Valley techno-Utopianism and its transformation into our current tech dystopia, the Cold War left and their attempts to use Marxism in service of capitalism, the role of China in shaping the development of modern technology, crypto-currency, why the USSR failed to develop cyber-communism, and Barbrook’s work in the Labor Party with the Digital Democracy Manifesto .
Fri, July 23, 2021
The Founding of the Chinese Communist Party with Matt Rothwell
Matt and Rudy join Matt Rothwell from the People's History of Ideas podcast for a discussion on the founding of the Chinese Communist Party on its 100th anniversary. We base ourselves on the book From Friend To Comrade: The Founding of the Chinese Communist Party, 1920-27 by Hans J. van der Veen, and discuss issues such as the influence of the Soviet Union on its formation, how intellectuals , moving past liberalism adopted Marxism and translated it to the Chinese context, the way policy implementation and debate evolved in the party, the debates around the united front, and what can we learn for today's political landscape.
Mon, July 19, 2021
Vietnam: From National Liberation to Liberalization
Rudy, Connor and Donald sit down to talk about Vietnamese political economy and the Vietnamese Communist Party with a particular focus on the period of reunification and market reforms. We discuss the formation of Vietnamese Communism in isolation, the history of Vietnam up to reunification and how that set up a very divided country for the VCP to rule over, the short planned economy period and how and why the market reforms took place. We also discuss the particularities of Vietnamese Socialism and the party's workings, as well as how much influence the world market has over society today. References: Vietnam: Politics, Economics and Society - Melanie Beresford Economic Transition in Vietnam: Trade and Aid in the Demise of a Centrally Planned Economy - Melanie Beresford, Dang Phong Doi Moi in Review - Melanie Beresford Red Brotherhood at War - Grant Evans, Kevin Rowley Vietnam at War - Mark Philip Bradley From Plan to Market - Adam Pforde, Stefan de Vylder Tradition, Revolution, and Market Economy in a North Vietnamese Village, 1925-2006 - Hy V. Luong The Socialist Market Economy in Asia: Development in China, Vietnam and Laos - Edited by Arve Hansen, Jo Inge Bekkevold, Kristen Nordhau
Thu, July 15, 2021
Neither Intersectionality nor Economism: For a Genuine Class Politics
Neither a politics of identity informed by theories of intersectionality nor reductive economistic readings of Marxism are adequate for a modern socialist project, argues Donald Parkinson. Robert Fish reads the article out loud.
Mon, July 12, 2021
How Capitalism Produces Pandemics with Rob Wallace
Djamil and Rudy join Rob Wallace, author of Big Farms Make Big Flu: Dispatches on Influenza, Agribusiness, and the Nature of Science , and Dead Epidemiologists: On the Origins of COVID-19 , for a discussion on how capitalism produces mass pandemics through the destruction and creation of new ecologies. We discuss how humans 'fit' in nature, and how capitalism destroys natural barriers that prevent pandemics and creates harmful new ecologies. We also talk about what types of regulatory mechanisms are needed to prevent the mass spread of diseases. We finish off by discussing how the left should relate to topics such as the hypothesis of laboratory origins for Covid, vaccine skepticism and organizations like the CDC and the WHO.
Thu, July 08, 2021
[Audiobook] Lenin Rediscovered: Chapter Seven
This is a narration of the seventh chapter of Lars Lih's excellent book Lenin Rediscovered: What Is to Be Done? In Context. In this chapter, Lih maps out Lenin's basic conception of Russian Social Democracy's present challenges and asserts that "the political poetry of WITBD is located in this larger definition of the situation". The full audiobook is currently in production by the team at Cosmonaut Magazine. You can find more episodes (and other audio books) on our Youtube channel , and you can purchase a physical copy of the book itself at Haymarket books . Narration and editing by Cliff Connolly.
Mon, July 05, 2021
From Cochabamba to a People's Green New Deal with Max Ajl
Rudy joins Max Ajl, author of A People's Green New Deal (Pluto Press, 2021), for a broad discussion on the themes of his book and on the agrarian question in general. We speak about Max's background in agrarian movements with a particular focus on the Arab region, the Cochabamba People's Agreement and its relevance today, the critique of the current Green New Deal and of eco-modernism, the appearing splits in the ruling class between fossil and non-fossil capital, unequal environmental exchange, climate reparations and the conflicting tendencies within the degrowth movement. We also talk about the necessity of centering land and food in our political programs, and its usefulness in providing a bridge between current iterations of the Green New Deal and the future we want to see. References : The Cochabamba People's Agreement with Annexes The Green New Deal and Beyond: The Road From Climate Emergency to Economic Reality - Stan Cox ( Land Institute ) Does the Arab region have an agrarian question? - Max Ajl
Thu, July 01, 2021
The Revolutionary Minimum-Maximum Program
Donald Parkinson explains and defends the format of the minimum-maximum program using the model established in Marx and Guesde’s Programme of the Parti Ouvier . Lydia Apolinar reads the article out loud.
Mon, June 28, 2021
Invisible Empire: The Global Power of Finance with Tony Norfield
Rudy joins Tony Norfield, author of The City: London and the Global Power of Finance (Verso Books) for a broad theoretical practical discussion on the topic of finance. We discuss Hilferding and Lenin's theories of finance and imperialism, and where they are lacking, how finance is used to enforce global domination today, the exorbitant privilege of the dollar, the discussions around the rate of profit, the role of China and the Belt & Road Initiative, cryptocurrencies and Norfield's outlook for the future.
Thu, June 24, 2021
[Audiobook] Lenin Rediscovered: Chapter Six
This is a narration of the sixth chapter of Lars Lih's excellent book Lenin Rediscovered: What Is to Be Done? In Context. In this chapter, Lih examines the remaining three interlocuters Lenin polemicizes with in WITBD: the anonymous authors of the Joint Letter, Boris Savinkov, and L. Nadezhdin. All three are marginal historical figures in their own right, but their importance in contextualizing the debates of WITBD cannot be overstated. The full audiobook is currently in production by the team at Cosmonaut Magazine. You can find more episodes (and other audio books) on our Youtube channel , and you can purchase a physical copy of the book itself at Haymarket books . Narration and editing by Cliff Connolly.
Mon, June 21, 2021
Constitution and Class Struggle in the Early American Republic with Matt Christman
Parker and Christian join Matt Christman for a discussion on the class dynamics of the founding of the US, using Charles Beard's book An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States as a jumping off point. They cover the main idea of the book: how the Founding Fathers designed the Constitution and the federal institutions to ensure their class interests after the Independence War. They also discuss how other events of the time such as Shay's Rebellion showed the limits of the Constitution, how it managed to survive even the Civil War, and what it means to call for a constitutional convention in the present.
Thu, June 17, 2021
A Twelve-Step Program for Democrat Addiction
Jonah Martell lays out a twelve-step program for the Democratic Socialists of America to pursue a path of independent working-class politics. Christian Cail reads the article out loud.
Mon, June 14, 2021
Cybersyn, Cybernetics and Allende's Chile with Raúl Espejo
Amelia and Rudy join Raul Espejo, one of the top members of the Cybersyn project in Allende's Chile, the founder of Syncho Research and the president of the World Organization of Systems and Cybernetics for a conversation. We discuss Raul's experiences, his current projects, and what he thinks socialists should learn about Cybernetics in today's world, especially around the concept of variety.
Thu, June 10, 2021
[Audiobook] Lenin Rediscovered: Chapter Five
This is a narration of the fifth chapter of Lars Lih's excellent book Lenin Rediscovered: What Is to Be Done? In Context. In this chapter, Lih breaks down the causes and details of the intense polemical war between rival Social Democratic publications Rabochee Delo and Iskra. The context of Lenin's What Is to Be Done? cannot be understood without a thorough examination of this dispute, which ultimately ended in victory for Lenin and the Iskra faction. The full audiobook is currently in production by the team at Cosmonaut Magazine. You can find more episodes (and other audio books) on our Youtube channel , and you can purchase a physical copy of the book itself at Haymarket books . Narration and editing by Cliff Connolly.
Sun, June 06, 2021
Dialectical Materialism, Marxist Realism and Quantum Mechanics
Djamil and Rudy sit down for a hardcore episode on the interaction between Soviet diamat philosophy and Quantum Mechanics. We discuss the analytic core of dialectical materialism through the lens of the philosophy of science and the position of scientific realism. We analyze the main propositions of this core in an attempt to extract what is best, and most relevant to physics: those propositions and thematics which will play heavily in formulating and advancing soviet physics. We discuss what realism is within this framework, how Lenin understood it, and how that informed his debates with the neo-positivists. We continue by outlining what parts of quantum mechanics tend to go against our most basic intuitions, the Copenhagen interpretation and its neo-positivist roots, and how that informed the reception of quantum mechanics in the USSR. We finish with V. A. Fock's efforts to give a realistic interpretation of quantum mechanics consistent with dialectic materialism which managed to change Niels Bohr's mind, which sets a prime example for the successful application of dialectical materialism to science. Further reading: L. V. Tarasov – Basic Concepts of Quantum Mechanics Loren R. Graham – Quantum Mechanics and Dialectical Materialism D. Z. Albert – Quantum Mechanics and Experience
Thu, June 03, 2021
[Audiobook] Lenin Rediscovered: Chapter Four
This is a narration of the fourth chapter of Lars Lih's excellent book Lenin Rediscovered: What Is to Be Done? In Context. In this chapter, Lih scrutinizes two opponents of the Russian Erfurtianism that Lenin championed: the Credo and Rabochaia mysl. This gives valuable insight into the political terrain on which What Is to Be Done? was deployed. The full audiobook is currently in production by the team at Cosmonaut Magazine. You can find more episodes (and other audio books) on our Youtube channel , and you can purchase a physical copy of the book itself at Haymarket books . Narration and editing by Cliff Connolly.
Mon, May 31, 2021
Trade Unionism and Identity in the Israeli State with Ehud Ein-Gil
Lydia and Rudy join Matzpen member Ehud Ein-Gil for a discussion on trade unionism within the Israeli state. We discuss Ehud's experiences around the founding of Koach LaOvdim as a new sort of union, the history and structure of the Histadrut and how that has affected trade unionism inside the '48 borders, his experience organizing bus drivers, the intermediate status of the Mizraim Jews in Israeli society, the effects of the Arab Spring on Israel, his thoughts on religion and secularism, and his outlook about finding new identity for the six million Hebrews living in historic Palestine.
Sun, May 23, 2021
On Winning and Losing
Ellie, Amelia, Matt and Rudy discuss the life and work of Col. John Boyd, one of the foremost military strategists of the last century. We discuss how the left should relate to military science, Boyd's main ideas such as the OODA loop and the Moral & Mental domains of struggle, his influences: Clausewitz and Sun Tzu, and how Boyd was able to use them to develop his ideas on strategy, and we finish up with examples of how politicians use similar ideas to Boyd and how we should use them for winning fights. References: John Boyd A Discourse on Winning and Losing Youtube lectures on Patterns of Conflict (transcript in the description) Boyd: The Fighter Pilot who Changed the Art of War - Robert Coram Others Trotsky's The Art of Insurrection , and How the Revolution Armed Estrategia Socialista y Arte Militar - Emilio Albamonte & Matías Maiello (unavailable in English, summary of the ideas found here ) Mao's Military Writings , in particular On Guerilla Warfare and Concentrate a Superior Force to Destroy the Enemy One by One Communist Party of Peru (Shining Path) - Military Line Marine Corps MCDP-1 Warfighting Fleet Tactics and Naval Operations Third Edition - CAPT Wayne P. Hughes Jr.
Thu, May 20, 2021
[Audiobook] Lenin Rediscovered: Chapter Three
This is a narration of the third chapter of Lars Lih's excellent book Lenin Rediscovered: What Is to Be Done? In Context. In this chapter, Lih explores three crucial texts from the Iskra period of Lenin's career, December 1900 to August 1903. The first, Russia and Its Crisis, was written by liberal revolutionary Paul Miliukov and explains the context of the revolutionary situation leading up to 1905 in which Iskra was published. The second, the Bolsheviks' Amsterdam Report from 1904, looked back at the Iskra period and gave the Bolshevik's side of the story. The third, which Lih calls the Political Agitation series, is a number of Iskra articles written by Lenin which further elucidate his Erfurtian outlook. The three texts combine to present overwhelming evidence that the textbook interpretation of Lenin is seriously flawed. The full audiobook is currently in production by the team at Cosmonaut Magazine. You can find more episodes (and other audio books) on our Youtube channel , and you can purchase a physical copy of the book itself at Haymarket books . Narration and editing by Cliff Connolly.
Sun, May 16, 2021
Building a Mass Tenants Movement with Stomp Out Slumlords
Annie and Rudy join Greg Afinogenov from Stomp Out Slumlords for a discussion on tenants unions, and how SoS has thought about the work of Cloward and Piven to develop ideas on how to build sustainable mass organisations. We discuss how to build mass constituencies for actions and what the goal of tenants unionism should be. Further reading: R. A. Cloward, F. F. Piven - Disruptive Dissensus: People and Power in the Industrial Age Stomp Out Slumlords's organizing report of February 2021
Thu, May 13, 2021
[Audiobook] Lenin Rediscovered: Chapter Two
This is a narration of the second chapter of Lars Lih's excellent book Lenin Rediscovered: What Is to Be Done? In Context. In this chapter, Lih examines all the programmatic writings from Lenin in the 1890s and demonstrates the revolutionary leader's consistency throughout this time. This sets the stage for Lenin's later polemics at the start of the 20th century, including What Is to Be Done? The full audiobook is currently in production by the team at Cosmonaut Magazine. You can find more episodes (and other audio books) on our Youtube channel , and you can purchase a physical copy of the book itself at Haymarket books . Narration and editing by Cliff Connolly.
Sun, May 09, 2021
Cuba: Past, Present, and Future with Helen Yaffe
Christian and Connor sit down with Helen Yaffe to discuss her book We Are Cuba . We talked about the history and political economy of revolutionary Cuba before and after the post-Soviet period. Some of topics we touched on were the nature of democracy on the island, the relationship of Cuba to the United States, and how Cuba has dealt with the pandemic and coming crisis of climate change. Other resources mentioned: Emily Morris - Unexpected Cuba The documentary Cuba & COVID 19 Public Health, Science and Solidarity and Helen's article on Cuban vaccines . Piero Gleijeses' work on Cuba, in particular Visions of Freedom: Havana, Washington, Pretoria, and the Struggle for Southern Africa, 1976–1991 and Conflicting Missions: Havana, Washington and Africa, 1959–1976.
Mon, May 03, 2021
A life in Marxist Economics and Education with Sam Bowles
Amelia Davenport joins Samuel Bowles for a short discussion on his life-long research on global poverty and education. They discuss Bowles's history and how this led to his orientation, his work on education "Schooling in Capitalist America", including what he has changed his mind on, his thoughts about markets, incentives, central planning and capitalist economies, as well as other theories such as the value-form abolition, neo-liberal economics. He also talks about teaching economics to undergraduates and what thinkers socialists should engage with even if they're outside the Marxist tradition. Make sure to check out the CORE project and their completely free undergraduate level coursebook on economics .
Thu, April 29, 2021
[Audiobook] Lenin Rediscovered: Chapter One
This is a narration of the first chapter of Lars Lih's excellent book Lenin Rediscovered: What Is to Be Done? In Context. In this chapter, Lih explains how the legacy of figures like Marx, Engels, Lassalle, Kautsky, and others influenced Lenin. There's also a wonderful exploration of how the pre-war SPD served as the original model for the "vanguard party" (though in a very different way from how the term is used today). The full audiobook is currently in production by the team at Cosmonaut Magazine. You can find more episodes (and other audio books) on our Youtube channel , and you can purchase a physical copy of the book itself at Haymarket books . Narration and editing by Cliff Connolly.
Mon, April 26, 2021
Organizing Amazon: AU's Shop Floor Alternative
Rudy joins Zama and Jonathan from Amazonians United to discuss their shop floor alternative which has organized walkouts in Chicago, and started a national fight for PTO. They discuss the way they bond with co-workers on the shop floor, what their next steps are, and how different their organizing looks like to that of RWDSU which organized the Bessemer (Alabama) unionization effort. We also discuss medium- and long-term goals, as well as how they relate to the existing socialist movement.
Thu, April 22, 2021
Cults of our Hegemony: An Inventory of Left-Wing Cults
Destructive cults are usually considered the domain of religious movements. The Left, however, has its own track record of cults. Gus Breslauer sympathetically examines this history in search of the political questions that produce such groups, how they operate, and how to overcome them. Robert Fish reads the article out loud.
Mon, April 19, 2021
Strikes & Boycotts: The Two Souls of the United Farm Workers with Frank Bardacke
Roger and Rudy join Frank Bardacke, author of Trampling out the Vintage: Cesar Chavez and the Two Souls of the United Farm Workers for a discussion on the UFW, its history, its tactics, its structure and its slow loss of relevance. We focus on the boycott as a tactic: how the UFW pioneered the use of boycotts, how winning the 1965-70 Delano grape campaign through a boycott shifted the power in the union from workers to staffers, and how both tactics, and what they represented in the union, would come into conflict in the 1979 Salinas Lettuce struggle. We also talk about Cesar Chavez the man, the UFW's changing relationship to undocumented migrants, present-day farm organizing and what lessons we can draw from the UFW for today, in particular on the use of boycotts and on union democracy.
Thu, April 15, 2021
[Audiobook] Lenin Rediscovered: Introduction
This is a narration of the 37-page introduction to Lars Lih's excellent book Lenin Rediscovered: What Is to Be Done? In Context . Going against conventional wisdom, Lih presents a detailed study that paints Lenin as an optimist inspired by the capacity of the working class and determined to guide them to carry out their historic mission. Furthermore, Lih identifies the German Social Democratic Party as Lenin's ideal model of a revolutionary party, which he tried to implement to the greatest extent possible in Russia. The full audiobook is currently in production by the team at Cosmonaut Magazine. You can find more episodes (and other audio books) on our Youtube channel , and you can purchase a physical copy of the book itself at Haymarket books . Narration and editing by Cliff Connolly.
Mon, April 12, 2021
The Class Struggle in Contemporary China with Yueran Zhang
Parker and Matthew sit down with sociologist and labor activist Yueran Zhang to discuss workers' struggles in contemporary China. Topics discussed include public memory of Tiananmen Square, the Chongqing model, trade unionism and labor activism in the Pearl River Delta, the Jasic workers' struggle, and prospects for the revolutionary left. ------ Check out Yueran's articles on The Forgotten Socialists of Tiananmen Square and Leninists in a Chinese Factory
Sun, April 04, 2021
From Ruins to Ruins in East Germany
Alex, Rudy and Christian sit down to discuss the history of the German Democratic Republic from its foundation atop the ruins of WW2 to the prelude of reunification. They discuss the challenges of building socialism in the fourth of ruined country, the challenges of brain drain, the economy before and after the Wall was built, the intelligentsia/worker divide, the varying responsiveness of the ruling party to criticism and how the GDR was able to provide a normal life to most of its population for decades. Main References: The People's State: East German Society from Hitler to Honecker - Mary Fulbrook A Socialist Defector: From Harvard to Karl-Marx-Allee - Victor Grossman The Human Rights Dictatorship: Socialism, Global Solidarity and Revolution in East Germany - Ned Richardson-Little Complementary references: The Making of the GDR, 1945-53 - Gareth Pritchard Where was the Working Class?: Revolution in Eastern Germany - Linda Fuller Dissolution: The Crisis of Communism and the End of Eastern Germany - Charles S. Maier
Thu, April 01, 2021
Fight the Constitution! Demand a New Republic!
Jonah Martell proposes a radical New Union Act to throw the antiquated US Constitution into the dustbin of history. Cliff Connolly reads the article out loud.
Sun, March 28, 2021
Ethiopia: From the '74 Revolution to the present with Ian Scott Horst
Sam and Rudy join Ian Scott Horst, author of Like Ho Chi Minh! Like Che Guevara! The Revolutionary Left in Ethiopia, 1969–1979 (Foreign Languages Press) for a discussion on the 1974 revolution in Ethiopia and the relationship to the Ethiopian present, as well as what we can learn and apply from it for today's world. We talk about the questions of Eritrean and Ethiopian nationalism, the role of the military in a revolution, the student movements in Ethiopia and their role, with a comparison to the current young US left, definitions of fascism, the role of the USSR & Cuba in propping up the Derg military dictatorship and how to relate to past and failed socialist projects. --- Further reading: Ian Scott Horst's Cosmonaut article on this topic " Which side are you on? The Challenge of the 1974 Ethiopian Revolution <span data-o
Sun, March 21, 2021
The Early Communist Women's Movement with Daria Dyakonova
Lydia and Anne sit down with Daria Dyakonova to discuss the often neglected history of the Communist Women's Movement (1920-22). They talk about the origins of the movement, its most important figures, the debates around what the base of the CWM would be, and what would be the main issues it tackled, its changing relationship to the Comintern and its recurring fight against male chauvinism within the communist and broader workers movement. The discussion finishes with the slow eclipse of the CWM until its final demise and how that affected the future generations of communist women. Daria and Mike Taber have an upcoming book on this topic through Brill's Historical Materialism series. ------- Other resources: Interview with Daria and Mike Taber on the CWM, and their upcoming book on it. <div class="_2TO-components-SimpleRichTextEditor-
Sun, March 14, 2021
Organizing our Organizations
Amelia, Jake, Steve and Rudy sit down for a discussion of what experiences in organizing brought them to be interested in Cybernetics and Beer's viable system model, and how they try to think through the structures of the organizations they currently are members of in Beerian terms. They discuss the dichotomies of centralization/de-centralization and here/now vs then/there, and how to balance them as well as the need for regulation in organization in the shape of arbitration and policies. ------------------ Stafford Beer's Designing Freedom Massey Lectures and his Falcondale Lectures are good places to begin with his work. A 10-min explanation is also provided by Auxiliary Statements. The General Intellect Unit podcast also features prominently in our discussion as a resource.
Thu, March 11, 2021
Create a Mass Party!
Cliff Connolly critiques CounterPower’s vision of the “party of autonomy” and offers an alternative vision of the mass party. Cliff reads his article aloud.
Sun, March 07, 2021
Class and race in Israel/Palestine with Emmanuel Farjoun
Lydia, Isaac and Rudy join Emmanuel Farjoun from Matzpen for a discussion on his 1983 piece Class divisions in Israeli society and how the divisions have changed in the present day. We discuss the changing strength of the Palestinians inside Israel and how that is reflected in their changing political aims, the differences between whiteness in the US and the construction of race in Israel, and the BDS movement internationally.
Thu, March 04, 2021
Mission Statement of the Marxist Unity Slate
Matt Strupp reads aloud the a reprint of the mission statement of Marxist Unity Slate , a set of proposals for the 2021 DSA convention with the aim of fostering democratic discipline and principled election campaigns, as well as uniting Marxists in DSA around a vision of a mass socialist party. The proposals can be read and signed here, 100 signatures are needed to bring these to the convention. Most of the participants in Marxist Unity Slate are associated with Cosmonaut Magazine , either as contributors or board members. However, this should not be seen as an effort by Cosmonaut itself, but rather an attempt by like-minded comrades active in DSA to advocate for a specific direction. Cosmonaut hosts a diversity of views and Marxist Unity Slate is one of a number of personal initiatives of individuals associated with Cosmonaut .
Sun, February 28, 2021
A Marxist Education with Wayne Au
Donald and Rudy sit down with Wayne Au, author of A Marxist Education . They discuss his experiences on providing a critical education, how education in the US currently stands and how Covid has just brought to the forefront issues faced by students. They discuss the Au's work on Paulo Freire and Lev Vygotsky, and end up envisioning how a socialist school could look like.
Wed, February 24, 2021
Beyond Work? The Shortcomings of Post-Work Politics
Mikael Lyngaas argues that post-work theorists ranging from Bob Black to Srnicek and Williams are utopian socialism for the current era. Sam Wiles reads the article out loud.
Fri, February 19, 2021
Reparations and Self-Determination: Loosening the Black-Belt
Renato Flores argues for self-determination and reparations for Black Americans as a key part of the revolutionary struggle in the USA. Robert Fisher reads the article out loud.
Mon, February 15, 2021
Republicanism and Freedom in Marx with William Clare Roberts
Ian and Donald join William Clare Roberts (@MarxInHell), author of Marx's Inferno for a discussion on the wider themes of his book: republicanism, non-domination, theories of freedom, the early communist movement, and how to read capital both politically and scientifically.
Sun, February 07, 2021
The origins of Matzpen: the Israeli Anti-Zionist New Left with Moshé Machover
Isaac and Rudy join Moshé Machover, one of the four founding members of the Israeli Socialist Organization, better known as Matzpen after the name of their publication for a discussion on the group's origins, how their anti-zionist consciousness originated and developed, their marginalization by Israeli society during the 1967 war and how Arab/Jewish solidarity was built. The conversation then pivots to how the Israeli Class Structure has changed since its early analysis by Matzpen and what that bodes for the future. They also address the topics of diasporism and how Israel compares to other settler (and non-settler) societies in the world. ----- Further resources: Youtube documentary on Matzpen, Anti-Zionist Israelis Moshé's articles on Belling the Cat , Colonialism and the Natives and Hebrew self-determination . Check out his Weekly Worker archive . Matzpen's archives
Sun, January 31, 2021
The Revolutionary Karl Kautsky with Ben Lewis
Parker and Alex have a conversation with the editor and translator of Karl Kautsky on Democracy and Republicanism (Haymarket, 2020) on the legacy of Karl Kautsky before he turned renegade. They discuss the convergence of various conflicting political views, from 'Leninists' to Social Democrats and Cold War Warriors, into what Ben Lewis calls in his book a "peculiar consensus" that fundamentally misrepresents the historical figure of Kautsky. Please support Ben Lewis's work Marxism Translated on Patreon as he strives to bring classical texts of German Marxism to an English audience for a first time.
Fri, January 29, 2021
The Family is Dead, Long Live the Family
With family abolition a controversial topic in the current-day leftist discourse, Alyson Escalante argues for a more nuanced and sensitive approach to the topic by looking at the works of Karl Marx and Alexandra Kollontai while exploring the relation of colonialism to the family. Sam Wiles reads the article aloud.
Sun, January 24, 2021
The Chinese Rural Commune with Zhun Xu
Matt and Christian join Zhun Xu, author of From Commune to Capitalism: How China’s Peasants Lost Collective Farming and Gained Urban Poverty for a discussion on China's communes from their construction to their dismantling. They contextualize land reform globally, elaborate on how the Chinese land reform process looked different from the Soviet one, discuss how the communes looked and functioned, and what services they provided as well as their achievements and their points of failure. They then take a general look at the cultural revolution, and how it was slowly reversed after Mao's death, why and how the rural communes were targeted first for reform, and they finish by looking at the fate of the urbanized peasantry and why they have not yet joined the urban struggles in China.
Tue, January 12, 2021
Holocaust Capitalism
Richard Hunsinger argues that migrant concentration camps represent a descent into fascist barbarism and are related to the inherent tendencies of capitalism. Remi Debs reads the article aloud. -------------------- Find more information about Richard's case in: https://twitter.com/DefendRichard/ , and please donate to the Atlanta Solidarity Fund
Sat, January 02, 2021
An X-Ray of the Yugoslav Experiment in Self-Management
For the latest episode of our series on Actually Existing Socialism, Christian, Rudy, Donald and Connor join forces for a discussion on the Yugoslav self-management in its different iterations. We use Darko Suvin's Splendor, Misery and Possibilities: An X-Ray of Socialist Yugoslavia as a background to outline an exploration of the successive reforms where self-management was first brought in as a response to the failures of the command economy to take advantage of plebian creativity, and how slowly the market and decentralizations became a magic bullet for solving all problems, a fetish which caused the arising of significant inefficiencies, consumerist culture and inequalities both between republics and between workers and managers in the factories. We analyze why successive waves of marketization were supported, and how this led to the formations of new classes that would eventually disintegrate Yugoslavia. Other Sources: Yugoslav Marxists B. Horvat, "Towards a Theory of a Planned Economy" B. Kidric, "Some Theoretical Questions of the New Economic System" E. Kardelj, "Directions of the Development of the Political System of Socialist Self-Administration" Other Marxists E. Mandel, "Self-Management: Dangers and Possibilities" E. Hoxha, "Yugoslav "Self-Administration" - Capitalist Theory and Practice" Academic D. Granick, "Enterprise Guidance in Eastern Europe: A Comparison of Four Socialist Economies" P. H. Patterson, " Bought & Sold : Living and Losing the Good Life in Socialist Yugoslavia "
Sun, December 27, 2020
Radio Free Punjab
Rudy is joined by Jasdeep and Sangeet to talk about the recent farmers protests going on in Northern India, especially around the regions of Punjab and Haryana. They discuss the origins of the movement and of the farmers union, how the movement relates to workers and urban dwellers and how the questions of caste, religion and gender are dealt with. The conversation then examines the total participation of society in the movement and how this was achieved, and what we can learn from it. We finalize by discussing the future of the movement, and what we can do to help it from anywhere. Check out Sangeet's work on women's participation in the ongoing movement and on another historical movement hundred years ago, and how religion plays a role in the culture of defiance .
Mon, December 21, 2020
Attic Communists of the Netherlands
Parker and Alex join Emil Jacobs of the Socialist Party of the Netherlands to discuss the factional struggle and expulsion of the Communist Platform group. They discuss the party's bureaucratic centralism and opposition to open democratic struggle by the party's parliamentary fraction. Should communists bother to try to push for principled politics within the broader workers movement? Why or why not? Emil also asks for context on the struggle for socialism in the US and the Democratic Socialists of America as well as Marxist Center groups. Weekly Worker articles added for context and updates to the struggle within the Dutch SP: Bureaucratic Control Freakery Youth Section Will Win Communist Platform website ROOD fundraiser
Wed, December 16, 2020
Driving in reverse: Prop 22 and AppBased Drivers’ resistance with Boston Independent Drivers Guild
Rudy is joined by Jonathan, Henry and Felipe from the Boston Independent Drivers Guild for a discussion on how gig drivers are resisting and organizing against precarity in their jobs. We discuss what a typical working day looks like and how drivers relate to their jobs and what the workforce looks like and what challenges that entails when organizing, such as multilingualism. Felipe discusses how Uber and Lyft workers can meet each other, how BIDG was started, its current organizing strategy and the long-term goals of the guild, and what their relationship to others unions is. The episode then pivots to the context of Prop 22, how that battle was lost and how the guild is planning for future fights. We end by discussing Uber's interface with venture capital and its common lie that the company is not profitable As Felipe said, if you are a gig worker, or a ride-sharing driver, you are not alone. There is probably a driver union somewhere near you, with people getting organized to fight.
Thu, December 10, 2020
Faith, Family and Folk: Against the Trad Left
Donald Parkinson takes issue with the calls for a “socially conservative leftism” that have increased in popularity since Jeremy Corbyn’s defeat in the UK election. Matthew Strupp reads the article aloud.
Sat, December 05, 2020
Revisiting the Lysenko Affair
In the second episode of our Soviet Science series, Donald, Djamil and Rudy sit down to contextualize an infamous episode of this story: The case of T. D. Lysenko and Lysenkoism. We discuss the origins of vernalization and Lysenkoism in peasant folk knowledge and Michurin's plant garden, how the state of Soviet scientifical structures and Soviet agriculture favoured his rise, how he took advantage of the Soviet purges to solidify his standing, how he managed to absolutely ban the research of genetics in 1948, and how this ban was negotiated by other scientists, his many downfalls and rehabilitations starting in the early 1950s all the way up to the removal of Khruschev, and the shadow Lysenkoism cast on Soviet agronomy and biology for decades both internally and in the West. We also contextualize Lysenko's agricultural and biological theories using modern knowledge about epigenetics. Sources/Further Reading: David Joravsky, The Lysenko Affair (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970) Robert M. Young, Getting Started on Lysenkoism (1978) Levins & Lewontin, The Dialectical Biologist (1985) Loren Graham, Lysenko’s Ghost (2016) Dominique Lecourt, Proletarian Science? The case of Lysenko (1977)
Thu, December 03, 2020
Revolutionary Discipline and Sobriety
Cliff Connolly argues for a culture of sobriety within our organizations, drawing from the example of Austrian Socialism.
Sat, November 28, 2020
The Tragedy of American Science with Cliff Conner
Alex and Rudy welcome historian Cliff Conner for a discussion of his recent book The Tragedy of American Science: From Truman to Trump published by Haymarket Books . They discuss how this tragedy is a tragedy of capitalist science which is seen across the capitalist world, the role of science as an unchallengeable source of authority and how that is squared with the antiintelectualism needed to sustain a power structure, the influence of money in regulation and research, the precautionary principle and the risk-assessment principles for commercializing new products and the use of reductionism in research and how that is unseparable from the bourgeois mentality. The conversation then moves to the American university and the effect of the Bayh-Dole act, and the relationship between military spending and research, including the US’s economy addiction to “weaponized Keynsianism” and how American policy makers do not care about the failures of military technology as long as the money keeps flowing. They discuss the ideals of objectivity and neutrality, ‘value-free’ science as an ideological tool and how the social sciences can strive for objectivity. They end off talking about what changes and what things will stay the same with Biden, and and how non-capitalist economies have shown that other models of science are possible where innovation did not rely on profit as a motive. ---- Details on the financial interests behind Operation Warp Speed, by Marjorie Cohn: https://truthout.org/articles/trump-administration-is-paying-big-pharma-billions-in-rush-for-vaccine/ Science for the People can be found here: https:// scienceforthepeople.org
Mon, November 23, 2020
An Accumulation of Affect
This article's author, Richard Hunsinger, is currently being held without bail in an ICE detention facility and could use our support. Donations to the Atlanta Solidarity Fund help political prisoners like Richard, and can be made at https://atlsolidarity.org/ Letters can be sent to Richard by emailing writetodick@protonmail.com Donations to his commissary can be sent on Venmo to Kat-Richards-1 or cashapp to $KatRichards. Discourse related to the concept of emotional labor can highlight the way capitalism distorts our humanity or merely naturalize capitalism, argues Richard Hunsinger. Cliff Connolly reads the article aloud.
Sat, November 21, 2020
Pull the Plugs? Labor, Power, and the Rise of Fossil Capitalism
Join the Cosmonaut Ecocrew as they discuss Andreas Malm’s piercing 2016 text Fossil Capital and attempt to dispel the myriad of myths that have been erected around the energetic transition to coal. The fateful intertwining in mid-19th century British cotton districts of capital and fossil fuels is examined in the context of class struggle, the ascendancy of the steam engine, and alternative futures which were incompatible with the logic of capital. ----- Check the previous episodes of this series: Karl Marx’s Ecosocialism: Capital, Nature and the Unfinished Critique of Political Economy with Red Library Capitalism in the Web of Life: A Discussion Marx’s Ecology: Materialism and Nature
Sun, November 15, 2020
Without a Party, We Have Nothing
Donald Parkinson responds to Taylor B’s Beginning’s of Politics: DSA and the Uprising , arguing that a workers’ party is necessary to advance an emancipatory politics. Cliff Connolly reads the article aloud.
Sun, November 08, 2020
Organizing the Oppressed with Mara & Janaya of Philly Socialists
Rudy and Annie join the two co-chairs of Philly Socialists, Mara and Janaya, for what starts as a conversation on the issues women and non-men comrades face when organizing, and ends up being a discussion of Philly Socialists' base-building activities and their philosophy on the party. The episode starts off with a discussion of the experiences in PS to make the spaces more welcoming to everyone, the role of child-care and of strong sexual harassment policies, and how to provide spaces for everyone to become leaders. This is grounded in what PS calls base-building: for example, their English as a second language classes, their work in the Philadelphia Tenants Union and their community garden, where PS organize neighborhood residents to fight back against gentrification and reclaim land in Philadelphia. The conversation continues to PS's view of how the party should arise, before cycling back to the issues that started it.
Fri, November 06, 2020
Was Mao a Bukharinist?: The “Three-Line Struggle” in Economic Debates Preceding the Great Leap Forward
Matthew Strupp examines economic debates in China during the leadup to the Great Leap Forward and assesses comparisons made between Mao and Bukharin. Cliff Connolly reads the article aloud.
Sat, October 31, 2020
Revolutionary Parliamentarism with August Nimtz
Parker and Peter join August Nimtz, the author of Lenin's Electoral Strategy (now reprinted as The Ballot, The Streets-- or Both) to discuss how Lenin and the Bolsheviks approached electoral politics and what we can learn from them to apply to today's situation. They talk about the origins of Nimtz's research project as an attempt to refute the point that electoralism must mean programmatic compromises, the influence on Lenin of Marx and Engels' 1850 address to the Communist League and how Lenin's relation to the ballot depended on the temperature of the street and meant alternating boycotts with participation on an independent ballot line. They pivot towards analyzing the behaviour and discipline of the Bolshevik faction including the consistent attempts to build an alliance with the peasantry, and the contrast between the Bolsheviks and the pre-WW1 German Social-Democratic Party, and the role of democratic centralism in disciplining parliamentary factions. They end with a reflection of what the ballot means today. --- Check out August Nimtz's Amazon Author Page . Works mentioned: Marx & Engels, Address of the Central Committee to the Communist League (1850): https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/communist-league/1850-ad1.htm Marx & Engels, Demands of the Communist Party in Germany (1848): https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/03/24.htm Marx & Engels, Circular Letter to Bebel, Liebknecht, Bracke and Others (1879): https://marxists.catbull.com/archive/marx/works/1879/09/18.htm
Sun, October 25, 2020
Knowledge Democratization, Bourgeois Specialists and the Organization of Science in the Early Soviet Union
For the first instalment of our in-depth study of Soviet Science, Djamil, Donald and Rudy sit down to discuss the scientific institutions and the practice of Science in the early Soviet Union up to the conclusion of the Stalin Revolution. They start off with a survey of the Tsarist Academy, and what kind of structures and specialists the Bolsheviks inherited. The conversation continues with the changing ways the Bolsheviks related to specialists during the Civil War and the NEP, and how they were trying to assimilate the culture of specialists when they realized it was impossible to seize cultural power, and how this relates to the present day debate around the Professional Managerial Class. They then discuss the role of the two anti-specialist trials that kick off the Stalin revolution: the Shakhty affair and the Industrial Party Trial, and how that served to strengthen Stalin's hand in taking over the politbureau and resulted in a culture of blaming specialists for the failure of five-year plans. They finish by analyzing the resulting academy and intelligentsia of the 1930s, fully loyal to Stalin, and how that sets the stage for the rise of someone like Lysenko.
Sun, October 18, 2020
The Politics of Drugs and Harm Reduction with Michael Gilbert
Annie and Cliff join Michael Gilbert, a public health technologist and a harm reduction organizer for a conversation on how communists should relate to harm reduction efforts. They discuss the reasons why people use drugs, the role of drug availability in harm reduction, how international regulations shape the drug trade and how that is used to justify politics such as strong borders and even invasions. They also discuss the roots of drug criminalization in the US and how that relates to public health outcomes, how harm reduction can be both self-organization of drug users and something brought from outside, the particularity of the words harm reduction and how that reflects on the ethics of drug use. Finally they touch on Michael's personal experiences organizing around harm reduction, and how to go beyond just being a red charity.
Mon, October 12, 2020
Hold Your Fire!: A Warning to the Left
Daniel Newman urges patience and caution in the face of current political turmoil. Cliff Connolly reads the article aloud.
Sun, October 04, 2020
The Zhenotdel and Women's Emancipation in the Central Asian Republics with Anne McShane
Donald and Lydia join human rights lawyer and fellow Marxist Anne McShane to discuss her recent PhD thesis on the Zhenotdel, the women's department of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. They discuss the origins of the Zhenotdel, how it attempted to solve the shortcomings of the women's movement in the second international and its role in women's liberation after the October Revolution. The conversation then pivots to the specific focus of Anne's thesis: the changing role the Zhenotdel played in women's emancipation in the Central Asian Republics. They discuss how the Zhenotdel related to and incorporated indigenous women into organizing, the Central Committee's takeover of Zhenotdel policy that resulted in the hujum campaign of mass unveiling and the disastrous reaction that followed, how this campaign can be contextualized within the rise of Stalinist policies. They end the episode with the final dissolution of the Zhetnodel in 1930 and the sanitization of Nadezhda Krupskaya's figure. ----- Anne's research interest is in women's liberation. Check out her Weekly Worker pieces among which we highlight: A barometer of Progress, Soviet Russia and Women's emancipation, The Will to Liberate and How Women's Protests Launched the Revolution . Her PhD thesis can be found in the University of Glasgow's repository . ---- Picture of a mass veil-burning from Uzbekistan (1920s). Originally from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, obtained from Wikipedia.
Fri, September 25, 2020
Marxist Center Double Feature
Two articles from the archive pertaining to MC. The first is Building Revolution in the USA: Notes on Marxist Center Conference, 2018, by Parker McQueeney and Donald Parkinson. The second article is For the Unity of Marxists with the Dispossessed: The Bolsheviks and the State, 1912-1917, by Medway Baker. Cliff Connolly reads both articles aloud.
Fri, September 18, 2020
No Replacement For The Marxist Theory Of Revolution
Gabriel Palcic argues that various attempts in academia to develop theories of revolution as alternatives to Marx’s theory of revolution and historical materialism only serve to disguise the centrality of class contradiction in these events. Cliff Connolly reads the article aloud.
Sun, September 13, 2020
Karl Marx's Ecosocialism: Capital, Nature and the Unfinished Critique of Political Economy with Red Library
Remi and Niko join Comrade Adam from Red Library to discuss Kohei Saito's Capital, Nature, and the Unfinished Critique of Political Economy: Karl Marx's Ecosocialism. We discuss the concept of metabolism, Marx's evolution of thought on ecology being the core realm of capitalist crisis, agricultural chemistry, the role of a Marxist ecosocialist perspective to stop the destruction of capital across the planet, and much more even including Žižek's thoughts on ecology! Note: The episode ends a bit abruptly as technology bailed on us in the final moments.
Wed, September 09, 2020
The Practical Policy of Revolutionary Defeatism
Matthew Strupp lays out the politics of revolutionary defeatism in contrast to the approaches of third-campism and third-worldism. Cliff Connolly reads the article aloud.
Sun, September 06, 2020
Different Horizons of Science Fiction under Socialism with Virginia Conn
Rudy and Medway are joined by recently graduated Dr. Virginia Conn to discuss about her research on science fiction in the USSR, the German Democratic Republic and China. We discuss what the purpose of science fiction under socialism is, the continuities and ruptures of science fiction in the People's Republic of China during it's diverse political periods, how the new Soviet citizen contrasted with the Chinese new citizen, the figure of Bogdanov within Russian Cosmism, how the particularities of the GDR reflected in its Science Fiction, and how many male-written stories in socialist science fiction both succeed and fail in capturing the intricacies of gender and social reproduction. ------ Read Virginia's article "Economic Circulations: Blood-Based Systems of Value in Alexander Bogdanov’s Red Star" here: https://cosmonaut.blog/2020/02/01/economic-circulations-blood-based-systems-of-value-in-alexander-bogdanovs-red-star/
Sun, August 30, 2020
From Trade-Union Consciousness to Socialist Consciousness with Chris Townsend
Three of our writers are joined by veteran union organizer Chris Townsend to discuss labor organizing across history and in the present day. Chris, Remi, Peter and Annie will explore how to do what Lenin emphasized had to be done : how do we inject the political 'good news' of socialism into the workers' economistic struggle? They recapitulate how the Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party situated itself in the labor organizing of the early 1900s, how the 'third period' of the Comintern laid the basis of the formation of the CIO in the US, and attempt to extrapolate what can we learn from those tactics to apply in the present day.
Sun, August 23, 2020
Che Guevara and the Economics of Socialist Transition
Christian, Donald and Rudy sit down to discuss Che Guevara's program for a socialist transition using Helen Yaffe's book Che Guevara: The Economics of Revolution as a background. We visit the economic "Great Debate" of Cuba in the early 1960s, the different approaches to using the law of value for socialist transformation, Che's critique of market socialism, his model of Cuba as a single socialist factory, and how this model compares to contemporary approaches such as the People's Republic of Walmart. We emphasize how Che's humanistic outlook in molding new humans prefigured some of the problems that other socialist societies such as Yugoslavia or the Brezhnev USSR would face, and how his contributions add to the debate around cybernetical socialism today.
Sun, August 16, 2020
Capitalism in the Web of Life
Join us for the second installment in Cosmonaut's critically acclaimed ecology series to discuss Jason Moore's "Capitalism in the Web of Life". Niko, Matthew and Remi discuss how this work merges concepts from Marxist ecology and world-systems analysis to reveal how capitalism organizes nature as a whole oikeios, and how this sets limits to capitalist accumulation once "the Four Cheaps" (energy, food, work and raw materials) become scarce and capitalism is forced to shift to new regimes of accumulation. The team talks about how Moore's concepts of oikeios and capitalism-in-nature extends the dialectical relationship of organism and environment, and how this can be applied for a socialist project, as well as addressing the critiques of Moore's work from other ecosocialist schools.
Sun, August 09, 2020
Unmasking Social Construction with Djamil Lakhdar
Donald and Rudy are joined by Djamil Lakhdar to discuss Ian Hacking's book The Social Construction of What?. Written during the "science wars", Hacking intervenes in the debate between strict constructivism and strict realism. Hacking reframes the types of questions to be asked when interrogating the social origin of something, and clarifies the different approaches we can take when we interrogate the construction of a concept. We start off with natural and social sciences, and continue to the application of these questions to today's world. Is physics socially constructed? What does it mean to say gender, race or even capitalism are socially constructed? Where can we go from that assertion? What does it mean to say Marxism has Eurocentric origins and how does that matter today? Does Marxism have a single method, and how do different tendencies relate to that method? We try to answer these and more questions on this episode of Cosmopod.
Wed, August 05, 2020
Food, Capitalism and the Necessity of a Socialist Program
Capitalist food production is based on ecological destruction, imperialism, inhumane labor practices, and the degradation of human health. A socialist program that guarantees healthy food for all is the only alternative. By Katie Paige, Kelly Alana, and Renato Flores. Cliff Connolly reads the article aloud.
Sun, August 02, 2020
Protests, Guerillas and Revolution in Iran with Yassamine Mather
Donald and Lydia interview Yassamine Mather, former Fedayeen (minority) guerrilla fighter, chair of the Hands off the People of Iran coalition and editor of Critique . The episode starts off with the history of the debates leading to the formation of the minority Fedayeen faction, and why they decide to break from the majority Fedayeen faction, take up arms and start a guerilla/focoist campaign against the Iranian Republic after the 1979 revolution. Yassamine also offers her account of why the left failed to take advantage of the 1979 situation, the problems with focoism and guerilla tactics, as well as her thoughts on the 2019 protests in Iran, and how the international left and Iranian exiles should relate to the Islamic Republic. -------- Yassamine's writing can be found on the Weekly Worker website. We especially recommend her talk " Learn the lessons of the Fedayeen ", as well as her general archive .
Wed, July 29, 2020
Building Camaraderie in the CPUSA, 1930-1950
In this article, Josh Morris investigates how the Communist Party USA created a sense of camaraderie in its organizing efforts between members, looking at how both circumstances forced on organizers as well as conscious efforts of the party helped create an organizational culture that promoted (or in some cases damaged) solidarity among workers and oppressed people. Cliff Connolly reads the article aloud.
Sun, July 26, 2020
Spontaneous Philosophy in Science and Activism
The Cosmonaut crew sits down to discuss Althusser's Lectures on Spontaneous Philosophy of the Scientists . We historically situate the text and talk about Althusser's conception of science and of philosophy, how they both relate to each other and what happens when one exploits the other and "common sense", in the form of the dominant ideology, creeps in. This is followed by a discussion on actual examples of how philosophy and science interrelate, and what it means to defend a materialist line in philosophy. We discuss philosophical practice in politics and end by providing an extension of Althusser's concept to include Spontaneous Philosophy of the Activist, or how "common sense" creeps in to activism, and we end up reproducing liberal concepts in our organizing.
Wed, July 22, 2020
DSA Double Feature
Cliff Connolly reads two articles aloud. In the first article, What Do the Democratic Socialists of America Stand for Politically?, DT Seel proposes what the DSA’s program would be if based on the politics of its endorsed candidates. This ‘inductive program’ is then examined and put under critique. In the second article, Structuring the Party: The Case of the DSA, Diego AM explores the organization conundrums of the modern left, looking at the Democratic Socialists of America and the alternatives proposed by base-builders and Maoists.
Sat, July 18, 2020
Fascism Double Feature
Cliff Connolly reads two articles aloud. In the first article, Why Define Fascism?: In Defence of Making Distinctions, Jacob Smith argues that if the left wishes to take fascism seriously we shouldn’t use the term lightly but with precision. In the second article, The End of the End of History: COVID-19 and 21st Century Fascism, Debs Bruno and Medway Baker lay out the conditions of the current crisis, the political potentials it opens up, and the need for a socialist program to pave a path forward.
Wed, July 15, 2020
Prefiguration and (Cosmic) Utopia with A. M. Gittlitz
Remi and Rudy welcome A. M. Gittlitz, the author of "I Want to Believe: J. Posadas, UFOs and Apocalypse Communism" and The Antifada producer to discuss the role of utopias and prefiguration in historical and modern day communist strategy. We cover topics from Russian Cosmism, the parallels between New World and Space Utopias, the relationship between the subjective and objective conditions for revolution, finding spaces where we can imagine a better world and how to find hope in the end of the end of history. The episode ends with the opening of Cosmos: Carl Sagan's hope for a brighter future. Check out Andy's article on the Space force here: https://www.plutobooks.com/blog/the-plot-against-space/
Wed, July 08, 2020
Marx's Ecology: Materialism and Nature
The Cosmonaut team inaugurates the ecology series by discussing John Bellamy Foster's seminal book "Marx's ecology" on its twentieth anniversary. Join Niko, Ian, Matthew and Remi as they discuss the context of this work, and how it started a rediscovery of Marx's ecological politics. They discuss how ecology informed Marx's understanding of the world since his doctoral thesis, the relationship between Marx, Darwin and Malthus and the concept of metabolic rift.
Sat, July 04, 2020
Why Have a Political Program?
In one of our earliest articles, Parker McQueeney lays out the case for building a party around a minimum-maximum program. Cliff Connolly reads the article aloud.
Wed, July 01, 2020
Articulating and Organizing the Social Body with Asad Haider
Donald and Rudy welcome Asad Haider from Viewpoint Magazine to discuss the present political moment. Using Badiou's "The Rebirth of History: Times of Riots and Uprisings" as a starting point, we discuss riots as a political expression in an intervallic period. We talk about the shape of the party should take to represent this political will, the racial context, overdetermination and spontaneity, and how history is being restarted.
Sun, June 28, 2020
The USSR’s Founding Mother
English language sources still describe Nadezhda Krupskaya first as "Vladimir Lenin's wife" rather than " a radical revolutionary whose ideas [...] were monumental in Soviet state formation". To begin the process of correcting this error, M.A. Iasilli writes on what she can teach us about education and labor. Cliff Connolly reads the article aloud.
Wed, June 24, 2020
To Live and Die in Kerala
Rudy, Ahmed, and Remi join Sam Agarwal, a PhD student at Johns Hopkins University in sociology, whose research on and fieldwork in Kerala provide insight into the Indian state’s handling of societal crisis like the 2018-9 floods and COVID-19. We discuss the left politics of the CPI(M) and its various rival parties, the Indian political climate, the feminist movement, the handling and mitigation of climate change, and what we can learn from a contemporary communist-governed state while dealing with its limitations. ---------------------------------------- Check out Sam's work here: https://truthout.org/articles/this-state-in-india-shows-us-why-fighting-covid-19-requires-working-class-power/ Books recommended include: The Rise of Hindu Authoritarianism: Secular Claims, Communal Realities by Achin Vanaik and The Phoenix Moment: Challenges Confronting the Indian Left by Praful Bidwai.
Fri, June 19, 2020
The Democratic Bolshevik
In this article from our site, Alexander Gallus reviews Ilona Duczyńska’s German language book ‘The Democratic Bolshevik’ which explores the socialist experiment of Red Vienna and its failure to defend itself from reaction. Matthew reads the article aloud.
Wed, June 17, 2020
Komsomol Life: Interrogating the Soviet Young Communist League with Sean Guillory
Donald sits down with Sean Guillory from the SRB Podcast to discuss Komsomol, which was often one of the only organizations that provided a link to the early soviet state in many small towns. They discuss the way the early Soviet state was structured with attention to how soft and hard power was transmitted, communist values, gender relationships, the rebirth of social conservatism and comradeship among other things.
Thu, June 11, 2020
The fight for a better end of the world
Join our round table where we listen to on-the-ground reports from our writers of the protests around the country, how they were organized, and how the police and the NGO-industrial complex have responded to them. Robert, Cliff, Alex, Ahmed and Remi discuss the possibilities for this movement, and where we go from here.
Wed, June 03, 2020
Historiography of the CPUSA with Josh Morris
On this episode of Cosmopod, Donald and Parker welcome Cosmonaut author Josh Morris on to discuss the history and historiography of the US Communist Party. Academic accounts of the party have largely fit in two camps; Josh’s upcoming book The Many Worlds of American Communism attempts to go beyond the standard story and rethink the scholarship for a post-Cold War era.
Tue, June 02, 2020
Some Words of Advice for our Comrades in the Streets
Throughout the United States, revolt against police violence and the state has broken out in response to the callous murder of George Floyd at the hands of the police. To help contribute to this outbreak of militancy, we have published these words of advice on successful protest from Ahmed Nada, a veteran of the Egyptian protest movements in 2011, 2012, and 2013. Cliff Connolly reads the article aloud.
Sun, May 31, 2020
Brick by Brick: An Appeal to Strength...and Hate Mail!
Cliff Connolly reads an article from CLR Gainz expressing that the left needs physical as well as mental strength if we are going to be victorious in making revolution and defeating reaction. Escalating police violence in the wake of George Floyd's death only reinforces this idea. Stay safe, comrades.
Wed, May 27, 2020
The Past and Future of Socialist Labor with Adolph Reed and Ed Bruno
In this special edition of Cosmopod's ongoing labor interview and history series, Remi is joined by two legends of the US socialist labor scene: Adolph Reed and Ed Bruno. Tune in for a long and enlightening discussion of the attempt at an American Labor Party in the 1990s-2000s, where we stand both as a working class and an organized left in light of waning neoliberalism, the trendlines emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, the necessary order of priority between identity- and class-based organizing, how socialists should relate to electoral struggle, and much more.
Wed, May 20, 2020
Radio Free Seoul
In the second installment of the Internationalism series, Remi and Ahmed are joined by Bori, a South Korean student activist for a discussion of Korean history, the social dynamics underlying today’s political situation, the prospects for a left resurgence in RoK, and the elusive nature of South Korea’s much-maligned neighbor to the north and the unreality of reunification talks.
Wed, May 13, 2020
Cybernetic Revolutionaries: A Discussion
For this installment of our series on Actually Existing Socialism, Donald, Christian, and Rudy have a discussion based on Eden Medina's book Cybernetic Revolutionaries and the experience of cybernetic planning under Allende's Chile. Outro music is “Litany for a computer and a child about to be born” by Angel Parra and Stafford Beer.
Sat, May 09, 2020
“Left” Anti-Immigration: A Chauvinist Disorder
Lydia Apolinar reads J.R. Murray's essay combating the chauvinist politics of left anti-immigration.
Sat, April 25, 2020
Progress of the Storm: Collaboration with Rev Left Radio
We are very happy to release this crossover episode with Breht O'Shea from Revolutionary Left Radio and Red Menace! Remi, Parker, and Donald have a wide-ranging discussion with Breht touching on current events, ecological Marxism, organizing, labor, electoral strategy, and more.
Thu, April 23, 2020
Christopher Caudwell and the Crisis in Physics: A Discussion
To continue our series on the relation of Marxism to science, we read and discussed Christopher Caudwell's Crisis in Physics. Join Donald, Matthew, Rudy, and Remi for a conversation that covers the life of Caudwell, the relevance of his thought to topics such as ecology and the meaning of freedom, theoretical physics, and the possibility of "proletarian science".
Fri, April 17, 2020
Organizing for Power: Stealing Fire From the Gods
Cliff Connolly reads Amelia Davenport's long-form essay Organizing for Power. Davenport argues for leftist organizers to reclaim the ideas of Taylor’s Scientific Management, making a broader argument for the relevance of cybernetics, cultural revolution in the workers’ movement, and a Promethean vision of socialism. https://cosmonaut.blog/2019/11/19/organizing-for-power-stealing-fire-from-the-gods/
Sun, March 15, 2020
STEMbrain Socialism
Join Remi as he discusses the history and philosophy of science, as well as its use for socialists with two professional scientists, Matt and Rudy (author of the Cosmonaut article "Knowledge: Power and Emancipation").
Thu, March 05, 2020
Super Tuesday Special
Donald, Parker and Christian are joined by one of the greatest political commentators of our time, Jake from Swampside Chats , to discuss the struggle between Social-Democracy and Woke Liberalism in the Democratic Party. What lies ahead? How can the left benefit from the Bernie movement/campaign? Are Boomers holding us back? Join us for a discussion on a historic election.
Sat, February 29, 2020
Political Undercurrents in Soviet Economic Debates: A Discussion
Christian and Donald sit down for a discussion on Moshe Lewin's 1974 tome Political Undercurrents in Soviet Economic Debates . They discuss Bukharin, the Left Opposition, Stalin, Soviet reformers, cybernetic planning, and more. Unfortunately, Lewin's book is out of print but we recommend getting your hands on a used copy if possible. If you can't, his book The Soviet Century is still in print from Verso Books. We hope to continue this to be a continuous reading series on the problems of building socialism.
Mon, February 10, 2020
Where Does Power Come From?
Audio recording of our very first article by Cliff Connolly. Read the original article by Amelia Davenport here: https://cosmonaut.blog/2018/09/03/where-does-power-come-from/
Wed, January 15, 2020
Carrying the Burden of Communist Man
Reading by Cliff Connolly. Read the article here: https://cosmonaut.blog/2019/11/01/carrying-the-burden-of-communist-man/
Tue, December 31, 2019
Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition
For this episode, Parker and Donald welcome Cosmonaut editor and writer Medway Baker on to Canadasplain the Westminster system. Join us as we put on our inner socdem wonk to discover what went wrong for the Labour Party in the recent UK election.
Fri, December 13, 2019
From NPC to PMC
Parker & Donald welcome Jake from Swampside Chats on to discuss the professional managerial class. What is the PMC, its relation to other classes, and its role in contemporary capitalist society? We discuss this and more, including topics like the Democratic primary, Marxology, Brexit, intersectionality, and Ben & Jerry's. Intro music is The Internationale, arrangement and recording by Christian Cail Outro Music is Yuppie Rap by Mike Saad and Bill O'Neil
Sun, November 24, 2019
Stealing Fire From the Gods: Interview with Amelia Davenport
Parker and Donald sit down with Amelia Davenport to discuss her article 'Organizing for Power: Stealing Fire From the Gods' and touch on a variety of topics like Taylorism, cultural revolution, Bogdanov, and systems theory. Read the whole article here: https://cosmonaut.blog/2019/11/19/organizing-for-power-stealing-fire-from-the-gods/
Wed, November 13, 2019
From Workers' Party to Workers' Republic
Matthew Strupp reads Donald Parkinson's essay "From Workers' Party to Workers' Republic", an attempt to develop a strategy for communists today by looking at the history of the movement. Read it here: https://cosmonaut.blog/2018/10/17/from-workers-party-to-workers-republic/
Tue, October 22, 2019
Degrees of Kevin Bacon from the PKK
Remi and Guy, a multi-tour volunteer foreign fighter in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, sit down for an extended interview around the history, political and economic structure, military situation, and future outlook for the project in Rojava. Addressed are the most pressing critiques of the political structure adopted by the peoples of the region, with an eye toward marginalized ethnic and political groups, the relationship of the multitude of factions to one another and the population at large, and where things go from here. With the abrupt withdrawal of US forces and the attendant shift in the uneasy balance of forces in Syria, Turkey has invaded, Russia has vacillated between intervention and aloofness, and the fate of NES may lie in the balance. Since recording, events have developed quickly. We will release an update interview in the coming days.
Sat, October 12, 2019
A Conversation on the DSA Convention
Parker and Donald discuss last month's DSA convention, of which Parker was a delegate.
Wed, September 18, 2019
Puerto Rico, Imperialism, and Protest w/ Hector Reyes
Recorded on July 23rd, 2019, J.R. Murray interviews Hector Reyes, a Puerto Rican socialist activist and faculty union organizer at University of Puerto Rico campus in Mayagüez. Since the recording of this interview the Governor of Puerto Rico has resigned and protests have continued. Further reading on the events that have taken place between the end of July and now can be found below: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/08/puerto-rico-socialist-spring-ricardo-rossello https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/08/puerto-rico-ricardo-rossello-peoples-assemblies And you can read about and support the organizations Hector references by following these links: https://www.facebook.com/Colectiva.Feminista.PR/ http://periodismoinvestigativo.com/
Tue, September 03, 2019
Whose Democracy?: An Introduction to Oligarchy in the United States
Cliff Connolly reads us an article by J.R. Murray. The United States is a mockery of what democracy is supposed to be. J.R. Murray unpacks the reality of a corrupt system that is designed to empower the rich against the working class majority. Arrangement and recording of L'internationale by Christian Cail
Wed, August 21, 2019
Socialism & The U.S. Military w/ Ellie Bryant
J.R. Murray sits down with Ellie Byant, a former Marine and current communist, for a short discussion on the United States military and how socialists should approach organizing soldiers and veterans. https://aboutfaceveterans.org/
Mon, July 22, 2019
Culture Beyond Capital: Art, Authenticity, and the 21st Century Workers' Movement
Welcome to our audio article series! Today, Cliff Connolly reads us his article "Culture Beyond Capital: Art, Authenticity, and the 21st Century Workers’ Movement" published on July 10, 2019. The article can be found at https://cosmonaut.blog/2019/07/10/culture-beyond-capital-art-authenticity-and-the-21st-century-workers-movement/ Arrangement and recording of L'internationale by Christian Cale
Sat, June 22, 2019
Communism & Republicanism
Welcome to Cosmopod. Comrades Donald, Rosa, Ian, & Parker sit down to discuss historical republicanism and its connection to the socialist movement.
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