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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)

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

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 ProletariatLara 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

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.

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.

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

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.

Sam Thomas argues that Machiavelli can help us understand the bourgeois nature of fascism, and how anti-fascism must empower the proletariat.

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

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

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   

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.

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

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.  

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.

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.

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.

Drawing from the experience of the Democratic Socialists of America and Marxist Center, Marisa Miale examines the everyday, interpersonal level of party-building and argues for a revolutionary strategy that can weave together cultural intervention, base-building and political unity. Comrade Lacus reads aloud.

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.

Renato Flores responds to Cam W’s argument for Maoism and the mass line. Gabriel Palcic reads aloud.

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.

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.

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 Maori Protest  E.S. Te Ahu Poata-Smith - The Political Economy of Maori Protest Politics 1968-1995: A Marxist Analysis of the Roots of Maori Oppression and the Politics of Resistance Katjo Buissink - Socialists and Trade Unionists Led the Fight for Electoral Reform in New Zealand

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)   Carlos Mejía Godoy - 'Vivirás Monimbo' (21:18)   Carlos Mejía Godoy - 'Pancho Escombros' (26:10)   Jorge Issac Carvalho - 'Campesino' (29:02)   Carlos Mejía Godoy - 'Los Explosivos' (32:07)   Carlos Mejía Godoy - 'Canto de Entrada' (41:20)   Carlos Mejía Godoy - 'Miskitu Lawana' (44:32)   Grupo Pancasan - 'Pancasan' (47:08) Luis Enrique Mejía Godoy - 'Pan con Dignidad' (49:40)   Grupo Pancasan - 'Juventud Sandinista' (52:49)   Mario Montenegro - 'El Gallo Ennavajado (1:10:31)   Duo Guardabarranco -'Ya Era Santo De Nombre' (1:13:35)   Grupo Pancasan - 'El Yankee se Va a Joder' (1:20:43)

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.

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.

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. "The Hegemony of Humanitarian Intervention" 5. "On Russia and Ukraine and Geopolitical Realpolitik"   Music featured: 'Sickles and Hammers' & 'Paranoid Chant', by Minutemen

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

 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.

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

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.

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.

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.