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.

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/ 

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.

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.

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

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/ 

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.

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 ExperienceH. C. Metcalf, L. Urwick (ed.) - Dynamic Administration: The Collected Papers of Mary Follett

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.  

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.