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 is...
Mar 08, 2022•1 hr 32 min
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: 'Sic...
Mar 03, 2022•49 min
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 Gle...
Feb 28, 2022•1 hr 22 min
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.
Feb 27, 2022•19 min
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 Wo...
Feb 21, 2022•1 hr 45 min
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.
Feb 17, 2022•44 min
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 ...
Feb 14, 2022•2 hr 6 min
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.
Feb 10, 2022•26 min
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 m...
Feb 07, 2022•1 hr 34 min
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 .
Feb 03, 2022•1 hr 3 min
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 agai...
Jan 31, 2022•1 hr 14 min
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/
Jan 27, 2022•1 hr
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...
Jan 25, 2022•2 hr 12 min
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.
Jan 21, 2022•1 hr
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 backfiri...
Jan 17, 2022•2 hr 57 min
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/
Jan 14, 2022•42 min
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.
Jan 11, 2022•21 min
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 increas...
Jan 04, 2022•1 hr 35 min
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 institu...
Dec 29, 2021•1 hr 13 min
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.
Dec 24, 2021•43 min
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 '4...
Dec 21, 2021•1 hr 22 min
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...
Dec 16, 2021•33 min
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...
Dec 13, 2021•1 hr 40 min
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 ...
Dec 06, 2021•1 hr 25 min
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 ...
Dec 02, 2021•57 min
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...
Nov 29, 2021•1 hr 20 min
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...
Nov 25, 2021•35 min
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 co...
Nov 22, 2021•1 hr 10 min
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...
Nov 18, 2021•32 min
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 th...
Nov 15, 2021•1 hr 42 min
