Dan from Work Stoppage and Red Game Table tells us about the chilling history of the US and its intelligence apparatuses' collaboration with the Nazis, including how the CIA took Nazi human experimentation research and ran with it, leading to programs such as MKULTRA. Music: Fonola Band - "Bella Ciao" Phil Ochs - "I Ain't Marching Anymore" The Mountain Goats - "Maybe Sprout Wings" Frederic Mercier - "Spirit" Sources: Blowback: America's Recruitment of Nazis and Its Effects on the Cold War by Chr...
Mar 22, 2022•3 hr 5 min•Ep. 12
Eilex, Taylor, and Ethan look back on the year, going through the major events of each month and going on some longer digressions about COVID-19 vaccine backlash, critical race theory, the hope of labor struggle, and how easy it was to assassinate world leaders a hundred years ago. Outro music: "Auld Lang Syne," Alexandrov Ensemble
Dec 23, 2021•1 hr 45 min
In this episode originally intended to be recorded and released before Halloween, we go over the social/political trends undergirding 90 years of US horror cinema decade by decade. Eilex shares a few frightening Latin American folktales and their ideological basis in colonization, and Jeremy talks about No One Gets Out Alive (2021) and the messages behind it. James Bell, “US Horror Film and the Capitalist Crisis (1974–1985)”, ep 1 of Prolekult Mark Steven, Splatter Capital Susan Sontag, “The Ima...
Nov 08, 2021•2 hr 21 min•Season 1Ep. 11
This is a non-standard ITF episode because we had Jeremy back but we didn't have anything prepared, so we did an off-the-cuff roundup of the state of things, including blowing off steam about COVID, reading some absurd financial press opinions on China, and brainstorming timely bumper stickers. This one's all over the place, but we'll be back to providing thoughtful and researched content next time! Any opinions shared by ITF members on this episode do not represent the views of ITF or its membe...
Oct 03, 2021•1 hr 24 min
ITF's first in-person episode! As a result, Eilex, Taylor, and Ethan have a wide-ranging and somewhat freeform discussion about happiness, what it means, how it's measured, and why capitalist ideology wants to quantify it. Outro: "It Was A Good Day", Ice Cube
Sep 04, 2021•1 hr 47 min•Season 1Ep. 9
We interview conservationist Jules Jackson about the field of conservation, its relationship with corporations and its use in global capital, the narratives involved in eco-tourism, and how solving environmental problems is framed as an individual responsibility. [EDITOR'S NOTES: 1. To supplement the recommendations at the end, we would also suggest participating in mass organizations and/or socialist parties and either finding what they're already doing related to the environment or finding new...
Jun 13, 2021•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 9
In this free-ranging and discursive discussion, Alekx, Eilex, and Ethan talk about Western films (cowboy movies, not the whole capitalist cultural category) and how they portray Mexico and Mexicans, how the films launder settler Manifest Destiny and settler-colonialism, how gender is depicted and reified through the films, and US perceptions of citizenry, property, and morality are all mixed in with the ideas they contain. It goes all over the place. Yee haw. Suggested reading/viewing: Black, Li...
Mar 01, 2021•1 hr 24 min•Season 1Ep. 7
Ethan goes over the history of the Lao Peoples' Democratic Republic from French colonization up until about present day, and Alekx describes modern Laos and its struggles and achievements.
Jan 30, 2021•1 hr 48 min
In this collaboration with The Tolerant Left, we're in full cultural theory mode to talk about all manner of spooky topics: the nature of where many fears come from, the gendered and racialized aspects of fear, portrayals of mental illness in horror films, and a long discussion of the history and portrayal of witches and witchcraft! Outro: Talking Heads, "Psycho Killer" For comments or questions, send an email to [email protected] or hit us up on twitter!
Oct 16, 2020•2 hr 7 min
In this wide-ranging episode first part of a two-part series, Ethan talks about the history of fossil fuel extraction and how it has shaped global capitalism. Outro: "III. Speech" from Anthracite Fields, Julia Wolfe Suggested reading: Andrews, Thomas G. Killing for Coal: America's Deadliest Labor War Malm, Andreas. Fossil Capital Mitchell, Timothy. Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil
Sep 14, 2020•1 hr 18 min
William and Ethan explain the history and various missions of Interkosmos, the program that sent socialist cosmonauts from all over the world into space on Soviet ships. Outro: Sun Ra, "Interstellar Low Ways" Further Reading: Burgess, Colin & Bert Vis. Interkosmos: The Eastern Bloc's Early Space Program Caswell, Kurt. Laika's Window: The Legacy of a Soviet Space Dog. Petrov, G.I. (Ed.), Conquest of Outer Space in the USSR
Aug 18, 2020•2 hr 11 min
No June episode! Instead, enjoy this talk from Angela Davis in 1972: "Oppression and Repression in the US" at California State University - Fullerton.
Jun 26, 2020•59 min
In this wide-ranging episode, we talk about some specific examples of art used in a communist and/or revolutionary setting throughout history.
May 17, 2020•2 hr 31 min
We discuss what's on everyone's mind: COVID-19 and the various responses to it around the world. We talk about the current timeline, talk about how states deal with pandemics, go over some some historical responses of socialist countries to various plagues and pandemics, and discuss a number of other plague-related topics. Someday we'll all record in the same room, which will change the interpersonal dynamics and the audio quality, but until then, come along with us as we figure out this new pro...
Apr 12, 2020•2 hr 9 min
