Cosmopod

Isaac and Jackson join David Austin, author of Fear of a Black Nation and Dread Poetry and Freedom: Linton Kwesi Johnson and the Unfinished Revolution, for a discussion of the Afro-Caribbean diasporic left, focusing on Montreal in the late 60s. They discuss the influence of the U.S. black power movement on the world, the black left in Montreal, and in particular the confluence between Caribbean nationalism and Quebec nationalism. They discuss the Congress of Black Writers, Walter Rodney's presence in it and how the development of the Afro-caribbean left literature creates a fertile ground for the development of politics.

Cliff and Isaac join Jesse Olsavsky, author of The Most Absolute Abolition: Runaways, Vigilance Committees, and the Rise of Revolutionary Abolitionism, 1835–1861, for a discussion on his book on the early abolitionist movement. They discuss the textbook history of abolition, and how this masks the role of runaways and other radicals substituting them for a white middle-class leadership, what Vigilance Committees were and how they acted, the exchange of ideas between different social groups in the abolitionist movement, the role runaway interviews had on the movement and its parallels today. They also talk about the Fugitive Slave Act and its effect on the Committees, the international dimension of abolitionism, the abolitionist view of the U.S. republic and the links between abolitionism and other movements. Prof. Olsavsky recommended these texts as good primary sources on revolutionary abolitionism. Thomas Smallwood (https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/smallwood/smallwood.html) Harriet Jacobs (https://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/jacobs/jacobs.html) Phillip Foner's edited collection of speeches by Frederick Douglass (https://archive.org/details/DouglassSelectionsWritings) Frances Ellen Walker's poems (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/frances-ellen-watkins-harper) Martin Delany's novel Blake (https://archive.org/details/blakeorhutsofame00dela) Harriet Beecher Stowe's second novel Dred (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/55012)

Isaac KD and Jack L defend their critique of DSA's dominant strategic orientation towards reform campaigns in a response to Sam Lewis' "In Defense of Campaigns". Read by: Allan Lanterman Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.

James, Cliff, Chas and Rudy join for a discussion on the events that take place in Hungary in 1956. We discuss the origins of the revolt, talking about the short lived Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919, the People's Democracy period under Rakosi, the New Course and the roots of discontent. We then discuss the events themselves, as well as the reactions of the USSR and the wider Eastern Bloc and those of the West. We also talk about the program of the uprising, and what possible consequences it could have had had it succeded, and how it reshaped Hungary after the Soviet intervention. References: Csaba Békés - Hungary's Cold War: International Relations from the End of World War II to the Fall of the Soviet Union Peter Fryer - Hungarian Tragedy Charles Gati - Failed Illusions: Moscow, Washington, Budapest, and the 1956 Hungarian Revolt Bennett Kovrig - Communism in Hungary: From Kun to Kádár William Lomax - Hungary 1956 Mark Pittaway - From the Vanguard to the Margins: Workers in Hungary, 1939 to the Present

Alex James reviews Rodrigo Nunes' latest book Neither Vertical nor Horizontal, finding a refreshing new vocabulary for talking about organization that raises difficult questions rather than providing simple answers. Narrated by Aliyah Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.

Rudy joins Piero Gleijeses, author of Conflicting Missions: Havana, Washington and Africa, 1959–1976 and Visions of Freedom: Havana, Washington, Pretoria, and the Struggle for Southern Africa, 1976–1991 for a short discussion on Cuba's internationalist efforts in Africa. We discuss the start of Piero's project, and how he was allowed access to the Cuban archives and his interactions with Cuban official Jorge Risquet during his research on Cuba in Algeria. We then talk about what moved Cubans to focus on solidarity work in Africa, why Cuba intervened in Angola, and what was the USSR's role in this. We discuss the significance of the Angolan struggle, as well as the end of the Cold War and Apartheid and how they were related. We finish by discussing the memory of Cubans in Africa. Further interviews: The Dig Radio Radio War Nerd EP #232 — Cuba in Angola Wars, with Piero Gleijeses Cadre Journal's Podcast Episode from 25 May 2022: Cuba's War Against Apartheid: The Heroic Cuban Operation in Angola, with Piero Gleijeses

Renato Flores discusses the privatization of scientific knowledge and examines efforts of revolutionary movements to democratize this knowledge to help develop a communist approach to science. Narrated By: Allen Lanterman Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.

Rudy joins Ashok Kumar author of Monopsony Capitalism: Power and Production in the Twilight of the Sweatshop Age for a discussion on global sweatshops, labor and commodity chains. We start off by comparing the Triangle Shirtwaist fire of 1912 and the Rana Plaza disaster of 2013, and explaining what has changed and what has stayed the same. We talk about the particular role of the textile industry in capitalism, how it changed under globalization and what it reveals for the capitalist system focusing on the topic of monopsony, i.e. single buyer markets. We discuss the position of labor in the textile industry, how it has shaped global supply chains, and what types of organizing have won concessions from capital in the past and present.

With a focus on the recent organizing work of New York City Democratic Socialists of America, Comrades Isaac KD and Jack L critique the notion of a "policy feedback" loop as the guiding element of DSA's legislative strategy, as well as provide an alternative socialist framework for how DSA can engage with reform campaigns. Narrated by: Aliyah Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.

James and Harry join Phil Burton-Cartledge, author of Falling Down: The Conservative Party and the Decline of Tory Britain for a discussion on his book. They discuss the Tories' crisis of political reproduction, how the party set the grounds for this with the Thatcher reforms, the class basis of the Conservative party before turning to explaining why understanding the Conservative party is important for the left not only in the United Kingdom but in the world. They follow by talking about the Tory reinvention during the New Labour period of dominance, the class dynamics behind the Brexit votes and how that was reflected in the two following general elections, how Phil would extend the book to cover Boris Johnson's downfall, Liz Truss's short interregnum and Rishi Sunak's rise before reflecting on what the future holds for the Tories and the possible ways they could reinvent themselves.

How should socialists engage in coalitional politics? Jack L draws conclusions based on historical lessons and recent experiences in the housing struggle. Narrated by: Cliff Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.

Amelia, Djamil, Christian, and Rudy join for a discussion on the history of Soviet Cybernetics and the use of computers for socialist planning. We discuss the origins of Cybernetics, its role as a reform movement in the sciences, and why cybernetics became attractive to the Soviet academy in the 50s, before moving to the biographies and projects of Anatoly Kitov and Viktor Glushkov. We reflect on the failures of OGAS, and what could have been done better, as well as its positive legacy and finish by discussing the ways in which cybernetics was kept alive until the collapse of the USSR and the remaining possibilities for computerized planning. References: B. Peters - How Not to Network a Nation: The Uneasy History of the Soviet Internet L. Graham - Science, Philosophy and Human Behavior in the Soviet Union S. Gerontovich - InterNyet: Why the Soviet Union did not build a nationwide computer network S. Gerontovich - From Newspeak to Cyberspeak: A History of Soviet Cybernetics O. V. Kitova & V. A. Kitov - Anatoly Kitov and Victor Glushkov: Pioneers of Russian Digital Economy and Informatics V. Pikhorovich - Glushkov and His Ideas: Cybernetics of the Future Y. Revich - The Story of How the USSR Did Not Need the Pioneer of Cybernetics D. West - Cybernetics for the command economy: Foregrounding entropy in late Soviet planning

Rudy joins Emmanuel Farjoun, Moshé Machover and David Zachariah for a discussion on their two books Laws of Chaos: A Probabilistic Approach to Political Economy (EF&MM only) and How Labor Powers the Global Economy: A Labor Theory of Capitalism . We cover the origins of the project to develop a probabilistic approach to political economy and how it has developed, what are its basic assumptions, what sort of theory of value it proposes, why it treats labor preferentially and how it compares to other schools. We also discuss ways of extending the project to account for imperialism and other factors. We mention in the podcast Moshé's lecture How Labour Powers the Global Economy which gives an introduction to the book.

Annie and Lucas join Barbara C. Allen, editor of the recent collection of documents The Workers' Opposition in the Russian Communist Party: Documents, 1919-30 and author of Alexander Shlyapnikov, 1885-1937: Life of an Old Bolshevik for a conversation on the Workers' Opposition in the Russian Communist Party. They discuss what the Workers' Opposition was, as well as the biographies of the more important members such as Alexander Shlyapnikov and Sergei Medvedev, what the Workers' Opposition stood for, focusing on its relationship to specialists and to purges and the peasantry and the Workers' Opposition. They finish with the story of the eclipse of the Workers' Opposition, the fate of the trade unions and of Alexandra Kollontai after the demise of the organization.

Last week, over 100 Starbucks stores went on strike, the latest step in the astonishing growth of organizing in the restaurant industry. Astonishing now, but as Kevin Bruce writes in his excellent new book We Have Fed You All For A Thousand Years: New York City Food Worker Organizing, 1912-1937, in the long run of working class history, this is nothing new. Kevin is joined by Jackson and Isaac for a discussion on present and past labor organizing in the restaurant industry.

Warning: Sexual abuse is discussed in this episode. Brendan and James join John Kelly, author of Contemporary Trotskyism and The Twilight of World Trotskyism for a discussion on the history of world Trotskyism. They talk about the primacy of doctrine, the structure of Trotskyist parties around the world and their difference in structures and tactics, Trotskyism's lack of success in building mass parties, Latin American Trotskyism and the outlook of world Trotskyism. They also discuss the small-scale organizational dynamics of Trotskyist parties, their charismatic leaders, and their historical struggles to develop an understanding of topics outside the canon such as gender and sexuality.

Rudy joins Dr. Ron G. Davis, founder of the San Francisco Mime Troupe in 1959, for a reflection of a life in art and politics. We discuss the SFMT's beginnings during the civil rights era, how it turned into a "guerilla" operation, the relationship to Teatro Campesino, civil rights and the black radical movement, why his time with the SFMT came to an end, and the influence of Brecht and his PhD work on a Brechtian ecology.

Beyond failing at preventing the ills of addiction, the War of Drugs has served as a war on those dispossessed by capitalism. Billy Anania argues that a socialist approach is needed. Read by: Riley Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.

Matt, Rudy, and Amelia sit down for a critical discussion about contemporary scientific management practices and frameworks, ranging from Lean, the Theory of Constraints, Improvement Kata to safety culture. Drawing on The Goal by E. M. Goldratt, Toyota Kata by Mike Rother, The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim et al., and other works, they explore what socialists can learn from scientific management to apply in their organizations and in economic planning. They also discuss critiques of scientific management by associates of the Monthly Review School including Harry Braverman and Michael D Yates, explore how J Sakai's idea of organizational Kata and security culture fits in with Toyota's Katas, and finish with the connections between the theories behind Lean/ToC and ecological theory and economic planning.

Donald Parkinson argues the seeds of what Lyndon LaRouche would become were present from the very beginnings of his organization in this analysis of the early days of his career. Read By: Riley Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.

Rudy joins Kai Heron for a discussion on ecological political strategy. We discuss his political background, how to develop an ecological program out of the different ecology schools, the agrarian and land questions and how to approach liberal climate movements and trade unions. We also talk about the Green New Deal, the debates around focusing on production or consumption, eco-modernism and degrowth. We finish by talking about Kai's articles on Ecological Leninism. Links: Revolution or Ruin and Climate Leninism and Revolutionary Transition co-authored with Jodi Dean. We also mentioned the books Colin Duncan's The Centrality of Agriculture, and David Noble's Progress Without People: In Defense of Luddism.

Maxi Nieto critiques the perspectives of the "new democratic socialism" and argues they are based on a misunderstanding of capitalism as a structural totality. Read By: Riley Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.

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