Cosmopod

Eric and Rob join Abdi for a discussion on Somalia from the colonial period to the present. They discuss the formation of the Somali people, the long and conflictual relationship to Ethiopia, British and Italian colonization and Somali independence before moving on to the scientific socialist period under Siad Barre. They discuss the achievements of this period, the origins of the Ogaden War confl...

Peter Olney is a labor organizer of over half a century, long-time organizing director at the ILWU, and researcher on labor strategy. John Womack is a Harvard historian of the labor movement and the Mexican Revolution. In this episode they sit down with Ira and Rudy to discuss Peter and John's 2023 book Labor, Power, and Strategy . They discuss the controversial approach of organizing workers in t...

Eric, Andrew and Rudy join for a discussion on the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party in the two regions where it held power: Syria and Iraq, covering the history of both countries from the dissolution of the Ottoman empire up to the Hama Rebellion in Syria and the Kuwait War in Iraq. Among other topics we discuss the more military and sectarian character of the party in Syria, the 'left' and 'right' win...

Rudy and Andreas join Tony Collins, author of Raising the Red Flag. Marxism, Labourism, and the Roots of British Communism, 1884–1921 for a discussion on the origins of the British Marxist movement from the creation of the Social Democratic Federation to the foundation of the Communist Party. We cover some of the important groups of the British Left at the time, the labor militancy before and duri...

Tony Unger sets the record straight on Rhode Island DSA's political experiences with the Democratic Party and need for class independence.  Read By: Christina Carman Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.

Rudy joins Miguel, amateur historian of Hawai'i for a discussion on the history and present of the islands. We cover the first contact, the unification of the Hawai'ian kingdom, its pan-Oceanic profile, the overthrow of the Monarchy which leads to annexation and the Democratic Revolution before talking about the present struggles around military bases, tourism, land and water as well as the way th...

James, Steven and Rudy sit down to talk about the Italian Communist Party (PCI) from its foundation to its dissolution, with a focus on its period of maximum influence from the post-WW2 refoundation to the unraveling of the Historic Compromise in 1980 as well as the differences and similarities to the French Communist Party. We discuss the founding of the PCI in the aftermath of the First World Wa...

Jackson and Donald are joined by Christian Noakes author of Do It Yourself, Brother: Cultural Autonomy and the New Thing to discuss jazz music and musicians during the Cold War. We cover the U.S. state department's attempts to weaponize Jazz for imperial cultural diplomacy and how artists in the Jazz avant-garde of the 1950s-60s resisted the exploitation of their music by both the U.S. government...

We join Gabriel Kuhn , author of books like Soccer vs. the State and Antifascism, Sports, Sobriety: Forging a militant working-class culture for a discussion on sports, sobriety and also the ways Austromarxism applied these principles during the interwar period. We discuss Gabriel's attraction to the Straight Edge movement as well as its contemporary transformations, as well as sports and left-win...

Rudy, Andrew and Eric sit down to discuss Egypt from its origins as an independent polity under Mehmed Ali up to the Sadat years, with a focus on the Nasserist revolutionary period. We discuss the origins and aims of the 1952 coup and revolution, the relationship between communists and Nasser(ism), the three periods of Nasserism, the national and international character of the government periods,...

Donald and Luke talk with Aziz Rana about his latest book, The Constitutional Bind: How Americans Came to Idolize a Document That Fails Them. Rana discusses why constitutional veneration has remained (for now) "a naturalized, unremarked-upon feature" of American life despite the Constitution's flagrantly undemocratic nature. Along the way, he touches on the Socialist Party of America's constitutio...

We sit down with Jerome Scott, former Detroit Auto worker and founding member of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers to learn about Black working-class radicalizing during the Vietnam War and Detroit uprisings and to get advice on directions for the revolutionary movement today.

Ian, Nico, Matt, Chas and Rudy join for a general discussion on artificial intelligence. They cover the early origins of AI as a field, with the debates of the time, all the way up to the present state. They then discuss what to expect from AI in the near future, and give aspects where the prospects may be optimistic, pessimistic or neutral. They finish with a discussion on how Marxists should rel...

Exir, Toby and Jackson join for a discussion on the (in)famous Frankfurt School. They discuss the history of the Institute for Social Research from its founding as a think tank for the study of the workers' movement, through the turn to critical theory and empirical social research in the 1930s, its flight to America in the wake of the Nazis' rise to power, and its return to Germany after the Seco...

Rudy joins Martín Lallana for an introductory discussion on mining. We talk about the importance of mining to capitalism, the ecological impacts of different kind of mining, the way that the materials extracted have changed along history focusing on the materials needed for an energy transition and the way the Ukranian war has changed the needs of European countries before discussing the possibili...

Rob joins Alexander Thurston for a discussion on his work on the Sahel region, focusing on the interplay between radical Islamic groups, the civilian governments/military juntas of the regions and international players like the US and France. They discuss the social basis of the groups, the role of different countries and different armies, the reasons behind the military coups and their possible f...

Steven, James and Rudy sit down for a long discussion on the French Communist Party from its inception all the way to its present state. We cover all the periods in its history: the Pre-WW2 Popular Front, the post WW2 entrance into government, its isolation, and its coming back into government with Mitterrand in the 80s, before discussing its decline and the reasons for it. References: M. Adereth...

Rejecting recent interpretations in the U.S. socialist press as truistic, Jackson Albert Mann makes a case for a particular communistic reading of the first novel in Frank Herbert's Dune franchise. Read By: A Darlymple Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.

Rudy joins Volodymyr Ishchenko, author of Towards the Abyss: Ukraine from Maidan to War , for a discussion on Ukraine and the broader post-Soviet sphere. We discuss the formation of the Ukranian identity under the USSR, the story of Ukraine after independence through the Orange Revolution, Euromaidan and up to the recent war, and the failures of its elites to enact a political project. We also tal...

Written By: Abner Dalrymple Read By: Will Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.

Aliyah VanPelt and Cliff Connolly sit down with longtime organizer Gene Bruskin to get his advice and hear stories from his time in the movement, including with US Labor Against the War.

Alex Witherspoon, Yu Zhou, and Alle Fang give an account of socialist agriculture in rural North Korea, arguing that the difficulties faced by the country's economy have been primarily caused by deteriorating trade conditions. Read By: Allen Lanterman Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.

Amelia, Carlos and Rudy sit down to discuss the revolutionary period of Mexico in the decade of 1910. We talk about the Porfiriato period which led up to the revolution, the conjecture which led to the events of 1910, the three stages of the revolutionary wars, and the diverse factions acting in each stage. We discuss the relevant figures of the revolution, including Francisco Madero, Emilio Zapat...

Rudy joins Raj Patel for a discussion on the global food system. We discuss how food serves as a powerful educational tool , the paradox of global hunger amidst food abundance and obesity , linking it to the systemic issues in food production and consumption. We discuss producers, vendors and how supermarkets dictate what is cultivated and sold. We also talk about Raj's work on the Long Green Revo...

Interpreting Stalin's fledgling revolutionary career through his later status as a brutal labor dictator obscures an early whole-hearted admiration for the works of Kautsky and Lenin. By Lawrence Parker. Read By Luke Pickrell Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.