Radio Free Humanity: The Marxist-Humanist Podcast

Radio Free Humanity Ep. 111: “Accounting for Capitalism’s Economic Crises— Interview with Rob Bryer.” On Rob’s book, “Accounting for Crises,” and Marx’s theory. Current-events segment: Judge Engoron & E. Jean Carroll grab Trump by the purse strings.

Is the “law of value” specifically capitalistic, or does it also operate in socialism? What is the import of Marx’s claim that labor in capitalism is only indirectly social, but that it will be directly social in socialist society? If you’re a worker, what does that mean for you? To address these and related questions, Theresa Henry interviews Andrew about the 1943 article in which the Russian Sta...

RFH Ep 109 Value and Labor Relations in Capitalism and Socialism, Part 1 by MHI

Radio Free Humanity Ep. 108: “Seth Weiss’s ‘IMHO Tail-ends Hamas, Abandons Marxist-Humanist Philosophy.’” On the concreteness of philosophy, opposing campism, and more. Current-events segment: SCOTUS reinstates Idaho’s ban on emergency abortions.

Andrew Kliman and Gabriel Donnelly welcome Scott Homan and Chad Rhiger to discuss their film, “Witness Underground,” a documentary about young Jehovah’s Witnesses with a shared interest in music who managed to break free from the religion. They discuss Scott and Chad’s lives, the religion’s attitude to truth, and its cruel practice of shunning. The discussion also takes up cultish practices by oth...

Andrew Kliman and Gabriel Donnelly interview Yuval Idan, author of “To my Western leftist friends, from your leftist Israeli friend.” This widely read Medium post addresses Western leftists who treated Hamas’ terrorist attack as “an unfortunate situation,” “stayed silent,” or “lecture[d] us about context and resistance.” After recounting her own political history, Yuval and the interviewers discus...

Radio Free Humanity Ep. 105: “What Can Stop Trumpism?” Jane Michaels & Seth Morris interview Andrew. Trumpites plot dictatorship, revenge; Dems’ response is pathetic. Current-events segment (w/Theresa Henry): Moms “for” Liberty thrashed in elections.

Radio Free Humanity Ep. 104: “‘From Each According to Their Ability, to Each According to Their Needs’—Part 2.” More of everything you always wanted to know about the principle. Current-events segment: the US autoworkers’ strike (w/Gabriel Donnelly).

Andrew Kliman and Brendan Cooney discuss this famous principle of distribution, in the context of Marx’s work and as discussed in a recent Ph. D. dissertation by Edoardo Bellando, ”From Each According to His Ability, to Each According to His Needs”: What Could it Possibly Mean, and What Lies Behind this Marxian Principle? After briefly reviewing the origins of the principle and pre-Marx advocacy o...

Radio Free Humanity Ep. 102: “Our Political-Epistemological Crisis (interview with Steven Nadler and Lawrence Shapiro).” On the crisis of bad thinking and why it’s both logically and morally wrong. Current- events segment on the Israel-Hamas war.

Radio Free Humanity Ep. 101: “Anti-Trans Politics (interview with Ettingermentum).” On his piece, “The Modern Electoral History of Transphobia.” Current-events segment: Gag Gift?—as Trump’s incitement escalates, will the courts gift us gag orders?

RFH celebrates its 100th episode with a two-hour Zoom chat between participants and the co-hosts. Anne Jaclard welcomes everyone, and then reads out participants’ chat questions and comments as well as greetings from former RFH guests; Brendan and Andrew respond. In this wide-ranging chat, the co-hosts and participants discuss a variety of political and philosophical topics

Radio Free Humanity Ep. 99: “Right-wing Environmentalism—Interview with Peter Staudenmaier.” On what it is, its history, and its continuing presence. Current-events segment: David Brooks revives myth that “economic distress” explains Trump’s support.

The co-hosts welcome Jane Michaels, who grew up in an outwardly apolitical environment in rural Wisconsin. They discuss her efforts to reason with family and friends who suddenly embraced Trump and Trumpism in 2016, why she failed, and the courage and independent thinking she displayed by refusing to join them and distancing herself from her past. Later, the discussion turns to Jane’s decades-long...

The co-hosts discuss “Trump’s Kryptonite,” an opinion survey and analysis recently issued by a Jacobin- aligned thinktank. Jacobin proclaims that the study shows that “economic populism can help progressives win more working-class voters,” but the co-hosts find that there’s less here than meets the eye. After detailing some of the weaknesses and ambiguities of the study, they discuss the dangers o...

Brendan interviews Andrew about his new article. Current-event segment: Crazy like on Fox: Why is Trump blabbing about stealing gov’t documents?

RFH Ep. 95 Trump (and Trump-Accommodationists) vs. the Rule of Law—interview with Seth Morris by MHI

RFH Ep.94 Dangers of Artificial Intelligence by MHI

RFH Ep. 93 The Ongoing Crisis and Protests in Israel (interview with Avishai Green) by MHI

The co-hosts welcome philosopher Susan Neiman to discuss her new book, Left Is Not Woke. Neiman separates her critique of “wokeism” from right-wing attacks on it and argues that woke ideology rejects key elements of leftist thinking, by rejecting “commitment to universalism, a firm distinction between justice and power, and a belief in the possibility of progress.” She and the co-hosts also discus...

RFH Ep. 91 Economics of Socialism (with Nick Rogers) by MHI

The co-hosts welcome back Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling, to discuss his new book, If It Sounds Like a Quack… A Journey to the Fringes of American Medicine. Matt explains how the libertarian-instigated “medical freedom” slogan has helped to unite the quacks, make their fringe movement go viral, and threaten the future of evidence based healthcare. He and the co-hosts discuss the long struggle between qu...

Radio Free Humanity Ep. 88: “Pseudo-Anti-Imperialism Defends the Indefensible—interview with Rohini Hensman.” On her 2018 book and its continuing relevance. Current-events segment: How Cohen–vanden Heuvel–The Nation injected pro-Putinism into US left.

The co-hosts and Gabriel Donnelly (himself a young labor activist) interview Felix Allen, lead organizer and president of Lowe’s Workers United, the newly-formed independent union at a Lowe’s home-improvement store in New Orleans. Felix discusses the situation at the Lowe’s store—pay, hours, working conditions that impelled him and his co-workers to organize, and he explains why they decided to fo...

RFH Ep.86 Deepening Revolt Against Iran’s Theocratic Regime (with Theresa Henry) by MHI