Cosmopod
324 episodes - English - Latest episode: 4 days ago - ★★★★★ - 82 ratingsCosmopod is the official podcast of Cosmonaut Magazine, a project dedicated to expanding the project of scientific socialism in the 21st Century. In our feed we have a combination of podcast episodes and audio articles from our website.
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Episodes
Artificial Intelligence
April 21, 2024 18:23 - 1 hour - 105 MBIan, 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 relate to AI in the present, trying to avoid overly pessimistic or uncritical attitudes.
The Frankfurt School in Context (1923-69)
April 15, 2024 06:50 - 2 hours - 326 MBExir, 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 Second World War. Focusing in on Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, and Herbert Marcuse, they use the ...
Mining and the Environment with Martin Lallana
April 01, 2024 06:48 - 1 hour - 69.9 MBRudy 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 possibilities to have more just forms of mining and the potentialities of "urban mining"
Jihadism and Military Juntas in the Sahel with Alexander Thurston
March 24, 2024 18:33 - 1 hour - 70.4 MBRob 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 future paths as well as how much is not really known about these groups.
[REMASTER] Communism in the Colours of France: The French Communist Party (1920-2024)
March 11, 2024 08:33 - 2 hours - 142 MBSteven, 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 - The French Communist party: A Critical History (1920-1984), from Comintern to "the colours ...
Communism in the Colours of France: The French Communist Party (1920-2024)
March 11, 2024 08:33 - 2 hours - 156 MBSteven, 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 - The French Communist party: A Critical History (1920-1984), from Comintern to "the colours ...
The Value of Dune: a Communistic Perspective
March 07, 2024 08:00 - 21 minutes - 23.8 MBRejecting 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.
Towards the Abyss: Ukraine from Maidan to War with Volodymyr Ishchenko
March 04, 2024 08:22 - 1 hour - 85.2 MBRudy 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 talk about the role of the far-right, whether the war was preventable, Military Keynsianism in Ukra...
Letter: Llorente v. Schaeffer
February 23, 2024 08:00 - 5 minutes - 5.74 MBWritten 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.
Gene Bruskin: A Life in the Labor Movement
February 20, 2024 11:21 - 2 hours - 64.8 MBAliyah 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.
The Korean Miracle’s Rural Legacy
February 15, 2024 05:28 - 33 minutes - 56.8 MBAlex 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.
The Mexican Revolution
February 12, 2024 08:54 - 1 hour - 105 MBAmelia, 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 Zapata, Pancho Villa, the Flores Magón brothers, as well as the ultimate victors in the Sonora clan....
Seeds of Power: The Global Food System and The Green Revolution with Raj Patel
February 05, 2024 11:33 - 51 minutes - 59.1 MBRudy 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 Revolution, challenging the conventional view of the Green Revolution as a historical event and pr...
Just Another Kautsky Fan
February 01, 2024 08:00 - 33 minutes - 25.8 MBInterpreting 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.
Captives: the History of Rikers Island and New York City with Jarrod Shanahan
January 22, 2024 09:41 - 1 hour - 105 MBIsaac and Jack join Jarrod Shanahan, an activist, educator, and the author of Captives: How Rikers Island Took New York City Hostage, for a wide-ranging conversation. We cover the last 70 years of New York City's political history from the lens of the city's jails. We discuss the various actors fighting for control in the city: the politicians and bureaucrats responsible for the administration of jails, the repressive jailers and their corrupt labor union, the revolutionary social movements ...
Citizen Marx: Republicanism and the Formation of Karl Marx’s Social and Political Thought with Bruno Leipold
January 15, 2024 14:41 - 1 hour - 96.1 MBDonald and Luke talk with Bruno Leipold about his forthcoming book, Citizen Marx: Republicanism and the Formation of Karl Marx’s Social and Political Thought. Bruno touches on several topics including English Chartism, democratic republicanism, national constitutions, and the political development Marx and Engels’s over the years. Bruno emphasizes the democratic republican foundation of Marxism and why it needs to be rediscovered.
Solidarność and the Polish People's Republic
January 04, 2024 09:14 - 1 hour - 125 MBChas, James, and Rudy delve into the history of the Polish People's Republic in this episode, focusing on the influential Solidarity movement. They explore communism's roots in Poland from the interwar period to WWII, highlighting the challenges posed by the Soviet invasion. The conversation covers the post-WWII liberation, the establishment of the Polish nation-state, and the diverse governmental shifts leading up to the 1980s. They also discuss how Solidarity emerges from the Workers' Def...
The Algerian Revolution II (1965-99): Developmentalism, Marketization and War
December 11, 2023 08:23 - 1 hour - 74.3 MBRob, Eric and Rudy continue their discussion of the Algerian revolution from the fall of Ben Bella to the end of the Black Decade (known in the West as the Algerian Civil War). We discuss the starting point of Boumedienne's government, the agrarian reform and the developmentalist program undertaken in industry, as well as the internal divisions of the FLN during this period which led to widespread sabotage of this developmentalist program. We then talk about Boumedienne's death, and the chan...
Endless Muddle
December 07, 2023 08:00 - 35 minutes - 33.6 MBRenzo Llorente critically responds to Gil Schaeffer’s views on democratic rights and socialism. Read By: Will Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Inside the CR-CPUSA/Red Guards: Cults, Violence and the Left
November 27, 2023 09:26 - 2 hours - 128 MBGus, Donald and Isaac join Esra, author of the webside CR-CPUSA Exposed: Hub for Information and Recovery for a discussion on their experience inside the Committee to Reconstitute the Communist Party of the USA, also known as the Red Guards. We go into a lot of detail on how the CR-CPUSA operated, how it related to its locals and how it was basically centered around the personality of Jared Roark, also knon as Comrade Dallas. We talk about how the CR-CPUSA came to dissolve by a process initi...
Commune or Nothing!: Venezuela’s Communal Movement with Chris Gilbert
November 13, 2023 08:06 - 1 hour - 111 MBRudy and Christian join Chris Gilbert for a discussion on his new book Commune or Nothing! Venezuela’s Communal Movement and its Socialist Project. We cover the history of the Venezuelan communal project, and how it relates to previous attempts of the government to build a socialist economy including the Venezuelan cooperative movement or the drive to build state-run industry. We discuss the ideas of István Mészáros on how the commune centers the communal control of the labor process, and a...
A Participant's History of the Students for a Democratic Society with Gil Schaeffer
October 30, 2023 08:06 - 1 hour - 85.8 MBLuke joins Gil Shaeffer, a former member of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and author of "You Can’t Use Weatherman to Show Which Way the Wind Blew” to talk about the SDS, the New Left, and the centrality of democratic republicanism to Marxism. Gil discusses his path to joining SDS in the late 1960s, the impact of figures like C Wright Mills, the little-remembered March on Fort Dix, and the meaning of “participatory democracy.” He explains how SDS and the New Left are presented in p...
Race, Class and the Zionist State
October 19, 2023 16:20 - 30 minutes - 30.1 MBGus Breslauer responds to Angry Workers of the World on the issue of Palestine and Zionism. There is no path “around” Intifada, the working class must go in-and-through it. Read by: Will Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Between Market and Plan: the Soviet Union in the Era of the NEP
October 17, 2023 07:37 - 3 hours - 185 MBDonald, Christian, and Connor sit down to discuss the political economic conditions of the Soviet Union during the period of the New Economic Policy. Over the course of the episode, they cover War Communism, the intellectual currents and debates within the Party, the importance of the peasant question, the geopolitics of isolation, and the NEP’s long term viability. References: R. C. Allen - Farm to Factory: A Reinterpretation of the Soviet Industrial Revolution V. Barnett - The Revolut...
The Wars of Reconstruction with Douglas Egerton
October 02, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 86.6 MBLuke joins Douglas Egerton, author of The Wars of Reconstruction: The Brief, Violent History of America's Most Progressive Era, for a conversation about an epoch-defining period in U.S. history. Drawing from the lives of lesser-known actors, Douglas details attempts to transform the foundation of society following the Civil War and the vociferous resistance to those changes. Douglas provides an overview of Reconstruction, the forces involved, and, crucially, the way in which the period has...
The Libyan Arab Jamahiriya with Matteo Capasso
September 25, 2023 07:25 - 1 hour - 91.9 MBRudy joins Matteo Capasso, author of Everyday Politics in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya for a discussion on Libya with a focus on the period from 1969 to 2011. We delves into Matteo's research on Libya, exploring the myths and stories surrounding Libya's history, aiming to dispel the notion of Qaddafi's authoritarianism and the concept of statelessness among the Libyan people. The conversation takes a historical journey, discussing the antecedents of the Libyan revolution, the formation of t...
The Algerian Revolution I (1954-65): Decolonization, Self-Management and Internationalism
September 13, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 75.4 MBRob, Eric and Rudy delve into the Algerian revolution, tracing its roots back to French colonization, through the liberation war, and the Ben Bella period. This first part of the discussion on Algeria explores the 19th-century French settlement of Algeria and the various phases of colonization. It also examines the impact of Algerian labor migration to France and its role in the liberation war. We provide insights into the National Liberation Front (FLN), highlighting its different factions...
Democratic Rights and Socialism
September 07, 2023 07:00 - 57 minutes - 47.8 MBGil Schaeffer responds to Renzo Llorente’s “The Contradictions and Confusions of ‘Democratic Socialism” and argues that socialists need to base their politics on a coherent ethical theory of democratic rights. Read by: Will Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Migration as Economic Imperialism with Immanuel Ness
September 04, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 89.5 MBRudy joins Immanuel Ness to discuss his recent work Migration as Economic Imperialism: How International Labour Mobility Undermines Economic Development in Poor Countries. We begin by explaining why migration is economic imperialism and addressing key questions about who migrates, their reasons, and destinations, highlighting evolving migration patterns. We explore how migration patterns are designed to meet labor demands and the role of recruitment agencies. Ness distinguishes between tem...
From Champion of the Oppressed to Truth, Justice, and the American Way: Who Took the Socialism Out of Superman?
August 31, 2023 07:00 - 23 minutes - 23.5 MBHank Kennedy traces the ideological history of Superman, arguing that the populism of the character’s early iterations would eventually be shed as a result of commercial interests. Read by: Keir Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
A History of the Home and the Fight for Free Time with Helen Hester and Nick Srnicek
August 28, 2023 07:00 - 57 minutes - 57 MBRudy joins authors Helen Hester and Nick Srnicek to explore their latest book, After Work: A History of the Home and the Fight for Free Time. The conversation commences with a clear definition of domestic work, setting the stage for the book's unique perspective on this issue in contrast to other theoretical frameworks. The dialogue delves into 20th-century trends in household labor within the global North, with a special focus on Cowan's paradox. Additionally, the episode explores the real...
Marxism and the Democratic Republic
August 22, 2023 07:00 - 52 minutes - 57.2 MBLuke Pickrell of Marxist Unity Group emphasizes the centrality of radical democracy to the communist project and reintroduces the construction of the democratic republic as the foundational political goal for socialists today. He emphatically asserts that if socialists are to defeat the tricephalic hydra of capitalist domination, we must aim for the heart – “the source and parent of all the other atrocities” – the US Constitution. Read by: Aliyah Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp rem...
Marxist Unity Group & the Democratic Socialists of America’s National Convention
August 21, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 79.4 MBAmelia joins Amy, Steven, and Greg for a discussion centered around the Marxist Unity Group (MUG) in the aftermath of the recent Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) convention. Amy, who earned a seat on the National Political Committee (NPC) through her election at the convention, as well as the others provide an insider's perspective on the organization of DSA and the significance of the National Convention. The conversation delves into the inner workings of DSA, exploring its structura...
Czechoslovakia's Quest for Reform: Unraveling the Prague Spring
August 14, 2023 07:00 - 2 hours - 115 MBChas, Christian, Rudy, and James come together to delve into a comprehensive conversation about the Prague Spring, a significant Czechoslovak reform movement. Their discussion begins by tracing the roots of Czechoslovak communism, recounting the post-World War II Communist ascension to power, and elaborating on the gradual and intricate reform drive that eventually culminated in Dubček's rise to leadership during the Prague Spring of 1968. Subsequently, they explore the ideologies championed...
Labor Republicanism and the Freedom Question in 19th Century North America
August 07, 2023 08:27 - 1 hour - 106 MBLuke and Donald join Alexander Gourevitch, author of From Slavery to Cooperative Commonwealth: Labor and Republican Liberty in the 19th Century, for a wide-ranging discussion about the republican conception of freedom and how republicanism was taken up by workers in the United States. They begin by discussing older conceptions of freedom and slavery and how those ideas evolved. They consider the Workingmen’s Parties and the Knights of Labor as examples of ‘labor republicans’ who saw wag...
Nurturing Minds, Uniting Movements: Exploring Political Education in the Communist Movement
July 31, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 73.2 MBJackson, Rudy and Steve sit down to talk about political education in the communist movement. They explore their personal experiences with education in both formal and political settings, highlighting the contrasting dynamics. Delving into the models of political education within a party, they emphasize the significance of cultivating a shared language and vision. The trio generously shares practical examples and tips for organizing engaging and diverse reading and study groups, ensurin...
There Is Never One Lamb Alone: On Finding Unity in Diversity
July 27, 2023 09:35 - 25 minutes - 22.8 MBSplits and purges are no solution to the problem of disagreement in the socialist movement. Marisa Miale calls for unity in diversity in the context of the DSA. Read By: LC Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
The Mexican Dirty War: From Cárdenas to Zapatismo with Adela Cedillo
July 24, 2023 07:30 - 1 hour - 81.8 MBRudy joins Adela Cedillo, co-editor of Challenging Authoritarianism in Mexico Revolutionary Struggles and the Dirty War, 1964-1982, and author of several studies on the Mexican dirty war such as El Fuego y El Silencio, Historia de las Fuerzas de Liberación Nacional Mexicanas (1969-1974), for a conversation on this period of history. We discuss the mixed legacy of the Mexican revolution, the state of the left after the progressive presidency of Lazaro Cárdenas, the two periods in Mexican ins...
The Contradictions and Confusions of “Democratic Socialism”
July 20, 2023 07:00 - 53 minutes - 73.6 MBRenzo Llorente engages with contemporary advocates of Democratic Socialism and argues that they ultimately fail to demarcate between liberal and socialist visions of democracy, resulting in capitulation to the liberal status quo. Read By: Will Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
The World System and The Beautiful Game ⚽ with Sam Parry
July 17, 2023 06:54 - 1 hour - 84.5 MBRudy and Djamil join Sam Parry, author of The Ugly Economics of the Beautiful Game for a discussion on how capitalism interacts with the sport most of the world knows as football. We talk about the many ways in which capitalism interacts with international football from a world-systems perspective including how the periphery ends up supplying talent to the economic core, the tendencies towards vertical integration, the stickiness of capital, the historic patterns of club ownership, and the ...
The Question of Worldview and Class Struggle in Philosophy
July 13, 2023 07:00 - 59 minutes - 82.4 MBDaniel Tutt looks to the philosophy of Georg Lukács and his critique of bourgeois irrationalism to explicate the role of intellectuals and worldviews in the class struggle. Read By: Allen Lanterman Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
The African Blood Brotherhood, its Relations and Legacy
July 06, 2023 07:00 - 41 minutes - 37.3 MBCombining the insights of previous scholarship with information gathered from Bureau of Investigation (BOI, predecessor of the FBI) surveillance documents, Ian Szabo presents a new angle on the history of the African Blood Brotherhood (ABB), illustrating the organizations’ particular synthesis of Black radical politics and Marxism, as well as revealing the racial fantasy through which contemporaneous mainstream U.S. media and the state understood its methods and goals. Read by: Luke Intro ...
The U.S. Constitution and the Struggle for Democracy with Robert Ovetz
July 04, 2023 09:00 - 1 hour - 77.1 MBLuke and Donald join Robert Ovetz, author of We the Elites: Why the Constitution Serves the Few, for a discussion on the Constitution as a potent obstacle to political and social democracy in the United States. They begin with a discussion about the history and context of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and the various anxieties the Framers held toward indigenous resistance, slave rebellions, and debtor revolts. They explore the document’s inner workings, including the various minori...
ACT UP, Fight Back
June 29, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 80 MBCharlie Frank gives an overview of the forms of social mobilization that developed as a response to the AIDS pandemic as well as what lessons the left can draw from this chapter of history. Read by Will Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
The People's Republic of Mozambique with Colin Darch
June 26, 2023 07:32 - 1 hour - 95.5 MBRudy joins Colin Darch, author of several books on Mozambique and curator of Mozambique History Net for a discussion on Mozambique from the colonial period to the unraveling of the socialist period. We discuss Portuguese colonialism and the economic system the country had, the liberation movement FRELIMO with attention to its origins and its historical leader Eduardo Mondlane, before talking about Samora Machel, the first leader of an independent Mozambique. We discuss the Machel period and...
Socializing Care: Against Domestic Realism
June 22, 2023 07:00 - 24 minutes - 22.1 MBThe Cibcom Collective take aim at domestic realism, arguing that feminist planning of the domestic economy is necessary to the communist project. This is a translation of an article originally published in Jacobin América Latina. Read By: Luke Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Karl Marx and Radical Indigenous Critiques of Capitalism
June 15, 2023 07:00 - 2 hours - 143 MBNodrada explores the tensions and resonances between Marxism and Indigenous thought, putting the writings of Native theorists such as Vine Deloria Jr., Luther Standing Bear, Winona LaDuke, and many others in dialogue with those of Marx. Read By: Aliyah Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
The People's Republic of Bulgaria: From the Fields to the Cyberstars with Victor Petrov
June 12, 2023 07:43 - 1 hour - 68.6 MBRudy joins Victor Petrov, author of Balkan Cyberia: Cold War Computing, Bulgarian Modernization, and the Information Age behind the Iron Curtain for a discussion on The People's Republic of Bulgaria and its computing industry and offshoots. They discuss the history of socialism in Bulgaria, how it changed the country's productive basis from an agricultural nation to one that could produce an all-Bulgarian satellite in 1981 and be a worldwide leader of computing. We talk about how the comput...
Cop City will never be built with Kei and Leila
June 05, 2023 06:57 - 1 hour - 79.2 MBIsaac joins Kei and Leila from Stop Cop City/Defend Atlanta Forest for a discussion on the movement, its strategy and its ultimate goals. They discuss what brought them into the movement, what the Weelaunee coalition and the Atlanta Police Foundation are, how the movement uses three prongs to aim for victory, and how it relates to the political landscape in Atlanta. They also touch on the centrality of care in a movement which has seen someone murdered, as well as the links to contemporary ...
Letter: "Lines of flight" for undeniable problems
June 01, 2023 07:00 - 11 minutes - 11.5 MBCibcom Collective's Response to Luke P Read by: Will Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.