Episodes
12 - The United States and the Legacy of the Third Reich: Collaboration and Biological Warfare Post-WW2
March 22, 2022 00:13 - 3 hours - 167 MBDan 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...
2021: A Land of Contrasts
December 23, 2021 05:06 - 1 hour - 144 MBEilex, 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
11 - Ideology and Reaction in Horror
November 08, 2021 01:36 - 2 hours - 194 MBIn 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, “...
Interlude - How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Putting Hydrogen Peroxide in My Nebulizer
October 03, 2021 19:03 - 1 hour - 116 MBThis 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 ...
10 - Happiness
September 04, 2021 03:12 - 1 hour - 147 MBITF'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
9 - Conservation and Capitalism
June 13, 2021 20:18 - 1 hour - 130 MBWe 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 find...
8 - A Brief History of Medical Racism
April 17, 2021 20:32 - 2 hours - 127 MBSavanah and Alekx cover a bit of the history of racism within the US medical field. A LOT is covered here, from medical training to prejudice in doctors to the concept of IQ and much more. This gets graphic at points, so please use caution. Related/Suggested Reading: Even the Rat Was White: A Historical View of Psychology - Robert V. Guthrie Racism and Psychiatry: Contemporary Issues and Interventions - Morgan Medlock, Derri Shtasel, Nhi-Ha T. Trinh, and David Williams https://www.thecr...
Episode 7 - Cowboys
March 01, 2021 15:26 - 1 hour - 115 MBIn 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: Bla...
Episode 6 - Laos
January 30, 2021 07:44 - 1 hour - 148 MBEthan 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.
Episode 5 - Horror
October 16, 2020 16:52 - 2 hours - 174 MBIn 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!
Episode 4 - Carbon, pt. 1
September 14, 2020 00:04 - 1 hour - 103 MBIn 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
Episode 3 - Interkosmos
August 18, 2020 11:56 - 2 hours - 131 MBWilliam 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
June Update
June 26, 2020 01:24 - 59 minutes - 81.6 MBNo June episode! Instead, enjoy this talk from Angela Davis in 1972: "Oppression and Repression in the US" at California State University - Fullerton.
Episode 2 - Creation
May 17, 2020 02:56 - 2 hours - 138 MBIn this wide-ranging episode, we talk about some specific examples of art used in a communist and/or revolutionary setting throughout history.
Episode 1 - Pandemic
April 12, 2020 20:07 - 2 hours - 148 MBWe 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...