The podcast delves into the creation of the German Democratic Republic post-WWII, comparing GDR citizens' rights to those in the West, the sheer number of Nazis in post-war Germany, and the events leading to the fall of the GDR in 1989. Topics also cover societal manipulation, women's rights in the GDR, anti-corruption efforts, and contrasting healthcare systems between the US and the GDR.

We go through the life of actor, singer, civil rights activist, and communist Paul Robeson and talk about how he laid the groundwork for the civil rights movement in the US, how the capitalist powers tried to destroy him, and why it's important for us to remember him. Update: we did more research and found the colleges that wouldn't play Rutgers b/c Robeson was on the football team! William & Mary, Georgia Tech, and Washington & Lee!  If you haven't already, go to www.prolespod.com or you can help the show improve over at www.patreon.com/prolespod and in return can get sweet pins, access to our spicy discord, exclusive episodes, guest appearances, etc.! All kinds of great stuff. Please subscribe on your favorite podcast apps and rate or review to help extend our reach. Like and rate our facebook page at facebook.com/prolespod and follow us on Twitter @prolespod. If you have any questions or comments, DM us on either of those platforms or email us at prolespod@gmail.com All episodes prior to episode 4 can be found on YouTube, so go check that out as well! Suggested Listening: "Joe Hill" "Anthem of the Soviet Union" "Shlof, Mein Kind" "The Volga Boatmen" "Go Down Moses"  Suggested Reading: Paul Robeson, Martin Bruml Duberman, Paul Robeson: The Artist as Revolutionary, Gerald Horne Paul Robeson: A Watched Man, Jordan Goodman Paul Robeson's Testimony before HUAC, 1956  Outro music: "Old Man River" - Paul Robeson

It's been a whole freaking year since we first recorded and posted our animated first episode on the German Revolution! We are amazed and humbled by all that has happened since then, and in celebration we took live calls for two hours to meet and chat with some fantastic people and answer a few questions. Join us as we let our hair down, drink too much, and talk to ya'll.  If you haven't already, go to www.prolespod.com or you can help the show improve over at www.patreon.com/prolespod and in return can get sweet pins, access to our spicy discord, exclusive episodes, pick your own, guest appearances! All kinds of great stuff. Please subscribe on your favorite podcast apps and rate or review to help extend our reach. Like and rate our facebook page at facebook.com/prolespod  and follow us on Twitter @prolespod. If you have any questions or comments, DM us on either of those platforms or email us at prolespod@gmail.com All episodes prior to episode 4 can be found on YouTube, so go check that out as well!    Outro Music: "Dr Wily's Castle Theme" by Takashi Tateishi

In yet another spicy episode that is sure to anger some folks, we talk with Ty (@spirit_of_17 on twitter), who got back not too long ago from a year living in China, and wanted to give us his take on what he experienced and saw, and what we think of where China is in the era of Xi.   If you haven't already, go to www.prolespod.com or you can help the show improve over at www.patreon.com/prolespod and in return can get sweet pins, access to our spicy discord, exclusive episodes, pick your own, guest appearances! All kinds of great stuff. Please subscribe on your favorite podcast apps and rate or review to help extend our reach. Like and rate our facebook page at facebook.com/prolespod  and follow us on Twitter @prolespod. If you have any questions or comments, DM us on either of those platforms or email us at prolespod@gmail.com All episodes prior to episode 4 can be found on YouTube, so go check that out as well!  Suggested Reading: Guide on general anti communist myths here. Reading guide on China specifically here.      Outro Music: Xiangyu "Rumors and Slanders" Translated video can be found here.

What better way to ring in the New Year than this spicy episode on feminism, where we take shots at feminist movements of the past, men (of course) and some of the left. Special guest @socializm_ brings the fire. Ya'll are guaranteed to either love it, or hate it.  If you haven't already, you can help the show improve over at www.patreon.com/prolespod and in return can get sweet pins, access to our spicy discord, exclusive episodes, pick your own, guest appearances! All kinds of great stuff. Please subscribe on your favorite podcast apps and rate or review to help extend our reach. Like and rate our facebook page at facebook.com/prolespod  and follow us on Twitter @prolespod. If you have any questions or comments, DM us on either of those platforms or email us at prolespod@gmail.com All episodes prior to episode 4 can be found on YouTube, so go check that out as well!  Suggested Reading: "Caliban and the Witch" by Sylvia Federici "Undemocratic Legacies: First Wave Feminism and the Somocista Women's Movement in Nicaragua" by V. Gonzalez-Rivera "Is Capitalism Gendered and Racialized" by Joan Acker "The Dialectics of Sex" by Shulamith Firestone ("The Dialectics of Sex" was utilized to cover the history of the first wave feminism in the United States. For that reason we recommend the book merely for the first chapter. However, the author offers iffy analysis against Marx and misquotes Engels that makes their overall argument faulty. This work has been critiqued by Ghandy (CC member of the CPI) in her works, “Philosophical trends in the modern feminist movement.” Still recommend that chapter spoken about but keep that in mind when you read the works in its entirety)    Outro Music: "Rocky's Revenge" by Rocky Rivera

In this episode, we go from the discovery of nuclear fission up to the most recent state getting a nuclear weapon, and in between we talk about the Manhattan Project, Soviet spies, Hiroshima, US nuclear testing, and the DPRK having a nuke. This episode has some of the darkest moments we've had on the podcast and also some incredible silliness. Enjoy! Suggested Reading/Viewing -  American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, Kai Bird & Martin Sherwin Stalin's Great Science: The Times and Adventures of Soviet Physicists, Alexei B. Kojevnikov Before The Fallout: From Marie Curie to Hiroshima, Diana Preston Hiroshima's Shadow: Writings on the Denial of History, Kai Bird & Lawrence Lifschultz The Ruin of J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Birth of the Modern Arms Race, Priscilla Johnson McMillan Plutopia: Nuclear Families, Atomic Cities, and the Great Soviet and American Plutonium Disasters, Kate Brown Hiroshima, John Hersey Yellow Dirt: A Poisoned Land and the Betrayal of the Navajos, Judy Pasternak Bombshell: The Secret Story of America's Unknown Atomic Spy Controversy, Joseph Albright & Marcia Kunstel https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/1366164/Israel-reveals-secrets-of-how-it-gained-bomb.html A Bomb in the Basement: Israel's Nuclear Option   Outro music: Gang of Four - "I Found That Essence Rare"

Comrades, you are going to love this episode. Come along with us as we deep dive into the life of one of history's most remarkable and patient revolutionaries, from his childhood up to WW2. Ezra also shares a great anecdote about Route 559.  If you haven't already, you can help the show improve over at www.patreon.com/prolespod and in return can get sweet pins, access to our spicy discord, exclusive episodes, pick your own, guest appearances! All kinds of great stuff.  Please subscribe on your favorite podcast apps and rate or review to help extend our reach. Like and rate our facebook page at facebook.com/prolespod  and follow us on Twitter @prolespod.  If you have any questions or comments, DM us on either of those platforms or email us at prolespod@gmail.com All episodes prior to episode 4 can be found on YouTube, so go check that out as well!  Suggested Reading: "Ho Chi Minh: A Life" by William Duiker   Outro Music: "The Times They Are A-Changin'" by Bob Dylan

Have you ever wondered where the montage came from? Do you enjoy hearing Ethan plug theatre in an episode about cinema? Do you never tire of hearing Justin defend Stalin even when he clearly did some things wrong? Then you will LOVE this raucous and informative episode on the history of film and cinema within the Soviet Union (and a bit before)!   *CORRECTION* While Prussia was a principality in the HRE, Prussia was never part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Our bad! If you haven't already, you can help the show improve over at www.patreon.com/prolespod and in return can get sweet pins, access to our spicy discord, exclusive episodes, pick your own, guest appearances! All kinds of great stuff.   Please subscribe on your favorite podcast apps and rate or review to help extend our reach. Like and rate our facebook page at facebook.com/prolespod  and follow us on Twitter @prolespod.   If you have any questions or comments, DM us on either of those platforms or email us at prolespod@gmail.com All episodes prior to episode 4 can be found on YouTube, so go check that out as well!  Outro Music: "At Dawn" by Alyens Sources/Suggested Reading/Viewing: Further reading: Kino: A History of the Russian and Soviet Film, Jay Leyda The Red Screen: Politics, Society, Art in Soviet Cinema, ed. Anna Lawton Ways of Seeing, John Berger Directory of World Cinema: Russia, Birgit Beumers Film viewing: Battleship Potemkin, Sergei Eisenstein (1925) Man With A Movie Camera, Dziga Vertov (1929) October: Ten Day That Shook The World, Sergei Eisenstein (1928) Volga-Volga, Grigori Aleksandrov (1938) Solaris, Andrei Tarkovsky (1972) Moscow Doesn't Believe In Tears, Vladimir Menshov (1980)

Join the Proles with comrade Natalie as they discuss the incredibly deep and important history of the DPRK, Natalie's upcoming project and a bit of Seeing Red!    If you haven't already, you can help the show improve over at www.patreon.com/prolespod and in return can get sweet pins, access to our spicy discord, exclusive episodes, pick your own, guest appearances! All kinds of great stuff.   Please subscribe on your favorite podcast apps and rate or review to help extend our reach. Like and rate our facebook page at facebook.com/prolespod and follow us on Twitter @prolespod.   If you have any questions or comments, DM us on either of those platforms or email us at prolespod@gmail.com All episodes prior to episode 4 can be found on YouTube, so go check that out as well!   Sources/Suggested Reading:  10 Volume Series "Understanding Korea" "Understanding Workers' Party of Korea" "Socialist Korea - A Case Study in the Strategy of Economic Development" "Korea's Division and Its Truth" "War Veterans' Reminscences"   Outro: Moranbong Band "Without a Break"

Spicy content warning! Join the proles as they unveil the hilarious, soon-to-be patreon-only spinoff, Dialectics After Dark, where we read through headlines and news and react, let our hair down and spend a little more time being ridiculous. Being that this is our first run-through with this format, please forgive the roughness. It will polish up a bit in the future   For those who don't know already, you can get access to these, as well as other great perks by donating at www.patreon.com/prolespod Here's that link Ethan wanted to put in the show notes: https://keywordsforcapitalism.com/