Auxiliary Statements

Jack and Dan might well be flirting with primitivism once again this week as the lads find themselves asking the question, was the Neolithic agricultural ‘revolution’ ultimately a mistake for human civilisation; a back step and not the moment of its genesis? For it turns out, according to Marshall Sahlins, Palaeolithic humans may well have had it made! For Sahlins, pre-agricultural life, far from being haunted by want, hunger and privation, was in fact a form of life that provided both food and leisure time in abundance. This isn’t to say that everything was rosy for our primitive communist forbears, life certainly had its hardships. But it’s certainly not the case that this early mode of production was simply a hurdle to be overcome on the onward march of civilisation. Palaeolithic life was as rich, stable and cultured as any other mode of human economic existence. Also up for discussion, black holes, baseball trades and some considerations on emo! Reading: Marshall Sahlins, The Original Affluent Society (1968) https://libcom.org/files/Sahlins%20-%20Stone%20Age%20Economics.pdf

Another 10 episodes, another recap. Well folks, we like to think we've come a long way since out first few episodes. This week we talk about what's changed our thinking in the last ten episodes, specifically in regard to the system of socialism outlined in the Fundamental Principles of Communist Production and Distribution. How do we materialize working class anger? How can we help bring the class struggle to its conclusion? Well, Dan and Jack sit down this week and attempt to answer just those very questions. Reading: The sum total of the human experience.

What is it with all these billionaire and why do they keep going to space? Your stalwart hosts have decided its long passed time we put a stop to these antics! How you ask. By putting an end to the dictatorial reign of capitalism that enforces the conditions necessary for the existence of your Bransons and your Bezoses and by implementing a new class based regime in its place, one that will set the conditions necessary for socialism. That’s right, this week Jack and Dan discuss the concept of the dictatorship of the proletariat. They discover that in actual fact it wasn’t all that important a term to Marx and Engels who use it only under specific conditions and in certain debates. Far from representing the authoritarian core of Marx’s thought and his ultimate culpability in the horrors of the soviet union, the term, when put in proper context, represents his commitment to democracy and his horror at the dictatorial aspirations of some of his revolutionary peers. In the end the lads find that in reality it’s a term that needn’t feature prominently in socialist political discourse; unless of cause you find yourself in frequent debate with Blanquists! Reading: Hal draper, The ‘Dictatorship of the Proletariat’ in Marx and Engels (1987)

The third and final part of our Emmy award winning Fundamental Principles of Communist Production and Distribution series HAS ARRIVED! It's been a dang good read folks, and in this ep you'll hear our concluding thoughts on this whole communism thing, just how viable it is, how much faith we have in the general system of councils and what the Dictatorship of the Proletariat might actually look like. We also apologize for killing Donald Rumsfeld with our bad vibes and set that energy to work in other spheres of the American capitalist aristocracy. Once again...this book rocks!!! Reading - Chapters 12-17 of "Fundamental Principles of Communist Production and Distribution" by the Group of International Communists (1930?).

Well folks for the first time in Aux Statements history we won't be bringing you our scheduled programming. However! Fear not. Jack is bringing you a half-assed Adjunct Statements to give you something. In this ep, Jack reads an essay he wrote for no discernible reason about discontentment with capitalism in fantasy. He compares Ursula Le Guin's "A Wizard of Earthsea" with Tolkien's "The Silmarillion" to make the point that yeah...we all hate capitalism. Reading: Some crap. Read it here - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XR85aC3EZoo2KszKE9mlYNtwSSkP9NvI/view?usp=sharing

You've been waiting long enough, folks...here it is - part 2 of our episode on the dang CIA. Have we gone loopy? Have we become conspiracy chuds? Tbh not really. In this episode we try and parse the faff from the not-faff as we uncover the hidden purpose behind American Cold War foreign policy. Turns out it wasn't that great! It was pretty bad, in fact! Reading: Part II, The Devil’s Chessboard (2015), David Talbot

Waaaaay back many episodes ago, dear listener, your meek and humble podcast hosts watched a movie from Errol Morris all about that evil idiot Robert McNamara. Well here we are today watching another Errol Morris movie but this time all about Donald Rumsfeld and let's just say...this is one evil SOB. In this episode we ask what role those unelected civil servants play in politics, how they manage to stay around so long, and just what it means to find evil distilled in one smarmy, Ivy League, conniving little man. Buckle up because this one gets heated. Watching: "The Unknown Known" (2013) from Errol Morris.

Holy guacamole the lads are at it again. This book continues to impress as we dive into the second part of our Fundamental Principles reading series - this time covering a spectrum of topics ranging from why everyone left of the councilists are idiots to how we would consume life's necessities and luxuries under communism to why accounting and equal "wages" are absolute fundamentals. Not sure what else to say here other than that your portly and faithful podcast hosts have continued to have their eager minds blown. Let's go. This one's a good 'un. Reading - Chapters 5-11 of "Fundamental Principles of Communist Production and Distribution" by the Group of International Communists (1930?).

This week, self professed Marxists on the internet Jack and Dan do that rarest of things, they read some actual Marx! As an appendix to their continuing engagement with the very excellent text ‘The Fundamental Principles of Communist Production and Distribution’, the lads took a look at Karl Marx’s withering and often times pedantic commentary on the 1875 founding programmatic document of the German Social Democratic Party; published posthumously in 1891 by Engels as ‘Critique of the Gotha Program’. Jack and Dan discover what a total loser Ferdinand Lassalle was, discuss further labour time credits as a potential replacement for wages, learn about Marx’s views on the states as well as the two fold nature of the transition to Communism, and also find out that child labour is apparently a good thing now…? All whilst slowly melting in an attic. Reading: Karl Marx, Critique of the Gotha Program (1875/1891)

Yeah yeah this one SOUNDS boring but what if I told you we'll be covering...labor time calculation??? Alright that may also sound boring but if we want to be calling ourselves commies and running around calling for an end to capitalism we've got to have an idea of HOW our new world will function. And gosh darn it that is exactly what these people did with this here book. Ever wonder how production/distribution will operate without exploitation? What would an economy look like without coercion? Well it's all covered in this dang book and let me say...it's waaaaaay more simple than you might think. As our councilist friends would say...ABOLISH WAGE LABOR - WORK IS THE MEASURE OF CONSUMPTION! This book effing rocks. Reading - Chapters 1-4 of "Fundamental Principles of Communist Production and Distribution" by the Group of International Communists (1930?).