Auxiliary Statements

Following on from last weeks discussion of Hal Draper's strategy of the Marxist centre, Jack and Dan consult another canonical text of contemporary Marxism this week; Mike Macnair’s Revolutionary Strategy. With an emphasis on the Second International, and the German SPD more specificity, Macnair outlines the differences in strategy that defined the key debates within turn of the century Marxism. What does it mean to be a centrist in the context of the Marxist movement? What defines the politics of the left and right wings of Marxist? Reading. Revolutionary strategy: Marxism and the challenge of left unity by Mike Macnair (2008) https://archive.cpgb.org.uk/assets/files/resources/Revolutionary%20Strategy%202.pdf

This week the lads once again humble themselves at the alter of the ever apposite font of revolutionary wisdom; Hal draper. This time Jack and Dan explore the ins and outs of the sect, that inescapable nadir of left political organisation. What is a sect, why do they come about, are they inescapable, and what is their historical impact and legacy? The sect, it turns out, is not the way to build and support an active workers movement; history has proven this to be the case. So now what? Draper offers us the model of the political and Marxist ‘centre’. They boys discuss how this would differ from the sect model and how it could inform socialist practice today. Reading: Anatomy of the Micro-Sect by Hal Draper (1973) https://www.marxists.org/archive/draper/1973/xx/microsect.htm

Boy revolutions can be a nasty business, eh? Especially that French one. It was kind of a pain in the neck, but once it was over it was a weight off of a lot of people's shoulders, am I right? This week rotund podcast hosts Dan and Jack take a look at Marx's writings on the French Revolution in an effort to understand what political revolutions can and cannot accomplish. Is there ever a right time for revolution? Or will they always end in bloody tragedy? Reading: "The French Revolution and the terror: the achievements and limits of political revolution" from The Social and Political Thought of Karl Marx by Shlomo Avineri (1968)

All good things must come to an end...no we don't mean our old friend JFK (or RFK for that matter) we mean the time has come to put The Devil's Chessboard to rest. This is our final episode on David Talbot's classic tome and it's left us with some questions: what was the class composition of the fellas that killed JFK? what place does this type of crankery have in socialism? where have all our beautiful independent researchers gone? This episode is sponsored by Dresser Industries in cooperation with Zapata Petroleum. Reading: Part III, The Devil’s Chessboard (2015), David Talbot

Alright here it is friends, the episode where we solve the JFK assassination. Not much else to say. Think we solved this one forever. Not that complicated tbh. This was recorded in a marathon podcasting session and next week's episode will be the fourth and final part on our series on The Devil's Chessboard. But don't worry, we'll be back with more crankery sometime down the line. We barely even talked about the B*shes! Reading: Part III, The Devil’s Chessboard (2015), David Talbot

This week, we sat down to watch BBC's Cuba! Africa! Revolution!, a documentary all about Cuba's internationalist adventures in the African continent. And tell you what, we here at Auxiliary Statements are not above admitting this is the first time we've been exposed to this absolutely kick ass era of history. Turns out Cuba was involved not only in helping out Congolese freedom fighters after friend of the podcast Patrice Lumumba was assassinated, but they also got involved in Burkina Faso and Angola in dramatic fashion. We do our best this week to relate those stories as we kick of a bit of a "Cuba series"....what could that mean? Only time will tell. But let's just say it doesn't end well for one very plucky and sickly Boston Irishman. Watching: Cuba! Africa! Revolution (aka Cuba, an African Oddessy, dir. Jihan El-Tahri (2007).

Those few faithful listeners will know we've been flirting with the idea of worker's parties and how on earth we're supposed to build a mass movement recently...and we haven't really gotten anywhere those questions. So we did the sensible thing and brought on someone who actually knows what they're talking about. That's right everybody we got the one and only Cliff Connolly to talk about two articles he wrote for Cosmonaut Magazine - "Build a Mass Party!" and "Revolutionary Discipline and Sobriety". Topics include autonomism vs. the mass party, the role of the cadre, socialist cultural institutions and sobriety amongst revolutionaries. This one's a good'un, folks! Check out Cliff's articles below: https://cosmonautmag.com/2021/02/create-a-mass-party/ https://cosmonautmag.com/2020/08/revolutionary-discipline-and-sobriety-2/

Jack and Dan continue their adventure through the classical Marxists modes of production. This week the lads find themselves in the slave states of ancient Athens and Rome once again under the trusted tutelage of Ellen Meiksins Wood. To what extent does this ancient civilisations mode of production deserve the descriptor ‘slave’? To what extent was production dominated by slavery and how did the peculiar and unique civil, legal and political status of the free citizen affect class relations. Contrast is also drawn between the democracy that defined politics in the ancient world and its modern iteration. In what way do the economic class relations of capitalism and particularly its historically unique form of exploitative class relation preclude in a modern context a form of democracy analogues to that found in the ancient world. Reading: Ellen Meiksins Wood, Labour and Democracy, Ancient and Modern. From Democracy Against Capitalism, Renewing Historical Materialism (1995)

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.