Auxiliary Statements

God damn I miss Ronald Reagan. That's the mood as the lads take a look at the rise of The New Right - the political movement that decided to once and for all end the legacy of the New Deal and replace it with something much stupider. In this episode, Dan and Jack will examine all the freaks, opportunists, chuds, racists, homophobes, war-hawks, fundamentalists and worst of all CALIFORNIANS that brought about Ronald Reagan's presidency. So strap in, buckos, because this one's a history lesson. Reading: "The New Right's Road to Power," from Prisoners of the American Dream by Mike Davis (1987).

This week Jack and Dan are led down the garden path into the wonderful world of IDEOLOGY. With Althusser as a guide the boys try to grapple with the pervasive nature of the old foe capitalism and continue to seek an answer to the vexing question, “Why no revolution?”. Never before has ignorance been used as such an effective tool of criticism. Reading: Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses by Louis Althusser (1970)

The boys just couldn't keep away...Dan and Jack are back with chapter III and chapter IV section I of that Marxist classic - Marxism and Politics. This week they talk some more about class consciousness and what the hell that has to do with ideology. And what the hell is ideology. And what the hell are we. And do we even exist. They also get heated about Rob Manfred and talk a bit of baseball baby, that greatest of all sports. Reading: Marxism and Politics by Ralph Miliband (1977), Chapter III: The Defence of the Old Order I and Chapter IV, Section I: The Defence of the Old Order II.

This week it's revealed that fantasy may mean a little TOO much to Jack and Dan as they try very hard to have a conversation about its utopian potential as well as its tendency to promote the status quo. If nothing else, both of our co-hosts are proven to be nothing more than massive, irredeemable, disgusting, sticky nerds. Reading: Why Fantasy Matters Too Much (2009) by Jack Zipes, The Journal of Aesthetic Education, Summer, 2009, Vol. 43, No. 2, pp. 77-91.

Things aren't looking good for the peasants this week as Dan & Jack finish up Ellen Meiksins Wood's "The Origin of Capitalism" by taking an in depth look at that foggy little island on the edge of the world - Great Britain. Also in this week's episode, Dan is outed as a "crazy cat person." Reading: The Origin of Capitalism (1999) by Ellen Meiksins Wood, Part II: The Origin of Capitalism, Part III: Agrarian Capitalism and Beyond, and Conclusion.

Dan & Jack look back at feudalism, look now at capitalism, and maybe even....forward to socialism? The lads take a stab at defining capitalism and understanding how we got here in this barnburner of an episode. As a bonus, Jack gets the author's name wrong every time he tries to say it. We also got Corbyn suspended :( Reading: The Origin of Capitalism (1999) by Ellen Meiksins Wood, Introduction and Part I: Histories of the Transition.

Dan & Jack look back on the successful 2010s - a decade of nothing but unblemished prosperity for T H E L E F T. Special thanks to this week's guest, Ralph Miliband. Reading: Tribune, Summer 2020 issue. "We Didn't Go Far Enough, We Didn't Go Fast Enough," interview with Jeremy Corbyn by Ronan Burtenshaw and "The Rise And Fall Of Bernie Sanders," interview with Briahna Joy Gray by Connor Kilpatrick.

Dan & Jack read the first chapter of an introductory book on Marxism and talk about roughly half of it. Special thanks to this week's guest, Ralph Miliband. Reading: Marxism and Politics by Ralph Miliband (1977), Chapter II: Class and Class Conflict

Dan & Jack spend an hour trying to explain the show's title and we get a little visit from an old friend - Ralph Miliband. Reading: Marxism and Politics by Ralph Miliband (1977), Chapter I: Introduction