Swampside Chats

This week, we read two essays on the early Bolshevik education minister Anatoly Lunacharsky: "
The Legacy of Lunacharsky and Aristic Freedom in the USSR" by Howard R Holter (1970) and Roland Boer's "Religion and Socialism: A.V. Lunacharsky and the God-Builders" (2014). Can we build god? Yes we can! patreon.com/swampsidechats

Recorded just before Christmas, we revisited the thought of the ultimate pessimist of post-modernism, Jean Baudrillard. We read In the Shadow of the Silent Majorities (1978), along with “The Procession of Simulacra” and “On Nihilism” from Simulacra and Simulation (1981). Benzi chibna looble bazebni gweb! patreon.com/swampsidechats

This week, an anonymous donor has put The Gang on the forced march through the first two chapters of Melinda Cooper’s 2017 book “Family Values: Between Neoliberalism and the New Social Conservatism". We take a look back at how a focus on the family survived the unraveling of the ultimate class compromise, and why it can never be the basis for socialism. Ни шагу назад! patreon.com/swampsidechats

In the latest installment of Swamp Trek, we set genders to none! We welcome Chief Science Officer Sophia Dax back to the bridge to watch and talk over The Next Generation S05E17: “The Outcast”. We touch on non-binary xenogenitalia, douchey but solid Klingon bros, and the ultimate second-waver woke leviathan. Help us crush gender once and for all by subscribing to our Patreon patreon.com/swampsidechats Watch Lexi & Sophia play games and flirt: twitch.tv/transtransrevolution

Donald recently attended the Marxist Center Conference in Colorado and provides a report back. We go on to discuss the points of unity, and what significance this event may have for the American Marxist left.

The podcast discusses Marxist theories on value form theory, anti-imperialism critique, and anti-Semitism critique. They explore traditional Marxism interpretations, the complexities of anti-imperialism, capitalism critique, structural antisemitism, and the vision of a fully automated luxury communist society.

It's Thanksgiving yet again, and your favorite communist podcast is serving up a cornucopia of bullshit. Angela Nagle on borders, Mexicans against the caravan, climate hell and more!

The podcast discusses Paul Mattick Sr's response to Marcuse's "One Dimensional Man", exploring various topics such as instrumental reason, government intervention in capitalism, the ongoing class struggle, and the importance of revolution.

Topics discussed include the justification of new genocides based on memory, critique of consumer culture and cultural criticism, reflection on Marxism and the critique of the USSR, counterculture, drugs, dogs, and consciousness, pessimism and disappointment in the current state of affairs, uncertainty about the future and the need for genuine inquiry, and building the communist movement.

Recorded on October 28th, we talk Bolsonaro, the migrant caravan, right wing violence, and more!