Cosmopod

Annie and Lucas join Barbara C. Allen, editor of the recent collection of documents The Workers' Opposition in the Russian Communist Party: Documents, 1919-30 and author of Alexander Shlyapnikov, 1885-1937: Life of an Old Bolshevik for a conversation on the Workers' Opposition in the Russian Communist Party. They discuss what the Workers' Opposition was, as well as the biographies of the more important members such as Alexander Shlyapnikov and Sergei Medvedev, what the Workers' Opposition stood for, focusing on its relationship to specialists and to purges and the peasantry and the Workers' Opposition. They finish with the story of the eclipse of the Workers' Opposition, the fate of the trade unions and of Alexandra Kollontai after the demise of the organization.

Last week, over 100 Starbucks stores went on strike, the latest step in the astonishing growth of organizing in the restaurant industry. Astonishing now, but as Kevin Bruce writes in his excellent new book We Have Fed You All For A Thousand Years: New York City Food Worker Organizing, 1912-1937, in the long run of working class history, this is nothing new. Kevin is joined by Jackson and Isaac for a discussion on present and past labor organizing in the restaurant industry.

Warning: Sexual abuse is discussed in this episode. Brendan and James join John Kelly, author of Contemporary Trotskyism and The Twilight of World Trotskyism for a discussion on the history of world Trotskyism. They talk about the primacy of doctrine, the structure of Trotskyist parties around the world and their difference in structures and tactics, Trotskyism's lack of success in building mass parties, Latin American Trotskyism and the outlook of world Trotskyism. They also discuss the small-scale organizational dynamics of Trotskyist parties, their charismatic leaders, and their historical struggles to develop an understanding of topics outside the canon such as gender and sexuality.

Rudy joins Dr. Ron G. Davis, founder of the San Francisco Mime Troupe in 1959, for a reflection of a life in art and politics. We discuss the SFMT's beginnings during the civil rights era, how it turned into a "guerilla" operation, the relationship to Teatro Campesino, civil rights and the black radical movement, why his time with the SFMT came to an end, and the influence of Brecht and his PhD work on a Brechtian ecology. 

Beyond failing at preventing the ills of addiction, the War of Drugs has served as a war on those dispossessed by capitalism. Billy Anania argues that a socialist approach is needed. Read by: Riley Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.

Matt, Rudy, and Amelia sit down for a critical discussion about contemporary scientific management practices and frameworks, ranging from Lean, the Theory of Constraints, Improvement Kata to safety culture. Drawing on The Goal by E. M. Goldratt, Toyota Kata by Mike Rother, The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim et al., and other works, they explore what socialists can learn from scientific management to apply in their organizations and in economic planning. They also discuss critiques of scientific management by associates of the Monthly Review School including Harry Braverman and Michael D Yates, explore how J Sakai's idea of organizational Kata and security culture fits in with Toyota's Katas, and finish with the connections between the theories behind Lean/ToC and ecological theory and economic planning. 

An analysis of Lyndon LaRouche's political journey and his organization's rejection of the new left. Exploring the impact of Operation Mop-up on the NCLC. LaRouche's economic theories and the dangers of organizing around one person's interpretation. A warning against secterian mentalities and gurus.

Rudy joins Kai Heron for a discussion on ecological political strategy. We discuss his political background, how to develop an ecological program out of the different ecology schools, the agrarian and land questions and how to approach liberal climate movements and trade unions. We also talk about the Green New Deal, the debates around focusing on production or consumption, eco-modernism and degrowth. We finish by talking about Kai's articles on Ecological Leninism.   Links: Revolution or Ruin and Climate Leninism and Revolutionary Transition co-authored with Jodi Dean. We also mentioned the books Colin Duncan's The Centrality of Agriculture, and David Noble's Progress Without People: In Defense of Luddism.

Maxi Nieto critiques the perspectives of the “new democratic socialism” and argues they are based on a misunderstanding of capitalism as a structural totality. Read By: Riley Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.

Donald, Christian, and Connor return to the subject of Stalin and Stalinism. Picking up from the Great Purge, the episode covers the Second World War through the death of Stalin, or the High Stalinist period. Among other things they take up the questions of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Gulag system, and the rise of technocracy in the postwar years. The episode ends by exploring the lessons to be learned from studying Stalin and Soviet history, and what a lot of the Left gets wrong in their orientation toward the past. References: M. J. Carley - 1939: The Alliance That Never Was and the Coming of World War II S. Davies, J. Harris - Stalin’s World: Dictating the Soviet Order M. Djilas - Conversations with Stalin J. E. Duskin - Stalinist Reconstruction and the Confirmation of the New Elite, 1945-1953 D. Filtzer - Soviet Workers and Late Stalinism: Labor and the Restoration of the Stalinist System after World War II B. Kagarlitsky - The Thinking Reed: Intellectuals and the Soviet State from 1917 to the Present N. Khrushchev - Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev: Volume 2 M. P. Leffler- A Preponderance of Power: National Security, the Truman Administration, and the Cold War M. Lewin - The Soviet Century N. Naimark - Stalin and the Fate of Europe: The Postwar Struggle for Sovereignty R. C. Raack - Stalin’s Drive to the West: 1938-1945 The Origins of the Cold War G. Roberts - Stalin’s Wars: From World War to Cold 1939-1953 A. Weiner - Making Sense of War: The Second World War and the Fate of the Bolshevik Revolution