Cosmopod

Myk Labas reads five letters in dialogue with each other around the topic of Alexander Gallus' recent article "The Russian "Threat to Freedom and Democracy"".   Letters can be read at: 1. "Comments On "The Russian Threat"" 2. "Letter on the Reply to "The Russian 'Threat to Freedom and Democracy'" 3. "Regarding Gallus' The Russian "Threat to Freedom and Democracy"" 4. "The Hegemony of Humanitarian Intervention" 5. "On Russia and Ukraine and Geopolitical Realpolitik"   Music featured: 'Sickles and Hammers' & 'Paranoid Chant', by Minutemen

Rudy joins Keith, author of The Ecocentrists: A History of Radical Environmentalism for a discussion on the history of the mainstream  environmental movement in the US. We discuss the term ecocentrist, the philosophy behind the environmental movement, how it led to Neo-Malthusianism as well as the critics of this philosophy like Murray Bookchin. We also discuss the Sierra Club's origins as a promoter of  Nature and how it turned into an organization for the defense of Nature,  its defeat around Glen Canyon Dam and how that changed the strategies  and the position of environmentalism in the mid-20th century, its  complicated relationship to the New Left, and why Nixon became the  greatest environmental president. We then turn to RARE II and how this  led to the birth of Earth First! and the slogan of No Compromises, what  Earth First! was, the differing class and geographical bases of Earth  First, its relationship to the indigenous movement and the figure of  Judi Bari and the debate around tree spiking. We finish by discussing  the disappearance of Earth First!, the rise of the Earth Liberation  Front, as well as the lobby-fication of the Sierra Club. References: Book Roundtable Chad Montrie's webpage

 Gabriel Palcic reads The Russian "Threat to Freedom & Democracy", wherein comrade Alexander Gallus takes a closer look at the developments leading up to this week’s dramatic events and offers some explanations for how we got to this moment.

AJ, Annie, Ira and Rudy discuss the methods of workers' inquiry and social investigation and how they have applied it to their organizing. They talk about the history of workers inquiry and its uneven use across tendencies, the usefulness of the method and the varying objects and objectives of the investigation. They also reflect on the ways that have used the methods of inquiry in their organizing.  References: A Workers Inquiry (1880) - K. Marx Struggle at FIAT - R. Alquati Socialist Uses of Workers Inquiry - R. Panzieri Workers’ Inquiry: A Genealogy - A. Haider, S. Mohandesi Workers' Inquiry and Global Class Struggle: Strategies, Tactics, Objectives - R. Ovetz (ed.) Sites of a Communist beginning - M. Ely Class Consciousness or Class Composition? - S. Mohandesi (Science & Society) A Worker in a Worker's State: Piece-rates in Hungary - M. Haraszti A call for communist social investigation a year after the summer of rebellion - Kites Journal Workers Inquiry and Social Composition - Notes from Below No Politics Without Inquiry - Notes from Below

Ian Wright, a seasoned expert on the Transformation Problem, joins Gabriel Palcic, who reads key insights throughout the discussion. They delve into the historical backdrop of Marxian economics, exploring ancient barter and the evolution of economic value. Wright clarifies how human labor shapes economic value and discusses the debate around labor values versus market prices, shedding light on surplus value and its implications in our capitalist society. This insightful conversation offers a fresh perspective on longstanding economic theories.

For our 100th episode, we go back to our roots. Djamil, Virginia and Rudy sit down to discuss the launch of Sputnik, using Asif A. Siddiqi's The Red Rockets Glare: Spaceflight and the Soviet Imagination 1853-1957 to ground the discussion. We talk about the intellectual origins of the Soviet space program in Cosmism, the figures in the space race, the science-from-below and from-above aspects of the space program, how the space program evolved through the eras of NEP, Five Year Plans, Purges and the Zhdanov doctrine, the influences of WW2 and Nazi Germany and the Cold War, and how the launch of Sputnik became a global event which started the Space Race. We finish by reflecting on 'science from below' in today's context, and on space exploration, its links to colonialism and our imaginaries.

Is the economic calculation problem a valid argument against planned economies? Max Black argues that this so-called problem is based on flawed reasoning and that a world beyond markets is possible. Robert Fisher reads aloud.

Donald and Rudy join Jairus Banaji, author of Theory as History and A Brief History of Commercial Capitalism to discuss his theoretical  contributions around the mode of production debates. We begin with his  political starts in the UK and in India, and how he saw the  organizational and cultural failures of the left in both countries, the  debates on the mode of production in India and what he brought to this  debate using the theories of formal and real subsumption. We turn to his  analysis of the modes of production in Ancient Rome, the method of  historical materialism, the origins of capitalism and the moments of  truth in the existing camps, the very particular emergence of capitalism  in the US, the importance of vertical integration and how all of this  plays in to the debates around merchant capitalism. Finally, we discuss  capitalism in the Islamic world, imperialism and unequal exchange, and  the importance of having open theoretical debate in Marxism.

Parker McQueeney introduces two of Paul Costello’s essays on the topic of Stalin and Stalinism: Stalin and Historical Reality and Stalin and the Problem of Theory.

Matt and Rudy join Dongping Han, author of The Unknown Cultural Revolution: Life and Change in a Chinese Village for a discussion on his experiences growing up in Maoist China. We  discuss his hometown in Jimo County, his experiences with the Great Leap  Forward and how they compare to common historiography of the period,  the attitude of Communist Party officials and how the Cultural  Revolution changed the long tradition of politics in rural China by  empowering the common people to fight back against corrupt officials,  the educational reforms during the Cultural Revolution and how it helped  bridge the urban-rural divide. We finish by discussing the end of the  Cultural Revolution and how the Deng reforms set back the countryside.