Cosmopod

Rudy joins Tony Norfield, author of The City: London and the Global Power of Finance (Verso Books) for a broad theoretical practical discussion on the topic of finance. We discuss Hilferding and Lenin's theories of finance and imperialism, and where they are lacking, how finance is used to enforce global domination today, the exorbitant privilege of the dollar, the discussions around the rate of profit, the role of China and the Belt & Road Initiative, cryptocurrencies and Norfield's outlook for the future.

This is a narration of the sixth chapter of Lars Lih's excellent book Lenin Rediscovered: What Is to Be Done? In Context. In this chapter, Lih examines the remaining three interlocuters Lenin polemicizes with in WITBD: the anonymous authors of the Joint Letter, Boris Savinkov, and L. Nadezhdin. All three are marginal historical figures in their own right, but their importance in contextualizing the debates of WITBD cannot be overstated. The full audiobook is currently in production by the team at Cosmonaut Magazine. You can find more episodes (and other audio books) on our Youtube channel, and you can purchase a physical copy of the book itself at Haymarket books.   Narration and editing by Cliff Connolly.

Parker and Christian join Matt Christman for a discussion on the class dynamics of the founding of the US, using Charles Beard's book An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States as a jumping off point. They cover the main idea of the book: how the Founding Fathers designed the Constitution and the federal institutions to ensure their class interests after the Independence War. They also discuss how other events of the time such as Shay's Rebellion showed the limits of the Constitution, how it managed to survive even the Civil War, and what it means to call for a constitutional convention in the present.

Jonah Martell lays out a twelve-step program for the Democratic Socialists of America to pursue a path of independent working-class politics. Christian Cail reads the article out loud.

Amelia and Rudy join Raul Espejo, one of the top members of  the Cybersyn project in Allende's Chile, the founder of Syncho Research  and the president of the World Organization of Systems and Cybernetics  for a conversation. We discuss Raul's experiences, his current projects,  and what he thinks socialists should learn about Cybernetics in today's  world, especially around the concept of variety.

This is a narration of the fifth chapter of Lars Lih's excellent book Lenin Rediscovered: What Is to Be Done? In Context. In this chapter, Lih breaks down the causes and details of the intense polemical war between rival Social Democratic publications Rabochee Delo and Iskra. The context of Lenin's What Is to Be Done? cannot be understood without a thorough examination of this dispute, which ultimately ended in victory for Lenin and the Iskra faction. The full audiobook is currently in production by the team at Cosmonaut Magazine. You can find more episodes (and other audio books) on our Youtube channel, and you can purchase a physical copy of the book itself at Haymarket books.   Narration and editing by Cliff Connolly.

Djamil and Rudy sit down for a hardcore episode on the interaction  between Soviet diamat philosophy and Quantum Mechanics.  We discuss the  analytic core of dialectical materialism through the lens of the  philosophy of science and the position of scientific realism. We analyze  the main propositions of this core in an attempt to extract what is  best, and most relevant to physics: those propositions and thematics which will play heavily in formulating and advancing soviet physics. We  discuss what realism is within this framework, how Lenin understood it, and how that informed his debates with the neo-positivists. We continue by outlining what parts of quantum mechanics tend to go against our  most basic intuitions, the Copenhagen interpretation and its neo-positivist roots, and how that informed the reception of quantum  mechanics in the USSR. We finish with V. A. Fock's efforts to give a  realistic interpretation of quantum mechanics consistent with dialectic  materialism which managed to change Niels Bohr's mind, which sets a prime  example for the successful application of dialectical materialism to science. Further reading: L. V. Tarasov – Basic Concepts of Quantum Mechanics Loren R. Graham – Quantum Mechanics and Dialectical Materialism D. Z. Albert – Quantum Mechanics and Experience

This is a narration of the fourth chapter of Lars Lih's excellent book Lenin Rediscovered: What Is to Be Done? In Context. In this chapter, Lih scrutinizes two opponents of the Russian Erfurtianism that Lenin championed: the Credo and Rabochaia mysl. This gives valuable insight into the political terrain on which What Is to Be Done? was deployed.   The full audiobook is currently in production by the team at Cosmonaut Magazine. You can find more episodes (and other audio books) on our Youtube channel, and you can purchase a physical copy of the book itself at Haymarket books.   Narration and editing by Cliff Connolly.

Lydia and Rudy join Matzpen member Ehud Ein-Gil for a  discussion on trade unionism within the Israeli state. We discuss Ehud's  experiences around the founding of Koach LaOvdim as a new sort of  union, the history and structure of the Histadrut and how that has  affected trade unionism inside the '48 borders, his experience  organizing bus drivers, the intermediate status of the Mizraim Jews in  Israeli society, the effects of the Arab Spring on Israel, his thoughts on religion and secularism,  and his outlook about finding new identity for the six million Hebrews living in historic Palestine.

Ellie, Amelia, Matt and Rudy discuss the life and work of Col. John Boyd, one of the foremost military strategists of the last century. We discuss how the left should relate to military science, Boyd's main ideas such as the OODA loop and the Moral & Mental domains of struggle, his influences: Clausewitz and Sun Tzu, and how Boyd was able to use them to develop his ideas on strategy, and we finish up with examples of how politicians use similar ideas to Boyd and how we should use them for winning fights.   References: John BoydA Discourse on Winning and Losing Youtube lectures on Patterns of Conflict (transcript in the description) Boyd: The Fighter Pilot who Changed the Art of War - Robert Coram OthersTrotsky's The Art of Insurrection, and How the Revolution Armed Estrategia Socialista y Arte Militar - Emilio Albamonte & Matías Maiello (unavailable in English, summary of the ideas found here) Mao's Military Writings, in particular On Guerilla Warfare and Concentrate a Superior Force to Destroy the Enemy One by One Communist Party of Peru (Shining Path) - Military Line Marine Corps MCDP-1 WarfightingFleet Tactics and Naval Operations Third Edition - CAPT Wayne P. Hughes Jr.