This episode features Dominique Petit-Wagner discussing her masters thesis entitled: "Briefing the Ambassador: Joseph Davies and the U.S. Press Corps in Moscow, 1936-1938."  Our discussion focuses on American Ambassador Joseph E. Davies and a few American journalists who bought into the socialist realist presentation of the Soviet Union during the tumoulotus 1930s. We talk about what socialist realism was, why and how these eminent Americans supported the Soviet Union, and what this tells us about modernization during the Stalin period. Dominique Petit-Wagner is a PhD Candidate in History at the University of Ottawa, specializing in Soviet, Canadian, and intellectual history. Whereas her MA thesis explored American perceptions of the Soviet Union and their controversial immersion in socialist realist culture in the late 1930s, her doctoral research seeks to contrast and compare these findings against the experiences of Canadians touring the USSR in the interwar period. Link to Dominique's paper: https://ruor.uottawa.ca/server/api/core/bitstreams/175e024b-31d4-478f-8453-39578212230e/content To support the show you can join the patreon at patreon.com/aesthepodcast You can follow the show on twitter @aesthepodcast  

This episode features sociologist Dr. Agata Zysiak talking about her recent work  "Limiting Privilege: Upward Mobility Within Higher Education in Socialist Poland" (2023), which examines first-generation students' struggles with reluctant academia in a developing socialist world that was looking for equality. We talk about the successes and failures of this ambitious socialist program, its similarities and differences to race based affirmative action in North America, and what this tells us about social reproduction and the zombie impact of social systems even in the face of dramatic social revolution. Agata Zysiak, PhD, is a historical sociologist working at Vienna University in Austria and the University of Łódź in Poland. You can get 30% off Limiting Privilege: Upward Mobility Within Higher Education in Socialist Poland and any other Purdue University Press book by ordering from their website and using the code PURDUE30 at checkout.  

This episode features Zoe Stephens (@Zoediscoversnk), an experienced tour guide to North Korea (DPRK). Using her own experience, knowledge, footage and education - Zoe’s goal is to present a image of North Korea that aims to humanize the people of the DPRK in ways that are rarely seen in the West. She tells us what is required to visit on a guided tour, what to expect, what are some common misconceptions, and even the fascinating opportunity to stay for a few days with a North Korean family outside of Pyongyang. This episode was recorded in 2023 - before the re-opening of the border for tourism - so while we speak to the expectation of re-opening it has now happened as of early 2024.  Link to all of Zoe's social media/project pages: https://linktr.ee/zoediscovers

Iskolat, a Latvian communist, returns to teach us more about the shrouded history of Latvia, which was a part of the Soviet Union, officially known as the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic continuously from 1944 to 1990. In this second and final part we’ll be discussing the post-World War II era of building socialism in Latvia and the Baltics at large. We cover the successes of socialist construction, its weaknesses, and ultimately the downfall of soviet system in Latvia in the early 1990s and how that played out. Iskolat also delves into present day realities of Latvia that don’t always make international news. www.patreon.com/aesthepodcast Isoklat twitter: twitter.com/iskolat Workers' Struggle (English/Latvian/multilang): https://t.me/StradniekuCina BalticSSRs (Reddit): https://reddit.com/r/BalticSSRs/ Riga History Group (Russian): https://t.me/RigaHistoryGroup… School of Scientific Communism/Ruslan Dzugov Channel (Russian section): https://t.me/rusdzugov Dictatorship of the Proletariat (YT channel of the Russian section of the Political School): https://youtube.com/@user-xk6xj4xm4n Anna Louise Strong's The New Lithuania: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89017381948&seq=5  The Baltic Riddle by Greg Meiksins: https://archive.org/details/TheBalticRiddle   

Iskolat, a Latvian communist, joins to show to teach us about the shrouded history of Latvia, which was a part of the Soviet Union (officially known as the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic) continuously from 1944 to 1990. In this first part we’ll be discussing the pre-history of the socialist republic by delving into the conditions of what would become Latvia in the early 20th century to the eventual socialist revolution of the early 1940s. When I say the history covered here from the Communist POV is almost impossible to find in English, I am not exaggerating, I hope you find this discussion as informative and enlightening as I have. Isoklat twitter: twitter.com/Iskolat BalticSSRs (Reddit): https://reddit.com/r/BalticSSRs/  Telegram: Workers' Struggle (English/Latvian/multilang): https://t.me/StradniekuCina  Telegram: Riga History Group (Russian): https://t.me/RigaHistoryGroup…  Telegram: School of Scientific Communism/Ruslan Dzugov Channel (Russian section): https://t.me/rusdzugov  Telegram: Dictatorship of the Proletariat (YT channel of the Russian section of the Political School): https://youtube.com/@user-xk6xj4xm4n

Author and political activist Carlos Martinez discusses the propaganda war against China and challenges negative perceptions of the country in the West. They explore the irony of genocide accusations and language suppression by countries like the US and UK. The impact of Sovietization on language preservation is also discussed, along with recent developments in China and the role of socialists.

Carlos Martinez, author and political activist from London, Britain, discusses China as a socialist democracy. They explore China's unique democratic system, the role of mass politics and Marxism, the allegation of fakery in socialist countries, and China's successful poverty alleviation program.

Carlos Martinez (@agent_of_change) joins the show to talk about his excellent book "The East Is Still Red: Chinese Socialism in the 21st Century". In this first part of this three part discussion on China we’ll be delving into why socialist China remains but the USSR doesnt. We'll be tackling this question through the lens of how these two communist juggernauts approached the necessity of controversial political and economic reforms in the 1970s in China under Deng Xiaoping and in the USSR under Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1980s. Next episodes in this series will look at Chinese socialist democracy, and the propaganda war against it!  Carlos Martinez is an author and political activist from London, Britain. His first book, The End of the Beginning: Lessons of the Soviet Collapse, was published in 2019 by LeftWord Books. He is a co-editor of Friends of Socialist China, a co-founder of No Cold War, and a coordinating committee member of the International Manifesto Group. He writes regularly in the Morning Star, Global Times, China Daily and CGTN. Carlos' website: https://invent-the-future.org/ Carlos' youtube: https://www.youtube.com/inventthefuture Support this podcast at www.patreon.com/aesthepodcast Podcast twitter @aesthepodcast Intro/Outro Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jP5r2b7hew          

Monica Macias joins the show to discuss her book "Black Girl From Pyongyang: In Search of My Identity" which covers the harrowing tale of her life journey from post-colonial Equatorial Guinea ,where she was born, to finding herself under the guardianship of Kim Il Sung - the revolutionary founding father of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) also known as North Korea.  This is a preview of a patreon-only exclusive. Listen to the full episode by supporting the show at www.patreon.com/aesthepodcast              

In this episode we’ll be discussing the subject of Julia Mead's (@JuliaKMead) PHD research on an often forgotten socialist nation: the nation formerly known as the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. Julia covers for us the pre-history, emergence of the communist state, political struggles as well as socialist successes and failures. She also gives us some insight as to why this socialist nation often falls to the wayside in popular Western imagination.  Julia Mead is an environmental historian of modern Eastern Europe, with a particular focus on energy, gender, and labor. Her dissertation, “Socialist Rust Belt: Energy, Masculinity, and the End of Czechoslovak Socialism,” traces the rise and fall of the Czechoslovak coal economy from 1948 to 2004, and its relationship to changing norms of masculinity. She shows how coal miners in socialist Czechoslovakia achieved an elite social status, and how they lost it almost overnight during the transition to capitalism. Follow Julia at https://twitter.com/JuliaKMead and https://juliamead.squarespace.com/ Support the show at www.patreon.com/aesthepodcast