ABC With Danny and Jim

In this episode we discuss David Roediger's 'Seizing Freedom' (Verso, 2014), a brilliant account of the radical upheavals brought by the US Civil War and the self-emancipation of slaves in the 1860s.  Along the way we discuss the concept of revolutionary  time, the meaning of tragedy, and the errors of liberal history. 

Danny has previously spoken about Roediger and his notion of revolutionary time on the podcast 'Soul y Vida' with comrade Gloria Dawson, which you can listen to (along with some boss tunes) here: https://www.mixcloud.com/SoulyVida/shut-it-down-2-revolutionary-time/

Jim mentions the 3-part series on the life and death of John Brown by 'The Dollop,' a US history-comedy podcast. First episode available here: https://allthingscomedy.com/podcast/the-dollop, episodes 438-430. 

Danny mentions Steve Smith's reflections on the historiography of the Russian Revolution. You can read an interview with Smith on this subject here: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/publishing/review/29/long-look-russian-revolution/

Danny also mentions the latest issue of 'Insurgent Notes,' which includes a 1879 interview with Karl Marx, which you can read here: http://insurgentnotes.com/2020/09/who-was-karl-marx/

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The podcast music is Stealing Orchestra & Rafael Dionísio,  'Gente da minha terra (que me mete um nojo do caralho).' Reproduced from the Free Music Archive under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License, available here: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Stealing_Orchestra__Rafael_Dionsio/_Rafael_Dionsio_-_Uma_Desgraa_Nunca_Vem_S/Gente_da_minha_terra_que_mete_um_nojo_do_caralho

The podcast logo is an adapted version of the Left Book Club logo (1936-48), reproduced, edited and shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International licence. Original available here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Left_Book_Club_logo.png

The image in this episode is Winslow Homer's 'Near Andersonville' (1866) which is available in the public domain and here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Winslow_Homer_-_Near_Andersonville_(1866).jpg

This episode is a conversation with Frank Jacob (Nord University, Norway) about his forthcoming book 'Emma Goldman and the Russian Revolution:  From Admiration to Frustration,' which will be published with De Gruyter later this year (print ~November; Open Access digital ~December): https://www.degruyter.com/view/title/570450. 

We discuss Goldman's life, her intellectual contribution to the anarchist movement and her evolving views on the Russian Revolution. We finish by reflecting on what this episode can tell us in the present day and our hopes for a better world. 

For those with German, Frank's book '1917: Die Korrumpierte Revolution' is available Open Access here: https://www.buechner-verlag.de/buch/1917-die-korrumpierte-revolution/

Frank has written extensively on the history of revolution, the left and migration (amongst many other themes), much of which is available Open Access. See his CV here: https://nord.academia.edu/FrankJacob

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The podcast music is Stealing Orchestra & Rafael Dionísio,  'Gente da minha terra (que me mete um nojo do caralho).' Reproduced from the Free Music Archive under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License, available here:https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Stealing_Orchestra__Rafael_Dionsio/_Rafael_Dionsio_-_Uma_Desgraa_Nunca_Vem_S/Gente_da_minha_terra_que_mete_um_nojo_do_caralho 

The podcast logo is an adapted version of the Left Book Club logo (1936-48), reproduced, edited and shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International licence. Original available here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Left_Book_Club_logo.png 

The image in this episode is 'Emma Goldman: 31 décembre 1919 - identité judiciaire,' which is available in the public domain and here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Emma_goldman_1919.jpg.

In this episode we are joined by Dr Liz Stainforth (University of Leeds) to discuss Kristin Ross's Communal Luxury (Verso, 2015). Together we talk about the appeal of utopian history, the relationship between ideas and actions and the value of reclaiming of public space. 

An interview with Ross in which she discusses her approach to the history of May '68 is available here: https://towardsautonomyblog.wordpress.com/2018/05/23/interview-with-kristin-ross-may-68-beyond-artificial-commemorations-and-remembrances/

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The podcast music is Stealing Orchestra & Rafael Dionísio,  'Gente da minha terra (que me mete um nojo do caralho).' Reproduced from the Free Music Archive under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License, available here:https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Stealing_Orchestra__Rafael_Dionsio/_Rafael_Dionsio_-_Uma_Desgraa_Nunca_Vem_S/Gente_da_minha_terra_que_mete_um_nojo_do_caralho

The podcast logo is an adapted version of the Left Book Club logo (1936-48), reproduced, edited and shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International licence. Original available here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Left_Book_Club_logo.png

The image in this episode is 'Barricade de la Place Blanche défendue par des femmes pendant la semaine sanglante', available in the public domain here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Commune_de_Paris_barricade_Place_Blanche.jpg

This is the first episode of ABC Bitesize, a subseries of the Anarchist Book Club. Inspired by a tweet by the famous youtuber anarchopac, the idea is to provide overviews of radical history books that are currently unavailable in English.

Episode 1 is based on Dieter Nelles, Harald Piotrowski, Ulrich Linse and Carlos García's book Antifascistas alemanes en Barcelona (1933-1939) (Barcelona: Virus, 2019).

The book tells the story of the Deutsche Anarchosyndikalisten (DAS) group, and includes a much expanded version of Dieter Nelles's essay 'The Foreign Legion of the revolution: German anarcho-syndicalists and volunteers in anarchist militias during the Spanish civil war', available at: https://libcom.org/library/the-foreign-legion-revolution

A transcript of this episode is available on request.

In this episode we discuss Silvia Federici's seminal work 'Caliban and the Witch,' which calls for us to examine the development of capitalism through the eyes and the body of women in the early modern era. Along the way we discuss the idea of modernity; the relationship between theory, politics and history; and the claim that Federici's recent work could be read as justifying transphobia in the present day.////

A thread on Federici's use of sources on the witch-hunts mentioned early in the episode can be found here: https://libcom.org/blog/witch-hunts-transition-capitalism-20122011////

The article 'Federici vs Marx' by Gilles Dauvé, mentioned by Danny in the epsiode can be found here: https://libcom.org/library/federici-versus-marx-gilles-dauve////

One of several reviews of Federici's 'Beyond the Periphery of the Skin' which critiques the apparent transphobia of this more recent work can be found here: https://www.full-stop.net/2020/05/28/reviews/cory-austin-knudson/beyond-the-periphery-of-the-skin-silvia-federici/////

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The podcast music is Stealing Orchestra & Rafael Dionísio,  'Gente da minha terra (que me mete um nojo do caralho).' Reproduced from the Free Music Archive under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License, available here:https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Stealing_Orchestra__Rafael_Dionsio/_Rafael_Dionsio_-_Uma_Desgraa_Nunca_Vem_S/Gente_da_minha_terra_que_mete_um_nojo_do_caralho////

The podcast logo is an adapted version of the Left Book Club logo (1936-48), reproduced, edited and shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International licence. Original available here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Left_Book_Club_logo.png////

 The image in this episode is 'Einblattdruck zu einer Hexenverbrennung in Derenburg (Grafschaft Reinstein)' (1555), available in the public domain here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Zeitung_Derenburg_1555_crop.jpg////

This episode is our first with a guest, the brilliant scholar of French & transnational anarchism Dr Constance Bantman (University of Surrey, @ConnieLorene). Constance joined us to speak about her forthcoming book, 'Jean Grave and the Networks of French Anarchism,' which examines the life, work and connections of one of the most influential anarchists of the late 19th/early 20th century. Our discussion takes us through many aspects of Grave's activism: including his personal relationships, his internationalism & role in solidarity campaigns, his controversial position on the First World War & his educational work. 

Constance was written widely on turn-of-the-century anarchism and beyond. You can see her full bibliography here: https://www.surrey.ac.uk/people/constance-bantman

An open-access version of her article 'Jean Grave and French Anarchism: A Relational Approach (1870s-1914)' which informed this discussion can be found here: https://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/841830/

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The podcast music is Stealing Orchestra & Rafael Dionísio,  'Gente da minha terra (que me mete um nojo do caralho).' Reproduced from the Free Music Archive under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License.

The podcast logo is an adapted version of the Left Book Club logo (1936-48), reproduced, edited and shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International licence. Original available here

The image in this episode is a police mugshot of Jean Grave taken by Alphonse Bertillon in 1894, which is in the public domain and can be found here: https://bit.ly/2NLcScQ

In this episode of ABC with Danny and Jim we discuss Paul Gilroy's The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness (Verso, 1993). Our discussion follows this book's navigation through black culture and modernity, reflecting on thinkers from WEB du Bois to Hegel as well as Gilroy's rich investigation of black music. Along we way we discuss the concept of diaspora, the perils of black ethno-nationalism and the importance of Gilroy's work to the present moment.  

Danny's brilliant mix of music inspired by Paul Gilroy's work (ft. Curtis Mayfield, Steel Pulse, William DeVaughn, Aretha Franklin, Hugh Masekela & many more) is available here: https://bit.ly/3edP1hk

The interview between Gilroy and Tommie Shelby for Transition can be found here: https://bit.ly/2zQUo7i

For an accessible introduction to Hegel's master/slave dialectic and its impact on racial politics (discussed in both the episode and the book) see: https://bit.ly/2CpwG2W

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The podcast music is Stealing Orchestra & Rafael Dionísio,  'Gente da minha terra (que me mete um nojo do caralho).' Reproduced from the Free Music Archive under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License.

The podcast logo is an adapted version of the Left Book Club logo (1936-48), reproduced, edited and shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International licence. Original available here

The image in this episode is Slaveship Collage  by George Bayard III, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Slaveship_painting.jpg

In this episode we discuss Maia Ramnath's 'Decolonising Anarchism' (AK Press, 2011), an account of radical groups and individuals involved in the Indian independence movement and its post-colonial successors: from bomb-throwers and Californian bohemians to peasant collectivists and syndicalist educators; from Mahatma Gandhi to the dissident communist martyr Bhagat Singh. Throughout we probe how a 'Western' ideology such as anarchism might translate in a colonial context, asking whether Ramnath's distinction of a Big 'A' Anarchism (i.e. clearly defined anarchist movements and ideology) and 'Little a'  anarchism (i.e. groups and ideas of a broader tradition of which anarchism is a part) helps us to see a common history which would otherwise be obscured. Our conversation then moves onto the question of nationalism and what role, if any, it can play in anarchist politics.  For Ole Birk Laursen's work on M. P. T. Acharya and anarchist anti-colonialism see his website: https://olebirklaursen.wordpress.com/about/ 

We are asking listeners who are able to make a contribution to the These Walls Must Fall Coronavirus Solidarity Fund: https://detention.org.uk/coronavirus-solidarity-fund/ and/or the Liverpool Migrant Solidarity Network: https://bit.ly/3g2BAC8

 ----------- The podcast music is Stealing Orchestra & Rafael Dionísio,  'Gente da minha terra (que me mete um nojo do caralho).' Reproduced from the Free Music Archive under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License. The podcast logo is an adapted version of the Left Book Club logo (1936-48), reproduced, edited and shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International licence. Original available here The image in this episode is 'Wall painting of Shaheed Bhagat Singh; Rewalsar, Himachal Pradesh' (2010) by John Hill, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. The original can be found here