Rudy and Annie join Mike Ely, a veteran of the Revolutionary Union and the wildcat strike movement in the West Virginia coalfields of the 1970s. Drawing from Ely's experiences as a communist in West Virginia, we discuss the practice of social investigation, the role of communists in strike struggles, the structural and conjectural views of revolution and the connection to Alain Badiou, and state repression of the radical left. Contact Mike at [email protected] References by Mike Ely: Ambush at Keystone: Inside the Coal Miners' Great Gas Protest of 1974 Sites of Beginning Throw Open Windows: Beginning a Fresh Communism