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

The infamous Transformation Problem has long stood as a supposed example of the failure of Marx's economic theories. Ian Wright gives an explanation of the problem to help pave the way for a possible solution. Gabriel Palcic reads aloud.

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.