Cosmopod

By Cosmonaut MagazineSociety & Culture Education

Cosmopod episodes

August 30, 2021 Capitalism, Socialism and Subsistence in Laos with Boike Rehbein
Rudy joins Boike Rehbein, author of Globalization, Society and Culture in Laos and Society in Contemporary Laos for a discussion on the past, present and future of the Lao People's Democratic Republic. We start by discussing the concept of habitus and how it can be used to study Laotian society. We then talk about the structure of pre-communist society, the communist takeover in 1975 and the early attempts to build a centralized economy, and the market reforms of 1986. We finish by discussing the bases of the Communist Party and the recent events in 2016 which saw the return of hardliner socialists to power. A brief and comprehensive introduction to his work on Laos is the chapter Capitalist Transformation and Habitus in Laos he authored in the book The Socialist Market Economy in Asia: Development in China, Vietnam and Laos.
41 min
August 24, 2021 Communism and the Disabled with Maddie and Jess

Rudy joins Maddie and Jess from Philly Socialists to discuss the politics of disability and its relationship with organizing. We discuss different models of disability and how they operate under capitalism, what disability can teach us about organizing methods, and the disability rights movements in the US. We the dive into how to relate to accessibility in our organizing, and how to handle conflicting needs around it. We end by discussing the liberatory horizons for disabled people under socialism.

Transcript available in cosmonautmag.com

Resources mentioned:

It takes Organizers to make a Revolution - Rodrigo Nunez

Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution

From Tide to Wave - Jean RD Allen & Teresa Kalisz

No, you can't speak to the Manager - Mara Henao

Zoe Belinsky's Medium

1 hr 25 min
August 19, 2021 [Audiobook] Lenin Rediscovered: Chapter Nine and Conclusion
This is a narration of the ninth chapter and conclusion of Lars Lih's excellent book Lenin Rediscovered: What Is to Be Done? In Context. In this chapter, Lih explores the debates between Bolshevik and Menshevik RSDWP members after their infamous split at the party's Second Congress. The conclusion hammers home Lih's insightful critique of the "textbook interpretation" of Lenin broadly and WITBD in particular, revealing the former as an optimistic and dedicated Erfurtian revolutionary. The full book contains much more content, including informative appendices and Lih's original translation of WITBD. You can purchase a physical copy of the book itself at: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/... Narration and editing by Cliff Connolly.
2 hr 36 min
August 16, 2021 Lifting the Double Burden: The Women's Movement under State Socialism
Lydia, Agata, Anne and Rudy join for a discussion of Kristen Ghodsee's Second World, Second Sex: Socialist Women's Activism and Global Solidarity during the Cold War. We begin with the forgotten Communist history of International Women's Year (1975) which later became the United Nations Decade for Women (75-85), and the conflicts between the Western and Eastern blocs regarding women's liberation. We also discuss the double burden of women in Bulgaria, and how women's associations interfaced with the government. We then contrast Bulgaria to other Eastern Bloc countries, and also to the women's liberation movement in socialist Zambia, discussing how the double burden of women was alleviated but not eliminated in these countries. We also discuss the differences with Western feminism, and its pitfalls and advantages over the horizons of women's liberation under state socialism, highlighting the role of women's self-emancipation.
1 hr 30 min
August 12, 2021 The Procedural is Political
Renato Flores argues for a culture shift around meeting procedures that takes into account differing backgrounds to make our organizing spaces more accessible to everyone regardless of education and time available. Unoriginal Smack reads the article out loud.
18 min
August 09, 2021 Communists and the Miners' Upsurge with Mike Ely
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
2 hr 4 min
August 01, 2021 Grenada: Volcanic Memories and Stone Legacies of Revolution with Shalini Puri
Isaac and Rudy join Shalini Puri, author of The Grenada Revolution in the Caribbean Present: Operation Urgent Memory,and the companion website urgentmemory.com, for a discussion on the Grenadian Revolution and its legacies in both the island itself and the wider Caribbean. We cover the Revolution's accomplishments as well as some of its pitfalls, the contradictions and mutual strengthening of Marxism and regional liberation movements, and the Revolution's collapse. We then discuss the concepts of volcanic and stone memory, and how memories of the Revolution remain alive in the Caribbean today.

Further reading:

The Grenada Revolution Online – Free and thorough online resource that includes many speeches 'Is Freedom We Making'; the New Democracy in Grenada – Merle Hodge (ed.), Chris Searle (ed.) Maurice Bishop Speaks: The Grenada Revolution and Its Overthrow, 1979–83 – M. Bishop, S. Clark Grenada: The Jewel Despoiled – G. K. Lewis African & Caribbean Politics: From Kwame Nkrumah to Maurice Bishop – M. Marable The Grenada Chronicles, v. 1-34 – Grenada National Museum, Ann Elizabeth Wilder (maintainer of TGRO website)
1 hr 9 min
July 29, 2021 [Audiobook] Lenin Rediscovered: Chapter Eight
This is a narration of the eighth chapter of Lars Lih's excellent book Lenin Rediscovered: What Is to Be Done? In Context. In this chapter, Lih examines the culture of the Russian revolutionary underground to elucidate the world that Lenin's organizational proposals in WITBD would go on to shape. 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.

2 hr 8 min
July 26, 2021 Californian Dreams: Tech Utopia or Dystopia
Donald has a chat with Richard Barbrook, author with Andy Cameron of The Californian Ideology and the book Imaginary Futures. The two discuss Silicon Valley techno-Utopianism and its transformation into our current tech dystopia, the Cold War left and their attempts to use Marxism in service of capitalism, the role of China in shaping the development of modern technology, crypto-currency, why the USSR failed to develop cyber-communism, and Barbrook's work in the Labor Party with the Digital Democracy Manifesto.
2 hr 5 min
July 23, 2021 The Founding of the Chinese Communist Party with Matt Rothwell
Matt and Rudy join Matt Rothwell from the People's History of Ideas podcast for a discussion on the founding of the Chinese Communist Party on its 100th anniversary. We base ourselves on the book From Friend To Comrade: The Founding of the Chinese Communist Party, 1920-27 by Hans J. van der Veen, and discuss issues such as the influence of the Soviet Union on its formation, how intellectuals , moving past liberalism adopted Marxism and translated it to the Chinese context, the way policy implementation and debate evolved in the party, the debates around the united front, and what can we learn for today's political landscape.
1 hr

About Cosmopod

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Cosmopod is the official podcast of Cosmonaut Magazine, a project dedicated to expanding the project of scientific socialism in the 21st Century. In our feed we have a combination of podcast episodes…