Radio Free Humanity: The Marxist-Humanist Podcast

Jane Michaels, a Marxist-Humanist and lifelong rural white Wisconsinite, joins the cohosts to discuss Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman’s recent book, “White Rural Rage.” They talk about the book’s focus on rural whites as the base of Trumpism and resurgent authoritarianism in the US, negative feedback the book has received, J.D. Vance’s “Hillbilly Elegy,” causes of “white rural rage,” and what can be done to stop the ascendancy of white supremacism and authoritarianism.

Plus current-events segment: The Real Trump Mystery: why does half of the voting public support a malignant narcissistic Mussolini wannabe who is unfit to breathe our air?

ChatRFH 2.0 COMING SOON! Sunday, November 10, starting at 1 pm EST. Chat with Gabriel and Andrew in a live videocast ep. of RFH. Check MHI’s website for Zoom link and details (also coming soon).

Radio Free Humanity is co-hosted by Gabriel Donnelly and Andrew Kliman, and sponsored by

Marxist-Humanist Initiative (https://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/ ).

The co-hosts interview Paul Reitter and Paul North, co-editors of the new English edition of volume 1 of Marx’s "Capital,” which Reitter also translated. Much of the discussion explores differences between the new translation and previous ones. They also discuss why Reitter decided to produce a new translation; the co-editors’ collaborative process; the “reading” of “Capital” they chose; the theme of “Marx’s anger”; and their plans for translation of other volumes of “Capital.”

Plus current-events segment: Trump & Vance incite violence against Haitian immigrants—especially after Trump was thrashed in the Sept. 10 debate—by peddling racist “eating pets” lie.

Aaron Williams talks with the co-hosts about his experiences during decades of work as a union staff member. He stresses that the job of a staffer is “not emancipatory,” because a union is a “service organization.” He and the co-hosts also talk about how the labor movement and the challenges it faces have changed over the years, including some positive developments.

Plus current-events segment: the struggle over “judicial reform” in Mexico.

Radio Free Humanity is co-hosted by Gabriel Donnelly and Andrew Kliman, and sponsored by

Marxist-Humanist Initiative (https://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/ ).

Episode 116: Is There Life After Tankieism?: BadMouse Recants, BadMouths Stalinism

The co-hosts welcome Dave, aka BadMouse, who was a prominent Stalinist YouTuber but has since recanted. They discuss why some youth find Stalinism appealing, and why Dave himself turned to it. He then recounts how and why he became disillusioned. He and the co-hosts discuss “becom[ing] OK with not necessarily having all the answers,” and how to help people resist the pull of Stalinism, including the work that Dave is now doing on his BadMouse YouTube channel.

Plus current-events segment: Internal divisions in GOP allow US to (finally) provide aid for Ukraine’s defense against invasion.

Radio Free Humanity is co-hosted by Gabriel Donnelly and Andrew Kliman, and sponsored by Marxist-Humanist Initiative (https://marxisthumanistinitiative.org/ ).

Radio Free Humanity Ep. 120: “Marx’s Conceptions of Freedom and Domination—Interview with Paul Raekstad.” On Althusser’s “epistemological break,” self direction, impersonal domination, etc. Current-events segment: the UK and French elections.

The co-hosts welcome Ralph Keller, author of “Treating the TSSI Like a Dead Dog: A Response to Seth Ackerman,” which responds to a “Jacobin” piece by Ackerman. Ralph explains why he regards Ackerman’s conduct as “unscholarly” and “intellectual immorality.” He calls out Ackerman for ignoring the fact that the “Okishio theorem” has been disproven. He and the co-hosts discuss several related issues, including Marx’s ”failure” to prove that the rate of profit must fall. Toward the end of the interview, Andrew and Ralph discuss their forthcoming article that charges Ackerman with having egregiously misused simulation results to produce a revised rate of profit that skyrockets from 1985 onward.

Plus current-events segment: Implications of Joe Biden’s Abysmal Debate Performance.

SUMMER 2024 SCHEDULE: We intend to release new eps once a month, on the first Friday of the month.

The next episode, Ep. 120, is slated for release on August 2. The regular schedule will resume with Ep. 121, slated for release on Sept. 6.

Radio Free Humanity is co-hosted by Gabriel Donnelly and Andrew Kliman, and sponsored by Marxist-Humanist Initiative (https://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/ ).

The co-hosts respond to Suresh Naidu’s piece in “Jacobin,” “What Marx Really Meant.” They begin by discussing norms of interpretation (of texts and of history), with emphasis on why principled interpretation is ethically important. They critique Brill, a major publisher, for insinuating that texts can’t be misinterpreted. They then respond in detail to Naidu, showing that he was not telling the truth when he claimed not to be concerned with “what Marx really meant,” and defending the importance of getting the meaning of texts right against his vitriolic attack.

Plus current-events segment, “People of New York 34, Trump 0,” on the historic felony conviction of Donald J. Trump.

SUMMER 2024 SCHEDULE: We intend to release new eps once a month, on the first Friday of the month. The next episode, Ep. 119, is slated for release on July 5. The regular schedule will resume with Ep. 121, slated for release on Sept. 6.

Radio Free Humanity is co-hosted by Gabriel Donnelly and Andrew Kliman, and sponsored by Marxist-Humanist Initiative (https://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/ ).

Gabriel and Andrew welcome William Clare Roberts, author of Marx's Inferno: The Political Theory of “Capital,” in which he reads the first volume of Capital as a work of political theory. They discuss differences between this and other ways of reading Capital, its engagement with Proudhonism and related non-Marxist tendencies on the left, Marx’s relation to the radical republican tradition, and the specificity of his concept of capitalist exploitation. They also discuss “Hell” imagery in radical literature, Will’s contention that “volume one of Capital must be taken as Marx’s last testament,” and more.

Plus current-events segment: The situation in Rafah and the current state of the Hamas-Israel war

SUMMER 2024 SCHEDULE: We intend to release new eps once a month, on the first Friday of the month. The next episode, Ep. 118 is slated for release on June 7. The regular schedule will resume with Ep. 121, slated for release on Sept. 6.

Radio Free Humanity is a podcast covering news, politics and philosophy from a Marxist-Humanist perspective. It is co-hosted by Gabriel Donnelly and Andrew Kliman. We intend to release new episodes every two weeks.

Radio Free Humanity is sponsored by MHI, but the views expressed by the hosts and guests of Radio Free Humanity are their own. They do not necessarily reflect the views and positions of MHI.

The co-hosts expose a real-world case of spurious correlation—the correlation between industry-level “values” and “prices,” drawing on chapter 11 of Andrew’s book, Reclaiming Marx’s “Capital,” and “Christianity versus Alternative Faith Bases,” his parody of the value-price correlation “studies.” They discuss why the value-price correlations are spurious, who started value-price correlation mania and why, what it has to do with Karl Marx’s actual value theory, how Andrew became involved, and more. He refutes objections to his findings made by Paul Cockshott & Allin Cottrell and by Emilio Díaz & Rubén Osuna.

Plus current-events segment: Razing Arizona—and the US? Near-total ban on abortion resurrected by Arizona’s Supreme Court. Anne Jaclard joins the co-hosts to discuss the implications.

Radio Free Humanity is co-hosted by Gabriel Donnelly and Andrew Kliman, and sponsored by

Marxist-Humanist Initiative (https://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/ ).

Radio Free Humanity Ep. 114: “Canadian Politics: The White-Nationalist Right & Indigenous Nations (with Theresa Henry).” Current-events segment: Victory against both-sidesism at NBC—dictator-enabling Ronna McDaniel fired after news staffers revolt.