The State Between Us

In the second half of Laura's two-part history of anarchism in China, they tell the story of the Tokyo and Guangzhou factions, anarchist feminism, the influence of anarchism on revolutionary peasant politics, and the anarchist connection to the New Culture Movement that transformed China's social and political landscape. He Zhen, Liu Shipei, and Liu Shifu

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Bluesky: @thestatebetweenus.bsky.social‬
Instagram: thestatebetweenuspod
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheStateBetweenUsPod

Links for further learnings:

Chuang Blog
Dirlik, Arif. Anarchism in Early Twentieth Century China: A Contemporary Perspective. Journal of Modern Chinese History, 6:2, 131–146. December 2012.
John A. Rapp's bibliography on Wikipedia.
Made In China Journal
Rothwell, Matthew. People's History of Ideas Podcast.

Music:
Opening Song: Anarchy Jerks. "Cuowu".
Closing Song: Nie Er and Wang Jianzhong. "Song of the Great Road"
Also includes: John Huie. "The Old Tea house".

Other tracks from pixabay.org, youtube.com and Koleso Nešťastia.

Laura rejoins The State Between Us to tell the story of anarchism in China from the late-19th century through the early 20th. Though largely forgotten today, anarchism was the dominant revolutionary framework for Chinese radicals for decades, and each of the three major strands - 'Paris', 'Tokyo', and 'Guangzhou' - offered unique visions for radical change. In part one, Laura explains the historical conditions that gave rise to anarchist organizing in China and introduces us to the Paris group and their fates in the Communist Party and the Kuomintang.

"Doufu Factory Night School 1916". Wikimedia.

Like it? Share it! Connect to The State Between Us at patreon.com/TheStateBetweenUs for more episodes, exclusive content, and live events for as little as $3 a month! Join free today!
Bluesky: @thestatebetweenus.bsky.social‬
Instagram: thestatebetweenuspod
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheStateBetweenUsPod

Links for further learnings:

Dirlik, Arif. Anarchism in Early Twentieth Century China: A Contemporary Perspective. Journal of Modern Chinese History, 6:2, 131–146. December 2012.
John A. Rapp's bibliography on Wikipedia.
Rothwell, Matthew. People's History of Ideas Podcast.

Music:
Opening Song: Brain Failure, "Anarchy In The P.R.C."
Closing Song: Brain Failure, "Living in the City"
Taken from: Anarchy In The P.R.C., Beijing, 2002. Broken Rekids / Lei Feng Records.

Other tracks from pixabay.org and Koleso Nešťastia.

#china #history #anarchism #podcast #chinesehistory

Before the fash wore black shirts, they wore Buffalo Bill dusters and cowboy hats. This is the absurd story of Marquis de Morès, a 19th century French aristocrat and degenerate gambler whose ridiculous misadventures and financial flops in the American West, combined with his modern "social Catholic" variety of antisemitism, made him not only Europe's first fascist, but more specifically its first Nazi.

Note: Fritz probably paywalled this episode solely to prevent the general public from hearing his horrible French pronunciation...Photo from Luzzatto, Sergio. The First Fascist: The Sensational Life and Dark Legacy of the Marquis de Morès. Harvard University Press, 2026.

A Bad Lands Cowboy and Fancy French Fella

References from the episode:
Luzzatto, Sergio. The First Fascist: The Sensational Life and Dark Legacy of the Marquis de Morès. Harvard University Press, 2026.
Paxton, Robert O. The Anatomy of Fascism. Random House, 2004.

#history #fascism #france #USA #West #podcast

Following a recent attack against a Roma settlement in Slovakia, TSBU assembles an introductory primer on Europe's genocidal treatment of Roma people over the centuries. From the early-modern period to the 21st century, this story passes through the Holy Roman Empire's Mitteleuropa, Mediterranean states, the Balkans and Eastern Europe, as well as Tudor and Elizabethan England. Through feudalism and capitalism, through fascism, liberalism, and socialism, Europe's anti-Roma racism has always been a projection of its own State crimes against the Roma themselves.

Note: Fritz makes no apologies for his inevitable mispronunciations of place and people names in this episode. Deal with it.rm.coe.int Execution of members of a Roma band accused of robbery at Giessen, Hesse. Accessed from the Council of Europe's Roma Factsheets resource.

Like it? Share it! Connect to The State Between Us at patreon.com/TheStateBetweenUs for more episodes, exclusive content, and live events for as little as $3 a month! Join free today!
Bluesky: @thestatebetweenus.bsky.social‬
Instagram: thestatebetweenuspod
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheStateBetweenUsPod

Opening song: Ceo Život by Domino / Gang Shot
Closing song: Malo Sutra by Domino / Gang Shot
All other music by Koleso Nešťastia.

Some key references used for this episode:
Bogdal, Klaus-Michael. Europe and the Roma: A History of Fascination and Fear. Penguin, 2024.
Cressy, David. Trouble with Gypsies in Early Modern England. The Historical Journal, 59, 1, 2016.
Kenrick, Donald and Grattan Puxon. The Destiny of Europe's Gypsies. Heinemann Educational Books, 1972.
Matache, Margareta. The Permanence of Anti-Roma Racism: (Un)uttered Sentences. Routledge, 2025.
Petrova, Dimitrina. The Roma: Between a Myth and the Future. Social Research: An International Quarterly 70, 1, 2003.
Pisarri, Milovan. The Suffering of the Roma in Serbia During the Holocaust. Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeast Europe, 2014.
Roma history factsheets. Council of Europe web resource accessed Aug. 23, 2026.
Slavery in Romania. Wikipedia article accessed Aug. 23, 2026.

Special thanks to Nina for drawing our attention to the events in Lubina.

#roma #Romahistory #EuropeanHistory #oppression #podcast #romania #germany #england #slovakia

FULL FREE EPISODE at patreon.com/TheStateBetweenUs
Author Joseph Kelly joins Fritz to discuss his new book, The Biggest Lie: The Prehistory of American Fascism, 1818-1915 (Bloomsbury, 2026), and explains how the modern ideology of human inequality was built brick-by-brick by some of the nastiest villains of the 19th and 20th centuries. From the antebellum plantations of the Democrat south to the imperialist adventurism of the Republican north, Joe draws a direct line between the lies, fantasies, and violence that destroyed post-war Reconstruction to both the European fascism of the 20th century all the way to the MAGA movement today.

Like it? Share it! Connect to The State Between Us at patreon.com/TheStateBetweenUs for more episodes, exclusive content, and live events.
Bluesky: @thestatebetweenus.bsky.social‬
Instagram: thestatebetweenuspod
Email: [email protected]
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheStateBetweenUsPod

Books by Joseph Kelly:
The Biggest Lie: The Prehistory of American Fascism, 1818-1915
Marooned: Jamestown, Shipwreck, and a New History of America’s Origin
America's Longest Siege: Charleston, Slavery, and the Slow March Toward Civil War
Music from pixabay.com

Author Joseph Kelly joins Fritz to discuss his new book, The Biggest Lie: The Prehistory of American Fascism, 1818-1915 (Bloomsbury, 2026), and explains how the modern ideology of human inequality was built brick-by-brick by some of the nastiest villains of the 19th and 20th centuries. From the antebellum plantations of the Democrat south to the imperialist adventurism of the Republican north, Joe draws a direct line between the lies, fantasies, and violence that destroyed post-war Reconstruction to both the European fascism of the 20th century all the way to the MAGA movement today.

Like it? Share it! Connect to The State Between Us at patreon.com/TheStateBetweenUs for more episodes, exclusive content, and live events.
Bluesky: @thestatebetweenus.bsky.social‬
Instagram: thestatebetweenuspod
Email: [email protected]
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheStateBetweenUsPod

Books by Joseph Kelly:
The Biggest Lie: The Prehistory of American Fascism, 1818-1915
Marooned: Jamestown, Shipwreck, and a New History of America’s Origin
America's Longest Siege: Charleston, Slavery, and the Slow March Toward Civil War

Intro Song: Fats Waller - "It's a Sin to Tell a Lie" (1936)
Outro Song: Josh White - "Uncle Sam Says" (1941)

Other music by fesliyanstudios.com and pixabay.com

Fritz's favorite historian, Marcus Rediker, joins The State Between Us to unearth long-lost nautical stories of bold and brilliant people liberating themselves from American slavery in the 19th century, and the incredible revolutionary life and fight of the 18th century Quaker, Benjamin Lay. Blood-spewing bibles, sailor solidarity, clever conspiracies, and the ruling-class' paranoid scramble to retain their inhuman systems of control await!

Like it? Share it! Connect to The State Between Us at patreon.com/TheStateBetweenUs for more episodes, exclusive content, and live events.
Bluesky: @thestatebetweenus.bsky.social‬
Instagram: thestatebetweenuspod
Email: [email protected]
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheStateBetweenUsPod

This episode focuses on these excellent titles by Marcus Rediker, but check out his website for a full list of his work:
*The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic. Co-authored by Peter Linebaugh. Beacon Press, 2000.
*The Fearless Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Dwarf Who Became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist. Beacon Press, 2017.
*Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea. Viking Press, 2025.

Intro Song: "Follow The Drinking Gourd" performed by Roger McGuinn feat. Nedra Talley Ross (2005). Here it here!
Outro Song: "Cello and Voice" by Ramona

Additional Music from ghost collar, pixabay.com, ramona, archive.org and koleso neštastia.

Fritz's old friend, Salvador Ibarra of the new anti-fascist rock band Widows of the Night, joins the show to discuss his childhood during the brutal civil war in El Salvador (1979-1992). Son of a prominent lawyer for the left revolutionaries and unrepentant prankster, Sal and his siblings were witness to the atrocities of WACL-fascist Roberto D'Aubuisson's anti-communist forces. Salvador discusses how his childhood experiences informed his album, Subversives (2026).

Subscribe for free at patreon.com/TheStateBetweenUs!

[Content warning: graphic references to war, torture, mass murder, infanticide, and sexual violence]

Tracks from Subversives played in this show [in order with links]
'Black Eternal Night'
'Widows of the Night'
'A Pistol and Wine'
'Death to Tyrants'
'Against the Centuries'

Listen to Subversives by Widows of the Night
Follow them on YouTube and Instagram!

The badass Jennifer Casolo in 1989

Death squad leader and fascist psycho Roberto D'Aubuisson

Like it? Share it! Connect to The State Between Us at patreon.com/TheStateBetweenUs for more episodes, exclusive content, and live events.
Bluesky: @thestatebetweenus.bsky.social‬
Instagram: thestatebetweenuspod
Email: [email protected]
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheStateBetweenUsPod

Additional Music from youtube, pixabay.com, and koleso neštastia.

Reading: Anderson, Scott, and Jon Lee Anderson. Inside the League. Dodd, Mead, 1986.

#ElSalvador #CivilWar #podcast #WidowsOfTheNight #fascism #antifascism

Stepping away for a moment from his Novara Media series, Do Your Own Research, Richard Hames joins Fritz to explain the study of "Critical Collapsology" and what exactly 'collapse' really means. Richard talks about the limits of past studies of collapse, the problem of historical scales and comparisons (Indigenous America, the Roman Empire, the Bronze Age, etc.), and need to understand the "communist core" at the heart of our contest for the future.

Check out Richard Hames' Do Your Own Research on Novara Media here or on YouTube!

Like it? Share it! Connect to The State Between Us at patreon.com/TheStateBetweenUs for more episodes, exclusive content, and live events.
Bluesky: @thestatebetweenus.bsky.social‬
Instagram: thestatebetweenuspod
Email: [email protected]
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheStateBetweenUsPod

Key readings:
"Our Theory of Collapse" by Richard Hames and Beau-Caprice Vetch. Crude Futures, 2025.
Grove, Jarius Victor. Savage Ecology: War and Geopolitics at the End of the World. Duke UP, 2019.

Books co-authored by Richard as "Sam Moore" with Alex Roberts of 12 Rules for What:
Post-Internet Far Right. Dog Section Press. 2022.
The Rise of Ecofascism: Climate Change and the Far Right. Polity. 2022.

Join Richard's Substack (with links to his lectures and other essays)
https://crudefutures.substack.com/

Opening song: "So Long, It's Been Good to Know Yuh" by Woody Guthrie (1940)
Closing song: " The Praties They Grow Small" performed by Carolyn Hester (1963)

Also featuring music from koleso neštastia. Check out their new album on Bandcamp!

#podcast #novara #collapse #RichardHames #CriticalTheory #marxism #ecology #anthropology #society

Fritz, still worried about what Tucker Carlson and JD Vance have in store for the post-MAGA right, uncovers the old WASP spiritual foundations of the American mythology around UFOs/UAPs/Flying Saucers, etc.. From a Swedish Psychic Astronaut in the 18th century, through the upper-class salons of the (2nd?) Theosophical Society in the 19th, and the fashy UFO cults of the early-20th, UFO-ology's origins are all about woo-woo, Christian mysticism, fantasy 'science' fiction, and the old money of WASP elites of the past.

Special thanks to the cast!
Karl Marx played by Settembrini of Zock Bock Radio
William Rathborne Greg played by Pádraig Ó Ruairc of Burn Them Out!: A History of Fascism and the Far Right in Ireland
Helena Blavatsky played by Leah

Reading: [check out the patreon page later for additional citations!]
◇ Barkun, Michael. A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America. 2nd ed., UC Press, 2013.
◇ -- Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement. UNC Press, 1996.
◇ Madden, Deborah. The Religious Politics of Prophecy. History of European Ideas. Issue 24. Elsevier, 2008.
◇ Paley, Morton D. "A New Heaven is Begun": William Blake and Swedenborgianism. Blake/An Illustrated Quarterly, Volume 13, Issue 2. 1979.

Other Links:
◇ Recommended video essays on Theosophy and I AM Activity by Weird Reads with Emily Louise
◇ Fritz and Setti talk Heinlein and Cambellian Sci-Fi on Zock Bock Radio episode 61, "America is a Harsh Mistress"

Music:
Intro Song: Crystal Cave by SNIFFAH (2025)
Closing Song: The Buchanan Brothers - When You See Those Flying Saucers (1947)
Also including music by SNIFFAH, Ramona, Koleso Nešťastia, and pixabay.org.

#Swedenborgism, #UFOs, #UAPs, #Tucker, #Vance, #Theosophy, #Spiritualism