Escaping the Left Populist Impasse: Varn and Tutt on "The People Are Not One"

Donald interviews C Derick Varn and Daniel Tutt, authors of "The People Are Not One" in the wake of their recent tour promoting their book. With MAGA losing steam and centrist liberalism, a left-wing populist movement within the Democratic Party seems to be on the rise. Our guests bring their work to bear on this phenomenon, discussing the long-term viability of left populism (and premature obituaries), their debate with Geese Magazine, the fraught discourse around "wokeness" and escaping the framings of the bourgeois media, the question of the PMC and their unique take on it and how the internet has impacted mass politics.

In view of the political situation, we have reuploaded a podcast with Iker Suarez on the border situation in Spain. We hope to have an updated episode soon. ------ In this episode, Rudy joins Iker Suárez, author of The Migrant Genocide: Toward a Third World Analysis of European Class Struggle, to delve into the politics of migration and borders in Europe, examining how imperialism, class, and race intersect in what our guest describes as a "genocide at sea." We explore who the people migrating to Europe are, why they move, and how their journeys expose the contradictions at the heart of European liberalism. Our guest argues that immigration today represents the return of Europe's colonial past, and critiques how both the right and the nominal left continue to enforce violent border regimes -from the Tarajal massacre to ongoing state repression- while masking them as "human rights" issues. We also discuss the limits of NGO-led antiracism, the weak state of immigrant organizing across Europe, how the concept of race is undeveloped, and how citizenship itself becomes a new class divide.

Aaron Leonard and Donald Parkinson sit down for a conversation on Leonard's recent book 'Menace of Our Time: The Long War Against American Communism'. Relating this history to current events, Leonard and Parkinson discuss the various ways that the U.S. government, and in particular the FBI, subverted civil liberties and indulged in state repression according to the ebbs and flows of geopolitics while never abandoning its agenda of surveillance and subversion of the Communist Movement. From the early days of Criminal Syndicalism laws and the Palmer Raids to the rise of the New Left and the marginalization of the Party, the long arc of a campaign of espionage that utilized legal and extra-legal tactics provides an important window into the nature of state repression against left-wing dissidents in a country that is supposedly a bastion of political liberty.

Christian, Donald and Parker sit down to discuss Lars Lih's new book What was Bolshevism? They situate the context of the book, and discuss what this new manuscripts adds to Lih's existing oeuvre. Topics discussed include Lih's use of narrative to frame the continuities in Bolshevism from begging to end, the centrality of Vlast and sovereignty to Bolshevism, how Lih exposes the misunderstanding of past historians about war communism, the importance of Bukharin and Preobrazhensky's ABCs of Communism and the nature of Bolshevik policies such as the grain monopoly, requisition, and sowing committees during the Civil War.

Charlie and Bryce rejoin Donald and Jack for a recap on what has transpired since the Your Party founding conference. We discuss the recent local elections, which show massive losses for Labor and gains for Reform and Greens. Then we go into the challenges around the formation of Your Party, divided between a grassroots left and Corbynism. Was this project a complete failure? Is there any hope that it can be salvaged and the project of building a principled mass socialist party carried forward? Links: Please Support University of Sheffield striking staff! Democratic Socialists – Campaign for a Democratic Socialist Party

Matt and Rudy join RK to discuss several facets of the electric grid. We talk about the USSR's and China's attempts at electrification, how a modern grid looks like, the current US grid and its governing authorities, and a discussion on possible futures for electricity. References: RK's thoughts con rural cooperatives: https://jnanayuddha.wordpress.com/2022/08/16/reflections-on-rural-electric-cooperatives-and-socialist-organizing/ Matt T. Huber & Fred Stafford's articles: Socialist Politics and the Electricity Grid, The Utility of Utilities and Won't Somebody Please Think of the Grid? Further recommendations, National: The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future by Gretchen Bakke, 2016 Short Circuiting Policy: Interest Groups and the Battle Over Clean Energy and Climate Policy in the American States by Leah Stokes, 2020 California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas & Electric, and What It Means for America's Power Grid by Katherine Blunt, 2022 The Price is Wrong: Why Capitalism Won't Save the Planet by Brett Christophers, 2024 International: The Low-Carbon Contradiction: Energy Transition, Geopolitics, and the Infrastructural State in Cuba by Gustav Cederlof, 2023 Recharging China in War and Revolution, 1882-1955 by Ying Jia Tan, 2021  Sinews of Power: The Politics of the State Grid Corporation of China by Yi-chong Xu, 2017 Electrifying India: Regional Political Economies of Development by Sunila S. Kale, 2014 The Electrification of Russia, 1880-1926 by Jonathan Coopersmith, 1992 Electrical Palestine: Capitalism and Technology From Empire to Nation by Fredrik Meiton, 2019

Ira and Rudy join renowned geographer David Harvey for a chat on his pedagogy and his theories of economics, neoliberalism and imperialism.

Aliyah and Cliff sit down with Oliver Larkin, who's running for US Congress from Florida's District 23 with revolutionary ambitions such as unseating Jared Moskowitz, abolishing the Electoral College, and Finishing Reconstruction.

Brage, Mikael and Rudy sit down to talk about Scandinavian social democracy, with a focus on Norway and Sweden. We discuss the periodization of social democracy, starting from the 1905 independence of Norway, through the first World War period, the rise of social democracy in the interwar period, the golden years and the unraveling. We discuss why social democracy was able to take hold in Scandinavia through several historic compromises, what the economics of the countries were, the limits of the politics and how the parties tried to transcend these limits, before concluding with the unraveling of the politics in the 80s. Bibliography: G. Esping-Andersen - Politics Against Markets: The Social Democratic Road to Power W. Korpi - The Democratic Class Struggle K. Ostbjerg - Rise and Fall of Swedish Social Democracy J. Pontusson - The Limits of Social Democracy: Investment Politics in Sweden M. Rasmussen, C. H. Knutsen - Reforming to Survive: The Bolshevik Origins of Social Policies F. Sejersted, M. Adams - The Age of Social Democracy

Amelia, Rudy and Matt sit down to discuss the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's political economy, with a focus on the distinct periods. We discuss the "information problem" and how it frames the discussion, before detailing the history of the DPRK's formation after Japanese colonialism and the Korean War. We then discuss the detailed planning period, its unraveling in the mid 80s, and the Arduous March period after the collapse of the USSR, before finishing off with the present periods of market reform and market elimination. References: Charles K. Armstrong - The North Korean revolution, 1945-1950 Ellen Brun, Jacques Hersch - Socialist Korea: a case study in the strategy of economic development Liu Jinlong - Crying Forests: Political Ecology in the DPRK Yang Mun-su - North Korea's Planned Economy and Marketization Daniel Schwekendiek - A Socioeconomic History of North Korea Phillip H. Park - History of Economic Management in North Korea Zhihua Shen, Yafeng Xia - A Misunderstood Friendship: Mao Zedong, Kim Il-Sung, and Sino-North Korean Relations, 1949-1976