Actually Existing Socialism

Latest Episodes:

Black Girl From Pyongyang, North Korea w/ Monica Macias (PATREON PREVIEW) Dec 08, 2023

Show notes

Monica Macias joins the show to discuss her book "Black Girl From Pyongyang: In Search of My Identity" which covers the harrowing tale of her life journey from post-colonial Equatorial Guinea ,where she was born, to finding herself under the guardianship of Kim Il Sung - the revolutionary founding father of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) also known as North Korea. This is a preview of a patreon-only exclusive. Listen to the full episode by supporting the show at www.patreon.com/aesthepodcast

The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (1948-1990) w/ Julia Mead Nov 30, 2023

Show notes

In this episode we'll be discussing the subject of Julia Mead's (@JuliaKMead) PHD research on an often forgotten socialist nation: the nation formerly known as the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. Julia covers for us the pre-history, emergence of the communist state, political struggles as well as socialist successes and failures. She also gives us some insight as to why this socialist nation often falls to the wayside in popular Western imagination.

Julia Mead is an environmental historian of modern Eastern Europe, with a particular focus on energy, gender, and labor. Her dissertation, "Socialist Rust Belt: Energy, Masculinity, and the End of Czechoslovak Socialism," traces the rise and fall of the Czechoslovak coal economy from 1948 to 2004, and its relationship to changing norms of masculinity. She shows how coal miners in socialist Czechoslovakia achieved an elite social status, and how they lost it almost overnight during the transition to capitalism.

Follow Julia at https://twitter.com/JuliaKMead and https://juliamead.squarespace.com/

Support the show at www.patreon.com/aesthepodcast

Stalin vs MLK Jr: Soviet Anti-colonialism & Anti-racism w/ Henry Hakamäki & Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro Nov 23, 2023

Show notes

Henry Hakamäki (@huck1995), host of Guerrilla History podcast (@guerrilla_pod) and Professor Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro join the show to talk about their recent english translation of historian Domenico Losurdo's "Stalin: History and Critique of a Black Legend".

This episode is the second and final part of a longer discussion. In this part we move into the specifics of the often airbrushed history of anti-racist and anti-colonial policies under Stalin's Soviet Union and even ponder whether Stalin's impact on these material objectives was more substantive than that of civil rights figure and fellow socialist - Martin Luther King Jr. We also discuss the equally airbrushed links between liberal democracies and nazi fascism. In the spirit of Domenico Lusurdo we continue to deconstruct, evaluate, and critique the black legends attributed to Stalin.

You can access a free (yes, free!) copy of the PDF and/or order a physical copy at https://www.iskrabooks.org/stalin-history-and-critique

Henry and Salvatore have talked at length about the process of translation and who Domeinco Lusurdo is in the discussion linked below.

https://guerrillahistory.libsyn.com/stalin-history-critique-of-a-black-legend-w-salvatore-engel-di-mauro-david-peat

https://www.patreon.com/aesthepodcast

Critiquing Stalin's Black Legend w/ Henry Hakamäki & Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro Nov 13, 2023

Show notes

Henry Hakamäki (@huck1995), host of Guerrilla History podcast (@guerrilla_pod) and Professor Salvatore Engel Di-Mauro join the show to talk about their recent english translation of historian Domenico Losurdo's "Stalin: History and Critique of a Black Legend".

This episode is the first part of a longer discussion. In this part we talk about what a black legend even is, the general thesis behind Domenico Losurdo's controversial book, what academic consensus has to say about the realities and myths surrounding historical presentations of Stalin, and how his often distorted legacy impacts left wing movements to this day. And that just gets us started!

You can access a free (yes, free!) copy of the PDF and/or order a physical copy at https://www.iskrabooks.org/stalin-history-and-critique

Henry and Salvatore have talked at length about the process of translation and who Domeinco Lusurdo is in the discussion linked below.

https://guerrillahistory.libsyn.com/stalin-history-critique-of-a-black-legend-w-salvatore-engel-di-mauro-david-peat

You can always support the show at www.patreon.com/aesthepodcast and don't forget to follow on twitter @aesthepodcast.

Explaining North Korea (DPRK) w/ Ben Weston Nov 07, 2023

Show notes

Ben Weston (@BenWestonDPRK), host of the popular "DPRK Explained" youtube channel, joins the show to discuss his insightful experiences visiting North Korea (also known as the DPRK) multiple times as a tour guide. We cover his channel, do some myth-busting about the Democratic Republic of Korea, get a short intro to socialist Mongolia and more!

https://www.youtube.com/c/DPRKExplained

How the Soviet "Threat" Benefited Workers in the West w/ Alice Malone Aug 16, 2023

Show notes

In this episode we discuss Alice Malone's essay entitled "Concessions" which contains a well sourced and foundational explanation regarding 20th century history that every socialist should be aware of!

Alice illustrates how the gains and progressive feats won by workers of the Soviet Union challenged capitalist elites in the West to concede social reforms in their own countries. Reforms such as desegregation, home ownership, investment in education, public health care and more! We cover some of these concessions as well as how they have been noticeably negatively impacted by the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.

Alice's article: https://redsails.org/concessions/

Alice's app on word frequency's in Marxist texts: https://alicirce.shinyapps.io/mlds/

Intro/Outro Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itA4uQvnhyc

Was the Soviet Union totalitarian? w/ Robert Thurston Jul 18, 2023

Show notes

Robert Thurston, historian of Soviet history, joins the show to talk about his extensive archival research focused on the infamous "Great Terror" or mass arrests of 1937-1938. In doing so Robert rebuts the perrenial anti-communist argument - the claim that the Soviet Union under Stalin was totalitarian! We also discuss the impact his research had on his career, the role CIA, MI5 and other capitalist intelligence services played in the manufacturing of soviet history for western audiences and much more!

Robert's Blog: https://thurstrw.wordpress.com/

Robert's Coffee Bussiness: https://www.oxfordcoffee.com/

Is Cuba A State Sponsor of Terror? w/ Calla Walsh & Aeron Jun 20, 2023

Show notes

Calla Walsh and Aeron join the show to talk about the absurd imperialist rationales and devestating impacts of Cuba's placement on the US State Departments State Sponsor of Terror list.

Calla is a co-chair of the National Network on Cuba (https://twitter.com/NNOCuba). Aeron is a member of the Michigan General Defense Committee (https://www.instagram.com/michigangdc/).

Help support the show by signing up to our patreon, where you also will get bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/aesthepodcast

How to Stand in Solidarity with Cuba w/ Calla Walsh & Aeron Jun 12, 2023

Show notes

Calla Walsh and Aeron join the show to talk about ways we can all stand in solidarity with Cuba and why engaging in internationalism is a necessary path to socialism both at home and abroad.

Calla is a co-chair of the National Network on Cuba (https://twitter.com/NNOCuba). Aeron is a member of the Michigan General Defense Committee (https://www.instagram.com/michigangdc/).

Help support the show by signing up to our patreon, where you also will get bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/aesthepodcast

How Stalin Tried to Prevent World War II w/ Michael Jabara Carley Mar 24, 2023

Show notes

Michael Jabara Carley joins the show to talk about his extensive and decades long archival research into Soviet international relations. He focuses particularly on the attempts by Joseph Stalin (in the 6 years leading up to World War II) to build a grand alliance with Britain, France and other European nations against Nazi Germany.

This was a call to maintain peace which ultimately was left unheeded leading to the devastating outbreak of World War II. In Western memory this attempted alliance has become overshadowed by the infamous and often decontextualized signing of Molotov-Ribbentrop Non Agression Pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939. We get into the details of this complex and important history in this episode.

More info about what we covered in this episode can be freely found at: COMING SOON

Episode Credits

Opening Interlude Music/Outro Music:

Metro Boomin - Superhero (Heroes & Villains) [Instrumental]

Opening Interlude Voiceover:

Bob Rae's Parliamentary Resolution on Totalitarian Nazism and Communism

Opening Music:

Time - Inception by Hans Zimmer (Cello Cover)