Working Class History

Latest Episodes:

E98: [TEASER] Radical Reads – ‘Jews Don’t Count’ by David Baddiel Jan 01, 2025

Show notes

This is a teaser preview of one of our Radical Reads episodes, made exclusively for our supporters on patreon. You can listen to the full 85-minute episode without ads and support our work at https://www.patreon.com/posts/e97-radical-10-116392240
In this episode, we talk to Michael Richmond, a Jewish communist author and anti-racist activist, about David Baddiel's ridiculous book, Jews Don't Count. In this book, Baddiel claims that the key thing about contemporary antisemitism is the left's confusion over it, and how this confusion means that Jews are uniquely excluded from left-wing political discourse and activism.
We discuss (and make fun of) Baddiel's book for about an hour and a half covering every aspect of his shallow understanding of racism, whiteness, Jewishness and antisemitism, and why Baddiel should probably get new friends.
Listen to the full episode here:

E98: Radical Reads – ‘Jews Don’t Count’ by David Baddiel

More information:

Read Michael's excellent book (co-authored with Alex Charnley), Fractured: Race, Class, Gender and the Hatred of Identity Politics
A number of Michael's articles can be found here and here. Some which are particularly relevant to this discussion are:
Timeline of people's history stories about radical Jewish history
The webpage for this episode is available here: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e98-radical-reads-jews-dont-count-by-david-baddiel/

Acknowledgements

Thanks to our patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Jazz Hands, Jamison D. Saltsman, Fernando López Ojeda, Jeremy Cusimano, and Nick Williams.
The episode image of David Baddiel at Soho Theatre, 2020. Credit: Raph PH (with additional design by WCH). CC 2.0.
Edited by Jesse French
Our theme tune is Montaigne’s version of the classic labour movement anthem, ‘Bread and Roses’, performed by Montaigne and Nick Harriott, and mixed by Wave Racer. Download the song here, with all proceeds going to Medical Aid for Palestinians. More from Montaigne: website, Instagram, YouTube.

E97: [TEASER] Radical Reads – ‘Hezbollah: 10 Things You Need To Know’ Dec 11, 2024

Show notes

This is a teaser preview of one of our Radical Reads episodes, made exclusively for our supporters on patreon. You can listen to the full 91-minute episode without ads and support our work at https://www.patreon.com/posts/e97-radical-10-116392240
In this episode, we talk to Elia Ayoub, a Lebanese activist and scholar of Palestinian heritage, about his recent article, 'Hezbollah: 10 Things You Need To Know'. In this article, Elia gives a fantastic insight into Hezbollah's origins and its position within the various conflicts and connections that make up politics in the Middle East.
We discuss how Hezbollah came out of the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, the social and class composition of the organisation, and its relationship to other regimes in the Middle East as well as the Lebanese left and social movements.
Listen to the full episode here:

E97: Radical Reads – ‘Hezbollah: 10 Things You Need To Know’

More info:

Read Elia's article: 'Hezbollah: 10 Things You Need To Know'
Check out Elia's website: hauntalogies.net
Listen to his fantastic podcast, The Fire These Times
Full information and show notes at: https://www.patreon.com/posts/e97-radical-10-116392240

Acknowledgements

Thanks to our patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Jazz Hands, Jamison D. Saltsman, Fernando López Ojeda, Jeremy Cusimano, and Nick Williams.
The episode image depicts Hezbollah fighters at a ceremony. Credit: Ali Khamenei website (with additional design by WCH). Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Edited by Jesse French
Our theme tune is Montaigne’s version of the classic labour movement anthem, ‘Bread and Roses’, performed by Montaigne and Nick Harriott, and mixed by Wave Racer. Download the song here, with all proceeds going to Medical Aid for Palestinians. More from Montaigne: website, Instagram, YouTube.

E96: Bootleg miners, part 2 Dec 04, 2024

Show notes

During the Great Depression in the US, facing mass job losses and abject poverty, thousands of coal miners in Pennsylvania took direct action and began digging their own mines on company property. We tell their story in this two-part podcast.
Our podcast is brought to you by our patreon supporters. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes, ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, free and discounted merchandise and other content. Join us or find out more at patreon.com/workingclasshistory
With Mitch Troutman, author of the excellent book, The Bootleg Coal Rebellion: The Pennsylvania Miners Who Seized an Industry, 1925–1942, we learn how these workers and their families fought against company guards, police, coal bosses and the legal system, formed a union, and organised an entire industry – not for profit, but for meeting human needs. We also hear from the miners themselves, in audio recorded by Michael Kozura, and shared with Mitch by Michael’s widow. Part 2 covers attempts to repress the movement, the development of bootleg mining as a major industry, the involvement of women and children in the movement, and miners’ collaboration with truck drivers.
More information

The Bootleg Coal Rebellion: The Pennsylvania Miners Who Seized an Industry, 1925–1942 – Mitch Troutman – get hold of Mitch’s book here in our online store, with global shipping.
Full information, show notes and eventually a transcript on the webpage for this episode: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e95-96-bootleg-miners/

Acknowledgements

Thanks to our patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Jazz Hands, Jamison D. Saltsman, Fernando López Ojeda, Jeremy Cusimano and Nick Williams.
Produced and edited by Tyler Hill
Episode graphic: Bootleg miners. Courtesy Jack Delano/Library of Congress
Our theme tune is Bella Ciao, thanks for permission to use it from Dischi del Sole. You can purchase it here or stream it here.

E95: Bootleg miners, part 1 Nov 27, 2024

Show notes

During the Great Depression in the US, facing mass job losses and abject poverty, thousands of coal miners in Pennsylvania took direct action and began digging their own mines on company property. We tell their story in this two-part podcast.
Our podcast is brought to you by our patreon supporters. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes, ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, free and discounted merchandise and other content. Join us or find out more at patreon.com/workingclasshistory
With Mitch Troutman, author of the excellent book, The Bootleg Coal Rebellion: The Pennsylvania Miners Who Seized an Industry, 1925–1942, we learn how these workers and their families fought against company guards, police, coal bosses and the legal system, formed a union, and organised an entire industry – not for profit, but for meeting human needs. We also hear from the miners themselves, in audio recorded by Michael Kozura, and shared with Mitch by Michael’s widow. Part 1 covers the historical background, the Depression, the process of mining, mine workers and struggles, and the beginnings of the bootleg coalmining movement.
Get an exclusive early listen to part 2, without ads, by supporting us on patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/115463700
More information

The Bootleg Coal Rebellion: The Pennsylvania Miners Who Seized an Industry, 1925–1942 – Mitch Troutman – get hold of Mitch’s book here in our online store, with global shipping.
Full information, show notes and eventually a transcript on the webpage for this episode: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e95-96-bootleg-miners/

Acknowledgements

Thanks to our patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Jazz Hands, Jamison D. Saltsman, Fernando López Ojeda, Jeremy Cusimano and Nick Williams.
Produced and edited by Tyler Hill
Episode graphic: Bootleg miners. Courtesy Jack Delano/Library of Congress
Our theme tune is Bella Ciao, thanks for permission to use it from Dischi del Sole. You can purchase it here or stream it here.

E94: [TEASER] E94: Radical Reads w/ Jasper Bernes – ‘If We Burn’ Nov 13, 2024

Show notes

This is a teaser preview of our first Radical Read, made exclusively for our supporters on patreon. You can listen to the full 68-minute episode without ads and support our work at https://www.patreon.com/posts/e94-radical-w-if-113750155
First of our new series, Radical Reads, in which we team up with Jasper Bernes to discuss Vincent Bevins’ 2023 book, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution.
Welcome to ‘Radical Reads’, the second of our two new series of Patreon-only content.In Radical Reads, we hope to discuss political texts – both old and new – that have either influenced us here at WCH, or texts that we generally think that people involved in radical and working-class movements should be engaging with, discussing, and using to inform their activism.
Our Radical Read for this episode is Vincent Bevins’ If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution, which we discuss with Jasper Bernes, author of an excellent article in the Brooklyn Rail, ‘What Was To Be Done? Protest and Revolution in the 2010s’. It’s a review and critique book and when we read Jasper’s article we felt that it really put into words some of the thoughts we had about Bevins’ work.In our conversation with Jasper, we covered not only what we see as some of the main issues with Bevins’ book, but also broader questions around social movements, revolution, the threat of cooptation, and what it means to win. And as Jasper says, understanding what we can learn from the movements of the 2010s is one of the most important questions we can be thinking about right now. In that sense, then, If We Burn is a valuable contribution in starting that conversation, even if we have some disagreements with its conclusions.
Listen to the full episode here:

E94: Radical Reads w/ Jasper Bernes – ‘If We Burn’ – Available exclusively for our Patreon supporters

More information

Read Jasper’s article: ‘What Was To Be Done? Protest and Revolution in the 2010s’
Buy Vincent Bevins’ book: If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution

Acknowledgements

Thanks to our patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Jazz Hands, Jamison D. Saltsman, Fernando López Ojeda and Jeremy Cusimano.
Edited by Tyler Hill
Our theme tune is Montaigne’s version of the classic labour movement anthem, ‘Bread and Roses’, performed by Montaigne and Nick Harriott, and mixed by Wave Racer. Download the song here, with all proceeds going to Medical Aid for Palestinians. More from Montaigne: website, Instagram, YouTube.

Full information and show notes at https://www.patreon.com/posts/e94-radical-w-if-113750155

WCL9: Chinese migrant worker poetry, part 3 Oct 24, 2024

Show notes

The final episode of our three-part series about migrant worker poetry in China. We speak to Maghiel van Crevel, Professor of Chinese Language and Literature at Leiden University. Maghiel has travelled extensively in China, meeting with and writing about the work of Chinese migrant worker poets.
In this episode, we look at questions of censorship in China and the importance of unofficial publications for the spread of migrant worker poetry (not to mention the wider Chinese poetry scene as well). We also discuss how some working-class writers come to be left out of what is considered 'working-class writing' with a specific look at the work of gay migrant worker poet, Mu Cao.
Full show notes including sources, further reading, photos, films and eventually a transcript are here on our website: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/wcl-7-9-chinese-migrant-worker-poetry/
Acknowledgements

As always, huge thanks to our patreon supporters who make this podcast possible. A special thanks to Jamison D. Saltsman, Jazz Hands, Fernando Lopez Ojeda and Jeremy Cusimano.
Our theme tune for these episodes is ‘A Young Man from the Village’ by the New Labour Art Troupe, from the Migrant Worker Home. Stream it here.
This episode was produced by Jack Franco and edited by Jesse French.

WCL8: Chinese migrant worker poetry, part 2 Oct 17, 2024

Show notes

Part 2 of our three-part series about migrant worker poetry in China. We speak to Maghiel van Crevel, Professor of Chinese Language and Literature at Leiden University. Maghiel has travelled extensively in China, meeting with and writing about the work of Chinese migrant worker poets.
In this episode, we look at the work of the Migrant Worker Home, a self-organised space run by and for migrant workers on the outskirts of Beijing, which taught migrant workers about their rights, hosted a museum, and ran literary and cultural groups, until they were evicted last year. We also look at two more migrant worker poets, including Xu Lizhi, whose suicide in 2014 propelled him to global fame.
Full show notes including sources, further reading, photos, films and eventually a transcript are here on our website: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/wcl-7-9-chinese-migrant-worker-poetry/
Acknowledgements

As always, huge thanks to our patreon supporters who make this podcast possible. A special thanks to Jamison D. Saltsman, Jazz Hands, Fernando Lopez Ojeda and Jeremy Cusimano.
Our theme tune for these episodes is ‘A Young Man from the Village’ by the New Labour Art Troupe, from the Migrant Worker Home. Stream it here.
This episode was produced by Jack Franco and edited by Jesse French.

WCL7: Chinese migrant worker poetry, part 1 Oct 10, 2024

Show notes

First of the three-part series on migrant worker poetry in China. In these episodes, we speak to Maghiel van Crevel, Professor of Chinese Language and Literature at Leiden University. Maghiel has travelled extensively in China meeting with and writing about the work of Chinese migrant worker poets.
In this episode, we discuss the concept of the 'migrant worker' in China, and how it relates to the internal hukou system and China's relationship to global capitalism. We also discuss what we mean by 'migrant worker/migrant worker poetry' in relation to the Chinese words dagong and dagong shige. We also look at two migrant worker poets, Wu Xia and Zheng Xiaoqiong.
Full show notes including sources, further reading, photos, films and eventually a transcript are here on our website: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/wcl-7-9-chinese-migrant-worker-poetry/
Acknowledgements

As always, huge thanks to our patreon supporters who make this podcast possible. A special thanks to Jamison D. Saltsman, Jazz Hands, Fernando Lopez Ojeda and Jeremy Cusimano.
Our theme tune for these episodes is ‘A Young Man from the Village’ by the New Labour Art Troupe, from the Migrant Worker Home. Stream it here.
This episode was produced by Jack Franco and edited by Jesse French.

E92: South Korea 1987, part 2 Sep 24, 2024

Show notes

Second of a double podcast episode about the South Korean movements of 1987 which overthrew the US-backed military dictatorship and won big improvements for workers. In these episodes we speak with Kim Jin-sook and Hong Seung Ha about their experiences of the June Democratic Struggle, and the Great Workers’ Struggle which immediately followed it.
Our podcast is brought to you by our patreon supporters. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes, ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, free and discounted merchandise and other content. Join us or find out more at patreon.com/workingclasshistory
Part 2 covers the Great Workers’ Struggle, the massive strike wave, the first elections after the fall of the dictatorship, and its legacy today.
More information

E53-56: The Gwangju uprising – WCH podcast about the 1980 uprising in Gwangju which preceded these movements.
E51: Jeon Tae-il and Lee So-sun – WCH podcast about the organising of textile workers and the general historical background to South Korean history in the 20th-century.
Timeline of South Korean history.
Webpage for this episode with sources, full show notes, and transcripts.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to our patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Jazz Hands, Jamison D. Saltsman, Fernando López Ojeda and Jeremy Cusimano.
Thanks also to the following people and groups for additional assistance with these episodes: Hwang Jeongeun and Steven, of the International Strategy Centre, Kwon Beomchul, Angela Lee, Kap Su Seol, Hwang Yi-ra, and Loren Goldner.
Learn more about the International Strategy Centre at https://www.goisc.org/home
Photograph used in episode graphic courtesy 『세계는 서울로, 서울은 세계로: 1984-1988』(2019) (The World to Seoul, Seoul to the World: 1984-1988) by 서울역사아카이브 (Seoul History Archive)/Wikimedia Commons
Music used in this episode under fair use was “Marching For the Beloved” by Baek Ki-wan, Hwang Seok-young and Kim Jong-ryul.
This episode was edited by Jesse French.

E91: South Korea 1987, part 1 Sep 13, 2024

Show notes

First of a double podcast episode about the South Korean movements of 1987 which overthrew the US-backed military dictatorship and won big improvements for workers. In these episodes we speak with Kim Jin-sook and Hong Seung Ha about their experiences of the June Democratic Struggle, and the Great Workers’ Struggle which immediately followed it.
Our podcast is brought to you by our patreon supporters. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes, ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, free and discounted merchandise and other content. Join us or find out more at patreon.com/workingclasshistory
Part 1 covers the June Democratic Struggle, the historical background, and how the movement began.
Listen to part 2 now by joining us on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/e92-south-korea-110947071
More information

E53-56: The Gwangju uprising – WCH podcast about the 1980 uprising in Gwangju which preceded these movements.
E51: Jeon Tae-il and Lee So-sun – WCH podcast about the organising of textile workers and the general historical background to South Korean history in the 20th-century.
Timeline of South Korean history.
Webpage for this episode with sources, full show notes, and transcripts.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to our patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Jazz Hands, Jamison D. Saltsman, Fernando López Ojeda and Jeremy Cusimano.
Thanks also to the following people and groups for additional assistance with these episodes: Hwang Jeongeun and Steven, of the International Strategy Centre, Kwon Beomchul, Angela Lee, Kap Su Seol, Hwang Yi-ra, and Loren Goldner.
Learn more about the International Strategy Centre at https://www.goisc.org/home
Photograph used in episode graphic courtesy 『세계는 서울로, 서울은 세계로: 1984-1988』(2019) (The World to Seoul, Seoul to the World: 1984-1988) by 서울역사아카이브 (Seoul History Archive)/Wikimedia Commons
Music used in this episode under fair use was “Marching For the Beloved” by Baek Ki-wan, Hwang Seok-young and Kim Jong-ryul.
This episode was edited by Jesse French.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected