This week Jack and Dan read some blooming Bookchin. An anarchist! And a shockingly prophetic one at that. The boys ask, is mankind a part of nature or does it stand apart from it? What constitutes an ecological system and in what ways are social systems analogous to ecological ones? What is going on in the syphilis addled brains of the British aristocracy? Also the lads are now firmly committed to the no dig revolution which one suspects is largely because it accords with their generally lazy disposition. Reading: The Ecology of Freedom, Chapter 1. Social Ecology by Murray Bookchin (1982)

21. Social Ecology │ Murray Bookchin

This week our rotund podcast hosts kick back, watch a movie, and try to answer that question that has been haunting humanity since the early-1940s: was Robert McNamara cringe?

The answer is yes. So strap in as the lads take a look at documentary-guy Errol Morris' 2003 classic "The Fog of War". The movie profiles McNamara as he goes from common Irishman to rare Irishman in his long career as war criminal and professional Numbers Guy. If only he had been born in a baseball town...he may have invented sabermetrics five decades early instead of using his gifts to kill as many people as possible. Makes you wonder about Szymborski.....

Watching: "The Fog of War" by Errol Morris (2003).

27. Robert McNamara - The Fog of War | Errol Morris (Bad Man Trilogy Pt 1)

Well folks, we’ve been teasing it long enough…today your large beautiful boys are reading THE BOOK.

In an attempt to answer the questions “What is a conspiracy theory?”, “What happened to all the Nazis?” and “How did we get into this mess?” Dan and Jack are taking a look at The Devil’s Chessboard - a “biography” of the early CIA.

Everyone has that friend on the left that’s a little bit too into conspiracy theories (cough, jack, cough), but this week, your lionhearted podcast hosts are going to separate the wheat from the chaff and find out what’s crazy, and what’s not so crazy. Can this history be any use to us on the left? Is everything bad in the world simply CIA? Is Dan CIA? Is Jack CIA? Are YOU CIA? Don’t be so sure.

So join us in the first part of this journey as we tell you all about how the robber barons of the early 20th century managed to survive and indeed thrive in the post-wwi world. 

This one goes long. Strap in.

Reading: The Devil’s Chessboard (2015), David Talbot

28. Nixon, Dulles & the CIA | The Devil's Chessboard - David Talbot Pt. 1

Yeah yeah this one SOUNDS boring but what if I told you we'll be covering...labor time calculation???

Alright that may also sound boring but if we want to be calling ourselves commies and running around calling for an end to capitalism we've got to have an idea of HOW our new world will function. And gosh darn it that is exactly what these people did with this here book. 

Ever wonder how production/distribution will operate without exploitation? What would an economy look like without coercion? Well it's all covered in this dang book and let me say...it's waaaaaay more simple than you might think. As our councilist friends would say...ABOLISH WAGE LABOR - WORK IS THE MEASURE OF CONSUMPTION!

This book effing rocks.

Reading - Chapters 1-4 of "Fundamental Principles of Communist Production and Distribution" by the Group of International Communists (1930?).

33. Organizing a Communist Economy | Fundamental Principles of Communist Production/Distribution Pt1

Holy guacamole the lads are at it again.

This book continues to impress as we dive into the second part of our Fundamental Principles reading series - this time covering a spectrum of topics ranging from why everyone left of the councilists are idiots to how we would consume life's necessities and luxuries under communism to why accounting and equal "wages" are absolute fundamentals. Not sure what else to say here other than that your portly and faithful podcast hosts have continued to have their eager minds blown. Let's go. This one's a good 'un.

Reading - Chapters 5-11 of "Fundamental Principles of Communist Production and Distribution" by the Group of International Communists (1930?).

35. Consumption Under Communism | Fundamental Principles of Communist Production/Distribution Pt. 2

The third and final part of our Emmy award winning Fundamental Principles of Communist Production and Distribution series HAS ARRIVED!

It's been a dang good read folks, and in this ep you'll hear our concluding thoughts on this whole communism thing, just how viable it is, how much faith we have in the general system of councils and what the Dictatorship of the Proletariat might actually look like. We also apologize for killing Donald Rumsfeld with our bad vibes and set that energy to work in other spheres of the American capitalist aristocracy.

Once again...this book rocks!!!

Reading - Chapters 12-17 of "Fundamental Principles of Communist Production and Distribution" by the Group of International Communists (1930?).

38. Implementation of Communism | Fundamental Principles of Communist Production/Distribution Pt. 3

This week we decided it was about time to have a gander at some history. Turns out, history is pretty brutal. 

Reading: Chapter 1 "Lust for Gold, Lust for Silver" from The Open Veins of Latin America (1971) by Eduardo Galeano.

50. Open Veins of Latin America | Eduardo Galeano

DISCORD: https://discord.gg/Ym8Bwmaz
LINKTREE: https://linktr.ee/AuxiliaryStatementsPodcast

This week Jack and Dan cover the first half of Anderson’s classic book on the transition to feudalism. They cover the rise of the slave mode of production in Antiquity from its initial emergence as a solution to class struggle in Greece to its peak during thee Roman Empire. Whilst this mode of production allowed the ancient states to reach stunning cultural heights it was also wracked with internal contradictions that would be its undoing. The eventual crisis was one of an under supply of slaves and whilst the eventual demise of Western Roman Empire was a protracted affair, when the invaders came, their fate was sealed by weaknesses stemming from the mode of production. According to Anderson a new synthesis developed over the next several centuries, a synthesis of two political economies in crisis and decay. It was the melding of Roman and Germanic ways of life that gave rise to the feudal mode of production.   

Reading - Part 1 - ''Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism'' (1974) by Perry Anderson

60. Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism Pt. 1 | Perry Anderson

DISCORD: discord.gg/bJtAEbFS  
LINKTREE: https://linktr.ee/AuxiliaryStatementsPodcast

Following up on their interview with June Reith a few weeks back, Jack and Dan decided for this show to take her advice and read Designing Freedom by business consultant and cybernetician Stafford Beer. First delivered as a series of radio lectures in 1973, designing freedom is a scathing critique of the principles of organisation that underlay contemporary social institutions and an impassioned appeal for change. Beer outlines how we might design a social system that, instead of ossification, decay and crisis, has freedom as its output.

The lads also endeavor to work out how these principles might contribute to how we understand the task of setting up a socialist society and also what effective socialist organisations would look like if they we influenced by Beerian cybernetics.

Text:
https://monoskop.org/images/e/e3/Beer_Stafford_Designing_Freedom.pdf

Audio:
https://archive.org/details/DesigningFreedom_CBC_Lectures

62. Designing Freedom│Stafford Beer

DISCORD: discord.gg/bJtAEbFS  
LINKTREE: https://linktr.ee/AuxiliaryStatementsPodcast

Reading, Endnotes 1 (2008) - Intro and Chapter 1
https://endnotes.org.uk/issues/1

64. When Insurrections Die │ Gilles Dauvé and Endnotes 1

DISCORD: https://discord.gg/wMYg8TWhWu (if this link don't work message us on twitter)
LINKTREE: linktr.ee/AuxiliaryStatementsPodcast

Today we tackle the complicated era of the reconstruction of the American South after the Civil War. What role did the control of a subjugated labor labor force play in a supposedly post-slavery South? What was the burgeoning industrial proletariat doing during all this? How can we finish reconstruction? All questions we at the very least, ask.

Reading: A Short History of Reconstruction (1990) by Eric Foner.

84. A Short History of Reconstruction | Eric Foner

Well it's probably about time we approached the question of what role the exploitation and appropriation of African labor both before and during colonization played in the development of capitalism. Turns out, it was quite a large one. 

Reading: Chapters 3-5 from How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972) by Walter Rodney

Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com

DISCORD: https://discord.gg/FAgdS9UD

98. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa | Walter Rodney

Well here it is, the episode no one asked for. A three hour plunge into the first section of Alan Moore's masterpiece Jerusalem.

Reading: Prelude "A Work in Progress" & Book One: The Boroughs from Jerusalem (2016) by Alan Moore

Chapter discussion timestamps:
Prelude - 12:03
A Host of Angles - 36:00
ASBOs of Desire - 50:48
Rough Sleepers - 1:14:10
X Marks the Spot - 1:32:56
Modern Times - 1:49:34
Blind, but Now I See - 1:59:50
Atlantis - 2:15:28
Do as You Darn Well Pleasey - 2:27:18
The Breeze That Plucks Her Apron - 2:38:47
Hark! The Glad Sound! - 2:52:28
Choking on a Tune - 3:01:05

Resources:
Jerusalem Annotated - https://alanmoorejerusalem.wordpress.com/alan-moore-annotations-index/
Matthew Kirshenblatt essays - http://sequart.org/magazine/64975/a-journey-through-alan-moores-jerusalem-work-in-progress/

Songs:
"And Did Those Feet In Ancient Time"
"Hark! The Glad Sound!"
"Amazing Grace"
"Do As You Darn Well Please-y"
"Whispering Grass (Don't Tell The Trees)"

Send a question, comment or concern to auxiliarystatements (at) gmail (dot) com
DISCORD: discord.gg/YkEg2Xad

I. Jerusalem - Prelude & Book One: The Boroughs | Alan Moore

In which recently departed podcast favorite Loren Goldner discusses the immense promises and successes of the anarchists in Spain, as well as their eventual (and perhaps inevitable) defeat.

Reading: "The Spanish revolution, past and future: grandeur and poverty of anarchism; how the working class takes over (or doesn't), then and now" from Revolution, Defeat & Theoretical Underdevelopment (2016) by Loren Goldner

Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com

DISCORD: https://discord.gg/BBFGvD89

110. The Spanish Revolution: The Grandeur & Poverty of Anarchism | Loren Goldner

Six months later, we come to the end.

Chapter discussion timestamps:
CLOUDS UNFOLD 8:26
A COLD AND FROSTY MORNING 16:57
ROUND THE BEND 33:53
BURNING GOLD 1:01:18
THE RAFTERS AND THE BEAMS 1:16:41
THE STEPS OF ALL SAINTS 1:38:01
EATING FLOWERS 1:54:30
CORNERED 2:14:35
THE ROOD IN THE WALL 2:27:01
THE JOLLY SMOKERS 2:39:04
GO SEE NOW THIS CURSED WOMAN 2:50:29
CHAIN OF OFFICE 3:06:19

Resources:
Jerusalem Annotated - alanmoorejerusalem.wordpress.com/alan-moo…s-index/
Matthew Kirshenblatt essays - sequart.org/magazine/64975/a-jo…m-work-in-progress/
Readers of Jerusalem - https://www.reddit.com/r/ReadersofJerusalem/
Round the Bend Translation - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-TC_xHcLM7LFW4WsNzC6dfuyBXQG-NX38Ok8qDdDvOU/edit?usp=sharing

Songs:
"And Did Those Feet In Ancient Time"
"You are my Asylum"

Reading: Book Three: Vernall's Inquest and Afterlude: Chain of Office from Jerusalem (2016) by Alan Moore

Send a question, comment or concern to auxiliarystatements (at) gmail (dot) com
DISCORD: https://discord.com/invite/yAzMehDV

III. Jerusalem - Book Three: Vernall's Inquest & Afterlude | Alan Moore

Lousy workers! Why won't you do industrial unionism?!

Reading: Riot. Strike. Riot by Joshua Clover

Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com

DISCORD: https://discord.gg/4zW4DsM9

122. Riot. Strike. Riot. | Joshua Clover

Well after a month of being locked out of our Soundcloud account we're finally back in our social democracy era.

Reading: Reform or Revolution? (1908) by Rosa Luxemburg

Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com

DISCORD: https://discord.gg/arZSSVw6

127. Reform or Revolution? | Rosa Luxemburg

Alright, this time we're really gonna figure out what dialectics is.

Reading: Dialectical Thinking and Science: The Case of Richard Lewontin, Dialectical Biologist (2020) by Pierfrancesco Biasetti

Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com

DISCORD: https://discord.gg/FUpZKFE3


130. Dialectical Thinking and Science | Pierfrancesco Biasetti

In which we regain our lost optimism.

Reading: Peace for our Time (2025) by Critisticuffs, The American Sulla (2025) by Edith Fischer and Notes on the War (2025) by Jack Conrad

Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com

DISCORD: https://discord.gg/273xScQK


132. Peace for our Time | Critisticuffs

Sure China has billionaires, a strictly enforced class system, State Owned Enterprises that are evaluated on stock market performance, private property, wage labor and commodity production but is it REALLY capitalism guys

Reading: Red Dust (2019) by Chuang.

Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com

DISCORD: https://discord.gg/Be6dQ6hv


133. Red Dust: The Transition to Capitalism in China | Chuang

You ever noticed that the 8 hour working day is like...................the same as school, man?

Reading: Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1968) by Paulo Freire

Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com

DISCORD: discord.gg/Be6dQ6hv


134.  Pedagogy of the Oppressed | Paulo Freire

In which brave Henry Heller saves the immortal science of Marxism from the unwarranted revisionism of W O K E political marxism.

Reading: "Bourgeois Revolution" from The Birth of Capitalism (2011) by Henry Heller

Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com

DISCORD: https://discord.gg/jgaCypmP

135. Bourgeois Revolution | Henry Heller

Turns out you need to do more than just read Murray Bookchin if you want to be friends with anarchists.

Reading: Towards a Marxist-Anarchist Solidarity (2023) by Michael Löwy, Olivier Besancenot & David Campbell

Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com

DISCORD: https://discord.gg/TNmaRX2k


136. Toward a Marxist-Anarchist Solidarity | Michael Löwy, Olivier Besancenot & David Campbell

In which we remember the good and sane bush years.

Watching: An Inconvenient Truth (2006), Davis Guggenheim & Al Gore

Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com

DISCORD: https://discord.gg/csqrrRRD


137. An Inconvenient Truth | Al Gore

We're back on our bs.

Reading: The Future of Revolution (2025) by Jasper Bernes

Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com

DISCORD: https://discord.gg/vhhSPuUq


138. The Future of Revolution | Jasper Bernes

In which we suss out this whole USSR thing.

Reading: Epitaph for the USSR: A clock without a spring (1998) by Christopher J Arthur

Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com

DISCORD: https://discord.gg/b3rcdKyS


139. Epitaph for the USSR: A clock without a spring | Christopher Arthur

In which we make an effort to read something other than dense Marxology.

Reading: An Agroecological Europe in 2050 (2018) by Xavier Poux & Pierre-Marie Aubert

Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com

DISCORD: https://discord.gg/7cKuDtBv


140. An Agroecological Europe in 2050 | Xavier Poux & Pierre-Marie Aubert

In which we try to get away from the ultra-left stuff but find it vindicated by history once again :c

Reading: Why the American Working Class is Different (1986) (from Prisoners of the American Dream) by Mike Davis

Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com

DISCORD: https://discord.gg/Mq5d85pV


141. Why the American Working Class is Different | Mike Davis

Say what you will about this podcast, we keep up with the culture, which is why we're watching a nearly 10 year old documentary on Trump, AI and collective politics.

Watching: Hypernormalisation (2016) by Adam Curtis

Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com

DISCORD: https://discord.gg/KXt8xrkZ


142. Hypernormalisation | Adam Curtis

Dan & Jack read the first chapter of an introductory book on Marxism and talk about roughly half of it. Special thanks to this week's guest, Ralph Miliband.

Reading: Marxism and Politics by Ralph Miliband (1977), Chapter II: Class and Class Conflict

1. Marxism and Politics, Pt. I - Class & Class Conflict | Ralph Miliband

Post-peasant commies Dan and Jack read over bits of theory each week in an effort to understand the worldwide state of socialism.

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