Episode 50: Marxism vs. Resurgent Tankieism (interview with László Molnárfi, in Ireland)

The co-hosts interview David Golumbia, author of The Politics of Bitcoin: Software as Right-Wing Extremism. They discuss cyber-libertarian ideology and how the rise of Bitcoin has made it mainstream. David argues that many supposedly non-ideological Bitcoin enthusiasts have been influenced by cyber-libertarianism. He and the co-hosts also discuss what Bitcoin is, whether it is money, whether it is decentralized, and blockchain technology. David fact-checks and theory-checks a good deal of the nonsense said about Bitcoin.

The episode’s current-events segment is on the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign’s statement of solidarity with the people of Ukraine against Russian imperialism.

Ep. 63: Bitcoin and Cyber-libertarianism—Interview with David Golumbia

Anne Jaclard of MHI and the co-hosts discuss the organization’s editorial, “Ukraine Fights for National Self-Determination Against Russian Imperialism.” Topics include: (1) the right of national self-determination; (2) Putin’s repudiation of this right to justify his imperialist invasion of Ukraine; (3) slaughter of Ukrainian civilians and displacement of millions; (4) opposition to the invasion within Ukraine, within Russia, and around the world; (5) “left” apologetics––blaming the US and NATO, support for a multi-polar capitalist order, and the effort to impose forced neutrality on Ukraine; (6) the nuclear threat; and (7) the relationship between Putinism and Trumpism. 

Current-events segment: “Unite the Left to Defend Ukraine,” an appeal by the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty.

RFH Ep.64 Ukraine Fights for National Self-Determination Against Russian Imperialism

Marxist-feminist author Rohini Hensman joins the co-hosts to discuss her recent article “Ukraine’s Protracted Struggle for National Liberation” as well as “pseudo-anti-imperialism” within the left. Hensman details the relation between Ukraine and Russia under Tsarist rule, the changes that occurred with the Bolshevik revolution, and then Stalin’s recolonization of Ukraine. She and the co-hosts then discuss the situation since the USSR collapsed––widespread support for independence throughout Ukraine despite US opposition; what the Putin regime hopes to achieve by invading Ukraine; and why attempts to appease it are futile. The discussion of pseudo-anti-imperialism takes up the one-sided stances of Noam Chomsky and his followers. 


Current-events segment: Recent centrist Democratic proposals (from William Galston & Elaine Kamarck, and from Stanley Greenberg) to save US democracy from Trumpism by placating swing voters. 


Radio Free Humanity is co-hosted by Brendan Cooney and Andrew Kliman, and sponsored by
Marxist-Humanist Initiative (https://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/ ).

RFH Ep. 65 Rohini Hensman on Ukraine’s Protracted Struggle for National Liberation

Brendan and Andrew discuss the Ukrainian fight for national self-determination, drawing lessons from V. I. Lenin’s responses to “imperialist economists” and Rosa Luxemburg, who all claimed that national self- determination is unachievable under imperialism. The co-hosts review what “imperialist economism” meant at that time and they discuss parallels today, including a new variant––campist imperialist economism. The issues discussed include: what “national self-determination” and its achievement mean; how it is achievable, even in the context of inter-imperialist conflict, as in Ukraine today; and how arguments that national self-determination is unachievable often misuse the axiomatic method. (Owing to the special nature of the above discussion, this episode does not include a distinct current-events segment.)

The next episode of Radio Free Humanity is scheduled to air starting on December 23, not December 16.

Radio Free Humanity is co-hosted by Brendan Cooney and Andrew Kliman, and sponsored by Marxist-Humanist Initiative (https://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/ ).

RFH Ep. 82 National Self Determination

The co-hosts and Gabriel Donnelly (himself a young labor activist) interview Felix Allen, lead organizer and president of Lowe’s Workers United, the newly-formed independent union at a Lowe’s home-improvement store in New Orleans. Felix discusses the situation at the Lowe’s store—pay, hours, working conditions that impelled him and his co-workers to organize, and he explains why they decided to form an independent union. He discusses recent labor and anti-racist struggles that convinced him that a fight for union representation might succeed even in the deep South. He also tells the story of his union’s difficult fight for a union-representation election. He, Gabriel, and the co-hosts discuss the racial dimension of class struggles, and the class dimension of anti-racist struggles.

Plus current-events segment on the arrest of former NY FBI agent Charles McGonigal and what it reveals about collusion between Trump and Putin’s regime.

RFH Ep. 87 The New Independent Union Organizing - Lowes Workers

Scottish computer scientist Paul Cockshott and his devotees have frequently portrayed Marx as a proponent of their own “labor theory of value.” But a recent essay by “RV,” (https://paulcockshott.wordpress.com/2020/05/17/guest-post-pauls-theory-and-marxs-theory-of-value-a-response/) a young Belgian activist and theorist, has exposed sharp differences between Cockshott’s theory and Marx’s actual theory. In this interview, RV explains to the co-hosts what the differences are, why they are important, and what impelled him to push back against the efforts to “force Marx, at all costs, to hold” Cockshott’s theory. They also discuss RV’s suggestion that we should let these two different theories contend, to “see which one better stands the test of reality,” how Cockshott is likely to respond to this suggestion, and why RV rejects the “empirical evidence” that supposedly supports Cockshott’s theory.

In the current-events segment, the co-hosts discuss the calls to “defund the police” and proposals to reform policing in the US. Can policing indeed be reformed? If so, what reforms are possible?

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Radio Free Humanity is a podcast covering news, politics and philosophy from a Marxist-Humanist perspective. It is co-hosted by Brendan Cooney and Andrew Kliman. We intend to release new episodes every two weeks. Radio Free Humanity is sponsored by Marxist-Humanist Initiative (MHI), but the views expressed by the co-hosts and guests of Radio Free Humanity are their own. They do not necessarily reflect the views and positions of MHI.

We welcome and encourage listeners’ comments, posted on this episode’s page of the MHI website.

Please visit MHI’s website for information on philosophy & organization, Marxist-Humanist archives, and its online publication, “With Sober Senses”: https://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/

Cockshott versus Marx––Interview with “RV” -- Ep. 20

Owing to the leading role of African-Americans, Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign imploded, and now an uprising for Black lives and against police violence has swept the US and the world. The co-hosts lay out the case that these events have delivered body blows to the theory and strategy of Jacobin magazine and others on the anti-neoliberal “left,” consigning them to the Jaco-dustbin of history.

Brendan and Andrew argue that the recent upsurge constitutes mass repudiation of so-called “class-based”—economistic and color-blind––politics. They also argue that Sanders’ campaign imploded, not because of directives issued by Democratic Party bosses, but because voters, led by millions of Black “neoliberal shills,” wanted to end Democratic Party infighting in order to concentrate on removing Trump from office. And they discuss why it is so difficult for the anti-neoliberal “left” to learn from its repeated errors.

The discussion refers to works by Raya Dunayevskaya (American Civilization on Trial) (http://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/American-Civilization-on-Trial.pdf), Sydney Ember (New York Times) (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/19/us/politics/bernie-sanders-protests.html), Dustin Guastella (https://jacobinmag.com/2020/05/we-need-a-class-war-not-a-cultural-war), Tucker Carlson (https://video.foxnews.com/v/6161246981001#sp=show-clips), MHI’s 2018 Perspectives (https://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/mhieditorial/resisting-trumpist-reaction-and-left-accommodation-marxist-humanist-initiatives-perspectives-for-2018.html), Zack Beauchamp (Vox) (https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/4/10/21214970/bernie-sanders-2020-lost-class-socialism), Nathan J. Robinson (https://www.currentaffairs.org/2020/03/what-the-stakes-are), Matt Karp (https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/03/bernie-sanders-can-still-win-matt-karp-joe-biden-democrat), Edward-Isaac Dovere (The Atlantic) (https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/04/bernie-sanders-thinking-he-will-win-it-all-2020/587326/), Daniel Denvir (https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/06/donald-trump-war-american-democracy-riots-coronavirus), and Meagan Day (Vox interview by Sean Illing) (https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/16/21165201/bernie-sanders-joe-biden-2020-election-meagan-day).

In a related current-events segment, the co-hosts discuss the struggle to remove Confederate monuments and other symbols. Is a struggle over symbols always a merely symbolic struggle?


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Radio Free Humanity is a podcast covering news, politics and philosophy from a Marxist-Humanist perspective. It is co-hosted by Brendan Cooney and Andrew Kliman. We intend to release new episodes every two weeks. Radio Free Humanity is sponsored by Marxist-Humanist Initiative (MHI), but the views expressed by the co-hosts and guests of Radio Free Humanity are their own. They do not necessarily reflect the views and positions of MHI.

We welcome and encourage listeners’ comments, posted on this episode’s page of the MHI website.

Please visit MHI’s website for information on philosophy & organization, Marxist-Humanist archives, and its online publication, “With Sober Senses”:
https://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/

Consigned to the Jaco-dustbin of History -- Ep. 21

Brendan and Andrew interview Lesley Rimmel (https://history.okstate.edu/people/emeriti), a professor emerita of history at Oklahoma State University who specializes in the history of Russia under Stalin. Rimmel pushes back against the efforts by Grover Furr––a Maoist writer newly popular among pro-Stalinist (“tankie”) youth––to “normalize” and defend Stalin. She and the co-hosts discuss Stalin’s direct role in the mass repression campaign of the late 1930s––which Furr has characterized as a rogue anti-government operation!––as well as Furr’s contention that Stalin persistently attempted to “democratize the government of the Soviet Union.” The discussion then turns to considering Furr’s work, and young tankies’ embrace of it, as an instance of denialism, and to exploring how to fight this and other forms of denialism. 


During the discussion of the mass repression campaign, reference is made to the infamous 1937 Politburo order No. 00447. For further information, see: an image of its first page (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5e/NKVD_Order_No._00447.jpg/800px-NKVD_Order_No._00447.jpg); a Russian transcription of the order’s full text (https://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B7_%D0%9D%D0%9A%D0%92%D0%94_%D0%BE%D1%82_30.07.1937_%E2%84%96_00447); and historian Nicolas Werth’s account (https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/en/document/nkvd-mass-secret-operation-n-00447-august-1937-november-1938.html) of it. Elsewhere in the interview, reference is made to Rimmel’s doctoral dissertation (https://search.proquest.com/docview/304211519); to Furr’s book Khrushchev Lied (https://www.amazon.com/Khrushchev-Lied-Revelation-Khrushchevs-Communist/dp/061544105X) and his two-part (https://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/clogic/article/view/191861/188830) article alleging (https://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/clogic/article/view/191862/188831) that Stalin struggled for democratic reform; and to short pieces in which Deborah Lipstadt (https://www.threemonkeysonline.com/defending-history-deborah-e-lipstadt-and-holocaust-denial/) and Robert P. Crease (https://physicsworld.com/a/fighting-science-denial/) discuss denialism and how to fight it. 


Plus: current-events segment on how to de-Trumpify America after Trump. The co-hosts intervene in a discussion recently kicked off by John Feffer (http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176718/tomgram%3A_john_feffer%2C_the_de-trumpification_of_america_/) and Paul Rosenberg (https://www.salon.com/2020/08/01/on-the-de-trumpification-of-america-it-definitely-wont-be-easy-but-it-must-be-done/).

Combating Tankie Denialism: Specialist in Soviet History Rebuts Grover Furr--Ep. 24

Brendan and Andrew continue their dialogue with Patrick Murray, the noted value-form theorist. (The value-form paradigm is a Marx-inspired strand of political economy that focuses on the market.) Patrick responds to Andrew’s arguments that Marx’s views on the origin of profit, intra-firm trade, and the quantity theory of money presuppose that commodities’ prices are determined before they are sold. And, as in Part 1 (https://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/episode-25-dialogue-with-patrick-murray-on-the-value-form-paradigm-part-1), much of the discussion focuses on whether, in Marx’s theory, a commodity’s value is only potential before it is sold; whether “co-constitutive” value-form theory collapses into a more extreme version; and whether Marx held that the magnitude of a commodity’s value is determined exclusively by the amount of labor that is socially necessary to produce it. 


Throughout the discussion, frequent reference is made to: a published symposium (http://copejournal.com/critique-of-political-economy-vol-1/) on the value-form paradigm, in which Andrew (http://www.copejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/andrew-kliman-on-capitalism_s-historical-specificity-and-price-determination.pdf) and others criticized the paradigm, while Patrick (http://www.copejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/patrick-murray-avoiding-bad-abstractions.pdf) responded to them; Part 1 (https://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/episode-17-the-value-form-paradigm-vs-marxs-capital-part-1) and Part 2 (https://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/episode-18-the-value-form-paradigm-vs-marxs-capital-part-2) of the recent RFH discussion of “The Value-Form Paradigm vs. Marx’s ‘Capital’”; and Marx’s Capital, especially chapter 1 (https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch01.htm) and chapter 3 (https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch03.htm) of volume 1. 


Plus: current-events segment on our attitudes to the Democratic Party and Jill-Stein voters, in response to a listener’s comments.


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Radio Free Humanity is a podcast covering news, politics and philosophy from a Marxist-Humanist perspective. It is co-hosted by Brendan Cooney and Andrew Kliman. We intend to release new episodes every two weeks. Radio Free Humanity is sponsored by Marxist-Humanist Initiative (MHI), but the views expressed by the co-hosts and guests of Radio Free Humanity are their own. They do not necessarily reflect the views and positions of MHI.

We welcome and encourage listeners’ comments, posted on this episode’s page of the MHI website.

Please visit MHI’s website for information on philosophy & organization, Marxist-Humanist archives, and its online publication, “With Sober Senses”:
https://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/

Dialogue with Patrick Murray on the Value-Form Paradigm, Part 2 -- Ep. 26

Radio Free Humanity is a podcast covering news, politics and philosophy from a Marxist-Humanist perspective. It is co-hosted by Brendan Cooney and Andrew Kliman. We intend to release new episodes every two weeks. Radio Free Humanity is sponsored by Marxist-Humanist Initiative (https://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org), but the views expressed by the co-hosts and guests of Radio Free Humanity are their own. They do not necessarily reflect the views and positions of MHI.

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Combating Tankie Denialism: Specialist in Soviet History Rebuts Grover Furr--Ep. 24

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