AES: The Podcast ☭ Free Palestine!
@AESThePodcast
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Host of Actually Existing Socialism podcast () Co-Host of @Prolespod
Joined November 2021
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(Updated July 4, 2024)
Catalog for Actually Existing Socialism podcast!
If you want to learn about socialist countries without the anti-communist bias & from experts - I got 36 episodes so far on: China, DPRK, USSR, Laos, East Germany, Cuba, Poland, Ghana etc.
More to come!
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10 Things Liberals Don't Want You to Know About the Soviet Union (USSR)
A Thread 🧵
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1. The USSR won the space race despite no moon landing. All things that matter today for space tech (rovers, space stations etc.) they pioneered with significantly less resources. A listing of some of these achievements can be found below.
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2. The USSR was more likely to follow post WWII Allied agreements. Example: the Western capitalists prevented the peaceful unifications of Vietnam, Korea, and Germany. They did this because they feared these countries would become if not outright socialist, friendly to socialism.
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4. The 'threatening' example of USSR as a workers state forced elites in Western capitalist nations to concede more workers rights in the form of reduced work hours, health care, unions etc. leading to lower inequality. Since the end of the USSR this trend has been reversing fast
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3.The USSR implemented the 1st affirmative action programs for national minorities & women starting in 1920s. Recipients of the program in Central Asia were least likely to call for the dissolution of the Soviet Union - with 90%+ voting to preserve it in 1991 referendum.
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6. The USSR played the MAIN role in ending the global smallpox epidemic. Despite US attempts to block the effort the Soviet Union pushed WHO nations to collaborate. The USSR donated 80% of the vaccines used in the global eradication campaign.
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10. The USSR defeated fascism almost single handedly being responsible for 80% of Nazi casualties. This unfortunately also meant they took the brunt of casualties themselves losing over 25 million citizens in the successful war effort.
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9. A collaborative education project between US/USSR historians in the 1980s reviewed both of their nations textbooks and concluded that Soviet history textbooks were more accurate than American history textbooks.
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You wouldn't know it from following Western MSM but the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea) in their latest election held on November 26, 2023 introduced some electoral forms.
Here's a quick primer on the DPRK election process and the new changes.
A Thread🧵
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7. The USSR provided material and logistical support to anti-colonial movements around the world. Notably they assisted the struggle against southern African apartheid while the white supremacist apartheid nations were supported by the US and much of Western Europe.
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8. In case of nuclear war, the US govt only created bunkers and shelters for the wealthy elites and government officials. In the USSR, bunkers shelters were made to house a substantial section of the general population in case of the unthinkable. People over profits.
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5. In 1920, the USSR was the first country to legalize abortion. One of many socialist feminist laws it passed decades before the West. Despite the terrible return of the abortion ban from 1933-1955 women still had access to robust state sponsored programs for child rearing.
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Learn more about the USSR and other socialist countries (Laos, Cuba, North Korea and more!) by checking out the Actually Existing Socialism podcast available everywhere and linked below.
Podcast Link:
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Book Recommendations based on published books of guests on "Actually Exsiting Socialism" podcast:
A thread (1/3)
@Huck1995
@agent_of_change
@iskrabooks
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THREAD SOURCES & EPISODE RECOMMENDATIONS
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Interested in learning about lesser known socialist countries without the anti-communist bias and from people who know what they're talking about? Check out the following episodes of the podcast Actually Existing Socialism.
- Laos: The Revolutionary Origins of the Forgotten
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I thought socialist countries "always fail" because their inherent inability to produce quality consumer goods, innovate, or compete🤔
"China is now simply too large..."
Addressing a news conference in Beijing, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen decries Chinese "industrial overcapacity,” reflecting anxiety that China is outpacing the US in the development of green technology.
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@nukedwest
I did an episode of this on my podcast featuring scholar Gerald Horne talking about the armed struggle to end Apartheid.
"How Cuba, the USSR, and East Germany Ended Apartheid"
Episode Link:
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In celebration of International Women's Day here's a thread on the women who have carried this podcast over the past 2 years by educating and inspiring myself and you all by teaching us about the history and present day reality of socialist countries.
A thread 🧵
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Our Modern Chinese History 4-part series:
1). Taiping & Boxer Rebellions-
2). Chinese Revolution & Civil War-
3). Great Leap Forward & Cultural Revolution-
4). Deng Reform Period-
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Proles of the Roundtable (
@prolespod
) is coming back!!! What was the most standout or meaningful episode of the "original" run to you?
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Listeners of
@AESthepodcast
will be familiar with the typical socialist democracy that has emerged in AES countries (USSR, Cuba, China etc.) where elections occur at the local level for representatives (deputies) who will in turn vote for representatives at higher levels of govt
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I interviewed Horne about White Supremacy Confronted and admitted to him I hadn't finished reading it yet. Chuckling, he responded, "Me neither."
"How Cuba, the USSR, and East Germany Ended Apartheid w/ Gerald Horne"
Episode Link:
I did not expect these books to be so thick lol. The top one is thicker than Capital 😭
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The single candidate ballot is a ratification of the screen process' outcome.The historical roots of this process go back to the early days of the DPRK. Anna Louise Strong in"In North Korea: First Eye-Witness Report" recounted Korean perspectives of the single candidate ballot.
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27,858 workers, peasants, intellectuals, and officials were elected as deputies to provincial, city, and county people's assemblies on November 26, 2023 under this new law. The national election upcoming in March 2024 will be the first national election under it.
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Looking forward to free speech advocates teaching the controversy on this.
They can feel free to use this podcast (Actually Existing Socialism) to help present the counter narrative to their anti-communism.
Something something marketplace of ideas - amirite?
A Thread 🧵
"HISTORY OF COMMUNISM": Florida's schoolchildren will soon take lessons on the history of communism to counteract alleged indoctrination at colleges and universities, according to DeSantis. STORY:
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The August 2023 electoral reform now allows for multiple candidates to be voted on in a district - prior to the final single candidate vote. Essentially a primary/preliminary vote has been instituted. This will only deepen DPRK's burgeoning socialist democracy.
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The reality is that candidates go through a nomination & screening process led by Election Committees. These committees consist of representatives from the ruling Korean Workers Party, Peoples Committees, security agencies, and the local community.
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Happy to announce I'll be joining
@ProlesPod
as a co-host. We've been recording for the past few months. Some really great episodes on the way!
Actually Existing Socialism will still be continuing as a separate project. A new episode on travel to North Korea drops tomorrow!
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The DPRK is similar. It operates under a "one-party" system with minor subordinate parties which include the Korean Social Democrat Party (flag below) and the Chondoist Chongu Party who in total hold roughly 10% of seats in the Supreme People's Assembly -the highest state organ.
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The most controversial aspect of their electoral system are the single candidate elections. The impression given in Western MSM is that the ruling Workers Party pre-selects candidates without popular consultation. Thus facilitating "sham elections". This is not the case.
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Just finished season 4 of
@blowbackpod
and that ending hit me harder than the end of Oppenheimer. Masterpiece.
Best narrative podcast out there to learn about the origins & impacts of US imperialism. Each season better than the last.
Subscribe! Listen! Repeat! Ouroboros!
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Want to learn more about socialist countries from people who know what they're talking about?
Here's is an episode breakdown of the "Actually Existing Socialism" podcast by country focus.
Countries covered: Laos, Cuba, East Germany, North Korea, USSR, Ghana, China, and more!
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Incredible development! If you are wondering why China is so engaged with Palestinian liberation, it's a solidarity that goes back to the Mao era. To learn more check out:
"China & Palestine: A Revolutionary Solidarity w/
@qiaocollective
"
Episode Link:
🚨🇵🇸 "The Beijing Declaration to End Palestinian National Division: To unify national efforts to confront aggression and stop the genocide war."
The following was agreed upon by 14 Palestinian factions at the end of the reconciliation meeting in Beijing, China today, including
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Kim Jong Un attending high school is apparently something creepy🤔
Kim Jong Un attending a Swiss high school under the name "Pak-un" in the 90s.
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On March 5, 1953 Joseph Stalin died - ending a monumental era of the USSR - the world's first socialist sate.
To learn more about the Stalin Era of the Soviet Union checkout the following episodes of the podcast. Featuring awesome guests such as
@Huck1995
and several others!
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🚨Upcoming episodes 🚨
Make sure you're subscribed wherever you get your podcasts to be notified when they get released!
March 12: How to Visit North Korea
March 19: Class Based Affirmative Action in Socialist Poland
March 26: The American Ambassador Who Supported Stalin
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Every day I hear of someone who is surprised to learn that Proles of the Round Table (
@ProlesPod
) is back after a 4 year hiatus.
To help spread the word, here is a thread of all the new episodes thus far that you can listen too. Don't forget to subscribe!
A thread 🧵
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The reason we have retirement, pensions, social security is because German socialists in the 1880s pressured Otto Von Bismarck - with the threat of revolution - into granting these concessions.
It turns out Shabibo is further to the right than 19th century landowning nobility.
Ben Shapiro on Medicare and Social Security: "No one in the United States should be retiring at 65 years old. Frankly, I think retirement itself is a stupid idea unless you have some sort of health problem."
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Thanks
@YaBoiHakim
for the shoutout in the best debunking of Molotov-Ribbentrop online!
Make sure you check out this episode of
@AESThePodcast
after watching it.
"How Stalin Tried to Prevent World War II w/ Michael Jabara Carley"
Episode Link:
Let's take a look at the plentiful nonsense about some mythical "Hitler-Stalin pact"! Historical nuance is important, and unsurprisingly the common narrative is either entirely wrong at worst, or a half-truth at best. Don't miss the addendums:
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If you're looking for socialist discourse to occupy the mind check out these podcasts I was on this month.
"China & Palestine: A Revolutionary Solidarity"
"Remembering Soviet Georgia's Healthcare" (
@AESThePodcast
)
"SCAMLO"
"X-Men 97: A Marxist Perspective"
(
@Prolespod
)
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🚨NEW EPISODE🚨
"Understanding Siege Socialism w/
@GabrielRockhill
"
Using historical materialism and dialectics to position this controversial topic for the Western left - Gabriel walks us through the nuances of socialist construction.
Episode Link:
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@pawelwargan
… I actually had a discussion with the man behind this map, Victor Grossman. Grossman was an American communist who defected to East Germany in the 1950s. Check it out!
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Book Recommendations based on published books of guests on "Actually Exsiting Socialism" podcast:
A thread (2/3)
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Welcome new comrades! More🧵's coming!🫡
Check out podcast if you haven't yet. Special episode dropping soon with a 🇰🇵 Korean guest.
Countries covered so far with wonderful &🤓guests include:
East Germany
Czechoslovakia
Cuba
Laos
North Korea
USSR
Ghana
Some Links Below
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Updated Episode Catalog for Actually Existing Socialism podcast (up to May 1, 2024)
If you want to learn about socialist countries without the anti-communist bias from experts - I got episodes so far on: China, North Korea, USSR, Laos, East Germany, etc. with more to come!
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There is no generation that was more deliberately miseducated AND willfully ignorant about the history of world than [white] Cold War boomers raised in the West.
Hillary Clinton criticizes pro-Palestinian protests and says many young people she’s spoken to “don't know very much at all about the history of the Middle East or, frankly, about history in many areas of the world.”
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@deep_beige
@blowbackpod
@nkulw
For those wanting to learn more about the socialist nation of Laos, which was also devastated in the same American bombing campaign, check out this episode of the Actually Existing Socialism podcast.
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🚨NEW EPISODE 🚨
"Indigenous & Soviet: Diamonds of Sakha w/
@apples1eater
(
@ziibiinglab
)"
Celebrate Indigenous History Month by learning about the Sakha people's complex experience of the Soviet Union and now the Russian Federation.
Episode Link:
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@ScottishCommie
Adding to your podcast recommends. Here is my show, "Actually Existing Socialism" which focuses on learning about socialist countries from those with first hand and/or extensive knowledge.
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🚨New Episode 🚨
@Huck1995
(
@guerilla_pod
) and Salvatore Di-Engel Mauro join the show to talk about their new & freely available English translation of Domenico Losurdo's "Stalin: A History and Critique of Black Legend".
Episode Link:
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Book Recommendations based on published books of guests on "Actually Exsiting Socialism" podcast:
A thread (3/3)
@Steve__Paxton
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Below is a map published by journalist Victor Grossman in 1962 highlighting the "former" Nazi party influence in West German embassies 17 years after the fall of the Third Reich.
Denazification in the GDR was incredibly successful
Denazification in West Germany was non existent
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Can't wait for this episode!
@BeauDemayo
- Are the prime sentinels an allegory for how racism is used to divide the working class to the point some white working class (non-mutant humans) literally destroy themselves in the process of supporting opression?
Is
@elonmusk
Ironman? Are the
#xmen
a Vanguard Party, or a liberal paramilitary group? Would Professor X punch a Nazi? Our
#XMen97
episode drops Monday morning! Shoutout to
@BeauDemayo
for helping to make such an incredible show. Info about the contest, bonus ep, etc below 👇
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@Tori_TLCR
Did a whole episode of the podcast on this topic featuring
@alicirce
. Check it out!
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@CallaWalsh
: fierce internationalist, amazing writer, and eloquent advocate that has joined the show a couple times to talk about Cuba, socialist democracy, and most importantly - ways we all can engage in solidarity.
Episode Link:
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This 45 second video is my favorite type of anti-communist propaganda. It presents a negative economic outcome typical of capitalism as being a unique fatal flaw of socialism. Despite the opposite being true.
In this case: inequality.
A thread🧵 (with sources):
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@VicCapitalism
I had a conversation on the podcast with one of the foremost scholars on Soviet attempts to form a collective security agreement with France + UK against Hitler from 1933-1939. Check it out!
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🚨New Episode🚨
"The Subversion of East Germany (1945-1961)"
First new episode of
@ProlesPod
in 4 years!
Featuring yours truly leading the gang through capitalist attempts to subvert East Germany in the years prior to the Berlin Wall.
Episode Link:
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@jeff_kaye
I had the opportunity to speak at length with an anthropologist who has studied Laos socialism for decades. We cover the experiences of survivors and how the Laotian people built a new society from the ashes.
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🚨New Episode🚨
@CallaWalsh
(
@NNOCuba
) and Aeron (
@DefenseGeneral
) 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.
Episode Link:
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On this Victory Day, remember the Soviet efforts from 1933-1939 to ally with 🇬🇧 & 🇫🇷 against Hitler to prevent the war from happening!
You can learn more listening to:
"How Stalin Tried to Prevent World War II w/ Michael Jabara Carley"
Episode Link:
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🚨New Episode🚨
@alicirce
(
@RedSailsOrg
) explains how the USSR's "threat" of a good example forced Western capitalist elites to concede a multitude of the social reforms in the 20th century - reforms they are increasingly clawing back!
Episode Link:
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Humans without context is the perfect name for this account.
Context: 70 years ago the North was bombed so bad 20% of its population died and most infrastructure gone in a civil war instigated by massacres of leftists by puppet regime of Japanese/US collaborators in South.
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@Seamus_Malek
To learn more about the impact of the bombing particularly on the nation of Laos, where the Ho Chi Minh trail mostly runs through, check out this episode of my podcast.
"Laos: The Revolutionary Origins of the Forgotten Socialist Country"
Episode Link:
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@CallaWalsh
Getting arrested for PalestineAction and choosing to wear keffiyeh in Irish colors shortly after =LARPing😂
"Feeling" you are the reincarnation of Tiananmen protestors because friends suggested it AND also a reincarnated segregated Black person because...music good =REAL SHIT😎
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Henry Kissinger is dead and contrary to his will the socialist Lao People's Democratic Republic lives. To learn more about Lao's socialist struggle check out
"Laos: The Revolutionary Origins of the Forgotten Socialist Country w/ Holly High"
Episode Link:
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🚨New Episode🚨
"The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (1948-1990)w/ Julia Mead"
@JuliaKMead
joins the show to talk about the rise and fall of the often overshadowed and perplexing Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.
Episode Link (available everywhere):
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@seriations
I actually had a discussion with the man behind this map, Victor Grossman. Grossman was an American communist who defected to East Germany in the 1950s. Check out the discussion to learn more.
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🚨 New Episode 🚨
"The Propaganda War Against China" (
@agent_of_change
)"
We conclude our discussion on Carlos' new book "The East is Still Red", by breaking down some common anti-China rhetoric and looking at the future of China's socialist construction.
Episode Link:
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@LadyIzdihar
This reminded me of a paragraph from Kristen Ghodsee's "Red Valkyries: Feminist Lessons from Five Revolutionaries" in the chapter about famed Soviet sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko.
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🚨 New Episode 🚨
"Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic 101: Pre-History to World War II w/
@IskoLat
"
The most important episode thus far in terms of increasing accessibility of socialist history in English.
Please listen, learn and share✊🏾
Episode Link:
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@JYforeal
If you aren't already aware of Micheal J. Carley's work on Stalin's attempts to prevent World War II here's a discussion I had with him.
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To learn more about Latvia's history I recommend checking out the 2 episodes I did with
@IskoLat
. The first part is linked below.
"Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic 101: Pre-history to World War II"
Episode Link:
”I’m Hitler’s citizen.” – Hundreds of fascists in Latvia's capital commemorated the Latvian SS Volunteer Legion, which fought against the Red Army on the Eastern Front during WWII, under the command of Nazi Germany. The Waffen-SS branch was established by direct orders from Adolf
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@jeff_kaye
I had the chance to speak with historian Michael J. Carley who is an expert on the Soviet attempts to form an anti-Hitler coalition between 1936-1939. He thoroughly debunks this anti-communist BS. You can check it out here!
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For Asian Heritage Month - here's a thread🧵of
@AESthepodcast
episodes covering Asian communist states ☭
---
"China & Palestine: A Revolutionary Solidarity w/
@qiaocollective
"
Charles gives us the history of a revolutionary solidarity.
Episode Link:
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@alicirce
: Scientist, writer + has one of the most educational twitter feeds around. In her episode Alice breaks down how the Soviet's threat of a good example helped force Western elites make concessions they wouldn't have made otherwise.
Episode:
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@DoomerPoster
Check out my podcast to get a view of Stalin that isn't compromised by virulent anti-communism. I've done multiple episodes covering the Stalin Era.
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🚨New Episode🚨
"Class Based Affirmative Action in Socialist Poland w/ Agata Zysiak"
Covering the successes/failures of class based affirmative action in favor of peasants + workers in the Polish People's Republic's university system.
Episode Link:
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25
Knowing history is vital.
The term totalitarian in the post World War II era was used to discredit socialists by lumping them in with fascists to justify Cold War.
There has been no greater enemy to fascism than socialism. And no greater ally to fascism than liberalism.
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@fjql_555
For english media I suggest podcast
@blowbackpod
season 3,
@BenWestonDPRK
's youtube channel "DPRK Explained". In terms of
@DefendKorea
and
@nodutdol
are excellent. I also will use lib sources, but the trick is to read them with a critical socialist lense.
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@NotPotBol
@BenWestonDPRK
's work is great. If you want to learn more about the project from the man himself - check out this discussion I had with him below.
Episode Link:
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🚨 New Episode 🚨
"How China Avoided The Soviet Union's Fate w/ Carlos Martinez (
@agent_of_change
)"
We discuss Carlos' new book on China, "The East is Still Red", by first tackling why socialist China remains but the Soviet Union doesn't.
Episode Link:
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Ironically, this is how 20th-century socialist countries are often falsely portrayed.
The thing is, these socialist countries still had guaranteed education, employment, healthcare, and housing for the civily disobedient.
The USA does not.
The state is telling us: fall in line or face social murder. They will beat you, arrest you, suspend you, rescind your degree, blacklist you from employment, all for standing against genocide.
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🚨New Episode🚨
"The American Ambassador Who Supported Stalin w/ Dominique Petit-Wagner"
We cover the remarkable support Ambassador Davies and a few American journalists had for Stalin's socialist realist vision of the Soviet Union.
Episode Link:
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Students can analyze the positive impacts the Soviet Union's existence had on progressing civil rights, labor rights, healthcare, and scientific advancement. (
@alicirce
)
Episode Link:
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Students could explore the true nature of democracy experienced in the USA and Cuba using healthcare and reproductive rights, both things of great concern to Americans, as focuses (
@CallaWalsh
)
Episode Link:
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@Huck1995
of (
@guerrilla_pod
) and Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro dismantle "black legends" about Stalin as they discuss their new translation of Losurdo's Stalin: History and Critique of a Black Legend, which is free to download via
@iskrabooks
.
Episode Link:
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@alicirce
Spies on the USA's atom bomb development (like Ted Hall) that gave intel to Soviets were afraid the US unchallenged militarily would become "another" Nazi Germany. Which makes total sense given the US was an inspiration for the Nazis.
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I had the wonderful experience of being interviewed on
@RevLeftRadio
. Thanks Breht!
I was joined by fellow
@Prolespod
co-hosts, Jeremy and Rae, for it.
Check it out!
Episode Link:
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Holly High: Excellent anthropologist with years of field experience in Laos which has included experiencing it's socialist democracy first hand and speaking with revolutionary Laotians who've kept this socialist experiment alive.
Episode Link:
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Students can compare and contrast the experience of Indigenous Peoples in North America and the Soviet Union.
Episode Link:
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Students can learn about the great genocidal lengths the US will go to maintain Freedom and Democracy ™️ at home and in...Laos.
Episode Link:
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Samantha Lomb: First person I interviewed for the show. I was so nervous but she was so kind and encouraging! Samantha is a scholar with deep knowledge of soviet archives and the Stalin era, particularly the Stalin Constitution.
Episode Link:
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