From Alpha To Omega

This week we continue our reading of boss level Chapter 9: ’Republican Democracy’ and I lose the plot when it comes to Proportional Representation. This was, of course, recorded before the UK election, where Corbynism got hung drawn and quartered. Panelists: Lexi Dog Robot - Swampside Chats Sophie - Trans Trans Revolution

This week we continue our reading of boss level Chapter 9: ’Republican Democracy’ and talk all about the need to ditch bureaucratic centralism. Panelists: C Derick Varn - Pop The Left / Symptomatic Redness Kyle - General Intellect Unit Lexi Dog Robot - Swampside Chats Pouya - Machine Noise Expert Sophie - Trans Trans Revolution

This week we return to our reading of boss level Chapter 9: ’Republican Democracy’ and talk all about the importance of the international and the hurdles we face in building one. And umbilical cords... Panelists: C Derick Varn - Pop The Left / Symptomatic Redness Kyle - General Intellect Unit Lexi Dog Robot - Swampside Chats Pouya - Machine Noise Expert Sophie - Trans Trans Revolution

This week we have the third and final part of our discussion with fellow Emancipation Network comrade Grant from swampside, and his friend David Rylance on Gary Teeples excellent book: “Marx’s Critique of Politics’.

This week we have part two of the discussion with fellow Emancipation Network comrade Grant from Swampside Chats, and his friend David Rylance on Gary Teeples excellent book: “Marx’s Critique of Politics’. We leave the grey, post-industrial wasteland of Brexit behind, and dive deep into Marx's critique.

This week Grant from Swampside Chats and his friend David Rylance to the show to discuss Gary Teeples really brilliant book: “Marx’s Critique of Politics’. This is the first of a three parter, the last installment of which will be a patreon episode. Teeple’s book is really a Marxist tour de force in my opinion, and all good Marxists looking at the tawdry state of left politics today would do well to read it. We go off on a Brexit/UK Election tangent in this episode, but don’t worry, we return with great unfettered force to the main seam in the following parts.

This week my friend James returns to the show to talk about his experience of being a Labour member, Momentum canvasser, and radical marxist during the election. We also discuss our opinions on the fallout from the election, what were the strategic and tactical failings, and a return to Marx’s critique of politics. The articles mentioned are: The Ipsos Data: https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2019-12/general-election-2019-poll-aggregate-v8.pdf The Ashcroft Data: https://lordashcroftpolls.com/2019/12/how-britain-voted-and-why-my-2019-general-election-post-vote-poll/ The Datapraxis Data: https://www.dataprax.is/tory-landslide-progressives-split LSE Media Analysis: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/bbc-election-night-and-systemic-media-bias/ Loughborough University Centre for Research in Communication & Culture Reports: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/news-events/general-election/ These two journal articles, both published before the election, are helpful in terms of analysing the longer term sociological and class factors at play and contextualising what happened in the so-called ‘Red Wall’ seats: Brexit and the working class on Teesside: Moving beyond reductionism - Luke Telford, Jonathan Wistow: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0309816819873310 The class politics of prejudice: Brexit and the land of no‐hope and glory - Mckenzie: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1468-4446.12329 Edmund Griffiths in three parts - very good stuff: http://www.edmundgriffiths.com/greatleap.html http://www.edmundgriffiths.com/brexitwqwa.html http://www.edmundgriffiths.com/notmentioningwar.html Boffy in three parts - as ever - some keen insights: https://boffyblog.blogspot.com/2019/12/why-labour-lost.html https://boffyblog.blogspot.com/2019/12/healing-no-hope-part-1-of-2.html https://boffyblog.blogspot.com/2019/12/healing-no-hope-part-2-of-2.html The Lewis Baston piece that nuances the narrativised ‘Red Wall’: https://thecritic.co.uk/the-myth-of-the-red-wall/ Interesting analysis from Callum Cant: https://notesfrombelow.org/article/understanding-our-defeat Adam Ramsey in Open Democracy with a good overview: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/dont-blame-corbyn-or-brexit-labour-failed-to-fight-our-broken-politics/ Useful Graund piece from Aditya Chakrabortty: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/14/labour-meltdown-decades-govern-votes Chakrabortty also discussed many of the issues he highlights in his Graund piece at length just prior to the election with the comrades at Desolation Radio: https://soundcloud.com/desolationradio/assessing-corbynism-with-aditya-chakrabortty-chakrabortty Useful reflections from the Doorsteps of Bridgend, a seat that fell: https://medium.com/@DrDanEvans/reflections-from-the-doorstep-e4337513d909 Tietze on his anti-pol beat, as usual - some very perceptive stuff: https://left-flank.org/2019/12/13/anti-politics-the-last-gasp-of-british-labourism/ One of the clearest, most concise, and persuasive pieces articulating this position from Paul O’Connell: https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/why-we-lost-how-we-win Phil BC on the working class politics of Brexit: http://averypublicsociologist.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-working-class-politics-of-brexit.html Andy Beckett trying to positive spin it in the long view: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/19/left-labour-michael-foot-tony-blair

This week we continue our reading of boss level Chapter 9: ’Republican Democracy’ and get into the party form and how it applies to the Labour Party and first past the post electoral systems. Panelists: C Derick Varn - Pop The Left / Symptomatic Redness Kyle - General Intellect Unit Lexi Dog Robot - Swampside Chats Sophie - Trans Trans Revolution

This week more of boss level Chapter 9: ’Republican Democracy’. We argue about the concept of communist universal military training, self government of the localities, and the world of cybernetics. Panelists: C Derick Varn - Pop The Left / Symptomatic Redness Kyle - General Intellect Unit Lexi Dog Robot - Swampside Chats Sophie - Trans Trans Revolution

Join us as the Emancipation network crew join me to analyse the UK election post-fight shit-show. The MacNair stuff never seemed so relevant.... Panelists: Lexi Dog Robot - Swampside Chats Kyle - General Intellect Unit Shane - General Intellect Unit

This week more of boss level Chapter 9: ’Republican Democracy’. We argue about the concept of communist universal military training, self government of the localities, and the world of cybernetics. Panelists: C Derick Varn - Pop The Left / Symptomatic Redness Kyle - General Intellect Unit Lexi Dog Robot - Swampside Chats Sophie - Trans Trans Revolution

Today we continue with Chapter 9: ’Republican Democracy’, and talk about the ills of bureaucratic centralism. Panelists: Kyle - General Intellect Unit Lexi Dog Robot - Swampside Chats Pouya - Machine Noise Expert Sophie - Trans Trans Revolution

Today we finally start the boss level final chapter that is Chapter 9: ’Republican Democracy’, and descend into a long discussion on the merits of bourgeois liberties. Panelists: Kyle - General Intellect Unit Lexi Dog Robot - Swampside Chats Pouya - Lord of the Serfs Sophie - Trans Trans Revolution

This week we welcome Lawrence Parker to the show to discuss the Monty Johnstone 1967 pamphlet ‘Marx and Engels and the Concept of the Party’. We delve deep into the history of the Communist League, the 1st and 2nd Internationals, and Engels thoughts on a british labour party and the US scene. You can find the pamphlet here: https://www.marxists.org/archive/johnstone/1967/xx/me-party.htm

We have some more terrible abuse of the Trot-sect mania today as we eventually finish Chapter 8: ’Political Consciousness’. Hail to the death of the chapter which never ends. Panelists: Kyle - General Intellect Unit Lexi Dog Robot - Swampside Chats Pouya - Lord of the Serfs Sophie - Section 31 Commander