From Alpha To Omega

Episode 342: #228 Supply Chain Science

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 28 May 2026 07:34:21 +0000

This episode we discuss a new blog post series of Donal about the book Supply Chain Science by Wallace J. Hopp and the implications for socialist planning.

Donal's blog posts:
https://theofficeforcontroloverresults.wordpress.com/2026/04/19/book-review-wallace-j-hopps-supply-chain-science-part-1/
https://theofficeforcontroloverresults.wordpress.com/2026/04/19/book-review-wallace-j-hopps-supply-chain-science-part-2/
https://theofficeforcontroloverresults.wordpress.com/2026/04/19/book-review-wallace-j-hopps-supply-chain-science-part-3/

Book Project:
https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Episode 341: #227 Book Update w/ Donal

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 16:36:59 +0000

Yes, we are back with another book update! Donal and myself give the lowdown on our progress over the last year and bit. We go into the current state of the project and some glimpses at what to expect from the book.

Book Project: https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

Episode 340: #226 Chomsky's Descent w/ Chris Knight

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 20:43:22 +0000

This episode I am delighted to have Chris Knight back with us on the podcast, to talk about the fall and further fall of Noam Chomsky. Chris is an anthropologist and senior research fellow in the Department of Anthropology at University College London (UCL), the activist, prolific author, and a founding member of the amazing Radical Anthropology Group.

https://www.youtube.com/@radicalanthropology8305

Book Project: https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

Episode 339: #225 Socialism & Self Determination Theory w/ Ferdia O'Driscoll Part 2

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 13:48:28 +0000

This episode we have part two of our discussion with Ferdia O’Driscoll, the host of the ‘Bright Age Beyond’ youtube channel, about Self Determination Theory, and why it matters for socialism.

Bright Age Beyond: https://www.youtube.com/@BrightAgeBeyond

Book Project: https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

Episode 338: #224 Social & Self Determination Theory w/ Ferdia O'Driscoll Part 1

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 22 Nov 2025 20:14:39 +0000

This episode I’m delighted to welcome my friend and collaborator Ferdia O’Driscoll to the podcast for the first time. Ferdia is a radical socialist, host of the ‘Bright Age Beyond’ formerly the After the Oligarchy youtube channel. Ferdia is currently writing a book about Parecon with his co-author Anders Sandström, author of the book Anarchist accounting. Ferdia was one of the co-founders of INDEP, the International Network for Democratic Economic Planning, and together we organised last years panels at Historical Materialism. This is first of a two parter where Ferdia tells us all about Self Determination Theory, and why it matters for socialism.

https://www.youtube.com/@BrightAgeBeyond

Episode 337: #223 Red Flags w/ David Camfield

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 25 Oct 2025 17:02:37 +0000

This episode I’m delighted to welcome David Camfield podcast to talk about his recent book ‘Red Flags - A Reckoning With Communism For The Future Of The Left’. David is a professor in the Labour Studies Program and the Department of Sociology and Criminology, at the University of Manitoba. He is also the host of the radical left podcast Victors Children. Make sure to check it out.

The Book: https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/red-flags

The Podcast: https://soundcloud.com/user-737267994

Episode 336: #222 Unifying Marxism And Cybernetics Q&A

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 21 Sep 2025 10:42:27 +0000

Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

The Book Project:
https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

I answer your questions on the recent lecture I gave entitled 'Unifying Marxism and Cybernetics'

Episode 335: #221 Unifying Marxism & Cybernetics

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 11 Aug 2025 16:27:55 +0000

This is a re-recording of a talk I gave recently at the 'Complex Anarchism Symposium' in Brussels Belgium this May. I present some research from the book we are writing about socialist political economy and planning, where we unify the fields of Marx's value theory and cybernetics. We discuss the scientific implications for socialism, with the aim of synthesising Marxism and Anarchism thought.

If you want to see the slides, head on over to patreon to watch the video:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/unifying-marxism-136243120

You can also watch it on the youtube channel:

Enjoy!

PS - If you have any questions, please leave a comment on patreon, youtube, bluesky, or email me. I will be doing a Q&A video if there is enough demand.

Episode 334: #220 Is Capitalism Giving Birth To Socialism? w/ Paul S. Adler

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 19:12:22 +0000

https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

We continue our discussion with Paul S. Adler, this time about his 2019 book “The 99% Economy: How Democratic Socialism Can Overcome the Crises of Capitalism”. In particular we talk about how capitalist firms are helping to show us how democratically planning in socialism would work. We also discuss the impact of AI on the capitalist economy.

The 99% Economy: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-99-percent-economy-9780197656952?cc=gb&lang=en&

Episode 333: #219 Does Capitalism Deskill Workers? w/ Paul S. Adler

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 22:14:25 +0000

We interview Prof. Adler about his 1990 paper 'Marx, Machines, and Skill'.

This is part one. In part two we discuss his 2019 book "The 99% Economy: How Democratic Socialism Can Overcome The Crises of Capitalism".

Episode 332: #218 Going Into Labour w/ Anna Fielder - Part 2

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 13:38:10 +0000

This week we continue our conversation with Anna Fielder about her recent book ‘Going Into Labour: Childbirth in Capitalism’. Anna is a sociologist in the Midwifery Department, Auckland University of Technology and a former practicing midwife.

https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745349497/going-into-labour/

Book Project: https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

Episode 331: #217 Going Into Labour w/ Anna Fielder - Part 1

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 18:10:57 +0000

This episode I’m delighted to welcome Anna Fielder to the podcast to talk about her recent book ‘Going Into Labour: Childbirth in Capitalism’. Anna Fielder is a sociologist in the Midwifery Department, Auckland University of Technology and a former practicing midwife.

https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745349497/going-into-labour/

Book Project: https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

Episode 330: #216 The Vanguard Method w/ Roger Arevalo Part 2

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 12 May 2025 13:48:13 +0000

This we continue with our discussion with Roger Arevalo to the podcast to talk about the Vanguard method, the brainchild of the British management consultant John Seddon.

Next week i will be giving a talk at the innaugral Complex Anarchism Symposium in Brussels, about a unifying value theory and cybernetics. You can find out more about the event here:
https://clea.research.vub.be/complex-anarchism-symposium-19-23-may-2025-in-brussels

Book Project: https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

Episode 329: #215 The Vanguard Method w/ Roger Arevalo Part 1

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 01 May 2025 09:28:56 +0000

This episode we welcome Roger Arevalo to the podcast to talk about the Vanguard method, the brainchild of the British management consultant John Seddon. Roger is an admirer of the Vanguard Method and argues for its applicability for a socialist economy.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/FromAlpha2Omega
Book Project: https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Episode 328: #214 Marx Meets Lean w/ Matt Vidal - Part 2

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 14:03:46 +0000

This we continue with our discussion with Matt Vidal about his recent book Management Divided: Contradictions of Labor Management, a marxist analysis of Lean production.

Book Project: https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Episode 327: #213 Marx Meets Lean w/ Matt Vidal - Part 1

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 23 Mar 2025 19:09:42 +0000

This episode we welcome Matt Vidal to the podcast to talk about his recent book Management Divided: Contradictions of Labor Management, a marxist analysis of Lean production. Matt is a Reader in Sociology and Political Economy, in the Institute for International Management and Entrepreneurship at London's Loughborough University.

Management Divided: https://academic.oup.com/book/43073

Episode 326: #212 Cybernetic Socialism For The 21st Century: Q&A

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 17:27:14 +0000

This episode is a recording of a talk I recently gave to the Dutch marxist group ‘De Socialisten’ (https://socialisten.org/). The talk was titled ‘Cybernetic Socialism for the 21st Century’, and was in conjunction with INDEP, the International Network for Democratic Economic Planning (https://www.indep.network/).

Youtube Version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWgBdhQOvfs

Episode 325: #211 Cybernetic Socialism For The 21st Century

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 11:30:01 +0000

This episode is a recording of a talk I recently gave to the Dutch marxist group ‘De Socialisten’ (https://socialisten.org/). The talk was titled ‘Cybernetic Socialism for the 21st Century’, and was in conjunction with INDEP, the International Network for Democratic Economic Planning (https://www.indep.network/).

Slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1hkrjEdPUjNQht43i7QtWgrL0w_6aCzAb/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=104947114006179117811&rtpof=true&sd=true

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHDM775B0nI

Episode 324: #210 Book Update Livestream w/ Donal

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 14:11:08 +0000

We give a detailed update on our book progress, replete with Q&A from the chat.

https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

Episode 323: Book Update Today!

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 27 Oct 2024 11:08:32 +0000

Join us today @17:00 London Time, 1pm EST for a book update!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E63zMEeh6Tw

Episode 322: #209 The Toyota Production System - Part 2 w/ Donal

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 19 Oct 2024 15:37:09 +0000

This week we have part-two of our discussion with my co-author Donal O’Coisdealbha on the Toyota Production System, and its implications for socialism. You can find some of Donal’s writings on his blog called the office for control over results.

Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

Donals blog:
https://theofficeforcontroloverresults.wordpress.com/

Book Website:
https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Episode 321: #208 The Toyota Production System w/ Donal

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 19:00:00 +0000

This week we have the first of a two-parter with my co-author Donal O’Coisdealbha on the Toyota Production System, and its implications for socialism. Donal has recently started a blog for those interested in the TPS and such topics as statistical process control, control systems engineering, operations research and management science, called 'The Office For Control Over Results'. (https://theofficeforcontroloverresults.wordpress.com/).

If you’d like to find out more about the book and how you could help support us in the project, head on over to theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

Episode 320: #207 Solving Socialist Planning w/ Tomas Härdin

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 04 Jul 2024 19:16:22 +0000

This week we welcome Tomas Hardin to the show to talk about his thoughts on socialist planning. You can check out his blog “Tomas’ place in cyberspace” where he recently published a post on “Co-simulation and Feedforward Planning”. (https://www.xn--hrdin-gra.se/blog/2024/04/14/co-simulation-and-feedforward-planning/)

International Network for Democratic Economic Planning (INDEP): https://www.indep.network/

Book Project: https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

Episode 319: #206 Reflections on Socialism w/ Nick Rogers

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 07 May 2024 18:59:29 +0000

This week I am delighted to welcome Nick Rogers to the podcast to talk about his recent paper “Reflections on the Economics of Socialism” that he wrote for a recent special issue of the Journal of Global Faultlines.

Nicks Paper: https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.13169/jglobfaul.9.2.0138

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

Book Project: https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Episode 318: #032 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 26 Feb 2024 20:53:44 +0000

We finish our discussion of Chapter 9 - “Is the Precariat a Class''.

Da Slides:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1oNY1SPxFk0Xg-NndRJPh0l_cOWyLMOGY6rFhC0zGIyc/edit?usp=share_link

Book Project:

https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

Episode 317: #205 Book Update Livestream

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 19:14:55 +0000

Donal and I host a livestream where we talk all about the progress of our socialist planning book.

https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Episode 316: #204 The Twilight of Unionism w/ Geoffrey Bell - Part 2 TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 11 Dec 2023 19:56:40 +0000

We continue our discussion with Geoffrey Bell about his book ‘The Twilight of Unionism: Ulster and Future of Northern Ireland’.

Episode 315: #203 The Twilight of Unionism w/ Geoffrey Bell - Part 1

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 21:55:23 +0000

This week I am delighted to welcome Geoffrey Bell to the show, to discuss his book ‘The Twilight of Unionism: Ulster and Future of Northern Ireland’.

Book Project:
https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Episode 314: #202 Rivalry & Central Planning w/ Donal

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 13 Nov 2023 18:39:10 +0000

This week Donal and myself discuss a really excellent book we recently read on the socialist calculation debate. The book is called Rivalry and Central Planning, and is written by the Austrian economist Don Lavoie.

The Book Project:

https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

Episode 313: #201 From the Commodity to Communism w/ Peter Åström

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 19:00:25 +0000

We welcome Peter Åström to the podcast, to discuss an article he recently wrote for the Riff-Raff journal. Riff-raff describes itself as a ‘journal for a theoretical discussion of communism as a real movement’.

The article:

http://www.riff-raff.se/texts/en/the-commodity-and-communism

The book project:

https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Episode 312: #031 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 13 Sep 2023 18:20:16 +0000

We continue our discussion of Chapter 9 - “Is the Precariat a Class''.

Our socialist planning book project: theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com

Episode 311: #200 LL Men w/ Donal - Part 2 TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 12:00:00 +0000

We continue our discussion of LL Mens "The Capitalist Nature of the 'Socialist' Countries: A Politico-Economic Analysis"

Episode 310: #199 LL Men w/ Donal - Part 1

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 20 Aug 2023 19:06:05 +0000

Today Donal and myself discuss an amazing text by the little known Hong Kong based Left Communist L.L. Men.

You can download the text from libcom.org here:
https://libcom.org/article/ll-men-two-texts-defining-communist-programme

The self-publishing friendly version of the pdf:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jQYDzqw_dLIDYc1zt8B9tRdE-DvCXLsQ/view?usp=sharing

Book Project:
https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Episode 309: #030 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 06 Aug 2023 13:27:16 +0000

We start our discussion of Chapter 9 - “Is the Precariat a Class''.

Book Project: theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com.

The slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1oNY1SPxFk0Xg-NndRJPh0l_cOWyLMOGY6rFhC0zGIyc/edit?usp=share_link

Episode 308: #029 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 14:56:10 +0000

We continue our discussion of Chapter 8 - “The Death of Class Debate''.

Drunken Russian Miners: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgnmWYy-9ds&ab_channel=JustBenii

Socialist planning book: https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1oNY1SPxFk0Xg-NndRJPh0l_cOWyLMOGY6rFhC0zGIyc/edit?usp=share_link

Episode 307: #198 Critique of the Gotha Program w/ Prof. Peter Hudis

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 04 Jul 2023 13:49:09 +0000

We are delighted welcome back Prof. Peter Hudis to the show to talk about the introduction he wrote for the new edition of the Critique of the Gotha Program by PM Press.

Critique of the Gotha Program (PM Press):
https://pmpress.org/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1241

Book Project:
https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Episode 306: #197 Modelling Organisational Variety w/ Donal

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 13:00:00 +0000

We welcome back Donal to the show, to talk about a paper he wrote for the new radical journal - The Black Lamp. The paper is called:

‘Viability Guided Decision Making: Modelling organisations using Viability Guided Decision Making’

It’s a very interesting paper which proposes a novel approach to fairly recent developments in cybernetic theory, and applying them to complex social systems. Donal, on top of the book project we are working on, has just completed a masters in System Engineering & Engineering Cybernetics in the Kazan National Research University over in Russia.

The paper:
https://www.black-lamp.com/posts/modelling-organisations-using-viability-guided-decision-making

The Socialist Planning Book Project:
https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Episode 305: #028 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 22 May 2023 14:22:46 +0000

We continue our discussion of Chapter 8 - “The Death of Class Debate''.

The Slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1oNY1SPxFk0Xg-NndRJPh0l_cOWyLMOGY6rFhC0zGIyc/edit?usp=share_link

Episode 304: #196 The Mass Strike w/ Dr. Sara Swerdlyk

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 12 May 2023 14:48:59 +0000

We talk with Dr. Sara Swerdlyk about Rosa Luxemburg’s Mass Strike. Sara has a PhD from the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at the Central European University and works for Between the Lines, a leftist book press based out of Toronto.

https://btlbooks.com/

Episode 303: #027 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 22 Apr 2023 10:19:27 +0000

We continue Chapter 8 - “The Death of Class Debate''.

The Planning Book Project:
http://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com

The slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1oNY1SPxFk0Xg-NndRJPh0l_cOWyLMOGY6rFhC0zGIyc/edit?usp=share_link

Episode 302: #026 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 11 Apr 2023 15:18:25 +0000

We begin Chapter 8 - “The Death of Class Debate''.

https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

Socialist Planning Book Project:
https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

The slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1oNY1SPxFk0Xg-NndRJPh0l_cOWyLMOGY6rFhC0zGIyc/edit?usp=share_link

Episode 301: #195 Otto Neurath and Socialist Planning w/ Prof Thomas Uebel - Part 2

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 28 Mar 2023 12:14:21 +0000

We continue our conversation with Professer Thomas Uebel to the show to talk all about Otto Neurath and his impact on economic theory, the socialist calculation debate, and socialist planning.

Planning Book Website:

https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

Episode 300: #194 Otto Neurath and Socialist Planning w/ Prof Thomas Uebel - Part1

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 23 Mar 2023 14:49:04 +0000

This week I’m really delighted to welcome Professer Thomas Uebel to the show to talk all about Otto Neurath and his impact on economic theory, the socialist calculation debate, and socialist planning.

Professor Uebel was the editor of 'Otto Neurath - Economic Writings Selections 1904-1945'.

Planning Book Project Website:
https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Episode 299: #193 Negotiated Coordination w/ Pat Devine Part 2 TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 13:00:00 +0000

Part two of our conversation with Pat Devine on his thoughts about socialist planning.

Episode 298: #192 Negotiated Coordination w/ Pat Devine Part 1

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 21 Feb 2023 18:40:00 +0000

This week I’m delighted to welcome Pat Devine to the show. Pat is an honorary research fellow at Manchester University and the author of ‘Democracy and Economic Planning: The Political Economy of a Self-Governing Society’.

Planning Book Website:
https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

Episode 297: UNLOCKED! - The Venezuelan Communes w/ Cira Pascual Marquina - Pt 2

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 12 Feb 2023 12:26:07 +0000

We continue our discussion with Cira Pascual Marquina about the Venezuelan commune movement. Cira is a Political Science professor at the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela in Caracas and a writer and editor for Venezuela Analysis.

El Panal Commune:
https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/15629

Indorca Workers:
https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/15542

Episode 296: #025 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 07 Feb 2023 13:55:14 +0000

We begin Chapter 7 - “The Ambiguities of Class in Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century''.

Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

Socialist Planning Book:
https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1H22tkE7UmVQWgRPC_vt3GpCLCVZM5JmzA6SQ2-3qVLk/edit?usp=share_link

Episode 295: #191 Reading Marx w/ Ed George Part 2 - TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 13:00:00 +0000

We continue our discussion Ed George from the Ed George’s Reading Marx Blog. We talk about a paper Ed wrote about long waves in history and what they mean for revolutionary action.

The paper we discuss:

https://edgeorgesotherblog.wordpress.com/2013/01/18/through-what-stage-are-we-passing/

Reading Marx's Capital blog:

https://readingmarx.wordpress.com/

Book Project:

https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

Episode 294: #190 Reading Capital w/ Ed George Part 1

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 23 Jan 2023 20:54:00 +0000

This week I’m delighted to welcome Ed George from the Ed George’s Reading Marx Blog. Ed’s blog is a great resource for anybody who is serious about trying to understand Marx’s work.

https://readingmarx.wordpress.com/

Book project:
https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Episode 293: #024 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 06 Jan 2023 19:21:27 +0000

We finish Chapter 6 - “Occupations as Microclasses''.

Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

The book project:
https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

The slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1mkSN9fmij-0ZhUnKaIcDaA7iDuQ7WSnscYIORth3HA8/edit?usp=share_link

Episode 292: #189 The Venezuelan Communes w/ Cira Pascual Marquina - Pt 2 - TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 23 Dec 2022 13:00:00 +0000

El Panal Commune:
https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/15629

Indorca Workers:
https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/15542

Episode 291: #188 The Venezuelan Communes w/ Cira Pascual Marquina - Pt 1

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 11:32:40 +0000

We welcome Cira Pascual Marquina to the show to talk about the Venezuelan commune movement. Cira is a Political Science professor at the Universidad Bolivariana de Venezuela in Caracas and a writer and editor for Venezuela Analysis.

El Panal Commune:
https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/15629

Indorca Workers:
https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/15542

Episode 290: #023 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 14 Dec 2022 11:05:57 +0000

We continue our reading of Chapter 6 - “Occupations as Micro-classes''

Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

The book project:
https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

The slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1mkSN9fmij-0ZhUnKaIcDaA7iDuQ7WSnscYIORth3HA8/edit?usp=share_link

Episode 289: #022 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 30 Nov 2022 18:46:11 +0000

We continue our reading of Chapter 6 - “Occupations as Microclasses''

Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

The book project:

https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

The slides:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1mkSN9fmij-0ZhUnKaIcDaA7iDuQ7WSnscYIORth3HA8/edit?usp=share_link

Episode 288: #021 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 12:39:42 +0000

We start Chapter 6: “Occupations as Micro-classes''

Planning Book Project:
https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

Slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1mkSN9fmij-0ZhUnKaIcDaA7iDuQ7WSnscYIORth3HA8/edit?usp=share_link

Episode 287: #187 Critique of the Gotha Program w/ Donal - TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 03 Nov 2022 16:33:16 +0000

On this episode we give an analysis of the excellent recent paper by Andrew Kliman on the Critique of the Gotha Program.

Paper:
https://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/economics/marxs-critique-of-the-gotha-program-on-capitalism-vs-communism.html

Book Project:
https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

Episode 286: #020 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 29 Oct 2022 17:41:20 +0000

We continue Chapter 5 - “Michael Mann’s Two Frameworks of Class Analysis''

Book Project:
https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

The Slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1VsmYazOfhWjueQI7OqbUC7qCAU8J49mlUZNV4WTWLYw/edit?usp=sharing

Episode 285: #019 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 17 Oct 2022 16:00:00 +0000

We continue Chapter 5 - “Michael Mann’s Two Frameworks of Class Analysis''.

Book Project:
https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

The Slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1VsmYazOfhWjueQI7OqbUC7qCAU8J49mlUZNV4WTWLYw/edit?usp=sharing

Episode 284: #018 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 18:07:32 +0000

We continue Chapter 5 - “Michael Mann’s Two Frameworks of Class Analysis”.

The Book Project:
https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

The Slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1VsmYazOfhWjueQI7OqbUC7qCAU8J49mlUZNV4WTWLYw/edit?usp=sharing

Episode 283: #017 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 19:19:13 +0000

We start Chapter 5 - “Michael Mann’s Two Frameworks of Class Analysis”

Book Project:
https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

Slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1VsmYazOfhWjueQI7OqbUC7qCAU8J49mlUZNV4WTWLYw/edit?usp=sharing

Episode 282: #186 Rudolf Hilferdings Finance Capital w/ Frieder Otto Wolf

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 13:35:22 +0000

This week we welcome Frieder Otto Wolf to the show to talk about Rudolf Hilferdings marxist classic ‘Finance Capital’. Frieder is a philosopher, political scientist, politician, and humanist, and an honorary professor of philosophy at the Freie Universität Berlin since 2007. He has also recently co-edited with Judith Dellheim ‘Rudolf Hilderding: What Do We Still Have to Learn from His Legacy?’ from Palgrave, New York. We talk about what we have to learn from Hilferdings seminal work, what it got right, and where it falls down.

Book Project Website:

https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

Episode 281: #016 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 16 Sep 2022 16:51:40 +0000

We finally finish Chapter 4 - ‘Class, Exploitation, and Economic Rents: Reflections on Sorensen’s “Toward a Sounder Basis For Class Analysis”’. But not before we get down and dirty with worker rents.

Book Project:
https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1z0yNkmlmN30z2pW-Q7hoxboqzdCeasQZ8mxWSxDq8nc/edit?usp=sharing

Episode 280: #015 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 05 Sep 2022 13:11:05 +0000

We continue Chapter 4 - ‘Class, Exploitation, and Economic Rents: Reflections on Sorensen’s “Toward a Sounder Basis For Class Analysis”’ and give neoclassical economics both barrels

Book Project: https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

The slides:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1z0yNkmlmN30z2pW-Q7hoxboqzdCeasQZ8mxWSxDq8nc/edit?usp=sharing

Episode 279: #014 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 24 Aug 2022 13:03:26 +0000

We continue Chapter 4 - ‘Class, Exploitation, and Economic Rents: Reflections on Sorensen’s “Toward a Sounder Basis For Class Analysis”’

Slides:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1z0yNkmlmN30z2pW-Q7hoxboqzdCeasQZ8mxWSxDq8nc/edit?usp=sharing

Book Project:
https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

Episode 278: #019 Fundamental Principles Series

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 20:07:49 +0000

We finish our reading of the Paul Mattick 1970 Introduction to the ‘Fundamental Principles’.

https://libcom.org/library/introduction-paul-mattick

Book Project website: https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Episode 277: #185 Labour Time Planning & The Commune w/ Sorrel Part 2 TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 31 Jul 2022 15:00:00 +0000

The second part of our discussion with Sorrel on his time living in egalitarian communes.

Episode 276: #184 Labour Time Planning & The Commune w/ Sorrel Part 1

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 30 Jul 2022 14:47:01 +0000

This week we welcome Sorrel to the podcast to talk about his experiences living in egalitarian communes. These communes are based upon a labour time system, similar to that proposed by the GIC in the Fundamental Principles.

Episode 275: #018 Fundamental Principles Series

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 16 Jul 2022 17:11:06 +0000

Today we read Paul Mattick's 1970 introduction to the Fundamental Principles of Communist Production and Distribution.

The book project website:

https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

The Paul Mattick Introduction:

https://libcom.org/book/export/html/616

Episode 274: #013 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 09 Jul 2022 14:04:50 +0000

We begin Chapter 4 - ‘Class, Exploitation, and Economic Rents: Reflections on Sorensen’s “Toward a Sounder Basis For Class Analysis”’.

The book project website:
https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

The link to the slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1z0yNkmlmN30z2pW-Q7hoxboqzdCeasQZ8mxWSxDq8nc/edit?usp=sharing

Episode 273: #183 The Cordones w/ Nicholas Scott - Part 3 TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 03 Jul 2022 10:14:05 +0000

This is part three of our discussion with Nicholas C. Scott about the role of the self organised Cordones in the Chilean revolution.

Episode 272: #182 The Cordones w/ Nicholas C. Scott - Part 2

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 14:02:27 +0000

This week is part two of our discussion with Nicholas C. Scott about the role the self organised Cordones played in the Chilean revolution.

Nicholas recently had an article about the Cordones published in the Washington Post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/04/26/chile-is-writing-new-chapter-its-history/

The book project: https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Episode 271: #181 The Cordones w/ Nicholas C. Scott - Part 1

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 13 Jun 2022 14:32:41 +0000

This week I’m delighted to welcome Nicholas C. Scott to the podcast to talk about the role the self organised Cordones played in the Chilean revolution. Nicholas is a PhD candidate in Latin American history at the University of Virginia and a specialist on the history of the role of the Cordones during the Chilean revolution.

The book project:

https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Episode 270: #017 Fundamental Principles Series

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 04 Jun 2022 20:15:06 +0000

Today we read Chapter 17 ‘Final Considerations’, which finishes our reading of the book.

The book project website:

https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Episode 269: #180 Parecon Modelling w/ Mitchell Szczepanczyk - TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 29 May 2022 11:49:44 +0000

We discuss a computer simulation of the parecon planning process with Mitchell Szczepanczyk

Episode 268: #012 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 21 May 2022 19:49:46 +0000

We finish Chapter 3 - ‘Metatheoretical Foundations of Charles Tilly’s Durable Inequality’.

Book project website: https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

The Slides:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1RVTrPWEPEJlItgHSjf9dVQoKxRXx3rCGgPx13rZCugY/edit?usp=sharing

Panellists:

Derick - Mortal Science, Varn Vlog

Kyle - General Intellect Unit

Tiberius - Jumpsuit Utopia

Episode 267: #016 Fundamental Principles Series

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 10 May 2022 11:28:31 +0000

Today we finish Chapter 15 ‘The Introduction of Communism in Agriculture’ and begin Chapter 16 ‘The Economic Dictatorship of the Proletariat’.

The book project website:

https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Episode 266: #179 Engels and the State w/ Aindrias Ó Cathasaigh

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 03 May 2022 14:08:58 +0000

We talk with Aindrias Ó Cathasaigh, author of a number of books, including the first biography of Marx in the Irish language. In translating Engels writings about the state, Aindrias has identified some interesting developments of Engels ideas on the role of the state in a post-revolutionary socialist society. We also discuss the current state of the Irish language, and the role it has played in Irish society over the decades.

Episode 265: #011 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 14:30:01 +0000

We continue Chapter 3 - ‘Metatheoretical Foundations of Charles Tilly’s Durable Inequality’.

The book project:

https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

The Slides:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1RVTrPWEPEJlItgHSjf9dVQoKxRXx3rCGgPx13rZCugY/edit?usp=sharing

Panellists:

Derick - Mortal Science, Varn Vlog

Ezri - Swampside Chats, Mortal Science, Jumpsuit Utopia

Kyle - General Intellect Unit

Tiberius - Jumpsuit Utopia

Episode 264: #178 The Sh*t Dish w/ Brendan Part 2 - TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 15 Apr 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Part 2 of our chat with Brendan about the dump of an Irish Catholic boarding school we went to.

The Book Project Website:
https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Episode 263: #177 The Sh*t Dish w/ Brendan Part 1

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 17:34:22 +0000

This week my friend Brendan and I recount some tales from our days in an Irish Catholic boarding school. Recorded over a few beers on St Patrick’s day in Brendan's house, beside a nice turf fire, with the sound of the crows in the background.

The Book Project Website:
https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Episode 262: #015 Fundamental Principles Series

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 16:18:55 +0000

Today we read the second part of Chapter 14: ‘The Control of Operational Life’ and Chapter 15 ‘The Introduction of Communism in Agriculture’.

The book project website is:
https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Episode 261: #176 Major Announcement w/ Donal

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 14:26:20 +0000

Donal and myself make a major announcement.

Check out the website:

https://theclasslesssocietyinmotion.com/

Episode 260: #010 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 13:48:24 +0000

We start Chapter 3 - ‘Metatheoretical Foundations of Charles Tilly’s Durable Inequality’.

The Slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1RVTrPWEPEJlItgHSjf9dVQoKxRXx3rCGgPx13rZCugY/edit?usp=sharing

Panellists:
Derick - Mortal Science, Varn Vlog
Ezri - Swampside Chats, Mortal Science, Jumpsuit Utopia
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Tiberius - Jumpsuit Utopia

Episode 259: #175 Participatory Planning w/ Prof Robin Hahnel Pt2 - TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 21:00:00 +0000

We continue our discussion with Prof. Robin Hahnel on the ins and outs of the planning procedures of Participatory Economy.

Episode 258: #174 Participatory Planning w/ Prof Robin Hahnel Pt1

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 15:17:43 +0000

We welcome Prof. Robin Hahnel to the show. Prof. Hahnel and previous guest Michael Albert are the people who came up with Participatory Economy, or Parecon, a vision of a de-centrally planned socialist economy. We discuss Parecon Planning and Allocation in great detail!

Episode 14: #014 Fundamental Principles Series

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 28 Feb 2022 18:43:13 +0000

Today we read Chapter 14: ‘The Control of Operational Life’.

Episode 13: #013 Fundamental Principles Series

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 16 Feb 2022 13:00:28 +0000

This week we read Chapter 13: ‘The Expansion of Production’.

Episode 175: #173 Blockchain Fail Bros Part 2 w/ Xur - TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 22:00:00 +0000

We pick back up where we left off in our discussion with Xur about what can be salvaged from the wreck of the blockchain and crypto scene for our future communist society.

Episode 174: #172 Blockchain Fail Bros Part 1 w/ Xur

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 13:32:06 +0000

We welcome Xur to the show, to talk about all things blockchain and cryptography. In this first part 1 we dig deep into the technical problems associated with the current crypto scene. In part 2 we pick the corpse of the blockchain to salvage what we can for our future communist society.

Episode 173: #009 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 30 Jan 2022 17:58:11 +0000

We continue with our reading of Chapter 2 - ‘Shadow of Exploitation in Weber’s Class Analysis’.

This episode was editing by the Jordan. Thanks so much, Jordan!

The Slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1RfG5oI3vCX6Z7pB3GfCH68CmYRBwrBecNIkwOgQKo4g/edit?usp=sharing

Panelists:
Derick - Mortal Science, Varn Vlog
Ezri - Swampside Chats, Mortal Science, Jumpsuit Utopia
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Tiberius - Jumpsuit Utopia

Episode 172: #171 Reform or Revolution w/ Helen Scott

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 20 Jan 2022 17:58:25 +0000

After a post covid lull, we welcome to the show Prof Helen Scott, editor of the Haymarket books version of the Rosa Luxemburg classics ‘Reform or Revolution’ and ‘The Mass Strike’. In this episode we discuss ‘Reform of Revolution’, Rosa’s text which critiqued ‘Evolutionary Socialism’, the seminal revisionist work of the dark lord of reform within the SPD, Eduard Bernstein.

Helen is currently working on Volume 5 of the complete works of Rosa Luxemburg, which is due to be released in the coming months. If you’d like to help contribute to this mammoth undertaking, you can donate here:

https://www.toledotranslationfund.org/complete_works_rosa_luxemburg

Episode 171: #012 Fundamental Principles Series

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 31 Dec 2021 16:12:24 +0000

Today we read Chapter 12: ‘The Abolition of the Market’.

Episode 170: #170 The Breakdown of Henryk Grossmans Crisis Theory

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 15:59:16 +0000

We welcome back Andrew Kliman to the show, to talk about a paper he recently published about the Breakdown Model of Henryk Grossman.

The paper, which contains the link to the Spanish translation:

https://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/economics/henryk-grossmanns-breakdown-model-on-the-real-cause-of-the-fictitious-breakdown-tendency.html

Episode 174: #008 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 02 Dec 2021 16:55:31 +0000

We return to where we left off last time, in Chapter 2 - ‘Shadow of Exploitation in Weber’s Class Analysis’.

Many thanks to Jordan for editing this and the next episode in the series.

The Slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1RfG5oI3vCX6Z7pB3GfCH68CmYRBwrBecNIkwOgQKo4g/edit?usp=sharing

Panelists:
Derick - Mortal Science, Theorizing with a Hammer
Ezri - Swampside Chats, Mortal Science, Jumpsuit Utopia
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Tiberius - Jumpsuit Utopia 11

Episode 173: #011 Fundamental Principles Series

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 17:54:58 +0000

We finish our reading of Chapter 10: ‘The General Social Work’, and plough through Chapter 11: ‘The Accounting as an Ideational Summary of the Production and Distribution Process’.

Episode 172: #010 Fundamental Principles Series

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 19:37:03 +0000

We read Chapter 10: ‘The General Social Work’, and get deep into the bowels of the GIC 'proposal'.

The critique is over..... for now.

Episode 171: #007 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 17:00:56 +0000

This week we continue on our journey through Chapter 2 : ‘The Shadow of Exploitation in Weber’s Class Analysis’.

The Slides:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1RfG5oI3vCX6Z7pB3GfCH68CmYRBwrBecNIkwOgQKo4g/edit?usp=sharing

Panelists:

Derick - Mortal Science, Theorizing with a Hammer

Ezri - Swampside Chats, Mortal Science, Jumpsuit Utopia

Kyle - General Intellect Unit

Tiberius - Jumpsuit Utopia 11

Episode 170: #009 Fundamental Principles Series

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 16:41:26 +0000

We read Chapter 9: ‘The Social Average: Working Hour as the’, and read Chapter 8: ‘ The Social Average Working Hour as the Basis of Consumption’

Episode 169: #169 Procurement & Capitalist Price Dynamics - TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 16 Oct 2021 13:29:52 +0000

We talk with the Swedish Procurement Guru Emanuel all about capitalist procurement theory, the flaws of standard economic demand and supply theory, and what allocation, or the lack of, in capitalism can teach us about planning a communist society.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraljic_matrix

Episode 170: #008 Fundamental Principles Series

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 19:06:54 +0000

We finish Chapter 7: ‘The Communist Production’, and read Chapter 8: ‘ The Socially Average Working Hour as the Basis of Production’.

Episode 169: #007 Fundamental Principles Series

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 04 Oct 2021 19:14:38 +0000

This week we tackle Chapter 6 - ‘ The Social Production Process in General’ and Chapter 7: ‘The Communist Production’.

Episode 168: #168 No Bosses w/ Michael Albert - Pt 3 TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 28 Sep 2021 16:46:13 +0000

This is part three of our detailed discussion with Michael Alberts about Parecon and its planning system.

Episode 167: #167 No Bosses w/ Michael Albert - Pt 2

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 28 Sep 2021 16:17:42 +0000

This week, we continue our discussion with Michael Albert, where we take a deep dive in the Parecon planning model.

Episode 166: #166 No Bosses w/ Michael Albert - Pt 1

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 23 Sep 2021 11:19:50 +0000

This week, we talk with Michael Albert about Parecon and his new book No Bosses.

This is the first of three episodes with Michael, where we ease into the topic and then we jump off and have great fun as we get into an extremely detailed debate on the planning aspects of Parecon.

Episode 257: #006 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 07 Sep 2021 16:24:29 +0000

This week we jump headlong into Chapter 2 : ‘The Shadow of Exploitation in Weber’s Class Analysis’.

The Slides:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1RfG5oI3vCX6Z7pB3GfCH68CmYRBwrBecNIkwOgQKo4g/edit?usp=sharing

Panelists:
Derick - Mortal Science, Theorizing with a Hammer
Ezri - Swampside Chats, Mortal Science, Jumpsuit Utopia
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Tiberius - Jumpsuit Utopia 11

Episode 256: #165 Not Necessary, Not Sufficient w/ Andrew Kliman TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 20:22:30 +0000

This is part two of our discussion with Prof Andrew Kliman, where we debate my current love affair with ‘The Fundamental Principles of Communist Production and Distribution’ by Jan Appel and the Group of International Communists.

Episode 255: #164 Concrete vs Abstract Labour w/ Andrew Kliman

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 29 Aug 2021 17:47:16 +0000

This week we welcome back Prof. Andrew Kliman to the show. We get deep into some more value theory, specifically discussing the difference between concrete and abstract labour, simple and complex labour, and do slaves create value....

The really excellent Patrick Murray value form debate episodes mentioned in the episode:

https://soundcloud.com/mhi-120639128/rfh-murray-interview-ep-1
https://soundcloud.com/mhi-120639128/rfh-murray-interview-part-2

Also, the paper we are discussing is from the book 'The New Value Controversy and the Foundations of Economics' and is called 'The Duality of Labour'.

Episode 254: #006 Fundamental Principles Series

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 12:00:00 +0000

This week the GIC take aim at the left communists and anarchists for their political economy errors

Episode 253: #005 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 07 Aug 2021 10:11:48 +0000

We finish reading chapter 1 - ‘From Grand Paradigm Battles to Pragmatist Realism: Towards an Integrated Class Analysis’.

The Slides:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1MR6WdBBEKSTYcrN7CZ4_LL8S6k9SJKHfmOBxz_1vqMU/edit?usp=sharing

Panelists:

Derick - Mortal Science, Theorizing with a Hammer

Ezri - Swampside Chats, Mortal Science, Jumpsuit Utopia

Kyle - General Intellect Unit

Tiberius - Jumpsuit Utopia

Episode 252: #005 Fundamental Principles Series

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 01 Aug 2021 10:37:05 +0000

We read and discuss Chapter 4 - ‘Progress in the formulation of the problem”.

Episode 251: #004 Fundamental Principles Series

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 19 Jul 2021 13:00:00 +0000

This week we read Chapter 3 - ‘The Unit of Account in Communism’

Episode 250: #004 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 19:51:20 +0000

We continue our discussion of chapter 1 - ‘From Grand Paradigm Battles to Pragmatist Realism: Towards an Integrated Class Analysis’.

The Slides:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1MR6WdBBEKSTYcrN7CZ4_LL8S6k9SJKHfmOBxz_1vqMU/edit?usp=sharing

Panelists:

Derick - Mortal Science, Theorizing with a Hammer

Ezri - Swampside Chats, Mortal Science, Jumpsuit Utopia

Kyle - General Intellect Unit

Tiberius - Jumpsuit Utopia

Episode 249: #163 Labour Money Schemes & Marx

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 08 Jul 2021 18:34:33 +0000

Patron Chris and I discuss the excellent article ‘Marx’s critique of socialist labor-money schemes and the myth of council communism’s Proudhonism’ - by David Adam.

https://libcom.org/library/marx%E2%80%99s-critique-socialist-labor-money-schemes-myth-council-communism%E2%80%99s-proudhonism

Episode 248: #003 Fundamental Principles Series

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 01 Jul 2021 10:43:16 +0000

We tackle section (e) of Chapter 2 - ‘Wage Labour and State Communism’

Episode 247: #003 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 20:16:59 +0000

We continue on our way through chapter 1 - ‘From Grand Paradigm Battles to Pragmatist Realism: Towards an Integrated Class Analysis’ - and begin to tackle the work of Max Weber.

Panelists:
Derick - Mortal Science, Theorizing with a Hammer
Ezri - Swampside Chats, Mortal Science, Jumpsuit Utopia
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Tiberius - Jumpsuit Utopia

The Slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1MR6WdBBEKSTYcrN7CZ4_LL8S6k9SJKHfmOBxz_1vqMU/edit?usp=sharing

Episode 246: BONUS - #160 Anarchism and Marxism w/ Zoe Baker Part 2

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 16:00:00 +0000

Part 2 of our discussion with Zoe Baker AKA Anarchopac on all things anarchist and marxist.

Episode 246: #162 The History of the SPD w/ Ben Lewis Pt 2

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 19:04:55 +0000

This is part 2 of our discussion with Ben Lewis on the history of the SPD and it’s fragments.

Ben's translation patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/marxismtranslated

Ben's twitter handle:
https://twitter.com/Bibliotaff

Episode 245: #161 The History of the SPD w/ Ben Lewis Pt 1 255

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 13 Jun 2021 11:56:14 +0000

This week we talk with Ben Lewis, Germanist, Historian, and the man behind Marxism Translated. We discuss the insanely complex history of the SPD, how WW1 detonated the contradictions in the party, and the history of the shattered remnants as they got hit again with the impact of the Russian Revolution.

Ben's translation patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/marxismtranslated

Ben's twitter handle:
https://twitter.com/Bibliotaff

That Minard graph!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_invasion_of_Russia#/media/File:Minard.png

Episode 244: #002 Fundamental Principles Series

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 05 Jun 2021 10:31:54 +0000

This week we take on the first half of Chapter 2, this time without the recording gremlins that plagued the first episode

Episode 243: #002 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 30 May 2021 11:38:36 +0000

Today we leave the introduction in the dust and move on to beginning Chapter 1.

Panelists:
Derick - Mortal Science, Theorizing with a Hammer
Ezri - Swampside Chats, Mortal Science, Jumpsuit Utopia
Kyle - General Intellect Unit

The Slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1MR6WdBBEKSTYcrN7CZ4_LL8S6k9SJKHfmOBxz_1vqMU/edit?usp=sharing

Episode 242: #160 Anarchism and Marxism w/ Zoe Baker Part 2

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 23 May 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Part 2 of our discussion with Zoe Baker AKA Anarchopac on all things anarchist and marxist.

Episode 241: #159 Anarchism and Marxism w/ Zoe Baker Part 1

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 21 May 2021 21:51:17 +0000

This week I’m delighted to welcome the anarchist youtuber extraordinaire, Zoe Baker AKA Anarchopac to the show. In this two-parter, we discuss the many similarities and differences between Marxism and anarchism and discuss the chances for a possible synthesis.

You can find Zoe's excellent youtube channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/user/anarchopac

And her twitter feed here:
https://twitter.com/anarchopac

Episode 240: #001 Fundamental Principles Series

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 16 May 2021 12:52:11 +0000

Welcome to the inaugural episode of our ‘Fundamental Principles of Communist Production and Distribution’ by the Group of International Communists reading group series!

This is the first of probably a 20 part series.

Get yourself a copy of the book!

Episode 239: #001 Understanding Class Series

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 08 May 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Our new love has arrived.

The Slides:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1MR6WdBBEKSTYcrN7CZ4_LL8S6k9SJKHfmOBxz_1vqMU/edit?usp=sharing

Episode 238: #158 Avatar and the White Knight Part 2

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 03 May 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Precious returns for the second part of our discussion with Precious about the racial politics of the 2009 Sci-fi Blockbuster Avatar

Episode 240: #029 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 02 May 2021 10:17:32 +0000

That’s right - it's final episode time. We are barely able to finish what has been a long and brutal session. It's been a blast folx....

The artwork for the show was created by the Korean artist, and author of the 2019 Marx/Engels Illustration book.

https://www.deviantart.com/rono1848
https://twitter.com/RN_fortuna
https://www.patreon.com/rono1848

Panelists:
Ezri - Swampside Chats, Mortal Science, Jumpsuit Utopia
Kyle - General Intellect Unit

Episode 239: #028 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 18:56:30 +0000

We are upon the penultimate episode of the Brumaire! Part 28 of 29!

The link for the table is here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FHmj2xpzZECPwiqaRtQD9peTyFjJTSslfDwyO9WOYtc/edit?usp=sharing

The artwork for the show was created by the Korean artist, and author of the 2019 Marx/Engels Illustration book.

https://www.deviantart.com/rono1848
https://twitter.com/RN_fortuna
https://www.patreon.com/rono1848

Panelists:
Ezri - Swampside Chats, Mortal Science, Jumpsuit Utopia
Kyle - General Intellect Unit

Episode 238: #157 Avatar and the White Knight Part 1 - TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 12:00:00 +0000

This is part one of a 2-part special with Precious, the media critic extraordinaire, where we discuss the 2009 Sci-fi Blockbuster Avatar and critique it’s racial politics.

Tally-ho!

Episode 238: #027 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 17 Apr 2021 12:00:00 +0000

This is the first part of a marathon three-episode session where we bring back a table, and finally laid the 18th Brumaire to rest.

Panelists:
Ezri - Swampside Chats, Mortal Science, Jumpsuit Utopia
Kyle - General Intellect Unit

The artwork for the show was created by the Korean artist, and author of the 2019 Marx/Engels Illustration book.

https://www.deviantart.com/rono1848
https://twitter.com/RN_fortuna
https://www.patreon.com/rono1848

Episode 237: #026 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 11 Apr 2021 17:31:29 +0000

This week we continue our reading of the spellbinding final chapter.

The artwork for the show was created by the Korean artist, and author of the 2019 Marx/Engels Illustration book.

https://www.deviantart.com/rono1848
https://twitter.com/RN_fortuna
https://www.patreon.com/rono1848

Panelists:
Derrick - Mortal Science, Theorizing like a Hammer
Ezri - Swampside Chats, Mortal Science, Jumpsuit Utopia
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Sophie - Jumpsuit Utopia
Emmanuel - Swedish Sommelier

Episode 236: #025 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 03 Apr 2021 11:31:07 +0000

This week we continue on our way through the amazing final chapter, Chapter 7 - The Summary.

The artwork for the show was created by the Korean artist, and author of the 2019 Marx/Engels Illustration book.

https://www.deviantart.com/rono1848
https://twitter.com/RN_fortuna
https://www.patreon.com/rono1848

Panelists:
Derrick - Mortal Science, Theorizing like a Hammer
Emmanuel - Swedish Sommelier
Ezri - Swampside Chats, Mortal Science, Jumpsuit Utopia
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Sophie - Jumpsuit Utopia

Episode 235: #156 Anthropology and Materialism Pt 2 w/ Daniel Bitton - TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 27 Mar 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Part 2 of our interview with Daniel Bitton on the research into immediate return hunter and gatherer communities and what we can learn from them to inform our liberatory politics.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcYvqQ-UuvvFsHNNfwjYEBw
https://worldwidescrotes.wordpress.com/

Episode 234: #155 Anthropology & Materialism Pt 1 w/ Daniel Bitton

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 15:54:10 +0000

This week I’m delighted to welcome Daniel Bitton to the show. Daniel is the man behind the ‘What is Politics’ podcast, where he recently did a deep dive into the anthropological research about immediate return hunter and gatherer communities. We discuss the importance of this research for a liberatory politics, and dispel the capitalist myth that freedom requires inequality.

https://worldwidescrotes.wordpress.com/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcYvqQ-UuvvFsHNNfwjYEBw

Episode 233: #024 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 21 Mar 2021 14:25:52 +0000

This week we start the final chapter, Chapter 7 - The Summary, and boy what a summary - Marx dials his analytical genius all the way up to 11.

Here is the link to where you can buy the 'Fundamental Principles of Communist Production and Distribution' 2nd edition (white cover):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/FUNDAMENTAL-PRINCIPLES-COMMUNIST-PRODUCTION-DISTRIBUTION-ebook/dp/B085LT1NSM

It is only seemingly available from Amazon as far as i know....

The artwork for the show was created by the Korean artist, and author of the 2019 Marx/Engels Illustration book.

https://www.deviantart.com/rono1848
https://twitter.com/RN_fortuna
https://www.patreon.com/rono1848

Panelists:
Derrick - Mortal Science, Theorizing like a Hammer
Ezri - Swampside Chats, Mortal Science, Jumpsuit Utopia
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Sophie - Jumpsuit Utopia
Emmanuel - Swedish Sommelier

Episode 232: #154 A Materialist Conception of Information w/ Arnold Schroder

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 15 Mar 2021 12:00:00 +0000

This week we welcome back Arnold Schroder to the show to discuss the important interaction between psychology, neurology, the internet and politics

Episode 232: #153 Fundamental Principles of Communist Production & Distribution w/ Hermann Lueer

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 13 Mar 2021 13:00:00 +0000

This week I’m delighted to welcome Herman Lueer to the show to discuss his recent translation into English of the 2nd edition of the ‘Fundamental Principles of Communist Production and Distribution” by the Group of International Communists.

You can buy the book here:
https://www.bookdepository.com/Fundamental-Principles-Communist-Production-Distribution-Group-International-Communists/9798615430794?ref=grid-view&qid=1615490018526&sr=1-1

Episode 231: #023 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 06 Mar 2021 13:00:01 +0000

This week we wrap up Chapter 6 - Victory of Bonaparte, and throw shade on some RINOs

The artwork for the show was created by the Korean artist, and author of the 2019 Marx/Engels Illustration book.

https://www.deviantart.com/rono1848
https://twitter.com/RN_fortuna
https://www.patreon.com/rono1848

Panelists:
Derrick - Mortal Science, Theorizing like a Hammer
Ezri - Swampside Chats, Mortal Science, Jumpsuit Utopia
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Sophie - Jumpsuit Utopia

Episode 230: #152 David Graeber - A Friendly Critique w/ Chris Knight

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 27 Feb 2021 13:00:00 +0000

Chris Knight joins us to perform a friendly critique of the anthropological work of David Graeber, who recently passed away suddenly.

Chris is a senior research fellow in the Department of Anthropology in University College London, and the author of several books.

Episode 229: #151 Future Synthetic Catallaxies Pt 2 - TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 13:00:00 +0000

Part 2 of our discussion with Jan from the Future Histories podcast, where we debate the possibility of a future capitalist synthetic catallaxy, MMT, and the importance of use values to socialist plannning.

You can check out his excellent podcast here:
https://www.futurehistories.today/

Episode 229: #150 Future Synthetic Catallaxies Pt 1

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 13:00:00 +0000

We speak with Jan from the Future Histories podcast to talk about cybernetics, socialist planning and the realm of synthetic catalaxies.

You can check out his excellent podcast here:
https://www.futurehistories.today/

Episode 228: #022 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 13 Feb 2021 13:00:00 +0000

We plough on through Chapter 6 - Victory of Bonaparte.

The artwork for the show was created by the Korean artist, and author of the 2019 Marx/Engels Illustration book.

https://www.deviantart.com/rono1848
https://twitter.com/RN_fortuna
https://www.patreon.com/rono1848

Panelists:
Derrick - Mortal Science, Theorizing like a Hammer
Ezri - Swampside Chats, Mortal Science, Jumpsuit Utopia
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Sophie - Jumpsuit Utopia

Episode 227: #021 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 06 Feb 2021 13:00:00 +0000

We continue on our merry way through Chapter 6 - Victory of Bonaparte.

The artwork for the show was created by the Korean artist, and author of the 2019 Marx/Engels Illustration book.

https://www.deviantart.com/rono1848
https://twitter.com/RN_fortuna
https://www.patreon.com/rono1848

Panelists:
Ezri - Swampside Chats, Mortal Science
James - Wax Cylinder Guy
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Pouya - Machine Noise Expert

Episode 227: #149 The Reactionary Mind w/ Greg Belvedere Part 2 TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 17:55:36 +0000

We continue our discussion and delve into some reactionary value theory and rake Ayn Rand over the coals

Episode 226: #148 Reactionary Mind w/ Greg Belvedere Pt 1

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 29 Jan 2021 12:48:18 +0000

Today we welcome back Greg Belvedere to the show to discuss Corey Robin’s book ‘The Reactionary Mind’.

For some reason, we end up focusing on the world of the cuck!

You can check out Gregs youtube channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/user/MFBelvedere

Episode 225: #020 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 23 Jan 2021 17:00:00 +0000

We start Chapter 6 - The Victory of Bonaparte.

And what a victory.

Auxiliary Statements: https://soundcloud.com/auxiliarystatements

The artwork for the show was created by the Korean artist, and author of the 2019 Marx/Engels Illustration book.

https://www.deviantart.com/rono1848
https://twitter.com/RN_fortuna
https://www.patreon.com/rono1848

Panelists:
Ezri - Swampside Chats, Mortal Science
James - Wax Cylinder Guy
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Pouya - Machine Noise Expert

Episode 224: #147 Revolutionary Strategy Re-Redux w/ Mike MacNair Pt 3

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 17 Jan 2021 13:00:00 +0000

This is part 3 of our interview with Mike MacNair, where we continue our discussion on communist political strategy.

Episode 224: #146 Revolutionary Strategy Re-Redux w/ Mike MacNair Pt 2

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 16 Jan 2021 13:00:00 +0000

Today we have part 2 of our interview with Mike MacNair, where we continue our debate about the merits of entryism as a communist tactic.

Episode 223: #145 Q-Putsch Emergency Livestream

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 09 Jan 2021 15:04:26 +0000

A livestream held on the evening of the 7th of January, the day when Trumps followers headed on over to the Capitol Hill to say hello.

Unedited and raw from the livestream.

Episode 222: #144 Revolutionary Strategy Re-redux w/ Mike MacNair Pt 1

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 06 Jan 2021 13:00:00 +0000

We begin this new year with the first of a three-part interview with Mike MacNair, where we get deep into the weeds, reeds, and rushes on his Revolutionary Strategy.

Episode 221: #019 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 13:00:00 +0000

It’s time to wrap up Chapter 5 - The National Assembly Vs Bonaparte.

The artwork for the show was created by the Korean artist, and author of the 2019 Marx/Engels Illustration book.

https://www.deviantart.com/rono1848
https://twitter.com/RN_fortuna
https://www.patreon.com/rono1848

Panelists:
Ezri - Swampside Chats, Mortal Science
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Pouya - Machine Noise Expert

Episode 220: #143 Southpaw Socialism Pt2 - TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 20 Dec 2020 04:00:00 +0000

Part two of our discussion of all things socialist and combat sports with Sam from the Southpaw Pod.

https://www.southpawpod.com/

Episode 220: #142 Southpaw Socialism Pt1

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 19 Dec 2020 13:00:00 +0000

This week we are chatting with Sam from the Southpaw Pod about socialism and combat sports. Sam is one half of the Southpaw Pod which is a socialist MMA podcast, a pioneer in the world of radical sports podcasting.

https://www.southpawpod.com/

https://twitter.com/SouthpawPod

Dick Hunsinger Defense Info:

https://twitter.com/DefendRichard

https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/contribute-to-the-atlanta-solidarity-fund

Episode 219: #018 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 12 Dec 2020 13:00:00 +0000

We continue on our merry way through Chapter 5 - The National Assembly Vs Bonaparte, and wrap up with a couple of my favourite jokes.

Episode 218: #141 Fight Like an Animal w/ Arnold Schroder Pt 6 - TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 06 Dec 2020 13:00:00 +0000

This is the sixth and final part of our dialogue with Arnold Schroder, the man behind the ‘Fight Like an Animal’ podcast. We discuss the relevance of his theory for understanding the conservatism of the rural proletariat.

https://www.againsttheinternet.com/

Episode 218: #017 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 05 Dec 2020 13:00:00 +0000

We take a second, more detailed look at Marx’s concept of the lumpenproletariat, which we covered last episode in chapter 5.

The artwork for the show was created by the Korean artist, and author of the 2019 Marx/Engels Illustration book.

https://www.deviantart.com/rono1848
https://twitter.com/RN_fortuna
https://www.patreon.com/rono1848

Panelists:
Ezri - Swampside Chats, Mortal Science
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Pouya - Machine Noise Expert
Sophie - Jumpsuit Utopia

Episode 217: #140 Fight Like an Animal w/ Arnold Schroder Pt 5

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 28 Nov 2020 13:00:00 +0000

This is part 5 of our dialogue with Arnold Schroder, the man behind the ‘Fight Like an Animal’ podcast. We talk more of the political implications of the theory, and propose starting a sectarian cult with Commandante Alpha as its supreme leader for life.

https://www.againsttheinternet.com/

BONUS: #135 Revolutionary Strategy in Action w/ Jos Alembic

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 23 Nov 2020 13:00:00 +0000

We read a secret dialogue we had with Jos Alembic. Jos is the nom de guerre of an underground communist comrade, in deep cover in the Dutch Socialist Party. He is currently part of an effort to reform the Socialist Party along the lines outlined by Mike MacNair in his ‘Revolutionary Strategy’ book, that we covered in a previous reading group series.

#139 Fight Like an Animal w/ Arnold Schroder Pt4 - TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 20 Nov 2020 13:00:00 +0000

We continue with part 4 of our dialogue with Arnold Schroder of the ‘Fight Like an Animal’ podcast.

https://www.againsttheinternet.com/

#138 Fight Like an Animal w/ Arnold Schroder Pt3

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 13:00:00 +0000

We invite back Arnold Schroder, the man behind the ‘Fight Like an Animal’ podcast, for part 3 of our dialogue, where we discuss the political implications of his theory we discussed in the previous two episodes.

https://www.againsttheinternet.com/

#016 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 20:28:56 +0000

We continue on our merry way through chapter 5: The National Assembly vs Bonaparte

The artwork for the show was created by the Korean artist, and author of the 2019 Marx/Engels Illustration book.

https://www.deviantart.com/rono1848
https://twitter.com/RN_fortuna
https://www.patreon.com/rono1848

Panelists:
Derrick - Mortal Science
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Amogh - Symptomatic Redness

#137 Fight Like an Animal w/ Arnold Schroder Pt 2

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 31 Oct 2020 14:00:00 +0000

We continue our discussion with Arnold Schroder of the ‘Fight Like an Animal’ podcast.

https://www.againsttheinternet.com/

#136 Fight Like an Animal w/ Arnold Schroder Pt 1

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 31 Oct 2020 12:00:00 +0000

We speak with Arnold Schroder, host of the very interesting new podcast ‘Fight Like an Animal’, about the science behind his synthesis of behavioural science and political theory.

https://www.againsttheinternet.com/

#015 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 24 Oct 2020 12:00:00 +0000

This week we begin chapter 5: The National Assembly vs Bonaparte.

The artwork for the show was created by the Korean artist, and author of the 2019 Marx/Engels Illustration book.

https://www.deviantart.com/rono1848
https://twitter.com/RN_fortuna
https://www.patreon.com/rono1848

Panelists:
Derrick - Mortal Science
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Amogh - Symptomatic Redness

#014 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 12:00:00 +0000

Today we continue our discussion of the George Floyd protests that had just erupted across the US at the time of recording. The Brumaire may even get a mention!

Panelists:
Derrick - Mortal Science
Ezri - Swampside Chats
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Pouya - Machine Noise Expert

The artwork for the show was created by the Korean artist, and author of the 2019 Marx/Engels Illustration book.

https://www.deviantart.com/rono1848
https://twitter.com/RN_fortuna
https://www.patreon.com/rono1848

#013 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 14 Oct 2020 15:24:56 +0000

We were supposed to start our discussion of Chapter 5 - ‘National Assembly vs. Bonaparte’, but actually got caught up in the George Floyd protests that erupted across the US at the time of recording.

Panelists:
Derrick - Mortal Science
Ezri - Swampside Chats
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Pouya - Machine Noise Expert

#135 Revolutionary Strategy in Action w/ Jos Alembic

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 05 Oct 2020 12:00:00 +0000

#134 Marx and Nature w/ GIU Part 3

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 03 Oct 2020 12:00:00 +0000

The third and final part of our Marx and Nature discussion with Kyle and Shane from General Intellect Unit. It's been a long, hard, lonely road...

#133 Women in Revolution w/ Anne McShane

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 26 Sep 2020 12:00:00 +0000

We are joined by Anne McShane. Anne is a Human Rights lawyer based in Ireland, who recently completed her PhD on the role of the Zhenotdel, the section of the Russian Communist party devoted to women's affairs in the 1920s, in Soviet Central Asia. We talk about why figures like Alexandra Kollontai and Inessa Armand didn’t consider themselves feminists, and what this implies for our emancipatory politics.

#132 Marx and Nature w/ GIU Part 2

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 19 Sep 2020 12:00:00 +0000

Part 2 of our discussion of Paul Burketts ‘Marx and Nature - a Red and Green Perspective’ with our Emancipation Network comrades Kyle and Shane from General Intellect Unit.

#012 The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 12:10:17 +0000

We finish our discussion of Chapter 4 - ‘The Rise of Louis Bonaparte’... I also get carried away about the Jesuits and tell tales of drunken symphonies.

The artwork for the show was created by the Korean artist, and author of the 2019 Marx/Engels Illustration book.

https://www.deviantart.com/rono1848
https://twitter.com/RN_fortuna
https://www.patreon.com/rono1848

Panelists:
Ezri - Swampside Chats
Kyle - General Intellect Unit

#131 Marx and Nature w/ GIU Part 1

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 05 Sep 2020 12:00:00 +0000

We are joined by our Emancipation Network comrades Kyle and Shane from General Intellect Unit, to discuss Paul Burketts ‘Marx and Nature - a Red and Green Perspective’.

This is the first of a three parter.

You can find the book here:

https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/595-marx-and-nature

BONUS: #130 Destroying Yemen w/ Isa Blumi Pt 2

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 30 Aug 2020 09:48:55 +0000

This is part two of our interview with Prof. Isa Blumi, Professor of Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies at Stockholm University about his 2018 book: ‘Destroying Yemen: What Chaos in Arabia Tells Us About the World.

#011 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 22 Aug 2020 12:00:00 +0000

We continue with the Chapter 4 - ‘The Rise of Louis Bonaparte’ and discuss the importance of the armed forces for revolution

#130 Destroying Yemen w/ Isa Blumi Part 2 - TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 16 Aug 2020 12:00:00 +0000

#129 Destroying Yemen w/ Isa Blumi Part 1

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 12:00:00 +0000

This week we have the first part of our interview with Prof. Isa Blumi, Professor of Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies at Stockholm University. We talk about his 2018 book: ‘Destroying Yemen: What Chaos in Arabia Tells Us About the World'

You can find his book here: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520296145/destroying-yemen

#010 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 08 Aug 2020 12:00:00 +0000

We continue with the barnstormer that is Chapter 4 - ‘The Rise of Louis Bonaparte’, and yearn for the arrival of Benjamin Sisko.

#009 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 01 Aug 2020 12:00:00 +0000

We begin Chapter 3 - ‘The Rise of Louis Bonaparte’.

The artwork for the show was created by the Korean artist, and author of the 2019 Marx/Engels Illustration book.

https://www.deviantart.com/rono1848
https://twitter.com/RN_fortuna
https://www.patreon.com/rono1848

Panelists:
Derrick - Mortal Science
Emmanuel - Swedish Sommelier
Ezri - Swampside Chats
James - Wax Cylinder Enthusiast
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Sophie - Jumpsuit Utopia

#128 Vibing on Crisis w/ Dickophrenic and PostCyborg Pt. 2 - TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 28 Jul 2020 12:00:00 +0000

Today, we have part two of our discussion with Dick Hunsinger & Nathan Eisenberg about capitals over-accumulation crisis and the role US society is going to play in all of this in the coming years.

https://cosmonaut.blog/2020/06/08/mask-off-crisis-struggle-in-the-pandemic/
https://twitter.com/dickophrenic
https://twitter.com/postcyborg

#127 Vibing on Crisis w/ Dickophrenic & PostCyborg Pt. 1

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 27 Jul 2020 11:39:30 +0000

This week we are joined by Dick Hunsinger & Nathan Eisenberg. We discuss their recent article ‘Mask Off: Crisis & Struggle in the Pandemic’ and the general decay of US hegemony and the future of capitalism.

https://cosmonaut.blog/2020/06/08/mask-off-crisis-struggle-in-the-pandemic/

https://twitter.com/dickophrenic

https://twitter.com/postcyborg

Profit vs S&P Graph: https://twitter.com/FromAlpha2Omega/status/1287714748134555650/photo/1

EPS vs Nasdaq Graph:
https://twitter.com/FromAlpha2Omega/status/1279357754545709056/photo/1

#008 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 20 Jul 2020 08:00:00 +0000

We conclude Chapter 3 - ‘The Defeat of the Petit Bourgeois Democracy’.

The artwork for the show was created by the Korean artist, and author of the 2019 Marx/Engels Illustration book.

https://www.deviantart.com/rono1848
https://twitter.com/RN_fortuna
https://www.patreon.com/rono1848

Panelists:
Emmanuel - Swedish Sommelier
Ezri - Swampside Chats
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Sophie - Jumpsuit Utopia

#126 Eco-Reactionary John Michael Greer

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 11 Jul 2020 13:00:00 +0000

We speak with Greg Belvedere, the man behind the ‘Rebel Bass’ youtube channel and contributor to Current Affairs. In a bit of a blast from the past for this pod, we take a deep dive into the collapse/peak-oil scene and discuss Greg’s video on the eco-reactionary John Michael Greer.

#007 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 06 Jul 2020 08:00:00 +0000

We continue Marx’s lambasting of the social democrats in Chapter 3 - ‘The Defeat of the Petit Bourgeois Democracy’.

Charles and Camilla acting weird:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqtOA2GdsV4

The artwork for the show was created by the Korean artist, and author of the 2019 Marx/Engels Illustration book.

https://www.deviantart.com/rono1848

https://twitter.com/RN_fortuna

https://www.patreon.com/rono1848

Panelists:

C Derick Varn - Symptomatic Redness
Ezri - Swampside Chats
James Knight - Wax Cylinder Expert
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Sophie - Jumpsuit Utopia

#006 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 14:05:34 +0000

We jump into the white hot burning fire of Marx’s critique of the social democrats that is Chapter 3 - ‘The Defeat of the Petit Bourgeois Democracy’.

The artwork for the show was created by the Korean artist, and author of the 2019 Marx/Engels Illustration book.

https://www.deviantart.com/rono1848

https://twitter.com/RN_fortuna

https://www.patreon.com/rono1848

Panelists:

C Derick Varn - Symptomatic Redness

Kyle - General Intellect Unit

Ezri - Swampside Chats

#125 The CHAZ/CHOP w/ Ben Lain - TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 20:10:36 +0000

Today, we speak with Ben Lain, who recently returned home from a 2 day trip to the CHAZ/CHOP in Seattle.

#005 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 23 Jun 2020 08:00:00 +0000

This week we continue our analysis of Chapter 2 - ‘The Downfall of the Republicans’.

The artwork for the show was created by the Korean artist, and author of the 2019 Marx/Engels Illustration book.

https://www.deviantart.com/rono1848

https://twitter.com/RN_fortuna

https://www.patreon.com/rono1848

Panelists:

C Derick Varn - Symptomatic Redness

Kyle - General Intellect Unit

Ezri - Swampside Chats

#124 Prefigurative Politics w/ Red Plateaus

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 13 Jun 2020 08:00:00 +0000

Today we speak with Paul and Eivind, the brains behind the ‘Red Plateaus’ youtube channel. We discuss their excellent recent video on ‘Pre-figurative Politics’ and why this concept is so important for our revolutionary politics. Paul is the co-author of the recent book on the topics: Prefigurative Politics: Building Tomorrow Today. This was recorded a few weeks ago, before the outbreak of the BLM protests across the US.

Book: https://www.wiley.com/en-gb/Prefigurative+Politics%3A+Building+Tomorrow+Today-p-9781509535910

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RPlateaus

Youtube: youtube.com/c/redplateaus

Patreon: patreon.com/redplateaus

#123 The US Revolution II - The Sequel

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 19:45:47 +0000

An emergency Emancipation network collaboration on the staggering political developments stateside....

FEEL THE POWER!

#122 Strategy Re-dux Part 2 w/ Mike MacNair TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 08:00:00 +0000

We continue our questioning of Mike MacNair, the man responsible for the Revolutionary Strategy Series...

#121 Strategy Re-dux Part 1 w/ Mike MacNair

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 31 May 2020 08:00:00 +0000

This week I’m delighted to welcome back Mike MacNair to the show. Mike is an Associate Professor of Law at St Hugh’s College Oxford, and the man responsible for the behemoth that was the ‘Revolutionary Strategy Series’. This is the first of a two parter where we I get to ask Mike some questions raised by reading and discussion of his seminal work

#004 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 23 May 2020 08:00:00 +0000

This week we start Chapter 2 - ‘The Downfall of the Republicans’.

Panelists:

C Derick Varn - Symptomatic Redness

Emmanuel - Swedish Sommelier

Ezri - Swampside Chats

Kyle - General Intellect Unit

The artwork for the show was created by the Korean artist, and author of the 2019 Marx/Engels Illustration book.

https://www.deviantart.com/rono1848

https://twitter.com/RN_fortuna

https://www.patreon.com/rono1848

#003 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 17 May 2020 08:00:00 +0000

We conclude our reading of Chapter 1 - ‘Feb. 1848 to Dec. 1851’.

The artwork for the show was created by the Korean artist, and author of the 2019 Marx/Engels Illustration book.

https://www.deviantart.com/rono1848
https://twitter.com/RN_fortuna
https://www.patreon.com/rono1848

Panelists:

C Derick Varn - Symptomatic Redness

Kyle - General Intellect Unit

Ezri - Swampside Chats

#002 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 09 May 2020 08:00:00 +0000

We continue our reading of Chapter 1 - Feb. 1848 to Dec. 1851.

The artwork for the show was created by the Korean artist, and author of the 2019 Marx/Engels Illustration book.

https://www.deviantart.com/rono1848
https://twitter.com/RN_fortuna
https://www.patreon.com/rono1848

Panelists:
C Derick Varn - Symptomatic Redness
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Ezri - Swampside Chats
James - Wax Cylinder Expert

#120 Marx and Credit Money w/ Simon Mouatt - TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 03 May 2020 16:13:28 +0000

Our guest is Simon Mouatt, Associate Professor Emeritus at the University of Chichester Business School. We discuss his paper: ‘Can Sequential and Non-Dualistic Interpretation of Marx’s Monetary Thought be Synthesised with the Endogenous Money Paradigm?’ from ‘Critique: Journal of Socialist Theory’. Our discussion runs the gamut from Oil Shocks to the neurality of money to planned capitalist economies.

#119 Socialist Labour Time Planning w/ GIU Part 2

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 02 May 2020 08:00:00 +0000

This week we have part two of our Socialist Labour Time Planning crossover special with our comrades Shane and Kyle from the General Intellect Unit podcast. This discussion is based around a reading of a recent paper by Seongjin Jeong, Professor of Economics at Gyeongsang National University, called:

‘Soviet planning and the labor-time calculation model: implications for 21st-century socialism‘.

#118 Socialist Labour Time Planning w/ GIU Part 1

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 25 Apr 2020 08:00:00 +0000

This week we have a crossover episode with our Emancipation Network friends and comrades Shane and Kyle from General Intellect unit. This is part one of a two parter where we delve deep in the history, the theory, and future possibilities for Marx’s Labour Time Calculation. We use a recent paper by Seongjin Jeong, a Professor of Economics at Gyeongsang National University, called: ‘Soviet planning and the labor-time calculation model: implications for 21st-century socialism‘. We going on a proper deep dive in these two episodes… brace yourself Bridget.

#001 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 18 Apr 2020 08:00:00 +0000

What better time to kick back and read some Marx than the middle of a pandemic. Grab your books ladies and gentlemen....

Panelists:

C Derick Varn - Mortal Science, Pop The Left

Ezri - Swampside Chats, Mortal Science

James - Wax Cylinder Enthusiast

Kyle - General Intellect Unit

Artwork:

https://www.deviantart.com/rono1848

https://twitter.com/RN_fortuna

https://www.patreon.com/rono1848

#117 The Problems With Equilibrium /w Nick Potts Pt 2 - TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 18:18:10 +0000

We continue our discussion with Prof Nick Potts of Solent University and parse the problems the caused by the equilibrium approach of Post-Keynesian and Kalecki, and what Marxists can learn from MMT about money.

#116 The Problems With Equilibrium /w Nick Potts Pt 1

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 11 Apr 2020 09:36:14 +0000

This week I am delighted to welcome Prof Nick Potts of Solent University to talk about the problems of equilibrium theories and a possible synthesis between Post-Keynesian and MMT approaches with the TSSI of Marx

#041 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 04 Apr 2020 08:00:00 +0000

We finish our reading of Paul Cockshotts critique of the book and gather out thoughts.

Don't join a cult

#115 Aye Corona w/ GIU BONUS Episdoe

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 16 Mar 2020 16:37:53 +0000

An emergency corona virus special with boys from General Intellect Unit on the human, political, and financial catastrophe that is upon us.....

#114 Radical Gaming w/ Colestia TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 08:00:01 +0000

Today we talk with Colestia, a radical left games designer about his work and the world of independent anti-capitalist gaming. You can check out his work at:

https://colestia.itch.io.

Credit to Matt who helped edit this episode.

#040 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 08:00:00 +0000

We continue our reading of Paul Cockshotts critique of Mike MacNair's 'Revolutionary Strategy' book, and give sortition the once over.

Panelists:

C Derick Varn - Symptomatic Redness
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Lexi Dog Robot - Swampside Chats
Pouya - Machine Noise Expert

#113 Super Tuesday Election Special

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 05 Mar 2020 12:45:56 +0000

A very special Emancipation Network all-star panel with Ben Burgis of Zero Books discuss the recent poor showing by Bernie Sanders in the US primaries.

What does it mean for politics?
What does is mean for socialist/communist politics?
Is Jake actually a meme?

Listen to find out...

#039 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 09:00:00 +0000

Since we finished the book in the previous episode, we now move on to Paul Cockshotts critique of the book, some of it very very good, some of it very very bad.

http://paulcockshott.co.uk/reality/polemic/notesonmcnair.pdf

Panelists:

C Derick Varn - Symptomatic Redness
Ezri - Swampside Chats
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Pouya - Machine Noise Expert

#112 A Political History of the IRA Part 2 - TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 09:00:00 +0000

This week we continue our interview with Daniel Finn about his new book ‘One Man’s Terrorist: A Political History of the IRA’. We discuss how the IRAs strategy evolved from a purely military to a political strategy, and the tactics and decision making along the way.

#111 A Political History of the IRA Part 1

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 09:00:00 +0000

This week we welcome Daniel Finn to the show, to talk about his really excellent new book: ‘One Man’s Terrorist: A Political History of the IRA’. Daniel is currently a writer for Jacobin and has also previously worked for the New Left Review. The massive surge of Sinn Fein in the recent Irish General Election to become the most popular political party is the culmination of a long term strategy, which led the party from a point of political irrelevance in the south, to the brink of government. This clear example of long term strategic planning fits neatly into our recent reading group series on the necessary strategic reorientation needed by the revolutionary left.

#038 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 09:00:00 +0000

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

#037 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 03 Feb 2020 09:00:00 +0000

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

#036 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 25 Jan 2020 09:00:00 +0000

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

#110 Marx's Critique of Politics Part 3 - TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 19 Jan 2020 20:10:14 +0000

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’.

#109 Marx's Critique of Politics Part 2

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 18 Jan 2020 09:00:00 +0000

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.

#108 Marx's Critique of Politics Part 1

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 11 Jan 2020 21:00:00 +0000

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.

#107 Corbyn Crumbles

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 03 Jan 2020 09:00:00 +0000

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

#035 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 27 Dec 2019 09:00:00 +0000

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

#034 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 21 Dec 2019 21:00:00 +0000

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

UK Election Dung-heap Post Mortem

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 15 Dec 2019 19:06:57 +0000

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

#033 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 11 Dec 2019 09:00:00 +0000

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

#032 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 03 Dec 2019 17:00:00 +0000

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

#106 Marx & Engels Concept of the Party w/ Lawrence Parker TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 03 Dec 2019 09:40:14 +0000

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

#031 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 25 Nov 2019 09:00:00 +0000

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

#030 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 22:00:00 +0000

We battle through the Trot-smorgasbord that is the end of Chapter 8: ’Political Consciousness’. Sophie puts Lexi on the leash....

Panelists:

Kyle - General Intellect Unit

Lexi Dog Robot - Swampside Chats

Pouya - Machine nose expert

Sophie - Trans Trans Revolution

#029 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 09 Nov 2019 09:00:00 +0000

We continue our march through Chapter 8: ’Political Consciousness’ and discuss why we shouldn’t just do what the Russians did. Word.

Panelists:

C Derick Varn - Symptomatic Redness
Kyle Thompson - General Intellect Unit
Lexi Dog Robot - Swampside Chats
Pouya - Philosopher of Science
Sophie - Trans Trans Revolution

#028 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 28 Oct 2019 08:00:00 +0000

This week we continue our mega-intense reading of Chapter 8: ’Political Consciousness’ and riff poetical on historical materialism and markov chains.

The panelists are:
C Derick Varn - Symptomatic Redness
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Lexi Dog Robot - Swampside Chats
Pouya - Lord of the Serfs
Sophia - Trans Trans Revolution

#105 The Lessons of 1917 w/ Jack Conrad - TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 22:19:20 +0000

On the latest patreon only episode we discuss the political economy of the Soviet Union and what we can learn from the failures of the Russian revolution with Jack Conrad of the Weekly Worker.

#027 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 21 Oct 2019 07:00:00 +0000

This week we read more of Chapter 8: 'Political Consciousness' talk about the importance of a functioning international and go in hard on Lenin’s strategic errors.

The panelists are:

Kyle - General Intellect Unit

Lexi - Swampside Chats

Pouya - Lord of the Serfs

#026 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 08:00:00 +0000

This week we continue with Chapter 8: ’Political Consciousness’ and get into the weeds on the role of the international and critique Lenin’s revolutionary strategy.

The panelists are:

Kyle - General Intellect Unit

Lexi - Swampside Chats

Pouya - Lord of the Serfs

#025 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 07 Oct 2019 08:00:00 +0000

This week we continue with Chapter 8: ’Political Consciousness’ and riff some more on the elusive party form.

The panelists are:

C Derick Varn - Symptomatic Redness

Kyple - General Intellect Unit

Lexi - Swampside Chats

Puoya - Machine Noise Expert

Sophie - Swampside Chats

#104 Communist University

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 28 Sep 2019 20:00:00 +0000

This week we welcome James to the show, a long time listener and patron who I met recently at the CPGB Communist University this summer. We give a thorough analysis of the event, our thoughts on the talks, the people we met there, and our overall general impression. For those unaware, Mike MacNair, whose book ‘Revolutionary Strategy’ we are currently studying on the podcast, is a member of the CPGB. He gave a number of talks related to the book, and was where I got to sit down with him to talk about brexit for the recent episodes.

#103 Brexit w/ Mike MacNair Part 2 - TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 08:00:01 +0000

We continue our conversation with Mike MacNair on Brexit, the history of the UK’s role in the EU, and what he expects to happen in the coming weeks and months. Apologies for the fridge sounds in the background

#102 Brexit w/ Mike MacNair

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 08:00:00 +0000

This week we welcome back Mike MacNair to the show. We caught up at the recent CPGB Communist university and sat down to talk about the history of the UK’s role in the EU, Brexit, and why he considers himself an ex-Trot.

#024 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 11 Sep 2019 08:00:00 +0000

This week we start the penultimate chapter, Chapter 8: ’Political Conciousness’ and are greeted by the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

The panelists are:

Sophie - Trans Trans Revolution
Pouya - Machine Noise Expert
Kyle - General Intellect Unit
Lexi - Swampside Chats
Derick Varn - Symptomatic Redness

#023 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 04 Sep 2019 08:00:00 +0000

This week we finish the long march through Chapter 7: ‘The Workers Government Slogan’.

Only two chapters to go!

Panelists:
C. Derick Varn - Symptomatic Redness
Lexi Dog Robot - Swampside Chats
Pouya - Machine Noise Expert
Sophie - Trans Trans Revolution

#022 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 28 Aug 2019 08:00:00 +0000

We continue our trawl through Chapter 7: ‘The Workers Government Slogan’ and deal with the concepts of the United Front and the Workers Goverment. We also discuss Pouya's ability to turn tricks in Detroit, or the lack thereof.

#021 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 20 Aug 2019 08:00:00 +0000

This week we continue continue with Chapter 7: ‘The Workers Government Slogan’ and talk inevitably leads to the philosophical and sociological world of toilets. Zizek, bedamned!

The panelists are:

C Derick Varn - Symptomatic Redness
Kyle Thomspon - General Intellect Unit
Lexi Dog Robot - Swampside Chats
Pouya - Machine noise expert

#020 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 08:00:00 +0000

This week start afresh with Chapter 7: ‘The Workers Government Slogan’ and discuss the revolutionary potential of toilets. Great hilarity ensues.

The panelists are:

C. Derick Varn - Symptomatic Redness

Lexi Dog Robot - Swampside Chats

Pouya - Machine noise expert

#101 Econophysics & Marxist Humanism w/ Andrew Kliman

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 05 Aug 2019 09:00:00 +0000

We continue our discussion with Prof. Andrew Kliman, dig deep into some econophysics critiques of the TSSI, Marx’s 3 system equalities, and Raya Dunayevskaya and the political history of the Marxist Humanism.

#100 The TSSI and the Critics w/ Andrew Kliman

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 05 Aug 2019 08:00:00 +0000

That's right! It's episode #100! It’s been over seven years since the first episode in April 2012. I’d like to thank all the listeners for listening to and supporting the show over the years - I couldn’t have kept it going without you all. This week we are excited to welcome back Prof. Andrew Kliman to the show, as Lexi and myself spill our thoughts on the TSSI series that concluded a few months past and we pick the good professors brain on a number of issues

#019 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 29 Jul 2019 08:00:00 +0000

This week finish Chapter 6: ‘Unity in Diversity’, and continue our brutal attack on the sect form.

The panelists are:
C. Derick Varn - Symptomatic Redness
Lexi Dog Robot - Swampside Chats
Pouya - self-help enthusiast
Sophie - Trans Trans Revolution

#018 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 08:00:00 +0000

This week we try our best to conclude Chapter 6: ‘Unity in Diversity’, but get stuck neck deep in Sect depravity.

Pounding the boards with me this week are:

C Derick Varn - Symptomatic Redness

Lexi - Swampside Chats

Pouya - show stalwart

Sophie - Trans Trans Revolution

#017 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 13 Jul 2019 08:00:00 +0000

This week continue our leisurely amble through Chapter 6: ‘Unity in Diversity’.

The panel consists of the usual stalwarts:

C Derick Varn - Symptomatic Redness

Sophie - Trans Trans Revolution

Lexi Dog Robot - Swampside Chats

#016 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 08 Jul 2019 08:00:00 +0000

This week we begin the long and enjoyable task of deciphering Chapter 6: ‘Unity in Diversity’. We start off we a nice insult of the returning C Derick Varn….

The panelists this week are:

C Derick Varn - Symptomatic Redness

Lexi - Swampside Chats

Sophie - Trans Trans Revolution

#015 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 29 Jun 2019 08:00:00 +0000

This week we continue our examination of Chapter Five: ‘Communist Strategy and the Party Form’ with Lexi of Swampside Chats, and Sophie of Trans Trans Revolution.

We are all gonna get sent to the Glue-lag....

#014 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 20 Jun 2019 08:00:00 +0000

This week we continue our examination of Chapter Five: ‘Communist Strategy and the Party Form’. We are joined again this week by Sophie of Trans Trans Revolution, Lexi of Swampside Chats, C Derick Varn of Symptomatic Redness, and Dan, friend of the show.

#099 The Regrettable Century Part 2 TEASER

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 12 Jun 2019 19:50:49 +0000

This week we have part 2 of our discussion with the ‘Regrettable Century’ crew about the Marxist sect. We also talk about the current state and likely trajectory of the DSA, and what exactly it is that revolutionary communists of today should be doing with their time.

You can find their excellent podcast here:

http://regrettablecentury.buzzsprout.com/

#098 The Regrettable Century

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 11 Jun 2019 08:00:00 +0000

This week we talk to Kevin, Chris, and Jason of the ‘Regrettable Century’ podcast about their experience of spending 10 years in the ISO before leaving a few years ago. This follows on from an episode of their podcast where they talk about the recent demise of the ISO. This is part 1 of a 2 part interview.

You can find their excellent podcast here:

http://regrettablecentury.buzzsprout.com/

#013 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 03 Jun 2019 08:00:00 +0000

This week we begin our examination of Chapter Five: ‘Communist Strategy and the Party Form’. We are joined again this week by and Sophie of Trans Trans Revolution, Lexi of Swampside Chats, and Dan, friend of the show.

Beware. The Feds are Everywhere, I tell ya.

EVERYWHERE

#012 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 27 May 2019 08:00:00 +0000

This week we complete our perusal of Chapter Four: ‘War and Revolutionary Strategy’ of Mike MacNair's 'Revolutionar Strategy' book.

We are joined again this week by Lexi of Swampside Chats and Sophie of Trans Trans Revolution.

War, huh! What is it good for? Deciphering communist strategy, huh!

#011 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 18 May 2019 08:33:20 +0000

This week we continue our trawl through Chapter Four: ‘War and Revolutionary Strategy’. We are joined again this week by Lexi of Swampside Chats and Sophie of Trans Trans Revolution. This week the discussion turns to war, blood, guts, death, betrayal. It's essentially Game of Thrones.

#010 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 13 May 2019 19:25:10 +0000

This week we commence Chapter Four: ‘War and Revolutionary Strategy’. We are joined by Lexi of Swampside Chats and Sophie of Trans Trans Revolution.

This podcast is a member of the Emancipation Network, a marxist podcast network and research collective

Find out about our sister podcasts and research here: http://emancipation.network/

#097 Capitalist Keywords

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 04 May 2019 08:00:00 +0000

This week we talk to John Patrick Leary about his new book ‘Keyword - The New Language of Capitalism’. John is an associate Professor of English at Wayne State University in Detroit. He is also the author of ‘A Cultural History of Underdevelopment: Latin America in the U.S. Imagination’.

You can buy his book here:

https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1243-keywords

https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/4938

#096 The Limerick Soviet

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 27 Apr 2019 08:00:00 +0000

The week I am delighted to welcome Cian Prendiville to the show to talk about the Limerick Soviet of 1917. Cian is a former Solidarity Councillor in Limerick city, currently a member of the Irish Socialist Party, and is the producer of the new podcast all about the Limerick Soviet ‘Bottom Dog’.

You can find the podcast here: http://limericksoviet.ie/

And you can follow Cian here: https://twitter.com/cianplk

#009 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 20 Apr 2019 08:00:00 +0000

This week we finish our reading of Chapter Three: ‘The Revolutionary Strategy of the Centre’. We are joined by Lexi and Rosa of Swampside Chats. We are joined by Rosa and Lexi from Swampside Chats.

Lexi lays bare her love for hunting foxes, which deeply shocked the panelists....

#008 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 13 Apr 2019 08:00:00 +0000

This week we continue reading Chapter Three: ‘The Revolutionary Strategy of the Centre’. We are joined by Lexi of Swampside Chats, Sophie of Trans Trans Revolution, and C. Derick Varn of Symptomatic Redness.

Some of the panel get outraged by my scab stories.

Major Announcement

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 07 Apr 2019 13:00:00 +0000

We Are Emancipation Network

#007 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 06 Apr 2019 08:00:00 +0000

This week we start Chapter Three: ‘The Revolutionary Strategy of the Centre’ which deals with the strategy pursued by the German Social Democratic Party, or the SPD. The SPD was the most successful socialist revolutionary party in a major western power to this date, right up till it met with disaster by backing the German state in the WW1.

We are joined by Lexi of Swampside Chats, Sophie of Trans Trans Revolution, and C. Derick Varn of Symptomatic Redness.

#006 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 31 Mar 2019 08:00:00 +0000

We continue with our reading of the second chapter - ‘Reform Coalition or Mass Strike’’ with panel stalwarts Lexi, and Grant of Swampside Chats. We give the Mass Strike strategy espoused by Rosa Luxembourg et al a thorough hauling over the coals.

#005 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 23 Mar 2019 08:00:00 +0000

We delve into the 2st chapter - ‘Reform Coalition or Mass Strike’ with panel stalwarts Lexi, and Grant of Swampside Chats.

We pick apart exactly how MacNair lays out the 'Marxist Left', and we critique the three main strands: Centre Stragegy of Patience, Coalitionism, and the General Strike

#004 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 16 Mar 2019 08:00:00 +0000

We continue on our journey through the 1st chapter - ‘Marxism as a Political Strategy’ of Mike MacNairs 'Revolutionary Strategy' with Lexi, Sophie, and Grant. It all gets quite heated as I call 'Occupy' an premature ejaculant...

#003 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 09 Mar 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Today we continue our discussion of the 1st chapter - ‘Marxism as a Political Strategy’ of Mike MacNair's 'Revolutionary Strategy' book. This chapter lays out the traditional political strategy as laid out by Marx & Engels and refined by Bebel, Liebknecht and Kautsky.

#002 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 03 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Today we continue our reading of ‘Revolutionary Strategy - Marxism and the Challenge of Left Unity’ and grapple with the 1st chapter - ‘Marxism as a Political Strategy’ which lays out the traditional political strategy as laid out by Marx & Engels and refined by Kautsky.

Panelists:

Lexi & Donald - Swampside Chats

C Derick Varn - Symptomatic Redness

Emanuel - En Forlorad Sak

Ian Szabo

#001 Revolutionary Strategy Series

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 26 Feb 2019 11:47:00 +0000

‘Revolutionary Strategy - Marxism and the challenge of left unity’ was a book written by Mike MacNair in 2008 in which he analysed the history of the 20th century from a Marxist perspective to see what strategic learnings could be gleaned. In this reading group we hope to tease out what they are and what we think of them.

In this first episode, we introduce the participants and discuss the introduction to the book.

The panelists are:

Sophia - Trans Trans Revolution

Lexi, Rosa, Donald - Swampside Chats

Derek - Symptomatic Redness

Ian Szabo

#095 Revolutionary Strategy w/ Mike MacNair

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 17 Feb 2019 10:00:00 +0000

This week we welcome Mike MacNair to the show. Mike is a long time political activist, author and Tutor in Law at St Hugh's College. He is also a regular contributor to the Weekly Worker newspaper. Today we discuss Mikes' seminal work: ‘Revolutionary Strategy: Marxism and the challenge of left Unity’. We talk about the history of the 20th century and how, as Marxists, we can hope to learn from its failures. We will be studying this book as part of our upcoming Reading Group series, so get yourself a copy - it’s an amazing book.

You can buy it here:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/mike-macnair/revolutionary-strategy/paperback/product-6225135.html

And you can check out the Weekly Worker here:

https://weeklyworker.co.uk/

#094 Anti-Politics Part 2 w/ Tad Tietze

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 12:45:58 +0000

Today we have part 2 of our Anti-politics interview with Dr. Tad Tietze. Tad is currently writing a book on the topic for Verso Books, provisionally titled: ‘The Great Derangement’. We talk some more of Trump, take a look at Brexit, and discuss whether the Environmental Crisis can create a social base?

You can find his writing on his blog: left-flank.org

And you can follow him on twitter at @Dr_Tad.

#093 Anti-Politics w/ Tad Tietze

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 03 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Today we have part 1 of our interview with Dr. Tad Tiedtze. Tad is currently writing a book on anti-politics for Verso Books, the topic of todays podcast. We try to get a handle on what is meant by anti-politics, and how we can use this to understand our current see-saw political scene.

You can find his writing on his blog:

https://left-flank.org/

You can follow him on twitter at:

@Dr_Tad

#014 Refuting Marx's Inconsistency & the TSSI

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 27 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Hello and welcome to the 14th episode of the Refuting Marx's Inconsistency - Capital & the TSSI series. It’s the one you’ve been waiting for - this week the panelists give our final appraisal on Andrew Kliman’s ‘Reclaiming Marx’s Capital’, and what we see as the political and theoretical implications of it.

It’s a belter.

Lexi - https://soundcloud.com/swampsidechats

Emanuel - from https://soundcloud.com/enforloradsak

Derick - from https://www.mixcloud.com/symptomatic-redness/

Pouya - the mashed up Marxist

#013 Refuting Marx's Inconsistency & the TSSI

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 20 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

This week we look at Chapter 11 of Andrew Kliman’s ‘Reclaiming Marx’s Capital’, where we dive into a critical appraisal of the empirical evidence that supposedly supports Marx’s Labour Theory of Value.

This weeks panelists are:

Lexi - https://soundcloud.com/swampsidechats
Emanuel - from https://soundcloud.com/enforloradsak
Derick - from https://www.mixcloud.com/symptomatic-redness/

Additional Graphs & Equations:

Figure 11.2: https://www.podomatic.com/ts/b5/3f/a6/tomobrien2004/0x0_13213064.jpg

Equations in Section 11.5: https://www.podomatic.com/ts/b5/3f/a6/tomobrien2004/0x0_13213063.jpg

#092 World In Crisis w/ Michael Roberts

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 12 Jan 2019 12:00:00 +0000

Today we are delighted to welcome back Michael Roberts to the show to discuss the new book 'World In Crisis: A Global Analysis Of Marx's Law Of Probability', which he has co-edited with Guglielmo Carchedi. This is a collection of great scholarship by Marxist economists from around the globe, and contains a number of very interesting papers indeed.

You can buy World In Crisis here:
https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1216-world-in-crisis

You can find Michaels Blog here:
https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/

#012 Refuting Marx's Inconsistency & the TSSI

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 03 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Hello and welcome to the 12th episode of the Refuting Marx's Inconsistency - Capital & the TSSI series. This week we dismember the rotting corpse of the Fundamental Marxian Theorem in our close reading of chapter 10 Andrew Kliman’ s ‘Reclaiming Marx’s Capital’.

This weeks panelists are:

Lexi - https://soundcloud.com/swampsidechats
Emanuel - from https://soundcloud.com/enforloradsak
Pouya - The Mashed Up Marxist

#011 Refuting Marx's Inconsistency & the TSSI

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 18:08:52 +0000

Today we bash through as best we can Chapter 9 of Andrew Kliman's marxist masterpiece "Reclaiming Marx's Capital". This is a probably the densest of all the chapters and tables abound like a mofo. I've included the initial tables as the artwork for this episode. Many of these tables are extremely similar and repeatedly display similar phenomena, so don't worry about them toooo much. All the tables can be accessed by clicking on the image links below:

Tables 9.1 & 9.2
https://www.podomatic.com/ts/b5/3f/a6/tomobrien2004/0x0_13169411.jpg
Tables 9.3 & 9.4
https://www.podomatic.com/ts/b5/3f/a6/tomobrien2004/0x0_13169413.jpg
Tables 9.5 & 9.6
https://www.podomatic.com/ts/b5/3f/a6/tomobrien2004/0x0_13169414.jpg

Tables 9.7
https://www.podomatic.com/ts/b5/3f/a6/tomobrien2004/0x0_13169412.jpg

The panel this week consists of:
Lexi - https://soundcloud.com/swampsidechats
Derick - https://www.mixcloud.com/symptomatic-redness

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

#091 Working People

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Today we are speaking with Maximillian Alvarez, the host of the excellent ‘Working People’, a podcast by, for, and about the working class.

You can find his podcast here:

http://workingpeople.libsyn.com/

And you can follow him on twitter thus:

https://twitter.com/WorkingPod

https://twitter.com/maximillian_alv

#010.2 Refuting Marx's Inconsistency & the TSSI

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 09 Dec 2018 10:50:16 +0000

This week we smite all foes in our path and finish of chapter 8 Andrew Kliman s ‘Reclaiming Marx’s Capital’ with great fanfare

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

The panel this week consists of:

Lexi from https://soundcloud.com/swampsidechats

Emanuel from https://soundcloud.com/enforloradsak

Pouya - the mashed up Marx

#010.1 Refuting Marx's Inconsistency & the TSSI

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

This week we strive forward, thrashing all that lies in the way of our understanding of chapter 8 Andrew Kliman’ s ‘Reclaiming Marx’s Capital’. The tables we discuss form the graphic for this episode.

This weeks panelists are:

Pouya - the Mashed Up Marxist
Lexi - https://soundcloud.com/swampsidechats
Emanuel - from https://soundcloud.com/enforloradsak

#090 Capitalism vs Freedom

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 17 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

This week we welcome Rob Larson, Professor of Economics at Tacoma Community College, to the show. We talk about his new book ‘Capitalism vs Freedom: The Toll Road to Serfdom’ recently released by Zero Books.

Enjoy!

#009.2 Refuting Marx's Inconsistency & the TSSI

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 10 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

This week we continue the Marxist self-flaggelation by finishing off Chapter 7 of Andrew Kliman’ s ‘Reclaiming Marx’s Capital’. We deal again with three tables all of which form the lovely for this weeks episode, for those who don’t have the book handy.

Lexi - https://soundcloud.com/swampsidechats
Emanuel - from https://soundcloud.com/enforloradsak

#009.1 Refuting Marx's Inconsistency & the TSSI

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 02 Nov 2018 23:00:00 +0000

This week we determinedly continue our microscopic reading of Andrew Kliman’ s ‘Reclaiming Marx’s Capital’ and pick up where we left off in Chapter 7.

The Panel this week consisted of:
Lexi - https://soundcloud.com/swampsidechats
Emanuel - from https://soundcloud.com/enforloradsak

#008 Refuting Marx's Inconsistency & the TSSI

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 26 Oct 2018 15:15:34 +0000

This week we continue our close reading of Andrew Klimans ‘Reclaiming Marx’s Capital’ and go for broke on Chapter 7.
Interview Date: 13th Oct 2018

The panel this week consists of:
Lexi - https://soundcloud.com/swampsidechats
Derick - https://www.mixcloud.com/symptomatic-redness

#007 Refuting Marx's Inconsistency & the TSSI

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 12 Oct 2018 23:00:01 +0000

This week we continue our close reading of Andrew Klimans ‘Reclaiming Marx’s Capital’ and parse as best as we can Chapter 6.

Interview Date: 6th Oct 2018

The panel this week consists of:
Lexi - https://soundcloud.com/swampsidechats
Derick - https://www.mixcloud.com/symptomatic-...
Emanuel - from Emmanuel from https://soundcloud.com/enforloradsak
Pouya - the mashed-up Marx

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

#006 Refuting Marx's Inconsistency & the TSSI

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 04 Oct 2018 23:00:01 +0000

We continue our close reading of Andrew Klimans 'Reclaiming Marx's Capital' and stumble through chapter 5.

Interview Date: 22nd Sep 2018

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

To Donate Click Here: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr...

The panel this week consists of:
Lexi - https://soundcloud.com/swampsidechats
Amogh - https://www.mixcloud.com/symptomatic-...
Emanual - from Emmanuel from https://soundcloud.com/enforloradsak
Alex - from down under

#089 Will Market Socialism Work?

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 30 Sep 2018 10:15:05 +0000

This week we welcome a new guest Jamie Merchant to the show, to talk about his recent essays critiquing Market Socialism in one country recently published in the Brooklyn Rail journal. You can find his articles here:

https://brooklynrail.org/2018/07/field-notes/Dreams-of-National-Capital-Market-Socialism-Past-and-Present

https://brooklynrail.org/2018/02/field-notes/Fantasies-of-Secession-A-Critique-of-Left-Economic-Nationalism

You can become a patreon for the show here:
https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

Enjoy!

#005 Refuting Marx's Inconsistency & the TSSI

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 18 Sep 2018 23:00:00 +0000

We continue our close reading of Andrew Klimans 'Reclaiming Marx's Capital' and eat chapter 4 alive

Interview Date: 15th Sep 2018

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

To Donate Click Here: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr...

The panel this week consists of:
Lexi & Rosa from https://soundcloud.com/swampsidechats

C Derick Varn from https://www.mixcloud.com/symptomatic-redness/

#004 Refuting Marx's Inconsistency & The TSSI

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 14 Sep 2018 21:53:06 +0000

We continue our close reading of Andrew Klimans 'Reclaiming Marx's Capital' and stick our snouts deep into chapter 3

Interview Date: 8st Sep 2018

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

To Donate Click Here: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr...

You can find the podcast website here:
http://fromalpha2omega.podomatic.com/

The panel this week consists of:
Lexi from https://soundcloud.com/swampsidechats
Emanuel from https://soundcloud.com/enforloradsak
C Derick Varn from https://www.mixcloud.com/symptomatic-...
Pouya - a listener of the show

#003 Refuting Marx's Inconsistency & The TSSI

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 03 Sep 2018 23:00:01 +0000

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

To Donate Click Here: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=CM23PFP9E5YYA

You can find the podcast website here:
http://fromalpha2omega.podomatic.com/

Interview Date: 1st Sep 2018

The panel this week consists of:
Lexi & Rosa from https://soundcloud.com/swampsidechats
Emanuel from https://soundcloud.com/enforloradsak
C Derick Varn from https://www.mixcloud.com/symptomatic-...
Pouya - a listener of the show

#002 Refuting Marx's Inconsistency & The TSSI

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 19 Aug 2018 13:00:56 +0000

Part 2 of the Refuting Marx's Inconsitency & The TSSI Reading Group

Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=NnqeJJnYcZ4t9Wu76a3eRxmEhh7r0fC4mm9TBUxBMu0H44F5YjlZ-HJTyMXzk5DWtjmxA0&country.x=GB&locale.x=GB

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

Interview Date: 18 August 2018

The panel this week consists of:
Lexi & Rosa from https://soundcloud.com/swampsidechats
Emanuel from https://soundcloud.com/enforloradsak
C Derick Varn from https://www.mixcloud.com/symptomatic-...
Alex - a listener of the show

#001 Refuting Marx's Inconsistency & The TSSI

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 13 Aug 2018 20:16:11 +0000

Part 1 of the Refuting Marx's Inconsitency & The TSSI Reading Group

To Donate Click Here: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr...

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

Interview Date: 11 August 2018

The panel this week consists of:
Lexi from https://soundcloud.com/swampsidechats
Emanuel & Aiden from https://soundcloud.com/enforloradsak
Amogh from https://www.mixcloud.com/symptomatic-...
Alex - a listener of the show

#088 Did Neoliberalism Elect Trump?

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 13 Aug 2018 17:51:08 +0000

This week we welcome back Prof. Andrew Kliman to the show, to talk all about the idea that the election of Donald Trump was a reaction to neo-liberal economic policies. We delve into what the evidence from the political research shows. We also get into the nitty gritty of US inequality statistics and discuss what effect Trumps politics and ‘The Resistance’ will have on US society.

#087 Towards A New Socialism

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 20 Jul 2018 10:10:12 +0000

This week we welcome back Paul Cockshott to the show, where we discuss his 1993 book ‘Towards a New Socialism’. We discuss a possible vision of how a future socialist society would work.

Lexi from the 'Swampside Chats' podcast and myself are planning to do a long series on Prof. Klimans ‘Reclaiming Marx’s Capital’ book as a series of live youtube hangouts. Let me know if you are interested or would like to take part. We will be getting deep down into the nitty gritty detail on the TSSI interpretation of Marx’s value theory. You can contact me about it by email here: alpha2omegapodcast@gmail.com.

#086 Kliman on The Communist Manifesto Pt 2

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 23 Jun 2018 16:50:07 +0000

This week we have part 2 of our discussion with show stalwart Prof. Andrew Kliman about the Communist Manifesto. This is part one of a two part interview on the topic. I will be also appearing on a couple of upcoming episodes on the Swampside Chats podcast. Check it out - it’s the best commie podcast out there.

#085 Kliman on The Communist Manifesto Pt.1

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 15:44:44 +0000

This week we welcome back show stalwart Prof. Andrew Kliman to talk about the Communist Manifesto. This is part one of a two part interview on the topic. We discuss in depth the the revolutionary nature of the proletariat

#084 Econophysics with David Zachariah

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 08 Apr 2018 19:35:47 +0000

This week we are joined by David Zachariah,a Researcher in machine learning in Uppsala University and a political econo-physicist in his spare time. We discuss the seminal work of Machover and Farjoun, 'Laws of Chaos', which introduced the techniques of statistical mechanics to world of political economy. He tells us about the empirical evidence for the predictions made by Machover and Farjoun, and subsequent work in the field, including his own work into understanding the mechanics of the rate of profit.

#083 Dialectical Materialism

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 11 Feb 2018 15:32:32 +0000

This week we talk again to Professor Helena Sheehan about her book ‘Marxism and the Philosophy of Science: A Critical History’. Verso books have just released a new edition, as part of their Radical Thinkers series.

You can find the book here: https://www.versobooks.com/books/2565-marxism-and-the-philosophy-of-science

You can also find my new patreon page here: https://www.patreon.com/FromAlpha2Omega

#082 The Vietnam War & Revolution

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 04 Jan 2018 14:33:53 +0000

This week we talk to show regular C. Derick Varn about the recently released 10 part documentary series of ‘The Vietnam War’, made by Ken Burns and Lynn Novak. It’s a pretty amazing documentary series, about as balanced and accurate a program about a US war you could expect to find on a mainstream US network. Even more so, considering it was made with money from the Koch Brothers. The idea for the show was to talk about the amazing ability of the Vietnamese people to purposefully act under the guidance of their Marxist-Leninist leaders, and what positives we can take from that type of organisation. However, we are quickly blown off course and end up talking about every revolution under the sun, and the problems facing radical action in today's world.

Enjoy!

Note: Since recording, Derek's friend let informed him of a factual error about Kim Il Sung: Kim was not in France. He was radicalized in Manchuria during his teenage years through Korean Marxists and later through leadership and involvement in Chinese and Korean anti-Japanese resistance armies. He also did retreat to Russia for a good part of WWII.

#081 The Syriza Wave

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 10 Dec 2017 18:38:19 +0000

The podcast is back on track after an extended break, with many new shows lined up and raring to go. This week I am delighted to welcome Professor Helena Sheehan to the show to discuss her most recent book ‘The Syriza Wave: Surging and Crashing with the Greek Left’. She is a professor emeritus at Dublin City University, and the author of many books included 'Marxism and the Philosophy of Science: A Critical History'.

The music on this show was:
‘The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters’ by Sun Ra and his Arkestra
'Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major' by JS Bach, played by Colin Carr

You can find Professor Sheehans book here:
https://monthlyreview.org/product/syriza_wave/

And you can follow here on twitter at @HelenaSheehan

#080 The Russian Game

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 11 Jul 2017 20:16:28 +0000

This week I am delighted to welcome John Helmer, the man behind the excellent 'Dances With Bears' blog. John is a journalist working in Moscow since 1989, the author of several books on military and politics, and has previously worked as a an adviser to the US President Jimmy Carter and the Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou. We discuss the current state of the Russian economy, the economic war currently being waged against Russia, and the prospects for the geopolitcal and economic future of the Russian state.

You can check out John's excellent blog here:

http://johnhelmer.net/

Enjoy!

#079 UK Election Special

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 09 Jun 2017 20:17:40 +0000

A UK Election Special with regulars C. Derick Varn and Doug Lain, where two yanks slate the election for not ushering in a communist revolution, and one exiled paddy gets all in a fluster for Jeremy, his meme army, and the possibilities for an alien invasion led communist revolution. Enjoy!

#078 MMT & Crisis

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 28 Mar 2017 16:34:58 +0000

This week I am delighted to welcome back Alexander Douglas to show. Alex is a lecturer in philosophy at St. Andrews University, and is the author of ‘The Philosophy Of Debt’. This show digs deeper into the murky world of understanding the differences and possible syntheses between MTT and Marxist economics. We discuss the problems an inflationary crisis poses to MMT, the stability of MMT and a job guarantee under times of duress, and Kalecki’s class based critique of full employment policies. We also discuss keynsian accounting identities, what they mean for marx’s ideas on profits driving investment, and the impact of government investment upon our understanding of Marxist economics. Enjoy!

#077 Show me the Money Derick!

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 24 Jan 2017 17:27:31 +0000

This week I am delighted to welcome back C. Derick Varn to show. Derick, a regular guest, last appeared on the show on the Donald Trump Election special. I got quite a bit of feedback on that show, with a number of requests to get Derick back on the pod, to set him straight on MMT. What starts out as a feisty affair, eventually settles into a Marxist love-in, where we end up essentially agreeing about everything, and decide to get married. We also discuss the idea of a Church of Marx, something very dear to my heart.

The music on this episode was:
‘The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters’ by Sun Ra and his Arkestra
‘Song no.1.’ by Sun Ra and his Arkestra

Enjoy!

#076 The City

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 21:51:01 +0000

This week I am delighted to welcome Tony Norfield to the show to talk about his excellent new book: 'The City: London and the Global Power of Finance'. We discuss the role of Britain in the current geopolitical scene, and how and why finance plays such an important role in the UK economy. We also talk about why neoliberalism is such an overused and misused term, the recent Brexit fiasco, and the rise of China with it's new Silk Road.

You can find Tony's book here:
https://www.versobooks.com/books/2103-the-city

You can also find Tony's excellent blog here:
http://economicsofimperialism.blogspot.co.uk/

On music on this episode was:
‘The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters’ by Sun Ra and his Arkestra
‘Song no.1.’ by Sun Ra and his Arkestra

Enjoy!

#075 The Bittersweet Science Pt.2

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 08 Dec 2016 21:29:36 +0000

This week we have part two of our discussion with Charles Farrell, where we delve into the murky world of high stakes sports-betting, his appearance in the new documentary film ‘Dirty Games’, and his life-changing meeting with a two headed calf.

You can find out more about the film Dirty Games here:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5068818/

And you can find out more about the book ‘The Bittersweet Science’ here:

http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo22758559.html

The music on this episode was:
'The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters' by Sun Ra and his Arkestra
'A Couple of Show-Offs' by Charles Farrell

#074 The Bittersweet Science Pt.1

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 24 Nov 2016 21:25:08 +0000

This week we have a change of tack, a complete break from the Donald and that jazz. We delve into the shady of world of Professional Boxing, with the former Boxing Manager, Gambler, Gangster, Jazz Pianist, Writer, and Fight-Fixer, Charles Farrell. Boxing is a sport that has always fascinated me. It’s much more than a mere sport - it’s a metaphor for life itself, full of light and shadow, failure and redemption. Charles has led a life of a pulp-fiction novel character, from living on the streets of Boston from the age of 12, and playing piano in the hotels and brothels of Boston, to managing former heavyweight champion of the world, Leon Spinks. Charles is also starring in a new documentary, Ditry Games, about the corruption and fixing in the world of sport, and is appearing in the new book ‘The Bittersweet Science’, a collection of essays from some of the greatest writers on boxing, which is due out early next year from the University of Chicago Press.

You can find out more about the film Dirty Games here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5068818/

And you can find out more about the book ‘The Bittersweet Science’ here:
http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo22758559.html

The music on this episode was:
'The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters' by Sun Ra and his Arkestra
'I Love This Place' by Charles Farrell

#073 US Election Special

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 09 Nov 2016 21:13:23 +0000

In a first for the podcast, we do a live hangout with Doug Lain and C. Derick Varn to talk about todays Donald Trump election victory. We discuss race, gender, geo-politics, the falling rate of profit, economic stimulus, and manage to disagree and agree on absolutely everything. Enjoy!

#072 The Long Depression

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 19:14:47 +0000

After an unplanned hiatus, I am delighted to welcome back Michael Roberts to the show. Michael has a new book just out, called ‘The Long Depression: How it happened, why it happened, and what happens next’. We discuss the main thesis of the book - the idea of a long depression, the problems with Keynesian accounting identities, the hopes for a capitalist revival, and chances of a breakdown.

You can find Michael’s blog here:
https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/

You can buy his book here:
https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/693-the-long-depression

The music on this episode was:
'The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters' by Sun Ra and his Arkestra
'No Woman' by Whitney

Enjoy!

#071 Solar To The Rescue?

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 04 Aug 2016 20:21:04 +0000

This week I am delighted to welcome back Ugo Bardi to the show. Ugo is Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Florence, and the man behind the Cassandras Legacy blog, where he writes about resource depletion, climate change, and renewable energy amongst other things. We discuss the recent drop in global C02 emissions and what it means for our global economic system, the hopes for a soft landing post peak-oil and coal, solar panels as our great saviour, and his thoughts on the likelihood of global demographic decline.

You can find Ugo’s blog here:
http://cassandralegacy.blogspot.co.uk/

The music on this episode was:
'The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters' by Sun Ra and his Arkestra
'Luce Cannon ' by White Isles

#070 Money And Power

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 15 Jul 2016 20:47:16 +0000

This week, I am delighted to welcome Alexander Douglas, a lecturer in philosophy at St. Andrews University, to the show, to talk about his recent book: The Philosophy Of Debt. It was great to talk to Alex about the nature of debt and money, and how all of this stuff is explicitly linked to the power relations and class structure of our society. We also got to talk about how this MMT stuff can be viewed or fits in from a Marxist point of view, a synthesis of which I think could be extremely fruitful.

You can find Alex’s blog here:
https://originofspecious.wordpress.com/about/

You can find Alex’s book here:
https://www.routledge.com/The-Philosophy-of-Debt/Douglas/p/book/9781138929746

The music on this episode was:
'The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters' by Sun Ra and his Arkestra
'People Move Along' by Pipe-eye

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8. Write the review, and click on the submit button.
9. If you are having any trouble with all of this, drop me an email to: alpha2omegapodcast (at) gmail (dot) com

#069 Culture Vs Class

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 08:59:10 +0000

In this episode, we have part 2 of the Derick Varn interview, where we discuss the history and theories of Cultural Marxism in great detail. This bumper episode, also veers off into a long discussion on Black Lives Matter, how we need more than just culture wars - how’s about some class wars! Class wars where we call the shots, for a change. Speaking of all this, we start the conversation with myself and Derick talking about Accelerationism and previous guest Nick Srnicek’s new book - ‘Reinventing The Future’. This is a long one people, as it was a pretty unstructured conversation, and I was suffering from a flu at the time of recording. My powers of conversation dipped in the middle, so I let Derick do his thing, but I rally back with some counter-punches of my own, in the later rounds.

You can find Derick’s blog here:
https://symptomaticcommentary.wordpress.com/

You can find Derick’s and Amogh’s Podcast here: http://sympthomaticredness.libsyn.com/

The music on this episode was:
'The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters' by Sun Ra and his Arkestra
'Holy Moly' by Matthew E. White

#068 Knowing The Future

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 16:08:33 +0000

This week I am delighted to welcome back Derick Varn to the show. After listening to the previous show about Cultural Marxism with Doug Lain, Derick sent me an email saying he’d like to come on the show and give his two cents. What followed was a wide ranging discussion on ideology, value theory, and the historical emergence of capitalism. We also discussed the possibility of a revolutionary movement based on a system without abstract value, Marx’s critique of the Gotha Program, and Star Trek as a Marxist Tract. And top of all that, the possible productivity of a communist state, game theory and alternative histories, and the Spanish revolution.

You can find Derick’s blog here:
https://symptomaticcommentary.wordpress.com/

You can find Derick’s and Amogh’s Podcast here: http://sympthomaticredness.libsyn.com/

The music on this episode was:
'The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters' by Sun Ra and his Arkestra
'If Not For Money' - The Wytches

#067 Cultural Marxism

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 08 Mar 2016 12:00:38 +0000

This week I am delighted to welcome Doug Lain back to show, for a discussion about cultural marxism, an argument about worker controlled workplaces, and some thoughts on what we can learn from the Inca’s.

Doug is the host of the Zero Squared podcast, previously the Diet Soap Podcast, and is the publisher of Zero Books. He is also a sci-fi author, and has been nominated this year for the Phillip K. Dick Award for his latest novel, After the Saucers Landed.

You can buy his book here:
http://skyhorsepublishing.com/titles/641-9781597808231-after-the-saucers-landed

You can find out everything Doug related here:
http://douglaslain.com/

And all about Zero Books here:

http://www.zero-books.net/

The music on this episode was:
'All You Need Is Hate', by The Delgados
'Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get' by The Dramatics
'All About Us' by Teen

#066 Inventing The Future

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 06 Feb 2016 00:00:00 +0000

After an unplanned hiatus, the show is back with a bang. This week I am delighted to welcome Nick Srnicek to the show. Nick, and his co-author Alex Williams, has recently released a new book with Verso called: “Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work’. I bought this book as a christmas present for myself, and it didn’t disappoint - it’s just the book I have been waiting for someone to write! Indeed, I’m kinda annoyed with Nick and Alex, because it’s the book I really wanted to write! In the interview we cover the first half of the book, which takes a critical look at the functioning of the political left today, and a deep look at the history, strategy and tactics of the neoliberals as a counterpoint. I hope to have Alex back on the show in the near future to discuss the second half of the book, which is much less critique and more ‘what is to be done’. Us leftie’s need to get beyond critique, and that includes this show.

You can find Nick and Alex’s book here:
http://www.versobooks.com/books/1989-inventing-the-future

You can also find their blog here:
https://syntheticedifice.wordpress.com/

The music on this episode was:
‘The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters’ by Sun Ra and his Arkestra
‘USA iii: rail’ by Dan Deacon
‘Crying In The Chapel’ by Charles Bradley
‘Now Is The Time Of Emotion’ by Prince Rama

#065 Robots and AI: Utopia vs Dystopia

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 20:02:40 +0000

This week I am delighted to welcome back to the show Marxist blogger extraordinaire, Michael Roberts. Michael’s blog, ‘The Next Recession’ is one of the best Marxist economics blogs out there, and he also runs a very active facebook group too.

We talk about a recent series of articles Michael wrote called: ‘Robots and AI: Utopia or Dystopia, which was prompted by Paul Mason’s recent book Post-Capitalism.

You can find the articles and facebook group here:

https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2015/08/23/robots-and-ai-utopia-or-dystopia-part-one/

https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2015/08/29/robots-and-ai-utopia-or-dystopia-part-two/

https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2015/09/24/robots-and-ai-utopia-or-dystopia-part-three/

https://www.facebook.com/Michael-Roberts-blog-925340197491022/

The music on this episode was:
‘The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters’ by Sun Ra and his Arkestra
'Planet Junior' by The Babe Rainbow

#064 Eurozone Dystopia

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 29 Aug 2015 11:35:55 +0000

This week I am delighted to welcome Prof. Bill Mitchell, Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia. Bill is also the author of the
Billy Blog - one of the best places to learn about MMT on the web. He must be the most prolific economics blogger in the world today, and that’s no lie.

We met up in London yesterday, to talk about Bill’s new book Eurozone Dystopia, available from the publishers Edward Elgar. We discussed why Greece should bring back the drachma, the failed negotiating position of Syriza, the chances of reforming the eurozone, and why Italy is the canary in the mine. Unfortunately the batteries for the microphone died 5 minutes before the end, so we missed some of the juicy stuff…… apologies.

You can find the Professors blog here: http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/

You can buy the Professors new book here: http://www.e-elgar.com/shop/eurozone-dystopia

Enjoy!

The music on this weeks show was:
'The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters' by Sun Ra and his Arkestra
'I’m Leaving Now' by Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard
'Grass Roots' by Tommy McCook

#063 Whats Wrong With The Far Left?

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 08 Jul 2015 23:15:01 +0000

After a long delay, this week I am delighted to welcome another Irishman to the show, Chekov Feeney. Chekov is the man behind the blog chekov.org, where he reflects and theorizes on his 20 year journey through leftist politics, science and the media. Chekov also works as a Senior Research Fellow in the Computer Science department in Trinity College Dublin. We talk about the good and the bad of radical left wing organisations, the empirical evidence for the liberal and Marxist world views, the need for new theoretical work on the left, and the dramatic political events unfolding in Greece. We join the conversation as Chekov is discussing his recent work in the field of computational history.

You can find his blog here: http://www.chekov.org

Enjoy!

The music on this show was:

‘The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters’ by Sun Ra and his Arkestra
'One More Robot' by The Flaming Lips
'Mary, Don't You Weep' by Aretha Franklin
‘The River’ by King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

#062 Closet Marxists

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 06 May 2015 22:00:55 +0000

This week I am delighted to welcome back to the show Michael Roberts, author of the ‘Next Recession’ blog. We talk about the new reports out on the world economy from the IMF and the Bank of International Settlements, and how Ben Bernanke has come out as a closet Marxist after all these years. We also discuss the recent debate between David Harvey on one side, and Michael and Andrew Kliman on the other, about the relevance / reality of the law of the tendential fall in the rate of profit, and the politics behind it all.

You can find Michael's most prolific Blog here:

https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/

The music on this show was:

‘The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters’ by Sun Ra and his Arkestra
‘Missing You’ by John Waite
‘The Drug Song’ by Amateur Transplants
‘Green Onions’ by Booker T and the M G's

#061 The Calculation Problem

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 13:53:16 +0000

After repeated requests from a number of listeners, this week I am delighted to welcome back to the show Dr Paul Cockshott, a reader in the computer science department of Glasgow University. We talk of the Socialist Calculation debate, the Soviet plans for their own internet, Google vs a planned economy, and the problems with Council Communism.

If you'd like to listen to the show on your phone, you can now also listen with TuneIn here:

http://tunein.com/radio/From-Alpha-To-Omega-p686756/

#060 Zero, Nada, Zilch

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 13 Feb 2015 21:06:02 +0000

This week I am delighted to welcome back to the show Doug Lain, host of what was once called the Diet Soap podcast, but which is now the Zero Squared podcast. We talk about why Doug’s new job as publisher of Zero Books doesn't make him a capitalist, what econophysics has to do with Marx, capitalism as objective reality, base vs superstructure, radical politics and the current balance of forces, how Woody Allen has lost his way, the latest book Doug’s working on, and how cool and communist Star Trek is.

You can find the shows new Stitcher presence here:

http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/from-alpha-to-omega

You can find the Zero Squared podcast and all of Doug's other stuff here:

DouglasLain.com

Here is Zero Books:

http://www.zero-books.net/

The music on this show was:

‘The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters’ by Sun Ra and his Arkestra
‘Maple Leaf Rag’ by Scott Joplin
‘Si tu vois ma mère’ by Sidney Bechet
‘For The Love Of Money’ by O’Jays
‘Ain't Misbehavin’ by Django Reinhardt

#059 Test Those Theories

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 27 Jan 2015 22:53:03 +0000

This week I am delighted to welcome to the show Jose A Tapia Granados, associate Professor in the Department of History and Politics in Drexel University. Originally trained as a medical doctor, Jose now specialises in the links between fluctuations in the economy and health conditions. He also is interested in purely economic issues, and is the co-author of the book ‘La Gran Recesión y el capitalismo del siglo XXI’ or ‘The Great Recession and capitalism of the XXI century’ in english. The interview is based upon a really fascinating paper of his I read recently called, ‘Does investment call the tune? Empirical evidence and endogenous theories of the business cycle’. In this paper, Jose looks at the different theories of crisis, in particular those of Keynes and Marx, and sees how they stand up when you test them against the historical empirical data. Very interesting stuff indeed.

Here is the podcast's new YouTube channel, with all the episodes uploaded:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD63zXEPxFpl9Y0Vh8abp4A

You can find the paper here:
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/tapia_granados/files/does_investment_call_the_tune_may_2012__forthcoming_rpe_.pdf

You can find his book here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/GRAN-RECESION-CAPITALISMO-DEL-SIGLO/dp/8483196115

The music on this show was:

‘The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters’ by Sun Ra and his Arkestra
‘That's How It Works’ by The Retinas
‘Hurricane’ by Ms Mr
‘Forever And Ever’ by Demis Roussos

#058 Radical Laughs

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 02 Jan 2015 00:09:41 +0000

This week I am delighted to welcome Sean Michael Wilson to the show. Sean Michael Wilson is Scottish comic book writer, who now lives and works in Japan. In the last couple of years, Sean Michael has released a couple of explicitly political graphic novels:

'Parecomic: The Story of Michael Albert and Participatory Economics'

'Fight the Power! A Visual History of Protests Among the English Speaking Peoples'

He has also recently wrote a post for the Forbidden Planet Blog on how an anarchy-based economic system would benefit the creation of comics, and all art in general. We discuss the creative process of the comic-book writer, the emergence of the adult comic-book genre, the Walking Dead and it’s Hobbesian view of the world, why Hollywood does not do anarchy, progressive politics in comics, socialism and the world of art, and the need for revolutionary jokes.

You may also be interested in a promising new podcast that has just been launched by Amogh Sadu and C. Derrick Varn called ‘Symptomatic Redness’. It features a really good interview Amogh did with me earlier in the autumn, where I give my opinions on all things economic and political, and slander all my previous guests. Here is the link:

http://sympthomaticredness.libsyn.com/prepisode-one-interview-with-tom-obrien

Here is where you can get your hands on Sean Michael's Work:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?ie=UTF8&field-author=Sean+Michael+Wilson&search-alias=books-uk&text=Sean+Michael+Wilson&sort=relevancerank

Here is Sean Michael's blog:
http://radicalfun.weebly.com

You can find Sean Michael's Forbidden Planet blog post here:
http://www.forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2014/comics-sean-michael-wilson-anarchic-approach/

The music on this show was:

‘The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters’ by Sun Ra and his Arkestra
‘Turning Japanese’ by the Vapors
‘wrapping the green flag around’ by The Dubliners
‘Such A Waste Of Mind’ by Faron Young
‘Bring Me Sunshine’ by Morecambe and Wise

You can find the Sligo Anarchist here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yieS7jWWdB8

#057 The Physics Of Class

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 11:38:39 +0000

This week I am delighted to welcome Gavin Mendel-Gleason to the show. Gavin works as a Post-Doctoral researcher in the computer science department at Dublin City University. Gavin also writes for the very interesting blog: Spirit of Contradiction, which focuses on various different aspects of leftist or socialist politics and theory.

Gavin recently wrote a really interesting article on some empirical and theoretical evidence from the world Econophysics that chimes with Marx’s two-class analysis of capitalism. These results are extremely interesting and serve as another illumination of the accuracy and power of Marx’s work. We also talk about Gavin's experiences working as an anarchist activist in Ireland, and his journey from that to more formal party politics.

You can find his blog here:

http://spiritofcontradiction.eu/

The music featured on this show was:

‘The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters’ by Sun Ra and his Arkestra
‘Working Man’ by Rush
‘Top Hat, White Tie and Tails’ by Fred Astaire
'Time Will Tell' by The Lafayette Afro Rock Band
‘Water No Get Enemy’ by Fela Kuti

#056 Essence and the Philosophy of Science

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 23:27:03 +0000

This week I am delighted to welcome Thom Workman to the show, Professor of Political Science at the University of New Brunswick. Thom’s research explores the philosophical and sociological critiques of modernity, especially as these have developed over the post-Enlightenment era. In this episode we discuss the history of the Philosophy of Science, Marx’s understanding of science at the time of writing 'Das Kapital', Postmodernism, and how this notion of science has come under attack over the years, from various quarters, both from outside and within Marxism itself.

Thom has also published a number of books, his latest called: ‘If You’re in My Way, I’m Walking: The Assault on Working People since 1970’.

http://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/if-youre-in-my-way-im-walking.

#055 Encirclement

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 08:52:13 +0000

This week I am delighted to have Rick Rozoff, long-time anti-war activist, NATO expert, and curator of the - Stop Nato: Opposition to Global Militarism blog. In a wide ranging interview, we discuss the current Ukraine Situation, Zbigniew Brzezinski and the Grand Chessboard, the NATO expansion and encirclement of Russia, and the plight of Syria.

You can check out his blog here:

http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/

The music featured on this show were:
'The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters' by Sun Ra and his Arkestra
'Cut Em Off' by Dizzee Rascal
'Solitude' by Billie Holiday
'Isolation' by Joy Division
'Blueberry Hill' by Vladimir Putin

#054 Councils Upon Councils

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 22 Sep 2014 22:17:26 +0000

This week I am glad to welcome C. Derrick Varn back to the show. We discuss the council communism and the Ultra-left, a man who told Stalin where to go and survived, autonomous Marxism and the Occupy Movement, and the failure of revolutions.

Enjoy!

The music and voice used on this show are:

‘The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters’ by Sun Ra and his Arkestra

Paul D'Amato discussing the life and work of Antonio Gramsci

‘The Charleston’ by Django Reinhart

'Working Class Hero' by John Lennon

'Destroy Everything' by Dr. Peacock & Repix

'Wild Colonial Boy' by Tommy Makem and The Clancy Brothers.

#053 What's Next? Part II

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 10:53:59 +0000

This week we have part two of our discussion with Professor Peter Hudis, of Oakton Community College, about his book 'Marx's Concept of the Alternative to Capitalism'. We talk about the Soviet experiment and the alienation of labour, the role of the state in a post-capitalist society, the Spanish revolution and the anarchist understanding of revolution, and the co-operative model as an alternative.

You can get the Professors book here:
http://www.haymarketbooks.org/pb/Marxs-Concept-of-the-Alternative-to-Capitalism

#052 What's Next?

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 16 Aug 2014 21:40:49 +0000

This week I am delighted to welcome Professor Peter Hudis, of Oakton Community College, who has recently published his new book: 'Marx's Concept of the Alternative to Capitalism'. We discuss what Marx had to say about post-capitalist societies, and the reluctance of those on the left to talk about what it might actually look like. We also talk of the theoretical reasons for the failure of the Soviet and Maoist projects, how abstract labour dominates our lives, and how not even the capitalists are in control of the current system.

You can find the Professors book here: http://www.haymarketbooks.org/pb/Marxs-Concept-of-the-Alternative-to-Capitalism

Enjoy!

#051 Cry Me A Volume

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 27 Jul 2014 16:21:57 +0000

This week I am delighted to welcome back to the show, the Jazz Pianist, Marxist auto-didact, YouTube star, and the man behind the Kapitalism 101 blog, Brendan Cooney. I’ve recently just finished reading volume II of Marx’s Das Kapital, and so I’ve invited Brendan on the show to see what he makes of it all. We discuss Marx's concept of science, dialectics, Rosa Luxembourg and empire, the role of gold and silver in Marx's work, and the games people play.

You can check out Brendan's Blog here:

http://kapitalism101.wordpress.com/

And his great YouTube videos here:

https://www.youtube.com/user/brendanmcooney/videos

#050 The Matrix

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 27 Jun 2014 22:00:18 +0000

This week I am delighted to welcome back the economist, economic historian, and extremely prolific author, Professor Michael Perelman of the California State University, Chico. We talk about the latest book he is working on: 'The Matrix: An exploratory political economy of the dangerous, paradoxical interactions between war, the economy, and economic ideology'.
We discuss unintended consequences, the difficult of decision-making in complex situations, US Imperialism, Vietnam, Heavyweight Boxing ,and the little talked about darker side of Winston Churchill.

You can check out the Professors books here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Michael-Perelman/e/B001ITVL14/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

And here is his blog:

http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com/

Enjoy!

#048 Whither Underconsumptionism?

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 28 Mar 2014 21:53:04 +0000

This week we have the second part of our interview with Professor Andrew Kliman. We continue our discussion about his latest book - ‘The Failure of Capitalist Production’ - and in particular focus on Andrews critique of the Underconsumptionist Theory of Crisis, which is pretty dominant on the Marxist and non-Marxist left alike. We hear how the empirical evidence sits squarely in the face of this theory, what role financialisation has actually played in the economy, and the similarities between Keynesianism and Underconsumptionism. We also talk about the new book Andrew is working on, and just how impressed I am by how well Marx’s theories are able to explain the world around us today.

You can find the article for the New Left Project that Andrew mentions in the interview, critiquing Sam Gindin's view of the crisis as financial, here:

http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/article_comments/clarifying_secular_stagnation_and_the_great_recession

And you can find Sam Gindins response to Andrew here:

http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/article_comments/underestimating_capital_overestimating_labour_a_response_to_andrew_kliman

Enjoy!

#047 The Failure of Capitalist Production

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 15 Mar 2014 00:35:33 +0000

This week I am delighted to have Prof. Andrew Kliman back on the show to talk about his latest book - ‘The Failure of Capitalist Production’. The book is a brilliant example of empirical economic research, and shows us how relevant and insightful Marx’s work still is, in helping us understand the workings of our capitalist economy.

We discuss the empirical evidence in the US that supports Marx's Tendential Fall in the Rate of Profit, the stagnation of capital accumulation, and the role of the IT revolution in the state of the economy. We also talk of the Great Depression, how it sowed the seeds for the renewal of the global economy, and what is behind the growing inequality we see around us today.

You can find Andrew's book on sale here: (I very much recommend buying a copy!)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Failure-Capitalist-Production-Underlying/dp/0745332390

And his blog is here:

http://akliman.squarespace.com/

Enjoy!

#046 Engines, Entropy, and Value

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 22 Feb 2014 09:42:40 +0000

This week our guest is Dr. William Paul Cockshott, a reader in the Computer Science Department of Glasgow University. Paul was trained as an economist, then as a computer scientist, and he has made contributions to the fields of image compression, 3D television, and parallel compilers. He is also known for his work in applying econophysics to classical economics, the field of economic computability, and as the co-author of the book 'Towards a new Socialism', advocating for the more efficient and democratic planning of a complex economy.

In this show we discuss the origins of classical political economy, and how it was influenced by the rapid advances in the world of physics. We talk of the importance of Watt and his steam engine, the development of the theories of thermodynamics and entropy, and their importance in economy. The work of Babbage and Alan Turing also get a mention, as well as the human as universal robot. We also discuss the overwhelming empirical evidence for Marx’s Labor Theory of Value, why it is that it works, and the importance of the work of previous guest Prof. Gregory Chaitin in the modern factory. Oh yes, and some roman pottery, chinese crossbows from the Qin Dynasty, and how difficult it is to fold your clothes.

Enjoy!

You can find his books, talks, and research on his website here:

http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~wpc/reports/index.html

#045 Dollar Hegemony

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 23:16:31 +0000

This week our guest is Matias Vernengo. Matias is an Associate Professor of Economics, at Bucknell University, and a former Senior Manager of Economic Research at the Central Bank of Argentina. He blogs regularly at his site Naked Keynesianism, as well as for Triple Crisis, and is currently the co-editor of the Review of Keynesian Economics. We discuss a paper he recently co-authored with David Fields on the hegemonic role of the Dollar in the world economy. We talk of the advantages of being the worlds reserve currency, the Bretton Woods agreement, Nixon closing the gold window, the Triffin Dilemma, threats to the dominance of the dollar in world trade, and the irrelevance of gold in today’s financial system.

You can find his excellent blog here:

http://nakedkeynesianism.blogspot.com/

The Triple Crisis blog here:

http://triplecrisis.com/

And the Review of Keynesian Economics Journal here:

http://rokeonline.com/roke/REVIEW_OF_KEYNESIAN_ECONOMICS.html

You can also find the paper we discuss here:

http://nakedkeynesianism.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/taylor-francis-online-hegemonic.html

Enjoy!

#044 Sins Of The Father

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 23:37:08 +0000

This week our guest is Conor McCabe. Conor is a Research Fellow in the School of Social Justice in University College Dublin, and has just released the second edition of his book, 'Sins of the Father: Tracing the Decisions That Shaped the Irish Economy'.

The book is a brilliant class analysis of the Irish economy since the origins of the state, and seeks to give a deep systemic structural analysis to the causes of the crisis, and to help explain why things panned out the way they did. We discuss the Garden Cities of Ebenezer Howard, Irish economic policy and the British Empire, the rise of land speculation in Ireland, an extravagantly pointless Irish hotel, NAMA - the worlds largest property company, which owns all the worthless toxic commercial property in Ireland. Amongst other things...

You can find Conor's book here: (It's well worth the read...)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sins-Father-Tracing-Decisions-Economy/dp/1845886933

Happy New Year!

#043 The Falling Rate of Learning

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 17 Dec 2013 16:27:52 +0000

The guest on this years Christmas edition is David Blacker. David is a Professor of Philosophy of Education and Legal Studies at the University of Delaware. His academic background is in the history of philosophy, and his writings pursue insights from that tradition within the context of contemporary education problems. His essays have appeared in the Monthly Review magazine, and he has just released an excellent new book, called, ‘The Falling Rate of Learning and the Neoliberal Endgame’, which looks at how the educational world is being affected by Marx’s law of the falling rate of profit. We discuss many of the themes of the book, including: determinism vs free will, base vs superstructure, the 'Ye Deluder Satan' Act, student debt and neo-feudalism, radical youth movements, and the utility of a stoic pessimism.

You can buy his book here:

http://www.amazon.com/Falling-Rate-Learning-Neoliberal-Endgame/dp/1780995784/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387294781&sr=1-1

And you can find the monthly review here:

http://monthlyreview.org/

Happy Xmas!

#042 Oh So Reserved

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 23 Nov 2013 23:43:26 +0000

This week our guest is Dan Kervick. By day Dan works in the book publishing industry. By night, Dan is an independent scholar, specialising in the work of the British Philosopher David Hume, and a regular blogger on progressive and egalitarian economics over on:

http://neweconomicperspectives.org

We discuss the institutional working of the banking system, how reserves really work, bubble blowing and the logic of quantitative easing, military Keynesianism, and the role of capital flows in the modern economy.

#041 PV or not PV

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 09 Nov 2013 00:20:04 +0000

This week our guest is Dr Marco Raugei. Marco is a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Oxford Brookes University (UK), and a Senior Researcher with the UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change of ESCI - Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona (Spain). His main research interests are in theoretical improvements of existing approaches for environmental sustainability assessment, and the development of strategic energy supply scenarios, with special focus on photovoltaic (PV) technologies. He has also been actively contributing to the theoretical and methodological advancement of Emergy Synthesis, which looks at human-dominated processes and systems as parts of and ultimately supported by the larger system in which they are embedded, namely the global geo-biosphere.

You can sometimes find his writings on Ugo Bardi’s blog:

http://cassandralegacy.blogspot.co.uk/

We discuss his work on renewable energy, in particular his work on the current state of Photovoltaic or PV systems. We learn about the key differences between Energy Returned on Energy Invested and efficiency, bootstrapping fossil fuels to build a renewable future, re-organisation of our current economic system, and renewable energy’s storage problems.
Enjoy!

#040 A Model Economist

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 12 Oct 2013 19:21:15 +0000

This week we are joined by Professor Matheus Grasselli. Matheus is the Deputy Director of the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences, and an associate professor at McMaster University, where he is the co-director of PhiMac, the Financial Mathematics Laboratory. He also writes a blog on Quantitative Finance for the Fields Institute, where he discusses his work, and thoughts on economic modelling, complexity theory, and probability. Matheus has been working with Prof. Steve Keen to help give a mathematicians viewpoint on his ground-breaking monetary economic models of the capitalist system. We discuss the current state of neoclassical macroeconomic modelling, complexity and emergence, Wynn Godley and his stock-flow consistent models, Hyman Minsky and Ponzi finance, black swans and fragility, Bayesian vs Freqentist statistics, Poker, and Samuel Beckett.

You can check out his blog here: http://fieldsfinance.blogspot.co.uk/

#039 Former People

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 06 Oct 2013 19:40:01 +0000

This week we have the second part of our interview with C. Derick Varn. We discuss Derick’s new on-line literary journal 'Former People, A Journal of Bangs and Whimpers', the origins of modernism, the influence of Freud, relativity, and quantum mechanics on modernism, modernism's role in politics, and of course, a little Marx. Derick also reads a few excerpts from his writings and poetry.

You can check out Derick's stuff here:

http://formerpeople.wordpress.com/

http://skepoet.wordpress.com/

Enjoy...

#038 Capitalism is Killing The Dinosaurs - AGAIN!

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 23 Sep 2013 00:44:26 +0000

This week we are joined again by C. Derick Varn. Derick is a poet, teacher, and theorist. He blogs for the (Dis)Loyal Opposition to Modernity, Symptomatic Commentary, and is one of the chief editors of the on-line socialist magazine, the North Star. He also co-hosts the ‘Pop The Left’ podcast with Doug Lain, and has just started a new on-line literary magazine, Former People: A Journal of Bangs and Whimpers, which seeks to look again at modernism and it’s relevance to politics. We discuss the historical tensions between Marxists and anarchists, how Occupy stunned the vanguard, the problems with democracy and the flaws of Leninism, Chomsky on Marx, the interaction of the base and superstructure, and how capitalism is killing the dinosaurs again....

http://skepoet.wordpress.com/
http://symptomaticcommentary.wordpress.com/
http://douglaslain.net/pop-left-8-dual-power/
http://formerpeople.wordpress.com/
http://www.thenorthstar.info/

Enjoy!

#037 Profits, Cycles, and Breakdown

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 31 Aug 2013 07:02:37 +0000

This week we are joined by the renowned Marxist economist Michael Roberts. Michael predicted the whole economic and social crisis we now find ourselves in, years before it occurred. He is a working economist in the city of London, and the author of the book ‘The Great Recession’, which gives his Marxist analysis of the current crisis. You can read his prolific writings over on his excellent blog, ‘The Next Recession’.

We discuss the key differences between Keynes and Marx, Keynes' class consciousness and ideology, Kondratieff waves and profit cycles, capitalism killing robots, the breakdown theory of Capitalism, and the possibility of a final permanent crisis.

You can find his blog here:
http://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/

And his book here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Great-Recession-Michael-Roberts/dp/144524408X

Enjoy!

#036 Billy Moon

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 11 Aug 2013 22:55:49 +0000

This week, Doug Lain, the host of the excellent Dietsoap podcast, has returned to the show to tell us about his novel ‘Billy Moon’, that is due out from his publishers, Tor, on the 27th of August. Using Doug’s novel for the basis of the conversation, we meander through an array of topics including the May 1968 aborted revolution in France, the interaction of ideology, architecture, and space, the rationality of socialism, the Situationists and the Occupy movement, how we need to dream and escape the dream, the structure of a new revolutionary strategy, the need for bastards, feminist literary critique, and his upcoming Think The Impossible book and podcast tour to San Francisco, Chicago, and NYC. Oh yes, and no conversation between myself and Doug would be complete without a rant about our dear friend, Karl Marx......

You can check out Doug's Dietsoap podcast and writings here:

DouglasLain.com

You can read an excerpt of his book over here on his publishers site:

http://www.tor.com/stories/2013/07/billy-moon-excerpt

And you can order a copy over here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Billy-Moon-Douglas-Lain/dp/0765321726

Enjoy!

#035 The Birth Pangs Of Love

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 21:45:14 +0000

This week we are joined by Charles Eisenstein. Charles is an author and public speaker, and self-described "degrowth activist". His book ‘Sacred Economics - Money, Gift, and Society in the Age of Transition’, puts forward a radical alternative to our current monetary economy, based on degrowth, realigning money with ecology, changing the nature of work, and the return of the gift. Charles has a regular blog over at the ‘Reality Sandwich’, and occasionally contributes to the Guardian’s ‘Comment Is Free’ section.

We talk of money (of course!), our stories and ideologies, people power, exploitation, the occupy movement and revolution, and his optimism for the future. Enjoy!

http://www.realitysandwich.com/blog/1736

http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/charles-esenstein

http://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Economics-Money-Society-Transition/dp/1583943978/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375134757&sr=1-1

#034 The Lightning Bolt Awaits

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 23:35:32 +0000

This week we are joined by Nicole Foss, of the ‘Automatic Earth’ blog. Before being a renowned blogger on energy and finance, Nicole was a Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, where she specialized in nuclear safety in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union, and conducted research into electricity policy at the EU level. Nicole has just finished a long speaking tour of the antipodes, and joins us from Holland to give us the lowdown on the worlds of energy and finance. We discuss the likely future role of fracking and tar-sands oil production, hyper-inflation and hyper-deflation, the coming economic difficulties we are all likely to face in the coming decades, and the prospect of a return to fascism in the west...

You can find her proflic blogging over here:

www.theautomaticearth.org

#033 Correa's Ecuador

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 09:33:39 +0000

This week we are joined by Prof. Bill Black. Bill is Associate Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He is an expert in white collar crime and banking regulation, and developed the concept of ‘control fraud’, in which a business executive uses the business he or she controls as a weapon to commit fraud. He is also the author of the book: ‘The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One’. Today, Bill tells us about a series of articles he has written over the last year on the economic achievements and political shenanigans of Rafael Correa, the President of Ecuador.

You can find Prof. Black blogging prolifically over at:

http://neweconomicperspectives.org/

#032 Economics & Complexity

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 31 May 2013 22:21:57 +0000

This weeks guest is Professor Doyne Farmer. Doyne is a physicist, econo-physicist, and founder of the Prediction Company, which brought insights from physics to the world of finance and stock markets. He is a Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University, where he co-directs the Oxford Martin Programme on Complexity, and is External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute. We ask him about econo-physics, how it ties in with complexity theory, and what this all means for the current economic orthodoxy. We also talk about some models he has built that try and replicate the housing crash experienced in the Washington DC area, and how leverage and market impact works to destabilise our economies. He also has recommendations for what we should use instead of mark-to-market accounting that might help quell some of the market instability and high leverage we see about us today. And on top of all that, we talk of his days as a professional roulette player....

#031 When The Invisible Hand Shakes

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 18 May 2013 12:59:11 +0000

After a brief holiday to bask in the cold and brutal wet weather of Ireland and England, the show is back on the road, fueled up, and raring to go. This weeks guest is Professor Alan Freeman, where we talk about the falling rate of profit, crises of capitalism, and our way out of the current economic mire.

The interview is loosely based about a paper of his just published in the Journal of Australian Political Economy called: The Profit Rate in the Presence of Financial Markets: A Necessary Correction.

(http://media.wix.com/ugd//b629ee_20b6bcc79e688bee2ab6f94f971f7b06.pdf)

You can see him talking about it at the recent Historical Materialism conference in New York:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TODNwYP1zYA

Alan is a retired but research-active cultural economist. He formerly worked for the Mayor of London's Economic Analysis Unit where he was responsible for the Living Wage, Innovation, and the Cultural and Creative Industries. He is co-editor, with Radhika Desai, of a new book series entitled 'the Future of World Capitalism', published by Pluto Books. He is one of a 'small club' of economists who predicted the crash of 2008, and in 2008 he also predicted that the economic crisis would not leave the industrialised countries until these countries undertook public investment on the scale associated with US government spending during World War II (about 55% of GDP). He is a visiting Professor at London Metropolitan University where he works on the Cities Cultural and Creative Evidence project, and currently lives in Winnipeg, Canada.

Enjoy!

#030 Ice Ice Baby

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 09:57:20 +0000

This week we speak to Professor Peter Wadhams, Professor of Ocean Physics, and Head of the Polar Ocean Physics Group in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, at the University of Cambridge. Prof. Wadhams is an expert in Arctic sea-ice, and is a review editor for the physical sciences component of the upcoming 2014 IPCC (or Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ) Fifth Assessment Report. We discuss the precarious nature of the Arctic Sea-Ice, the end of summer ice altogether, the problems with the IPCC reports, climate tipping points, the release of massive quantities of methane into the atmosphere, and likelihood of Southern Europe turning into desert in this century.

Enjoy!

#029 I Need Brains (And a Little Oil)

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 08:42:57 +0000

Welcome to the 1st anniversary of the 'From Alpha To Omega' podcast.
This weeks guest is KMO, host of the C-Realm and Z-Realm podcasts, and the author of ‘Conversations on Collapse’. We talk at length about Zombies, Vampires and the Apocalyptic Collapse meme. We also discuss his experiences living on a former commune in Tennessee, his recent move to the sprawling metropolis that is New York City, and his thoughts on the Occupy movement.

A big thank you to everybody who took part in the shows, the listeners, and all of those who have donated money to the podcast to help keep it ticking over. Hopefully the next year will see the show grow it's audience and expand the topics covered.

You can find KMO's prolific podcasting output over at:

c-realm.com

Or on his podomatic feed here:

http://c-realmpodcast.podomatic.com/

Enjoy!

#028 The Vanguard Party

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 16:10:14 +0000

This weeks guest is the C Derick Varn, Poet, Lecturer, and resident of South Korea. Derick writes for ‘The (Dis)Loyal Opposition Blog’, and includes among his interests: alternative visions of the future, the failures of nationalist Marxism, early Leninism, and the relationship between anarchism and Marxism.
We discuss the Russian revolution, the Vanguard Party and it's problems, the profound failures of the cultural revolution, and the emergence of decentralised movements like occupy and the 5-Star Movement.

Derick has also just interviewed myself, for his Blog, where I get to expound a few of my own opinions for a change. If you are interested in reading these incoherent babbles, you can find them here:

http://skepoet.wordpress.com/2013/03/20/interview-with-tom-obrien-one-marxism-mmt-and-the-eurozone-crisis/

Here is the link to his blog:

http://skepoet.wordpress.com/

And you can also find him appearing regularly on the 'Pop The Left' Podcast
with Doug Lain over at:

http://douglaslain.com

Enjoy!

#027: Capital Escape Velocity

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 11:20:41 +0000

This weeks guest is the Jazz Pianist, Marxist, and YouTube Star Brendan Cooney, who has blazed a trail for himself on YouTube with his totally cool videos explaining Marx’s insights into the functioning of our capitalist economic system. He also is the man behind the Kapitalism101 blog. We discuss the success or failure of the Occupy movement, and critique it’s organisational structure. We also talk of Marx’s Critique of the Gotha program, a 19th century radical proposal of today's German Social Democratic Party, and the abject failures of the 20th century’s attempts to overturn capitalist forms of production.

You can find Brendans blog here:

kapitalism101.wordpress.com

And his large tranche of excellent Marx related videos over here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/brendanmcooney

Enjoy...

#026: The Transformation Problem

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 09:59:46 +0000

This week we welcome back Prof. Andrew Kliman to the show, where we discuss Marx’s value theory, his book ‘Reclaiming Marx’s Capital’ where he tries to dispel some of the myths surrounding Marx’s theories, and the Tendential Fall in the Rate of Profit. I've recently just finished his book, and would recommend it to anyone wishing to get a deeper understanding of the issues we discuss in this show.

You can find the Professors books here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Andrew-Kliman/e/B001JSALNS/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

And here is his website:

http://akliman.squarespace.com/

Enjoy!

#025: Plundering The Planet

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 19:01:15 +0000

This weeks guest is Ugo Bardi, Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Florence. He specialises in resource depletion, system dynamics modeling, climate science and renewable energy. He is also a member of the scientific committee of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas, or ASPO, is the president ASPO Italy, and a contributor to the Oil Drum, the best energy blog on the web. He is the author of several books, including "The Limits to Growth Revisited”, his upcoming book "Plundering The Planet", and even finds time to write his own excellent blog, Cassandra’s Legacy. Our discussion covers the role of volcano's, Georg Bauer, the father of mining, space aliens, and climate change.

You can find his blogging work here:

http://cassandralegacy.blogspot.co.uk/
http://theoildrum.com
http://peakoil.net

And here is where you can get a hold of his books:
http://www.amazon.com/Limits-Growth-Revisited-SpringerBriefs-Analysis/dp/1441994157/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1360432828&sr=1-1&keywords=limits+to+growth+revisited

Also, a few weeks ago, I was interviewed for a recent episode of Doug Lains dietsoap podcast, where we talk of Marx, Keynes, and money. You can find the show here: http://douglaslain.net/diet-soap-podcast-170-money/

Enjoy....

#024: Neoliberalism & Hayek's Delusion

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 11:29:12 +0000

This week we welcome back Philip Pilkington to the show to talk about his latest writings on the life and times of Friedrich Hayek, the ideologue behind the Neoliberal project. Philip came over to my house this week and we sat about and waxed lyrical on such highfalutin topics as Classical Liberalism, Neoliberalism and Ordoliberalism. We also got around to political propoganda and the Mont Perelin society, the similarities between the far right and Leninism, and how, after Hayek's nefarious influence, our politics has never been the same again...

You can find Philip’s writing on the Naked Capitalist blog, the third most popular economics blog on the web.

www.nakedcapitalism.com

Enjoy!

#023: Fiscal Cliffs and Inflation Shocks

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 10:24:14 +0000

Our guest week this week is Prof. Stephanie Kelton, Assistant Professor of Macroeconomics, Finance, and Money and Banking at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. We continue our exploration of Modern Monetary Theory, where we talk about full employment and the job guarantee, the fiscal cliff and the euro crisis, and the role of bond vigilantes and inflation, in times of energy crises.

Professor Kelton writes regularly for the 'New Economic Perspectives' blog, where you can find some of the best heterodox economists on the planet posting their work.

You can check it out here: http://neweconomicperspectives.org/

Enjoy!

#022: A Christmas Scale

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 10:45:39 +0000

On this Christmas episode, our theoretical physicist guest is Geoffrey West, Professor and former President of the Sante Fe Institute. We discuss his recent groundbreaking work in the world of biological and social complexity. In the last few years, the Professor has applied his high-energy atom smashing physics know-how, to the field of biology and came up with some startlingly general results, which give us deep insights into all sorts of things, from the life-expectancy of a mouse and the efficiency of cities, to the very nature of our social systems, and their limits.

Astounding stuff.... Enjoy!

PS The show is now on twitter.... the follow button is just over there on the left hand side of the web page.

PPS A very merry Christmas to all you listeners.

#021: A Fitting Intermezzo

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 10:01:26 +0000

This week we talk with the Jazz pianist, band leader, teacher and composer, Dorian Ford. I met Dorian at a jazz gig a couple of months ago, and since we couldn't stop talking about music that night, I thought why not get him on the show. A welcome departure from all the god-damn politics and economics. Within the walls of our musical meander, we discuss the history of jazz, it’s relation to classical music, and the effects of the ‘academisation’ of the modern american classical music, that we call Jazz. We also talk about how music is a function of it’s economic and cultural conditions, and the K-Pop phenomenon that is Gangnam Style.

Dorian Ford describes himself as a piano player. He also is leader of the eponymous Dorian Ford Quartet, who I was lucky enough to catch last month playing at the newly opened St. James Theatre Studio in Victoria, London. He is also the programmer for the gigs at St. James Theatre every Friday night, where you can hear the finest in Jazz and Roots music perform in a really great setting.

If you’d like to find out more about these gigs or the man himself, you can check out his blog: http://dorianfordjazzandroots.tumblr.com/

Or his website: http://www.dorianford.co.uk/.

Enjoy...

#020: So You Want To Participate?

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 10:53:43 +0000

This week we talk with journalist and author Iain Bruce about the history of the Brazilian Workers Party, their experiments with direct democracy. the political philosophy of the Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, and the geopolitics of South America. We also discuss the hopes for direct democracy, something I hope to cover further, in future shows.

Iain Bruce is a British journalist and filmmaker. He is the author of ‘The Porto Alegre Alternative: Direct Democracy in Action’, and ‘The Real Venezuela: Making Socialism in the 21st Century’, and has made documentaries for Channel 4 and the BBC. In the past he has worked as the BBC correspondent in Caracas, Venezuela, as an adviser to Telesur, the Latin American news channel based in Venezuela, and currently finds himself in Qatar plying his trade with Al Jazeera.

You can find him blogging over at: www.venezuelanalysis.com.

And you can buy his books here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Real-Venezuela-Socialism-Century/dp/0745327362/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1354139276&sr=8-2

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Porto-Alegre-Alternative-International/dp/0745320961/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1354139276&sr=8-10

Enjoy!

#019: Marx & MMT

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 00:00:21 +0000

This week we hold a chat with Professor Mathew Forstater of the University of Missouri-Kansas City. We talk about the role of primitive accumulation in the rise of capitalism, how government taxes were a tool of primitive accumulation in the colonies, and how it continues to work it's magic in today's economic system. Marx's thoughts on fiat currency get a hearing, as does the role of America’s deficit and their government debt. For our US listeners, it explains the stupidity of the current 'Grand Bargain' Obama has under negotiation, the ideology of it all, and the likely outcomes. Enjoy!

#018: A Need For A Rational Politics

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 09:14:15 +0000

This week we have part two of our talk with Professor Andrew Kliman of Pace University. This week we turn our thoughts to the dynamism of capitalism and the soviet experiment, the short-term asymmetric advantages of capitalism, and the revolutionary strategies of Karl Marx.

Those in New York, can go to see the Professor debate about the crisis, with a panel of very eminent Marxists, indeed! All courtesy of the Platypus Affiliated Society....

http://newyork.platypus1917.org/11-14-2012-radical-interpretations-of-the-present-crisis/

You can check out Professor Klimans books here:

http://www.amazon.com/Andrew-Kliman/e/B001JSALNS/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1352227366&sr=8-1

And his blog is here:

http://akliman.squarespace.com/

Enjoy....

#017: Kliman All Over The Rate Of Profit

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 23:55:21 +0000

This week we talk to Professor Andrew Kliman, about the current economic crisis, and what Karl Marx would make of it all. Professor Kliman, is a Professor of Economics at Pace University and author of several publications on Marxian economics, including the books Reclaiming Marx’s “Capital”, and ‘The Failure of Capitalist Production: Underlying Causes of the Great Recession’. We talk of Marx's labour theory of value, the falling rate of profit, production for productions sake, and what Marx would think about the insights of the post-keynesian, Hyman Minsky.

The Professor is a leading proponent of the Temporal Single System Interpretation of Marx's labor theory, which defends Marx’s cconomic theories against various claims of its inconsistency from other economists. I’m currently reading Das Kapital myself, so it’s a real treat to hear what one of the worlds foremost Marxists has to say about the current economic situation.

You can buy his books here:

http://www.amazon.com/Andrew-Kliman/e/B001JSALNS/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1351094041&sr=8-1

You can check out his blog here:

http://akliman.squarespace.com/

Enjoy!

#016: Bringin' in the Wheaton

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 14:31:12 +0000

This week we talk to farmer and permaculturist extraordinaire, Paul Wheaton. Paul has just returned from his ‘Symphonies in Seed and Soil’ speaking tour of America, and currently finds himself trying to buy a new farm up there in Montana. He runs: www.Permies.com, the worlds most popular Permaculture forums and website, and is a prolific podcaster in his own right.

We talk of chickens and pigs, American culture and the metric system, moving earth and building ponds, agri-business and industrial farming. Unfortunately skype ate some of the interview, so I wasn't able to include the question where he told me exactly how tall he his. All I can say for certain, is that he is order of magnitudes taller than my spindly frame.

Here is his podcast: http://www.richsoil.com/permaculture/

Here is his brilliant and very popular youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/paulwheaton12

Enjoy!

#015: The Waste-Lands of the Euro

Tom O'Brien — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 20:48:15 +0000

Today’s guest, Yanis Varoufakis, is a Greek Political Economist and Professor of Economic Theory at the University of Athens, and an expert in game-theory. We discuss the flawed design of the Euro, Francois Mitterand and Jacques Delors, the ECB and the Germans, the rise of a Greek Nazi Party and the spectre of Kosovo and Euro Waste-Lands.

Yanis is a leading heterodox economist, the author of ‘The Global Minotaur - America, The True Origins of the Financial Crisis and the Future of the World Economy’, and prolifically pens his thoughts on his blog:

http://YanisVaroufakis.eu.

You can check out his bibliography here:

http://www.amazon.com/Yanis-Varoufakis/e/B000APKJ4M/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1349010527&sr=8-1

Enjoy!

#014: The Phenomenology Of Doug

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 13:35:34 +0000

This weeks guest is Doug Lain. Doug is a fiction writer, blogger, pop philosopher and political radical. He is also the host of the most excellent ‘Dietsoap’ podcast. We talk of philosophy and Hegel, reality tunnels and ideology, Slavoj Zizek and the surreal, Winnie the Pooh and the Labyrinth. Doug’s novel ‘Billy Moon: 1968’ is due out from Tor Books in 2013. He also has a new monthly podcast coming out in September with Derick C. Varn called ‘Pop The Left’ where they hope to give a critical analysis of the left, from a leftists perspective. If you know what's good for you, you should check out the Dietsoap podcast and Doug's writing on his interweb site:

www.douglaslain.com

You can also find his books for purchase here:

http://www.amazon.com/Douglas-Lain/e/B004Z9W0QO/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1347673703&sr=8-1

Enjoy!

#013: I'm Keen On The Jubilee!

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 19:14:49 +0000

On this weeks show, we speak to the world reknowned economist Steve Keen, Professor of Economics and Finance at the University of Western Sydney. Steve was one of the few economists in the world to predict the current crisis in detail, years before it happened. He did it so well, in fact, that he won the award for being the economist who first and most accurately warned the world of the coming global financial crisis. Steve considers most economists and the standard neoclassical synthesis as deluded, and wrote the brilliant ‘Debunking Economics’, where he lays it all out in gorey detail. We speak of debt jubilees and speculation, Minsky & Mark, Chaos Theory and Anarchy, Peak Oil and the likely coming collapse of human population.

You can check out his brilliant blog here: http://debtdeflation.com/blogs

Steve has also just launched a subscription based service where you can get first dibs at his latest research and you can join in on subscriber-only discussions on the web: http://debunkingeconomics.com/

Here is where you can purchase a copy of 'Debunking Economics':

http://www.amazon.com/Debunking-Economics-Revised-Expanded-Dethroned/dp/1848139926/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346433606&sr=8-1&keywords=debunking+economics

Enjoy!

#012: Speaking Of Marx

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 22:12:35 +0000

This week we talk to ‘Heiko Khoo’’. Heiko is a Marxist who has been a speaker at London’s Speakers corner since 1986. He has a specialist interest in the Marxist analysis and critique of China and former soviet type regimes. He frequently contributes to the online journal, karlmarx.net. Heiko recently began a walking tour company www.Marxwalks.com that runs weekly walking tours in London on the life and ideas of Karl Marx. Our conversation will meander across a number of issues, from Speakers Corner, to political activism in East Berlin, from Trotsky to Old Labour, and from the Occupy Movement to the extent of state capitalism and state communism in China. It's refreshing to hear from a real life revolutionary! Enjoy!

#011: Post (Keynesian) Modern Money

Tom O'Brien — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 15:51:21 +0000

We are joined by Professor L. Randall Wray this week, an economist and expert in Modern Monetary Theory. Prof. Wray also blogs over at 'New Economic Perspectives', which tries it's best, amongst other things, to dispel the myths surrounding our monetary system. We discuss the origins of money, Chartalism, the German Colonies and Stone money, the nature of government debt, the problems with the euro, commodity price speculation, Bill Clinton's budget surpluses, and regime change in the US.

Prof. Wray has a new book coming out next month. You can find it on Amazon here:

http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Money-Theory-Macroeconomics-Sovereign/dp/0230368891/ref=la_B001HP7OPG_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344180162&sr=1-1

You can check out his postings on the most excellent blog:

http://neweconomicperspectives.org/

Over and Ooot!

#010: Living Through The Monetarist Experiment

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 05:20:46 +0000

This weeks guest is Philip Pilkington, a prolific economic contributor to the excellent ‘Naked Capitalism’ blog. 'Naked Capitalism' is one of the most visited economics blog on the web, featuring some of the top Political Economy bloggers on the planet. The show is loosely based around a series Philip wrote for the blog on Monetarism - the economic theories of Milton Friedman. We cover such rocky territory as the intellectual battles between the Keynesians and Monetarists, the Austrian School of Economics and Political Propaganda, Maggie Thatcher and class war, Union Busting and Military Coups, Finance vs Industry, and the return of the Gold Standard.
That's all folks!?!#@**&^!!

You can find Philips writing here and here:

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/

https://fixingtheeconomists.wordpress.com/

#009: Government In The Future From The Past

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 01:35:55 +0000

This weeks episode features a seminal Noam Chomsky lecture from 1970 entitled ‘Government In The Future’. Noam Chomsky is quite simply the greatest living intellectual, and a wonderful human being. In this lecture, he gives a historical and philosophical look at the four great governmental structures: classic liberalism, libertarian socialism, state capitalism and state socialism. His analysis, in particular of our system - state capitalism - is stark and accurate. He gives a novel and highly functional description of the role of the cold war, and discusses the nature of power and democratic governance. This weeks show is hopefully one of the first in a line of overtly political shows

Enjoy!

#008: Everybody Needs A Plan

Tom O'Brien — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 12:31:20 +0000

This week we are joined by the masked crusader, Glaucus, who runs the town and city planning blog 'Planning Down'. Glaucus, city planner by day, and anonymous planning theorist by night, introduces us to the ideas behind his cross-disciplinary approach to planning the towns and cities of the future. We talk of cities as metabolic organisms, the industrial revolution, Jevon's paradox, feedback loops, consumerism, and Obama’s national defense authorisation act and indefinite detention without trial.

You can check out Glacus's highly engaging blog here:

https://planningdown.wordpress.com/

If you are interested in reading more about any of the topics in today's show, you can check out the blog's bibliography here:

https://planningdown.wordpress.com/influencesfurther-reading/

I love it when a plan comes together....

#007: A Permaculture Life In The Country

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 13:08:06 +0000

Colette O'Neill, the creative genius behind the Bealtaine Cottage permaculture small-holding in the west of Ireland and the 'A Life In The Country' blog, is this weeks guest. We chat about her love of permaculture, how she decided to give up her career as a teacher in London and return to Ireland to turn an old bachelors cottage and 3-acres of poor land in the wilds of County Roscommon into an oasis of abundance. We hear of forest gardens, stylish wooden verandas, her pantry, ancient burial sites, fairy rings, living outside the monetary system, the cuckoo, and space travel.

You can check out her blog here:

http://permaculturecottage.wordpress.com/

If her blog makes you jealous, then her youtube channel might tip you over the edge:

http://www.youtube.com/user/BealtaineCottage/videos

Go raibh míle maith agat....

#006: Money For The People, Right On!

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 05:54:04 +0000

I popped over to the PositiveMoney.org HQ this week, to talk to Ben Dyson about their monetary reform campaign. They are seeking to wrest the power of money creation away from the banks, and put it under democratic control - no more of that debt based money please! We talk about the origins of our current monetary system, the pathetic understanding of money by mainstream economists, and the benefits to the common people of monetary and banking reform. We also discuss the heterodox economics of Modern Monetary Theory(MMT), and I rant a little on this topic at the end of the show.

You can check out more about positive money here:

http://www.positivemoney.org.uk/

And you can buy their book explaining how the monetary system in the UK works here:

http://www.positivemoney.org.uk/where-does-money-come-from-book/

Ben also features in the new feature length documentary about the issue called '97% Owned'(well worth watching):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcGh1Dex4Yo

I have also managed to get the show loaded to the iTunes store, so people can download it from there. Here is link:

http://snipurl.com/fromalpha2omega

For those of you interested in finding out more about Modern Monetary Theory(MMT), you should check out this blog, where you can find articles by leading experts in the field like Randy Wray, and Warren Mosler:

http://neweconomicperspectives.org/

Laters...

#005: Absolutely Positively Deadly Certain

Tom O'Brien — Sat, 19 May 2012 08:58:18 +0000

This week, we see a return to the topic of economic, environmental, and political collapse. We are delighted to welcome the Russian-American author, blogger extraordinaire, and all-round expert in collapse that is Dmitry Orlov. Dmitry grew up in Russian, and moved to America with his family in the 1970's. He returned to Russian a number of times during the collapse of the Soviet system and sees striking parallels with the western economic system of today. We talk of his 'Comparative Theory of Superpower Collapse', his model of the five stages of collapse, Noam Chomsky's Propaganda model, and his latest opus 'Absolutely Positive', an e-book of 30 of his most popular essays.

You should check out his brilliant blog at:

www.cluborlov.com

His latest ebook 'Absolutely Positive' can be found here:

http://www.amazon.com/Absolutely-Positive-ebook/dp/B008047OTS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337383267&sr=8-1

His earlier book, 'Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Experience and American Prospects' is a must read, for anybody interested in these topics:

http://www.amazon.com/Reinventing-Collapse-Experience-American-Prospects/dp/0865716854/ref=la_B001JSB23G_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337383390&sr=1-1

Enjoy!

#004: (Dis)Proving Darwin

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:07:20 +0000

This weeks episode sees a much needed change in focus - be gone all that talk of capitalist exploitation and systemic failure! Today we talk with world renowned mathematician, computer scientist, and philosopher Professor Gregory Chaitin about his latest work. Prof. Chaitin has spent the last number of years trying to come up with a mathematical proof of the power of evolution - how evolutionary randomness is practically as good as divine creation! Amazing stuff, indeed. During this work, he came to the realisation that the standard theory of evolutionary genetics is probably completely wrong, and discusses the latest revolutionary thoughts in the field of biology. We also discuss Gödel's seminal 'incompleteness' theorem, it's far reaching implications for philosophy, spirituality, and epistemology. Von Neumann's Theory of Cellular Automata and Turing's work on the computer also get a mention, and we finish with Professor Chaitin's hope for a mathematical theory of consciousness. Quite a heady mix. Please don't be scared off by the talk of theorems - you will likely miss an interview with one of the true intellectual giants of our time.

You can buy Professor Chaitins new work here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Proving-Darwin-Biology-Mathematical-ebook/dp/B006E512HU

And here is the full back catalogue of the Professors writings: (much recommended)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Gregory%20J.%20Chaitin&search-alias=books-uk

Enjoy!

#003: Sex, Lies, & Economics

Tom O'Brien — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 13:11:11 +0000

This week we are joined by Professor Michael Perelman of the California State University, Chico. He is an economist and economic historian of the Marxian bent, a prolific author, and the writer of the award-wining blog 'Unsettling Economics'. We start off with a discussion of his upcoming book: 'Sex, Lies, & Economics', which tells the story of the zany, dishonest, violent, and hugely prolific lives of the early great economists. We also talk about Cromwell, the Scottish Highland clearances, duelling with butchers axes in darkened basements, the potato, Gulliver's Travels, the East-Asian tiger economies, the end of Empire, and how to use cucumbers as an energy source.

Make sure to check out the Professor's blog at:

http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com/

And while your at it, why not buy one of his books as well:

http://www.amazon.com/Michael-Perelman/e/B001ITVL14/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1335443472&sr=8-1

The show also features the music of 'w@rd', a listener and anti-authoritarian, folk-punk, protest musician. You can find more of his music here:

http://www.reverbnation.com/wardnc

Over and Out.

#002: The Centre Cannot Hold!

Tom O'Brien — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 23:29:23 +0000

This weeks guest is David Korowicz, physicist and human systems ecologist. He is the author of Tipping Point: Near-Term Systemic Implications of a Peak in Global Oil Production, and a contributor to the excellent 'Fleeing Vesuvius' - available in all good bookshops and Amazon! In this episode he gives us the low-down on the likelihood of a systemic economic collapse, and what to expect in the coming years. When he is not helping out with Feasta, the Foundation for Economic Stability, and Comhar, Ireland's Sustainable Development Council, David is writing a new piece of research entitled 'Trade Off', about the effects of a seizure in the global finance markets on trade. David really has a birds eye view of the totality of our economic and environmental systems, and the outlook ain't pretty! So kick back and enjoy....

http://www.amazon.com/Fleeing-Vesuvius-Overcoming-Economic-Environmental/dp/0865716994/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334771476&sr=1-1

http://www.feasta.org/

http://www.comharsdc.ie/

#001: Energy & The Wealth Of Nations

Tom O'Brien — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 11:54:21 +0000

In this, the first episode of From Alpha To Omega, I interview Dr. Charles A.S. Hall co-author of the new book 'Energy & The Wealth Of Nations - Understanding the Biophysical Economy'. We talk about the origins of wealth, empire, the intellectual horror-scape that is neo-classical economics, peak-oil, and the limits to growth. I also give a brief outline on the philosophy of the podcast, with a nod to the wise sage that is Noam Chomsky.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_A_S_Hall

http://www.amazon.com/Energy-Wealth-Nations-Understanding-Biophysical/dp/1441993975/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334771619&sr=8-1