Special Period: Forced Innovation Versus Planning

This is a release from the terrific show Peacemongers (Fredshetsarna), a Swedish anti-imperialist podcast. The episodes features Henry Hakamaki and Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro discussing their book translation of Communism - The Highest Stage of Ecology.

Be sure to subscribe to their podcast and/or their YouTube! Below are the shownotes from their episode posting:

In this session of Peacemongers we had the honor of having Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro and Henry Hakamäki on, the translators of Guillaume Suing's "Communism, the highest state of ecology" from iskra books. We dive into the different parts of the book and a surrounding discussion about ecology, biology and socialism. We explore the ecological experiences of Cuba established in the 90's, the so-called "special period" after the overthrow of its ally and trading partner the Soviet Union. What contradictions there are within Cuba at that point and its conditions for realizing a transformation on a massive scale. We discuss the not so linear history of the Soviet Union through the lens of ecological development. A country often demonized as ecologically destructive in a totalizing manner, while the historical data throws a wrench in that narrative. The book also delves into a discussion about biology and genetics, how scientific theories are politicized in the polemic of the sides in the cold war and why the marxist philosophy of dialectical materialism is useful for understanding evolution and biology. On the topic of this book we discuss the relationship between imperialism and ecology, history and science. How research is weaponized, weather historical or scientific to fit the narrative of the vampire like beast of capitalism and fascism. This is a quite long, sometimes challenging subject we found very educational and interesting, we hope that you will too. A big thanks to our guests Salvatore and Henry for coming on. You can find the book at https://www.iskrabooks.org/communism-the-highest-stage-of-ecology This as well as many other fantastic books there are all available as PDF for free but we encourage you to support their work by buying some beautiful books. For swedes who are interested in iskra books, email bokkallarenorebro(AT)gmail.com for what you are looking for and I'll try to get it in my next order from iskra.

Some references in the episode: Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro: Socialist states and the environment https://www.plutobooks.com/product/socialist-states-and-the-environment/ Davies & Wheatcroft The Years of Hunger: Soviet Agriculture, 1931–1933 Levins & Lewontin: The Dialectical biologist https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674202832

And in case you have lived in a cave, Henry Hakamäki is the cohost of Guerrilla History Podcast (https://guerrillahistory.libsyn.com/) with friend of the show Adnan Hussein where you can find 5+ years of top class counter-historical discussions from politicization of dinosaur fossils to war, decolonization to football.

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