Jacobin Radio

At the close of the centenary of the Russian Revolution, Jacobin editor Bhaskar Sunkara discusses his new article on the Bolsheviks and what we can learn from and blame on them — and also what might be forgiven and moved beyond. Thanks to our sponsors at Verso Books. Check out Duty Free Art: Art in the Age of Planetary Civil War by Hito Steyerl and Radical Happiness: Moments of Collective Joy by Lynne Segal at versobooks.com.

Doug Henwood explains the bitcoin craze, and then ex-finance minister of Greece Yanis Varoufakis ties up some loose ends on Adults in the Room, and discusses the need for a progressive internationalism.

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor returns to The Dig to discuss her new book How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective. Forty years ago, a group of black feminists coined the term “identity politics” in the Combahee River Collective Statement. For them, it was a way to identify the various ways that capitalism, racism, patriarchy, and homophobia created a set of interlocking oppressions. And the point of identifying how those systems operated together was not to create an itemized politics of particularity, as is too often the case today, but rather to create a framework for solidarity. Thanks to our sponsors at Verso Books. Check out Futures of Black Radicalism and support this podcast with $ at Patreon.com/TheDig.

Journalists Robert Scheer, and Marc Cooper join Suzi Weissman in a wide-ranging discussion on "Media and Democracy: From the Vietnam War to the Consolidation of Alternative Facts in the Digital Era," that was recently held at the REDCAT theater in Los Angeles. Suzi Weissman looks at what was behind the social conflicts of the 1960s and the present. Robert Scheer, renowned journalist and former editor of Ramparts, tells the story of Ramparts and provides an inside look at how the war was conducted, including the widespread secrecy and surveillance of the FBI in an attempt to crush dissent. Journalist Marc Cooper looks at media delivery in the present digital era of democratized information that has introduced new potential as well as new dangers.

A lengthy interview with historian Barbara Fields and sociologist Karen Fields on their seminal essay collection Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life. Dan talks to the sister scholars about the book; how Ta-Nehisi Coates’s primordialist view of white racism spells defeat; how racism serves the interest of capitalist class war, how endless debates over Rachel Dolezal distract us from that fact; and a whole ton more. This is over two hours, so you might want to bite it off on a few chunks, or on a long drive. Thanks to our sponsors at Verso. Check out Tear Gas: From the Battlefields of WWI to the Streets of Today by Anna Feigenbaum. And support your (favorite?) left-wing podcast at Patreon.com/TheDig!

Journalist Ryan Cooper talks about the new paper he wrote with Matt Bruenig, founder of the People's Policy Project, a new left-wing think tank. "Foreclosed: Destruction of Black Wealth During the Obama Presidency" details how the Wall Street-induced foreclosure epidemic wiped out huge swaths of black wealth — and how Obama could have taken multiple actions to save most homes but did not. Check out the report and this article about it. Thanks to our supporters at Verso Books. Check out Radical Happiness: Moments of Collective Joy by Lynne Segal. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig.

The prospect of nuclear war with North Korea sits near the top of the list of things that have been unthinkably bad about Donald Trump’s presidency. But the conflict with North Korea didn’t begin with Trump. It’s critical that we understand the Koreas and their historical context right now. Journalist Tim Shorrock breaks it all down — North Korea, South Korea, the role of the US, and others — from World War II to the present. And he argues that peace is possible, but it can only achieved through engagement between North and South, not through bellicose US intervention. Thanks to Verso Books for their support. Check out Tear Gas: From the Battlefields of WWI to the Streets of Today by Anna Feigenbaum at versobooks.com/books/2109-tear-gas. And please support us with $ at Patreon.com/TheDig.

Author and economist Dr. Jack Rasmus dissects the Trump/Ryan/McConnell Tax (Cut) Plan, that he says will only increase financial instability and economic fragility. It is neoliberalism on steroids. Then, Professor Victor Pickard discusses FCC Chair Ajit Pai's intention to repeal net neutrality protections that will threaten public access to information by limiting content and speed. He's hopeful that massive resistance can push back against this radical corporate agenda.

Corey Robin, whose The Reactionary Mind has just been issued in an updated edition, on the Right from Burke to Trump. While most people on the Left fear and demonize the Right, they aren't interested in its ideas. Robin, however, takes them very seriously and analyzes their ideas for us.

Robert Reich, Bill Clinton’s Labor Secretary, explains one of Clintonism’s most dreadful results: President Trump. The new film Saving Capitalism, available on Netflix, is Reich’s quasi-autobiographical documentary about the origins of contemporary political-economic inequality. The premise that capitalism ought to be saved notwithstanding, Reich offers firsthand insight into Clinton’s rightward rush into the arms of Corporate America. Thanks to our sponsors at Verso Books. Check out Radical Happiness: Moments of Collective Joy by Lynne Segal versobooks.com/books/2576-radical-happiness And support us with your $ at Patreon.com/TheDig. We can’t do it without you.