Auxiliary Statements

Whilst waiting for their guests to arrive Jack and Dan sit down for a chat about their podcasting journey so far. One year in, have they learnt anything. The lads talk Corbyn and Sanders and tease out the extent of their ongoing relationship with the radical Social Democratic politics of the kindly grandads of the parliamentary anglophone left. Jack and Dan talk about the somewhat disparate topics discussed on the podcast so far and work on putting the pieces of the puzzle together. They talk: theories of history and the transition to capitalism; fundamental principles for a social and economic transition to communism; and, of cause, appropriate political strategies for the task at hand. The lads also endeavour to identify the podcasts canon, what is the Auxiliary Statements party line? Upon what points of theoretical minutia is this two man sect founded? The hope being to challenge that canon in future episodes.

Well folks with strikes in the air in the United States your shimmering podcast hosts dive into Rosa Luxemburg's classic study of 1905 Russia and the mass strike as a strategy for revolution. McNair calls Luxemburg part of the left tradition, but Dan and Jack separate the wheat from the chaff and figure out just what it is about Luxemburg that makes her part of the 'left' tendency, Reading: The Mass Strike by Rosa Luxemburg (1906)

This week we decided it was about time to have a gander at some history. Turns out, history is pretty brutal. Reading: Chapter 1 "Lust for Gold, Lust for Silver" from The Open Veins of Latin America (1971) by Eduardo Galeano.

The long awaited "baseball episode" is finally here, folks, as today we're joined by Bobby Wagner of the socialist baseball podcast Tipping Pitches. Today we talk the looming deadline for the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the players in the MLB and the owners of the teams, the exploitation of minor leaguers and why the Giants are bad. Huge thanks again to Bobby! Go check out his show! And buy a shirt!! Links below!!!! CONSUME: https://tippingpitches.myshopify.com/ ENJOY: https://open.spotify.com/show/4GYOatQjKlvePSZ1GkjA1T?si=RIzEXT3wReSexaKQOyNgYg&dl_branch=1

Following on from last weeks discussion of Hal Draper's strategy of the Marxist centre, Jack and Dan consult another canonical text of contemporary Marxism this week; Mike Macnair’s Revolutionary Strategy. With an emphasis on the Second International, and the German SPD more specificity, Macnair outlines the differences in strategy that defined the key debates within turn of the century Marxism. What does it mean to be a centrist in the context of the Marxist movement? What defines the politics of the left and right wings of Marxist? Reading. Revolutionary strategy: Marxism and the challenge of left unity by Mike Macnair (2008) https://archive.cpgb.org.uk/assets/files/resources/Revolutionary%20Strategy%202.pdf

This week the lads once again humble themselves at the alter of the ever apposite font of revolutionary wisdom; Hal draper. This time Jack and Dan explore the ins and outs of the sect, that inescapable nadir of left political organisation. What is a sect, why do they come about, are they inescapable, and what is their historical impact and legacy? The sect, it turns out, is not the way to build and support an active workers movement; history has proven this to be the case. So now what? Draper offers us the model of the political and Marxist ‘centre’. They boys discuss how this would differ from the sect model and how it could inform socialist practice today. Reading: Anatomy of the Micro-Sect by Hal Draper (1973) https://www.marxists.org/archive/draper/1973/xx/microsect.htm

Boy revolutions can be a nasty business, eh? Especially that French one. It was kind of a pain in the neck, but once it was over it was a weight off of a lot of people's shoulders, am I right? This week rotund podcast hosts Dan and Jack take a look at Marx's writings on the French Revolution in an effort to understand what political revolutions can and cannot accomplish. Is there ever a right time for revolution? Or will they always end in bloody tragedy? Reading: "The French Revolution and the terror: the achievements and limits of political revolution" from The Social and Political Thought of Karl Marx by Shlomo Avineri (1968)

All good things must come to an end...no we don't mean our old friend JFK (or RFK for that matter) we mean the time has come to put The Devil's Chessboard to rest. This is our final episode on David Talbot's classic tome and it's left us with some questions: what was the class composition of the fellas that killed JFK? what place does this type of crankery have in socialism? where have all our beautiful independent researchers gone? This episode is sponsored by Dresser Industries in cooperation with Zapata Petroleum. Reading: Part III, The Devil’s Chessboard (2015), David Talbot

Alright here it is friends, the episode where we solve the JFK assassination. Not much else to say. Think we solved this one forever. Not that complicated tbh. This was recorded in a marathon podcasting session and next week's episode will be the fourth and final part on our series on The Devil's Chessboard. But don't worry, we'll be back with more crankery sometime down the line. We barely even talked about the B*shes! Reading: Part III, The Devil’s Chessboard (2015), David Talbot

This week, we sat down to watch BBC's Cuba! Africa! Revolution!, a documentary all about Cuba's internationalist adventures in the African continent. And tell you what, we here at Auxiliary Statements are not above admitting this is the first time we've been exposed to this absolutely kick ass era of history. Turns out Cuba was involved not only in helping out Congolese freedom fighters after friend of the podcast Patrice Lumumba was assassinated, but they also got involved in Burkina Faso and Angola in dramatic fashion. We do our best this week to relate those stories as we kick of a bit of a "Cuba series"....what could that mean? Only time will tell. But let's just say it doesn't end well for one very plucky and sickly Boston Irishman. Watching: Cuba! Africa! Revolution (aka Cuba, an African Oddessy, dir. Jihan El-Tahri (2007).