Proles Pod

In the narrative for Part 4.0 of "The Stalin Eras”, we detail Joseph Stalin’s life within the context of Soviet history through the years 1939-1942.

This narrative, titled “Enemy at the Gates" highlights the pivotal years leading to the Nazi invasion of the USSR: the invasion of Poland, Soviet influence over the Baltics, the death of Leon Trotsky, and the start of Operation Barbarossa!

Stay tuned for the next episode which will continue the narrative through from 1943-1953, Stalin's final years.

The Stalin Eras, inspired by the classic RevLeft Radio episode “Stalin: A Marxist-Leninist Perspective, mixes both narrative history (ala Blowback) and discussion (like classic Prolespod) to provide the most comprehensive English overview of the life and impact of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in podcast format.

Whether you’re a socialist history enthusiast, someone who’s just curious to learn more than what you got in school about the Soviet Union, or even a total hater who just wants to rage, this series has something for everyone.

Support the show at www.patreon.com/prolespod

Recommended Supplemental Reading

Western Marxism: How it was Born, How it Died, How it can be Reborn by Domenico Losurdo

For a Few Canards More: Counter Inquiry on Stalin and the Soviet Union by Aymeric Monville

Recommended Supplemental Listening

Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic 101: Pre-history to World War II w/ Iskolat

How Stalin Tried to Prevent World War II w/ Michael Jabara Carley

Was the Soviet Union Totalitarian w/ Robert Thurston

Understanding Siege Socialim w/ Gabriel Rockhill

The American Ambassador Who Supported Stalin w/ Dominique Petit-Wagner

Stalin's Constitution & Life in 1930s Soviet Union w/ Samantha Lomb

Sources

Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939-1953 by Geoffrey Roberts

Stalin: History and Critique of a Black Legend by Domenico Losurdo

The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, 1941-45: A Documentary Reader by Alexander Hill

Stalin: From the Caucasus to the Kremlin by Christopher Read

The Boy in the Woods: A True Story of Survival During the Second World War by Maxwell Smart

Soviet Russia and the Baltic Republics by Philip Farr

The Baltic Riddle: Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania—Key Points of European Peace by Gregory Meiksins

Russia, Finland and the Baltic W.P. and Zelda K. Coates

CW - This episode, almost from start to finish, tells a lot of horrific stories of both physical and mental abuse and mutilation of some of the most marginalized and at-risk types of folks. If this is something that will be difficult to get through for you, please skip the episode or take it slow.

In this episode, we discuss a topic that is widely known but often skimmed. Instead of focusing on the people involved or the "funny" cases, we talked more about the monstrous nature of the project and the blatant disregard for human life and wellbeing. All for a made up thing that they never even got close to figuring out.

Sign up at Patreon where you can get access to early release episodes, study guides, bonus episodes, TheoryBeats, and MORE! YOU CAN DO SO FOR FREE, which will get you the study guides, merch, and other random drops.

Please subscribe on your favorite podcast catcher and rate or review to help extend our reach. Like and rate us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @prolespod and Tiktok @proles.pod.

If you have any questions or comments, email us at [email protected]. May the spectre haunt your streets, and solidarity forever.

Intro Music:

"ProlesPod Theme" by Ransom Notes

Jolly West Music:

"Tusko's Last Parade" by DJ DTA

Vitamin midroll:

Written by Rae and read by Jeremy

Music "Mind Melters" by DJ DTA

Outro Music:

"Eastern Bloc Beats" by DJ DTA

In this one, the Proles sat down with Daniel and Professor Sarah Raymundo to discuss the colonial history and current concerns of our comrades, who are engaging in a broad-based revolutionary struggle right now.

If you haven't already, go to www.prolespod.com or you can help the show improve over at www.patreon.com/prolespod and in return can get access to our spicy discord, exclusive episodes, guest appearances, etc.! All kinds of great stuff.

Please subscribe on your favorite podcast apps and rate or review to help extend our reach. Like and rate our facebook page at facebook.com/prolespod and follow us on Twitter @prolespod.

If you have any questions or comments, DM us on either of those platforms or email us at [email protected] All episodes prior to episode 4 can be found on YouTube, so go check that out as well!

Brandon's GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/4bfk5-fundraising-for-brandon-lee

Suggested Reading:

Books & Documents

Collection of Documents from the CPP

Guerrero. Philippine Society & Revolution, 1970 (updated and shorter format in Tagalog, Maikling Kurso sa Lipunan at Rebolusyong Pilipino 2005).

—Foundation for Resuming the Philippine Revolution: Selected Writings, 1968-1972. (Includes the First Great Rectification Movement document, “Rectify Errors and Rebuild the Party”)

—Defeating Revisionism, Reformism and Opportunism: Selected Writings, 1968-1974. (Includes numerous articles criticizing the old revisionist leadership of the previous PKP)

—Building Strength Through Struggle: Selected Writings, 1972-1977. (Has two very important documents, “Our Urgent Tasks” and “Specific Characteristics of Our People’s War”)

—Detention and Defiance Against Dictatorship: Selected Writings, 1977-1986. (Writings while founding chairman of the CPP, Jose Maria Sison, was in solitary confinement and jail, including “Basic Principles of Marxism-Leninism: A Primer” and “Brief History of the Kabataang Makabyan”)

Liwanag. Reaffirm Our Basic Principles and Rectify Errors, 1992. (The major document putting into motion the Second Great Rectification Movement)

Constitution and Program of the CPP, 2016.

“Communique of the 2nd Congress of the CPP.”

Central Committee of the CPP. “Celebrate the Party’s 50th Anniversary.”

—“Boldly Intensify Guerrilla Warfare: 50th Anniversary of the New People’s Army.”

Sison. “Great Achievements of the CPP in 50 Years of Waging Revolution,” 2018 (A document summarizing the historical achievements of the CPP as well as a current rectification campaign to combat conservatism, bureaucratism, sectarianism and ultra-democracy)

Pambansa Demokratikong Paaralan (PADEPA is a collection of lessons and readings for mass activists in the National Democratic Movement put together by the revolutionary movement in the Philippines)

History Books on the Phili...

...wait for it.

In this episode, Jeremy goes over the social construction of history and how it affects the way people perceive their place, how nations form identities, and how history has become inherently white supremacist.

If you haven't already, go to www.prolespod.com or you can help the show improve over at www.patreon.com/prolespod and in return can get access to our spicy discord, exclusive episodes, guest appearances, etc.! All kinds of great stuff.

Please subscribe on your favorite podcast apps and rate or review to help extend our reach. Like and rate our facebook page at facebook.com/prolespod and follow us on Twitter @prolespod.

If you have any questions or comments, DM us on either of those platforms or email us at [email protected] All episodes prior to episode 4 can be found on YouTube, so go check that out as well!

Suggested Reading:

Arenas, Iraida V. (1995). "The Perception of History and Archaeology in Latin America." Making Alternative Histories. Edited by Peter R. Schmidt and Thomas C. Patterson. Santa Fe: School of American Research Press.

Arnold, Bettina. (2006). "'Arierdämmerung': Race and Archaeology in Nazi Germany." World Archaeology, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 8-31.

Bateson, Gregory. (2000a). "Culture Contact and Schismogenesis." Steps to an Ecology of Mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

---. (2000b). "Cybernetic Explanation." Steps to an Ecology of Mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Clifford, James. (1986). Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography. Edited by James Clifford and George E. Marcus. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Coates, Ta-Nehisi. (1993). "The Myth of Western Civilization." The Atlantic, https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/12/the-myth-of-western-civilization/282704/.

de Certeau, Michel. (1986). "History: Science and Fiction." Heterologies: Discourse on the Other. Translated by Brian Massumi. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Feyerabend, Paul. (1993). Against Method. New York: Verso.

Foucault, Michel. (1984a). "Nietzsche, Genealogy, History." The Foucault Reader. Edited by Paul Rabinow. New York: Pantheon Books.

---. (1984b). "What is an Author?" The Foucault Reader. Edited by Paul Rabinow. New York: Pantheon Books.

Hanagan, Nora. “From Agrarian Dreams to Democratic Realities: A Deweyan Alternative to Jeffersonian Food Politics.” Political Research Quarterly, vol. 68, no. 1, pp. 34-45, https://www-jstor-org.libproxy.uccs.edu/stable/24371970.

Hatch, Thom. (2004). Black Kettle: The Cheyenne Chief Who Sought Peace but found War. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Hobsbawm, Eric. (1993). The Invention of Tradition. Edited by Eric Hobsbawm, and Terrence Ranger. Cambridge: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge.

Mallory, J. P. (2013) The Origins of the Irish. London: Thames & Hudson.

Minor, Heather H. (1999). "Mapping Mussolini: Ritual and Cartography in Public Art during the Second Roman Empire." Imago Mundi, vol. 51, no. 1, pp. 147-162, doi:10.1080/03085699908592907.

Nelis, Jan. (2014). "Back to the Future." Fascism, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 1-19, doi://doi.org/10.1163/22116257-00301001.

Paidipaty, P. (2010). Tribal Nations: Politics and the Making of Anthropology in India, 1874-1967 (Doctoral dissertation, Columbia University).

Schmidt, Peter R., and Thomas C. Patterson. (1995). Making Alternative Histories. Edited by Peter R. Schmidt and Thomas C. Patterson. School of American Santa Fe: Research Press.

Thomas, David H. (2000). Skull Wars: Kennewick Man, Archaeology, and the Battle for Native American Identity. New York: Basic Books.

Trouillot, Michel-Rolph. (1995). Silencing the Past. Boston: Beacon Press.

Turner, Frederick J. (2009) "The Significance of the Frontier in American History." American Studies at the University of Virginia, http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/turner/chapter1.html.

Whitman, James Q. (2017). Hitler's American Model. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Winkler, Martin M. (2009). The Roman Salute: Cinema, History, Ideology. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, https://muse-jhu-edu.libproxy.uccs.edu/book/27815.

Wolfe, Eric R. (1982). Europe and the People without History. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Intro music:

"Proles Pod Theme" by Ransom Notes

Outro music:

"Days Like These" by Billy Bragg