Bungacast Bungacast

On Isaac Deutscher's classic Stalin: A Political Biography.
 
[Patreon Tier III & IV Exclusive]
 
We start off dealing with your questions from the first two Reading Clubs of the year, before Phil takes us through the famous biography of the Soviet leader. We discuss:


Deutscher's work in historical context


Stalin’s parents' experience as serfs and the significance of his boyhood education in an Orthodox seminary


How the oppression of the Russian Empire and the promises of Soviet industrialisation shaped young Stalin's lifecourse


Whether, compared to other Bolshevik leaders, Stalin would have succeeded anytime, anywhere


Was Stalin honest in his commitment to the revolution? Was Trotsky right that Stalin was just a cynic?


How did Stalin compare to the other leaders at Yalta, such as the aristocratic Churchill?


How do we compare Stalin to Cromwell or Napoleon?


And what's behind cheeky internet Stalinism today?


Links:


Message of the Non-Jewish Jew, Isaac Deutscher, Marxists.org


On Orwell: 1984 - The Mysticism of Cruelty, Isaac Deutscher, Marxists.org


I must start completely alone: Gonzalo Pozo on Isaac Deutscher’s wartime years in London, LRB


 

On US campus protest, the brutalisation of Gaza, and whether this is an age of war.
 
Join us: patreon.com/bungacast
 
Bunga boys Alex, George and Phil debate the matter of the day. We ask:


Is the police repression and associated censorship (the anti-semitism bill) a reflection of the fact the content of the protest unsettles the establishment? Why?


Why is the Left breaking with Biden and the Dems over this and not before?


How do these student protests compare to BLM? And how do they compare to those of the late 60s and Vietnam?


What should those in Western countries do in response to Israel’s war?


Is the Palestinian struggle dead?


What are the risks of regional war? And does Israel's assault on Gaza presage a new era of warfare?


 
Links:

The Triumph of American Idealism, Alex Hochuli, Damage


Like it or not, the politics of war is upon us, David Jamieson, Conter


Express Train to Nowhere: Class and the Crisis of the Modern Jewish Soul, Samuel Biagetti, American Affairs 


Is this How We Can STOP Genocide Joe?, Doug Lain interviews Dr. Elektra Kostopoulos & Dave Fox, Sublation Media


The Left Cannot Make Use of the Gaza War, Benjamin Studebaker, Sublation Media


Meet the new Left, who think Hamas are good and that Swastikas are woke, Ryan Zickgraf, Telegraph


Their Fight, Not Ours, Alex Gourevitch, The Northern Star

On the earth-shaking events of the 20th century, through a personal lens.
 
Regular contributor Alex Gourevitch sits down with political scientist Peter Gourevitch to talk about their shared family history.


Why did their grandparents/great-grandparents become Mensheviks?


How did one half of the family leave the USSR and the other half remain?


What was life like in exile in Berlin before the Nazis took power? And how did the family know to flee?


What was distinctive about fascism and the terroristic assault on democracy?


How was the escape from Paris just like the film Casablanca?


What happened to those who remained in the Soviet Union and how did one member meet death via torture?


What is the legacy of Menshevism – and what is the relationship between socialism and democracy?

Links:
Who Lived, Who Died? My Family's Struggle with Stalin and Hitler, Peter Gourevitch, Dio Press
 
Full episode for subscribers only. Go to patreon.com/bungacast. Members who sign up for $7/mo get 4 original paywalled episodes a month and a free subscription to Damage magazine.

On saving society from the antisocial-ists. In partnership with Damage magazine.
 
[Patreon Exclusive]
 
Trade unionist and researcher Dustin "Dino" Guastella joins us to talk about the deficiencies of a libertarian or antinomian approach to social problems. We start off with Dino telling us about the Teamsters union, before moving on to:


How have American cities developed such problems?


What are the pros and cons of the 'Portuguese Model' of drug decriminalization?


What is the problem with harm reduction, and how does it connect to notions of 'bare life'?


How are insecurity and precarity changing people's political demands and expectations?


Is there something to be learned from the Christian tradition? Should we all be reading Alasdair MacIntyre?


How do we build a politics of human flourishing?


Links:

Making the Present the Enemy of the Future, Dino Guastella, Damage


Anti-Social Socialism Club, Dino Guastella, Damage


Christianity, Morality, and Socialism, Dino Guastella, Jacobin


The left must embrace law and order, Slavoj Zizek, New Statesman


After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, Alasdair MacIntyre

On Euro censorship + your comments and criticisms.
 
[Patreon Exclusive]
 
We discuss censorship in Brussels and Berlin, and put it in the context of the incorporation of right-populism. How will European politics come to look as national-conservatives become part of the establishment? What's up with these "sovereigntists" who are unserious about sovereignty?
 
Also we discuss your comments:


If cultural production is already monopolistic, can it be democratically planned?


Should we problematise "mental health"?


Is love a dangerous political emotion?


What happens if you leave the left?


How do we kill the ghosts of the 20th century?


Is a generational analysis of left-populism wrong?


How do we get beyond a world of media and images?


Links:


NatCon: are centrists the real threat to free speech?, Alex Hochuli, UnHerd


 

On the Big Hard Dick industry.
 
[Patreon Exclusive]
 
Clinicians and Damage authors & editors, Christie and Benjamin, tell us why the market for penis enlargement and hardness has exploded.
What is the "penis anxiety industry"
How does it serve individual, cultural and unconscious demands?
How does 'Big Hard Dick' provide a brittle solution to a deep social problem?
Is the Freudian analysis passé? Is it phallus-obsessed?
Does a making your penis bigger and harder help deal with imposter syndrome?
Does neoliberal capitalism make us feel "small"? Does the liberal elite want you to accept your smallness?
How might we be big – make ambitious, large-scale change – without falling for fake solutions?
Links:
Size Queen Nation, Christie Offenbacher & Benjamin Fife, Damage
/215/ Organize the Incels?! ft. Alex Gendler
The New Superfluous Men, Alex Gendler, American Affairs
On masquerade vs imposture: How Should a Woman Look?: Scopic Strategies for Sexuated Subjects, Jennifer Friedlander
Penis Envy and Other Bad Feelings: The Emotional Costs of Everyday Life, Mari Ruti, Columbia UP