A long time ago, in a continent not so far away, there once existed a labour movement inspired by the prophets Marx and Engels. Over the course of 150 years it built up steam, not only by siding with the exploited in its struggles for liberation, but also by providing the some of the leading thinkers in social analysis: Kautsky, Luxemburg, Bogdanov, Gramsci, Hilferding.
The tradition continues and even today, when a mass Marxist movement is much harder to find in the advanced capitalist countries, there still exist a myriad of fascinating thinkers, both within Marxism and ones who orbit around it.
But with the demise of the Marxist inspired labour movement, the intellectuals tend to be cut off from a wider audience, a misfortune facilitated by their entrance into the academy. The internet with sites like marxists.org has in some ways alleviated the problem, but on the whole the gap between the public and Marxian ideas is growing. There are plenty of Christian and Islamic apps available on iTunes for example. There are very few Marxist ones.
From Alpha to Omega is a podcast that does its bit to narrow that gap by giving some welcome airtime to left and, more importantly, Marxist intellectuals. And, of course, like any genuine philosophical journey it functions by treating its framework, in this case Marxism, as an approach to scientific investigation rather than as a set of revealed truths. This lends it a non-dogmatic air.
The format is simple: the host, a simple Irish peasant, invites on guests who have produced work he has found stimulating. For the most part his judgement is sound; rare is the episode in which my interest flounders, even when my disagreement is pretty vehement (I'm looking at you Council Communism).
The guests themselves tend to be eclectic in nature. Early episodes feature a distinct environmental tinge, veering a little towards the catastrophic (e.g. peak oil, permaculture). But the context of the economic crash dominates and there is good coverage of the money system, Keynesianism, and arcana like the falling rate of profit.
However it isn't a current affairs podcast: it is a philosophy one, so the context serves to ground the discussions rather than imprison them. Combined with the host's liberal disposition in pursuing a non-confrontational interview style, this leads to an expansive conversation, one that seeks to explore more general philosophical questions.
On occasion the philosophy is just pursued straight up, e.g. with Gregory Chaitin's fascinating contributions on consciousness, evolution, and mathematics.
Other highlights for this reviewer were Thom Workman's excellent defence of Marxism as an anti post-modernist philosophy, Rick Rozoff's cold sober analysis of NATO, and Matias Vernego on Dollar Hegemony.
And yes, as other reviewers have noted, the musical interludes are genuinely interesting such that even a philistine like myself can enjoy them.
The boy from Athboy done good.
