The Working Class Intelligentsia

Elton LK
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The current moment has questioned capitalism, proposing fascism and socialism as viable alternatives. Italy a century ago went through a similar moment. Using the biography of Marxist critical theorist Antonio Gramsci we’ll discuss socialist theory and strategy, fascism, and a bunch of other stuff.

  1. 09/02/2023 · BONUS

    The Vampire Castle is PMC

    I wrote an essay on John and Barbara Ehrenreich’s concept of the PMC, and how it relates to Mark Fisher’s concept of the Vampire Castle, which I read in this episode. You’ll hear the full version of the essay, but a shortened version will be included in a book titled Underground Theory, which will be available at Amazon to order a print copy September 4. The link is below. I’m proud to say that this essay will be included with essays by some smart and controversial thinkers including Žižek, Norman Finkelstein, Alenka Zupančič, Todd McGowan, Catherine Liu, Chris Cutrone, Daniel Tutt and Michael Downs of the Dangerous Maybe blog. In my essay I argue Mark Fisher makes the same mistake many Marxists have made. They conflate the petite bourgeoisie with the professional managerial class. This is an understandable mistake, but it is time for Marxists to begin using the Ehrenreich’s definition of the professional managerial class in their class analysis. At another time I will quibble further with the Ehrenreichs. I think they make a few mistakes, but on the whole I think they have brought a tremendous improvement to the discipline of class analysis. The future of the socialist struggle must account for the distinctions between the petite bourgeoisie and the professional managerial class. Underground Theory https://a.co/d/3yPyo6J “PMC Consciousness & Ideology” Theory Underground https://theory-underground.com/courses/pmc/ WAYPOINT: Timenergy, critical media theory, and culture war Theory Pleeb (a.k.a. Dave McKerracher of Theory Underground) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09M8QG8B9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_ZYBSX12JJPFGJP9VETMK Class, an official podcast of the Democratic Socialists of America National Political Education Committee https://education.dsausa.org/class-the-npec-podcast/ Barbara and John Ehrenreich’s PMC part 1 (1977) https://library.brown.edu/pdfs/1125403552886481.pdf Barbara and John Ehrenreich’s PMC part 2 (1977) https://files.libcom.org/files/Rad%20America%20V11%20I3.pdf Barbara and John Ehrenreich’s PMC part 3 (2013) https://www.rosalux.de/fileadmin/rls_uploads/pdfs/sonst_publikationen/ehrenreich_death_of_a_yuppie_dream90.pdf

    1h 28m

  2. SEASON 2 TRAILER

    Announcements: Class, new DSA NPEC podcast and my online course on the PMC

    This episode merely contains a couple announcements. The first is an online class I’m going to be teaching with Dave McKerracher on the PMC, also known as the Professional Managerial Class. The second announcement is about my DSA NPEC podcast, Class. Class: Democratic Socialists of America National Political Education Committee podcast https://education.dsausa.org/class-the-npec-podcast/ Theory Underground: Professional Managerial Class Consciousness 8 week course, meet every other Wednesday starting January 25, 2022 https://theory-underground.com/courses/pmc/?fbclid=IwAR0hh3FS2PedZ5_ApjYoV796Vp_pY4-jg6uivMk3d1RPiPahlFXOmvtACk4#learndash-course-content Theory Underground Courses https://theory-underground.com/courses/ Michael Downs, the Dangerous Maybe https://link.medium.com/sMvhw6PgSvb

    9 min

  3. 08/24/2022

    2.1 A Working Class Intelligentsia Manifesto

    I started this podcast in order to extract strategy and insight from Gramsci’s writings. This Gramsci-inspired manifesto calls for a recalibration of the term “working class” per Marx’s Das Kapital, Volume 1 in order to build the foundation for a renewed international working class struggle for socialism grounded on a socialist mode of production and empowerment of the working class, de-emphasizing reliance on a vanguard of revolutionaries. How should socialists relate to the PMC? “Waypoint: Timenergy, critical media theory, and culture war” by Theory Pleeb https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09M8QG8B9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_ZYBSX12JJPFGJP9VETMK Wikipedia article on “Mode of Production” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mode_of_production Economics of Fascism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics_of_fascism Germanic People (Barbarians) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_peoples#Migration_Period_(ca._375–568) Merchants in the Middle Ages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant#Merchants_in_the_medieval_period PDFs of Erik Olin Wright’s books https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~wright/ DSA National Political Education event with Meagan Day that discusses some overlapping content about Non-Reformist Reforms https://youtu.be/GcHMGRKNobY André Gorz’s “Reform and Revolution” https://socialistregister.com/index.php/srv/article/view/5272/2173

    1h 55m

  4. 05/18/2022 · BONUS

    Cosmonaut Magazine - Socialism of the Oppressed: The Stakes of the Bowman Affair

    I heard this podcast episode from the Cosmonaut podcast. It is an audio version of an article from the online magazine. I am sharing it because it complements our last episode on Jamaal Bowman, what the authors of this episode refer to as the Bowman Affair, but with much more rigorous analysis as it relates to the internal debate and structures of DSA. The CosmoPod Podcast Episode https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cosmopod/id1469843985?i=1000558965755 The Original Article “Socialism of the Oppressed: The Stakes of the Bowman Affair” by Jean Allen and Marisa Miale https://cosmonautmag.com/2022/04/socialism-of-the-oppressed-the-stakes-of-the-bowman-affair/

    52 min

  5. 02/09/2022

    1.16 DSA Party Discipline, Palestine, BDS and Jamaal Bowman

    Today’s episode is about proletarian discipline, party discipline. DSA has recently had an internal debate about Jamaal Bowman’s refusal to support the Palestinian solidarity movement BDS. GRAMSCI Gramci’s Concept of Subaltern https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subaltern_(postcolonialism) DISCIPLINE Jodi Dean’s Article on Discipline https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/11/comrades-political-organizing-discipline-jodi-dean Republican Party Discipline of Liz Cheney https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/nov/15/liz-cheney-wyoming-republican-party-trump DSA’s ban on democratic centralism https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/constitution/#P1N Leninist Discipline https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Party+dicipline Know Your Enemy #36 on Jan 6 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/know-your-enemy/id1462703434?i=1000529390998 ——————— DSA CAUCUSES AND ELECTION SLATES Libertarian Socialist Caucus https://dsa-lsc.org/2021/07/19/lsc-democratic-socialism-a-short-history/ Bread & Roses Caucus https://breadandrosesdsa.org/ https://breadandrosesdsa.org/convention-2021-slate/ The Green New Deal Slate https://keywiki.org/DSA_Green_New_Deal_Slate Socialist Majority https://www.socialistmajority.com/ Renewal Slate https://www.dsarenewal.org/our-npc-slate/ Other DSA Caucasus https://reformandrevolution.org/2021/09/08/whos-who-in-dsa-a-guide-to-dsa-caucuses/ ——————— PALESTINE & BDS History of Palestine https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/throughline/id1451109634?i=1000523361687 Israeli Settlements https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_settlement Natural Resource Extraction during British Mandate https://trafo.hypotheses.org/30714 1936-1939 Arab Revolt https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936%E2%80%931939_Arab_revolt_in_Palestine Palestinians have sovereign authority over their natural resources https://imemc.org/article/wafa-un-general-assembly-passes-vote-affirms-palestinian-sovereignty-over-their-natural-resources/ DSA departed from the Socialist International https://www.leftvoice.org/DSA-Votes-for-BDS-Reparations-and-Out-of-the-Socialist-International/ NY DSA Revolutions Per Minute podcast on the BDS Movement https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/revolutions-per-minute-radio-from-new-york-city-democratic/id1450411809?i=1000524165027 J Street’s Rejection of the BDS Movement https://jstreet.org/wrong-way-oppose-bds/#.YcFAIy-cZQI ——————— JAMAAL BOWMAN DSA “Unity For Unity, not Unanimity: Palestine, Jamaal Bowman, and DSA” https://docs.google.com/document/d/1d_FBOWt5JqyFvQn5BQuqDBvLe67rLCXKbI0CABhJHx4/edit Jamaal Bowman https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/11/democratic-socialists-j-street-bds-israel-palestine-iron-dome-aoc Jamaal Bowman Tempest Timeline https://www.facebook.com/tempestmag/photos/a.144058903928771/411153303885995/?type=3 DSA Caucus’s Response to Jamaal Bowman https://www.tempestmag.org/2021/12/on-not-expelling-jamaal-bowman/ DSA BDS & Palestine Solidarity WG https://palestine.dsausa.org/bowmans-j-street-zionist-propaganda-trip-to-apartheid-israel-must-not-stand/ DSA Statement https://www.dsausa.org/statements/on-the-question-of-expelling-rep-bowman/

    1h 49m

  6. 11/28/2021 · BONUS

    Finding the Timenergy to Invest in Self and Human History

    This is my first bonus episode. By bonus, I mean that it isn’t really tied to Gramsci, though I will mention him a few times eventually. But this episode will be about the building of a working class intelligentsia. In this episode I will read the forward I wrote for a new book called Waypoint. Waypoint is theory pleeb’s first book. It is a collection of essays they wrote both academically, as well as those written critiquing the academy. Amazon.com - WAYPOINT: Timenergy, critical media theory, and culture war https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09M8QG8B9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_ZYBSX12JJPFGJP9VETMK Theory Pleeb’s Website https://www.theorypleeb.com/ Theory Pleeb’s Podcasts https://www.spreaker.com/user/theorypleeb Theory Pleeb’s YouTube https://youtube.com/c/theorypleeb

    23 min

  7. 11/16/2021

    1.15 The Cotton Worker Strike of 1906 and the Seattle General Strike of 1919

    Gramsci had a strand of Italian patriotism. His patriotism was a Marxist patriotism that believed in international cooperation of the working classes around the world, but he took pride in being Italian. He wrote this article about the Cotton Workers Strike trike of 1906 because it provided the workers an example of working class strength from their own history. Gramsci's narrative was intended to convince them that if they had done it before, they could do it again. Remembering the History of the Cotton Workers’ Struggle Il Grido del Popolo December 9, 1916 Selections from Political Writings 1910-1920 - [ ] ITALY 1903-1906 - [ ] JANUARY - APRIL 15, 1906 - [ ] APRIL 22 - JULY 18, 1906 - [ ] POSTSCRIPT: SEATTLE GENERAL STRIKE of 1919 1904 General Strike Italy’s first general strike. It was called by Chamber of Labour “The country would experience many general strikes in the years following 1904, with additional general strikes in 1905, 1906, 1909, 1911, and 1914.” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1904_Italian_general_strike Inter-Mountain Republican, May 9, 1906 https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=4073112 Inter-Mountain Republican, May 10 https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=4075101 Oldest Trade Union in Italy, formed in 1906 https://www.etui.org/covid-social-impact/italy/industrial-relations-in-italy-background-summary https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Confederation_of_Labour_(Italy) Wikipedia entry for the Seattle General Strike https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_General_Strike “When Workers Stopped Seattle” by Cal Winslow https://jacobinmag.com/2019/07/seattle-general-strike-1919-union-organizing A bourgeois paper warning against the Seattle General Strike https://depts.washington.edu/labhist/strike/images/news/Star/STAR_19190204_P1.jpg A bourgeois paper calling the strikers dangerous revolutionaries https://depts.washington.edu/labhist/strike/images/news/Star/STAR_19190205_P1.jpg Anna Louise Strong “No One Knows Where” https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/strong-anna-louise/1919/laborspeech.htm “General Strikes, Mass Strikes” by Kim Moody https://solidarity-us.org/atc/160/p3679/

    27 min

  8. 10/16/2021

    1.14 Socialist Mode of Production and the Cooperative Movement

    Socialism and Co-operation Published on: October 30, 1916 Published in: L’Alleanza Cooperativa Source: Pre-Prison Writings This podcast exists to strategize how the working class could replace the capitalist class as the hegemonic class. If we are to replicate their strategy we would need a socialist mode of production in place, and in operation, and a working class intelligentsia spreading a vision of a better world. As the working class takes control of the levers of power of the government it will need to scale up a socialist mode of production, a mode of production that aligns with the grand vision of socialism, a mode of production of which Gramsci believes has the potential of being far more productive than capitalism. We’ll discuss some alternatives towards the end, but on October 30, 1916 Gramsci published an article on the Italian Cooperative movement called “Socialism and Cooperation” in which he proposed cooperatives as a prototype of what a socialist mode of production could look like. - [ ] The Italian Cooperative Movement - [ ] Base & Superstructure - [ ] Gramsci’s Article - [ ] Postscript Know Your Enemy: The Windbag City https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/know-your-enemy/id1462703434?i=1000471890262 About Modern Northern Italy’s thriving worker-owned coops https://www.yesmagazine.org/economy/2016/07/05/the-italian-place-where-co-ops-drive-the-economy-and-most-people-are-members Turin Cooperative Alliance History https://www.fondazionedonguetti.org/wp/the-nature-of-the-cooperative-enterprise/glossary/consumers-cooperative/ Emilia Romagna region coops 10% https://geo.coop/articles/cooperating-we-mean-it-co-operative-movement-northern-italy Social Cooperatives in Italy: Lessons for the UK http://socialeconomyaz.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/SocialCooperativesInItaly.pdf The emergence of social coops for social care: Italy and beyond https://blog.p2pfoundation.net/the-emergence-of-social-coops-for-social-care-italy-and-beyond/2013/07/30?__cf_chl_managed_tk__=pmd_cUemBDzpXCGVzheCxG.XrCCBAxMtPxKUc0HBAGeBOcs-1633440125-0-gqNtZGzNAxCjcnBszRJl Base and Superstructure https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_and_superstructure Microsoft’s Net Income from 2002-2021 https://www.statista.com/statistics/267808/net-income-of-microsoft-since-2002/

    41 min
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The current moment has questioned capitalism, proposing fascism and socialism as viable alternatives. Italy a century ago went through a similar moment. Using the biography of Marxist critical theorist Antonio Gramsci we’ll discuss socialist theory and strategy, fascism, and a bunch of other stuff.

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