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Ep 67 - The Stalin Eras, Part 2: Discussion (1930-1934)

Proles Pod

Release Date: 11/04/2024

Ep 94 - A Textual Foundation for Aspiring Marxists (ft. Andre from Weeb Revolution) show art Ep 94 - A Textual Foundation for Aspiring Marxists (ft. Andre from Weeb Revolution)

Proles Pod

This is a bit of a departure from our usual format. Rather than having a specific topic, our guest Andre will give brief summaries and reviews of a number of texts which they recommend as a foundation for anyone who is interested in Marxism or Marxism-Leninism. I would say that this is a great episode for you to share with left-n00bs who you don't want to go down any dark paths of tendency, but it's also great for those who are looking for things to read on the specific subtopics addressed. We're talking overcoming anti-AES propaganda, decolonial theory and history, as well as what Andre...

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Ep 93 - Soviet Law: From Lenin to Stalin (ft. The Leninist Lawyer) show art Ep 93 - Soviet Law: From Lenin to Stalin (ft. The Leninist Lawyer)

Proles Pod

In this whirlwind episode, The Leninist Lawyer (@LovelyLeninist) takes us deep into the world of Soviet law from the 1917 Revolution to end of Stalin's life in 1953. What exactly is socialist law? Did the USSR have a jury system? And how did the Soviet legal apparatus differ from so-called Western justice? We answer all and more in this intriguing episode.  Support the show: Join us on for early-release episodes, study guides, bonus content, TheoryBeats, and more! You can even sign up for free to access study guides, merch updates, and surprise drops. Stay connected: Subscribe on your...

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Ep 92 - Anti-intellectualism, Empathy, and Hand Tattoos w/ Schizophrenic Reads show art Ep 92 - Anti-intellectualism, Empathy, and Hand Tattoos w/ Schizophrenic Reads

Proles Pod

Rae and Jeremy sit down with Nathan from to talk about anti-intellectualism, radical empathy, and the ways in which our consumer culture turns us into hedonistic assholes. You can sign up at  where you get access to early release episodes, study guides, the aforementioned 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  and Tiktok @proles.pod. If...

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The Stalin Eras: One Year Anniversary Message show art The Stalin Eras: One Year Anniversary Message

Proles Pod

The Stalin Eras: Sources & Supplemental Material: The Stalin Eras: Bonus Episodes: The Stalin Eras: Link Tree with Playlist  

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Ep 91 - Kollontai's Ep 91 - Kollontai's "Make Way for Winged Eros" (w/ Jen [Big Nasty] from How the Red Was Won)

Proles Pod

ATTENTION THEORY HEADS: this one's for you. Tony is subjected to misandry (JK, JK) as he, Rae, and Jen do a deep dive into Alexandra Kollontai's 1923 essay, "Winged Eros." They discuss misconceptions about Kollontai as a person, dating under capitalism vs socialism, the family unit, and much more. You can sign up at  where you get access to early release episodes, study guides, the aforementioned 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...

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Ep 90 - Radical Psychology show art Ep 90 - Radical Psychology

Proles Pod

In this episode, we sit down with Jon and Frank to talk about their newly published edited collection, The Revolutionary Psychologist’s Guide to Radical Therapy. We explore what “radical psychological practice” means, the ways capitalism undermines mental health, and why therapy without a class analysis risks hitting a dead end. Along the way, we touch on the possibilities and limitations of mainstream therapy, how radical approaches can open up new paths to collective well-being, and much more. Sources: Gruba-McCallister, F. P. (2019). Embracing disillusionment: Achieving...

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Ep 89 - White Lotus, Knives Out, and Glass Onion: An Analysis of Anti-Capitalist Ep 89 - White Lotus, Knives Out, and Glass Onion: An Analysis of Anti-Capitalist "Real World" Media

Proles Pod

Tony abandons the rest of the crew to their devices, and things predictably go off the rails. We talk about the weak chins of continuing series, whether or not there are encoded messages in Rian Johnson movies, and discuss the futility of anti-capitalist messaging without a political program to back it up. You can sign up at  where you get access to early release episodes, study guides, the aforementioned 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...

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Ep 88 - John Brown: Part Two show art Ep 88 - John Brown: Part Two

Proles Pod

Tony and Jeremy sit down with Alex Z (Southern Catholic Worker) to talk about John Brown and Co, their raid on Harper's Ferry, the aftermath, and the legacy of John Brown on politics and the Civil War. You can sign up at  where you get access to early release episodes, study guides, the aforementioned 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...

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Ep 87 - John Brown: Part One show art Ep 87 - John Brown: Part One

Proles Pod

Tony and Jeremy sit down with Alex Z (Southern Catholic Worker) to talk about John Brown's early life, along with his trials and tribulations as a worker, father, and husband. This episode takes us all the way up to the period before he begins planning for the raid on Harper's Ferry (which means many skirmishes with and some broadsword swinging on pro-slavery dorks). You can sign up at  where you get access to early release episodes, study guides, the aforementioned bonus episodes, TheoryBeats, and MORE! YOU CAN DO SO FOR FREE, which will get you the study guides, merch, and other random...

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Ep 86 - Anti-Capitalist Sci-Fi Decoded: Andor, Hunger Games, and Severance show art Ep 86 - Anti-Capitalist Sci-Fi Decoded: Andor, Hunger Games, and Severance

Proles Pod

What do Andor, The Hunger Games, and Severance really say about capitalism and socialist revolution? In this episode of Prolespod, we critically examine these popular sci-fi and dystopian series through a socialist lens. We unpack the anti-capitalist themes, revolutionary narratives, and class struggle depicted in each — and ask how far these shows can really go while being produced by profit-driven corporations. Support the show and listen to the bonus episode which focuses on Sinners at  

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In the discussion for Part Two of “The Stalin Eras”, the gang responds to questions from Jen (aka Big Nasty), host of How the Red Was Won and overall badass comrade. The years in focus are, again, 1930-1934, and based upon the previous episode (which you should listen to if you haven't already).

We talk Stalin's sigma male grindset, writing letters to the man himself, the rise of fascism, and the contradictions facing the USSR at this time.

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 and get bonus content at patreon.com/prolespod

Recomended Resources on "Holodomor" as Genocide Question

Academics who do not consider the Ukraine famine of 1932-1933 to be a genocide include: J. Arch Getty, Stephen Wheatcroft, Mark Tauger, R.W Davies, Hiroaki Kuromiya, Ronald Grigor Suny, Stephen Kotkin to name a few.

Recommended Additional Reading

Stalin History & Critique of a Black Legend  by Domenico Losurdo

Another View of Stalin by Ludo Martens 

Recommended Additional Listening

Stalin: A Marxist-Leninist Perspective 

Foundations of Leninism 

Episode Sources

The Lesser of Two Hells by Alvin D Coox

Practicing Stalinism by J Arch Getty

Excesses Are Not Permitted byJ Arch Getty

Origins of the Great Purges by J Arch Getty

I Change Worlds by Anna Louise Strong

I Was Stalin's Bodyguard by Achmed Amba

The Pattern Of Soviet Power by Edgar Snow

Revolution on my Mind by Jochen Hellbeck

Stalin's Library by Geoffrey Roberts

The Great Conspiracy by Michael Sayers & Albert E Kahn

Conjuring Hitler by Guido Giacomo Preparata

Molotov Remembers, Conversations with Felix Chuev

Black Bolshevik by Harry Haywood

Teachers of Stalinism by E Thomas Ewing

Stalin: From the Caucasus to the Kremlin, Christopher Read, 2017, Routledge Publishing 

Next to Stalin by A.T. Rybin

Betrayal of an Ideal by G.A. Tokaev

Soviet Famine 1930–1933: "The Law of Spikelets" Myth Explained by Polistrum

In Search of New Facts: Interwar Japanese Military Intelligence Activities in the Baltic States and Finland: 1918–1940 by Shingo Masunaga,

Wrestling with Aspects of Interwar Stalinism by William J. Chase,

Why I resigned from the Trotsky Defense Committee by Mauritz Alfred Hallgren, 1937, International Publishers

Muder at the Kemerovo Mines by Ernst Fischer

Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg, 1949), Vol. 29

The Goebbels Diaries: 1942-1943 by Joseph Goebbels,

“Secret Hitler-Benes Negotiations in 1936-37.” bt Gerhard L. Weinberg

The Road to Terror. Stalin and the Self-Destruction of the Bolsheviks by  J. Arch Getty and Oleg V. Naumov

Russian Soviet Archives

U.S. Archives, Library of Congress

Czech Republic Archives

Vienna Bureau of the Austrian Chancellor

The Red Book, Leon Sedov, 1936, Byulletin Oppositsii, Nos.52-53, October 1936

The Prophet Outcast: Trotsky, (1929–1940), Isaac Deutscher, 1963, Vintage Russian Library

The Russian Enigma, Ante Ciliga, 1940, Pluto Press

“Red Wreckers in Russia.”,by John D Littlepage

My Life,  byLeon Trotsky

Leon Sedov: Son, Friend, Fighter, Leon Trotsky

Harvard Trotsky Archive, Houghton Library, Harvard University

The Great Terror. A Reassessment by Robert Conquest

Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution 1888-1938 by Stephen Cohen

The Kirov Murder and Soviet History by Matthew Lenoe

Many, many diaries published on https://prozhito.org/