Either for theory or for news, US primarily?
Behind the Bastards and It Could Happen Here are both pretty great.
On that note, Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff, hosted by Margaret Killjoy, is a good counterbalance to Behind the Bastards.
Yup, love all of these!
I would classify The Dollop along the lines of Behind the Bastards as well. Although it’s more comedy, it definitely gets political.
Yeah I love these
Aww man, do I have a list for you.
- General audiobooks
- LibriVox Public domain book collection where you can find audiobooks from old communist, socialist, and anarchist authors.
- Anarchist audiobooks
- Socialist Audiobooks
- Communalism Audiobooks
I’m painfully aware that I’m necroposting, but I had to rise up out of the ether to thank you for this well curated list of sources.
Glad you benefited!
- General audiobooks
I’m not sure they really fit the ask but you might like Srsly Wrong
I listened to an episode just now. That’s a Srsly good podcast!
listening to that right now lol, the new episode on evolutionary psychology is great
I love how it’s both very well researched and thoughtful but also genuinely funny and creative and entertaining.
I love the Wrong Boys. ❤️ They are a bright light of hope and ideas in a dark time.
Not specifically socialist but The Majority Report is a good progressive/leftist podcast for news and politics
I like Citations Needed.
Well There’s Your Problem is an international treasure
Pod Damn America, Trillbilly Workers’ Party, and Chapo Trap House are also a good time
I’ve never listened to any (I’ve meant to, just haven’t gotten around to it) but I know that Jacobin hosts some podcasts with various socialist focuses.
I used to listen to The Deprogram but eventually I couldn’t ignore their bad takes. I don’t think there’s any good non-tankie podcasts from what I’ve seen. If anyone has one please let me know as well.
What’s the contemporary meaning of “tankie” other than an empty buzzword that works as the modern replacement for “commie”?
I’m not a fan nor a hater of The Deprogram, I have yet to listen to them to form an opinion. I just hate the amount of “tankie talking” that has seeped even into leftist spaces, effectively c
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Easier to be an American apologist. AmIrite?
I figure any rational person would just take an honest look at what’s going on and conclude that both sides are pretty bad, and try to look for other examples of societies that were trying to do things right without making too many mistakes of the past. The Anarchist revolution during the Spanish Civil War being a good example of something to aspire to, instead of Russia/China/US.
I’m down for that.
It Could Happen Here is the closest thing to a proper US news podcast like OP wants, but people have already mentioned them and the other Cool Zone shows (Behind the Bastards, Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff, Hood Politics if you don’t mind someone who’s a little more moderate)
Anyway, here’s some suggestions I didn’t see on here:
Jacobin’s The Dig - A fascinating interview podcast with lefty scholars. If someone publishes a banger of a book on Verso or Haymarket, this is where they’d want to interview. Contains a wide variety of perspectives across the left. Some folks really dislike the host’s voice–he just naturally sounds like Roman Mars or Welcome to Night Vale, very quiet and buzzy. I’ve gotten used to it, and funnily enough he sounds way better when he interviews in Spanish. Prof. Jenny Chan’s interview is a little difficult to listen to because her accent can be hard to parse, but I really appreciate her written work demystifying the exact ways the Chinese captive union system screws over workers.
Trashfuture - Extremely funny! Funniest podcast on the list, honestly. Centers on UK politics and the absurdity of the startup tech industry. A lot of their deeper analysis derives from Marx, but I wouldn’t call them tankies. They’ve been pretty okay with criticizing the Soviet Union. Mostly it doesn’t seem to come up very much.
Well There’s Your Problem - Again, quote funny! A dark-comedy podcast with slides about engineering disasters. Consistent themes include “maybe the corporate profit motive itself is murdering us” and “railway drivers should be treated about a billion timed better.” One extremely angry anarchist, two vague Marxists, again all pretty happy to criticize the Soviet Union.
Lions Led By Donkeys: A dark-comedy podcast about military disasters. The main host is Joe Kassabian, an Armenian-American with a degree in genocide studies, a former tank crewman, and an anarchist who’s very, very happy to be explicit about his hatred for red-flag authoritarianism. The only time the USSR gets positive press on there is specifically when they’re fighting against is even worse (Nazis or the Black Baron, mostly.) He’s literally done series on the Soviet-Afghan War, the Winter War, etc. and doesn’t shy away from discussion of Soviet atrocity. Very much a “I can hate all of you at the same time” sort of guy.
One Big Podcast, Laborwave Radio: Podcasts about the labour organizing movement mostly from a syndicalist perspective. Very in favor of grassroots worker self organization, skeptical of vanguards. IWW members run the first one.
Work Stoppage: Haven’t listened to a ton, but it’s pretty similar to the above, focused mainly on strike news.
The Dollop if you like history and comedy.
Everyone has bad takes. Take the good from it and leave the bad. Like tankies or not, but they tend to know more theory then the average socialist. I listen to Vaush, he has some good takes, but he’s also pro NATO, which is no bueno for me.
I have yet to hear a single tankie who has even the most rudimentary understanding of theory. Vaush is good, I don’t like some of his takes and he’s a bit whiny on occasion but he’s doing good work bringing people to the left.
The guy that created this platform is a Marxist-Leninist, and has read some theory. His essays : Desalinnes.
I know, I’ve spoken with him. His abilities are impressive but otherwise I find him disagreeable.
Behind the bastards is pretty well known, and while not explicitly anarchist, the host, Robert Evans, expresses consistently anarchist sentiments. He was involved in Chaz/Chop, and covered the Portland BLM protests extensively. He also made a trip to Rohava to report on the Kurdish breakaway area during the Syrian Civil War.
My favorite podcasts are “SRSLY WRONG” and “Everyday anarchism”. If I had to express my political view using media, I’d list these two in this order.
Absolutely adore these lil’ guys
My favorites for news: Head in the Office for US Ironweeds for New York Trashfuture for UK
My favorites for theory is Srsly Wrong and Pick Me Up, I’m Scared
Favorites for history is Behind the Bastards and Blowback
I love Pick Me Up, I’m Scared
“Well There’s Your Problem” a podcast about engineering disasters, with slides (and actionable threats,) fits surprisingly well. Especially The God-damn News section.
There is Andrewism and lil bill on YouTube, but can’t think of any others.
Marx Madness is pretty good for theory.
Richard Wolff does a great podcast - Economic Update
