Left Anchor

Episode 118 - Bernie Won Iowa

Ryan is back from vacation so we return with a discussion of the Iowa clusterfuck: How Bernie edged out Pete Buttigieg in the popular vote and tied in pleged delegates, how Biden collapsed, how and why the caucus was bungled so horribly, and what it maybe means for the next few primaries. Enjoy!

Episode 117 PREVIEW - The Socialist Anti-Imperialism of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Episode 116 - The Problem with Economics, with Max and Zak Alvarez

Today we have the Brothers Alvarez -- Maximillian and Zak -- of the Working People Podcast on with a crossover episode. We discuss what Zak learned from his time in the University of Chicago economics department, how they were both radicalized by the financial crisis, and more. Enjoy!

Episode 115 UNLOCKED - The Bernie-Warren Flap

With New Hampshire coming up, we've unlocked our episode on the Bernie-Warren competition.

Episode 114 - Losing the War, by Lee Sandlin

Bit of a different episode today: Ryan reads a very long 1997 essay about the Second World War by the late Lee Sandlin called "Losing the War" (with permission from Nina Sandlin). Though it takes three hours to finish, it's a remarkable piece about the way the nature of the war was obscured from public view, why wars happen, and what we should remember about it today. Enjoy!

Episode 113 PREVIEW - The Soleimani Assassination with Derek Davison

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Episode 112 - The True History of FDR and the New Deal, with Eric Rauchway

Today we've got UC Davis Professor of History Eric Rauchway on to talk the history of the New Deal, particularly the transition period in the winter of 1932-33 covered in his book Winter War. We take apart the common false belief, held by both Republicans and Democrats (including Barack Obama) that FDR deliberately refused to help Herbert Hoover fix the Great Depression so he could get the New Deal passed, when in fact it was Hoover who refused to help in an effort to get Roosevelt to abandon all his campaign promises. We then take down the liberal idea expressed by Jonathan Chait and Jonathan Alter that FDR was really a secret moderate, and talk about how ideological the 1932 campaign really was. Enjoy!
Rauchway's other book The Money Makers can be found here, and his essay in The Presidency of Barack Obama can be found here.

Episode 111 UNLOCKED - Union Organizing with Max Lyons and Nela Hadzic

Today we've got two professional union organizers on to talk about the state of labor organizing in 2019 -- the tactics of the union busters, the hostility of the Trump administration, and the brushfire labor militancy that has sprung up across the country. 
Read more about Google's union-busting tactics here, and find the essay about progressive union-busters here. 

Episode 110 Preview - The Corbyn Defeat and Hope in Dark Times

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Episode 109 - Nicole Fabricant on the Bolivian Situation

We've got Professor Nicole Fabricant from Towson University to discuss what's going on in Bolivia. We talk about Evo Morales' flawed but decent record, the source of right-wing authoritarian sentiment, and the military coup that displaced him. Enjoy!
Her book Mobilizing Bolivia's Displaced can be found here.