Auxiliary Statements

In which we remember the good and sane bush years. Watching: An Inconvenient Truth (2006), Davis Guggenheim & Al Gore Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/csqrrRRD

Turns out you need to do more than just read Murray Bookchin if you want to be friends with anarchists. Reading: Towards a Marxist-Anarchist Solidarity (2023) by Michael Löwy, Olivier Besancenot & David Campbell Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/TNmaRX2k

In which brave Henry Heller saves the immortal science of Marxism from the unwarranted revisionism of W O K E political marxism. Reading: "Bourgeois Revolution" from The Birth of Capitalism (2011) by Henry Heller Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/jgaCypmP

You ever noticed that the 8 hour working day is like...................the same as school, man? Reading: Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1968) by Paulo Freire Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: discord.gg/Be6dQ6hv

Sure China has billionaires, a strictly enforced class system, State Owned Enterprises that are evaluated on stock market performance, private property, wage labor and commodity production but is it REALLY capitalism guys Reading: Red Dust (2019) by Chuang. Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/Be6dQ6hv

In which we regain our lost optimism. Reading: Peace for our Time (2025) by Critisticuffs, The American Sulla (2025) by Edith Fischer and Notes on the War (2025) by Jack Conrad Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/273xScQK

In which we inaugurate the Chantal Mouffe era of the show. Reading: Neither Vertical Nor Horizontal (2021) by Rodrigo Nunes Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/EAHjv96U

Alright, this time we're really gonna figure out what dialectics is. Reading: Dialectical Thinking and Science: The Case of Richard Lewontin, Dialectical Biologist (2020) by Pierfrancesco Biasetti Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/FUpZKFE3

How do you do communal politics in an individualized, atomized world? How do you do individualism in a communal world? Reading: Antiindividualistic Individuality: Anarchism's Legacy (the early 1990s) by Gabriel Kuhn Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: discord.gg/CD8wXpzc

In which the Austrians do antifascism by definitely not recreating any fascist aesthetics. Reading: Antifascism, Sports, Sobriety: Forging a Militant Working-Class Culture (2016) by Gabriel Kuhn & Julius Deutsch Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/CD8wXpzc

Well after a month of being locked out of our Soundcloud account we're finally back in our social democracy era. Reading: Reform or Revolution? (1908) by Rosa Luxemburg Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/arZSSVw6

In which we try to get past our kneejerk sect bashing. Reading: "There are Parties and Then There are Parties" by Archie Woodrow, "Why a Party and What Sort?" by Mike Macnair and "The Communist Party, Yesterday and Tomorrow" by Lawrence Parker (all 2024) from Prometheus, available here: https://prometheusjournal.org/ Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD:

In which we encounter the unknowable concept of the S P H E R E. Reading: The Logic of Gender (2013) from Endnotes 3 by Maya Gonzalez and Jeanne Neton. Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/4r47b7UF

*banging head against the wall* POLITICALCAPITALISMTECHNONEOFEUDALISMNEOLIBERALISM Reading: Seven Theses on American Politics (2022) by Robert Brenner & Dylan Riley Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/G22EcdhR

SKIP THE ELECTION BANTER: 27:47 In which we sneak into an academic conference and stick out like two sore thumbs. Reading: Nothin' INDEP network: https://www.indep.network/ Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/vC5r2MmA

Lousy workers! Why won't you do industrial unionism?! Reading: Riot. Strike. Riot by Joshua Clvoer Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/4zW4DsM9

Just how bad is the looming global population decline going to be for capitalism? Will it be able to AI its way out of the productivity losses? More importantly, what does this mean for my own political project? Reading: After the Wave, Winter: Demographic Decline and the "Production of Men" in the Twenty-First Century by Jason E. Smith https://brooklynrail.org/2024/07/field-notes/After-the-Wave-Winter/ Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: discord.gg/d3rRXNEb

Six months later, we come to the end. Chapter discussion timestamps: CLOUDS UNFOLD 8:26 A COLD AND FROSTY MORNING 16:57 ROUND THE BEND 33:53 BURNING GOLD 1:01:18 THE RAFTERS AND THE BEAMS 1:16:41 THE STEPS OF ALL SAINTS 1:38:01 EATING FLOWERS 1:54:30 CORNERED 2:14:35 THE ROOD IN THE WALL 2:27:01 THE JOLLY SMOKERS 2:39:04 GO SEE NOW THIS CURSED WOMAN 2:50:29 CHAIN OF OFFICE 3:06:19 Resources: Jerusalem Annotated - alanmoorejerusalem.wordpress.com/alan-moo…s-index/ Matthew Kirshenblatt essays - sequart.org/magazine/64975/a-jo…m-work-in-progress/ Readers of Jerusalem - https://www.reddit.com/r/ReadersofJerusalem/ Round the Bend Translation - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-TC_xHcLM7LFW4WsNzC6dfuyBXQG-NX38Ok8qDdDvOU/edit?usp=sharing Songs: "And Did Those Feet In Ancient Time" "You are my Asylum" Reading: Book Three: Vernall's Inquest and Afterlude: Chain of Office from Jerusalem (2016) by Alan Moore Send a question, comment or concern to auxiliarystatements (at) gmail (dot) com DISCORD: https://discord.com/invite/yAzMehDV

Back on our value theory bs - this week we discuss just what it is that makes a society socialist and what makes it capitalist. Is it all just vibes?? Reading: The Capitalist Nature of the "Socialist" Countries (1986) by L.L Men Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/d3rRXNEb

We're back and talking pancakes bay-bee. Reading: Anton Pannekoek and the Theory of the Transition (1990) by Bob Shepard Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/pMFhHCvr

In which we record live from an orgone accumulator. Reading: Society and Mind in Marxian Philosophy (1937) and Marxism and Psychology (1938) by Anton Pannekoek Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/Vs6CG8et

In which we finally finish this book and talk productive labor, production price and yeah I don't know a lot more I'm too tired to write this caption. Reading: Essays on Marx's Theory of Value, Chapters 17-19 (1923) by I. I. Rubin Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/6QVe5kbp

In which we finally stop joking about reading Lenin and actually do it. Reading: The State and Revolution (1917) by Vladimir Lenin Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/QScuasDH

Is Marxism science? Is science Marxism? Is the strategy of patience all it's cracked up to be? What about all this riot business? All these questions and more answered by the podcast's second ever repeat guest, Viv Soni as we discuss his recent essay in the journal The Black Lamp. Reading: High priests of telescopes and cyclotrons: Marxism and revolutionary strategy as science (2024) by Vivak Soni https://www.black-lamp.com/posts/high-priests-of-telescopes-and-cyclotrons-marxism-and-revolutionary-strategy-as-science Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/GYxuAdPh

Abstract labor eh? Seems like a simple enough concept. Reading: Essays on Marx's Theory of Value, Chapters 12-16 (1923) by I. I. Rubin Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/c7QwVz26

In which we have a look back at what hasn't worked, and why it will continue to not work. Reading: Reflections on the Economics of Socialism (2022) by Nick Rogers Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/daKyRFAW

Well this just keeps getting better. In this episode, Jack pretends he knows anything about occultism. Reading: Book Two: Mansoul from Jerusalem (2016) by Alan Moore Chapter discussion timestamps: UPSTAIRS 9:07 AN ASMODEUS FLIGHT 19:12 RABBITS 39:00 THE SCARLET WELL 48:23 FLATLAND 59:55 MENTAL FIGHTS 1:14:38 SLEEPLESS SWORDS 1:25:50 MALIGNANT, REFRACTORY SPIRITS 1:41:31 THE TREES DON'T NEED TO KNOW 2:00:58 FORBIDDEN WORLDS 2:21:16 THE DESTRUCTOR 2:34:16 Resources: Jerusalem Annotated - alanmoorejerusalem.wordpress.com/alan-moo…s-index/ Matthew Kirshenblatt essays - sequart.org/magazine/64975/a-jo…m-work-in-progress/ Songs: "And Did Those Feet In Ancient Time" "Whispering Grass (Don't Tell The Trees)" Send a question, comment or concern to auxiliarystatements (at) gmail (dot) com DISCORD: discord.gg/YkEg2Xad

In which we theorize the potential for a protracted people's war in the outer suburbs of Miami. Reading: Philosophy of the Urban Guerrilla, Section III - What Can Be Done? (1973) by Abraham Guillén Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/xUqsPs24

Back on the value theory grind... Reading: Essays on Marx's Theory of Value, Section Two - Marx's Labor Theory of Value, Chapters 8-11 (1923) by I. I. Rubin Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/fDdf6qkx

In which recently departed podcast favorite Loren Goldner discusses the immense promises and successes of the anarchists in Spain, as well as their eventual (and perhaps inevitable) defeat. Reading: "The Spanish revolution, past and future: grandeur and poverty of anarchism; how the working class takes over (or doesn't), then and now" from Revolution, Defeat & Theoretical Underdevelopment (2016) by Loren Goldner Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/BBFGvD89

Well here it is, the episode no one asked for. A three hour plunge into the first section of Alan Moore's masterpiece Jerusalem. Reading: Prelude "A Work in Progress" & Book One: The Boroughs from Jerusalem (2016) by Alan Moore Chapter discussion timestamps: Prelude - 12:03 A Host of Angles - 36:00 ASBOs of Desire - 50:48 Rough Sleepers - 1:14:10 X Marks the Spot - 1:32:56 Modern Times - 1:49:34 Blind, but Now I See - 1:59:50 Atlantis - 2:15:28 Do as You Darn Well Pleasey - 2:27:18 The Breeze That Plucks Her Apron - 2:38:47 Hark! The Glad Sound! - 2:52:28 Choking on a Tune - 3:01:05 Resources: Jerusalem Annotated - https://alanmoorejerusalem.wordpress.com/alan-moore-annotations-index/ Matthew Kirshenblatt essays - http://sequart.org/magazine/64975/a-journey-through-alan-moores-jerusalem-work-in-progress/ Songs: "And Did Those Feet In Ancient Time" "Hark! The Glad Sound!" "Amazing Grace" "Do As You Darn Well Please-y" "Whispering Grass (Don't Tell The Trees)" Send a question, comment or concern to auxiliarystatements (at) gmail (dot) com DISCORD: discord.gg/YkEg2Xad

Value theory?? On auxiliary statements??? Reading: Essays on Marx's Theory of Value, Section One - Marx's Theory of Commodity Fetishism (1923) by I. I. Rubin Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: discord.gg/YkEg2Xad

Back on our ultra-left bs. If we don't read some Lenin soon, people will begin to talk... Reading: Hinterland (2018) by Phil A. Neel Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/YkEg2Xad

In an effort to understand the philosophy of technology and our relationship to it as humans, we turn to a 60 year old essay by Murray Bookchin. Reading: Towards a Liberatory Technology (1965) by Murray Bookchin Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/YpmDM5Sd

We finally decided it would be best if we solved quantum mechanics. Big thanks to Viv for coming on and helping us out. Find his work at The Black Lamp: www.black-lamp.com Reading: The Crisis in Physics (1937) by Christopher Caudwell Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/gGh5Xe8k

This episode we a classic Moishe Postone essay in an attempt to further our understanding of the abstract domination of capital, and how misunderstandings of it tend to very often manifest themselves in violent and unspeakable ways. Reading: "Anti-semitism and National Socialism" (1980) by Moishe Postone Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/a4ZpAg4G

Auxiliary Statements is back to reading Capital?!? Well, just the last section. We had to go back to our origin of capitalism bugbear sometime, after all. And maybe we should have just read this first. Reading: Capital, Section 8: The So-Called Primitive Accumulation (1867) by Karl Marx Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/vfDswHX6

Well folks, here it is. Our big value theory episode. In this ep we discuss what it is that most people get wrong about value theory, and why using the David Harvey companion may not be the best idea for first time readers of Capital. Huge thanks to Mark again for coming on and setting us straight. Reading: A Companion to David Harvey's Companion to Marx's Capital (2014) by Critisticuffs The Harvey article can be found at critisticuffs.org, and if you want to ask about or challenge anything in the article, or what Mark said in the podcast, you can email critisticuffs@riseup.net. Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/D3GJb2SU

If you aren't sure what family abolition means...you are not alone. In fact, its meaning has changed drastically over the course of capitalism's development. So what could it mean today? Reading: "To Abolish the Family" (2018) by M.E. O'Brien from endnotes 5 https://endnotes.org.uk/articles/to-abolish-the-family.pdf Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/D9GMkz6F

Well we held off as long as we could, but we're back to discussing transition debate stuff. This time we attempt to take on Japan's unique path to capitalism and its equally unique brand of "feudalism." Reading: "Japanese Feudalism" from Lineages of the Absolutist State (1974) by Perry Anderson and "The Prussia of the East?"(1991) by Perry Anderson Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/xXDUMZ2a

That's right dear listener, we've somehow actually made it to 100 episodes. From those articles in Tribune & Jacobin in episode two, to reading the man himself, it's safe to say we've come a long way. For this special episode, we returned to Marx's Critique of the Gotha Program with fresh perspectives. Strap in, because this is one of our longest episodes yet. Here's to 100 more. Reading: Critique of the Gotha Program (1875) by Karl Marx Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/Z9s3vBAq

Emancipatory religion rooted in proto-communism? Heh. Sorry bub. Don't you know I'm an......atheist??? Reading: "Religion and Politics Today From a Marxian Perspective" (2008) by Gilbert Achcar Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/MWPap7xJ

Well it's probably about time we approached the question of what role the exploitation and appropriation of African labor both before and during colonization played in the development of capitalism. Turns out, it was quite a large one. Reading: Chapters 3-5 from How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972) by Walter Rodney Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/FAgdS9UD

Unfortunately, we are back to discussing Althusser. Critisticuffs piece (specifically That Economy section): https://critisticuffs.org/texts/fantastic-thoughts-and-where-to-find-them Gegenstandpunkt piece: https://en.gegenstandpunkt.com/books/work-and-wealth-2nd-revised-edition Reading: The Problem of the Capitalist State by Nicos Poulantzas (1969) and Poulantzas and the Capitalist State by Ralph Miliband (1973) Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/YbYWuadV LINKTREE: linktr.ee/AuxiliaryStatementsPodcast

In which two non-scientists discuss agricultural research and the philosophy of science. Reading: Chapters 8-11 of The Dialectical Biologist (1985) by Richard Lewontin and Richard Levins Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/KQGJNY3G LINKTREE: linktr.ee/AuxiliaryStatementsPodcast

Wait wait wait - you're telling me some proles are getting bourgeois-ified?!?? And some bourgeois are getting aristocratizied?!!??? Reading: "The Bourgeois(ie) as Concept and Reality" (1988) by Immanuel Wallerstein Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/XaTRvyGZ LINKTREE: linktr.ee/AuxiliaryStatementsPodcast

SURELY no self-proclaimed socialist would be out here defending reactionary despots and the regimes they uphold right?? SURELY THERE HAVE NEVER been communists that would have supported the commie killing, anti socialist Turkish developmental regime right?! Not any of our favorite historical figures right? Right?!? Reading: "'Socialism in One Country' Before Stalin and the Origins of Reactionary 'Anti-Imperialism': The Case of Turkey" from Revolution, defeat and theoretical underdevelopment (2016) by Loren Goldner DISCORD: https://discord.gg/FSjt5xd6 LINKTREE: linktr.ee/AuxiliaryStatementsPodcast

This week we tackle the for some reason controversial topic of economic degrowth. Should we be shrinking our economies to match utility based production? Or should we just end the world? A very tricky question to ponder indeed. Reading: "Planned Degrowth" by John Bellamy Foster "Planning Degrowth" by Kent Klitgaard "Planning and the Ecosocialist Mode of Cooperation" by Nicolas Graham "Degrowth and Socialism" by Guney Isikara and Ozgur Narin "On Technology and Degrowth" by Jason Hickel All from Monthly Review vol 75 no 3 July/August DISCORD: discord.gg/QaTEMTk9 LINKTREE: linktr.ee/AuxiliaryStatementsPodcast

Somehow, we're back to the communizers. What makes the common prole decide revolution is the best course of action? And what can mae the long awaited (and first ever) communist revolution actually stick? I don't know. Something about the prisoner's dilemma I guess. Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com Reading: Revolutionary Motives (2019) by Jasper Bernes https://endnotes.org.uk/issues/5m DISCORD: https://discord.gg/HGk5wbn3 LINKTREE: linktr.ee/AuxiliaryStatementsPodcast

This week, Dan and Jack discuss indigenous philosophy in an attempt to answer the question of what we can learn from pre-capitalist societies. Say goodbye to your teleological Marxism, friends. Send us a question, comment or valid concern: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com Reading: Karl Marx and Radical Indigenous Critiques of Capitalism (2022) by Nodrada https://nodrivers.medium.com/karl-marx-and-radical-indigenous-critiques-of-capitalism-fd27169c357 DISCORD: https://discord.gg/qFVuhVs2K LINKTREE: linktr.ee/AuxiliaryStatementsPodcast

In which the fellas do their best to plod through the history of the transition from the Imperial Chinese tributary mode to the socialist developmental regime of the CCP. Send us an email: auxiliarystatements(at)gmail.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/BXgVXqTp LINKTREE: linktr.ee/AuxiliaryStatementsPodcast