A.K. 47 - 47 Selections from the Works of Alexandra Kollontai

Click here to access the podcasts by Kristen R. Ghodsee who is a professor of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. 

She reads her selection of 47 writings of Alexandra Kollontai (occasionally interspersing explanatory comments), a Russian revolutionary author nearly a century ago. In these writings Kollontai, among other subjects, explains how even our emotional lives and social relations have been determined by societies with ruling classes (especially Episodes 8-15) after humans settled in agricultural communities. Kollontai writing nearly a hundred years ago even extrapolates into the future what these will look like in a classless socialist society. (Note: I encountered a few technical problems in this series.)

Unfortunately the Soviet Union, under constant attacks (invasions and trade embargoes) by the Western capitalist nations, soon came under the authoritarian control of Stalin after Lenin died from wounds in an assassination attempt in 1918. The socialist revolution degenerated under the rule of this dictator who surrounded himself with supporting bureaucrats which eventually became a self-serving ruling class. However, under Stalin's rule women were still better off than their Western counterparts as Ghodsee explains in another article entitled No Scrubs.

Also unfortunately, we as a species, and most others, are destined to become extinct due to the trashing of our environment by capitalist nations before a socialist society can even be realized.

Posts that I especially recommend today: Friday, January 31, 2020

Blogger's Note: Because the bigger, more imminent threat (more than the pollution of carbon) to the human species is a global nuclear war, I am forced to post many articles related to world geo-political events in what I think is now the start of the disintegration of the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire. We live in a very dangerous world.

• Human Extinction Now Imminent and Inevitable? by Robert J. Burrowes from Wall Street International Magazine.

• Britain leaves the European Union: Against nationalism, For the United Socialist States of Europe! from World Socialist Web Site.

• Brexit and the world: The risks and opportunities for non-European countries from United World (independent analysts based in Turkey).

• Did the US just concede defeat in China tech war? by David P. Goldman from Asia Times. 

• Globalization – A sneaky overview by Naresh Jotwani from A bird's eye view of the Vineyard.

• U.S in the Middle-East: Preparing for Disaster by "The Saker" (Andrei Raevsky) from The Unz Review. 

• Why we need a socialist solution to climate change by John Molyneux from Global Ecosocialist Network. (I now think it is too late for this.)

• The Merchants of Death by "FD" from The Internationalists. 

• Rewriting History of World War II Is Ominous Warning from the editors of Strategic Culture Foundation. (The victors always re-write history.)

• Nobody Sets Out To Become A War Propagandist. It Just Sort Of Happens. By Caitlin Johnstone from her weblog. 

• American Dream meets the Chinese Dream: A Nightmare on Fuyao Avenue by Dyjbas from Internationalist Communist Tendency.

• FBI probes use of Israeli firm's spyware in personal and government hacks from The New Arab. 

• Trump Is A Symptom Of A Larger Problem from The Jimmy Dore Show (via YouTube).

• Saudi, UAE trying to partition Iraq – fmr Pentagon official from RTAmerica. "The US has stopped all weapon deliveries to Iraq over security concerns, according to an Air Force spokesman. Former Pentagon official Michael Maloof weighs in."

• Erdoğan’s Outburst Against Russia Reveals Frustration by "InfoBrics" from The Duran (based in Cyprus).

Posts that I especially recommend today: Thursday, January 30, 2020

• State of the climate: How the world warmed in 2019 by Zeke Hausfather from Carbon Brief.

• Corporate Control and the Climate Meltdown from Scientists Warning (via YouTube).

• Extinction Foretold, Extinction Ignored by Guy McPherson from his weblog Nature Bats Last. 

• Hovering in Cyberspace by Edward Curtin from his weblog Behind the Curtin.

• US Announces Three New Bases in Iraq After Iraqis Demand Full Withdrawal by Alan Macleod from Mint Press News.

Posts that I especially recommend today: Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Note: Today I have been overwhelmed with articles that appear essential reading. I must eliminate some posts. This problem may be expected, and more, as the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire is threatened by disintegration.

• How Government and Media Are Prepping America for a Failed 2020 Election by Whitney Webb from Mint Press News. (I regard this as a post of the month!)

•  Moksha by Caitlin Johnstone from her weblog.

• Israel's hard-right and US Evangelicals unite for the heist of the century by Antony Loewenstein from TRT World (independent source based in Turkey).

• U.S. Demands Iraq Either Join U.S. War Against Iran or Be Destroyed by Eric Zuesse ("That’s not what capitalism was supposed to be.") from A bird's eye view of the Vineyard. 

• The FBI Has Been Lying About Seth Rich by Craig Murray (British) from his weblog. (Note: So what else is new? See my post from 2016.)

• The Nasty Secret Behind Aramco, ISIS and Trump in Syria by Gordon Duff from New Eastern Outlook. 

• “Shit-Life Syndrome,” Trump Voters, and Clueless Dems by Bruce E. Levine from CounterPunch. (Note: This is an archetypal example of liberal views that are frequently posted on CounterPunch. Notice the condescending view of most poor people in the USA: "shit-life syndrome". They are poor people who are surviving victims of a capitalist ruling class "education" and easily influenced by sophisticated, constant Deep State propaganda.)

• Anti-Cash-Alliance Suffers Setback in Their Home-Town New York by Norbert Häring (German) from his weblog Money and more.

These are two posts for people who have advanced knowledge of the Middle East:

• Muqtada al-Sadr, US occupation & the Iraqi Resistance from Middle East Observer. 

• Analysis of the Iranian missile strikes on Ayn Al Asad Airbase by Haider from A bird's eye view of the Vineyard.

Posts that I especially recommend today: Tuesday, January 28, 2020

• Underreported Arctic Methane Release by Stuart Scott from Scientists Warning.

• Central Bankers Go Green… Why? by Matthew Ehret from Strategic Culture Foundation.

• Climate journalism and fossil fuel ads: an unholy marriage? by Dawn Stover from Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 

• Hundreds of Thousands Protest in Iraq to Demand Ouster of US Troops from Financial Tribune (Iran).

• Calling a Coup a Coup: The State Department Ignores the Law, Again by Brett Heinz from Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR). (Because laws are passed means nothing to our evolved Neo-fascist ruling class.)

Posts that I especially recommend today: Monday, January 27, 2020

• A Defense of Climate Tragedy, or What the Scientists Got Wrong about “The Uninhabitable Earth” by Genevieve Guenther from Medium.

• Poll finds strong majority support for declaring a climate emergency by David Spratt from Renew Economy.

• Dead President Walking by USA's foremost political satirist CJ Hopkins from his weblog Consent Factory, Inc.

• The Soleimani assassination: the operation that broke the taboo by Yakup Asian from United World (an indepedent website based in Turkey.)