Proles Pod

Our longest and most controversial episode. This narrative, titled “War Is Already Here” (using the latest archival scholarship) details the legitimacy of the controversial Moscow Trials, the origins of the “Great Terror”,  the climax of the Spanish Civil War, war with Japan and apocalyptically - the beginning of a second globe spanning conflict!  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 at www.patreon.com/prolespod   Recommended Supplemental Reading Stalin History & Critique of a Black Legend  by Domenico Losurdo Western Marxism: How it was Born, How it Died, How it can be Reborn by Domenico Losurdo  For a Few Canards More: Counter Inquiry on Stalin and the Soviet Union by Aymeric Monville   Recommended Supplemental Listening How Stalin Tried to Prevent World War II w/ Michael Jabara Carley Was the Soviet Union Totalitarian w/ Robert Thurston Understanding Siege Socialim w/ Gabriel Rockhill  The American Ambassador Who Supported Stalin w/ Dominique Petit-Wagner Stalin's Constitution & Life in 1930s Soviet Union w/ Samantha Lomb   Sources Stalin's Failed Alliance: The Struggle for Collective Security, 1936-1939 by Michael Jabara Carley Nomonhan, 1939: The Red Army's Victory That Shapped World War II by Stuart D. Goldman Stalin and War, 1918-1953: Patterns of Repression, Mobilization, and External Threat by David Shearer  International Communism and the Origins of World War II by Jonathan Haslam Marshal of Victory: The Autobiography of General Georgy Zhukov The Bloomsbury Handbook of the Spanish Civil War ed. Antonio Cazorla-Sanchez, Alison Ribeiro De Menezes, Adrian Shubert Reflections on Stalinism ed. J.Arch Getty, Lewis Siegelbaum  How Russia Blasted Hitler's Spy Machine by Joseph E. Davies Soviet Archives 

In the Part 3 Discussion, we cover evidence for the Moscow Trials (more to come in the Part 3.5 Narrative), The Spanish Civil War, Molotov-Ribbentrop, and more. Our host is Legacy Prole, Taylor! 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 at www.patreon.com/prolespod Recommended Additional Reading Stalin History & Critique of a Black Legend  by Domenico Losurdo Western Marxism: How it was Born, How it Died, How it can be Reborn by Domenico Losurdo  Recommended Additional Listening  Stalin's Constitution & Life in 1930s Soviet Union w/ Samantha Lomb How Stalin Tried to Prevent World War II w/ Michael Jabara Carley Stalin: A Marxist-Leninist Perspective  Foundations of Leninism  Sources Stalin’s Constitution: Soviet Participatory Politics and the Discussion of the 1936 Draft Constituion by Samantha Lomb The New Soviet Constitution: A Study in Socialist Democracy by Anna Louise Strong Stalinist Values: The Cultural Norms of Soviet Modernity, 1917–1941 The Bloomsbury Handbook of the Spanish Civil War Broué, P. (1990). Party opposition to Stalin (1930-1932) and the first Moscow trial. In J. W. Strong (Ed.), Essays on revolutionary culture and Stalinism. Selected papers from the Third World Congress for Soviet and East European studies. Craig, G. A. (1951). Documents on German Foreign Policy 1918–1945. Series D (1937–1945). Volume III. Germany and the Spanish Civil War 1936–1939. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office. Volodarsky, B. (2015). Stalin's agent. The life and death of Alexander Orlov. London and New York: Oxford University Press.

In the narrative for Part Three of "The Stalin Eras”, Tony and Jeremy detail Joseph Stalin’s life within the context of Soviet history through the years 1935-1936. This narrative, titled “Triumph and Tribulations” highlights the USSR as a rising star to both the global proletariat and colonized peoples, the utter triumph of socialist construction during the Great Depression, the highly progressive 1936 Soviet Constitution, and finally the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War! Stay tuned for the next episode which will continue the narrative through from 1936-1939 focusing mostly on the controversial Moscow Trials, the Great Purge, the climax of the Spanish Civil War, and apocalyptically - the beginning of World War II.  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 at www.patreon.com/prolespod Recommended Additional Reading Stalin History & Critique of a Black Legend  by Domenico Losurdo Western Marxism: How it was Born, How it Died, How it can be Reborn by Domenico Losurdo  Recommended Additional Listening  Stalin's Constitution & Life in 1930s Soviet Union w/ Samantha Lomb How Stalin Tried to Prevent World War II w/ Michael Jabara Carley Stalin: A Marxist-Leninist Perspective  Foundations of Leninism  Sources Stalin’s Constitution: Soviet Participatory Politics and the Discussion of the 1936 Draft Constituion by Samantha Lomb The New Soviet Constitution: A Study in Socialist Democracy by Anna Louise Strong Stalinist Values: The Cultural Norms of Soviet Modernity, 1917–1941 The Bloomsbury Handbook of the Spanish Civil War Broué, P. (1990). Party opposition to Stalin (1930-1932) and the first Moscow trial. In J. W. Strong (Ed.), Essays on revolutionary culture and Stalinism. Selected papers from the Third World Congress for Soviet and East European studies. Craig, G. A. (1951). Documents on German Foreign Policy 1918–1945. Series D (1937–1945). Volume III. Germany and the Spanish Civil War 1936–1939. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office. Volodarsky, B. (2015). Stalin's agent. The life and death of Alexander Orlov. London and New York: Oxford University Press.  

Comrades! We are hard at work on the Stalin Eras, as you all know. Part 3 in particular, given the Moscow Trials, The Military Trial, Ezhovchina, and other major topics, this episode in particular has taken a LOT of work. We have also uncovered a bunch of archival material that we hope will create context that we believe has never been presented in the English language.  On top of that, a few listeners have given us feedback that, particularly given the very dense nature of the material, that they feel like they are falling behind and thus unable to engage with the discussion online and participate in the live-listens we do for every new Stalin Eras episode on the Patreon.  As such, we are taking an intermission of sorts (still slaving away in the podcast mines) to give people time to catch up and to give us the time to properly represent our vision in Part 3 as the DEFINITIVE collection of materialist analysis and historiography on the Stalin Era of Soviet History.  We didn't want to leave you hanging, so, here is a peek behind the Iron Curtain of the paywall, featuring our two most recent Q & Rae episodes. We hope you enjoy. Please consider subscribing so that we may continue to put the effort that we have put into the Stalin Eras into all of our future episodes. We hope you're enjoying it, and solidarity forever.