The Triploi Podcast

If the Soviet Union achieved so much, why did it collapse in 1991?

In this episode we dive into the history of the USSR. From the shockwave of the 1917 revolution, to its the hard won post WWII peak, and then the sudden, violent unspooling of the whole socialist project.

Join Triploi as we follow the chain reaction of the Soviet meltdown, from de‑Stalinization to the threat of thermonuclear war, to the stagnation of the Soviet economy, the war in Afghanistan, the Chernobyl disaster, to the catastrophic misfire of glasnost and perestroika, and how all of it built up to break the Union for good.

And looking back at the faded brutalist concrete of the Soviet Union’s memorials, we reflect on what lessons we may yet learn.

 

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References and reading list:

Isaac Deutscher - Russia After Stalin: With a Postscript on the Beria Affair (1953)

Moshe Lewin - The Gorbachev Phenomenon: A Historical Interpretation (1991)

David Kotz and Fred Weir - Revolution From Above: The Demise of the Soviet System (1997)

Stephen F. Cohen - Failed Crusade: America and the Tragedy of Post-Communist Russia (2001)

Samir Amin - The Future of Maoism (1983)

Michael Parenti - Blackshirts and Reds: Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism (1997)

John Perkins - Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (2004)

Max Hastings - Inferno: The World at War, 1939–1945 (2011)

When the colonialism earthquake rocked the world, what was it like living next to the epicentre?

In this episode we dive into Ireland’s long fight against the British Empire at the height of its power. From the Tudor conquest, to the birth of capitalist plantations, famine, rebellion, revolution, partition, and the Troubles, all the way to today’s fight against corporate neo-colonialism.

Join Triploi as we dive into this 500 year history of Ireland, and learn what it is like being the neighbour of history’s most insatiable colonial empire… and the price that must be paid for freedom.

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References and reading list:

James Connolly - Labour in Irish History (1910)

R.F. Foster - Modern Ireland 1600-1972 (1988)

Christine Kinealy - This Great Calamity: The Irish Famine 1845-52 (1994)

Charles Townshend - Easter 1916: The Irish Rebellion (2005)

Diarmaid Ferriter - The Transformation of Ireland 1900-2000 (2004)

J.J. Lee - Ireland 1912-1985: Politics and Society (1989)

Fintan O'Toole - Ship of Fools: How Stupidity and Corruption Sank the Celtic Tiger (2009)

Kieran Allen - The Corporate Takeover of Ireland (2007)

Kevin Whelan - The Tree of Liberty: Radicalism, Catholicism and the Construction of Irish Identity 1760-1830 (1996)

Mary P. Murphy - Ireland and the Politics of Change (2020)

If colonialism and capitalism were the earthquake that reshaped our world, and all the horrors and fascism we still face are the aftershocks, then what's the actual solution?

Join Triploi as we break down, in the simplest terms, the principles of socialism; from dialectical materialism and the dictatorship of the proletariat, to seizing the means of production, environmental sustainability, decolonisation, and the ultimate goal of a classless, stateless communist society. 

Whether you're new to socialism or deepening your understanding, this episode provides a comprehensive guide for building a world after the fall of capitalism.

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References and reading list:

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels - The Communist Manifesto (1848)

Vladimir Lenin - What Is to Be Done? (1902)

Mao Zedong - Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung (various dates)

Michael Parenti - Blackshirts and Reds: Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism (1997)

Bhaskar Sunkara (ed.) - The ABCs of Socialism (2016)

Danny Katch - Socialism... Seriously: A Brief Guide to Human Liberation (2015)

Is it a curse to be a rich country? Venezuela holds the world's largest proven oil reserve, yet its people face seemingly endless economic depression.

How did this contradiction happen?

Join Triploi as we explore Venezuela's journey from Spanish colony to the Bolivarian revolution, to the discovery of the world’s largest oil reserve, to economic collapse, and now imminent war with the United States.

This is the story of a nation caught between the ghost of Simón Bolívar's dream and the enduring reality of living next door to world’s most aggressive and violent superpower.

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References and reading list:

Eduardo Galeano - Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent (1971)

Greg Grandin - Empire's Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism (2006)

Naomi Klein - The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (2007)

Mark Weisbrot - Failed: What the "Experts" Got Wrong About the Global Economy (2015)

Jeffrey Sachs - A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism (2018)

George Ciccariello-Maher - We Created Chávez: A People's History of the Venezuelan Revolution (2013)

Fernando Coronil - The Magical State: Nature, Money, and Modernity in Venezuela (1997)

Michael Parenti - Against Empire (1995)

William Blum - Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II (2004)

Vijay Prashad - The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World (2007)

Walter Rodney - How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972)

Simón Bolívar - Selected Writings (various, compiled editions)

Terry Lynn Karl - The Paradox of Plenty: Oil Booms and Petro-States (1997)

UN Special Rapporteur Alena Douhan - Report on Venezuela (2021)

Join Triploi in our first (and possibly only) Top 10 list! The top 10 most evil companies!

From BP overthrowing governments and pretending oil spills are just "oopsies" instead of ecocide. Nestlé convincing mothers their addictive baby formula is better than breast milk (spoiler: it's not) to Bayer/Monsanto whose entire business model seems to be an insatiable hatred for humanity and life itself...

Through these, and 7 other cheerful stories, we explore how capitalism's business model is working exactly as designed.

While people often point to Chernobyl as proof communism is bad, capitalism quietly produces several Chernobyls per year and calls it 'profit growth.'

If capitalism isn't evil, it's certainly very good at monetising it.

(Note, this episode is by far the swearing-est yet, because.... geez, these bastards are evil).

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References and reading list:

Joel Bakan - The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power (2004)

Greg Palast - The Best Democracy Money Can Buy (2002)

Peter Brabeck-Letmathe - Water: A Crisis Guide (2005)

Marion Nestle - Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health (2002)

Marie-Monique Robin - The World According to Monsanto (2008)

Edwin Black - IBM and the Holocaust (2001)

Antony Loewenstein - Disaster Capitalism: Making a Killing Out of Catastrophe (2015)

Vandana Shiva - Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge (1997)

Sunita Narain - Conflicts of Interest: The Politics of Water and Environment (2012)

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o - Globalectics: Theory and the Politics of Knowing (2012)

Samir Amin - The Law of Worldwide Value (2010)