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The Unequal Exchange Podcast

Politics

We are partnering with the Arghiri Emmanuel Association, a foundation dedicated to the legacy of theorist and activist Arghiri Emmanuel, to create the Unequal Exchange podcast, dedicated to popularizing political economy. We will preserve our archive of interviews with actors across the Global South with a new database of discussions on Unequal Exchange, dependency theory, and analysis of imperialism. To follow us on twitter: @ArghiriEmmanuel, or @antiimpnet Website: www.unequalexchange.org Patreon: patreon.com/ArghiriEmmanuelAssociation Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/unequalexchange/support

Location:

United States

Genres:

Politics

Description:

We are partnering with the Arghiri Emmanuel Association, a foundation dedicated to the legacy of theorist and activist Arghiri Emmanuel, to create the Unequal Exchange podcast, dedicated to popularizing political economy. We will preserve our archive of interviews with actors across the Global South with a new database of discussions on Unequal Exchange, dependency theory, and analysis of imperialism. To follow us on twitter: @ArghiriEmmanuel, or @antiimpnet Website: www.unequalexchange.org Patreon: patreon.com/ArghiriEmmanuelAssociation Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/unequalexchange/support

Language:

English


Episodes
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This is how the Global South can defend against Unfair Trade (Taxes on Exports as a Mechanism of Defense for the Underdeveloped Countries, Arghiri Emmanuel)

2/9/2024
The Global South countries face extremely unfair trade when engaging with the Global North, because the West charges high prices for their products and the rest of the world is left with low remuneration due to their low wages. This creates an unequal exchange and low terms of trade for the Global South. This situation has attempted to be reversed by many proposals from the Non-Aligned Movement and New International Economic Order, but one unique solution has been proposed by Arghiri Emmanuel: a tax on exports. This could bring the equilibrium price of the Global South's products up, and lower the costs for their products. It's a solution worth exploring to address the inequality the Global South faces. For more: https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/sovereign-africa https://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/books/Economics/UnequalExchange_ArghiriEmmanuel.pdf --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/unequalexchange/support

Duration:00:17:00

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Arghiri Emmanuel's Preface to "Unequal Exchange and the Prospects of Socialism", by the Manifest-Communist Working Group of Denmark (Manifest–Kommunistisk Arbejdsgruppe), 1986

2/7/2024
Here, we offer an audio reading of Arghiri Emmanuel's Preface to "Unequal Exchange and the Prospects of Socialism", by the Manifest-Communist Working Group of Denmark (Manifest–Kommunistisk Arbejdsgruppe) from 1986. Emmanuel discusses his perspective on the prospects of a proletarian revolution in the age of the labor aristocracy. To find a digital version of this text from "Unequal Exchange and the Prospects of Socialism", visit here: https://anti-imperialist.net/2019/11/13/unequal-exchange-and-the-prospects-of-socialism/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/unequalexchange/support

Duration:00:09:54

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What Should Communists In the Imperialist Countries Do? - From "Unequal Exchange and the Prospects of Socialism" by the Manifest-Communist Working Group (Manifest–Kommunistisk Arbejdsgruppe), 1986

2/7/2024
Here's an audio version of the text, "What Should Communists In the Imperialist Countries Do?", written by the Manifest–Kommunistisk Arbejdsgruppe (Manifest Communist Working Group of Denmark), with the English translation published in 1986. To find a digital version of this text from "Unequal Exchange and the Prospects of Socialism", visit here: https://anti-imperialist.net/2019/11/13/unequal-exchange-and-the-prospects-of-socialism/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/unequalexchange/support

Duration:00:08:46

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Unequal Exchange and the Prospects of Socialism Chapter 5

2/7/2024
Originally published by our friends at Negation Liberation Front here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZajc6Y0TRxpdOvjcIqRKbyaUVPl38zNL&si=7KkCkakl_AsBFJHG https://anti-imperialist.net/blog/2019/11/13/unequal-exchange-and-the-prospects-of-socialism/ In November 1969, Le Monde, France’s leading newspaper, published an exchange between Arghiri Emmanuel and Charles Bettelheim, in which the two Marxian economists debated the possibility of international solidarity between the working classes of the imperialist countries and those of the semi- or neo-colonies. Emmanuel held deep reservations about such alliances, while Bettelheim maintained that they were both feasible and necessary. In the decades since, Bettelheim’s position has become the majority opinion within many progressive and revolutionary movements. Recent years, however, have seen a renewed interest in Emmanuel’s arguments. The collection Turning Money into Rebellion tells the dramatic and little-known story of a particularly committed contingent of Western European revolutionaries deeply influenced by Emmanuel’s ideas. As the debate was playing out in the pages of Le Monde, a small group of Danish Maoists took the unusual step of breaking relations with the Communist Party of China over these very questions. In 1970, they formed an underground organization of highly disciplined cadres who would implement what they saw as the political implications of Emmanuel’s position: to forego the fight for socialism in the immediate future in Denmark, and turn instead toward the third world. From 1972 on, they devoted their efforts to political solidarity work through a legal charity that they founded, Clothes to Africa, and a criminal cell—unknown to most members of either the group or the charity—that carried out bank robberies to help fund progressive forces fighting for revolution in Palestine, South Africa, and elsewhere. Over the next twenty years, the robbers, calling themselves the Manifest–Communist Working Group (M-KA), channeled millions of dollars to such movements around the world. They never tried to justify any given robbery in political terms, through statements or communiqués, preferring that police believe it was the work of ordinary thieves. This extreme expression of solidarity derived from the group’s analysis of Danish society, and their belief that the Danish working class as a whole was too complacent to take any interest in international solidarity with the revolutionary proletariat in the neo- and semi-colonies, because they had been “bribed” by imperialist super-profits. Following their arrest in 1989, they became known as the Blekinge Street Gang, after the site of their hideout in Copenhagen. Today it might seem that only specialist scholars and activists would take any interest in an organization like the M-KA, never mind read an anthology of essays, interviews, and documents detailing their ideology and activities. After all, such ultraleft groupuscules abounded in Europe and North America in the 1970s, and despite the sensational headlines they generated, their real influence was, in the main, negligible. The M-KA never had more than fifteen members; its predecessor, the Communist Working Circle (KAK), had twenty-five. What makes them historically noteworthy, and Turning Money into Rebellion a riveting read, is their unusual fusion of academic theories of unequal exchange with a revolutionary praxis of armed expropriations, used to fund revolutionary movements across the neo- and semi-colonies. monthlyreview(dot)org/2017/09/01/theorists-and-thieves/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/unequalexchange/support

Duration:01:30:25

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Unequal Exchange and the Prospects of Socialism Chapter 4

2/7/2024
Originally published by our friends at Negation Liberation Front here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZajc6Y0TRxpdOvjcIqRKbyaUVPl38zNL&si=7KkCkakl_AsBFJHG https://anti-imperialist.net/blog/2019/11/13/unequal-exchange-and-the-prospects-of-socialism/ In November 1969, Le Monde, France’s leading newspaper, published an exchange between Arghiri Emmanuel and Charles Bettelheim, in which the two Marxian economists debated the possibility of international solidarity between the working classes of the imperialist countries and those of the semi- or neo-colonies. Emmanuel held deep reservations about such alliances, while Bettelheim maintained that they were both feasible and necessary. In the decades since, Bettelheim’s position has become the majority opinion within many progressive and revolutionary movements. Recent years, however, have seen a renewed interest in Emmanuel’s arguments. The collection Turning Money into Rebellion tells the dramatic and little-known story of a particularly committed contingent of Western European revolutionaries deeply influenced by Emmanuel’s ideas. As the debate was playing out in the pages of Le Monde, a small group of Danish Maoists took the unusual step of breaking relations with the Communist Party of China over these very questions. In 1970, they formed an underground organization of highly disciplined cadres who would implement what they saw as the political implications of Emmanuel’s position: to forego the fight for socialism in the immediate future in Denmark, and turn instead toward the third world. From 1972 on, they devoted their efforts to political solidarity work through a legal charity that they founded, Clothes to Africa, and a criminal cell—unknown to most members of either the group or the charity—that carried out bank robberies to help fund progressive forces fighting for revolution in Palestine, South Africa, and elsewhere. Over the next twenty years, the robbers, calling themselves the Manifest–Communist Working Group (M-KA), channeled millions of dollars to such movements around the world. They never tried to justify any given robbery in political terms, through statements or communiqués, preferring that police believe it was the work of ordinary thieves. This extreme expression of solidarity derived from the group’s analysis of Danish society, and their belief that the Danish working class as a whole was too complacent to take any interest in international solidarity with the revolutionary proletariat in the neo- and semi-colonies, because they had been “bribed” by imperialist super-profits. Following their arrest in 1989, they became known as the Blekinge Street Gang, after the site of their hideout in Copenhagen. Today it might seem that only specialist scholars and activists would take any interest in an organization like the M-KA, never mind read an anthology of essays, interviews, and documents detailing their ideology and activities. After all, such ultraleft groupuscules abounded in Europe and North America in the 1970s, and despite the sensational headlines they generated, their real influence was, in the main, negligible. The M-KA never had more than fifteen members; its predecessor, the Communist Working Circle (KAK), had twenty-five. What makes them historically noteworthy, and Turning Money into Rebellion a riveting read, is their unusual fusion of academic theories of unequal exchange with a revolutionary praxis of armed expropriations, used to fund revolutionary movements across the neo- and semi-colonies. monthlyreview(dot)org/2017/09/01/theorists-and-thieves/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/unequalexchange/support

Duration:00:51:15

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Unequal Exchange and the Prospects of Socialism Chapter 4

2/7/2024
Originally published by our friends at Negation Liberation Front here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZajc6Y0TRxpdOvjcIqRKbyaUVPl38zNL&si=7KkCkakl_AsBFJHG https://anti-imperialist.net/blog/2019/11/13/unequal-exchange-and-the-prospects-of-socialism/ In November 1969, Le Monde, France’s leading newspaper, published an exchange between Arghiri Emmanuel and Charles Bettelheim, in which the two Marxian economists debated the possibility of international solidarity between the working classes of the imperialist countries and those of the semi- or neo-colonies. Emmanuel held deep reservations about such alliances, while Bettelheim maintained that they were both feasible and necessary. In the decades since, Bettelheim’s position has become the majority opinion within many progressive and revolutionary movements. Recent years, however, have seen a renewed interest in Emmanuel’s arguments. The collection Turning Money into Rebellion tells the dramatic and little-known story of a particularly committed contingent of Western European revolutionaries deeply influenced by Emmanuel’s ideas. As the debate was playing out in the pages of Le Monde, a small group of Danish Maoists took the unusual step of breaking relations with the Communist Party of China over these very questions. In 1970, they formed an underground organization of highly disciplined cadres who would implement what they saw as the political implications of Emmanuel’s position: to forego the fight for socialism in the immediate future in Denmark, and turn instead toward the third world. From 1972 on, they devoted their efforts to political solidarity work through a legal charity that they founded, Clothes to Africa, and a criminal cell—unknown to most members of either the group or the charity—that carried out bank robberies to help fund progressive forces fighting for revolution in Palestine, South Africa, and elsewhere. Over the next twenty years, the robbers, calling themselves the Manifest–Communist Working Group (M-KA), channeled millions of dollars to such movements around the world. They never tried to justify any given robbery in political terms, through statements or communiqués, preferring that police believe it was the work of ordinary thieves. This extreme expression of solidarity derived from the group’s analysis of Danish society, and their belief that the Danish working class as a whole was too complacent to take any interest in international solidarity with the revolutionary proletariat in the neo- and semi-colonies, because they had been “bribed” by imperialist super-profits. Following their arrest in 1989, they became known as the Blekinge Street Gang, after the site of their hideout in Copenhagen. Today it might seem that only specialist scholars and activists would take any interest in an organization like the M-KA, never mind read an anthology of essays, interviews, and documents detailing their ideology and activities. After all, such ultraleft groupuscules abounded in Europe and North America in the 1970s, and despite the sensational headlines they generated, their real influence was, in the main, negligible. The M-KA never had more than fifteen members; its predecessor, the Communist Working Circle (KAK), had twenty-five. What makes them historically noteworthy, and Turning Money into Rebellion a riveting read, is their unusual fusion of academic theories of unequal exchange with a revolutionary praxis of armed expropriations, used to fund revolutionary movements across the neo- and semi-colonies. monthlyreview(dot)org/2017/09/01/theorists-and-thieves/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/unequalexchange/support

Duration:00:51:15

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Unequal Exchange and the Prospects of Socialism Chapter 3

2/7/2024
Originally published by our friends at Negation Liberation Front here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZajc6Y0TRxpdOvjcIqRKbyaUVPl38zNL&si=7KkCkakl_AsBFJHG anti-imperialist(dot)net/2019/11/13/unequal-exchange-and-the-prospects-of-socialism/ In November 1969, Le Monde, France’s leading newspaper, published an exchange between Arghiri Emmanuel and Charles Bettelheim, in which the two Marxian economists debated the possibility of international solidarity between the working classes of the imperialist countries and those of the semi- or neo-colonies. Emmanuel held deep reservations about such alliances, while Bettelheim maintained that they were both feasible and necessary. In the decades since, Bettelheim’s position has become the majority opinion within many progressive and revolutionary movements. Recent years, however, have seen a renewed interest in Emmanuel’s arguments. The collection Turning Money into Rebellion tells the dramatic and little-known story of a particularly committed contingent of Western European revolutionaries deeply influenced by Emmanuel’s ideas. As the debate was playing out in the pages of Le Monde, a small group of Danish Maoists took the unusual step of breaking relations with the Communist Party of China over these very questions. In 1970, they formed an underground organization of highly disciplined cadres who would implement what they saw as the political implications of Emmanuel’s position: to forego the fight for socialism in the immediate future in Denmark, and turn instead toward the third world. From 1972 on, they devoted their efforts to political solidarity work through a legal charity that they founded, Clothes to Africa, and a criminal cell—unknown to most members of either the group or the charity—that carried out bank robberies to help fund progressive forces fighting for revolution in Palestine, South Africa, and elsewhere. Over the next twenty years, the robbers, calling themselves the Manifest–Communist Working Group (M-KA), channeled millions of dollars to such movements around the world. They never tried to justify any given robbery in political terms, through statements or communiqués, preferring that police believe it was the work of ordinary thieves. This extreme expression of solidarity derived from the group’s analysis of Danish society, and their belief that the Danish working class as a whole was too complacent to take any interest in international solidarity with the revolutionary proletariat in the neo- and semi-colonies, because they had been “bribed” by imperialist super-profits. Following their arrest in 1989, they became known as the Blekinge Street Gang, after the site of their hideout in Copenhagen. Today it might seem that only specialist scholars and activists would take any interest in an organization like the M-KA, never mind read an anthology of essays, interviews, and documents detailing their ideology and activities. After all, such ultraleft groupuscules abounded in Europe and North America in the 1970s, and despite the sensational headlines they generated, their real influence was, in the main, negligible. The M-KA never had more than fifteen members; its predecessor, the Communist Working Circle (KAK), had twenty-five. What makes them historically noteworthy, and Turning Money into Rebellion a riveting read, is their unusual fusion of academic theories of unequal exchange with a revolutionary praxis of armed expropriations, used to fund revolutionary movements across the neo- and semi-colonies. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/unequalexchange/support

Duration:01:13:50

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Unequal Exchange and the Prospects of Socialism Chapter 3

2/7/2024
Originally published by our friends at Negation Liberation Front here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZajc6Y0TRxpdOvjcIqRKbyaUVPl38zNL&si=7KkCkakl_AsBFJHG anti-imperialist(dot)net/2019/11/13/unequal-exchange-and-the-prospects-of-socialism/ In November 1969, Le Monde, France’s leading newspaper, published an exchange between Arghiri Emmanuel and Charles Bettelheim, in which the two Marxian economists debated the possibility of international solidarity between the working classes of the imperialist countries and those of the semi- or neo-colonies. Emmanuel held deep reservations about such alliances, while Bettelheim maintained that they were both feasible and necessary. In the decades since, Bettelheim’s position has become the majority opinion within many progressive and revolutionary movements. Recent years, however, have seen a renewed interest in Emmanuel’s arguments. The collection Turning Money into Rebellion tells the dramatic and little-known story of a particularly committed contingent of Western European revolutionaries deeply influenced by Emmanuel’s ideas. As the debate was playing out in the pages of Le Monde, a small group of Danish Maoists took the unusual step of breaking relations with the Communist Party of China over these very questions. In 1970, they formed an underground organization of highly disciplined cadres who would implement what they saw as the political implications of Emmanuel’s position: to forego the fight for socialism in the immediate future in Denmark, and turn instead toward the third world. From 1972 on, they devoted their efforts to political solidarity work through a legal charity that they founded, Clothes to Africa, and a criminal cell—unknown to most members of either the group or the charity—that carried out bank robberies to help fund progressive forces fighting for revolution in Palestine, South Africa, and elsewhere. Over the next twenty years, the robbers, calling themselves the Manifest–Communist Working Group (M-KA), channeled millions of dollars to such movements around the world. They never tried to justify any given robbery in political terms, through statements or communiqués, preferring that police believe it was the work of ordinary thieves. This extreme expression of solidarity derived from the group’s analysis of Danish society, and their belief that the Danish working class as a whole was too complacent to take any interest in international solidarity with the revolutionary proletariat in the neo- and semi-colonies, because they had been “bribed” by imperialist super-profits. Following their arrest in 1989, they became known as the Blekinge Street Gang, after the site of their hideout in Copenhagen. Today it might seem that only specialist scholars and activists would take any interest in an organization like the M-KA, never mind read an anthology of essays, interviews, and documents detailing their ideology and activities. After all, such ultraleft groupuscules abounded in Europe and North America in the 1970s, and despite the sensational headlines they generated, their real influence was, in the main, negligible. The M-KA never had more than fifteen members; its predecessor, the Communist Working Circle (KAK), had twenty-five. What makes them historically noteworthy, and Turning Money into Rebellion a riveting read, is their unusual fusion of academic theories of unequal exchange with a revolutionary praxis of armed expropriations, used to fund revolutionary movements across the neo- and semi-colonies. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/unequalexchange/support

Duration:01:13:50

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Unequal Exchange and the Prospects of Socialism by Communist Working Group, Chapter 2

2/7/2024
Originally published by our friends at Negation Liberation Front here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZajc6Y0TRxpdOvjcIqRKbyaUVPl38zNL&si=7KkCkakl_AsBFJHG anti-imperialist(dot)net/2019/11/13/unequal-exchange-and-the-prospects-of-socialism/ In November 1969, Le Monde, France’s leading newspaper, published an exchange between Arghiri Emmanuel and Charles Bettelheim, in which the two Marxian economists debated the possibility of international solidarity between the working classes of the imperialist countries and those of the semi- or neo-colonies. Emmanuel held deep reservations about such alliances, while Bettelheim maintained that they were both feasible and necessary. In the decades since, Bettelheim’s position has become the majority opinion within many progressive and revolutionary movements. Recent years, however, have seen a renewed interest in Emmanuel’s arguments. The collection Turning Money into Rebellion tells the dramatic and little-known story of a particularly committed contingent of Western European revolutionaries deeply influenced by Emmanuel’s ideas. As the debate was playing out in the pages of Le Monde, a small group of Danish Maoists took the unusual step of breaking relations with the Communist Party of China over these very questions. In 1970, they formed an underground organization of highly disciplined cadres who would implement what they saw as the political implications of Emmanuel’s position: to forego the fight for socialism in the immediate future in Denmark, and turn instead toward the third world. From 1972 on, they devoted their efforts to political solidarity work through a legal charity that they founded, Clothes to Africa, and a criminal cell—unknown to most members of either the group or the charity—that carried out bank robberies to help fund progressive forces fighting for revolution in Palestine, South Africa, and elsewhere. Over the next twenty years, the robbers, calling themselves the Manifest–Communist Working Group (M-KA), channeled millions of dollars to such movements around the world. They never tried to justify any given robbery in political terms, through statements or communiqués, preferring that police believe it was the work of ordinary thieves. This extreme expression of solidarity derived from the group’s analysis of Danish society, and their belief that the Danish working class as a whole was too complacent to take any interest in international solidarity with the revolutionary proletariat in the neo- and semi-colonies, because they had been “bribed” by imperialist super-profits. Following their arrest in 1989, they became known as the Blekinge Street Gang, after the site of their hideout in Copenhagen. Today it might seem that only specialist scholars and activists would take any interest in an organization like the M-KA, never mind read an anthology of essays, interviews, and documents detailing their ideology and activities. After all, such ultraleft groupuscules abounded in Europe and North America in the 1970s, and despite the sensational headlines they generated, their real influence was, in the main, negligible. The M-KA never had more than fifteen members; its predecessor, the Communist Working Circle (KAK), had twenty-five. What makes them historically noteworthy, and Turning Money into Rebellion a riveting read, is their unusual fusion of academic theories of unequal exchange with a revolutionary praxis of armed expropriations, used to fund revolutionary movements across the neo- and semi-colonies. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/unequalexchange/support

Duration:00:40:20

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Unequal Exchange and the Prospects of Socialism by Communist Working Group, Chapter 2

2/7/2024
Originally published by our friends at Negation Liberation Front here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZajc6Y0TRxpdOvjcIqRKbyaUVPl38zNL&si=7KkCkakl_AsBFJHG anti-imperialist(dot)net/2019/11/13/unequal-exchange-and-the-prospects-of-socialism/ In November 1969, Le Monde, France’s leading newspaper, published an exchange between Arghiri Emmanuel and Charles Bettelheim, in which the two Marxian economists debated the possibility of international solidarity between the working classes of the imperialist countries and those of the semi- or neo-colonies. Emmanuel held deep reservations about such alliances, while Bettelheim maintained that they were both feasible and necessary. In the decades since, Bettelheim’s position has become the majority opinion within many progressive and revolutionary movements. Recent years, however, have seen a renewed interest in Emmanuel’s arguments. The collection Turning Money into Rebellion tells the dramatic and little-known story of a particularly committed contingent of Western European revolutionaries deeply influenced by Emmanuel’s ideas. As the debate was playing out in the pages of Le Monde, a small group of Danish Maoists took the unusual step of breaking relations with the Communist Party of China over these very questions. In 1970, they formed an underground organization of highly disciplined cadres who would implement what they saw as the political implications of Emmanuel’s position: to forego the fight for socialism in the immediate future in Denmark, and turn instead toward the third world. From 1972 on, they devoted their efforts to political solidarity work through a legal charity that they founded, Clothes to Africa, and a criminal cell—unknown to most members of either the group or the charity—that carried out bank robberies to help fund progressive forces fighting for revolution in Palestine, South Africa, and elsewhere. Over the next twenty years, the robbers, calling themselves the Manifest–Communist Working Group (M-KA), channeled millions of dollars to such movements around the world. They never tried to justify any given robbery in political terms, through statements or communiqués, preferring that police believe it was the work of ordinary thieves. This extreme expression of solidarity derived from the group’s analysis of Danish society, and their belief that the Danish working class as a whole was too complacent to take any interest in international solidarity with the revolutionary proletariat in the neo- and semi-colonies, because they had been “bribed” by imperialist super-profits. Following their arrest in 1989, they became known as the Blekinge Street Gang, after the site of their hideout in Copenhagen. Today it might seem that only specialist scholars and activists would take any interest in an organization like the M-KA, never mind read an anthology of essays, interviews, and documents detailing their ideology and activities. After all, such ultraleft groupuscules abounded in Europe and North America in the 1970s, and despite the sensational headlines they generated, their real influence was, in the main, negligible. The M-KA never had more than fifteen members; its predecessor, the Communist Working Circle (KAK), had twenty-five. What makes them historically noteworthy, and Turning Money into Rebellion a riveting read, is their unusual fusion of academic theories of unequal exchange with a revolutionary praxis of armed expropriations, used to fund revolutionary movements across the neo- and semi-colonies. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/unequalexchange/support

Duration:00:40:20

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Unequal Exchange and the Prospects of Socialism by Communist Working Group, Chapter 1

2/7/2024
Originally published by our friends at Negation Liberation Front here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZajc6Y0TRxpdOvjcIqRKbyaUVPl38zNL&si=7KkCkakl_AsBFJHG https://anti-imperialist.net/blog/2019/11/13/unequal-exchange-and-the-prospects-of-socialism/ In November 1969, Le Monde, France’s leading newspaper, published an exchange between Arghiri Emmanuel and Charles Bettelheim, in which the two Marxian economists debated the possibility of international solidarity between the working classes of the imperialist countries and those of the semi- or neo-colonies. Emmanuel held deep reservations about such alliances, while Bettelheim maintained that they were both feasible and necessary. In the decades since, Bettelheim’s position has become the majority opinion within many progressive and revolutionary movements. Recent years, however, have seen a renewed interest in Emmanuel’s arguments. The collection Turning Money into Rebellion tells the dramatic and little-known story of a particularly committed contingent of Western European revolutionaries deeply influenced by Emmanuel’s ideas. As the debate was playing out in the pages of Le Monde, a small group of Danish Maoists took the unusual step of breaking relations with the Communist Party of China over these very questions. In 1970, they formed an underground organization of highly disciplined cadres who would implement what they saw as the political implications of Emmanuel’s position: to forego the fight for socialism in the immediate future in Denmark, and turn instead toward the third world. From 1972 on, they devoted their efforts to political solidarity work through a legal charity that they founded, Clothes to Africa, and a criminal cell—unknown to most members of either the group or the charity—that carried out bank robberies to help fund progressive forces fighting for revolution in Palestine, South Africa, and elsewhere. Over the next twenty years, the robbers, calling themselves the Manifest–Communist Working Group (M-KA), channeled millions of dollars to such movements around the world. They never tried to justify any given robbery in political terms, through statements or communiqués, preferring that police believe it was the work of ordinary thieves. This extreme expression of solidarity derived from the group’s analysis of Danish society, and their belief that the Danish working class as a whole was too complacent to take any interest in international solidarity with the revolutionary proletariat in the neo- and semi-colonies, because they had been “bribed” by imperialist super-profits. Following their arrest in 1989, they became known as the Blekinge Street Gang, after the site of their hideout in Copenhagen. Today it might seem that only specialist scholars and activists would take any interest in an organization like the M-KA, never mind read an anthology of essays, interviews, and documents detailing their ideology and activities. After all, such ultraleft groupuscules abounded in Europe and North America in the 1970s, and despite the sensational headlines they generated, their real influence was, in the main, negligible. The M-KA never had more than fifteen members; its predecessor, the Communist Working Circle (KAK), had twenty-five. What makes them historically noteworthy, and Turning Money into Rebellion a riveting read, is their unusual fusion of academic theories of unequal exchange with a revolutionary praxis of armed expropriations, used to fund revolutionary movements across the neo- and semi-colonies. monthlyreview(dot)org/2017/09/01/theorists-and-thieves/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/unequalexchange/support

Duration:00:20:30

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Unequal Exchange and the Prospects of Socialism by Communist Working Group, Chapter 1

2/7/2024
Originally published by our friends at Negation Liberation Front here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZajc6Y0TRxpdOvjcIqRKbyaUVPl38zNL&si=7KkCkakl_AsBFJHG https://anti-imperialist.net/blog/2019/11/13/unequal-exchange-and-the-prospects-of-socialism/ In November 1969, Le Monde, France’s leading newspaper, published an exchange between Arghiri Emmanuel and Charles Bettelheim, in which the two Marxian economists debated the possibility of international solidarity between the working classes of the imperialist countries and those of the semi- or neo-colonies. Emmanuel held deep reservations about such alliances, while Bettelheim maintained that they were both feasible and necessary. In the decades since, Bettelheim’s position has become the majority opinion within many progressive and revolutionary movements. Recent years, however, have seen a renewed interest in Emmanuel’s arguments. The collection Turning Money into Rebellion tells the dramatic and little-known story of a particularly committed contingent of Western European revolutionaries deeply influenced by Emmanuel’s ideas. As the debate was playing out in the pages of Le Monde, a small group of Danish Maoists took the unusual step of breaking relations with the Communist Party of China over these very questions. In 1970, they formed an underground organization of highly disciplined cadres who would implement what they saw as the political implications of Emmanuel’s position: to forego the fight for socialism in the immediate future in Denmark, and turn instead toward the third world. From 1972 on, they devoted their efforts to political solidarity work through a legal charity that they founded, Clothes to Africa, and a criminal cell—unknown to most members of either the group or the charity—that carried out bank robberies to help fund progressive forces fighting for revolution in Palestine, South Africa, and elsewhere. Over the next twenty years, the robbers, calling themselves the Manifest–Communist Working Group (M-KA), channeled millions of dollars to such movements around the world. They never tried to justify any given robbery in political terms, through statements or communiqués, preferring that police believe it was the work of ordinary thieves. This extreme expression of solidarity derived from the group’s analysis of Danish society, and their belief that the Danish working class as a whole was too complacent to take any interest in international solidarity with the revolutionary proletariat in the neo- and semi-colonies, because they had been “bribed” by imperialist super-profits. Following their arrest in 1989, they became known as the Blekinge Street Gang, after the site of their hideout in Copenhagen. Today it might seem that only specialist scholars and activists would take any interest in an organization like the M-KA, never mind read an anthology of essays, interviews, and documents detailing their ideology and activities. After all, such ultraleft groupuscules abounded in Europe and North America in the 1970s, and despite the sensational headlines they generated, their real influence was, in the main, negligible. The M-KA never had more than fifteen members; its predecessor, the Communist Working Circle (KAK), had twenty-five. What makes them historically noteworthy, and Turning Money into Rebellion a riveting read, is their unusual fusion of academic theories of unequal exchange with a revolutionary praxis of armed expropriations, used to fund revolutionary movements across the neo- and semi-colonies. monthlyreview(dot)org/2017/09/01/theorists-and-thieves/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/unequalexchange/support

Duration:00:20:30

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The Political Economy of the Coup in Niger: Uranium, Military Bases, and Corruption

1/26/2024
We interview Tommy Miles (@tommymiles) on his research on Niger, particularly focusing on corruption and the political status quo in Niger, access to resources such as uranium by Western powers, and the heavy Western military presence in the country in the form of bases. You can read more on Tommy's website here: http://www.tomathon.com/mphp/category/world/afrique/niger/ https://books.google.com/books/about/Sahel.html?id=tsiioAEACAAJ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/unequalexchange/support

Duration:01:31:39

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The Political Economy of Unequal Exchange #3: Can a High Profit Rate Make up for Unequal Exchange?

1/15/2024
The short answer: no. Emmanuel offers a proof to demonstrate that low waged countries would need to have an inversely proportional rate of profit to mitigate the difference in prices caused by high wages in another country. This is highly unrealistic, as all evidence prior shows that the formation of an average rate of profit occurs rather than an average rate of wages. (to read more, see https://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/books/Economics/UnequalExchange_ArghiriEmmanuel.pdf pages 76-81) If you like this, consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ArghiriEmmanuelAssociation/membership --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/unequalexchange/support

Duration:00:26:03

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Mumia Abu Jamal's Statement from the 29th Rosa Luxemburg Conference

1/13/2024
Mumia Abu-Jamal's Statement from the 29th Rosa Luxemburg Conference. Mumia discussed the Palestinian resistance, the anti-war movement, and much more. All credit to Junge Welte and Prison Radio. https://www.jungewelt.de/rlk/de/article/467069.im-geiste-rosas.html https://www.jungewelt.de/artikel/467693.rlk24-gru%C3%9Fbotschaft-von-mumia-abu-jamal.html https://www.prisonradio.org/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/unequalexchange/support

Duration:00:05:33

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"How to Get Sand in the Gears": From Torkil Lauesen's Presentation at the 29th Rosa Luxemburg Conference

1/13/2024
Some excerpts from the presentation at the Rosa Luxemburg Conference today, entitled "How to Get Sand in the Gears" of the capitalist, imperialist machine. The full speech will likely be available when Junge Welte publishes the full recordings. You can read more here: https://www.jungewelt.de/artikel/467694.rlk24-das-endspiel-des-kapitalismus-ist-in-vollem-gange.html --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/unequalexchange/support

Duration:00:22:41

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The Political Economy of Unequal Exchange, # 2: Unequal Vs. Nonequivalent Exchange

1/11/2024
Here, Emmanuel defines the distinction of his concept of Unequal Exchange being driven by the exogenous factor of the wage rather than organic compositions of capital or rates or profit. To help us not have to play capital's advertisements, consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ArghiriEmmanuelAssociation/membership --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/unequalexchange/support

Duration:00:22:27

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Political Economy of Unequal Exchange #1: Cost-Price, Average Profit, and Price of Production Schema

1/7/2024
To begin this series on key concepts in the political economy of unequal exchange, we introduce the notion of price of production schemas, based on average profits and cost-prices. The concept of the "price of production" is a central element of the economic analysis outlined in Volume III of "Capital." The price of production represents the average cost of production for a commodity in a given industry, including not only the direct costs of labor and materials but also a portion of the total capital invested in fixed assets (machinery, buildings, etc.). It is distinct from market prices, which can fluctuate due to supply and demand dynamics. To learn more, here are the two chapters of Volume III that cover this subject: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1894-c3/ch09.htm https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1894-c3/ch01.htm To support our work, consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ArghiriEmmanuelAssociation?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=spotify-announcement --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/unequalexchange/support

Duration:00:17:44

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An Introduction to Arghiri Emmanuel's "Profit and Crises", with Torkil Lauesen

1/1/2024
In this interview with Torkil Lauesen, we delve into Arghiri Emmanuel's work "Profit and Crises." We discuss the relationship between consumption, production, and crisis, the role of imperialism in creating crises, and the implications of Emmanuel's work for understanding global economic dynamics. We hope to delve deeper into "Profit and Crises" in the near future. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/unequalexchange/support

Duration:00:47:20

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An Introduction to Arghiri Emmanuel's "Profit and Crises", with Torkil Lauesen

1/1/2024
In this interview with Torkil Lauesen, we delve into Arghiri Emmanuel's work "Profit and Crises." We discuss the relationship between consumption, production, and crisis, the role of imperialism in creating crises, and the implications of Emmanuel's work for understanding global economic dynamics. We hope to delve deeper into "Profit and Crises" in the near future. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/unequalexchange/support

Duration:00:47:20