Show Notes
On political capitalism and divided workers. Sociology professor at UC Berkeley, Dylan Riley, talks to Alex and Lee about economic stagnation, the state propping up capitalism, and class politics.
What is "political capitalism"? And is it true that plunder and predation matter more now than exploitation?
Why hasn't the ruling class purged the system through mass bankruptcies and unemployment?
How does Chinese state capitalism fit into the story of stagnation and excess capacity?
What is the difference between economic interests and class interests? How is the working class divided today?
Is there a way out of the impasse? What possibility is there of a pro-growth politics?
–> For more like this, subscribe: patreon.com/bungacast <– Links: Relevant Episodes
/312/ Consolation-Prize Marxism & the Bunga-Bunga State ft. Dylan Riley
/515/ State Capitalism Is Now ft. Ilias Alami
Riley & Brenner
Seven Theses on American Politics, New Left Review, 2022
The Long Downturn and Its Political Results, New Left Review, 2025
Some Key Responses
Reflections on Political Capitalism, Lola Seaton, New Left Review, 2023
Notes on ‘Political Capitalism’, John Ganz
Seven Theses on Brenner and Riley's "Political Capitalism", Tim Barker
Robert Brenner’s Unprofitable Theory of Global Stagnation, Seth Ackerman, Jacobin
From Politics to Theory and Back, Benjamin Fong, Damage
Notable pieces in Sidecar by Dylan
Lenin in America
First Principles
Contra Arendt
More from Bungacast
On infrastructure – who owns and who controls it. Scholar Joscha Abels talks to Lee and Alex about global infrastructure, from satellites to cloud computing to undersea cables. --> For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
On migration, monarchy, and legitimacy. Merouan Mekouar, professor of development studies at York University in Toronto, gives Alex and Lee an in-depth view of a country at the centre of multiple tendencies. –> Subscribe for more like this, at patreon.com/bungacast
On dead ends and new beginnings. Socialist writers, teachers and podcasters, Daniel Tutt and C. Derick Varn, talk to Alex and George about their pamphlet, The People Are Not One: Socialist Strategy After Left Populism, which came out this year.
On sovereignty and Brazil's election. Juliano Fiori, Alameda Institute director, talks to Alex about Lula versus (Flávio) Bolsonaro through the lens of internal and external threats to sovereignty.
A docu-series from Bungacast. This sequence of interviews, conversations and meetings were recorded mostly in New York – the capital of the 20th century – in order to ask what the future of place is in the 21st century. In part four, we finish off by digging into New York itself to look at the great contradictions of modernism. We conclude by asking what the capital of the 21st century is, and who, if anyone, is planning it. This fourth episode features: