Ep 377 - Revisiting the Stalin Eras Part 1: Understanding Democratic Centralism with Jeremy of ProlesPod

Ep 378 - Revisiting the Stalin Eras Part 2: Context Not Caricature with Jeremy of Proles Pod

** Macro ‘n Chill is our weekly online gathering where we listen to the podcast episode and talk about it among friends. This Tuesday, Jeremy of Proles Pod will be with us to answer questions. May 5 at 8pm ET/5pm PT Use this link to register: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/gCOXxGttQryRnQNq-A3NbA [https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/gCOXxGttQryRnQNq-A3NbA] This is Part 2 of Steve’s interview with Jeremy, co-host of Proles Pod, talking about their exhaustive series on the Stalin Eras. It's a nuanced, de-stigmatized discussion about Joseph Stalin and the political reality of the Soviet Union. They begin by dismantling Western misconceptions of dictatorship to explain the actual Leninist methodology of democratic centralism, contrasting it with Western parliamentary systems. Rather than asking whether Joseph Stalin was good or evil, the conversation reframes the question entirely. It situates the Soviet project within the pressures of counter-revolution, imperial encirclement, and internal struggle, while investigating how decisions were actually made inside a socialist state. Jeremy calls out indefensible behavior and debunks long-standing myths. The result is a dialectical examination of power, democracy, and historical development. Proles Pod is an explicitly anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist podcast run by four ADHD-addled individuals. Although the foundation of Proles was built on the topic of history, more recently they have branched out into theory, politics, and culture. You can find them anywhere fine podcasts are distributed. Join their Patreon https://www.patreon.com/c/ProlesPod/posts [https://www.patreon.com/c/ProlesPod/posts] Check out a teaser for their series, The Stalin Eras: https://www.instagram.com/reels/DP81SiTjQry/ [https://www.instagram.com/reels/DP81SiTjQry/]

Ep 377 - Revisiting the Stalin Eras Part 1: Understanding Democratic Centralism with Jeremy of ProlesPod

** Come to Macro ‘n Chill, our online community gathering, where we listen to and discuss the current episode. This week, Jeremy of Proles Pod will be joining us. If you have questions for him, bring them! Tuesday, April 28th, at 8pm ET/5pm PT. Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/G7ijDSVmTcKeDc82AAs0XQ [https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/G7ijDSVmTcKeDc82AAs0XQ] Last year, Proles Pod completed a multi-part series on The Stalin Eras. Now Jeremy, one of the co-hosts, joins Steve for a conversation about it, resulting in a two-part dialectical excavation of Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Project. The purpose of this exploration is neither to sanctify nor condemn, but to strip away bourgeois mythologies and ground the discussion in material conditions and collective processes. In Part One, Jeremy and Steve look at democratic centralism, where rigorous debate is followed by unified action, then contrast it with the false choice offered by US electoral politics. They draw on Rosa Luxemburg, Julius Nyerere, and materialist analysis of US history (slavery, settler colonialism, Jim Crow as inspiration for Nazi laws), and agree that both Democrats and Republicans serve the same capitalist-oligarchic permanent state. Proles Pod is an explicitly anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist podcast run by four ADHD-addled individuals. Although the foundation of Proles was built on the topic of history, more recently they have branched out into theory, politics, and culture. You can find them anywhere fine podcasts are distributed. Join their Patreon https://www.patreon.com/c/ProlesPod/posts [https://www.patreon.com/c/ProlesPod/posts] Check out a teaser for The Stalin Eras https://www.instagram.com/reels/DP81SiTjQry/ [https://www.instagram.com/reels/DP81SiTjQry/]

Ep 376 - Modern Monetary Theory & the Question of Democracy with Jim Byrne

** Questions about MMT? Thoughts about the episode? Come to our online gathering, Macro ‘n Chill. Tuesday, April 21, 8pm ET/5pm PT. Use this link to register: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/RkspaP0RSNajdc69bqUmkA [https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/RkspaP0RSNajdc69bqUmkA] Jim Byrne of MMT101 is back for a conversation that moves beyond the technical mechanics of Modern Monetary Theory to ask the tough questions. While affirming MMT’s core insight that a currency-issuing government doesn’t face financial constraint, only real resource limits, they argue that this knowledge is politically neutered by the structures of capitalism. Jim lays out a clear, accessible primer on how money actually works and breaks down the scarcity myth. But the real question isn’t can governments act, it’s who they serve when they do. Looking at the failure of bourgeois democracy, they talk about cultural hegemony and neoliberal ideology as well as class struggle vs. gradualism. The discussion touches on Scotland as a colony of Westminster and the limits of referendums under an imperial state structure. Ultimately, this is a dialogue that pushes beyond MMT’s insights and asks whether those tools can mean anything without a rupture in the underlying political and economic order. Jim Byrne has developed an MMT foundation course [https://www.udemy.com/course/mmt101-modern-monetary-theory/?couponCode=MMT101COURSECOURSE] aimed at beginners and intermediate learners as well as people who already know about economics but are curious about Modern Monetary Theory. Follow his work and the MMT101 podcast at mmt101.substack.com [https://mmt101.substack.com/] @MMT101DotORG on X

Ep 375 - (R)evolutionary Struggle with Steve Grumbine

** This week’s Macro ‘n Chill might shake us up. Some of us, at least. Come discuss the episode with the community. Tues, April 14, 8pm ET/5pm PT. Use this link to register: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/PIf2VnjBS-mwX-Bd4BwWYQ In a solo episode, Steve sets out to describe and explain some of the shifts in direction for Real Progressives and the podcast, mirroring his own changing perspective. He reflects on a decade or more of championing Modern Monetary Theory, while grappling with a dawning realization. Despite MMT’s crystal clear insights into sovereign currency with the potential for popular federal programs and public investment, the political system itself is a scam. He describes a journey of discovery (yeah, we know that sounds corny) peeling away the layers to explain the Gilens and Page study and global events. Gaza, US foreign policy, austerity, racism, empire, ramping up of brutal law enforcement within the US... each question leads to another. Weekly guests for Macro N Cheese help provide answers. Significantly, they contribute to the building of an analysis. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Accepting that the US is not a functioning democracy but an oligarchy serving capital, Steve critiques electoralism as a false promise and diversion. He calls for building parallel institutions and class consciousness over 'vote harder' strategies. Real Progressives remains rooted in MMT while integrating revolutionary theory, resistance, and an unsentimental understanding of capitalism. Steve Grumbine is founder and CEO of Real Progressives and host of Macro N Cheese podcast. Find his work at realprogressives.org and realprogressives.substack.com @sdgrumbine on X

Ep 374 - Escape From Capitalism with Clara Mattei

Join our community on Tuesday evening as we listen to and discuss this episode. April 7th at 8pm ET/5pm PT. Use this link to register: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/nkkVRy2JQbW2Eh4VDtcNHQ Clara Mattei and her first book, The Capital Order, were hugely important to Real Progressives as we began to expand our focus from Modern Monetary Theory and investigate the political economy of the capitalist system. Now she joins Steve to talk about her new book, Escape from Capitalism. They discuss how capitalism maintains itself through market dependence, exploitation, and austerity, and why escaping it requires building alternative institutions rather than relying on elections or reforms within the capitalist state. Steve and Clara are largely aligned in their critique of the system, but there are some disagreements. They debate aspects of MMT, including how interest rates, state spending, and monetary sovereignty function across different contexts. Their differences open up a deeper discussion about the limits of reform, the state's role, and what meaningful change would require. There is a reason elections cannot deliver emancipation. The capitalist state is structurally designed to insulate elites from popular control. Clara describes her practical organizing work with FREE (Forum for Real Economic Emancipation) in Tulsa, building horizontal assemblies, participatory budgeting campaigns, community land trusts, and mutual aid. Steve touches on the concept of de-commodifying basic needs (housing, healthcare, food), to break market dependence. But then, capitalism would be unworkable. Clara E. Mattei is Professor of Economics at The University of Tulsa and the Founding President of FREE: Forum for Real Economic Emancipation. She was previously associate professor at The New School for Social Research Economics Department and has been a fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton. Her research contributes to the analysis and history of capitalism, exploring the critical relation between economic ideas and technocratic policy making. Clara is author of The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism (University of Chicago Press, 2022), and the recently published Escape from Capitalism (Allen Lane, Penguin Press, and Simon & Schuster, January 2026), which will soon be translated into multiple languages, including French, German, and Italian. Learn more @ freefreeforum.org, where she hosts the weekly FREE podcast. @claraemattei on X