Comrade Motopu's blog

Musician and historian Matt Callahan rehistoricizes the San Francisco music scene of the 1960s, reconnecting it to the working class and radical political legacies of the Bay Area.

As I read Jefferson Cowie's Stayin' Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class I have been watching some of the movies he mentions. My review is largely informed by the historical presentation in his book.

A review of Jim Jarmusch's anti-zombie film. This review contains many spoilers so you may want to see the movie before reading this.

A quick response to an item I just saw in the 2019 annual letter from Bill and Melinda Gates.

Comrade Motopu provides an overview of Phil Neel’s book and attempts to place it in the ongoing debates over the centrality of labor movements vs. surplus populations and riots vs. strikes.

A couple of excerpts from the work of scholars of fascism against the notion that the fascists were socialists.

A review of Cory Doctorow's 2017 science fiction novel.

Education reform, whether promoted by the Left or Right, often fails to deeply address the class-based issues driving the alleged "failure" of the educational system.

As white nationalists attacked towns across the US, many of the critiques of black bloc and antifa tactics were cheap shots.

A review of Wesley Lowery's book covering the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement and other activist projects in response to police shootings in the US.

Semi off the cuff observations on a terrible television spectacle.

A pro-life marcher speaking the language of the Left and what it says about the tone and form of a position versus the content.

A review of a science fiction novel by political writer and MaximumRockNRoll columnist G.A. Matiasz.

An examination of the reactionary aspects of some of the cultural politics in Hawaii.