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1 hour 45 minutes

From the Frontlines: State Repression and Anti-Imperialist Organizing w/ Calla Walsh
The moniker The Merrimack Four might be something you’re already familiar with—perhaps you saw the headlines in the late fall of 2023 about a handful of direct actionists being arrested on the rooftop of a facility owned by a major weapons manufacturer in New Hampshire. Maybe you heard about the multiple felony charges that were being pressed against these actionists, the concern about RICO charges…or maybe you haven’t heard about any of this at all. Regardless of how familiar you are with the Merrimack Four, you’d be hard-pressed not to be gripped by the story you’re about to hear recounting the events of November, 2023 from someone who was actually on that rooftop facing down US empire.

Calla Walsh is an anti-imperialist organizer and activist who was part of the Merrimack Four—a group of activists who faced severe state repression in response to an action organized by Palestine Action US against an Elbit Systems facility in Merrimack, New Hampshire—Elbit is one of the major arms suppliers to the IDF—or more accurately IOF—in Israel.

In this conversation, Calla tells us about the momentous event which changed her life forever. She talks about Palestine Action—an organization who you might be familiar with if you’ve been listening to our series on Palestine—and walks us through the action in New Hampshire, her arrest along with her fellow actionists, and the long and winding journey through the legal system which landed her in jail. We talk about state repression more broadly, looking at what is taking place right now under the Trump administration with abductions and deportations, talk about some cases that haven’t made it into the mainstream coverage, and end with a discussion about why Palestine is the tip of the spear when it comes to the fight against US imperialism.

Further Resources
Related Episodes:
Intermission music: "Erase" by Scary Hours

Upstream is a labor of love—we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support

If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship

For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
8 April 2025, 3:00 am
25 minutes

[TEASER] China Pt. 4: Unlearning Anti-China Propaganda w/ Li Jingjing
This is a free preview of the episode "China Pt. 4: Unlearning Anti-China Propaganda w/ Li Jingjing". You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast

As a Patreon subscriber you'll get access to at least one bonus episode a month (usually two or three), our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes, early access to certain episodes, and other benefits like stickers and bumper stickers—depending on which tier you subscribe to. access to bi-weekly bonus episodes ranging from conversations to readings and more. Signing up for Patreon is a great way to make Upstream a weekly show, and it will also give you access to our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes along with stickers and bumper stickers at certain subscription tiers. You’ll also be helping to keep Upstream sustainable and allowing us to keep this project going.

Living in a world dominated by the United States leaves us all with a lifetime of propaganda to unlearn. No matter what corner of the globe we’re in, we’re not immune to Western hegemony and the hard and soft power deployed to brainwash our minds, exploit our bodies, and destroy our cultures. But there are, despite the power of capitalist PR and commodity fetishism—alternative pathways. There are ways to unlearn the propaganda. And in today’s episode, we’re going to attempt to do just that: break at least some of the chains of imperialist propaganda when it comes to China.

Li Jingjing is a multimedia reporter at China Global Television Network, or CGTN, based in Beijing, China. And despite the scare-tactics of Mark Zuckerberg and our other tech overlords labeling her Instagram account as “China state-controlled media”—which is a real pot calling the kettle black moment as the oligarchs in the White House text their plans to bomb hospitals in Yemen to high-profile journalists—despite these red-scare labels applied to Li only meant to fearmonger and propagandize, Li’s social media is a breath of fresh air when it comes to unlearning Western propaganda on China.

In this conversation, Part 4 of our China series here on Patreon, we bring some Li’s shorter videos dispelling propaganda to you in a more longform way, starting with a conversation about her recent coverage of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, which we introduced in Part 2 of this series with Ken Hammond. Li explains to us how the political system in China works and what some of the policy outcomes of these conferences were before embarking on a fascinating conversation that weaves together personal anecdotes and stories with data and statistics to dismantle many of the myths we believe about China and which reveal a picture of a society that our warmongering policymakers and their lapdogs in the media don’t want you to know about.

Artwork: Chinese Communist Party propaganda poster commemorating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the party.

Further resources:
- CGTN
- Li Jingjing on Twitter, Instagram and Tiktok
- Studies show strong public support for China’s political system, Jason Hickel
- Ne Zha 2 (film)
Related episodes:
- (Chinese) Socialism vs (U.S.) Capitalism
- Listen to our ongoing series on China
Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support

If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship

For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Instagram and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
1 April 2025, 3:00 am
2 hours 47 minutes

Marx's Capital Vol. 1 w/ David Smith
Capitalism is a social phenomenon—yes, it is deeply grounded in concrete, material reality—but it’s a reality that ultimately relies on a series of tricks and spells, awash in deceit and veiled in subterfuge.

What is capitalism, exactly? How does it function? Why are we seemingly trapped inside of it? And, perhaps most importantly, how can we break free? Well, in this episode we’re taking a very deep dive into the crowning achievement of a man who spent his entire adult life seeking answers to these questions. Karl Marx wrote Capital Vol. 1 over ten years, spending countless hours researching and redrafting this crucial text until it was finally published in 1867. It incorporates vast amounts of historical data, concrete examples, and brilliant theorizing and is ultimately one of the most important books to ever be written. In it, Marx explains how capitalism functions. And in this episode, we’ve brought on a scholar and expert on Marx to walk us through it.

David Smith is Professor of Sociology at the University of Kansas and author of the book Marx’s Capital Illustrated. In this conversation, we explore Capital Vol. 1 through the lens of David’s accessible guide, illustrated by Phil Evans. We explore and unpack concepts like the commodity, use and exchange value, and abstract and concrete labor. We talk about what money is, what capital is, and unpack the famous concept of commodity fetishism and the role it plays as the guiding spirit of capital accumulation. We talk about how capital accumulates while taking a journey into the history of expropriation and the creation of the propertyless proletariat during the enclosures in Britain and in other parts of the world. We talk about how profit is generated by capitalists through our surplus labor, what the rate of profit is and why it has a tendency to fall, and finally, why Capital Vol. 1 remains an essential text for understanding the world around us.

Further Resources
- Marx's Capital Illustrated, by David Smith (Illustrated by Phil Evans)
- Capital: A Critique of Political Economy Vol. 1, Karl Marx
- Why Socialism? by Albert Einstein
- How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Walter Rodney
- Planet of Slums, Mike Davis
- Roots of the Current Economic Crisis: The Falling-Rate-of-Profit Tendency, Insufficient Destruction of Capital, and Bubbles, Andrew Kliman
Related Episodes:
Intermission music: "November Rain" by Mount Eerie

Upstream is a labor of love—we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support

If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship

For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
25 March 2025, 3:00 am
1 hour 34 minutes

[UNLOCKED] China Pt. 1: A Socialist Introduction w/ Jason Hickel
The world that we all grew up in is no longer a reality—although, in many ways, those in power are grasping onto it with the desperation of drowning men flailing, lashing out—furious, terrified, and in denial of what is staring them in their faces: imminent death. The rest of us are watching this process unfold before our very eyes—also terrified, but seemingly powerless. It’s a weird time to be alive. But when has it ever not been?

As we watch, experience, and feel the collapse of the state that we live within—or for those of us not currently living in the belly of the beast, the imperial world that this state rules over—it feels like an important time to explore this collapse. Specifically, it’s an important time to understand what’s happening in the imperial world order, and in order to do that, we must understand China.

In this conversation, we’ve brought on a regular guest—a guest who you all know and love—Jason Hickel, to talk about China.

Jason Hickel is a professor at the The Institute for Environmental Science and Technology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the author of the books The Divide: A Brief Guide to Global Inequality and its Solutions and Less is More: How Degrowth will Save the World.

In this conversion we first take a brief dive into modern Chinese history, looking at the pre-revolution period, the 1949 communist revolution itself, the Mao period, the Deng period, and the Xi period. We analyze what the rise of China means in terms of the current world order and the implications for the United States. We tackle some common questions and dispel some common myths about China—like, is China capitalist? Is it imperialist? We analyze some current events like trade wars and Tiktok bans, and finally, we explain why it’s crucial not to fall into the trap of U.S. propaganda when it comes to how we on the Western left analyze China.

Artwork: Berwyn Mure

Further resources:
Related episodes:
Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support

If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship

For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
20 March 2025, 4:00 am
17 minutes 53 seconds

[TEASER] China Pt. 3: Bourgeois Democracy vs Socialist Democracy w/ Vijay Prashad
This is a free preview of the episode "China Pt. 3: Bourgeois Democracy vs Socialist Democracy w/ Vijay Prashad." You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast

As a Patreon subscriber you'll get access to at least one bonus episode a month (usually two or three), our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes, early access to certain episodes, and other benefits like stickers and bumper stickers—depending on which tier you subscribe to. access to bi-weekly bonus episodes ranging from conversations to readings and more. Signing up for Patreon is a great way to make Upstream a weekly show, and it will also give you access to our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes along with stickers and bumper stickers at certain subscription tiers. You’ll also be helping to keep Upstream sustainable and allowing us to keep this project going.

It’s a difficult task to compare bourgeois democracies to socialist democracies—and not just because it’s difficult to be living in the belly of the beast as it enters into its death spiral all while watching social and technological advancements take place in what we’re told are “authoritarian” communist “regimes”—but because in many ways the democratic experiments of the Atlantic world originated in an entirely different context as the socialist democratic experiments in places like China—and they have almost entirely different aims. What are those aims? And how are they—and are they not—being advanced?

To explain the differences to us, we’ve brought back onto the show Vijay Prashad. Vijay is a journalist, political commentator, and executive-director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. He’s the author of many books, including Washington Bullets: The History of the CIA, Coups, and Assassinations, and Red Star Over the Third World.

In this conversation, Part. 3 of our China series here on Patreon, we explore the differences between bourgeois and socialist democracies more broadly before taking a deep dive into specific examples comparing China and the United States. We dispel a number of myths about Chinese society, ask Vijay to share his perspective on what is taking place with the Uyghers, the role of Western propaganda in destabilizing communism, and much more.

Artwork:

Further resources:
Related episodes:
- Listen to our ongoing series on China
- The Fight for The Congo w/ Vijay Prashad
Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support

If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship

For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Instagram and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
18 March 2025, 3:24 am
1 hour 49 minutes

Marxism for the Masses w/ Savannah from All Power Books
Marxism is not some esoteric philosophy meant to be analyzed and discussed in the ivory towers of the academy—not that appreciating Marxism from an intellectual perspective is wrong, or anything—we do that quite a bit—but at its essence, Marxism is a weapon. It’s a tool for change—revolutionary change. It helps us understand the world around us not just for the sake of knowledge—but so that we can act accordingly.

This is the focus of our episode today—and the focus of our guest, who came to Marxism through real life struggle and teaches it to others with the very same spirit. Savannah is a co-founder of All Power Books—a radical bookstore and community space in Los Angeles. She developed and teaches Marxism 101 and 102 classes as part of All Power’s People’s Education Program.

In this conversation, we take a deep dive into these classes which aim to bring the social science of Marxism up to speed for our time and context. These classes are taught at an 8th grade level to be universally applicable and easy to understand—but they are crucial not just for newcomers to Marxism but for those of us hoping to improve in our communication and dissemination skills when it comes to radical theory and practice. In an incredibly effective and accessible way, Savannah teaches us about the differences between Private and Personal property, what the ‘Means of Production’ are, who owns them, how to easily grasp Dialectical and Historical Materialism, and more—all while dispelling some of the most prevalent myths about Marxism along the way.

Further Resources
- All Power Books
- Savannah on Instagram
- Socialist Reconstruction: A Better Future for the United States, by PSL
- What Is To Be Done? by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
- Marx's Capital Illustrated, by David Smith (Illustrated by Phil Evans)
Related Episodes:
Intermission music: "Keep Planting Flowers” by Stick to Your Guns

Upstream is a labor of love—we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support

If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship

For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
11 March 2025, 4:00 am
25 minutes 54 seconds

[TEASER] China Pt. 2: Socialist Democracy and Democratic Centralism w/ Ken Hammond
This is a free preview of the episode "China Pt. 2: Socialist Democracy and Democratic Centralism w/ Ken Hammond." You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast

As a Patreon subscriber you'll get access to at least one bonus episode a month (usually two or three), our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes, early access to certain episodes, and other benefits like stickers and bumper stickers—depending on which tier you subscribe to. access to bi-weekly bonus episodes ranging from conversations to readings and more. Signing up for Patreon is a great way to make Upstream a weekly show, and it will also give you access to our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes along with stickers and bumper stickers at certain subscription tiers. You’ll also be helping to keep Upstream sustainable and allowing us to keep this project going.

“China is an authoritarian dystopia.” That’s probably the totality of your understanding when it comes to Chinese society and the political system it’s governed by if all you know about China is what you hear on MSNBC or Fox News. But is that really accurate? Is China a dystopian, authoritarian police state? Or is that just propaganda force fed to the mass of Americans because it serves the interests of Western capital? Well—the answer is an obvious and emphatic “no.” China is not authoritarian—in fact, the opposite is true. Their system of democracy is arguably and demonstrably much, much deeper and more effective than ours here in our bourgeois society. Don’t believe us? Well, we’ve brought on an expert on China to help explain why.

Ken Hammond is Professor of History at New Mexico State University, an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, or PSL, and the author of several books, including China’s Revolution and the Quest for a Socialist Future and most recently, China and the World.

In this conversion we dispel the myth that China is not a democratically run society. We take a deep dive into the mechanisms of democracy in China, exploring how democratic centralism and the mass line shape how the Communist Party of China and Chinese society practice and participate in democracy. We look at the history of Chinese democracy, get into the nuts and bolts of how democratic decision making and policy proposals take place, and end with an analysis of current geopolitical events when viewed within a historical materialist context.

This episode is Part 2 of our Patreon series on China. Part 1, A Socialist Introduction with Jason Hickel, was published two weeks ago. Part 3, if all goes as planned, will feature Vijay Prashad and will build on today’s conversation to really focus in on the differences between bourgeois democracy and socialist democracy—so stay tuned, we’ve got a lot of material on China planned for the coming months.

Artwork: The cover art for today’s episode is from 1804’s publication of Ken’s 2003 book, China’s Revolution and the Quest for a Socialist Future, designed by Hannah Craig.

Further resources:
- China's Revolution and the Quest for a Socialist Future, by Ken Hammond
- China and the World, by Ken Hammond
- Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL)
- Pivot to Peace
Related episodes:
Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support

If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship

For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Instagram and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
4 March 2025, 4:00 am
1 hour 2 minutes

Post Capitalist Parenting Pt. 1: Parenting Under Capitalism w/ Toi Smith
Capitalism has placed us under many spells that influence and limit what we believe to be normal and natural. Parenting is one intimate site where capitalism’s spell is particularly impactful. Often leaving parents and children to feel especially isolated, alone, and precarious—perfect for keeping working people separated and oppressed and for grooming children into docile workers under capitalism.

To kick off our new series on Post Capitalist Parenting, we’ve invited on Toi Smith, mother of four and a Growth and Impact Strategist. Toi’s work centers on doing life, business, and motherhood differently and collaborating with people who are countercultural, liberatory, and revolutionary. In this conversation, we start to reveal and unlearn what Capitalism has told us about what parenting should look like and what it is for. We deconstruct motherhood under capitalism and explore post capitalist parenting strategies, tools, and resources. And we look at how viewing parenting as a political act can help to empower, connect, and liberate both families and communities.

This episode was produced in collaboration with EcoGather, a collapse-responsive co-learning network that hosts free online Weekly EcoGatherings that foster conversation and build community around heterodox economics, collective action, and belonging in an enlivened world. In this collaboration, EcoGather will be hosting gatherings to bring some Upstream episodes to life—this is one of those episodes. We hope you can join the gathering on March 8, 2025 at 12pm - 1:30pm EST to discuss the topics covered in this episode. Find out more here.

Further Resources
Related Episodes:
Cover art: Carolyn Raider Intermission music: "Left Fist Evolution" by Bianca Mikahn

Upstream is a labor of love—we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support

If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship

For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
25 February 2025, 4:00 am
29 minutes 5 seconds

[TEASER] China Pt. 1: A Socialist Introduction w/ Jason Hickel
This is a free preview of the episode "China Pt. 1: A Socialist Introduction w/ Jason Hickel." You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast

As a Patreon subscriber you'll get access to at least one bonus episode a month (usually two or three), our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes, early access to certain episodes, and other benefits like stickers and bumper stickers—depending on which tier you subscribe to. access to bi-weekly bonus episodes ranging from conversations to readings and more. Signing up for Patreon is a great way to make Upstream a weekly show, and it will also give you access to our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes along with stickers and bumper stickers at certain subscription tiers. You’ll also be helping to keep Upstream sustainable and allowing us to keep this project going.

The world that we all grew up in is no longer a reality—although, in many ways, those in power are grasping onto it with the desperation of drowning men flailing, lashing out—furious, terrified, and in denial of what is staring them in their faces: imminent death. The rest of us are watching this process unfold before our very eyes—also terrified, but seemingly powerless. It’s a weird time to be alive. But when has it ever not been?

As we watch, experience, and feel the collapse of the state that we live within—or for those of us not currently living in the belly of the beast, the imperial world that this state rules over—it feels like an important time to explore this collapse. Specifically, it’s an important time to understand what’s happening in the imperial world order, and in order to do that, we must understand China.

In this conversation, we’ve brought on a regular guest—a guest who you all know and love—Jason Hickel, to talk about China.

Jason Hickel is a professor at the The Institute for Environmental Science and Technology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the author of the books The Divide: A Brief Guide to Global Inequality and its Solutions and Less is More: How Degrowth will Save the World.

In this conversion we first take a brief dive into modern Chinese history, looking at the pre-revolution period, the 1949 communist revolution itself, the Mao period, the Deng period, and the Xi period. We analyze what the rise of China means in terms of the current world order and the implications for the United States. We tackle some common questions and dispel some common myths about China—like, is China capitalist? Is it imperialist? We analyze some current events like trade wars and Tiktok bans, and finally, we explain why it’s crucial not to fall into the trap of U.S. propaganda when it comes to how we on the Western left analyze China.

Artwork: Berwyn Mure

Further resources:
Related episodes:
Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support

If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship

For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
18 February 2025, 4:00 am
1 hour 29 minutes

Trade Wars and Tariffs w/ Richard Wolff
If you know anything about the way the world works—and even more so if you’re someone who’s an expert in economics, political economy, etc.—then you’ll know that the narratives and rhetoric coming out of the White House on a whole variety of topics is, well, with the kindest interpretation, confused. Some harsher critics might say these narratives do a violence to reality. And it’s no different with the current discussion around tariffs: it’s all bluster, bloviation, and, ultimately, theater.

What are tariffs, how are they being deployed and weaponized, and why? If these are questions you’ve considered over the past few weeks, you’re in the right place and today’s guest will walk you through all of the answers you wish you didn’t have to ask about what’s happening with the trade wars being concocted by the US against China, Mexico, and Canada.

Richard Wolff is an economist, Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, currently a Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School in New York, host of the Economic Update podcast, and founder of Democracy at Work.

In this episode, we explore what tariffs are, how they work, and how and why the Trump administration is weaponizing them against China, Mexico, and Canada. We explore the impending decline of the U.S. as the leading global imperial power, why politicians in this country are in denial about the trajectory of the country’s economy, and much more.

Further Resources
- Democracy at Work
Related Episodes:
Intermission music: "The System Works for Them” by Aus Rotten

Upstream is a labor of love—we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support

If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship

For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
11 February 2025, 4:00 am
24 minutes 13 seconds

[TEASER] (Chinese) Socialism vs (U.S.) Capitalism
This is a free preview of the episode "(Chinese) Socialism vs (U.S.) Capitalism." You can listen to the full episode by subscribing to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/upstreampodcast

As a Patreon subscriber you'll get access to at least one bonus episode a month (usually two or three), our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes, early access to certain episodes, and other benefits like stickers and bumper stickers—depending on which tier you subscribe to. access to bi-weekly bonus episodes ranging from conversations to readings and more. Signing up for Patreon is a great way to make Upstream a weekly show, and it will also give you access to our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes along with stickers and bumper stickers at certain subscription tiers. You’ll also be helping to keep Upstream sustainable and allowing us to keep this project going.

In this episode in our reading series, Robbie reads a piece written by Indrajit Samarajiva titled "How Communism Is Outcompeting Capitalism." Why is the entire techno-capitalist class, along with their loyal handmaidens in the media, freaking out about DeepSeek—a Chinese AI company's an open-source large language model? Why are electric vehicles (EVs) so much cheaper, efficient, and better in China? Why is the United States ramping up anti-China hysteria in this country? And why are living standards and life expectancy in China overtaking those in the United States?

The answer is simple: socialism is better than capitalism. On every single front. And in this reading series, Robbie reads and reflects on Indrajit Samarajiva's piece as it provides a brief history of the rise of communism in China, the period of Deng Xiaoping's market reforms, and the superiority of socialist economies over capitalist ones.

Further resources:
- How Communism Is Outcompeting Capitalism
- "Capitalist reforms and extreme poverty in China: unprecedented progress or income deflation?" Sullivan, Moatsos, Hickel in New Political Economy: Volume 29, 2024 - Issue 1
- The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 film)
Related episodes:
Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support

If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship

For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
4 February 2025, 4:00 am
More Episodes? Get the App