Kristen Ghodsee reads Alexandra Kollontai's 1915 essay about World War I–"Who Needs the War?"–and looks for lessons applicable to the present day.

This translation is from a 1984 collection of Kollontai's writing published by Progress Publishers in the Soviet Union, which claims that the essay was written while Kollontai was in exile in Norway. She sent it to Vladimir Lenin (then in exile in Switzerland) who also edited it before publication. The final pamphlet was first published in 2016. It went into multiple editions and was distributed widely across Europe and Russia.

Ghodsee also discusses the 2024 presidential election in the United States.

Mentioned in this episode:

Elon Musk reveals cybercabs, robovans, and the Optimus robot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu-eK72ioDk

If you are an American citizen, especially in a swing state, please register to vote here: https://voterizer.org/

Send us a text

Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon account and receives no funding. If you would like to support the work being done here, please spread the word and share with your friends and networks, and consider exploring the following links:

Buy Kristen Ghodsee's new book now: Everyday Utopia

Subscribe to Kristen Ghodsee's (very occasional) free newsletter.

Learn more about Kristen Ghodsee's work at: www.kristenghodsee.com