Kristen Ghodsee revisits her discussion about arguments for socialism with Bowdoin College professor of philosophy, Scott R. Sehon. This conversation focuses on the role of esteem and how it is increasingly commodified in a capitalist society.

Mentioned in this podcast:

• Book by Scott R. Sehon: Socialism: A Logical Introduction
• Article in the Wall Street Journal: "$1 Trillion of Wealth Was Created for the 19 Richest U.S. Households Last Year"
• Interview in Jacobin Magazine:, Part 1: "Tradwives are the harbinger of systemic breakdown"
• Interview in Jacobin Magazine:, Part 2: "How Manosphere Content Placates Disenfranchised Men"
• Kristen Ghodsee's "Birthday Mediations" newsletter, April 26, 2025

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Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon-type account and receives no funding. There are no ads and there is no monetization.

If you would like to support the work being done here, please spread the word, share with your friends and networks, and consider exploring the following links.

Check out Kristen Ghodsee's recent books:

• Everyday Utopia
• Red Valkyries
• Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism
• Second World, Second Sex

Subscribe to Kristen Ghodsee’s free, episodic newsletter at: https://kristenghodsee.substack.com

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

Kristen R. Ghodsee is the award-winning author of twelve books and a professor and chair of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

Kristen Ghodsee shares a conservation with a previous guest from March 2022, a self-described anarchist activist, about the value of feeling one’s political despair and using it to generate political creativity.

Mentioned in this episode: I Want a Better Catastrophe

Also this article: "Kollontai: Leaving behind Menshevik pacifism"

Send us a text

Thanks so much for listening. This podcast has no Patreon-type account and receives no funding. There are no ads and there is no monetization.

If you would like to support the work being done here, please spread the word, share with your friends and networks, and consider exploring the following links.

Check out Kristen Ghodsee's recent books:

• Everyday Utopia
• Red Valkyries
• Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism
• Second World, Second Sex

Subscribe to Kristen Ghodsee’s free, episodic newsletter at: https://kristenghodsee.substack.com

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

Kristen R. Ghodsee is the award-winning author of twelve books and a professor and chair of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

Kristen R. Ghodsee reads a 1930 interview with Alexandra Kollontai about the new morality around love and marriage in the Soviet Union. Kollontai argues that romantic love and relationships will no longer be the most important thing in women’s lives because they will have the support of the socialist state in reducing their responsibilities for domestic work and will have a wider community of citizens helping them to raise up the next generation.

One version and the archival references for this text can be found here.

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

Buy Kristen Ghodsee's most recent book: Everyday Utopia

Subscribe to Kristen Ghodsee’s free, episodic newsletter at: https://kristenghodsee.substack.com

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

Kristen Ghodsee reads Aleksandra Kollontai’s March 8, 1947 International Women’s Day address, taken from the book: Alexandra Kollontai: The Plight, Struggle, and Liberation of Women

Send us a text

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

Buy Kristen Ghodsee's most recent book: Everyday Utopia

Subscribe to Kristen Ghodsee’s free, episodic newsletter at: https://kristenghodsee.substack.com

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

In this special bonus episode, recorded on Valentine's Day 2025 in Dublin, Kristen Ghodsee and her daughter discuss the book Intermezzo, the latest by the Irish novelist, Sally Rooney. Rooney identifies herself as a Marxist and often mixes politics and social commentary into her stories. Kollontai's ideas about "comradely-love" and of troubling the confines of the nuclear family find interesting resonances in this 2024 novel.

The episode has many SPOILERS for Intermezzo.

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

Buy Kristen Ghodsee's most recent book: Everyday Utopia

Subscribe to Kristen Ghodsee’s free, episodic newsletter at: https://kristenghodsee.substack.com

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

Kristen Ghodsee reads the final section of Alexandra Kollontai's 1915/1916 essay about World War I–"Who Needs the War?"–and looks for lessons applicable to the present day. This is especially salient today because the United States is on the eve of a trade war with Mexico and Canada.

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 1916. It went into multiple editions and was distributed widely across Europe and Russia.

Send us a text

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

Buy Kristen Ghodsee's most recent book: Everyday Utopia

Subscribe to Kristen Ghodsee’s free, episodic newsletter at: https://kristenghodsee.substack.com

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

Kristen Ghodsee reads the fifth section of Alexandra Kollontai's 1915 essay about World War I–"Who Needs the War?"–and looks for lessons applicable to the present day. This is especially salient today because of the narrow confirmation of the new U.S. Secretary of Defense under the Trump Administration, and the emergence of the reinvigorated oligarchy in the United States.

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 1916. It went into multiple editions and was distributed widely across Europe and Russia.

Send us a text

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

Buy Kristen Ghodsee's most recent book: Everyday Utopia

Subscribe to Kristen Ghodsee’s free, episodic newsletter at: https://kristenghodsee.substack.com

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

Kristen Ghodsee reads the fourth section of 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 1916. It went into multiple editions and was distributed widely across Europe and Russia.

[Sorry there was a glitch in the original upload. This is the correct episode now]

Mentioned in this episode:

"How to do escapism in the Trump era," The New Republic

"The Other Great Depression," Le Monde Diplomatique in English, French, Spanish, Farsi, Bulgarian, and Esperanto

Anachoresis - withdrawal into the desert

Send us a text

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

Buy Kristen Ghodsee's most recent book: Everyday Utopia

Subscribe to Kristen Ghodsee’s free, episodic newsletter at: https://kristenghodsee.substack.com

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