Sean and Andy are joined by Sean, prolific poster and blogger and short fiction writer, to talk about the changes he has seen over the last decade as an expat worker in both mainland China and Hong Kong.

What shifts in politics, the economy and social life has he seen? What is the material basis for Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign? In what ways is the 'reform and opening up' period of 'market Stalinism' similar to Tony Blair's New Labour Britain? What does the imperial and post-imperial gaze on Hong Kong and the east more generally say about western precepts of China and Chinese capitalism? Is a new social explosion in China on its way or are we all, even in the west, lying flat for the foreseeable future?

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Check out his excellent blog: https://lateralthinkingtechnology.wordpress.com/

Sean is joined by labor activist and historian Jeff Schuhrke to discuss his new book Blue Collar Empire: The Untold Story of US Labor's Global Anticommunist Crusade out now from Verso Books.

Why did American unions become a junior partner in US Empire during the Cold War ? How did anti-communists come to control US labor organizations in the 20th Century? What sort of high jinx were the AFL-CIO up to in Europe and the developing world? What did union activists do to expose this class collaboration and fight back against it? What might a reinvigorated working class internationalism look like in the 21st century? Join us for this great conversation about a great book that's absolutely essential reading for unionists and their allies.

To access the bonus portion of this episode and years worth of other premium content, support the show at www.patreon.com/theantifada

Buy Jeff's book: https://www.versobooks.com/products/2979-blue-collar-empire

Get involved:

https://ilclabor.com/

https://rankandfileproject.com/

https://workerorganizing.org/training/

https://rankandfilecrew.org/

https://labornotes.org/

Song: Neil Young - Union Man

Aidan Beatty, author of The Party is Always Right: The Untold Story of Gerry Healy and British Trotskyism joins us to trainspot the British Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP), a Trotskyist cult that was tight with Qaddafi, boasted Vanessa Redgrave as a member, and collapsed after the revelation of years of its leader's sexual abuse of membership.

Sign up at http://patreon.com/theantifada for the bonus where we talk about Irish peacekeepers in Lebanon, the shared historical dynamics of the Irish and Jews, the WSWS's fascination with Woody Allen and Michael Jackson, and the macabre fate of Trotsky's death mask.

Get the book from Pluto Press

Song: Pop Smoke - For the Night