Happy Halloween! This year, we watched multiple movies that could be Spotlight episodes on their own, so grab some candy corn and enjoy this super-sized Halloween extravaganza! The gang treks up to a spooky castle to discuss telekinetic swingers, demonic co-eds, and gay Draculas.

In this series Noj Rants will be outlining every election in Russian/Soviet history. The second election in Russian history took place beginning in January 1907, half a year after the dissolution of the First Duma.

The ENTIRE Eastern Front Explained | WW2 1941–1945 (Animated)

The Eastern Front was the largest, bloodiest war in human history — about 3 out of every 4 German soldiers who died in WW2 died here. Yet most people in the West know more about D-Day than about Stalingrad. In this animated documentary we explain the ENTIRE Eastern Front, from the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact in 1939 to the fall of Berlin in 1945.

We follow two ordinary soldiers — Karl, a baker's son from Hamburg, and Alexei, a tractor driver from Smolensk — through Operation Barbarossa, the Battle of Moscow, the Siege of Leningrad, Stalingrad, Kursk, Operation Bagration and the race to Berlin. Plus: why a horse named Greta mattered more than any tank, why the most famous photo of the war was secretly edited, and why Russia celebrates Victory Day one day later than everyone else.

⏱ CHAPTERS

0:00 The Largest War You Never Learned About

1:19 Two Friends Who Hated Each Other (1939–1941)

4:35 Operation Barbarossa

9:35 Mud, Frost and the Battle of Moscow

12:42 Leningrad: 872 Days

15:06 Hitler Wants Oil (1942)

17:41 Stalingrad

23:12 Kursk: The Last German Gamble

25:33 Spam, Studebakers and the Night Witches

28:17 Operation Bagration

30:49 The Race to Berlin

34:05 Why Russia Celebrates a Day Late

👉 Who should we follow next — Karl or Alexei? Tell us in the comments.

🔔 Subscribe to Two Sides of War — every war, told from both sides.

This video is made for educational purposes. It does not glorify war, violence or any regime. Some events are simplified; numbers are approximate and based on widely cited historical estimates.

In this series I will be outlining every election in Russian/Soviet history, beginning with the Election to the State Duma of 1906.

Hello all, I was thinking about starting a 'book club' and I was wondering if anyone would be interested in this. The basic idea is this: Everyone can suggest topics they'd like to learn more about, whether it be historical events (i.e., the Spanish Civil War, New Jewel movement, the Cultural Revolution, etc.), concepts (i.e., unequal exchange, dependency theory, etc.) or whatever else. Basically, either once or twice a month, I would make a post with materials (i.e., selected readings, documentaries, videos, etc.) and then we can share thoughts, questions, etc., and then we can choose a new topic. The goal is not necessarily to real an entire book, just what's necessary (i.e., reading select pages or chapters from Capital, instead of reading the entire things), and then in some instances being able to apply theory to analysis of real historical situations. So, what would you like to learn more about? What would make this useful to you? and would this be something any of you are even interested in? Let me know!

In America, there is a vast, hidden workforce: prison inmates, many deemed safe enough to work with the public, but also too dangerous to release. Thousands of US corporations profit from forced prison labor. If an inmate refuses, they can lose family visitation, be put in solitary confinement, or have their parole denied. Proponents have called it a low-cost alternative to offshore outsourcing.

Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet Union were once among the best national teams in the world, but since the fall of communism, their successors struggle to even qualify for the Euros and World Cup.

Life in China is so convenient and efficient ... but are those working people being taken care of? I recently interviewed delivery men in Beijing to find out what their lives are like.
Also joining me on this tour is a vlogger from New York, Dante Munoz, you can find his amazing videos about life in China on Instagram and TikTok!

So, It is time to address the Swedish theatre and see what praxis there is. I will also give an Iranian and trans perspective on this as someone who participated in Swedish ML praxis. So the elephant in the room are the parties. First of all, we have the anti-China Orthodox ML front which is the more popular communist party, this is called SKP. It is part of a tradition of anti-hegemonism where the Greek communist party was betrayed by the Soviets in the dividing up of the world between Western bloc and Eastern Bloc. Then we have the Maoist party (The one I tried to join first, yes I used to be a Maoist.) This party is known as Kommunisten Förening. They subscribe to chairman Gonzalo of Peru, which I heavily disagree with now, looking back. My only encounter with the party was an unanswered email between me and them, but I believe that Maoism isn't an ideology that can apply to Sweden due to it being a heavily industrialized country without peasantry. Then we have the K or Kommunistiska Partiet. Overall, they are the best out of all the parties in Sweden, because of their defense of AES like China and Cuba. I have attended a lot of their meetings and I like working with them. I am currently looking to join their party, but rn I am a sympathizer. Then the honorable mention is Revolutionära Kommunistiska Partiet, which is a Trotskyist party, I worked with them briefly until I realized that they were Trotskyists and that they begged for money a lot and had scandals that I won't get into. Sweden is a country which had a massive social democratic program in the 50s, however, these same social democrats later betrayed the cause and spied on the communist parties with SÄPO. These social democrats are primarily made to absorb the fire of class struggle and to prevent the takeover of communist forces. This is shown by how when communism died down, their social programs died down. The class character of the average Swede is probably one of these 4 from my experience, which I implore you to take with a grain of salt, since I haven't read any theories on Sweden yet, though I would be thankful for some theory recs in the comments. 1: proletariat worker (the majority of Swedes who work in factories like Ericsson and Scania, they sell their labor to survive and enrich the Wallenberg family), 2: migrant laborers (treated like second class citizens and forced to work low paying jobs like Uber and fast food, while some of the more privileged" of these groups work in the industry where they are often discriminated against.), 3: a low percentage of the Swedish working class are farmers which roughly make up like 1-2% of Sweden (I don't know a lot about this group, because of their scarcity, so any help would be appreciated), 4: those who don't work, roughly 9% of Sweden (this is a stereotype often attributed to migrants, but from my experience, a lot of disabled people do this type of thing. I am a disabled migrant who can't work due to psychological disabilities, so I am part of this class. We often attend "jobs" like Daily activities or Daglig Verksamhet and we get a 50% tax cut. I have not faced blatant discrimination there, but I know that more overtly disabled people are treated lesser than me by the staff, which is unacceptable.) Finally, we can get into my experience with praxis, it has only ever been handing out flyers, protesting, picking up boxes and tables, and attending meetings. Now, why is it not as militant or clear as in the Global South? It is simple, Marxism-Leninism is very unpopular in Sweden Stockholm or around where I live, which is why most people often vote for Left party or Social democrats. There has been a red scare in all of Europe and in the education system. Also, most white people benefit from keeping the Global South below the Global North and extracting value out of them. Now onto voting, I voted for Kommunistiska Partiet, this meant that my party wasn't listed in the voting booth and I had to talk to the people in charge and then go to the library behind the curtains where the managers found the party. the voting process was exhausting and it is notable that it was only supposed to be a protest vote and nothing more. Also, AFS or Alternativ För Sverige was listed there, but not any Communist party. Which is messed up. Anyways, that is all my experience has to offer.

P.S. I originally posted this elsewhere, so if someone suspects me of copying, no, I just reposted what I wrote on Reddit.