Jacobin Radio w/ Suzi Weissman: Matt Karp & Emil Draitser

Matt Karp, Princeton historian and Jacobin contributing editor discusses President Biden’s stimulus package, the American Rescue Plan that was passed by the Senate and is touted by many as a paradigm change. Matt says an injection of much needed cash isn’t the same thing as empowering workers or creating a constituency for change, and we’ll get him to explain.

Emil Draitser joins us to talk about his new book, In the Jaws of the Crocodile: A Soviet Memoir. Emil recounts how he became a journalist in the Soviet Union and why the detour into satire was not just the only, but also the best path. We also talk about the new Oscar nominated Andrei Konchalovsky film “Dear Comrades!” about an important strike and massacre in Novocherkassk in southern Russia in 1962. Everything about that strike and the response from the authorities gives us insight into the nature of the Soviet Union.