Shows
Stories of CommunismStories of Communism 50: Our Favorite StoriesWe discuss our favorite stories from past episodes.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2024-04-0547 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 49: They Never Make MistakesWe discuss Anhua Gao's chronicle of living through China's Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, and her surprise arrest during the "reform" era.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2023-11-0432 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism: Quick Update 08/23Nelson Rodriguez Chartrand's book is now available in English, order on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Revolution-Promises-Reflections-Cuban-Exile-ebook/dp/B0CG11SYWK .
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2023-08-2100 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 48: Broken PromisesNelson Rodriguez Chartrand reveals the many promises broken by the Cuban revolution.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2023-04-2430 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 47: A View From The TopWe discuss the strange and terrifying upbringing of Joseph Stalin's daughter Svetlana.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2023-01-3134 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 46: The Miracles of Socialist HealthcareWe discuss Vladimir Tsesis's memoir "Communist Daze", recalling his early years as a doctor in the Soviet Union.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2022-09-3027 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 45: The Heights Of AbsurdityWe discuss Alexander Zinoviev's satire of Soviet intellecutal life in "The Yawning Heights".
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2022-06-2032 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 44: Leaving the Nonsense BehindImmigrant Joe Czismazia shares his story of escape from Communist Hungary in 1956.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2022-05-3045 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 43: Through a Child's EyesWe discuss Eugene Yelchin's historical novel "Breaking Stalin's Nose", one of the few books in this genre aimed at young readers.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2022-04-1925 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 42: The Bears And The BeesRomanian immigrant Gyuszi Suto, author of "I Tried", shares more amusing stories, and reflects on the lessons of his Communist Romanian upbringing.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2022-02-0137 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 41: In Search of Used ToothpasteWe discuss the memoir "I Tried", by Romanian immigrant Gyuszi Suto, a collection of lighthearted anecdotes about his early life in the final decades of Ceausescu's reign.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2021-12-2727 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 40: Little Socialist WomenThe strange story of the socialist commune where author Louisa May Alcott spent part of her childhood.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2021-11-0123 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 39: The New ManWe catch up with Nelson Rodriguez Chartrand, the Cuban lawyer who tried to teach free market economics in his home country, and ended up having to flee to Brazil.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2021-09-3028 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 38: The Reality of Chinese Organ HarvestingWe hear from Chinese dissident Jennifer Zeng and 2010 Nobel Prize nominee David Kilgour about the terrifying procedures used to supply organs to Chinese hospitals.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2021-08-2144 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 37: A Strange ZooDiscussing Slavonia Draculic's “A Guided Tour Through the Museum of Communism: Fables from a Mouse, a Parrot, a Bear, a Cat, a Mole, a Pig, a Dog, and a Raven”.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2021-07-1223 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 36: Radioactive Spinach for KidsWe interview Nora Clinton about her memoir "Quarantine Reflections Across Two Worlds", discussing her early life in Communist Bulgaria and her later experiences in the US.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2021-04-0126 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 35: Repeating History in VenezuelaWe continue our discussion of modern Venezuela, looking at Raul Gallegos's book "Crude Nation".
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2021-02-2828 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 34: Cuba's New ColonyInterview with two recent Venezuelan refugees about the last few decades of changes in their country.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2021-01-3137 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 33: Special CircumstancesWe discuss author Vladimir Voinovich's comical (but real) attempts to upgrade his apartment in 1970s Moscow, as he describes it in "The Ivankiad".
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2021-01-0123 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 32: Romania's Worst SpyFollowing up on the last episode, we interview Teodor Flonta, still happily married to Ariella 50 years after the cross-iron-curtain romance described in his memoir "Paper Rings".
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2020-11-0139 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 31: Forbidden LoveWe discuss Teodor Flonta's memoir "Paper Rings", telling the story of his cross-Iron-Curtain romance in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2020-11-0122 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 30: No Need For ComfortWe interview Sergey Grechishkin, following up on his memoir "Everything Is Normal" that we discussed in the last episode.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2020-08-2429 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 29: Empty Shelves, Full PantriesSergey Grechishkin's memoir "Everything Is Normal" reveals the USSR's pervasive lack of everyday items we take for granted in the West, and the odd human behavior that results.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2020-07-2737 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 28: Out of CzechoslovakiaWe interview Klara Sever about her experiences as Slovakia transitioned from Nazi to Communist rule.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2020-06-2230 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 27: The First Massachusetts CommuneWe discuss a memoir of communism among early American settlers, and its relevance to today's political discussions.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2020-05-3119 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 26: The Communist PatriarchyWe interview successful Bulgarian actress Lilia Slavova, who fled to the west in the 1980s and eventually settled in the U.S.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2020-04-1332 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 25: An American in the GulagWe discuss the memoir of Thomas Sgovio, who emigrated from the US to the Soviet Union and spent 16 years in Stalin's labor camps.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2020-03-2924 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 24: Unlicensed MeditationInterview with Jennifer Zeng, who describes her persecution and torture by the Chinese government for practicing Falun Gong.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2020-02-1736 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 23: The Sarcastic RefusenikWe discuss the memoir of famous Jewish dissident Arkady Polishchuk, an activist in the USSR in the 1970s.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2020-02-0122 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 22: Dreaming of Green PeasAn interview with Zilvinas Silenas, who grew up in Communist Lithuania but is now president of the Foundation for Economic Education.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2019-12-2331 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 21: The Death Of ReasonWe discuss Nien Cheng's failed attempts to figure out the rules and navigate the Cultural Revolution in Mao's China.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2019-11-1827 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 20: Outsmarting the BureaucratsWe discuss Vladimir Bukovsky's memoir of his struggles to preserve and expose the Soviet Union's history of oppression and human rights abuses, as preserved in their own archives.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2019-09-2322 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 19: Stories of CheWe learn the truth about Che Guevara from some of his victims, as collected in Humberto Fontova's "Exposing the Real Che Guevara".
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2019-07-2919 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 18: The True BelieverWe discuss Vladimir Voinovich's hilarious satire of Stalin worship, "Monumental Propaganda".
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2019-07-0824 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 17: A Poet's AwakeningHow one of North Korea's leading propagandists learned the truth about his leaders.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2019-05-2819 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 16: 21st Century Chinese CharacteristicsDiscussing a Peace Corps volunteer's experiences in China in the 2000s.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2019-03-2720 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 15: Protesting in PolandInterview with Wojtek Lisicki, a local leader in the Polish Solidarity movement of the early 1980s.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2019-02-0231 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 14: Losing Your HumanityLearn how Chhalith Ou survived four terrifying years as a teenager under Khmer Rouge rule in 1970s Cambodia.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2018-12-3020 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 13: Communists Take a BathWe discuss the amusing stories of Mikhail Zoschchenko, the Seinfeld of 1920s Russia.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2018-11-2418 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 12: Fighting For Cuban FreedomAn interview with Nelson Rodriguez Chartrand, a cuban dissident who was forced into exile in Brazil after teaching ideas of freedom and capitalism to his neighbors.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2018-10-1434 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 11: More Harsh Realities of CubaAn interview with a couple of Cuban immigrants, who grew up under Communism but now live in the U.S.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2018-09-2941 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 10: Orwell BetrayedDid you know that George Orwell's classic novels were partially influenced by his real-life experiences under Communist rule in revolutionary Spain?
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2018-08-1818 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 9: Capitalism In CubaWe interview Jesus Arzola Vega, who is making a film about the small but growing capitalist movement in modern Cuba.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2018-07-1531 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 8: Concealing Your True SelfDiscussing Stanislaw Lem's hilarious sci-fi allegory "The Eleventh Voyage", about a visit to a planet ruled by Communist-like robots.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2018-05-2814 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 7: A Child In CubaExploring Iris M. Diaz's memoir of living through Cuba's Communist revolution.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2018-04-2113 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 6: Willful IgnoranceThe story of author Maxim Gorky's visit to the Gulag, which began as comedy but ended in tragedy.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2018-03-2511 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 2: 20th Century SlaveryExploring the system of mass slavery experienced by Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn in the USSR.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2018-02-2511 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 5: A Prophetic WarningHow Dostoyevsky predicted the worst abuses of Communism-- half a century before the Russian Revolution.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2018-02-2514 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 4: Mao's American FriendThe strange, amazing life of Sidney Rittenberg, an American who became part of Mao's Communist Revolution.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2018-02-2513 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 3: Splendid ArsesSurprising humor found in underground "samizdat" literature.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2018-02-2509 minStories of CommunismStories of Communism 1: Famine in UkraineHow punishing the productive led to mass starvation in Ukraine.
(Send feedback to erik@storiesofcommunism.com)
2018-02-2516 min