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<v Speaker 1>Hi, and welcome back to the Working Class History Podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>As you may know, we don't get any sort of

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<v Speaker 1>funding from any wealthy benefactors, corporations, governments, or political pies.

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<v Speaker 1>Our work is funded by you, our listeners and readers

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<v Speaker 1>on Patreon. In return, our supports on Patreon get access

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<v Speaker 1>to exclusive content and benefits like ad free episodes, bonus

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<v Speaker 1>podcast episodes, and a couple of exclusive discussion podcast series,

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<v Speaker 1>fireside chats and radical reads. So here is a little

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<v Speaker 1>preview of our latest episode for our patrons. You can

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<v Speaker 1>join us, help support our work and listen to the

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<v Speaker 1>whole thing today at patreon dot com slash working Class

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<v Speaker 1>History link in the show notes.

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<v Speaker 2>You also have a bunch of international wings of the project. Ada.

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<v Speaker 2>You're part of the Persian language wing. Maybe you could

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<v Speaker 2>talk about the work that you all do and also

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<v Speaker 2>what other languages is the project available in and how

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<v Speaker 2>are you organized? You know, how is the project organized

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<v Speaker 2>across the world.

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<v Speaker 3>Well, for the part of the we do the Persian language,

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<v Speaker 3>we provided in tweeter Instagram and telegram Telegram tweeter both

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<v Speaker 3>are censored in Iran and so people usually use proxy.

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<v Speaker 3>But most of the people have the proxy, so they

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<v Speaker 3>can have access to it. When we wanted to start it,

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<v Speaker 3>we were actually thinking about how we can work in group,

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<v Speaker 3>so they were first of all, I have to say

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<v Speaker 3>that our group consists of usually around seven people, but

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<v Speaker 3>it sometimes varies from ten to four. Some of us

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<v Speaker 3>will mostly inspired by worker cooperatives of Richard Wolf, and

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<v Speaker 3>some of us also were inspired and influenced by work

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<v Speaker 3>of atomist Antonio Negri and Michael Hart works of assembly.

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<v Speaker 3>Their concept which they're saying that basically this network, any

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<v Speaker 3>sort of network, would also in the twenty first century

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<v Speaker 3>in the now liberties era, need to carry the material

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<v Speaker 3>reproduction of themselves as well. So that was the aim.

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<v Speaker 3>The form the form. It was basically our first priority,

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<v Speaker 3>and one of our friends introduced us. We thought that

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<v Speaker 3>it would be a great idea to adopt it because

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<v Speaker 3>it has some sort of continuity, and we thought that

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<v Speaker 3>it would be equally spread the division of labor that

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<v Speaker 3>they live. We have to do it one of us,

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<v Speaker 3>and so it would be a good practice for us

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<v Speaker 3>to work on it and to do the thing spontaneously

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<v Speaker 3>without any middleman in between. Our coordinator and we also

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<v Speaker 3>developed a bots that would just call us out and

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<v Speaker 3>do the coordination a bit. Yeah, well this is something

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<v Speaker 3>which is always is still in progress, and there is

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<v Speaker 3>always these ups and downs in it. But I personally,

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<v Speaker 3>I am actually proud of it. And in our group

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<v Speaker 3>we so one of the very important thing about posting

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<v Speaker 3>or publishing a post is that you need to you

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<v Speaker 3>need to think about the narrative. We do it in

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<v Speaker 3>a way that so it doesn't really matter, like I

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<v Speaker 3>really don't know exactly about the stands of my fellow members.

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<v Speaker 3>We put something in our group and then we send

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<v Speaker 3>it out, we publish it if we all agree on it.

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<v Speaker 3>So and this is something that I'm really like, I

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<v Speaker 3>really glad about this, but we haven't really reached our

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<v Speaker 3>aims yet. But yeah, this is this is the idea

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<v Speaker 3>that how we come about about working class history?

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<v Speaker 2>John, How did you go from you know, as the

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<v Speaker 2>host of a relatively unpopular but in my opinion, quite

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<v Speaker 2>good podcast. It's not easy to build a base of

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<v Speaker 2>listeners online or a base of followers around, especially serious

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<v Speaker 2>political history. That's global, right. A lot of people want cynicism,

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<v Speaker 2>they want sarcasm, They want to be reminded that the

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<v Speaker 2>world is shit and everything's fucked. They don't want. Usually,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, there's not a lot of young lefties out

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<v Speaker 2>there who are trying to get inspired when I was

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<v Speaker 2>when I was younger. At least, maybe that's changed as

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<v Speaker 2>the world has shifted in recent years. But how did

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<v Speaker 2>you go from taking this idea? I don't know if

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<v Speaker 2>it started with the idea of posting a daily you know,

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<v Speaker 2>this day and history for the radical left, but how

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<v Speaker 2>did you scale that to where you now have half

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<v Speaker 2>a million followers and people. You know, there's little collectives

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<v Speaker 2>around the world who are trying to participate.

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<v Speaker 1>It's really interesting for me to hear as well and

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<v Speaker 1>to learn more about how they organize. The English language

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<v Speaker 1>pages are a collective effort. So I can't take credit

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<v Speaker 1>for all that. But essentially, a while ago, some of

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<v Speaker 1>us had the idea of posting anniversaries would be a

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<v Speaker 1>thing that might go viral on social media and might

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<v Speaker 1>prove quite popular, and then that might be quite a

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<v Speaker 1>good way of essentially propagating radical ideas and trying to

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<v Speaker 1>encourage people to organize and get active and stuff and

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<v Speaker 1>learn from past struggles and things like that. And that

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<v Speaker 1>basically was just more successful than we anticipated, and so

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<v Speaker 1>as more and more people started kind of following we

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<v Speaker 1>started and thinking about what more could we do with it,

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<v Speaker 1>and so we started a Patreon where some people started

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<v Speaker 1>to essentially support us financially, and this enabled some of

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<v Speaker 1>us to start taking time off from our day jobs

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<v Speaker 1>to do more in debt work, which is how we

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<v Speaker 1>were able to start a podcast and cover the costs

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<v Speaker 1>associated with various online platforms which kind of mount up,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, social media tools and things like that. So

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<v Speaker 1>essentially it was support from a readers on Patreon that

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<v Speaker 1>enabled us to take that to take that step. And

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<v Speaker 1>because we did think that a podcast talking to people

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<v Speaker 1>who were involved in struggles in the past are primarily

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<v Speaker 1>and some historians as well, to try and tell those

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<v Speaker 1>stories and learn from those experiences was something which wasn't

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<v Speaker 1>being We thought there was a bit of a gap

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<v Speaker 1>for that, at least in terms of the international scope

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<v Speaker 1>the wh has and the perspective that WCH has focused

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<v Speaker 1>on ordinary people and not like political parties or governments.

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<v Speaker 2>Can I ask another question about that perspective because one

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<v Speaker 2>of the you know, as a songwriter, I've always been

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<v Speaker 2>a huge fan of the two to three minute history

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<v Speaker 2>of some thing, you know, the ballad maybe six minutes

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<v Speaker 2>is more accurate. But you know, you guys do a

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<v Speaker 2>really really good job of compressing really big stories into

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<v Speaker 2>a couple of paragraphs that people are actually going to read. So,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, one of my goals as a songwriter is

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<v Speaker 2>can I tell you enough about a subject that makes

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<v Speaker 2>you want to learn more about it without giving you,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, a fifteen minute long song that just goes

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<v Speaker 2>on and on and on. That's an art. It's very

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<v Speaker 2>very hard. I don't always do it correctly, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>but you guys do a really really good job of that.

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<v Speaker 2>And I'm interested to know if that was something you

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<v Speaker 2>know from the get go that you all decided would

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<v Speaker 2>be a more digestible way to propagate these stories. Was

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<v Speaker 2>their conversations about the length of posts, you know, because

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<v Speaker 2>because another thing you do that ties into that is

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<v Speaker 2>you don't necessarily propagate the way you know, like think

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<v Speaker 2>of a kind of classical left party sort of narrative

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<v Speaker 2>where you're telling people at the end what to think

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<v Speaker 2>about it. You kind of leave it open to the

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<v Speaker 2>reader to interpret what the story means, but you tell

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<v Speaker 2>it in a way that makes it hard to not

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<v Speaker 2>sympathize with the subjects of the story.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh well, well thanks, I mean with the English language stuff, yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>I mean we did decide that in terms of stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>we wanted to be succinct, and we wanted to speak

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<v Speaker 1>clearly without using specialist terminology where we can avoid it,

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<v Speaker 1>or explaining any specialist terms that we use. And yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>and we really we just had a genuine dislike for

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<v Speaker 1>so much lefty history telling, which you get trock groups

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<v Speaker 1>or whatever, and they have history articles in their papers

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<v Speaker 1>or whatever, and they typically end and that's why and

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<v Speaker 1>this failed because they failed to have the correct revolutionary leadership.

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<v Speaker 1>And so we are that correct revolutionary leadership, so if

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<v Speaker 1>you join us, it will all be good next time.

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<v Speaker 1>And then on the other side of that, you've got

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<v Speaker 1>like anarchists or an archo syndicalists who do the same

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<v Speaker 1>thing and they end it with and this is why

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<v Speaker 1>you should be in an arca syndicalist, you know, and

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<v Speaker 1>which you know, if people want to do that, that's fine,

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<v Speaker 1>but that's not really how we wanted to go about things.

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<v Speaker 1>And with the length, we don't actually when we started,

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<v Speaker 1>the posts were a lot shorter for the most part,

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<v Speaker 1>but we kind of discovered that to our surprise because

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<v Speaker 1>especially so much. Social media, especially Instagram, is such a

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<v Speaker 1>visual medium that people seem to really prefer once where

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<v Speaker 1>we go into more detail. So over the past couple

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<v Speaker 1>of years we've been rewriting a lot of stuff to

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<v Speaker 1>give more detail and to give more background because the

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<v Speaker 1>posts where we give more context and do things like

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<v Speaker 1>you know, try and include quotes from participants and things

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<v Speaker 1>do prove more popular. So we are trying to add

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<v Speaker 1>more depth there. But you're restricted by the character limits,

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<v Speaker 1>so you can't go over two thousand characters and including spaces.

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<v Speaker 1>So that's the limit set by the format.

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<v Speaker 2>Don't they know that history has no character limit oday?

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<v Speaker 2>What about in the in the Farsi language version of

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<v Speaker 2>working class history? What are the main projects that you do?

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<v Speaker 2>Do you have an Instagram as well? Do you focus

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<v Speaker 2>on you said earlier, a few of the things, including telegram.

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<v Speaker 3>Basically, as John also mentioned, there's a character limit, especially

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<v Speaker 3>in Twitter, and I think we are most emphasizing is

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<v Speaker 3>in telegram because it's very popular in Iran. Telegram is

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<v Speaker 3>basically kind of do the job of like WhatsUp as well,

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<v Speaker 3>so people really use it for their daily and there

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<v Speaker 3>they really have interaction with it at the beginning it

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<v Speaker 3>was it was little, but it slowly grow to be more.

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<v Speaker 3>There is also this limit, but if I'm not mistaken,

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<v Speaker 3>the limit of telegram is less than the other platforms,

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<v Speaker 3>especially our domestic local stories are longer than the than

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<v Speaker 3>the more international.

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<v Speaker 2>And you focus on the same kind of stuff.

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<v Speaker 3>Though well, so our principle that like how we're gonna choose,

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<v Speaker 3>we prefer those who are about movements than like birthday

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<v Speaker 3>or the death date of a scholar or activist. And

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<v Speaker 3>if it is about movement, those who are more about

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<v Speaker 3>the victory, who were successful than those who failed. We

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<v Speaker 3>wanted to have this theme as like an honorable or pride,

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<v Speaker 3>a sort of sort of theme, not to make audience

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<v Speaker 3>feel pity, but to encourage them and gave them responsibility

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<v Speaker 3>as well.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that brings us to the end of this episode preview.

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<v Speaker 1>Hope you enjoyed it. To listen to the full thing

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<v Speaker 1>and help support our work researching and promoting people's history,

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<v Speaker 1>join us today on Patreon, Patreon dot com slash working

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<v Speaker 1>class history. That's p A t R e o n

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<v Speaker 1>dot com slash working class history link in the show notes.

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<v Speaker 1>Catch you next time.