Politics Theory Other

In the popular imagination WWII is still often seen in both the United States and Britain as a moment of great national consensus, where political differences and class struggle were set aside in the cause of defeating European Fascism and Japanese imperialism.

But in his new book, 'Troop Movements', Tejasvi Nagaraja shows how the reality is much more complex, with military mobilisation and the wartime transformation of the US economy producing both new opportunities, and new dangers for Black Americans and all those engaged in anti-fascist and anti-racist struggle.

In the interview we talked about war-time wildcat strikes that aimed at creating better conditions for workers and that contested racism in the workplace.

We went on to discuss the consequences of the export of Jim Crow - with the deployment of racially segregated American units overseas and how that process affected local people and the management of subject populations in the British Empire. And finally, we talked about the post-war upsurge of strikes and protest within the US military - as soldiers deployed overseas demanded to return home, and as they sought to oppose nascent US imperialism and the reimposition of European colonialism in territories that had fallen under the control of Imperial Japan.

It's become commonplace to describe our current epoch in terms of "uncertain times", whether when talking about the Covid-19 pandemic, geopolitical ruptures, or the rapid rise of insurgent political forces. But Natasha Lennard argues that talk of uncertainty and doubt often masks the violent certainties that structure our world - from the seeming inviolability and permanence of property and border regimes, to entrenched conceptions of gendered experience.

In today's episode we talked about how Natasha came to focus on this question, and the political implications of making a distinction between knowledge and certainty.

Notes:

On Un/Certainty:The Uses of Doubt in Dangerous Times

https://www.versobooks.com/products/3217-on-un-certainty?srsltid=AfmBOopaoxZxzJRVsNnOCKTkvlvzWGzrj5cm69etz4IrZS7MjV9x1cET

Richard returns to talk about this year's wildfires. We talked about the scale and extent of the wildfires, how they compare to recent years, and the threat of the so-called weather whiplash effect, with heatwaves and wildfires being followed by severe flooding. We also talked about how fire is impacting biodiversity, how better land use management could reduce the threat posed by wildfires, and why Richard thinks we should be cautious about applying an apocalyptic framing to the phenomenon.

Notes:

Welcome to the Pyrocene:

https://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/climate-international-politics/2026/08/welcome-to-the-pyrocene

Europe’s summer of wildfires is just a taste of what’s to come:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/europes-summer-of-wildfires-is-just-a-taste-of-whats-to-come/

James Meadway joins PTO to discuss the report he recently authored for the Verdant think tank on the economic costs of the recent UK heatwaves. We talked about how the extreme weather hit productivity right across the economy - from construction workers and delivery drivers to office workers. And about how the increasing casualisation of the workforce makes UK workers increasingly vulnerable to the physical and financial damage caused by such events. We also talked about the impact on infrastructure and about the inadequacy of the Burnham government's response to the situation.

Notes:

The Cost of Heat: Summer 2026 UK heatwaves - an economic impact update:

https://www.verdantthinking.org/publications-and-events/the-cost-of-heat-may-to-july

Adam Tooze - "Mad dogs and ...": Heatwave economics - summer 2026:

https://adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-467-mad-dogs-and-heatwave

In the Wisconsin primary last week the socialist candidate Francesca Hong was narrowly defeated by her more centrist opponent. It's a result that some argue shows the limits of left politics in swing states and outside of Democrat voting heartlands - in spite of the prior victory of Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. To talk through both campaigns, and what they tell us about the viability of left politics in the United States, PTO is joined by Maurice Weeks - co-founder of the Action Center on Race and the Economy.