Workers' Lit

What if the Jewish diaspora had established a mini-state in Alaska?

What if Harry DuBois had a gigantic muscle-pal instead of Kim?

What is the Messiah was gay?

All this and more is addressed in Michael Chabon’s 2007 alternate history novel, “The Yiddish Policeman’s Union.”

On top of being some darn good genre fiction, this book takes a hard and unique look at U.S. empire and its relationship to Zionism. It’s also a beautiful and fun look at numerous aspects of Jewish culture, which Chabon delights in showing off with remarkable skill…Also it describes some REALLY yummy donuts.

Note: there’s some words in this book we’ve elected not to say as non-Jews, so in the interest of respect we’ve bleeped those when we read passages out loud.

Links to articles/topics referenced in this episode:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yiddish_Policemen%27s_Union

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/avi-shlaim-proof-israel-zionist-involvement-iraq-jews-attacks

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavon_Affair

https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/somebodys-protest-novel/

Folks, we regret to inform you that the internet has kind of become...important.
Today we are joined by Anthony DePice, activist, movement cheerleader, and digital organizer to talk about the wide, wonderful, horrid world of social media. We talk some (and laugh more) about various platforms, their highs and lows, and how people pursuing liberation can make our intervention on the web (hopefully without killing each other while we're at it).
Also, we talk about the online right and left more broadly. Fun times.
Check out Anthony on Instagram and other social media sites:
https://www.instagram.com/j.anthony.depice/
Check us out on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/WorkersLit
Sources for today's discussion:
https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/news-platform-fact-sheet/
https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/2010/compendia/statab/130ed/tables/11s1134.pdf
https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/newspapers/
https://www.georgetown.edu/news/ask-a-professor-renee-diresta-how-social-media-can-shape-public-opinion/

PRIORITY: We finally got a Patreon! Supporting us there wins you 1 million Lit Points.

Go check it here: https://www.patreon.com/cw/WorkersLit

Today we cover “The Unworthy,” a 2023 horror novel by Agustina Bazterrica (of “Tender is the Flesh” fame).

Religious trauma, oppression of women, lesbian sex jokes, puppy girls, this episode is 100% worth the obligatory purification ritual in the Tower of Silence you must undertake to listen.

Bad times in the USA...and elsewhere.
The Iran war rages, trans rights come under assault, millions of people take to the streets, and calls for a general strike are building.
It's just another week in 2026.
Articles referenced and quoted:
https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/trump-goes-commando
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/communists-democrats-use-nokings-rally-call-may-day-strike-shut-down
https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/supreme-court-rules-against-conversion

This book sucks. But the episode? It goes hard.

We are joined by returning guest Talia Bhatt, writer and radical trans-feminist whose work covers epistemic injustice, Third World feminism, and ranked competitive breast growth (yes, she has RANGE!) to discuss "GamerGate's favorite feminist," Christina Hoff Sommers' anti-feminist rant from 1994, "Who Stole Feminism? How Women Have Betrayed Women."

We know you love it when the Lit Ladies eviscerate a horrible book. Enjoy.

You can find info on all of Talia’s work (including her new book, “Brown/Trans/Les”) at her website below:

https://taliabhatt.com/

Note: there are some audio problems with this episode. Our apologies!! We promise it's well worth the bumps in the sound to hear us cook this hard.