Welcome to The Radicalist, a newsletter on communism, fascism and political extremism in all its forms. Here you’ll find a variety of content from analysis, interviews and reviews to philosophical reflections, literary essays, history and more. Extremism can be depressing, so we also dip into light-hearted content from time to time.
The Radicalist puts out a weekly column that is free for all. There is also a weekly interview. Interviews in print are free for all while audio interviews are available to paid subscribers. Becoming a paid subscriber also gives you access to the audio column, journalistic notes at the end of each column, bonus content, archives and the ability to join the conversation by posting comments or taking part in weekly chats.
Now that you have an idea what The Radicalist is all about, let me introduce myself. My name is David Josef Volodzko and I’m a writer and a journalist. My father’s family is a mixture of Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. My mother’s family is from the Bahamas. They’re of African, Irish and indigenous Caribbean descent. I grew up between the Bahamas and the American South, studied English literature as an undergrad and human behavior as a grad student, and spent most of my adult life in Asia. Four years in Japan, six in South Korea, three in China, one year traveling Southeast Asia and two in Nepal and India, where I was briefly homeless in Mumbai.
I have done ethnographic research on the symbolism of Quechua textiles in Peru, where I was shot at by government forces during a riot. I was interrogated by Vietnamese police. I have survived in the woods for over a month with nothing but a knife. I spent half a year exploring Mongolia by motorcycle where I was almost shot by border guards and attacked by wolves. I traveled to the remotest parts of China, going from Shaolin temple to Shaolin temple, asking the masters, “show me your ways.”
I am a former university lecturer of English and logic, after which I went into journalism and have spent my time since covering politics, economics and extremism. I am the former national editor for Korea Joongang Daily, the New York Times sister paper in South Korea, and the former U.S. correspondent for NK News, the world’s leading news and analysis outlet on North Korea. I am also a former Korea correspondent for South China Morning Post, the best news source in China, and a former editor at the financial analysis news outlet Brightwire.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, I flew to Europe to cover the war and wrote several stories about it, including one for New York Magazine about how a therapist helped save the life of a Ukrainian woman and her family. I also recently covered the genocide in Tigray, Ethiopia for The Nation.
I recently moved from Peru to rural Georgia just north of Atlanta, where I bought my first home and began to settle back in the United States. I wasn’t there long when I received a job offer to become an editorial board member and columnist at The Seattle Times. I sold my home, packed my stuff and my family and I moved across country. I was fired less than two months later after a Twitter mob accused me of being a neo-Nazi for pointing out that unlike Adolf Hitler, Vladimir Lenin generally did not dehumanize nor demonize his victims. I wrote an essay about it for The Free Press.
I currently live in Seattle with my wife and baby daughter. When I’m not working on this blog, I have a few hobbies including Olympic weightlifting, cooking, playing guitar and trying to keep the languages I speak relatively fresh. Here’s a picture of me. As you can tell, I cut my own hair and I’m awful at it but whatever.
If you like my writing and analysis, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. You get access to all the content and you help support my work. I am deeply grateful to each and every subscriber, paid or not. I hope to see you in the replies. Take care.
