Explore every episode of the podcast The Regrettable Century
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| To Front or Not to Front: The Question of "Popular Frontism" | 02 Sep 2024 | 01:11:53 | |
The boys get together and talk about the triumphs and failures, the uses and misuses, and the love and hate for the concept of the Popular Front. | |||
| Patreon Preview -- Boundless & Bottomless Seas: Dugin's 4th Political Theory (Part VII) | 31 Aug 2024 | 00:31:02 | |
The boys dive in to chapter 6 of Dugin's Fourth Political theory. Don't worry, there are literally no digressions and the guys stay on point the whole time. | |||
| Whither France: The New Popular Front & the French Elections | 17 Jul 2024 | 01:47:57 | |
This week we are joined by our official France correspondent, Matthew. We discuss the unique threat of the post-fascist menace and what the results and prospects are for the shaky leftist coalition. | |||
| The Dharma of Emancipation: Marxism in Dialogue with Buddhism (With Adam from Subjective Conditions) | 16 May 2022 | 01:25:00 | |
This week we are joined by Comrade Adam, a Lost Horizons alumnus of Red Library fame, to discuss what sort of dialogue can be had between Marxism and Buddhism. We decided to branch out, and cover a non-Christian faith in this continuation of our series on Marxism and religion. We hope to continue touching on other faiths and their interaction and overlap with the emancipatory project. | |||
| Red Theology (Part I): Christian Communism as Political Myth | 02 May 2022 | 00:51:34 | |
Welcome to the first part of our reading series on Roland Boer's Red Theology: On the Christian Communist Tradition. We are joined by our Comrades in Christ, Mir and Ben for the first two chapters, which mostly deal with Karl Kautsky's writings about early Christianity and how it informs the communist tradition. | |||
| No Royal Road -- The Feudal Revolution Debate (With C. Derick Varn) | 20 Apr 2022 | 01:11:46 | |
In this episode, we discuss another Chris Wickham article about feudalism. This is a stand-alone episode, but it is in spiritual continuity with our previous series discussing Chris Wickham's The Other Transition. We will be back soon with another series on a similar topic. | |||
| Patreon Preview: Victorious February (Lessons From The Czechoslovak Revolution) | 19 Apr 2022 | 00:05:01 | |
Continuing in the spirit of our discussions about the relationship between "Socialism From Below" and "Socialism From Above," we've decided to dive in a bit deeper into a topic we've referenced many times in passing... Support the show (http://patreon.com/theregrettablecentury) | |||
| Marxism in Dialogue With Christianity | 06 Apr 2022 | 01:17:45 | |
Once again, we continue our unending project of reuniting the cold and the warm streams of Marxism. This time we are joined by our comrade Ben to talk about the need for a dialogue between Marxism and Christianity. | |||
| Patreon Preview: The Left In Purgatory (I of II) | 28 Mar 2022 | 00:05:38 | |
Wherein a group of us get together to read and discuss the latest issue of Jacobin magazine, its analysis of the current political situation, and what to do about it... and the extent to which it actually does those things. Support the show (http://patreon.com/theregrettablecentury) | |||
| The One Where We Talk About Everything That Is Wrong | 21 Mar 2022 | 01:22:05 | |
Here is about an hour's worth of bonus content recorded before our last episode of No Royal Road. We were just riffing about neoliberalism, left delusions, anti-imperialism, paleo-cons, liberals, conservatism, inflation, Volcker Shock, internet tankies, and a bunch of other things we thought might be worth recording. So, we hit record. | |||
| Neither "Neither Washington nor Moscow" nor Washington nor Moscow | 07 Mar 2022 | 00:55:39 | |
The American left's response to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia is as depressing as its prospects. We at the Regrettable Century are against invasions and World War 3 and think you should be too. We talk about what orientation if any, it would be useful for Marxists to take in response to the unfolding tragedy in Eastern Europe. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/03/russia-ukraine-invasion-twitter/624168/ https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/why-john-mearsheimer-blames-the-us-for-the-crisis-in-ukraine https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/10/world/europe/ukraine-nationalism-russia-invasion.html | |||
| Patreon Preview: Weimar German Communism & National Bolshevism (Part II of II) | 27 Feb 2022 | 00:05:00 | |
Some Real Nerd Hours covering the emergence of a conscious German "National Bolshevism" during the Weimar Era between the World Wars... Support the show (http://patreon.com/theregrettablecentury) | |||
| No Royal Road- As Old Worlds End and New Ones Begin: Part IV (With C. Derick Varn) | 23 Feb 2022 | 00:57:18 | |
Welcome to the fourth and final episode of our discussion on Chris Wickham's essay The Other Transition, about the transition from the classical to the feudal mode production. This is the last in this particular reading series, but not the last for this collaboration. We will be back soon with another series on a similar topic. | |||
| Patreon Preview -- Boundless & Bottomless Seas: Dugin's 4th Political Theory (Part VI) | 11 Jul 2024 | 00:30:27 | |
Wake up babe, new Dugin Time just dropped. The boys are back and discussing Dugin's understanding of processes and, now that they're about halfway done with the book, begin to ask the question "What is the Fourth Political Theory?" | |||
| The Death of the Left? | 07 Feb 2022 | 01:09:02 | |
This week the guys discuss the rotting whale carcass that is the American left. Gone are the days of mass organizations, the workers movement, and even the microsect. We discuss atomization, idealism, and our prospects moving forward. The U.S. left at a strategic impasse Music: Tha Crossroads- Bone Thugs-N-Harmony | |||
| The Farce of American Socialism: The American Socialist Movement, Part II | 26 Jan 2022 | 01:26:31 | |
This week Jason continues to teach us about the history of American socialism. We pick up with the collapse of the old left, discuss the birth of the New Left, the New Communist Movement, and end with the End of History and the turn inward. Music: Fortunate Son- Circle Jerks | |||
| Patreon Preview: Labriola's Socialism & Philosophy, Part II | 21 Jan 2022 | 00:09:55 | |
From the second installment of the Regrettable Book Club's reading of Antonio Labriola's Socialism and Philosophy covering the introduction by Paul Piccone. Support the show (http://patreon.com/theregrettablecentury) | |||
| No Royal Road- As Old Worlds End and New Ones Begin: Part III (With C. Derick Varn) | 12 Jan 2022 | 01:01:10 | |
Welcome to the third episode of a new collaborative series with Varn Vlog and the Regrettable Century, where we will be talking about history, historiography, social technologies, relations of production, modes of production, and most importantly, transitions. | |||
| PATREON PREVIEW: Chris and Neil Talk About Academia | 02 Jan 2022 | 00:02:52 | |
Last year, Neil Gorman and Regrettable Chris hung out during the Christmas break to talk about how bad higher education had gotten during the pandemic. This clip however, is a little preview of the other stuff they talked about. | |||
| No Ethical Technological Innovation Under Capitalism | 28 Dec 2021 | 00:55:13 | |
This week we further explore our critique of technology under capitalism. Chris was absent from the recording due to grad school reasons, so Jess led the charge on this one. We ultimately determine that technology is bad and the Luddites were right. The Ideology Behind Technology The Case Against Naive Technocapitalist Optimism Marx on Technology HYPER-REALITY
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| The Tragedy of American Socialism: The American Socialist Movement (Part I) | 16 Dec 2021 | 01:04:15 | |
This week Jason teaches us about the history of American socialism. We start with the beginnings of the movement in the late 19th century and ends just after the Second World War. Kipnis, Ira. The American Socialist Movement, 1897-1912. Chicago, Ill: Haymarket Books, 2004. Weinstein, James. The Decline of Socialism in America, 1912-1925. New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press, 1984.
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| No Royal Road- As Old Worlds End and New Ones Begin: Part II (With C. Derick Varn) | 30 Nov 2021 | 01:21:20 | |
Welcome to the second episode of a new collaborative series with Varn Vlog and the Regrettable Century, where we will be talking about history, historiography, social technologies, relations of production, modes of production, and most importantly, transitions. | |||
| Psychoanalytic Politics: Jacques Lacan and Freud's French Revolution- With Neil from InForm Podcast | 10 Nov 2021 | 01:37:30 | |
This is the first episode in a series on the book Psychoanalytic Politics by Sherry Turkle. We teamed up with Neil, our Lost Horizons alumnus of From 78 fame, to talk about this book he likes and thought we might too. Neil is really into psychoanalysis and we are really into politics, we figured this would be a good book to bridge our interests and have a discussion. | |||
| Stakhanovites of Glorious Socialist Podcasting: Year Three of the Regrettable Century (Episode 100!) | 03 Nov 2021 | 01:37:21 | |
This week we have the whole gang together to celebrate the 100th episode of The Regrettable Century. We discuss the highlights of the previous year, how dumb we were as children, and how violent punk shows used to be. Listen as we make our political predictions for the upcoming year and actually figure out how to do Marxist virtue ethics. | |||
| Patreon Preview -- From Dawn to Decadence (Part I): With Varn Vlog | 26 Jun 2024 | 00:29:14 | |
This week we sat down with C. Derick Varn to talk about "decadence theory," "crisis theory," and "breakdown theory." This is a special episode, mostly because it wasn't supposed to come out until August, but Varn accidentally released it early so y'all get a bonus episode. We discussed the following materials: | |||
| Patreon Preview: Labriola's Socialism & Philosophy, Part I | 20 Oct 2021 | 00:04:59 | |
From the first installment of the Regrettable Book Club's reading of Antonio Labriola's Socialism and Philosophy covering the introduction by Paul Piccone. Support the show (http://patreon.com/theregrettablecentury) | |||
| No Royal Road- As Old Worlds End and New Ones Begin: Part I (With C. Derick Varn) | 18 Oct 2021 | 01:46:46 | |
Welcome to a new collaborative series with Varn Vlog and the Regrettable Century, where we will be talking about history, historiography, social technologies, relations of production, modes of production, and most importantly, transitions. | |||
| Punk is Dead and So Are We: Introducing A Fine Old Conflict | 28 Sep 2021 | 01:04:34 | |
This week Chris joins Jason on another one of his side projects, A Fine Old Conflict, which he does with our friend and comrade, Matthew. The guys talk about their shared background of punk rock/pop-culture and whether or not the new Refused album was any good. | |||
| Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition (With Red Library): Part III of III | 14 Sep 2021 | 01:49:14 | |
Join the boys as they send Red Library off to the Gray Havens with this final episode in our Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition series. | |||
| The New Moment In Marxism: Introducing The Measures Taken | 06 Sep 2021 | 01:12:31 | |
This week we would like to introduce to you to The Measures Taken. The Measures Taken is a podcast about the intellectual history of the key debates that occurred in Marxism and it also happens to be one of Jason's side projects. All of the contributors to the podcast come from different corners of the American left and believe that they have all been miseducated. This podcast is an attempt at self education and an encouragement for others to do the same. | |||
| The Uses and Abuses of Christopher Lasch - With C Derick Varn (Part II of II) | 24 Aug 2021 | 01:06:54 | |
Christopher Lasch is a figure that draws strong reactions from people all over the political spectrum. Lasch's later work spoke of a growing chasm between liberal managerial elites and the traditional working class (endearing him to some conservatives), but his older work falls solidly within the tradition of homegrown American socialist politics. Our friend and comrade, C. Derick Varn, is currently co-authoring a book on Christopher Lasch, and he stopped by to tell us why Lasch is worth reading. | |||
| The Uses and Abuses of Christopher Lasch - With C Derick Varn (Part I of II) | 18 Aug 2021 | 01:18:46 | |
Christopher Lasch is a figure that draws strong reactions from people all over the political spectrum. Lasch's later work spoke of a growing chasm between liberal managerial elites and the traditional working class (endearing him to some conservatives), but his older work falls solidly within the tradition of homegrown American socialist politics. Our friend and comrade, C. Derick Varn, is currently co-authoring a book on Christopher Lasch, and he stopped by to tell us why Lasch is worth reading. | |||
| Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition (With Red Library): Part II of III | 04 Aug 2021 | 01:52:58 | |
We teamed up with Adam from Red Library, and our comrade Mir from Sweden, in a farewell reading series on Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition by Glenn Alexander Magee. Magee forges a path tread by few in arguing that Hegel was decisively influenced by western esotericism. | |||
| The Internet and its Consequences... | 29 Jul 2021 | 01:16:52 | |
This week we discuss an article by Ben Davis in Salvage Journal titled The Anarchist in the Network which discusses the pitfalls of organizing in the age of the internet. The extreme atomization of our society has been exacerbated by our social media addictions and our methods of organization against capitalism have suffered as a result. While calls for protests may go viral and enormous crowds may turn out, they lack to coherence needed to bring sustained pressure to bear. There really is no substitute for the patience, discipline, and efficacy that comes from the self organization of the working class. | |||
| PATREON PREVIEW: Nihilist Communism (Part Three) | 27 Jul 2021 | 00:08:01 | |
From the Regrettable Book Club's investigation of the Appendices in Monsieur Dupont's Nihilist Communism . Support the show (http://patreon.com/theregrettablecentury) | |||
| Civic Socialism: The New Zealand Federation of Socialist Societies | 24 Jun 2024 | 01:47:15 | |
This week we sat down with members of the New Zealand Federation of Socialist Societies to discuss their efforts to revitalize the socialist project and to build a basis for future socialist struggles. | |||
| Treating the Symptoms of Capitalism: Mental Illness, Therapy, Psychedelics, and Mysticism | 21 Jul 2021 | 01:38:17 | |
This week we sat down with Lost Horizons comrade and Red Library Alumnus, Adam to talk about mental illness as a social problem, but we ended up talking about a lot more. We cover the less than stellar performance of SSRIs, Hezychasm, Gnosticism, Hermeticism, communism, exercise, and therapy. Ultimately we concluded that there is no liberation from mental illness without the abolition of capitalism. Capitalism Hits Home: An Interview with Harriet Fraad | |||
| Let America be America Again... For Once | 14 Jul 2021 | 01:03:28 | |
This week we continue our series on republicanism and Marxism by discussing the complicated legacy of the American Revolution. Like the bourgeois project as a whole, the historical consequences of the American Revolution have had mixed results. Simultaneously spurring on the cause of human freedom and stifling it, the American Revolution was pregnant with a creative and destructive spirit. As the American Empire appears to be in decline, we ask whether or not things could have gone, or could still go, in another direction. Historical Revisionism and Delegitimation of the Revolutionary and Anticolonial Tradition—A Review of War and Revolution Liberals and Reactionaries From Karl Marx to the Fourth of July THE MYTH OF THE “CONSERVATIVE REVOLUTION” Communist and Neo-Babouvist readings of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution | |||
| Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition (With Red Library): Part I of III | 01 Jul 2021 | 01:51:46 | |
We teamed up with Adam from Red Library in a farewell reading series on Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition by Glenn Alexander Magee. Magee forges a path tread by few in arguing that Hegel was decisively influenced by western esotericism. In this weeks episode we trace the roots of Hermetic tradition from a syncretic cult that blended Greek and Egyptian ideas of magic and spirituality, through figures like Paracelsus, Agrippa, Bruno, Baader, and Böhme. Magee argues that, in order to understand Hegel, we have to view him as a Hermetic thinker. Hopefully this book well help us understand Hegel a little bit better. | |||
| PATREON PREVIEW: Nihilist Communism (Part One) | 28 Jun 2021 | 00:07:26 | |
From the inaugural episode of our recurring Regrettable Book Club. Our first selection is Monsieur Dupont's Nihilist Communism with which we both agree and also disagree. Support the show (http://patreon.com/theregrettablecentury) | |||
| The Specter of Common Ruin: Theories of Capitalist Decadence | 17 Jun 2021 | 01:24:07 | |
It doesn't take much to convince someone that the capitalist system has exhausted its progressive potential and is in a state of decline. There are a number of theories that the prolonged state of crisis of the capitalist system is evidence that capitalism has peaked and is on its way out. Revolution or Decadence (Sami Amin) https://monthlyreview.org/2018/05/01/revolution-or-decadence/ A Framework for the Concept of Decadence of Capitalism (shortest reading) https://www.leftcom.org/en/forum/2013-02-17/a-framework-for-the-concept-of-decadence-of-capitalism ICC Decadence Theory Readings https://en.internationalism.org/tag/28/287/decadence-theory-and-historical-materialism?fbclid=IwAR1bS0PVOixz8j9Lbtfkq7AELvhjOjmMG5COy8sryHHdrAItTcsFi6lbB2M | |||
| Stillborn Utopia: The Unfulfilled Potential of the Republic | 09 Jun 2021 | 01:04:47 | |
We sat down with our old friend, comrade, and fellow veteran of Trotskist hyperactivsm to discuss the concept of the Republic and whether or not is still useful to Marxist organizing/theorizing. The era of the bourgeois republic has been a simultaneous process of creation and destruction, of liberation and enslavement. As the final epoch of human civilization reaches its nadir, do we still have any use for the republic? The Constitution & The Class Struggle https://socialistcall.com/2018/11/27/the-constitution-and-the-class-struggle/ Looking at Chris Maisano’s “The Constitution and the Class Struggle” Fight The Constitution, Demand a New Republic! https://cosmonautmag.com/2021/03/fight-the-constitution-demand-a-new-republic/ Bill of Rights socialism and the future of the republic https://www.cpusa.org/article/bill-of-rights-socialism-and-the-future-of-the-republic/ Abolish The States https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/08/abolish-the-states/ Abolish The Senate https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/12/abolish-the-senate/ Music: Paul Robeson- John Brown's Body A Fine Old Conflict Podcast https://afineoldconflict.buzzsprout.com/ Support the show (http://patreon.com/theregrettablecentury) | |||
| We Are All Dying: The Twittering Machine (Part III of III) | 02 Jun 2021 | 01:22:57 | |
This week we discuss the final chapters of the Twittering Machine by Richard Seymour in the conclusion of our three part series. | |||
| PATREON PREVIEW: Give Up Activism? | 26 May 2021 | 00:07:35 | |
It is clear that our activism has been largely fruitless for the past few decades but what should we be doing instead? Support the show (http://patreon.com/theregrettablecentury) | |||
| We Are All Addicts: The Twittering Machine (Part II of III) | 24 May 2021 | 00:42:58 | |
This week we discuss chapters two and three of the Twittering Machine by Richard Seymour in the second of a three part series. | |||
| We Are All Connected: The Twittering Machine (Part I of III) | 17 May 2021 | 00:48:20 | |
This week we discuss the introduction and first chapter of the Twittering Machine by Richard Seymour in the first of a three part series. | |||
| Patreon Preview -- The Question of Nationalities and Social Democracy by Otto Bauer (Episode II) | 20 Jun 2024 | 00:07:27 | |
Back at it again with the national question and soldiering on through chapter 1... A link to the PDF: | |||
| Isolated Together: Anxiety, Alienation, and Despair in the Age of Covid | 06 May 2021 | 01:06:25 | |
This week Chris is temporarily replaced by a special guest that long time listeners will remember from the early days of the pod, Jenny. https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/debord/society.htm The pandemic has unleashed the age of individualism 22 percent of millennials say they have “no friends” Pandemic shaming: is it helping us keep our distance? Isolation, Stress, and Poverty: Capitalism and Our Declining Mental Health
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| PATREON PREVIEW: Actually Imagining The End of Capitalism... | 30 Apr 2021 | 00:05:39 | |
Half the podcast crew and a couple of the extended family get together to steal a bit joy from the future by thinking aloud as to how a small handful of our myriad problems might begin to be addressed. Support the show (http://patreon.com/theregrettablecentury) | |||
| UNLOCKED: Everything Is Recuperated | 28 Apr 2021 | 00:59:50 | |
Last year during the unrest after George Floyd's murder, we read an article about recuperation and talked about the concept within the context of then unfolding paroxysms of rage against police brutality. Does every movement for social change eventually get recuperated? Yes. Is it still worth engaging in social movements? Also yes. The Recuperation of Authentic Outrage https://libcom.org/library/recuperation-authentic-outrage | |||