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392 episodes — Page 5 of 8

Patreon Preview -- William Morris: From Romantic to Revolutionary

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A little bonus episode for you this week. Here is the audio of a lecture that Kevin gave at the Cascadian Midsummer festival this summer about William Morris. Check out Cascadian Midsummer here: https://www.cmfest.org/ Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Oct 30, 20235 min

S5 Ep 20No Royal Road: Class Conflict and The Crisis of Feudalism (Part II)

This week we continue our series reading from Rodney Hilton's collection of essays about the Crisis of Feudalism. These are pretty short essays, but we will no doubt be talking about them forever. Hilton, Rodney. Class Conflict and the Crisis of Feudalism. A&C Black, 1985. Check out Varn Vlog: https://www.patreon.com/varnvlog Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Oct 26, 20231h 5m

Patreon Preview -- The Last Empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Union

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This week we discussed a book about the collapse of the Soviet Union and guess what, it wasn't the result of the United States' efforts to defeat the Evil Empire. It's much dumber and worse than that. Serhii Plokhy. 2015. The Last Empire : The Final Days of the Soviet Union. New York: Basic Books, A Member Of The Perseus Books Group. Head over to our Patreon and join for $2 a month to hear the whole episode and join the Discord to take part in the discussions. Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Oct 12, 20233 min

S5 Ep 19Pessimism is an Optimism: A Return to Dialectical Pessimism

The original dudes are back, with an original dudes topic revisiting our pessimism (because of intellect) and our optimism (because of will). No it's not just a doomer affectation that we can use to sound as cool as we look, its a critical method of engaging with the bleak reality that faces us. The only way out is through but getting through is possible. Revolutionary Pessimism: The Worst is Yet to Come https://www.christiansocialism.com/2020/05/12/covid-peter-fleming-revolutionary-pessimism-capitalism/ Pessimism of the Will https://viewpointmag.com/2020/05/28/pessimism-of-the-will/ CRITICAL PESSIMISM AND THE LIMITS OF TRADITIONAL MARXISM https://www.jstor.org/stable/657342 For A Refresher: The Proper Amount of Bumming People Out: Pessimisms and Optimisms of Intellect and Will https://regrettablecentury.buzzsprout.com/220523/1410229-the-proper-amount-of-bumming-people-out-pessimisms-and-optimisms-of-intellect-and-will Scattered Thoughts on Melancholia and the Organization of Pessimism https://regrettablecentury.buzzsprout.com/220523/1320682-scattered-thoughts-on-melancholia-and-the-organization-of-pessimism Pessimism of the Intellect, Pessimism of the Will https://regrettablecentury.buzzsprout.com/220523/889740-pessimism-of-the-intellect-pessimism-of-the-will Music- Англия - Сказочный мир Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Oct 3, 20231h 6m

S5 Ep 18No Royal Road: Class Conflict and The Crisis of Feudalism (Part I)

This week we start a new series where we read from Rodney Hilton's collection of essays about the Crisis of Feudalism. These are pretty short essays, but we will no doubt be talking about them forever. Hilton, Rodney. Class Conflict and the Crisis of Feudalism. A&C Black, 1985. Check out Varn Vlog: https://www.patreon.com/varnvlog Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Sep 18, 20231h 29m

Patreon Preview: Revolution by Enzo Traverso (Part IV)

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Welcome to our fourth reading group episode on Revolution: An Intellectual History, by Enzo Traverso. This week we discuss the revolutionary intellectual. Traverso, Enzo. 2021. Revolution : An Intellectual History. London ; New York: Verso. https://www.versobooks.com/products/2783-revolution Head over to our Patreon and join for $2 a month to hear the whole episode and join the Discord to take part in the discussions. Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Sep 14, 20234 min

S5 Ep 17The Dialectic of Degrowth: Socialists and the Burden of Ecological Disaster

We think degrowth is going to be necessary, but we also think the debate about degrowth has been all wrong. We read the newest issue of Monthly Review and had a discussion about the politics of degrowth. Planned Degrowth: Ecosocialism and Sustainable Human Development https://monthlyreview.org/2023/07/01/planned-degrowth/ Nine Theses on Ecosocialist Degrowth https://monthlyreview.org/2023/07/01/nine-theses-on-ecosocialist-degrowth/ (Here’s the whole issue) https://monthlyreview.org/product/mr-075-03-2023-07/ Music: Bad Religion- Watch it Die Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Sep 4, 20231h 23m

Patreon Preview: Replacing the Dead by Mie Nakachi

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Back with another book that Chris read in grad school, this time we are dealing with the problem of repopulating the Soviet Union after the Second World War. Please forgive the intermittent audio problems with Jason's track, we are still trying to figure out how to record in the same room and actually make it sound good. Mie Nakachi. Replacing the Dead : The Politics of Reproduction in the Postwar Soviet Union. New York, Ny: Oxford University Press, 2021. Head over to our Patreon and join for $2 a month to hear the whole episode and join the Discord to take part in the discussions. Support the show Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Aug 28, 20234 min

S5 Ep 18Lumpenization and its Discontents: Disagreements About the Lumpen Classes

This week the Law Boyz are back with a special guest, Kevin. We discuss the concept of the lumpenproletariat and their historical role as foot soldiers of reaction. Then we all argue about the police. Peter Stallybrass (1990) Marx and Heterogeneity: Thinking the Lumpenproletariat, Representations, No. 31, Special Issue: The Margins of Identity in Nineteenth-Century England, pp. 69-95 Nicholas Thoburn (2002) Difference in Marx: the lumpenproletariat and the proletarian unnamable, Economy and Society, 31:3, 434-460 Robert L. Bussard (1987) The ‘dangerous class’ of Marx and Engels: The rise of the idea of the Lumpenproletariat, History of European Ideas, 8:6, 675-692 Music: Johnny Cash- This Side of the Law Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Aug 22, 20231h 24m

Patreon Preview: Daddy Masaryk and Czechoslovakism

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I know we said we were done with our Czechoslovak Socialism series, but like George Lucas we just couldn't leave well enough alone and have made a prequel. It turns out there is an interesting pre-history to Czechoslovak Socialist Republic that is worth discussing. Head over to our Patreon and join for $2 a month to hear the whole episode and join the Discord to take part in the discussions. Support the show Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Aug 17, 20233 min

S5 Ep 16No Royal Road: Neo-Feudalism, or the Fuzzy Edges of Capitalism: The End of Techno-Feudal Reason (Part V of V)

No Royal Road is back with part four of our discussion of Evegny Morozov's "Critique of Techno-Feudal Reason." Check out Varn Vlog here: https://www.patreon.com/varnvlog Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Aug 7, 20231h 0m

Patreon Preview: Revolution by Enzo Traverso, Part III (Regrettable Book Club)

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Our third reading group episode on Revolution: An Intellectual History, by Enzo Traverso. This week we discuss Concepts, Symbols, and Realms of Memory. Traverso, Enzo. 2021. Revolution : An Intellectual History. London ; New York: Verso. https://www.versobooks.com/products/2783-revolution Head over to our Patreon and join for $2 a month to hear the whole episode and join the Discord to take part in the discussions. Support the show Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Jul 31, 20234 min

S5 Ep 16Podcasts From Nowhere: William Morris’ Romantic Marxism

Kevin recently gave a talk about William Morris' transition from romantic anti-capitalism to Marxism and is thus well suited to school us on the subject. We decided to record it and share it with all of you. How I Became a Socialist (William Morris) https://www.marxists.org/archive/morris/works/1894/hibs/hibs.htm Under an Elm-Tree, Or, Thoughts in the Country-Side (William Morris) https://www.marxists.org/archive/morris/works/1889/commonweal/07-elm-tree.htm Facing the Worst of It (William Morris) https://www.marxists.org/archive/morris/works/1887/commonweal/02-facing-worst.htm William Morris (E.P. Thompson) https://www.marxists.org/archive/thompson-ep/1959/william-morris.htm Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Jul 25, 202358 min

S5 Ep 15Bathing in the Warm Stream: The Romantic and Gothic Strain of Marxism with Jon (TheLitCritGuy) of Horror Vanguard

This week we return to an old favorite topic of ours, the warm stream, romantic, or gothic in Marxism. This time we are joined by an accredited expert in all things gothic, Jon from the Horror Vanguard. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/horror-vanguard/id1445594437 https://twitter.com/TheLitCritGuy Bloch, Ernst, Neville Plaice, and Stephen Plaice. The Principle of Hope. Vol. 1. MIT Press, 1995. Music: Sisters of Mercy- She's a Monster Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Jul 16, 20231h 4m

Patreon Preview: Third Worldism, but Make it Racist

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Ukrainian Nationalism and Third Worldism in the Cold War This week we read and discussed Congo on the Dnipro: Third Worldism and the Nationalization of Soviet Internationalism in Ukraine by Thom Lloyd. The author discusses attempts by Ukrainian nationalists to appropriate the language of third world liberation struggles, but with a twist (spoiler alert, its a racist one). Loyd, Thom. "Congo on the Dnipro: Third Worldism and the Nationalization of Soviet Internationalism in Ukraine." Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History 22, no. 4 (2021): 787-811. doi:10.1353/kri.2021.0053. Head over to our Patreon and join for $2 a month to hear the whole episode and join the Discord to take part in the discussions. Support the show Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Jul 13, 20233 min

S5 Ep 14Much Ado About PATSOCS: Finding a Better Way to Talk About Working Class Patriotism

The Patsocs are coming, the Patsocs are coming! There has been much fruitless discourse and claims of rising fascism among the keyboard proletarian vanguard about the problem of Social Patriotism. We got the original gang back together to talk about what the appropriate level for freaking out about it on the internet is. There is no contradiction between patriotism and socialism https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/there-no-contradiction-between-patriotism-and-socialism Is There a Place for Patriotism on the Left? https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/patriotism-left-nationalism/ Democratic Socialism Must Be Internationalist https://jacobin.com/2021/04/john-judis-the-socialist-awakening-review-socialist-left-internationalism-nationalism In Defense of U.S. Proletarian Patriotism https://www.midwesternmarx.com/articles/in-defense-of-us-proletarian-patriotism-a-comradely-response-to-danny-haiphongs-marxist-polemic-on-patriotic-socialism-by-kayla-popuchet British Communism’s Patriotic Disease https://www.ebb-magazine.com/essays/british-communisms-patriotic-disease The Case for a Left Patriotism https://www.thebellows.org/the-case-for-a-left-patriotism/ Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Jul 3, 202359 min

Patreon Preview: Revolution by Enzo Traverso, Part II (Regrettable Book Club)

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Welcome to our second reading group episode on Revolution: An Intellectual History, by Enzo Traverso. This week we discuss BODIES. Traverso, Enzo. 2021. Revolution : An Intellectual History. London ; New York: Verso. Head over to our Patreon and join for $2 a month to hear the whole episode and join the Discord to take part in the discussions. Support the show Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Jun 28, 20234 min

S5 Ep 13No Royal Road: Neo-Feudalism, or the Fuzzy Edges of Capitalism (Part IV)

No Royal Road is back with part four of our discussion of Evegny Morozov's "Critique of Techno-Feudal Reason." Check out Varn Vlog here: https://www.patreon.com/varnvlog Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Jun 19, 20231h 15m

Patreon Preview: Velvet Counterrevolution & Divorce

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Just like the Prague Spring, it seems clear that the intentions of its participants were the opposite. The vast majority of Czechoslovaks who participated in the movements that brought down the republic were attempting to reform the socialist system, not destroy it. Krapfl, James. Revolution with a Human Face Politics, Culture, and Community in Czechoslovakia, 1989–1992. Cornell University Press, 2017. Scott Brown. “Prelude to a Divorce? The Prague Spring as Dress Rehearsal for Czechoslovakia’s ‘Velvet Divorce.’” Europe-Asia Studies 60, no. 10 (2008): 1783–1804. Krishan Kumar (1992). The Revolutions of 1989: Socialism, Capitalism, and Democracy. Theory and Society, 21(3), 309–356. Paal Sigurd Hilde (1999). Slovak Nationalism and the Break-Up of Czechoslovakia. Europe-Asia Studies, 51(4), 647–665. Head over to our Patreon and join for $2 a month to hear the whole episode and join the Discord to take part in the discussions. Support the show Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Jun 15, 20234 min

S5 Ep 12The Dialectic of Apotheosis: Lunacharsky and the Godbuilders

This week we discuss a couple of articles by Roland Boer about Lunacharsky, Lenin, and the project of godbuilding. This is our final episode with Mir before he goes off to Austria and Germany to learn all the sneakiest Jesuit tricks. Boer, Roland . “God in the World: Lenin, Hegel, and the God-Builders.” Heythrop Journal, 2015. Boer, Roland. “Religion and Socialism: A. V. Lunacharsky and the God-Builders.” Political Theology 15, no. 2 (March 2014): 188–209. Music: Current 93- Thunder Perfect Mind I Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Jun 5, 20231h 8m

Patreon Preview: Stalinism at War

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Back again with another one, this time we are throwing one out to the middle aged men in the audience by talking about World War Two. Edele, Mark. Stalinism at War : The Soviet Union in World War II. London, UK: Bloomsbury Academic, 2021. Head over to our Patreon and join for $2 a month to hear the whole episode and join the Discord to take part in the discussions. Support the show Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

May 31, 20236 min

S5 Ep 11The French Conundrum (RE-UPLOAD): The Continuing Struggle Over Pension Reforms

We are joined by Matthew and Julia for a continuation of our discussion about the French pension reforms. Matthew is our old comrade and friend from the days of Trot hyperactivism and Julia is an actually existing French person. Together they provide us their impressions of the struggle against Macron's pension reforms. Music: Komintern Sect- Rêves de liberté Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

May 29, 20231h 16m

Patreon Preview: Revolution by Enzo Traverso, Part I (Regrettable Book Club)

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Welcome to the first of our reading group episodes on Revolution: An Intellectual History, by Enzo Traverso. This week we discuss TRAINS. Traverso, Enzo. 2021. Revolution : An Intellectual History. London; New York: Verso. https://www.versobooks.com/products/2783-revolution Head over to our Patreon and join for $2 a month to hear the whole episode and join the Discord to take part in the discussions. Support the show Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

May 22, 20235 min

S5 Ep 10No Royal Road: Neo-Feudalism, or the Fuzzy Edges of Capitalism (Part III)

No Royal Road is back with part three of our discussion of Evegny Morozov's "Critique of Techno-Feudal Reason." Check out Varn Vlog here: https://www.patreon.com/varnvlog Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

May 8, 20231h 46m

Patreon Preview -- Empire of Friends: Soviet Power and Socialist Internationalism in Cold War Czechoslovakia

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We are back with more books Chris read in grad school. This one is written by Rachel Applebaum (no relation to Anne) and discusses the Soviet Friendship programs, their successes, and failures. Head over to our Patreon and join for $2 a month to hear the whole episode and join the Discord to take part in the discussions. Support the show Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Apr 30, 20233 min

S5 Ep 9You’re Not Making Liberals Socialist, You’re Just Making Socialists More Liberal!

This week we discuss why the left allows the liberals to set the tone for its politics. Liberalism’s Hegemony Over The Left https://www.counterfire.org/article/liberalisms-hegemony-over-the-left/ Death Sentence For The American Left? https://damagemag.com/2023/01/25/a-death-sentence-for-the-american-left/ Debord and the Postmodern Turn: New Stages of the Spectacle https://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/Illumina%20Folder/kell17.htm Nothing is Any Longer the Opposite of Anything: Guy Debord’s The Society of the Spectacle Today https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/5019-nothing-is-any-longer-the-opposite-of-anything-guy-debord-s-the-society-of-the-spectacle-today Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Apr 17, 20231h 5m

Patreon Preview -- The Things of Life: Materiality in Late Soviet Russia

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We are back with another book that Chris read in grad school. This one is an interesting read about the impact of material culture on the lives of late Soviet citizens called "The Things of Life: Materiality in Late Soviet Russia" by Alexy Golulbev. Head over to our Patreon and join for $2 a month to hear the whole episode and join the Discord to take part in the discussions. Support the show Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Apr 5, 20234 min

S5 Ep 8Les Aristocrates à la Lanterne: The French Pension Reforms (With Matthew from A Fine Old Conflict)

We are once again joined by our old friend and comrade Matthew, who is currently residing in Paris. Matthew gives us the rundown of the French pension reforms and we talk about the prospects for the labor and socialist movements. Music- Edith Piaf- Ça Ira (Sans-culotte version) Ah! It'll be fine, It'll be fine, It'll be fine aristocrats to the lamp post! Ah! It'll be fine, It'll be fine, It'll be fine the aristocrats, we'll hang them! If we don't hang them We'll break them If we don't break them We'll burn them Ah! It'll be fine, It'll be fine, It'll be fine aristocrats to the lamp-post Ah! It'll be fine, It'll be fine, It'll be fine the aristocrats, we'll hang them! We shall have no more nobles nor priests Ah! It'll be fine, It'll be fine, It'll be fine Equality will reign everywhere The Austrian slave shall follow him Ah! It'll be fine, It'll be fine, It'll be fine And their infernal clique Shall go to hell Ah! It'll be fine, It'll be fine, It'll be fine aristocrats to the lamp-post Ah! It'll be fine, It'll be fine, It'll be fine the aristocrats, we'll hang them! And when we'll have hung them all We'll stick a shovel up their arse. Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Apr 3, 20231h 9m

Patreon Preview: Neither Vertical nor Horizontal (Part IV -- Finale)

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We are finally back with part four of our discussion of Rodrigo Nunes' new book on Verso. This week we actually finish the book. Head over to our Patreon and join for $2 a month to hear the whole episode and join the Discord to take part in the discussions. Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Mar 27, 20236 min

S5 Ep 7No Royal Road: Neo-Feudalism, or the Fuzzy Edges of Capitalism (Part II)

No Royal Road is back! Varn joins Chris and Jason to discuss the second part of Evegny Morozov's "Critique of Techno-Feudal Reason." Check out Varn Vlog here: https://www.patreon.com/varnvlog Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Mar 19, 20232h 21m

S5 Ep 6Setting Fears Afloat (Liquid Fear: Part III -- Finale)

The boys are back and we are finally finishing this masterwork of left sociology by heavyweight Polish intellectual and dissident Marxist, Zygmunt Bauman. From the publisher's note: "Modernity was supposed to be the period in human history when the fears that pervaded social life in the past could be left behind and human beings could at last take control of their lives and tame the uncontrolled forces of the social and natural worlds. And yet, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, we live again in a time of fear. Whether its the fear of natural disasters, the fear of environmental catastrophes or the fear of indiscriminate terrorist attacks, we live today in a state of constant anxiety about the dangers that could strike unannounced and at any moment. Fear is the name we give to our uncertainty in the face of the dangers that characterize our liquid modern age, to our ignorance of what the threat is and our incapacity to determine what can and can't be done to counter it." We cover the last two chapters and conclusion in this episode. Bauman, Zygmunt. 2006. Liquid Fear. Cambridge U.A.: Polity Press. Music: Dimitri Shostakovich- Waltz No. 2 Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Mar 12, 202357 min

S5 Ep 5No Republic is Safe That Tolerates a Privileged Class: On Marxist Republicanism

We return to the concept of the republic, this time with our comrade Brad who is a member of the CPUSA, a union activist, and first class republic respecter. Brad is here to make a pitch for the continuation of a revolutionary tradition that is steeped in revolutionary republicanism. Pettit, Philip. 2012. On the People’s Terms : A Republican Theory and Model of Democracy. Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press. Bill of Rights Socialism and the Future of the Republic Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Feb 22, 20231h 29m

Patreon Preview: A Failed Empire

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This week we're discussing A Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev which is a not very good book that advances a thesis that doesn't need to exist. Enjoy! Zubok, V M. 2009. A Failed Empire : The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev. Chapel Hill: University Of North Carolina Press. Head over to our Patreon and join for $2 a month to hear the whole episode and join the Discord to take part in the discussions. Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Feb 13, 20233 min

S5 Ep 4No Royal Road: Neo-Feudalism, or the Fuzzy Edges of Capitalism -- Part I

No Royal Road is back! Varn joins Chris and Jason to discuss Evegny Morozov's "Critique of Techno-Feudal Reason." This is the first of what will probably be a multi part series. Check out Varn Vlog here: https://www.patreon.com/varnvlog Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Feb 6, 20231h 49m

S5 Ep 3The Dialectics of Wood Law: Marxism and Natural Law with Steven

Steven from Supreme Leap Forward is back and this time he's bringing his thoughts on natural law. For this weeks episode we read from Olúfémi Táíwò's Legal Naturalism and an article by Anna Lukina to prepare for this discussion. Olúfémi Táíwò. 2015. Legal Naturalism : A Marxist Theory of Law. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. https://legalform.blog/2020/07/30/kelsen-on-marx-engels-and-natural-law-anna-lukina/?fbclid=IwAR3qomVFwcvNttJqNJJKDhJcyrRPLbF4kGnBpplao3C-BsS3EfjZp01Ajcw Music: Tupac- Fuck the Law Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Jan 29, 20231h 19m

Patreon Preview: Laboratory of Socialist Development

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Happy New Year and welcome to a new series where Chris talks about books he read in grad school. This week we are reading and discussing Laboratory of Socialist Development: Cold War Politics and Decolonization in Soviet Tajikistan by Artemy Kalinovsky. Kalinovsky, Artemy M. 2018. Laboratory of Socialist Development : Cold War Politics and Decolonization in Soviet Tajikistan. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Head over to our Patreon and join for $2 a month to hear the whole episode and join the Discord to take part in the discussions. Support the show (http://patreon.com/theregrettablecentury) Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Jan 24, 20233 min

S5 Ep 2The Boys Win the Culture War- With Matthew from A Fine Old Conflict

We got together with our old friend and comrade from the Trot sect days to talk about why it is that the nominally socialist left is so obsessed with liberal culture war discourse. Music: Embrace- Money Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Jan 16, 20231h 17m

S5 Ep 1Unimaginable Horrors and the Terrors of the Global (Liquid Fear Part II)

Happy December, I just finished my semester and finally got around to mastering this episode that we recorded a couple months ago. We are revisiting this masterwork of left sociology by heavyweight Polish intellectual and dissident Marxist, Zygmunt Bauman who is a harsh critic of late capitalist modernity. From the publisher's note: "Modernity was supposed to be the period in human history when the fears that pervaded social life in the past could be left behind and human beings could at last take control of their lives and tame the uncontrolled forces of the social and natural worlds. And yet, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, we live again in a time of fear. Whether its the fear of natural disasters, the fear of environmental catastrophes or the fear of indiscriminate terrorist attacks, we live today in a state of constant anxiety about the dangers that could strike unannounced and at any moment. Fear is the name we give to our uncertainty in the face of the dangers that characterize our liquid modern age, to our ignorance of what the threat is and our incapacity to determine what can and can't be done to counter it." We cover the two middle chapters of the book in this episode. Bauman, Zygmunt. 2006. Liquid Fear. Cambridge U.A.: Polity Press. Music: Dimitri Shostakovich- Waltz No. 2 Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Dec 19, 20221h 37m

Patreon Preview: Neither Vertical nor Horizontal (Part III)

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We are back with part three of our discussion of Rodrigo Nunes' new book on Verso. This week we talk about chapters three and four. Head over to our Patreon and join for $2 a month to hear the whole episode and join the Discord to take part in the discussions. Support the show (http://patreon.com/theregrettablecentury) Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Nov 30, 20226 min

S4 Ep 22Four Regrettable Years

We just turned four! Looks like we have successfully fooled you into listening to us for another year. In honor of exiting the anal stage and entering our phallic stage of childhood psychosexual development as a podcast, we decided to do an episode about it. Please enjoy the very last episode of year four. Year five will be worse for humanity and likely better for our podcast. See you in season five! Music: The Dead Kennedys- Kill The Poor Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Nov 22, 20221h 19m

S4 Ep 21Meming Prometheus and the Continuing Tragedy of the Worker (II of II)

This week we continued our discussion of The Tragedy of the Worker by the Salvage Collective and discussed the implications of looming climate collapse. Once again we ask: what kind of world do you want to build in the post-apocalyptic wasteland? https://www.versobooks.com/books/3727-the-tragedy-of-the-worker Music: Bad Religion- Modern Man Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Nov 6, 20221h 17m

S4 Ep 20The Labor Theory of Apocalypse (I of II)

This week we read The Tragedy of the Worker by the Salvage Collective and discussed the implications of looming climate collapse. Once again we ask: what kind of world do you want to build in the post-apocalyptic wasteland? https://www.versobooks.com/books/3727-the-tragedy-of-the-worker Music: The Broadways- We'll Have a Party Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Nov 1, 20221h 15m

S4 Ep 19The Dialectics of Madness- With Adam from Subjective Conditions

The Lost Horizons gang is back together. We welcome Comrade Adam back to the Lost Horizons network and discuss a couple of articles about Hegel, Foucault, and MADNESS. The Good the Mad and the Ugly: Part I The Good the Mad and the Ugly: Part II https://www.patreon.com/subjectiveconditions Music: Madness- One Step Beyond Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Oct 14, 20221h 21m

S4 Ep 18Fear of Evil, Dread of Death (Liquid Fear Part 1) -- Featuring the Return of Jason

Happy October! Its what they call spooky season so it is only fitting that we dive into a book about Fear. This is a work of left sociology by heavyweight Polish intellectual and dissident Marxist, Zygmunt Bauman who is a harsh critic of late capitalist modernity. From the publisher's note: "Modernity was supposed to be the period in human history when the fears that pervaded social life in the past could be left behind and human beings could at last take control of their lives and tame the uncontrolled forces of the social and natural worlds. And yet, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, we live again in a time of fear. Whether its the fear of natural disasters, the fear of environmental catastrophes or the fear of indiscriminate terrorist attacks, we live today in a state of constant anxiety about the dangers that could strike unannounced and at any moment. Fear is the name we give to our uncertainty in the face of the dangers that characterize our liquid modern age, to our ignorance of what the threat is and our incapacity to determine what can and can't be done to counter it." We cover the introduction and first two chapters in this episode. Bauman, Zygmunt. 2006. Liquid Fear. Cambridge U.A.: Polity Press. Music: New Model Army- 225 Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Oct 3, 20221h 59m

Patreon Preview: Hangin’ Out With Jason

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Jason is out of the rehab facility and convalescing with our sister, so we decided to do a little test recording to see how it felt to be podcasting again after a coma and traumatic brain injury. We decided it went pretty alright and will be back soon with some episodes. This isn't a real episode, but we have part two of our reading group coming soon and Jason and I will be recording part three of our Czechoslovak socialism series this month as well. Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Sep 21, 20222 min

S4 Ep 17Red Theology (Part V- Final): Revolutionary Christianity With East Asian Characteristics

Welcome to the fifth and final 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 a set of chapters dealing with the Taiping Revolution, Chinese Christian Marxism, and Christianity in the DPRK. We are missing Jason on this podcast, but hopefully, he will be back some time this month. Boer, Roland. Red Theology: On the Christian Communist Tradition. Studies in Critical Research on Religion . Haymarket Books, 2020. Music: Han Lei, Qi Jianbo, and Fan Xiaobin- The Vast Heaven and Earth Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Sep 12, 20222h 19m

Patreon Preview: Neither Vertical Nor Horizontal: Book Club (Part I)

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Book Clubs are back, back in a temporarily diminished capacity, but back. This week we read the Introduction and Chapter 1 of Rodrigo Nunes' new book on Verso. This book rhymes with concepts we have been discussing on the podcast for quite some time, so we were excited to dive in. Nunes, Rodrigo. Neither Vertical nor Horizontal: A Theory of Political Organisation. Verso, 2021. To join in future reading groups please join our Patreon by clicking below. Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Sep 9, 20228 min

S4 Ep 16Red Theology (Part IV): The Possibility of Religious Revolution

Welcome to the fourth 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 a set of chapters dealing with Althusser's Christianity, Farnham Maynard, and the God-building Project of Anatoly Lunacharsky. We are missing Jason on this podcast, but hopefully, he will be back in a month or two. Until then we will wrap up this series without him. Boer, Roland. Red Theology: On the Christian Communist Tradition. Studies in Critical Research on Religion . Haymarket Books, 2020. Music: Choir of the Brethren at Valaam Monastary- Agni Parthene Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Aug 23, 20222h 20m

S4 Ep 15Red Theology (Part III): Heilsgeschichte, History, and Marxism

Welcome to the third 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 third set of chapters dealing with the contradictory legacy of Martin Luther and Marx's secular eschaton. This episode was recorded before Jason's accident, but I have just now gotten around to mixing and uploading it. It has been a crazy month, but we are hoping to get back in the swing of things soon. Jason won't be able to podcast again until probably September at the earliest, but we are going to try to get some stuff together in his absence. Enjoy! Boer, Roland. Red Theology: On the Christian Communist Tradition. Studies in Critical Research on Religion . Haymarket Books, 2020. Music: Norfolk Chamber Consort - J.S. Bach, Cantata 106: II. Gottes Zeit ist die allerbester Zeit Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Jul 19, 20221h 32m

PODCAST UPDATE

It's been about a month since we posted anything, here is why. Don't worry, we will be back soon! Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show Visit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Jul 13, 20221 min