The Regrettable Century
Chris, Kevin, Jason, & Ben
The old forms of the Left are moribund and the new forms are stupid. We're making a podcast that discusses the need to organize a Dialectical Pessimism and develop a salvage project capable of sparking a new workers' movement for socialism. A clean, honest, and unsentimental melancholy is required; we are cultivating one and would like to share it with you.
“The challenge of modernity is to live without illusions and without becoming disillusioned. I’m a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will.” -- Antonio Gramsci
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Top 10 The Regrettable Century Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best The Regrettable Century episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to The Regrettable Century for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite The Regrettable Century episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Upon the Completion of the First Five Year Plan: Year V in Review (Part II)
The Regrettable Century
12/05/23 • 58 min
Welcome to part two of our YEAR 5 in review episode. We make one big announcement and then talk about all the really cool stuff that happened this year and all the really cool stuff that is on the horizon.
1 Listener
To Front or Not to Front: The Question of "Popular Frontism"
The Regrettable Century
09/02/24 • 71 min
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.
Haslam, Jonathan. “The Comintern and the Origins of the Popular Front 1934-1935.” The Historical Journal 22, no. 3 (1979): 673–91. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2638659.
Communists, Coalitions, and the Class Struggle
https://www.cpusa.org/article/communists-coalitions-and-the-class-struggle/The Popular Front Didn’t Work
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/10/popular-front-communist-party-democrats
France’s Popular Front: Lessons from the 30s
https://www.counterfire.org/article/frances-popular-front-lessons-from-the-30s/ The Popular Front, Then and Now
https://www.rs21.org.uk/2024/06/29/the-popular-front-then-and-now-france-and-the-elections/ The United Front
http://isj.org.uk/the-united-front/ Uruguay’s Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution
https://upsidedownworld.org/archives/uruguay/uruguays-frente-amplio-from-revolution-to-dilution/
1 Listener
The Dialectic of Apotheosis: Lunacharsky and the Godbuilders
The Regrettable Century
06/05/23 • 68 min
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
1 Listener
The Dialectic of Degrowth: Socialists and the Burden of Ecological Disaster
The Regrettable Century
09/04/23 • 83 min
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
1 Listener
One Plus One Is Three: The Poverty of "Third Campism"
The Regrettable Century
02/20/24 • 84 min
As recovering Third Campists ourselves, we sit down to discuss the lingering problems that the third camp of Trotskyism has always had and how they are much dumber in their contemporary incarnation.
Resignation from the Fourth International - Natalia Sedova Trotsky
https://www.marxists.org/archive/sedova-natalia/1951/05/09.htm
Against Campism, for International Working-Class Solidarity https://socialistforum.dsausa.org/issues/winter-2020/against-campism-for-international-working-class-solidarity/
The Third Camp, Socialism From Below, and the First Principle of Revolutionary Socialism https://newpol.org/issue_post/third-camp-socialism-below-and-first-principle-revolutionary-socialism/
Libya’s revolution, U.S. intervention, and the left https://isreview.org/issue/77/libyas-revolution-us-intervention-and-left/index.html
Ukraine and fetishising the anti-NATO call https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2022-05-04/ukraine-and-fetishising-anti-nato-call
Like our theme song?
Check out Autumn Brigade here!
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Civic Socialism: The New Zealand Federation of Socialist Societies
The Regrettable Century
06/24/24 • 107 min
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.
NZFSS Website
https://www.socialistsocieties.org.nz/
1 Listener
Setting Fears Afloat (Liquid Fear: Part III -- Finale)
The Regrettable Century
03/12/23 • 57 min
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
1 Listener
No Royal Road: Neo-Feudalism, or the Fuzzy Edges of Capitalism (Part III)
The Regrettable Century
05/08/23 • 106 min
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
1 Listener
The French Conundrum (RE-UPLOAD): The Continuing Struggle Over Pension Reforms
The Regrettable Century
05/29/23 • 76 min
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
1 Listener
Year VI In Review: US Elections, Gaza, and Ukraine
The Regrettable Century
11/13/24 • 70 min
As we wrap up another year of podcasting, we offer our expert opinions on everything that sucks about the world. Stay tuned for part II.
1 Listener
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FAQ
How many episodes does The Regrettable Century have?
The Regrettable Century currently has 253 episodes available.
What topics does The Regrettable Century cover?
The podcast is about Culture, History, Marxism, Courses, Podcasts, Education and Politics.
What is the most popular episode on The Regrettable Century?
The episode title 'No Royal Road: Class Conflict and The Crisis of Feudalism (Part II)' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on The Regrettable Century?
The average episode length on The Regrettable Century is 56 minutes.
How often are episodes of The Regrettable Century released?
Episodes of The Regrettable Century are typically released every 7 days, 10 hours.
When was the first episode of The Regrettable Century?
The first episode of The Regrettable Century was released on Oct 23, 2018.
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