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
2 Listeners
All episodes
Best episodes
Seasons
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.
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
2 Listeners
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 Labor Theory of Apocalypse (I of II)
The Regrettable Century
11/01/22 • 75 min
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
1 Listener
The Proper Amount of Bumming People Out: Pessimisms and Optimisms of Intellect and Will
The Regrettable Century
07/15/19 • 45 min
We received a really thoughtful and challenging question/comment from one of our Patrons and we decided to give it the attention it deserves, in the form of a full episode.
We discuss "pessimism of the intellect/optimism of the will," mourning, melancholy, the church-like euphoria of the mass meeting, and how much it is necessary to bum people out.
If you have a question or concern you'd like us to address, send it to our email address [email protected] or message us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or Patreon.
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
You're Not Making Liberals Socialist, You're Just Making Socialists More Liberal!
The Regrettable Century
04/17/23 • 65 min
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
1 Listener
Stillborn Utopia: The Unfulfilled Potential of the Republic
The Regrettable Century
06/09/21 • 64 min
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)
1 Listener
The Death of the Left?
The Regrettable Century
02/07/22 • 69 min
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.
Remapping the American Left: A History of Radical Discontinuity (pp 22-32)
https://depts.washington.edu/moves/pdf/Gregory_Remapping_the_American_Left_LABOR_May2020.pdf
The U.S. left at a strategic impasse
https://www.tempestmag.org/2022/01/the-u-s-left-at-a-strategic-impasse/
Bismarck, Browder, and Biden: Joe’s Hegemony Versus Ours
https://cosmonautmag.com/2021/10/bismarck-browder-biden-joes-hegemony-versus-ours/
Music: Tha Crossroads- Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
1 Listener
The Future Has Been Canceled: The Stalling of Culture and Technology in a Decaying Society
The Regrettable Century
09/16/19 • 71 min
The slow cancellation of the future has been accompanied by a deflation of expectations, both in the realm of cultural and -- apparently -- technological production. Culture has crawled to a halt, its progress replaced by advances in methods of distribution. Technology is bogged down in a cycle of adding additional cameras to the iphone.
Has capitalism outlived its progressive potential?
(The TLDR is yes)
Mark Fisher: The Slow Cancellation Of The Future
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCgkLICTskQ&t=304s
David Graeber: Of Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/of-flying-cars-and-the-declining-rate-of-profit
We are not living in a technological golden age.
https://youtu.be/tvG3dT79TeY
Music: Маяк - Выше Звезд
1 Listener
The Right to the City: Changing the City, to Change Ourselves
The Regrettable Century
04/03/19 • 72 min
As a concept, as a slogan, as an expression of intent The Right to The City contains within it an opportunity for this generation to conceive of new methods of class struggle, of new models of class organization, and of the return of class power. It’s but one of many opportunities we have right now to advance a constructive, utopian, and revolutionary vision of the future. It’s about demystifying social relations where they are presently abstracted. It’s about no longer viewing political activity as either pressuring politicians or becoming them. It’s about identifying what are presently hidden means of exerting our power as class to confront the class enemy, not just at work, but everywhere.
Henri Lefebvre and the Right to the City
http://faculty.washington.edu/mpurcell/jua_rtc.pdf
Neoliberalism is a Political Project -- Harvey
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/07/david-harvey-neoliberalism-capitalism-labor-crisis-resistance/
The Right to the City -- Harvey
https://newleftreview.org/II/53/david-harvey-the-right-to-the-city
PDF of Henri Lefebevre's Urban Revolutionhttps://thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Henri-Lefebvre-The-Urban-Revolution.pdf
Writings on Cities -- Lefebvre
https://thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Henri-Lefebvre-Writings-on-Cities.pdf
Critique of Urban Geography -- Debord
https://www.cddc.vt.edu/sionline/presitu/geography.html
Why Psychogeography?
https://www.sayitwithpavingstones.org/news/2018/8/14/derive-0-why-psychogeography
1 Listener
Show more best episodes
Show more best episodes
FAQ
How many episodes does The Regrettable Century have?
The Regrettable Century currently has 256 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 'The Dialectic of Apotheosis: Lunacharsky and the Godbuilders' 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.
Show more FAQ
Show more FAQ