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
Organizing on the Edge of the Abyss: Building Class Power and the Looming Apocalypse
The Regrettable Century
11/28/18 • 53 min
This week we discuss ourselves a little bit before diving into the topic of base building. What is base building? Is it a new strategy? Is it just aping Maoist and Narodnik tactics in a decidedly un-Bolshevik fashion? It isn't, but if it was why would that be bad?
In this episode, we talk about why building is becoming popular among the membership of the DSA and whether it is a viable strategy for working class power
https://www.patreon.com/theregrettablecentury
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 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
A Situationist New Year's Spectacular: Discussion about Guy Debord, the Situationists, and the Society of the Spectacle
The Regrettable Century
12/31/18 • 59 min
In the years since Guy Debord wrote "The Society of the Spectacle" we have witnessed the utter triumph of said spectacle and have been thoroughly crushed under the jackboot of its mediocrity. We think that some of the ideas of the Situationists are even more relevant now than they were in 68 and are worth having a conservation about, so we did.
https://www.patreon.com/theregrettablecentury
A Short List of Some of the Readings For this Episode:
Society of the Spectacle (full text)
https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/debord/society.htm
Revenge of the Spectacle http://www.redwedgemagazine.com/online-issue/revenge-of-the-spectacle-this-time-its-personal
Bringing Fuel to The Flames: Anselme Jappe's Guy Debord
http://www.redwedgemagazine.com/online-issue/bringing-fuelNotes on the Spectacle of Opposition
https://www.sayitwithpavingstones.org/news/2018/6/29/some-notes-on-the-spectacle-of-opposition
Why Psychogeography?
https://www.sayitwithpavingstones.org/news/2018/8/14/derive-0-why-psychogeography
Background on 1968
https://jacobinmag.com/2018/05/how-beautiful-it-was/
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 End of Capitalist Realism?
The Regrettable Century
01/18/21 • 78 min
There are many on the left who seem to be incapable of letting a momentary upturn in struggle, or a softening of policy by the ruling class, pass without declaring the end of Capitalist realism.
The common ruin of the contending classes is all we have to look forward to unless we can find a way to assert our agency. Until we realize our world historic mission, capitalist realism and its devastating consequences are here to stay.
On the Current Conjuncture
Capitalist Catastrophism
Coronavirus Is the End of the End of History
Music: Good Riddance- After the Nightmare
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
Show more best episodes
Show more best episodes
FAQ
How many episodes does The Regrettable Century have?
The Regrettable Century currently has 261 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