

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
Episodes
Mentioned books

Aug 27, 2025 • 18min
Patreon Preview: Anatomy of the Microsect (Patron Roundtable)
We sat down with our patrons to read and discuss the 1973 Hal Draper Pamphlet, Anatomy of the Microsect. https://www.marxists.org/archive/draper/1973/xx/microsect.htmSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

Aug 25, 2025 • 1h 44min
Under an Elm Tree: William Morris, Animism, and Anti-Capitalism (Featuring Dr. Mathias Nordvig and Arnold from Fight Like an Animal Podcast)
This week, the animist caucus of the Regrettable Century (Kevin) teamed up with Dr. Mathias Nordvig, professor of Nordic Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder and the Sacred Flame Podcast, as well as Arnold from the Fight Like an Animal Podcast to talk about the intersection of animist spirituality and radical politics. To that end, the crew read and discussed William Morris' short essay titled Under an Elm Tree. Click Here for More Mathias Nordvig Click Here for Fight Like an Animal PodcastSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

Aug 23, 2025 • 14min
PATREON PREVIEW -- Regrettable Geopolitics 08/23/2025
Bounty on Maduro, Israeli Pedophile Protected by Trump... Again, Palestinian Dead are 83% Civilians, Zelensky in the Whitehouse... Again, Ukraine's Failing Drone Industry, The Inexorable Russian Lava Flow Pushes On...Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

Aug 20, 2025 • 14min
PATREON PREVIEW -- Regrettable Geopolitics 08/19/2025
Trump Wusses out on China Tariffs... Again, Leaks Expose Netanyahu's Hunger Plan, Israeli Spies Have Thoroughly Infiltrated Big Tech, The Alaska Summit, Ukraine's Infantry Crisis, Ukraine's Morale Crisis, Dobrapilia Breakthrough, The Collapse Speeds Up...Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

Aug 11, 2025 • 1h 13min
Never Coming of Age in America: Adulting and Alienation in a Decadent Society
This week the boys are joined by eternal co-host Jess to discuss the novelty of adults being adults. We discuss the self-infantilization of millennials and older zoomers, which is a reflection of the crisis of meaning and deep rot at the heart of liberal modernity. We believe this is the result of a purely self-oriented conception of liberty and the ideological victory of capital's redefinition of the very essence of what it means to be human.---------Adulting in Middle Agehttps://jacobin.com/2024/01/adulting-middle-age-millennials-boomersAre millennials really an ‘infantilised generation’ - and if so, why?https://theweek.com/107508/are-millennials-infantilised-generationArrested Developmenthttps://newint.org/features/2018/01/01/arrested-development Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

Aug 7, 2025 • 11min
Patreon Preview: Do We Need an Updated Theory of Fascism? (Part I of II)
Today we read an article titled Do We Need an Updated Theory of Fascism? Theorizing the nature and implications of the global far-right resurgence by Prof. Dr. Alex Demirović, which was published by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung. This is an excellent article that we think misses the mark in a few places and provides much fodder for discussion.Do We Need an Updated Theory of Fascism? by Alex DemirovićSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

Jul 28, 2025 • 1h 2min
The Luddites Were Right, Actually
Marxist, as well as conservative and liberal bourgeois historians alike, have always had a fundamental misunderstanding about the Luddites. It turns out they weren't just reactionary peasants who feared technology and wanted to keep the world mired in an economy based on stacking sticks and mud. The Luddites weren’t resisting technology itself—they were fighting the economic systems that exploited them through it. This week, the boys dive into a conversation about Luddism's past, present, and future.The Luddites Were Right https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2021/06/the-luddites-were-right What the Luddites Really Fought Against https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-the-luddites-really-fought-against-264412/ Rethinking the Luddites in the Age of AI https://www.theinteldrop.org/2023/10/02/rethinking-the-luddites-in-the-age-of-a-i/ Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

Jul 24, 2025 • 11min
Patreon Preview: Towards the Founding of Something New
This week Chris, Jason, and Ben read over the founding document of a now-defunct group to which Jason and Ben used to belong. While much has changed in the years since Jason wrote this document, the fundamental arguments remain the same. It is time for new working-class organizations that seek to build power from the ground up, abandoning any association with liberal NGOs, the democratic party, the microsect form, and internet-based culture war.----We've including the document that we're reading below as a PDF.Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

Jul 21, 2025 • 14min
PATREON PREVIEW -- Regrettable Geopolitics 07/18/2025
Ultra-Orthodox Abandon Bibi, Israel Kills More Christians, Israel Kills a US Citizen, SBU Chief Merc'd in Broad Daylight, The West Slowly Begins to Abandon Ukraine, Zelensky's Authoritarianism, Pokrovsk in Peril, Russia's Methodical Advance is Unchecked...Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

Jul 15, 2025 • 1h 6min
On Care For Our Common Home: Laudato Si and Christian Anti-Capitalism (Part II)
This week the gang tackles Chapter I of Laudato Si, but the late Pope Francis. You can follow along by grabbing the PDF from Verso or from the Vatican website. This Papal Encyclical calls for urgent action to address the global environmental crisis, critiques consumerism, blind developmentalism, inequality, and profit seeking. The document calls for global political solidarity to transition to a sustainable economy and for protection of the worlds most vulnerable populations. Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show