The Regrettable Century

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/varnvlogSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

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 showSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

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 ISend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

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 showSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

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 libertéSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

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-revolutionHead 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 showSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

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/varnvlogSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

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 showSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

This week we discuss why the left allows the liberals to set the tone for its politics. Liberalism’s Hegemony Over The Lefthttps://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 Spectaclehttps://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 Todayhttps://www.versobooks.com/blogs/5019-nothing-is-any-longer-the-opposite-of-anything-guy-debord-s-the-society-of-the-spectacle-todaySend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

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 showSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show