The Regrettable Century

This week we had our long time comrade and resident France expert, Matthew, back on the show to talk about the mixed legacy of Napoleon Bonaparte. Was Napoleon a force for progress or the death of the revolution? The answer is yes. Revolutionary Figures: Napoleon Bonaparte https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/ageofrevolution/revolutionary-figures/napoleon-bonaparte/#Napoleon: Hegelian Herohttps://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/articles/napoleon-hegelian-hero/Hegel and Napoleon: On Heroes and the Sublime in History https://minervawisdom.com/2020/04/13/hegel-and-napoleon-on-heroes-and-the-sublime-in-history/Music: Chant du départ, the anthem of the first French Empire. Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

A little bonus episode for you this week. Here is the audio of a lecture that Kevin gave at the Cascadian Midsummer festival this summer about William Morris. Check out Cascadian Midsummer here:  https://www.cmfest.org/Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

This week we continue our series reading from Rodney Hilton's collection of essays about the Crisis of Feudalism. These are pretty short essays, but we will no doubt be talking about them forever.Hilton, Rodney. Class Conflict and the Crisis of Feudalism. A&C Black, 1985.Check out Varn Vlog:https://www.patreon.com/varnvlogSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

This week we discussed a book about the collapse of the Soviet Union and guess what, it wasn't the result of the United States' efforts to defeat the Evil Empire. It's much dumber and worse than that.Serhii Plokhy. 2015. The Last Empire : The Final Days of the Soviet Union. New York: Basic Books, A Member Of The Perseus Books Group.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.Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

The original dudes are back, with an original dudes topic revisiting our pessimism (because of intellect) and our optimism (because of will). No it's not just a doomer affectation that we can use to sound as cool as we look, its a critical method of engaging with the bleak reality that faces us. The only way out is through but getting through is possible. Revolutionary Pessimism: The Worst is Yet to Come https://www.christiansocialism.com/2020/05/12/covid-peter-fleming-revolutionary-pessimism-capitalism/ Pessimism of the Willhttps://viewpointmag.com/2020/05/28/pessimism-of-the-will/ CRITICAL PESSIMISM AND THE LIMITS OF TRADITIONAL MARXISM  https://www.jstor.org/stable/657342 For A Refresher: The Proper Amount of Bumming People Out: Pessimisms and Optimisms of Intellect and Willhttps://regrettablecentury.buzzsprout.com/220523/1410229-the-proper-amount-of-bumming-people-out-pessimisms-and-optimisms-of-intellect-and-willScattered Thoughts on Melancholia and the Organization of Pessimismhttps://regrettablecentury.buzzsprout.com/220523/1320682-scattered-thoughts-on-melancholia-and-the-organization-of-pessimismPessimism of the Intellect, Pessimism of the Willhttps://regrettablecentury.buzzsprout.com/220523/889740-pessimism-of-the-intellect-pessimism-of-the-will Music- Англия - Сказочный мирSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

This week we start a new series where we read from Rodney Hilton's collection of essays about the Crisis of Feudalism. These are pretty short essays, but we will no doubt be talking about them forever. Hilton, Rodney. Class Conflict and the Crisis of Feudalism. A&C Black, 1985.Check out Varn Vlog:https://www.patreon.com/varnvlogSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Welcome to our fourth reading group episode on Revolution: An Intellectual History, by Enzo Traverso. This week we discuss the revolutionary intellectual. 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.Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

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 Developmenthttps://monthlyreview.org/2023/07/01/planned-degrowth/ Nine Theses on Ecosocialist Degrowthhttps://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 Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Back with another book that Chris read in grad school, this time we are dealing with the problem of repopulating the Soviet Union after the Second World War. Please forgive the intermittent audio problems with Jason's track, we are still trying to figure out how to record in the same room and actually make it sound good.Mie Nakachi. Replacing the Dead : The Politics of Reproduction in the Postwar Soviet Union. New York, Ny: Oxford University Press, 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 showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

This week the Law Boyz are back with a special guest, Kevin. We discuss the concept of the lumpenproletariat and their historical role as foot soldiers of reaction. Then we all argue about the police. Peter Stallybrass (1990) Marx and Heterogeneity: Thinking the Lumpenproletariat, Representations, No. 31, Special Issue: The Margins of Identity in Nineteenth-Century England, pp. 69-95Nicholas Thoburn (2002) Difference in Marx: the lumpenproletariat and the proletarian unnamable,  Economy and Society, 31:3, 434-460Robert L. Bussard (1987) The ‘dangerous class’ of Marx and Engels: The rise of the idea of the Lumpenproletariat, History of European Ideas, 8:6, 675-692Music: Johnny Cash- This Side of the LawSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop