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
Sep 12, 2022 • 2h 19min
Red Theology (Part V- Final): Revolutionary Christianity With East Asian Characteristics
Welcome to the fifth and final part of our reading series on Roland Boer's Red Theology: On the Christian Communist Tradition. We are joined by our Comrades in Christ, Mir and Ben, for a set of chapters dealing with the Taiping Revolution, Chinese Christian Marxism, and Christianity in the DPRK.We are missing Jason on this podcast, but hopefully, he will be back some time this month. Boer, Roland. Red Theology: On the Christian Communist Tradition. Studies in Critical Research on Religion . Haymarket Books, 2020.Music: Han Lei, Qi Jianbo, and Fan Xiaobin- The Vast Heaven and EarthSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show
Sep 9, 2022 • 8min
Patreon Preview: Neither Vertical Nor Horizontal: Book Club (Part I)
Book Clubs are back, back in a temporarily diminished capacity, but back. This week we read the Introduction and Chapter 1 of Rodrigo Nunes' new book on Verso. This book rhymes with concepts we have been discussing on the podcast for quite some time, so we were excited to dive in.Nunes, Rodrigo. Neither Vertical nor Horizontal: A Theory of Political Organisation. Verso, 2021.To join in future reading groups please join our Patreon by clicking below. Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show
Aug 23, 2022 • 2h 20min
Red Theology (Part IV): The Possibility of Religious Revolution
Welcome to the fourth part of our reading series on Roland Boer's Red Theology: On the Christian Communist Tradition. We are joined by our Comrades in Christ, Mir and Ben, for a set of chapters dealing with Althusser's Christianity, Farnham Maynard, and the God-building Project of Anatoly Lunacharsky.We are missing Jason on this podcast, but hopefully, he will be back in a month or two. Until then we will wrap up this series without him. Boer, Roland. Red Theology: On the Christian Communist Tradition. Studies in Critical Research on Religion . Haymarket Books, 2020.Music: Choir of the Brethren at Valaam Monastary- Agni Parthene Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show
Jul 19, 2022 • 1h 33min
Red Theology (Part III): Heilsgeschichte, History, and Marxism
Welcome to the third part of our reading series on Roland Boer's Red Theology: On the Christian Communist Tradition. We are joined by our Comrades in Christ, Mir and Ben, for the third set of chapters dealing with the contradictory legacy of Martin Luther and Marx's secular eschaton. This episode was recorded before Jason's accident, but I have just now gotten around to mixing and uploading it. It has been a crazy month, but we are hoping to get back in the swing of things soon. Jason won't be able to podcast again until probably September at the earliest, but we are going to try to get some stuff together in his absence. Enjoy! Boer, Roland. Red Theology: On the Christian Communist Tradition. Studies in Critical Research on Religion . Haymarket Books, 2020.Music: Norfolk Chamber Consort - J.S. Bach, Cantata 106: II. Gottes Zeit ist die allerbester ZeitSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show
Jul 13, 2022 • 1min
PODCAST UPDATE
It's been about a month since we posted anything, here is why. Don't worry, we will be back soon! Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show
May 31, 2022 • 1h 21min
Red Theology (Part II): Omnia Sunt Communia
Welcome to the second part of our reading series on Roland Boer's Red Theology: On the Christian Communist Tradition. We are joined by our Comrades in Christ, Mir and Ben, for the second set of chapters dealing with the contradictory legacies of St, Paul, Martin Luther, and John Calvin. Boer, Roland. Red Theology: On the Christian Communist Tradition. Studies in Critical Research on Religion . Haymarket Books, 2020.Music: John Brown's Body- Paul RobesonSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show
May 24, 2022 • 4min
Patreon Preview: Socialism With A Human Face -- The Prague Spring of 1968
Continuing what has become a series on Czechoslovak Socialism, we discuss the attempt to reform the ČSSR in 1968.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 show (http://patreon.com/theregrettablecentury)Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show
May 16, 2022 • 1h 25min
The Dharma of Emancipation: Marxism in Dialogue with Buddhism (With Adam from Subjective Conditions)
This week we are joined by Comrade Adam, a Lost Horizons alumnus of Red Library fame, to discuss what sort of dialogue can be had between Marxism and Buddhism. We decided to branch out, and cover a non-Christian faith in this continuation of our series on Marxism and religion. We hope to continue touching on other faiths and their interaction and overlap with the emancipatory project. Dharmic Marxism- A blog that posts about Marxism and Buddhism https://dharmicmarxism.wordpress.com/Subjective Conditions Podcasthttps://sites.libsyn.com/subjectiveconditions?fbclid=IwAR3KGWIeoFCwqPy8A0Cmbhher7JsWW9iAfGYqEmwajic8yVd_BeNweLYp28Music- YOB- In Our BloodSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show
May 2, 2022 • 52min
Red Theology (Part I): Christian Communism as Political Myth
Welcome to the first part of our reading series on Roland Boer's Red Theology: On the Christian Communist Tradition. We are joined by our Comrades in Christ, Mir and Ben for the first two chapters, which mostly deal with Karl Kautsky's writings about early Christianity and how it informs the communist tradition.Boer, Roland. Red Theology: On the Christian Communist Tradition. Studies in Critical Research on Religion . Haymarket Books, 2020.Music: Ktož jsú boží bojovníci written by Jan Čapek z Klatov in 15th Century as a battle anthem for the Hussite rebels. Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show
Apr 20, 2022 • 1h 12min
No Royal Road -- The Feudal Revolution Debate (With C. Derick Varn)
In this episode, we discuss another Chris Wickham article about feudalism. This is a stand-alone episode, but it is in spiritual continuity with our previous series discussing Chris Wickham's The Other Transition. We will be back soon with another series on a similar topic.Reuter, Timothy, and Chris Wickham. “The ‘Feudal Revolution.’” Past & Present, no. 155 (1997): 177–208. http://www.jstor.org/stable/651130.https://www.patreon.com/varnvlogSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show
