

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-------Visit the Regrettable Century's merch shop:https://theregrettablecentury.threadless.com/
Episodes
Mentioned books

Mar 19, 2023 • 2h 21min
No Royal Road: Neo-Feudalism, or the Fuzzy Edges of Capitalism (Part II)
No Royal Road is back!Varn joins Chris and Jason to discuss the second part 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 showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Mar 12, 2023 • 57min
Setting Fears Afloat (Liquid Fear: Part III -- Finale)
The boys are back and we are finally finishing this masterwork of left sociology by heavyweight Polish intellectual and dissident Marxist, Zygmunt Bauman.From the publisher's note:"Modernity was supposed to be the period in human history when the fears that pervaded social life in the past could be left behind and human beings could at last take control of their lives and tame the uncontrolled forces of the social and natural worlds. And yet, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, we live again in a time of fear. Whether its the fear of natural disasters, the fear of environmental catastrophes or the fear of indiscriminate terrorist attacks, we live today in a state of constant anxiety about the dangers that could strike unannounced and at any moment. Fear is the name we give to our uncertainty in the face of the dangers that characterize our liquid modern age, to our ignorance of what the threat is and our incapacity to determine what can and can't be done to counter it."We cover the last two chapters and conclusion in this episode. Bauman, Zygmunt. 2006. Liquid Fear. Cambridge U.A.: Polity Press.Music: Dimitri Shostakovich- Waltz No. 2Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Feb 22, 2023 • 1h 30min
No Republic is Safe That Tolerates a Privileged Class: On Marxist Republicanism
We return to the concept of the republic, this time with our comrade Brad who is a member of the CPUSA, a union activist, and first class republic respecter. Brad is here to make a pitch for the continuation of a revolutionary tradition that is steeped in revolutionary republicanism. Pettit, Philip. 2012. On the People’s Terms : A Republican Theory and Model of Democracy. Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press.Bill of Rights Socialism and the Future of the RepublicSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Feb 13, 2023 • 3min
Patreon Preview: A Failed Empire
This week we're discussing A Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev which is a not very good book that advances a thesis that doesn't need to exist. Enjoy! Zubok, V M. 2009. A Failed Empire : The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev. Chapel Hill: University Of North Carolina Press.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

Feb 6, 2023 • 1h 49min
No Royal Road: Neo-Feudalism, or the Fuzzy Edges of Capitalism -- Part I
No Royal Road is back! Varn joins Chris and Jason to discuss Evegny Morozov's "Critique of Techno-Feudal Reason." This is the first of what will probably be a multi part series. Check out Varn Vlog here: https://www.patreon.com/varnvlogSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Jan 29, 2023 • 1h 19min
The Dialectics of Wood Law: Marxism and Natural Law with Steven
Steven from Supreme Leap Forward is back and this time he's bringing his thoughts on natural law. For this weeks episode we read from Olúfémi Táíwò's Legal Naturalism and an article by Anna Lukina to prepare for this discussion. Olúfémi Táíwò. 2015. Legal Naturalism : A Marxist Theory of Law. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.https://legalform.blog/2020/07/30/kelsen-on-marx-engels-and-natural-law-anna-lukina/?fbclid=IwAR3qomVFwcvNttJqNJJKDhJcyrRPLbF4kGnBpplao3C-BsS3EfjZp01AjcwMusic: Tupac- Fuck the LawSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Jan 24, 2023 • 3min
Patreon Preview: Laboratory of Socialist Development
Happy New Year and welcome to a new series where Chris talks about books he read in grad school. This week we are reading and discussing Laboratory of Socialist Development: Cold War Politics and Decolonization in Soviet Tajikistan by Artemy Kalinovsky. Kalinovsky, Artemy M. 2018. Laboratory of Socialist Development : Cold War Politics and Decolonization in Soviet Tajikistan. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.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 showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Jan 16, 2023 • 1h 17min
The Boys Win the Culture War- With Matthew from A Fine Old Conflict
We got together with our old friend and comrade from the Trot sect days to talk about why it is that the nominally socialist left is so obsessed with liberal culture war discourse. Music: Embrace- MoneySend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Dec 19, 2022 • 1h 38min
Unimaginable Horrors and the Terrors of the Global (Liquid Fear Part II)
Happy December, I just finished my semester and finally got around to mastering this episode that we recorded a couple months ago. We are revisiting this masterwork of left sociology by heavyweight Polish intellectual and dissident Marxist, Zygmunt Bauman who is a harsh critic of late capitalist modernity. From the publisher's note:"Modernity was supposed to be the period in human history when the fears that pervaded social life in the past could be left behind and human beings could at last take control of their lives and tame the uncontrolled forces of the social and natural worlds. And yet, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, we live again in a time of fear. Whether its the fear of natural disasters, the fear of environmental catastrophes or the fear of indiscriminate terrorist attacks, we live today in a state of constant anxiety about the dangers that could strike unannounced and at any moment. Fear is the name we give to our uncertainty in the face of the dangers that characterize our liquid modern age, to our ignorance of what the threat is and our incapacity to determine what can and can't be done to counter it."We cover the two middle chapters of the book in this episode. Bauman, Zygmunt. 2006. Liquid Fear. Cambridge U.A.: Polity Press.Music: Dimitri Shostakovich- Waltz No. 2Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Nov 30, 2022 • 6min
Patreon Preview: Neither Vertical nor Horizontal (Part III)
We are back with part three of our discussion of Rodrigo Nunes' new book on Verso. This week we talk about chapters three and four.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 showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop


