The Regrettable Century

Here is about an hour's worth of bonus content recorded before our last episode of No Royal Road. We were just riffing about neoliberalism, left delusions, anti-imperialism, paleo-cons, liberals, conservatism, inflation, Volcker Shock, internet tankies, and a bunch of other things we thought might be worth recording. So, we hit record. Enjoy. https://www.patreon.com/varnvlog/postsMusic:  Tragedy- Conflicting Ideas Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

The American left's response to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia is as depressing as its prospects.  We at the Regrettable Century are against invasions and World War 3 and think you should be too. We talk about what orientation if any,  it would be useful for Marxists to take in response to the unfolding tragedy in Eastern Europe. The Ugly, Embarrassing Spectacle of ‘Milling’ Around Onlinehttps://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/03/russia-ukraine-invasion-twitter/624168/Why John Mearsheimer Blames the U.S. for the Crisis in Ukrainehttps://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/why-john-mearsheimer-blames-the-us-for-the-crisis-in-ukraineArmed Nationalists in Ukraine Pose a Threat Not Just to Russiahttps://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/10/world/europe/ukraine-nationalism-russia-invasion.htmlMusic: Україна і Росія - Ukraine and Russia by The State Choir of the Ukrainian SSR "Dumka" (Державна капела УРСР «Думка»)Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Some Real Nerd Hours covering the emergence of a conscious German "National Bolshevism" during the Weimar Era between the World Wars...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

Welcome to the fourth and final episode of our discussion on Chris Wickham's essay The Other Transition, about the transition from the classical to the feudal mode production. This is the last in this particular reading series, but not the last for this collaboration. We will be back soon with another series on a similar topic. Chris Wickham, THE OTHER TRANSITION: FROM THE ANCIENT WORLD TO FEUDALISM, Past & Present, Volume 103, Issue 1, May 1984, Pages 3–36https://www.patreon.com/varnvlogSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

This week the guys discuss the rotting whale carcass that is the American left. Gone are the days of mass organizations, the workers movement, and even the microsect. We discuss atomization, idealism, and our prospects moving forward. Remapping the American Left: A History of Radical Discontinuity (pp 22-32) https://depts.washington.edu/moves/pdf/Gregory_Remapping_the_American_Left_LABOR_May2020.pdf The U.S. left at a strategic impassehttps://www.tempestmag.org/2022/01/the-u-s-left-at-a-strategic-impasse/ Bismarck, Browder, and Biden: Joe’s Hegemony Versus Ours https://cosmonautmag.com/2021/10/bismarck-browder-biden-joes-hegemony-versus-ours/ Music: Tha Crossroads- Bone Thugs-N-HarmonySend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

This week Jason continues to teach us about the history of American socialism. We pick up with the collapse of the old left, discuss the birth of the New Left, the New Communist Movement, and end with the End of History and the turn inward.Dennis, Peggy. The Autobiography of an American Communist: A Personal View of a Political Life, 1925-1975. Lawrence Hill Books, 1977.Bernstein, Walter. Inside Out: A Memoir of the Blacklist. Da Capo Press, 1996.Isserman, Maurice. If I Had A Hammer: The Death of the Old Left and the Birth of the New Left. Basic Books, 1987.Unger, Irwin. The Movement: A History of the New Left, 1959-1972. Dodd, Mead, 1974.Leonard, Aaron J & Gallagher, Conor A. A Threat of the First Magnitude: FBI Counterintelligence & Infiltration From the Communist Party to the Revolutionary Union, 1962-1974. Repeater, 2018.Leonard, Aaron J & Gallagher, Conor A. Heavy Radicals - The FBI's Secret War on America's Maoists: The Revolutionary Union / Revolutionary Communist Party, 1968-1980. Zero Books, 2015.Elbaum, Max. Revolution in the Air: Sixties Radicals Turn to Lenin, Mao and Che. Verso, 2018. Dixon, Aaron. My People Are Rising: Memoir of a Black Panther Party Captain. Haymarket, 2012.Sheppard, Barry. The Party: A Political Memoir (The Socialist Workers Party 1960-1988). Haymarket, 2006.Camejo, Peter. North Star: A Memoir. Haymarket, 2010.Music: Fortunate Son- Circle JerksSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

From the second installment of the Regrettable Book Club's reading of Antonio Labriola's Socialism and Philosophy covering the introduction by Paul Piccone.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

Welcome to the third episode of a new collaborative series with Varn Vlog and the Regrettable Century, where we will be talking about history, historiography, social technologies, relations of production, modes of production, and most importantly, transitions.In this episode, we continue talking about the other transition, the transition to the feudal mode of production.Chris Wickham, THE OTHER TRANSITION: FROM THE ANCIENT WORLD TO FEUDALISM, Past & Present, Volume 103, Issue 1, May 1984, Pages 3–36https://www.patreon.com/varnvlogSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Last year, Neil Gorman and Regrettable Chris hung out during the Christmas break to talk about how bad higher education had gotten during the pandemic. This clip however, is a little preview of the other stuff they talked about.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

This week we further explore our critique of technology under capitalism. Chris was absent from the recording due to grad school reasons, so Jess led the charge on this one. We ultimately determine that technology is bad and the Luddites were right.The Rise of the Machineshttps://jacobinmag.com/2013/04/the-rise-of-the-machines  The Ideology Behind Technologyhttps://www.versobooks.com/blogs/3333-the-ideology-behind-technologyThe Case Against Naive Technocapitalist Optimismhttps://consilienceproject.org/the-case-against-naive-technocapitalist-optimism/Marx on Technologyhttps://andymerrifield.org/2019/09/29/marx-on-technology/ HYPER-REALITYhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJg02ivYzSs&t=291s Music: Bathsheba- At the End of EverythingSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop