The Regrettable Century

Christopher Lasch is a figure that draws strong reactions from people all over the political spectrum. Lasch's later work spoke of a growing chasm between liberal managerial elites and the traditional working class (endearing him to some conservatives), but his older work falls solidly within the tradition of homegrown American socialist politics. Our friend and comrade, C. Derick Varn, is currently co-authoring a book on Christopher Lasch, and he stopped by to tell us why Lasch is worth reading. Books by Christopher Lasch Music- Wailin Storms- RopeSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

We teamed up with Adam from Red Library, and our comrade Mir from Sweden, in a farewell reading series on Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition by Glenn Alexander Magee. Magee forges a path tread by few in arguing that Hegel was decisively influenced by western esotericism. In this weeks episode we dive into Magee's explanation of Hegel's Mythology of Reason and the Phenomenology of the Spirit as a Hermetic initiation rite.  Magee, Glenn A. Hegel and the hermetic tradition. Ithaca, N.Y. Bristol: Cornell University Press University Presses Marketing distributor, 2008.The Keeper of the Grail · John WilliamsSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

This week we discuss an article by Ben Davis in Salvage Journal titled The Anarchist in the Network which discusses the pitfalls of organizing in the age of the internet. The extreme atomization of our society has been exacerbated by our social media addictions and our methods of organization against capitalism have suffered as a result. While calls for protests may go viral and enormous crowds may turn out, they lack to coherence needed to bring sustained pressure to bear.  There really is no substitute for the patience, discipline, and efficacy that comes from the self organization of the working class. https://salvage.zone/articles/the-anarchist-in-the-network/Music- Billy Bragg- There Is Power in the UnionSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

From the Regrettable Book Club's investigation of the Appendices in Monsieur Dupont's Nihilist Communism .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

This week we sat down with Lost Horizons  comrade and Red Library Alumnus, Adam to talk about mental illness as a social problem, but we ended up talking about a lot more. We cover the less than stellar performance of SSRIs, Hezychasm, Gnosticism, Hermeticism, communism, exercise, and therapy. Ultimately we concluded that there is no liberation from mental illness without the abolition of capitalism.  Turn Illness Into a Weaponhttps://www.indybay.org/uploads/2013/11/14/turn_illness_into_a_weapon.pdf?fbclid=IwAR32rI-UNxlnfI5-jJDnld9HpLgsu16sdhfjtsEmTsCsa2KTCghV75hoJw8 Depression as a Social Diseasehttps://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-is-he-thinking/201802/depression-social-disease?fbclid=IwAR3JZ1zvC1N9Z1kD6fhoPUpxOJRnJNfGsPdAE86gLvYBhKH6VVRNHjdi5xs Capitalism Hits Home: An Interview with Harriet Fraadhttps://publicseminar.org/essays/capitalism-hits-home-an-interview-with-harriet-fraad/?fbclid=IwAR3Uoiwv3f6ehypnjTtBYNrk8kR6xbBsDHIOVCrS5mwrEpA7YR3k22mSKw8 Music: The Broadways- 15 MinutesSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

This week we continue our series on republicanism and Marxism by discussing the complicated legacy of the American Revolution. Like the bourgeois project as a whole, the historical consequences of the American Revolution have had mixed results. Simultaneously spurring on the cause of human freedom and stifling it, the American Revolution was pregnant with a creative and destructive spirit. As the American Empire appears to be in decline, we ask whether or not things could have gone, or could still go, in another direction. Check out Matthew and Jason's Podcast: A Fine Old Conflict https://afineoldconflict.buzzsprout.com/War and Revolution: Rethinking the 20th Centuryhttps://thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/domenico-losurdo-war-and-revolution-rethinking-the-twentieth-century.pdf Historical Revisionism and Delegitimation of the Revolutionary and Anticolonial Tradition—A Review of War and Revolutionhttps://sci-hub.se/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21598282.2016.1172752 Liberals and Reactionarieshttp://www.leninology.co.uk/2011/10/liberals-and-reactionaries.html From Karl Marx to the Fourth of Julyhttps://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2010/07/inde-j03.htmlTHE MYTH OF THE “CONSERVATIVE REVOLUTION”https://socialistworker.org/2011/12/14/myth-of-the-conservative-revolution Communist and Neo-Babouvist readings of the Enlightenment and the French Revolutionhttps://www.academia.edu/38110441/_Communist_and_Neo_Babouvist_readings_of_the_Enlightenment_and_the_French_Revolution_in_E_Vallance_ed_Remembering_Early_Modern_Revolutions_London_Routledge_2018 Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

We teamed up with Adam from Red Library in a farewell reading series on Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition by Glenn Alexander Magee. Magee forges a path tread by few in arguing that Hegel was decisively influenced by western esotericism. In this weeks episode we trace the roots of Hermetic tradition from a syncretic cult that blended Greek and Egyptian ideas of magic and spirituality, through figures like Paracelsus, Agrippa, Bruno, Baader, and Böhme. Magee argues that, in order to understand Hegel, we have to view him as a Hermetic thinker. Hopefully this book well help us understand Hegel a little bit better.  Magee, Glenn A. Hegel and the hermetic tradition. Ithaca, N.Y. Bristol: Cornell University Press University Presses Marketing distributor, 2008.Music: The Mystical Body Of Christ In Chorazaim (The Great In The Small) · Current 93Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

From the inaugural episode of our recurring Regrettable Book Club. Our first selection is Monsieur Dupont's Nihilist Communism with which we both agree and also disagree.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

It doesn't take much to convince someone that the capitalist system has exhausted its progressive potential and is in a state of decline. There are a number of theories that the prolonged state of crisis of the capitalist system is evidence that capitalism has peaked and is on its way out. While we agree that capitalism has entered a state of decadence, does that necessarily mean that it will collapse completely, and if so will anything good come from it?The Theory of Decline or the Decline of Theoryhttp://libcom.org/library/decadence-aufheben-2#:~:text=In%20our%20view%20this%20theory,critique%20the%20theory%20of%20decadence.&text=Essentially%20the%20theory%20suggests%20that,has%20now%20entered%20its%20decline.Revolution or Decadence (Sami Amin)https://monthlyreview.org/2018/05/01/revolution-or-decadence/A Framework for the Concept of Decadence of Capitalism  (shortest reading)https://www.leftcom.org/en/forum/2013-02-17/a-framework-for-the-concept-of-decadence-of-capitalismICC Decadence Theory Readingshttps://en.internationalism.org/tag/28/287/decadence-theory-and-historical-materialism?fbclid=IwAR1bS0PVOixz8j9Lbtfkq7AELvhjOjmMG5COy8sryHHdrAItTcsFi6lbB2M Music: Refused- Protest Song 68Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

We sat down with our old friend, comrade, and fellow veteran of Trotskist hyperactivsm to discuss the concept of the Republic and whether or not is still useful to Marxist organizing/theorizing. The era of the bourgeois republic has been a simultaneous process of creation and destruction, of liberation and enslavement. As the final epoch of human civilization reaches its nadir, do we still have any use for the republic?The Constitution & The Class Strugglehttps://socialistcall.com/2018/11/27/the-constitution-and-the-class-struggle/Looking at Chris Maisano’s “The Constitution and the Class Struggle”https://cosmonaut.blog/2020/12/02/lenin-and-the-class-point-of-view-looking-at-chris-maisanos-the-constitution-and-the-class-struggle/Fight The Constitution, Demand a New Republic!https://cosmonautmag.com/2021/03/fight-the-constitution-demand-a-new-republic/Bill of Rights socialism and the future of the republichttps://www.cpusa.org/article/bill-of-rights-socialism-and-the-future-of-the-republic/Abolish The Stateshttps://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/08/abolish-the-states/Abolish The Senatehttps://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/12/abolish-the-senate/Music: Paul Robeson- John Brown's BodyA Fine Old Conflict Podcasthttps://afineoldconflict.buzzsprout.com/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