

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

Dec 13, 2024 • 11min
Patreon Preview -- Books Chris Read in Grad School: The Peculiarities of German History
This week, we read and discussed Eley and Blackbourn's indispensable discussion of the Sonderweg, or special path, of German history. It is often said that Germany's path to the Holocaust begins with the failure of the bourgeois revolution to take hold. This book posits a top-down Bonapartist "revolution" led by Otto von Bismarck which thoroughly bourgeoisified German society from the top to the bottom.Blackbourn, David, and Geoff Eley, The Peculiarities of German History: Bourgeois Society and Politics in Nineteenth-Century Germany (Oxford, 1984; Oxford Academic, 3 Oct. 2011)Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

Dec 4, 2024 • 1h 32min
Class Struggle & Christian Love: Herbert McCabe & Marxist Christianity
Kicking off Year VII, Chris and Ben are joined by Daniel Saunders to discuss Herbert McCabe's Class Struggle and Christian Love. The intention was also to cover pieces by Dennis Turner and Terry Eagleton but time got away from them, so Daniel will have to return again...Herbert McCabe: The Class Struggle and Christian Love https://www.christiansocialism.com/2020/05/14/herbert-mccabe-class-struggle-capitalism-marxism-christianity/More of Daniel:Ideology, Fetishism, Apophaticism: Marxist Criticism & Christianityhttps://www.buzzsprout.com/220523/episodes/14978167-ideology-fetishism-apophaticism-marxist-criticism-and-christianity-with-daniel-saundersIdeology, Fetishism, Apophaticism: Marxist Criticism and Christianity:https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/nbfr.12642And Here:https://daniel-saunders.com/Mentioned Materials:The Slant Manifesto https://archive.org/details/SlantManifestoCatholicsAndTheLeftThe New Blackfriars Journalhttps://www.bfriars.ox.ac.uk/study/new-blackfriars-journal/Science Impregnated With History: Marxism and Reason (With Chris Manno)https://www.buzzsprout.com/220523/episodes/4672121-science-impregnated-with-history-marxism-and-reason-with-chris-manno.mp3?download=trueSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

Nov 28, 2024 • 1h 33min
Year VI In Review: More Geopolitics but Finally Also Podcast & Personal Stuff (II of II)
The long-awaited part two of our year six in review episode. We kick it off with a little geopolitical discussion but get around to discussing our personal lives and the podcast. Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

Nov 20, 2024 • 1h 47min
From Dawn to Decadence (Part II): With Varn Vlog *UNLOCKED*
We are back at it again talking decadence theory with Varn. This week, we dig into Samir Amin's piece from Monthly Review.We discussed the following materials:Morley, Neville. "Decadence as a Theory of History." New Literary History, Vol. 35, No. 4, Forms and/of Decadence (Autumn, 2004), pp.573-585 Decadence: The Theory of Decline or the Decline of Theory?https://libcom.org/library/decadence-aufheben-2 Revolution or Decadence?https://monthlyreview.org/2018/05/01/revolution-or-decadence/ Check out Varn Vlog Herehttps://www.patreon.com/varnvlogSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

Nov 13, 2024 • 1h 10min
Year VI In Review: US Elections, Gaza, & Ukraine (Part I of II)
As we wrap up another year of podcasting, we offer our expert opinions on everything that sucks about the world. Stay tuned for part II. Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

Nov 8, 2024 • 15min
Patreon Preview -- The Question of Nationalities & Social Democracy by Otto Bauer (Episode VI)
The long march through the text continues as the gang tackles chapter three.Read along here:https://libcom.org/article/question-nationalities-and-social-democracy-otto-bauer Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

Nov 4, 2024 • 53min
The Socialism of Fools: Weimar National Bolshevism & Strasserism (Part II of II)
This is part two of a discussion based on a paper Chris wrote about the concept of "German Socialism" from which groups like the NSDAP, the National Bolsheviks, Conservative Revolutionaries, and Black Front draw the basis for their ideologies. Mosse, George Lachmann. The Crisis of German Ideology. 1964. Reprint, New York: Schocken, 1981. King, John. “Writing and Rewriting the First World War: Ernst Jünger and the Crisis of the Conservative Imagination, 1914-25.” St. John’s College, 1999. Kedar, Asaf. “National Socialism Before Nazism: Friedrich Naumann and Theodor Fritsch, 1890-1914,” PhD diss., (University of California, Berkeley, 2010). Krebs, Gerhard. “Moeller van Den Bruck: Inventor of the ‘Third Reich.’” American Political Science Review 35, no. 6 (December 1941), 1088-1089. Stachura, Peter D. Gregor Strasser and the Rise of Nazism (RLE Nazi Germany & Holocaust). Routledge, 2014. Stern, Fritz. The Politics of Cultural Despair : A Study in the Rise of the Germanic Ideology. 1961. Reprint, Berkeley: University Of California Press, 1974. Tourlamain, Guy. Völkisch” Writers and National Socialism : A Study of Right-Wing Political Culture in Germany, 1890-1960. Oxford Et Autres: Peter Lang, 2014. Waite, Robert G L. Vanguard of Nazism : The Free Corps Movement in Postwar Germany 1918-1923. New York: W.W. Norton, 1969. Ward, James J. “Pipe Dreams or Revolutionary Politics? The Group of Social Revolutionary Nationalists in the Weimar Republic.” Journal of Contemporary History 15, no. 3 (July 1980): 513–32. Woods, Roger. The Conservative Revolution in the Weimar Republic. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire : New York: Macmillan Press ; St. Martin’s Press, 1996, 62. Ley, Robert. 1920. “The Program of the NSDAP.” The 25 Points 1920: An Early Nazi Program, February. https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/25points.asp. Paetel, Karl O. The National Bolshevist Manifesto. 1933. Reprint, Coppell Tx: Red Flame Press, 2021. Strasser, Otto. Germany Tomorrow. Translated by Eden and Ceder Paul. 1932. Reprint, London: Jonathan Cape, 1940.Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

Nov 3, 2024 • 26min
Patreon Preview -- Boundless & Bottomless Seas: Dugin's 4th Political Theory (Part VIII)
The boys dive in to Dugin's thoughts on civilization, colonialism, and imperialism.Don't worry, there are literally no digressions and the guys stay on point the whole time.Check out the full episode here:https://www.patreon.com/c/theregrettablecentury Check out Varn Vlog here:https://www.patreon.com/varnvlog/postsCheck out Antifada here:https://www.patreon.com/theantifadaSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

Oct 30, 2024 • 1h 3min
The Socialism of Fools: Weimar National Bolshevism & Strasserism (Part I of II)
First of all, if you are listening to a version with bad audio, don't worry, I reuploaded a version with good audio and you can probably just refresh your podcasting app to get the newer version. This is a discussion based on a paper Chris wrote about the concept of "German Socialism" from which groups like the NSDAP, the National Bolsheviks, Conservative Revolutionaries, and Black Front draw the basis for their ideologies. Mosse, George Lachmann. The Crisis of German Ideology. 1964. Reprint, New York: Schocken, 1981. King, John. “Writing and Rewriting the First World War: Ernst Jünger and the Crisis of the Conservative Imagination, 1914-25.” St. John’s College, 1999. Kedar, Asaf. “National Socialism Before Nazism: Friedrich Naumann and Theodor Fritsch, 1890-1914,” PhD diss., (University of California, Berkeley, 2010). Krebs, Gerhard. “Moeller van Den Bruck: Inventor of the ‘Third Reich.’” American Political Science Review 35, no. 6 (December 1941), 1088-1089. Stachura, Peter D. Gregor Strasser and the Rise of Nazism (RLE Nazi Germany & Holocaust). Routledge, 2014. Stern, Fritz. The Politics of Cultural Despair : A Study in the Rise of the Germanic Ideology. 1961. Reprint, Berkeley: University Of California Press, 1974. Tourlamain, Guy. Völkisch” Writers and National Socialism : A Study of Right-Wing Political Culture in Germany, 1890-1960. Oxford Et Autres: Peter Lang, 2014. Waite, Robert G L. Vanguard of Nazism : The Free Corps Movement in Postwar Germany 1918-1923. New York: W.W. Norton, 1969. Ward, James J. “Pipe Dreams or Revolutionary Politics? The Group of Social Revolutionary Nationalists in the Weimar Republic.” Journal of Contemporary History 15, no. 3 (July 1980): 513–32. Woods, Roger. The Conservative Revolution in the Weimar Republic. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire : New York: Macmillan Press ; St. Martin’s Press, 1996, 62. Ley, Robert. 1920. “The Program of the NSDAP.” The 25 Points 1920: An Early Nazi Program, February. https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/25points.asp. Paetel, Karl O. The National Bolshevist Manifesto. 1933. Reprint, Coppell Tx: Red Flame Press, 2021. Strasser, Otto. Germany Tomorrow. Translated by Eden and Ceder Paul. 1932. Reprint, London: Jonathan Cape, 1940.Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show

Oct 25, 2024 • 14min
Patreon Preview -- The Tragedy of the Hungarian Soviet Republic
In what turns out to be an offshoot of our Czechoslovak socialism series, we dive in to the ill fated and short lived Hungarian Soviet Republic. This also turns out to be incredibly relevant to anyone who is following along with our series on Otto Bauer and the national question.Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show