The Regrettable Century

The boys and Varn Vlog are back again, talking about "Decadence Theory" and how it differs from "crisis theory" and "breakdown theory." We discuss Samir Amin's third-worldist (and not very Marxist) take on decadence theory.Revolution or Decadence- Samir Aminhttps://monthlyreview.org/2018/05/01/revolution-or-decadence/Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

Welcome to a new series that we are trying out for Patrons. This is a lightly edited casual conversation between Jason and Chris about Geopolitics. We aren't really preparing for these by doing a lot of research and we certainly aren't doing much editing. We are going to try to do these semi-regularly and hopefully we can figure out how to do video versions as well.Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

This week we discussed the thought of one of 20th-century Marxism's socialist opponents, Tomáš Masaryk. Masaryk was reviled by Czech communists until they appropriated him and he was an opponent of capitalism until the champions of capitalism did the same. He was a social democrat with an ethical and Christian-humanist vision of socialism that inspired the Prague Spring but was later coopted by the opponents of the working class and human liberation. A State without Suicidehttps://www.commonwealmagazine.org/state-without-suicide Betts, R. R. “Masaryk’s Philosophy of History.” The Slavonic and East European Review 26, no. 66 (1947): 30–43. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4203912.Kohak, Erazim. “T. G. Masaryk’s Revision of Marxism.” Journal of the History of Ideas 25, no. 4 (1964): 519–42. https://doi.org/10.2307/2708184. Kovác, Dusan. "World Revolution — Tomás Garrigue Masaryk and Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" Human Affairs 1, no. 1 (1991): 22-29. https://doi.org/10.1515/humaff-1991-010105Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, and Karel Čapek. Talks with T.G. Masaryk. Catbird Press, 1995.Winters, Stanley B, Robert B Pynsent, and Harry Hanak. T.G. Masaryk (1850-1937).: Thinker and Critic. Palgrave Macmillan , 1989.Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

So, you think you had some judgments? TOO BAD THEY ARE ALL REFUTED!This week Jason and Andrew watched and discussed Guy Debord's follow up to his Society of the Spectacle film, which is essentially a clapback at his haters. As any good Regrettable discussion goes, the film was the anchor, but the topics ranged far and wide. Enjoy!Refutation of All the Judgements, Pro or Con, Thus Far Rendered on the Film “The Society of the Spectacle" (1975)https://www.ubu.com/film/debord_refutation.html Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

This week we read and discussed an article by Richard Seymour that explores Marxism's relationship with materialism and idealism. Seymour argues that the Hegelian inheritance within Marxism forces it in the direction of an idealism which is essential for a successful revolutionary politics.Duel and duality, or, degrowth and dialectics https://www.patreon.com/posts/81735357?pr=true&fbclid=IwAR2ftGQudDJQhykIW4rv_3F34xqP8RGHZdyZyb4JsGQgxzQ7qxvRNI9BP7kSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

The gang tackles Chapter 5 of Bauer's analysis of the concept of the nation.Read Along With Us: https://libcom.org/article/question-nationalities-and-social-democracy-otto-bauerSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

This week we delve into what is sort of a pre-history of the American Socialist movement. Though the populist movement undeniably kept its Jeffersonian character, it was the first (arguably only) significant challenge to the dominance of the two major capitalist parties in the US. Much of the energy and the spirit of American populism flowed into and colored the burgeoning American workers' movement. From Populism to Socialism and Backhttps://jacobin.com/2019/08/populism-socialism-daniel-de-leon-eugene-debs American Populism, 1876-1896https://digital.lib.niu.edu/illinois/gildedage/populism Populist Party Platform July 4, 1892https://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1876-1900/populist-party-platform-july-4-1892.php Cantrell, Gregg, and D. Scott Barton. “Texas Populists and the Failure of Biracial Politics.” The Journal of Southern History 55, no. 4 (1989): 659–92. https://doi.org/10.2307/2209044.Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

The boys and Varn Vlog are back again, talking about "Decadence Theory" and how it differs from "crisis theory" and "breakdown theory." We discuss Samir Amin's Third-Worldist (and not very Marxist) take on decadence theory.Revolution or Decadence- Samir Aminhttps://monthlyreview.org/2018/05/01/revolution-or-decadence/Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

The gang tackles Chapter 4 of Bauer's analysis of the concept of the nation...Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop

This week we entered the archives and poured through the codices and scrolls containing the wisdom of past episodes to give you this curated trash can of Ideology. We highlighted some themes from the past six years of podcasting that we thought were worth underscoring and how our ideas may have changed...Our Underlying Philosophy of Dialectical PessimismS1/Ep5: Pessimism of the Intellect, Pessimism of the WillS1/Ep26: The Proper Amount of Bumming People Out  S4/Ep7: Death of The LeftS5/Ep21: Pessimism is an Optimism: Revisiting PessimismMaking Sense of Our PastS1/Ep27: Children of the Counterrevolution S3/Ep12: The Enlightenment is Dead, Long Live the EnlightenmentS3/Ep22: The Unfulfilled Potential of the Republic S4/Ep3: The Tragedy of American Socialism  Rethinking What It Means To “Be” RevolutionaryS1/Ep18: The Right to the CityS2/Ep8: We Would Prefer Not ToS5/Ep15: The Legacy of William MorrisS6/Ep15: The Antifascism of FoolsA Willingness to Abandon Our Older TrajectoryS4/Ep20: Labor Theory of ApocalypseS6/Ep5: One Plus One Is ThreeS6/Ep16: The Boys Figure Out Which Marxist Tendency is Correct S6/Ep19: To Front or Not to FrontThe Major Obstacles/Challenges We FaceS3/Ep5: Happiness Industry SocialismS3/Ep17: Everything Is Recuperated S5/Ep9: You're Not Making Liberals Socialist...S5/Ep19: The Dialectic of DegrowthOur Deep Skepticism/Hostility Toward Techno-SolutionsS1/Ep31: The Future Has Been Canceled S2/Ep2: Partially Automated Regular CommunismS2/Ep5: Socialism Without Sacrifice... S4/Ep4: No Ethical Technical Innovation Under CapitalismLooking AheadS4/Ep11: Marxism in Dialogue With ChristianityS5/Ep12: The Dialectic of Apotheosis  S5/Ep16: Bathing in the Warm Stream S6/Ep22: Real Grouchy Old Man HoursRegrettable Reading List:The Red Jacobins: Thermidor & The Russian Revolution in 1921Party As Articulator The Tragedy of the WorkerRevolution: An Intellectual HistoryLeft Wing MelancholiaExcremental Happiness: From Neurotic Hedonism to Dialectical PessimismLiquid ModernityThe True and Only Heaven: Progress & Its CriticsThe Twittering MachineHegel & The Hermetic TraditionSend us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showVisit the Regrettable Century Merch Shop