Diet Soap - a podcast
Douglas Lain
The Diet Soap podcast began in 2009 in response to the economic crisis of 2008. Since then it has gone through many transformations, including becoming the podcast for a critical theory imprint out of the UK. Today the Diet Soap podcast is running under its original name for Sublation Media.Sublation Media includes a book publishing effort for critical theory and left politics, a magazine that covers current events and theoretical issues, youtube videos on theory and politics, and finally the Diet Soap podcast. The podcast is where we continue to interrogate the left and each other while having a good time.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jul 31, 2025 • 1h 15min
Episode 654: A Call for Socialist Unity
Chris Cutrone discusses his recent essay in Sublation Magazine entitled "Socialist unity!"Excerpt:The current framework of politics and law in capitalism is severely limited, and geared to other needs: the needs and “rights” of capital. But the workers depend on capital and capitalism: their contradiction must be brought about; for now there is an apparent identity of interests — which capitalist politics exploits. The workers are bound to support capitalism out of self-interest.Read the call for "Socialist Unity" at Sublation Magazine:https://www.sublationmag.com/post/socialist-unitySupport Sublation Media on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Jul 25, 2025 • 48min
Episode 653: The Left is Stuck in a Time Loop with Zohran
Dan Davison discusses his essay for Sublation Magazine entitled "Stuck in a time loop? Mamdani and the Left’s Amnesia" on this episode of Diet Soap. Here's an excerpt:Leftists are brimming with joy that Mamdani’s platform has (apparently) shown the world how to build a winning socialist campaign that brings together and highlights the connections between “material” concerns on the one hand and “identity” concerns on the other. Predictably, much of this has been framed in terms of lessons for the Democrats in how to take on Trump. “You see!” cries the would-be left to the Democratic Party. “This is the kind of bold, positive alternative you should present to voters if you want to win! Here are the policies you should adopt, and here’s how you should campaign for them!”Much like the Enterprise crew in the later repetitions of their time loop, my first thought upon seeing all this was “Haven’t I been here before?”Stuck in a Time Loop Essay:https://www.sublationmag.com/post/stuck-in-a-time-loop-mamdani-and-the-left-s-amnesiaSupport Sublation Media:https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Jul 19, 2025 • 1h 5min
Episode 652: What Musk and Trump Still Have in Common
Chris Cutrone discusses his recent essay for Compact entitled "What Musk and Trump Still Have in Common." Why did Musk and Trump break up? What can we learn about capitalist politics by asking this question? Is Musk mentally ill? Is Trump sad? Find out.Support Sublation Media on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Jul 17, 2025 • 1h 18min
Episode 651: Are We Still Living After the End of History?
Stanley Sharpey joins Douglas Lain to discuss Francis Fukuyama's 1992 book "The End of History and the Last Man," as well as Fukuyama's attempt to defend and return to this work over the last 33 years. Support Sublation Media on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Jul 11, 2025 • 1h 13min
Episode 650: What is History?
Spencer Leonard discusses Walter Benjamin's "On the Concept of History" with Douglas Lain. He raises the question, "Can a Marxist be an historian?"Support Sublation Media on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Jul 7, 2025 • 1h 3min
Episode 649: Big Beautiful Politics (Same as it Ever Was?)
Benjamin Studebaker and Douglas Lain discuss Elon Musk's new political party, Trump's Big Beautiful Bill, and Walter Benjamin's On the Concept of History.Support Sublation Media:https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Jun 19, 2025 • 1h 51min
Episode 648: The Last Marxist Explains the conflict with IRAN
Chris Cutrone describes how the left's history of supporting right-wing reaction in the Middle East has led to this moment of conflict, whether Trump was planning the attack on Iran all along, and the reason we should assume good faith on all sides when considering world politics. Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Jun 13, 2025 • 49min
Episode 647: How Socialists Should Understand American Conservatism
What is American conservatism, and how should socialists understand it? In this interview, Wyatt Verlen offers a historical overview of conservatism in the United States, from the Bourbon Democrats and Robert Taft to William F. Buckley and the rise of the New Right. We explore how conservatism evolved in response to the Progressive Era, the New Deal, and the Cold War, and examine the role of political machines, laissez-faire ideology, and anti-communism in shaping the American right. This is a conversation about history, ideology, and strategy through a socialist lens.Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Jun 6, 2025 • 1h 10min
Episode 646: Bonapartism is not Bonaparte
Chris Cutrone explains why the left needs to abandon the liberal conception of "Bonapartism" and take up a Marxist understanding instead. Bonapartism is not Bonaparte at the Platypus Reviewhttps://platypus1917.org/2025/06/01/bonapartism-is-not-bonaparte/Support Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
Jun 5, 2025 • 1h 9min
Episode 645: The Discreet Charm of the PMC
Stanley Sharpey is a writer and a socialist living in London. His essay for Sublation Magazine, "The Discreet Charm of the PMC" explains the history of the term and ends up sympathizing with the Ehrenreichs given the political dilemma they faced in the 1970s.The Discreet Charm of the PMC at Sublation Magazinehttps://www.sublationmag.com/post/the-discreet-charm-of-the-pmcSupport Sublation Mediahttps://patreon.com/dietsoap
