“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
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.
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Episodes
Sunday Dec 31, 2023
Sunday Dec 31, 2023
This preview is from our sixth reading group episode on Revolution: An Intellectual History, by Enzo Traverso. This week we discuss different conceptions of freedom, liberation, and the liberation of time. This was supposed to be the final episode, but it looks like we will have to do one more...
Special thanks to our comrade Connor at Autumn Brigade for our new intro music. Check his music out here: https://autumnbrigade.bandcamp.com/album/geist-ist-tot
Traverso, Enzo. 2021. Revolution : An Intellectual History. London ; New York: Verso
https://www.versobooks.com/products/2783-revolution
Sunday Dec 17, 2023
Sunday Dec 17, 2023
This week we continue our series reading from Rodney Hilton's collection of essays about the Crisis of Feudalism. These are pretty short essays, but we will no doubt be talking about them forever.
Hilton, Rodney. Class Conflict and the Crisis of Feudalism. A&C Black, 1985.
Check out Varn Vlog:
https://www.patreon.com/varnvlog
Wednesday Dec 13, 2023
Wednesday Dec 13, 2023
Head on over to our Patreon to hear us discuss the Napoleon movie with our comrade Matthew.
Monday Dec 04, 2023
Monday Dec 04, 2023
Welcome to part two of our YEAR 5 in review episode. We make one big announcement and then talk about all the really cool stuff that happened this year and all the really cool stuff that is on the horizon.
Wednesday Nov 29, 2023
Wednesday Nov 29, 2023
Welcome to our YEAR 5 in review episode. We make one big announcement and then talk about all the really cool stuff that happened this year and all the really cool stuff that is on the horizon.
Wednesday Nov 22, 2023
Wednesday Nov 22, 2023
Welcome to our fifth reading group episode on Revolution: An Intellectual History, by Enzo Traverso. This week we discuss different conceptions of freedom, liberation, and the liberation of time.
Traverso, Enzo. 2021. Revolution : An Intellectual History. London ; New York: Verso.
https://www.versobooks.com/products/2783-revolution
Music: The Strike-Shots Heard the World
Thursday Nov 16, 2023
Thursday Nov 16, 2023
This week we continue our discussion of Napoleon Bonaparte with our comrade Matthew. We start out tying up some loose ends and then discuss the upcoming Ridley Scott movie and the many variations of Bonapartism.
Music: Marche du Sacre de Napoléon
Wednesday Nov 08, 2023
Wednesday Nov 08, 2023
This week we had our long time comrade and resident France expert, Matthew, back on the show to talk about the mixed legacy of Napoleon Bonaparte. Was Napoleon a force for progress or the death of the revolution?
The answer is yes.
Revolutionary Figures: Napoleon Bonaparte
https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/ageofrevolution/revolutionary-figures/napoleon-bonaparte/#
Napoleon: Hegelian Hero
https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/articles/napoleon-hegelian-hero/
Hegel and Napoleon: On Heroes and the Sublime in History
https://minervawisdom.com/2020/04/13/hegel-and-napoleon-on-heroes-and-the-sublime-in-history/
Music: Chant du départ, the anthem of the first French Empire.
Monday Oct 30, 2023
Monday Oct 30, 2023
A little bonus episode for you this week. Here is the audio of a lecture that Kevin gave at the Cascadian Midsummer festival this summer about William Morris.
Check out Cascadian Midsummer here: https://www.cmfest.org/
Thursday Oct 26, 2023
Thursday Oct 26, 2023
This week we continue our series reading from Rodney Hilton's collection of essays about the Crisis of Feudalism. These are pretty short essays, but we will no doubt be talking about them forever.
Hilton, Rodney. Class Conflict and the Crisis of Feudalism. A&C Black, 1985.
Check out Varn Vlog:
https://www.patreon.com/varnvlog