“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.
Check us out on Patreon for regular Patron Book Clubs, Regrettable Geopolitics updates, Real Nerd Hours, and more...
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Episodes
Tuesday Nov 02, 2021
Tuesday Nov 02, 2021
This week we have the whole gang together to celebrate the 100th episode of The Regrettable Century. We discuss the highlights of the previous year, how dumb we were as children, and how violent punk shows used to be. Listen as we make our political predictions for the upcoming year and actually figure out how to do Marxist virtue ethics.
Wednesday Oct 20, 2021
Wednesday Oct 20, 2021
From the first installment of the Regrettable Book Club's reading of Antonio Labriola's Socialism and Philosophy covering the introduction by Paul Piccone.
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)
Sunday Oct 17, 2021
Sunday Oct 17, 2021
Welcome to a new collaborative series with Varn Vlog and the Regrettable Century, where we will be talking about history, historiography, social technologies, relations of production, modes of production, and most importantly, transitions.
We start off by talking about the other transition, the transition to the feudal mode of production.
Chris Wickham, THE OTHER TRANSITION: FROM THE ANCIENT WORLD TO FEUDALISM, Past & Present, Volume 103, Issue 1, May 1984, Pages 3–36
https://www.patreon.com/varnvlog
Monday Sep 27, 2021
Monday Sep 27, 2021
This week Chris joins Jason on another one of his side projects, A Fine Old Conflict, which he does with our friend and comrade, Matthew. The guys talk about their shared background of punk rock/pop-culture and whether or not the new Refused album was any good.
If you enjoy this discussion, please check out A Fine Old Conflict .
Monday Sep 13, 2021
Monday Sep 13, 2021
Join the boys as they send Red Library off to the Gray Havens with this final episode in our Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition series.
In this weeks episode we dive into Magee's explanation of Hegel's The Science of Logic as the Kabbalistic Tree, The Philosophy of Nature and the Philosophy of Subjective Spirit as alchemical formulae, and the Philosophy of Objective and Absolute Spirit as the rose in the cross of the present.
Magee, Glenn A. Hegel and the hermetic tradition. Ithaca, N.Y. Bristol: Cornell University Press University Presses Marketing distributor, 2008.
Suite II in g minor- Robert Fludd
Monday Sep 06, 2021
Monday Sep 06, 2021
This week we would like to introduce to you to The Measures Taken. The Measures Taken is a podcast about the intellectual history of the key debates that occurred in Marxism and it also happens to be one of Jason's side projects. All of the contributors to the podcast come from different corners of the American left and believe that they have all been miseducated. This podcast is an attempt at self education and an encouragement for others to do the same.
https://www.themeasurestaken.org/
Tuesday Aug 24, 2021
Tuesday Aug 24, 2021
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- Incendiary- Zeitgeist
Wednesday Aug 18, 2021
Wednesday Aug 18, 2021
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- Rope
Tuesday Aug 03, 2021
Tuesday Aug 03, 2021
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 Williams
Wednesday Jul 28, 2021
Wednesday Jul 28, 2021
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 Union