“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
Sunday Jan 05, 2020
Sunday Jan 05, 2020
Wherein we continue our discussion with Derick. Head on over tour our Patreon and sign up for $2 a month to check it out.
https://www.patreon.com/theregrettablecentury
Wednesday Jan 01, 2020
Wednesday Jan 01, 2020
The boys--all the good ones--sat down with C. Derick Varn of Pop the Left and the Symptomatic Redness (which can be found on the Zero Books podcast feed) to talk about Socialism in One Country and/or Socialist Internationalism.
We tackled the topic that has plagued the workers' movement from the early days of the Socialist International and wrapped it up quite nicely. We have answered the national question and can now proceed forward to proletarian victory.
Please check out Part II of our discussion on our Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/theregrettablecentury
Socialism in One Country: A Reassessment -- Erik Van Ree
'SOCIALISM IN ONE COUNTRY' -- Jean Paul Sartre (NLR)
Cuba, Che Guevara, and the Problem of “Socialism in One Country” -- Ron Augustin
https://monthlyreview.org/2019/01/01/cuba-che-guevara-and-the-problem-of-socialism-in-one-country/
Yugoslav Self-Management: Capitalism Under the Red Banner -- Juraj Katalenac
http://insurgentnotes.com/2013/10/yugoslav-self-management-capitalism-under-the-red-banner/
Socialism in One Country & The Cuban Revolution -- Celia Hart
Trotsky and the Debate on Socialism in One Country -- Monty Johnstone (NLR)
The Revolution Betrayed Appendix: “Socialism in One Country” -- Leon Trotsky, 1936
https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1936/revbet/ch12.htm
Socialism in One Country versus Permanent Revolution -- Stalin, 1925
On Permanent Revolution -- Bukharin, 1924
https://www.marxists.org/archive/bukharin/works/1924/permanent-revolution/index.htm
Sunday Dec 08, 2019
Sunday Dec 08, 2019
Apparently, fully automated luxury communism is more than just a meme. We read some articles about it and decided to have a discussion about its merits and shortfalls. Is a post labor society something that is possible or desirable? Is technology really shifting the base of society in a direction that makes fully automated luxury communism more likely? How do we define the concept of luxury and is it really something we'd like perpetuate? Do we as a civilization, species, or planet even have time for something like this to come to fruition before we face total annihilation?
Fully automated luxury communism: a utopian critique
https://libcom.org/blog/fully-automated-luxury-communism-utopian-critique-14062015
Fully Automated Luxury Communism — A Review
https://medium.com/swlh/fully-automated-luxury-communism-a-review-a127d94dcb9a
Is a Post-Work, Post-Scarcity Future Possible?
https://www.bookforum.com/print/2602/fully-automated-luxury-communism-by-aaron-bastani-22004
FULLY AUTOMATED LUXURY COMMUNISM: A MANIFESTO BY AARON BASTANI
James Bridle on why technology is creating a new dark age
Aaron Bastani’s ‘luxury communism’ is a false future
https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/fully-automated-luxury-communism-review
Review: Fully Automated Luxury Communism
http moo s://www.rs21.org.uk/2019/06/09/review-fully-automated-luxury-communism/
Artificial Stupidity
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/artificial-stupidity/
Inventing The Future
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/on-algorithmic-communism/
Wednesday Dec 04, 2019
Wednesday Dec 04, 2019
Sometimes doing something is much worse than doing nothing; we need to figure out when that is. We read and thought and talked about an article that admonishes us to think and talk and read before acting. We have to stand against a politics of catharsis, a politics that does nothing but makes us feel like we are making a difference.
Check out the full episode on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/theregrettablecentury
Sunday Nov 24, 2019
Sunday Nov 24, 2019
Marxism had always contained within it a multiplicity of variations and is possessed, in equal parts, the potential to be used for illumination and obfuscation. Nothing more clearly illustrates this than the early responses of Marxists to fascism.
In our second installment of our series on the history of fascism, we dive into some Marxist theories of fascism.
Our primary source of info for this episode is this wonderful book:
https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1233-marxists-in-the-face-of-fascism
Monday Nov 11, 2019
Monday Nov 11, 2019
It is the first birthday of the Regrettable Century!
We spent the better part of an hour reflecting on our proud moments, regrets, things we changed our minds about (or didn't), and where we would like to go in the future. We've got some heavy material coming up, so enjoy this comparatively light fare.
Music: Every Day is Halloween- Ministry
Wednesday Oct 23, 2019
Wednesday Oct 23, 2019
The movement for proletarian self emancipation is at a low ebb, but in a testament to how stupid and bad the world is, Democrats, Republicans, and European post-fascists have ramped up their rhetorical attacks on the pale ghost of the specter of communism.
Anti-communism has always been the stand-in ideology for racist authoritarianism and it serves the same purpose now in a world without a global movement to scare the bourgeoisie. Liberals, attempting to stem a nascent socialist movement, would condemn fascism and communism equally, hoping to stamp out a nascent workers' movement.
We sat down to talk about how dumb that is.
Losurdo vs. The Category of Totalitarianism
http://awm.or.kr/bbs/data/document/1/Losurdo___Critique_of_Totalitarianism_(2004).pdf
On the false equivalence of fascism and communism
https://jacobinmag.com/2019/10/bulgaria-fascism-nazism-anticommunism-historical-memory?fbclid=IwAR3KlX0_S-giXERD9s2CvrOk-cV0KkKmhXckAjgxSgT0orSlFOrXWH7U7iA
Anticommunism in a world without communism
https://www.patreon.com/posts/anticommunism-in-28790447
The New Anti-Communism: Rereading the Twentieth Century
Sunday Oct 06, 2019
Sunday Oct 06, 2019
Steven from The Supreme Leap Forward is back to talk about the KKKriminal INjustice CIStem of the United $nakes of AmeriKKKa. We discuss the courts, restorative justice, twitter pileons/call out culture, and a little about Soviet jurisprudence.
Steven's essay mentioned in the episode:
Understanding Crime Under Capitalism: A Critique of American Criminal Justice and Introduction to Marxist Jurisprudence- Steven Gilmore
The Works of Evegny Pshukanis:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/pashukanis/index.htm
The other episode we did with Steven
http://regrettablecentury.buzzsprout.com/220523/989392-lawyerization-and-its-discontents-a-discussion-on-marxist-jurisprudence-with-steven-from-supreme-leap-forward-part-i
Kevin and Steven's Marxist Law Podcast featuring Chris
Supreme Leap Forward Episode 12 - Game Of Owns and Feudal Law
Sunday Sep 15, 2019
Sunday Sep 15, 2019
The slow cancellation of the future has been accompanied by a deflation of expectations, both in the realm of cultural and -- apparently -- technological production. Culture has crawled to a halt, its progress replaced by advances in methods of distribution. Technology is bogged down in a cycle of adding additional cameras to the iphone.
Has capitalism outlived its progressive potential?
(The TLDR is yes)
Mark Fisher: The Slow Cancellation Of The Future
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCgkLICTskQ&t=304s
David Graeber: Of Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit
https://thebaffler.com/salvos/of-flying-cars-and-the-declining-rate-of-profit
We are not living in a technological golden age.
https://youtu.be/tvG3dT79TeY
Music: Маяк - Выше Звезд
Monday Sep 09, 2019
Monday Sep 09, 2019
Check out some Real Nerd Hours when Chris and Jason have a discussion about a not very well known article from an obscure Trotskyist journal written around a decade ago...
It generated a little bit of a buzz, but was mostly ignored. We think that was a mistake and we are going to tell you all about why you should care about the decisions of the 10th party congress.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/red-jacobins-and-29448338?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=postshare