“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 May 12, 2019
Sunday May 12, 2019
This is part one of a series in which we will chart the history of fascism and attempt to dissect and discuss it in greater detail than we have previously been able to. Our goal is to analyze some of the scholarship done by mainstream and Marxist scholars alike, in order to better understand the phenomenon.
In Part one we synthesize a list of the ideological characteristics of Classical Fascism from similar lists that are employed by fascism scholars, in an attempt to understand what gave historic fascism the unique appeal that it had and attempt to construct a working definition that we can use to define our terms for the rest of the series.
If this ends up going well, the series will trace the history of fascism from its roots in the societal ferment of the 19th century to the modern day post-fascist movements.
Payne, Stanley G. A history of fascism, 1914-1945. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1995. Print
Sternhell, Zeev, Mario Sznajder, and Maia Ashéri. The birth of fascist ideology : from cultural rebellion to political revolution. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1994. Print.
Paxton, Robert O. The anatomy of fascism. New York: Knopf, 2004. Print.
Griffin, Roger. The nature of fascism. London New York: Routledge, 1993. Print.
Monday Apr 29, 2019
Monday Apr 29, 2019
The Gang Gets Underwhelmed by Zizek v. Peterson.
It wasn't the "Debate of the Century" we wanted, but it's the one that we deserved.
Music: Kerber- Ratne Igre
Monday Apr 22, 2019
Monday Apr 22, 2019
We are currently witnessing what appears to be the death of the micro sect form of political organization, a bastard form of the Leninist party that has all but dominated the minuscule and embattled American radical left for the past half century. The political landscape has changed in a way that has rendered these groups obsolete, removing the sectarian left's monopoly on socialist politics in the US, but what will replace it?
Dare we be hopeful for a bright new era?
LOL
The New Communist Movement: An Obituary
https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ncm-7/mrl-obit.htm?fbclid=IwAR21HRylPBOW_OuyET7G4gIdgQnTHI_Qfy430OQnF9f_vScuQG3zIunN_q4
Hal Draper’s the Anatomy of the Microsect
https://www.marxists.org/archive/draper/1973/xx/microsect.htm
Hal Draper’s the Alternative to the Microsect
https://www.marxists.org/archive/draper/1971/alt/alt.htm
Warning about microsect organizing from David McNally in 2009
http://davidmcnally.org/p=1077&fbclid=IwAR1giyezHhZfnQPDzKvu2YvJoBp31_JWtnSXDBqypJ_saOd8GIlZeih7mt0
Socialism In One Organization
https://failedharvest.com/blog/socialism1org
John Riddell on the SWP
Part One
https://johnriddell.wordpress.com/2012/07/05/the-u-s-swp-attempts-an-outward-turn-1977-83/
Part Two
https://johnriddell.wordpress.com/2012/07/08/causes-of-a-socialist-collapse-the-u-s-swp-1976-83/
The Sect System
https://libcom.org/library/sect-system
Song: Bill Bailey (The Ultimate Sectarian)
Joe Glazer and Bill Friedman
Wednesday Apr 03, 2019
Wednesday Apr 03, 2019
As a concept, as a slogan, as an expression of intent The Right to The City contains within it an opportunity for this generation to conceive of new methods of class struggle, of new models of class organization, and of the return of class power. It’s but one of many opportunities we have right now to advance a constructive, utopian, and revolutionary vision of the future. It’s about demystifying social relations where they are presently abstracted. It’s about no longer viewing political activity as either pressuring politicians or becoming them. It’s about identifying what are presently hidden means of exerting our power as class to confront the class enemy, not just at work, but everywhere.
Henri Lefebvre and the Right to the City
http://faculty.washington.edu/mpurcell/jua_rtc.pdf
Neoliberalism is a Political Project -- Harvey
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/07/david-harvey-neoliberalism-capitalism-labor-crisis-resistance/
The Right to the City -- Harvey
https://newleftreview.org/II/53/david-harvey-the-right-to-the-city
PDF of Henri Lefebevre's Urban Revolution
https://thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Henri-Lefebvre-The-Urban-Revolution.pdf
Writings on Cities -- Lefebvre
https://thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Henri-Lefebvre-Writings-on-Cities.pdf
Critique of Urban Geography -- Debord
https://www.cddc.vt.edu/sionline/presitu/geography.html
Why Psychogeography?
https://www.sayitwithpavingstones.org/news/2018/8/14/derive-0-why-psychogeography
Sunday Mar 24, 2019
Sunday Mar 24, 2019
This week Chris and Jason sit down with Donald Parkinson-- the managing editor of Cosmonaut Magazine-- to discuss post apocalyptic eco-war communism, rekindling the Utopian imagination, the need for a post-tradition socialist movement, The DSA, The Marxist Center, Mike McNair, and some of the reasons Donald thinks we shouldn't be so pessimistic.
Cosmonaut Magazine
https://cosmonaut.blog/
Outro Music: Eduard Artemyev- Lullaby
Sunday Mar 17, 2019
Sunday Mar 17, 2019
This week the gang talks about the radical liberatory programs of the Bolsheviks, the failure of these programs, the conservative reaction of Stalin, and the renewed blossoming of these ideas in the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War. We ultimately conclude the Warsaw Pact countries leave much to be desired in the way of workers' democracy, but also provide us with an example of what is possible when a society's resources are devoted to liberation instead of hoarded by the bourgeoisie.
The USSR’s Founding Mother
https://cosmonaut.blog/2018/10/08/the-ussrs-founding-mother/
Liberation in the early days of the USSR
https://isreview.org/issue/86/legacy-october
Bad Romance
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/11/women-better-sex-under-socialism-review
Why Women Had Better Sex Under Socialism
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2017/08/12/opinion/why-women-had-better-sex-under-socialism.amp.html
Ghodsee, Kristen R. Why women have better sex under socialism : and other arguments for economic independence. New York: Nation Books, 2018.
Music: Ina Martell- Ich war allein
Monday Mar 11, 2019
Monday Mar 11, 2019
Kevin and Chris sat down with our old friend Steven; an attorney, Marxist and host of the defunct(ish?) Supreme Leap Forward Podcast to discuss Marxist criminology, prison, cops, and Soviet jurisprudence. We ultimately conclude that cops suck, prisons suck, the law is dumb, and the concept of the lumpenproletariat is something that we need to keep arguing about.
Hal Draper essay mentioned in the episode:
The concept of the Lumpenproletariat in Marx and Engels- Hal Draper
Kevin and Steven's Marxist Law Podcast featuring Chris
Supreme Leap Forward Episode 12 - Game Of Owns and Feudal Law
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
Monday Mar 04, 2019
Monday Mar 04, 2019
This week Jenny makes the case that there are "good" and bad types of identity politics and we discuss the redeemable and irredeemable aspects of them. Ultimately, we come to conclusions that are sure to get us canceled by workerists and idpol-libs alike.
Which... doesn't matter because will have all been boiled alive by rising oceans of acidic seawater long before we ever figure any of this out.
Combahee River Collective Statement :
http://circuitous.org/scraps/combahee.html
Asad Haider: 'Eight Theses on Identity'
http://salvage.zone/
Haider, Asad. Mistaken identity : race and class in the age of Trump. London Brooklyn, NY: Verso, 2018.
Monday Feb 18, 2019
Monday Feb 18, 2019
In part two of our discussion we finally get around to talking about horror movies, Jenny talks about Caliban and the Witch a lot more, and Chris brings that conversation back to fascism... again.
The outro music is Lords of the New Church- Open Your Eyes
Towards A Gothic Marxism I – On Monsters
https://thelitcritguy.com/2018/02/05/towards-a-gothic-marxism-i-on-monsters/
Towards A Gothic Marxism Part Two: Monsters For Socialism
https://thelitcritguy.com/2018/02/05/towards-a-gothic-marxism-part-two-monsters-for-socialism/
A Thousand Lost Worlds: Notes on Gothic Marxism by Adam Turl
http://www.redwedgemagazine.com/evicted-art-blog/a-thousand-lost-worlds-notes-on-gothic-marxism
Socialists Must Reclaim Halloween
https://jacobinmag.com/2018/10/halloween-socialism-china-mieville
Michael Lowy on Benjamin’s Gothic Marxism
https://www.radicalphilosophy.com/article/walter-benjamin-and-surrealism
The Horror of the Real: Zizek as Modern Gothic
http://zizekstudies.org/index.php/IJZS/article/view/356/356
Adam Tooze on Surrealism and Gothic Marxism
https://blindfieldjournal.com/2016/12/01/of-surrealism-marxism/
McNally, David. Monsters of the Market : Zombies, Vampires and Global Capitalism. Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books, 2012.
Cohen, Margaret. Profane Illumination : Walter Benjamin and the Paris of Surrealist Revolution. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993
Federici, Silvia. Caliban and the Witch. New York London: Autonomedia Pluto, distributor, 2004.
Sunday Feb 10, 2019
Sunday Feb 10, 2019
In this episode we talk about Marxist romanticism and the gothic strain in Marxism, or "gothic Marxism." We attempt to salvage the detritus of bourgeois society and the broken dreams of generations of the defeated to piece together a vision of world worth fighting for. Marx often used Gothic imagery in his writings and held a strong romantic streak that we think has been ignored by "vulgar" Marxists who cling to the mechanistic Protestantism and scientism of the enlightenment.
This is only part one of a two part episode and we promise you we talk about horror movies eventually, just keep your shorts on.
The intro is a paraphrasing of Adam Turl from a piece he wrote for Red Wedge Magazine, linked below:
The outro music is Bauhaus- The Passion of Lovers
Towards A Gothic Marxism I – On Monsters
https://thelitcritguy.com/2018/02/05/towards-a-gothic-marxism-i-on-monsters/
Towards A Gothic Marxism Part Two: Monsters For Socialism
https://thelitcritguy.com/2018/02/05/towards-a-gothic-marxism-part-two-monsters-for-socialism/
A Thousand Lost Worlds: Notes on Gothic Marxism by Adam Turl
http://www.redwedgemagazine.com/evicted-art-blog/a-thousand-lost-worlds-notes-on-gothic-marxism
Socialists Must Reclaim Halloween
https://jacobinmag.com/2018/10/halloween-socialism-china-mieville
Michael Lowy on Benjamin’s Gothic Marxism
https://www.radicalphilosophy.com/article/walter-benjamin-and-surrealism
The Horror of the Real: Zizek as Modern Gothic
http://zizekstudies.org/index.php/IJZS/article/view/356/356
Adam Tooze on Surrealism and Gothic Marxism
https://blindfieldjournal.com/2016/12/01/of-surrealism-marxism/
McNally, David. Monsters of the Market : Zombies, Vampires and Global Capitalism. Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books, 2012.
Cohen, Margaret. Profane Illumination : Walter Benjamin and the Paris of Surrealist Revolution. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993
Siegel, Paul N. The Meek and the Militant : Religion and Power Across the World. Chicago, Ill: Haymarket Books, 2005.