“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 Jul 06, 2025
Sunday Jul 06, 2025
Israel failed to assassinate Khamenei, US lifts some sanctions on Hungary/Russia, Russia controls 100% Luhansk, US cuts off military aid to Ukraine, Azov civil war, the collapse continues...
Wednesday Jul 02, 2025
Wednesday Jul 02, 2025
This week Chris and Jason signed on to give an update on the status of the spectacular nature of American Capitalism. Trump's useless strikes on Iran and false declaration of victory prompted us to revisit Guy Debord's concept of the spectacle in relation to contemporary American politics.
Revenge of the Spectacle: This Time It's Personal
http://www.redwedgemagazine.com/online-issue/revenge-of-the-spectacle-this-time-its-personal
The Game of War. Guy Debord and the Society of the Spectacle.
https://www.threemonkeysonline.com/the-game-of-war-guy-debord-and-the-society-of-the-spectacle/
Sunday Jun 29, 2025
Sunday Jun 29, 2025
US Attacks Iran... Did It Work?, Iran Tosses out the IAEA, NATO Potemkin Summit, The Inexorable Russian Lava Flow Pushes On, Ukraine Keeps Collapsing...
How to Pronounce Schadenfreude
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3_DjiLLDfo
Wednesday Jun 25, 2025
Wednesday Jun 25, 2025
Real romantic anti-capitalism hours are back, and this week the boys brought in Mir and Daniel to read Laudato Si by the late Pope Francis, as published by Verso Books (you can read it on the Vatican website or in book form, but we got the free ebook from Verso).
This Papal Encyclical calls for urgent action to address the global environmental crisis, critiques consumerism, blind developmentalism, inequality, and profit seeking. The document calls for global political solidarity to transition to a sustainable economy and for protection of the worlds most vulnerable populations.
Thursday Jun 19, 2025
Thursday Jun 19, 2025
This is it folks, the second half of Chapter 7 and the grand finale of the reading series.
Go to the Patreon to hear the whole episode.
Join the Discord to help us determine what's next…
And Read Along Here:
https://libcom.org/article/question-nationalities-and-social-democracy-otto-bauer
Wednesday Jun 11, 2025
Wednesday Jun 11, 2025
Poland No Confidence in Tusk, Saudis Support For Syria, Israel Attacks Syria, More Genocide in Gaza, Russia vs Ukraine/Al Qaeda in Africa, Walkin' in the Spiderwebs, Terrorism?, Ukraine Body Swap Debacle, Russia's Inexorable Advance Continues...
Monday Jun 09, 2025
Monday Jun 09, 2025
In the final episode of our Czechoslovak Socialism series, we dive into the final attempt to reform the Czechoslovak system. As with the Prague Spring, the official ML/liberal narrative about are the same, that this was an attempt to overthrow socialism and establish a capitalist democracy. Just like the Prague Spring, it seems clear that the intentions of its participants were the opposite. The vast majority of Czechoslovaks who participated in the movements that brought down the republic were attempting to reform the socialist system, not destroy it.
Krapfl, James. Revolution with a Human Face Politics, Culture, and Community in Czechoslovakia, 1989–1992. Cornell University Press, 2017.
Scott Brown. “Prelude to a Divorce? The Prague Spring as Dress Rehearsal for Czechoslovakia’s ‘Velvet Divorce.’” Europe-Asia Studies 60, no. 10 (2008): 1783–1804.
Thursday Jun 05, 2025
Thursday Jun 05, 2025
The dudes are back, although Sean couldn't join for this episode. Jason and Varn talk about some of the logic here, the limits of trying to pin down conservatism right now, and why politics is so frustrating. No, we didn't speak much about Dugin... but we are doing this to remind everyone that we will.
Wednesday May 28, 2025
Wednesday May 28, 2025
The gang takes on the first half of Chapter 7 of Bauer's analysis of the concept of the nation...
Follow Along Here:
https://libcom.org/article/question-nationalities-and-social-democracy-otto-bauer
Sunday May 25, 2025
Sunday May 25, 2025
The boys and Varn Vlog are back again, for the long-awaited return to our series talking about "Decadence Theory." This week, the boys respond to a response to the ICC's pamphlet on decadence theory. The article we read and discussed was published by Aufheben and is titled The Theory of Decline or the Decline of Theory.
Decadence: The Theory of Decline or the Decline of Theory? Part
Varn Vlog