The Regrettable Century
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.
“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
- Update frequency
- every 5 days
- Average duration
- 53 minutes
- Episodes
- 315
- Years Active
- 2018 - 2025
Patreon Preview: Patron Q&A #3
Ok, finally we get around to answering questions about religion and parenting... also some other stuff. Just go listen.
Freedom Stumbles On: Hegel and the Slaughter-Bench of History -- Part I (Featuring Mir)
The boys (featuring the return of Mir) kick back on the slaughter-bench to discuss Hegel's philosophy of history by discussing Terry Pinkard's article "The Spirit of History."
The Spirit of History by…
PATREON PREVIEW: Regrettable Geopolitics 03/23/2025
Regrettable Geopolitics - 03/23/2025 (Israel Turns the Genocide Machine Back On, Yemen/Iran, Kursk, Other Ukraine Things, and Cease-Fire Talks)
Patreon Preview: Patron Q&A #2
Finally, the long-awaited second Q&A episode. We talk USSR, religion, parenting, and all sort of other stuff... but some of it will have to wait until Q&A #3, which will be soon. Enjoy!
Bring the Race-War Home: Foreign Fighters, Neo-Nazi Networks, and Domestic Terrorism
This week Chris and Jason read and discussed a paper Chris wrote for a strategic studies project about neo-Nazi terror networks and their links to far-right militias in Ukraine.
The influx of foreign…
PATREON PREVIEW: Regrettable Geopolitics -- 03/09/2025 (a little Syria, a little Europe, and a lot of Russia/Ukraine)
Another lightly edited casual conversation about geopolitics. We do a whirlwind summary of the stuff that has happened since last week and land back on the subject of Ukraine for most of the program.
From Dawn to Decadence (Part III): With Varn Vlog *UNLOCKED*
The boys and Varn Vlog are back again, talking about "Decadence Theory" and how it differs from "crisis theory" and "breakdown theory." We discuss Samir Amin's third-worldist (and not very Marxist) t…
PATREON PREVIEW: Regrettable Geopolitics 03/01/2025 (Ukraine: Trump vs Zelensky, Manpower Crisis, Dictatorship, Attritional Warfare)
Welcome to a new series that we are trying out for Patrons. This is a lightly edited casual conversation between Jason and Chris about Geopolitics. We aren't really preparing for these by doing a lot…
The Neverending Pursuit of Truth: T.G. Masaryk's Challenge to Marxism
This week we discussed the thought of one of 20th-century Marxism's socialist opponents, Tomáš Masaryk. Masaryk was reviled by Czech communists until they appropriated him and he was an opponent of c…
Patreon Preview -- A Refutation of All Judgements... (A Discussion of the film by Guy Debord)
So, you think you had some judgments? TOO BAD THEY ARE ALL REFUTED!
This week Jason and Andrew watched and discussed Guy Debord's follow up to his Society of the Spectacle film, which is essentially a…
In Defense of Proletarian Idealism
This week we read and discussed an article by Richard Seymour that explores Marxism's relationship with materialism and idealism. Seymour argues that the Hegelian inheritance within Marxism forces it…
Patreon Preview -- Question of Nationalities & Social Democracy by Otto Bauer: Regrettable Book Club (Episode IX)
The gang tackles Chapter 5 of Bauer's analysis of the concept of the nation.
Read Along With Us:
https://libcom.org/article/question-nationalities-and-social-democracy-otto-bauer
Partisans of a Dying Dream: The Populist Moment and American Socialism
This week we delve into what is sort of a pre-history of the American Socialist movement. Though the populist movement undeniably kept its Jeffersonian character, it was the first (arguably only) sig…
Patreon Preview -- From Dawn to Decadence (Part III): With Varn Vlog
The boys and Varn Vlog are back again, talking about "Decadence Theory" and how it differs from "crisis theory" and "breakdown theory." We discuss Samir Amin's Third-Worldist (and not very Marxist) t…
Patreon Preview -- The Question of Nationalities & Social Democracy by Otto Bauer (Episode VIII)
The gang tackles Chapter 4 of Bauer's analysis of the concept of the nation...
Our Regrettable Trash Can of Ideology
This week we entered the archives and poured through the codices and scrolls containing the wisdom of past episodes to give you this curated trash can of Ideology. We highlighted some themes from the…
Patreon Preview -- Film Review: The Society of the Spectacle (w/Grindhaus Podcast)
This is an old episode of our friend Andrew's podcast that was recorded a few years ago. The podcast is now defunct, but we thought y'all deserved to hear it.
In this episode Jason and Andrew watched…
The Long, Slow Death of the 5th Republic
We are joined again by our official France correspondent, Matthew. Matthew is a veteran of American Trot sectarian organizing and the labor movement who lives in France and is more intimately involve…
Patreon Preview -- The Question of Nationalities & Social Democracy by Otto Bauer (Episode VII)
Soldiering on and finishing Chapter 3 of Bauer's excellent Marxist analysis of the nation.
Read along with us:
https://libcom.org/article/question-nationalities-and-social-democracy-otto-bauer
Patreon Preview -- Books Chris Read in Grad School: The Peculiarities of German History
This week, we read and discussed Eley and Blackbourn's indispensable discussion of the Sonderweg, or special path, of German history. It is often said that Germany's path to the Holocaust begins with…