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-------Visit the Regrettable Century's merch shop:https://theregrettablecentury.threadless.com/
The Left Needs a Utopian Vision (Part I)
This week, we began (and had to cut short) a close reading of The Concept of Left by Leszek Kolakowski. Kolakowski was a dissident Polish Marxist who later turned against the project altogether. However, before he did, he wrote much that is worth reading.
The Concept of the Left- Leszek Kolakowski
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Patreon Preview: The Gang Resolves the Contradictions
This week, Jason and Ben sat down to acknowledge and resolve all the contradictions that have manifested in our discussions on this podcast. Actually, we don't resolve anything, but we do acknowledge some things. Our listeners will know that we often disagree with the broader left, each other, and our earlier selves. While we don't manage to piece together a solid line for the podcast, we do manage to talk a lot about those contradictions.
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On Care For Our Common Home: Laudato Si and Christian Anti-Capitalism (Part III)
This week, the Regrettable Christian Caucus begins Chapter II of Laudato Si, by the late Pope Francis. You can follow along by grabbing the PDF from Verso or from the Vatican website.
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 the protection of the world's most vulnerable populations.
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PATREON PREVIEW: Regrettable Geopolitics 10/11/2025
Samantha Powers' UN/Israel Collusion, Anduril/Palantir Intel Risks to US Military, Right Wing Imperialist Proxy Wins Nobel Prize, Cease Fire in Gaza?, Angela Merkel Shifts Blame Onto Poland and Baltics, Poland's Imperial Ambitions, Zelensky's Wunderwaffen Scams, Ukraine's Energy Industry Crippled...
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Patreon Preview -- Regrettable Book Club: Disaster Nationalism by Richard Seymour (Part I)
It's time for a new patron reading group, and we've chosen 'Disaster Nationalism' by Richard Seymour. The gang gets started with the introduction, which means there is still time to become part of the group. If so, go to the Discord to join in.
From the publisher:
Liberal civilisation is in crisis - now is a time of monsters.
While the spotlight often shines on the actions of charismatic right-wing leaders such as Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, defeating these people will not stem the tide behind them. They are the embodiment...
A Cascading Series of New Lefts (Part II of II)
This week the boys finish a close reading of an interview with Terence Renaud wherein he discusses his new book New Lefts: The Making of a Radical Tradition.
We weigh in on the positive and negative legacies of the multiple revisions to "leftism."
https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/qa-terence-renaud-new-left/
Listen to Part I:
https://regrettablecentury.buzzsprout.com/220523/episodes/17815226-a-cascading-series-of-new-lefts-part-i-of-ii
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Patreon Preview -- Much Ado About Not Very Much: "Red-Brownism" and the Anti-War "Movement"
This week, we read and discussed an article about a phenomenon that apparently some people are, or were, concerned about: the problem of fascist infiltration of the anti-war movement. We discuss the problems inherent in gatekeeping social movements and the lack of left-wing organizations of any size. We also chime in on the overblown concerns about "Red-Brownism."
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PATREON PREVIEW: Regrettable Geopolitics 09/20/2025
The US is Behind On Drone Warfare, Satano-Nazi Terror in the USA, The Global Turn Against the Genocidal Apartheid State, The AFD's Gains in Former SPD Bastion, Reform UK is Britain's Most Popular Party, The Neo-Nazi Who Knew Too Much, Zelensky Is Losing Touch With Reality, Ukraine's Slow Collapse Continues...
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Years of Dread: Political Violence & The Spectacle of Tension
Instances of stochastic violence in the United States are at an all-time high and the political violence of our era mirrors the political topography, disaggregated and rudderless. The boys got together this week to talk about Charlie Kirk and the newer/dumber "Years of Lead."
A Stark Look at the Recent History of Political Violence in America https://time.com/6998406/political-violence-united-states-recent-history/
Our Own Worst Enemies https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/political-violence-our-own-worst-enemies-robert-pape
A Brutal Decade: Dissecting the Causes of Violence in the 1970s https://brilliantio.com/why-were-the-1970s-so-violent/
‘Days of Rage’ and the Fo...
PATREON PREVIEW: Regrettable Geopolitics 09/14/2025
Newer Dumber Years of Lead, Newer Dumber Cold War Heats Up, Israel Kills Kids in Doha This Time, Europe Can't be Inconvenienced by Sanctions on India and China, Poland Shoots Down Three Slow Moving Unarmed Decoy Drones...
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A Cascading Series of New Lefts (Part I of II)
This week the boys do a close reading of an interview with Terence Renaud wherein he discusses his new book New Lefts: The Making of a Radical Tradition.
We weigh in on the positive and negative legacies of the multiple revisions to "leftism."
https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/qa-terence-renaud-new-left/
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Patreon Preview: Do We Need an Updated Theory of Fascism? (Part II of II)
Today we read the second half of an article titled Do We Need an Updated Theory of Fascism? Theorizing the nature and implications of the global far-right resurgence by Prof. Dr. Alex Demirović, which was published by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung.
We liked this article for a few reasons, not the least of which was that it sparked good discussion...
Do We Need an Updated Theory of Fascism? by Alex Demirović
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Patreon Preview: Anatomy of the Microsect (Patron Roundtable)
We sat down with our patrons to read and discuss the 1973 Hal Draper Pamphlet, Anatomy of the Microsect. https://www.marxists.org/archive/draper/1973/xx/microsect.htm
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Under an Elm Tree: William Morris, Animism, and Anti-Capitalism (Featuring Dr. Mathias Nordvig and Arnold from Fight Like an Animal Podcast)
This week, the animist caucus of the Regrettable Century (Kevin) teamed up with Dr. Mathias Nordvig, professor of Nordic Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder and the Sacred Flame Podcast, as well as Arnold from the Fight Like an Animal Podcast to talk about the intersection of animist spirituality and radical politics. To that end, the crew read and discussed William Morris' short essay titled Under an Elm Tree.
Click Here for More Mathias Nordvig
Click Here for Fight Like an Animal Podcast
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PATREON PREVIEW: Regrettable Geopolitics 08/23/2025
Bounty on Maduro, Israeli Pedophile Protected by Trump... Again, Palestinian Dead are 83% Civilians, Zelensky in the Whitehouse... Again, Ukraine's Failing Drone Industry, The Inexorable Russian Lava Flow Pushes On...
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PATREON PREVIEW: Regrettable Geopolitics 08/19/2025
Trump Wusses out on China Tariffs... Again, Leaks Expose Netanyahu's Hunger Plan, Israeli Spies Have Thoroughly Infiltrated Big Tech, The Alaska Summit, Ukraine's Infantry Crisis, Ukraine's Morale Crisis, Dobrapilia Breakthrough, The Collapse Speeds Up...
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Never Coming of Age in America: Adulting and Alienation in a Decadent Society
This week the boys are joined by eternal co-host Jess to discuss the novelty of adults being adults. We discuss the self-infantilization of millennials and older zoomers, which is a reflection of the crisis of meaning and deep rot at the heart of liberal modernity. We believe this is the result of a purely self-oriented conception of liberty and the ideological victory of capital's redefinition of the very essence of what it means to be human.
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Adulting in Middle Age
https://jacobin.com/2024/01/adulting-middle-age-millennials-boomers
Are millennials really an ‘in...
Patreon Preview: Do We Need an Updated Theory of Fascism? (Part I of II)
Today we read an article titled Do We Need an Updated Theory of Fascism? Theorizing the nature and implications of the global far-right resurgence by Prof. Dr. Alex Demirović, which was published by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung. This is an excellent article that we think misses the mark in a few places and provides much fodder for discussion.
Do We Need an Updated Theory of Fascism? by Alex Demirović
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The Luddites Were Right, Actually
Marxist, as well as conservative and liberal bourgeois historians alike, have always had a fundamental misunderstanding about the Luddites. It turns out they weren't just reactionary peasants who feared technology and wanted to keep the world mired in an economy based on stacking sticks and mud. The Luddites weren’t resisting technology itself—they were fighting the economic systems that exploited them through it. This week, the boys dive into a conversation about Luddism's past, present, and future.
The Luddites Were Right
https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2021/06/the-luddites-were-right
What...
Patreon Preview: Towards the Founding of Something New
This week Chris, Jason, and Ben read over the founding document of a now-defunct group to which Jason and Ben used to belong. While much has changed in the years since Jason wrote this document, the fundamental arguments remain the same. It is time for new working-class organizations that seek to build power from the ground up, abandoning any association with liberal NGOs, the democratic party, the microsect form, and internet-based culture war.
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We've including the document that we're reading below as a PDF.
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PATREON PREVIEW: Regrettable Geopolitics 07/18/2025
Ultra-Orthodox Abandon Bibi, Israel Kills More Christians, Israel Kills a US Citizen, SBU Chief Merc'd in Broad Daylight, The West Slowly Begins to Abandon Ukraine, Zelensky's Authoritarianism, Pokrovsk in Peril, Russia's Methodical Advance is Unchecked...
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On Care For Our Common Home: Laudato Si and Christian Anti-Capitalism (Part II)
This week the gang tackles Chapter I of Laudato Si, but the late Pope Francis. You can follow along by grabbing the PDF from Verso or from the Vatican website.
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.
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PATREON PREVIEW -- Regrettable Geopolitics 07/11/2025
Deep State Don's Pedophile Coverup Extravaganza, More Tariff Idiocy, Israel's Relentless War Crimes Perpetration, Yermak's Power Grab in Kiev, Azerbaijan Mafia/NATO State, Russian Gains, Ukrainian Systemic Breakdown...
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PATREON PREVIEW -- Regrettable Geopolitics 07/04/2025
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...
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The Pinnacle of Spectacle: Trump, War, and Opposition in Late Spectacular Capitalism
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/ <...
PATREON PREVIEW: Regrettable Geopolitics 6/28/2025
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
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On Care For Our Common Home: Laudato Si and Christian Anti-Capitalism (Part I)
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.
...
Patreon Preview: The Question of Nationalities & Social Democracy by Otto Bauer: (Episode XI) FINAL
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
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PATREON PREVIEW: Regrettable Geopolitics 06/09/2025
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...
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The Velvet Counterrevolution/Divorce (Czechoslovak Socialism Part III) *UNLOCKED*
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...
Patreon Preview -- Boundless and Bottomless Bonus: Updates On Pessimism
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.
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Patreon Preview -- The Question of Nationalities and Social Democracy by Otto Bauer: Regrettable Book Club (Episode X)
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
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From Dawn to Decadence (Part IV) With Varn Vlog
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
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Trump's America and the Working Class Fightback (Crossposted From the For a New Republic podcast)
We recently went on the For a New Republic podcast to talk about Trump, fascism, and rebuilding the workers' movement in the United States. For a New Republic is the official podcast of Éirígí For A New Republic, an Irish socialist republican party that seeks the reunification of Ireland and the establishment of a workers' republic.
Éirígí For A New Republic
For a New Republic Podcast
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PATREON PREVIEW: Regrettable Geopolitics 05/17/2025
Hungary vs Ukraine, Iran Nuke Proposal, Why Trump Declared Victory Over the Houthis, Chinese Jets Better than Euro's?, Istanbul Clown Show, Ukraine's Lost War of Attrition Continues...
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The Ever Present Present: The Long Now and the Cancellation of the Future
This week we return to an always prescient question: What happened to the future?
What Lies Ahead?
https://jacobin.com/2023/01/slavoj-zizek-time-future-history-catastrophe-emancipation
Mark Fisher’s Specters of Scarcity
https://jacobin.com/2025/01/mark-fisher-neoliberalism-acid-communism
‘Culture has lost the ability to grasp the present’
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/mark-fisher-ghosts-retromania/
How the pandemic messed with our perception of time
https://www.vox.com/science/23823507/pandemic-memory-time-perception-lockdown
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PATREON PREVIEW: Regrettable Geopolitics 05/09/2025
Habemus Papam, Al Qaeda 🤝France, Trump Owned by Xi, Trump Owned by Houthis, Trump Owned by Bibi, Pakistan vs India, China 🤝 Russia, Ukraine's Very Bleak Strategic Assessment...
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PATREON PREVIEW: Regrettable Geopolitics 05/02/2025
Trump/Zelensky Meeting, Minerals Deal, US Arms Sales to Ukraine, Superhornet Down!, North Korean Troops in Kursk, Russian Gains in April
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The Stumbling God Emperor (or the 100 Days of Gomorrah)
The boys got together to take a look at the first 100 days of Trump's presidency. We talk about inept bumbling, cruelty, misery, war, and how it's still not fascism.
Jacobin: This Is America by Daniel Bessner
The Nation: The New McCarthyism Was Started by Liberals by Jeet Heer
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PATREON PREVIEW: Regrettable Geopolitics 04/24/2025
Trump Talks Truce, Iran Nuclear Deal, What's the Point of the EU?, Don't Bluff China, Sumy Missile Strike, Russia Rolls On
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