Critique of the Podcast Form

Helen, Esther, and Crane tackle the first book of Machiavelli's Discourses on Livy, reading Machiavelli as a precursor to historical materialism and a radical republican. In the process, they pose the question: what can the critical theory of society learn from Machiavelli today?

Crane and Helen talk about Horkheimer's 1938 essay "Montaigne and the Function of Skepticism," which sees Horkheimer both show the skeptical core of both religious dogmatism and philosophical skepticism, as well as its changing valence throughout the development of the capitalist mode of production.

Imogen, Sebastian, and Sam discuss Situationism as a vindication of Hegelian Marxism and a critique of reified life through its various forms of appearance: artistic production, urban planning, and student life.

Esther and Sebastian discuss the 1932 fragment Nonsychronism and the Obligation to its Dialectics from Bloch's Heritage of our Times. Our hosts talk about their personal encounters with Bloch, revolutionary traditions and the meaning of the communist dictatorship of the present over the past. Special guests include: Kanafani, Amel, and Pasolini. Bloch's essay, as Walter Benjamin commented, "takes its place inappropriately". Perhaps its time was never there, perhaps it contains a utopia waiting to be excavated.

Mac and Crane are joined by J. E. to continue the discussion about Lukács's politics and his essay "Legality and Illegality." This episode goes into depth on the historical and political context of Lukács's work, debates in the Comintern, and the aftermath of the Hungarian Revolution.

The culture industry is at it again! Their new weapon: anime. Their strategy? The media mix. In this episode, the anime subcommittee of the CTWG tackle the anime media-form by discussing Marc Steinberg’s anime’s media mix. We talk about modern anime’s history, the emergence of the media mix, and transition from Fordism to post-Fordism.

Mac and Crane discuss the essay "Legality and Illegality" by György Lukács (Georg Lukács) in the context of his broader development: after joining the Communist Party in 1918, Lukács would play an important role in the leadership of the short-lived Hungarian Soviet Republic (March to August 1919), around which time he would write many of the essays later collected and published in Tactics and Ethics: 1919-1929, only to reverse some of his positions on core issues in his subsequent exile in Vienna, resulting in History and Class Consciousness (1923). In their discussion of the vicissitudes of fate and phil...

J. E. is joined by Cam for an introduction to the history of left-communism, specifically the German/Dutch (councilist), Italian (Bordigist) and French (ultraleft) traditions. The books we mention are the following:

In this episode, Mac Parker and Anatarah Bin AlKaf have a casual chat on Richard Lewontin and Richard Levins seminal book the Dialectical Biologist. They cover why this book remains a key contribution to Marxist theory, philosophy of nature, and philosophy of technology. Along the way, the conversation tackles the influence of Friedrich Engels on Marxist science historiography and science critique from Boris Hessen to the Max Planck institute’s historical epistemology research program. Our discussion culminates in a call for an integrative approach—one that unites political philosophy and science, the local and the global—in the spirit of the...

In this episode, join your hosts Sam Thomas (resident Italophile), J.E. Morain, and James Crane for a discussion taking the 1951 polemic, “Murder of the Dead,” as a point of departure for deeper dive into Amadeo Bordiga’s bellicose and beautiful run of essays in eco-communism throughout the 50s and 60s. Topics of discussion include: Bordiga’s critique of a version of the ‘state capitalism’ thesis, the conceptual matrix of living/dead labor and variable/constant capital, the theoretical and stylistic function of ‘invariance’ in Bordiga's writings, coal mine collapses, the flooding of symbols of national pride, and scientific-scatological reflections on t...

“The motive for realism is never the confirmation of reality but protest.” —Alexander Kluge

“I want my stories to be one hundred percent realistic while at the same time presenting something unseen.” —Ghassan Kanafani

In this episode, join your hosts Sebastian Kokesch and James Crane for a discussion of the necessary connection between aesthetic autonomy and revolutionary political commitment in Ghassan Kanafani's best-known literary writings in English translation: Men in The Sun ('62), All That’s Left to You ('66), & Returning to Haifa ('69). From the perspective of the 'undivided' project of Ghassan Kanafani—as novelist, critic...

Join your hosts J.E. Morain and James Crane for an introduction to the rogue's gallery of far left dissidents (communists, socialists, anarchists) who formed the core of the 'Frankfurt School' from the early 1920s through late 1940s.

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Critics and theorists! Our first official episode of "Critique of the Podcast Form," a discussion with J.E. Morain, Mac Parker, Re Tejus, and James Crane on the CTWG's recent "Racketology" dossier: https://ctwgwebsite.github.io/blog/category/racketology/

Please support us at: https://www.patreon.com/crittheoryworkgroup

Critics and Theorists: the CTWG is proud to present "Episode 0: Debrief on Margin Notes Vol. 1" of "Critique of the Podcast Form," a critical theory podcast! Make sure to watch this space and also bother us for more episodes.

Please support us at: https://www.patreon.com/crittheoryworkgroup