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, bu ...
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Trump's America and the Working Class Fightback (Crossposted From the For a New Republic podcast)
1:27:14
1:27:14
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1:27:14We 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 Ne…
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PATREON PREVIEW: Regrettable Geopolitics 05/17/2025
10:33
10:33
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10:33Hungary 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... Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showBy Chris & Jason
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The Ever Present Present: The Long Now and the Cancellation of the Future
1:13:51
1:13:51
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1:13:51This 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://w…
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PATREON PREVIEW: Regrettable Geopolitics 05/09/2025
10:08
10:08
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10:08Habemus 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... Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showBy Chris & Jason
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PATREON PREVIEW: Regrettable Geopolitics 05/02/2025
12:17
12:17
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12:17Trump/Zelensky Meeting, Minerals Deal, US Arms Sales to Ukraine, Superhornet Down!, North Korean Troops in Kursk, Russian Gains in April Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showBy Chris & Jason
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The Stumbling God Emperor (or the 100 Days of Gomorrah)
1:30:21
1:30:21
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1:30:21The 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 Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show…
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PATREON PREVIEW: Regrettable Geopolitics 04/24/2025
10:19
10:19
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10:19Trump Talks Truce, Iran Nuclear Deal, What's the Point of the EU?, Don't Bluff China, Sumy Missile Strike, Russia Rolls On Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showBy Chris & Jason
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Patreon Preview -- For What We Will: A Brief History of American Socialism (For the New Zealand Federation of Socialist Societies)
13:14
13:14
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13:14A couple of weeks ago, Jason gave a talk to the New Zealand Federation of Socialist Societies about the history of American Socialism. Here is the audio of that talk... Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showBy Jason & NZ Comrades
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Freedom Stumbles On: Hegel and the Slaughter-Bench of History (PART II)
1:12:59
1:12:59
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1:12:59The boys (featuring the return of Mir) return to the slaughter-bench to finish discussing Terry Pinkard's article "The Spirit of History." The Spirit of History by Terry Pinkard https://aeon.co/essays/what-is-history-nobody-gave-a-deeper-answer-than-hegel Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show…
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PATREON PREVIEW: Regrettable Geopolitics 04/12/2025
10:54
10:54
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10:54Kursk Losses Breakdown, China China China, Israel Executes UN Worker and Paramedics, Ansar Allah Reaps Reaper Drones, Renewed Russian Offensive? And so on... Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showBy Chris & Jason
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Patreon Preview -- The Question of Nationalities and Social Democracy by Otto Bauer: Regrettable Book Club (Episode X)
10:37
10:37
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10:37The gang tackles Chapter 06 of Bauer's analysis of the concept of the nation. The Transformation of the Principle of Nationality (pg. 355) National Autonomy and the Principle of Nationality The Roots of Capitalist Expansionism The Working Class and Capitalist Expansionism Imperialism and the Principle of Nationality Socialism and the Principle of …
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Unbreakable Union: Introductions (With an introduction to the introduction by Jason and Chris)
43:03
43:03
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43:03Here's a bonus episode for you on what is normally an off week. Listen now to hear Jason and Chris give an introduction to the introduction of the Unbreakable Union podcast, then listen to the introduction. Unbreakable Union Podcast Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the show…
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PATREON PREVIEW: Regrettable Geopolitics 04/02/2025
12:54
12:54
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12:54Rare Earths Deal, War Footing in the Pacific, Coalition of the... Willing?, Ceasefire Breaches, Le Pen Convicted, Trump is Pissed off at Putin, NYT Says Ukrainians are Stupid Losers, Russian Offensive Isn't Stalling After All... Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showBy Chris & Jason
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Introducing The Unbreakable Union Podcast: The Contemporary Importance of Soviet History
1:25:10
1:25:10
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1:25:10This week Chris talks to Jason and Matthew about their new podcast: Unbreakable Union. This ambitious project will span six seasons with roughly one decade being covered per season. Check out our episode then listen to the podcast below or on your preferred podcatcher. It should be showing up everywhere in the next few days. https://www.buzzsprout.…
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*REUPLOADED* PATREON PREVIEW: Regrettable Geopolitics 03/29/2025
10:38
10:38
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10:38Signalgate, Yemen, Ceasefire Failures, Russian Advances, and Ukrainian Flailing. Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showBy Chris & Jason
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Ok, finally we get around to answering questions about religion and parenting... also some other stuff. Just go listen. Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showBy Chris, Kevin, Jason, & Ben
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Freedom Stumbles On: Hegel and the Slaughter-Bench of History -- Part I (Featuring Mir)
1:11:28
1:11:28
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1:11:28The 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 Terry Pinkard https://aeon.co/essays/what-is-history-nobody-gave-a-deeper-answer-than-hegel Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Suppo…
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PATREON PREVIEW: Regrettable Geopolitics 03/23/2025
14:02
14:02
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14:02Regrettable Geopolitics - 03/23/2025 (Israel Turns the Genocide Machine Back On, Yemen/Iran, Kursk, Other Ukraine Things, and Cease-Fire Talks) Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showBy Chris & Jason
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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! Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showBy Chris, Kevin, Jason, & Ben
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Bring the Race-War Home: Foreign Fighters, Neo-Nazi Networks, and Domestic Terrorism
1:11:45
1:11:45
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1:11:45This 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 fighters to Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion of 2022 has outpaced US intel and law enforcement agencies' ability to monitor potenti…
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PATREON PREVIEW: Regrettable Geopolitics -- 03/09/2025 (a little Syria, a little Europe, and a lot of Russia/Ukraine)
17:21
17:21
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17:21Another 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. Send us a message (sorry we can't respond on here). Support the showBy Chris & Jason
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From Dawn to Decadence (Part III): With Varn Vlog *UNLOCKED*
1:51:46
1:51:46
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1:51:46The 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) take on decadence theory. Revolution or Decadence- Samir Amin https://monthlyreview.org/2018/05/01/revolution-or-decadence/ Send us a message (sorry we …
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PATREON PREVIEW: Regrettable Geopolitics 03/01/2025 (Ukraine: Trump vs Zelensky, Manpower Crisis, Dictatorship, Attritional Warfare)
25:16
25:16
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25:16Welcome 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 of research and we certainly aren't doing much editing. We are going to try to do these semi-regularly and hopefully we can figure out how to do video…
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The Neverending Pursuit of Truth: T.G. Masaryk's Challenge to Marxism
1:27:19
1:27:19
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1:27:19This 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 capitalism until the champions of capitalism did the same. He was a social democrat with an ethical and Christian-humanist vision of socialism that insp…
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Patreon Preview -- A Refutation of All Judgements... (A Discussion of the film by Guy Debord)
20:55
20:55
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20:55So, 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 clapback at his haters. As any good Regrettable discussion goes, the film was the anchor, but the topics ranged far and wide. Enjoy! Refutation of Al…
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