Diet Soap - a podcast: Recent Episodes
Douglas Lain
The Diet Soap podcast began in 2009 in response to the economic crisis of 2008. Since then it has gone through many transformations, including becoming the podcast for a critical theory imprint out of the UK.
Today the Diet Soap podcast is running under its original name for Sublation Media.
Sublation Media includes a book publishing effort for critical theory and left politics, a magazine that covers current events and theoretical issues, youtube videos on theory and politics, and finally the Diet Soap podcast. The podcast is where we continue to interrogate the left and each other while having a good time.
In his new book "The Political Right and Equality" McManus presents an intellectual history of the conservative and reactionary tradition, stretching from Aristotle and Filmer to Alexander Dugin and Patrick Deneen. In this episode of Diet Soap McManus discusses his book with Douglas Lain.
School of Materialist Research Link
https://schoolofmaterialistresearch.org/Integrated-Credit-Program-Fall-Semester-2023-2024
Support Sublation Media on Patreon
https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Douglas Lain and Freddie deBoer discuss his new book "How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement." They explore why left movements fail. In the digital age, social movements flare up but then lose steam through a lack of tangible goals, the inherent moderating effects of our established institutions and political parties, and the lack of any real grassroots movement in contemporary America.
School of Materialist Research Link
https://schoolofmaterialistresearch.org/Integrated-Credit-Program-Fall-Semester-2023-2024
How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement by Fredrik deBoer
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/How-Elites-Ate-the-Social-Justice-Movement/Fredrik-deBoer/9781668016015
Support Sublation Media
https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Chris Cutrone's "Cutronezone" featuring a conversation about his 2018 essay "The future of socialism: What kind of illness is capitalism?"
School of Materialist Research Link
https://schoolofmaterialistresearch.org/Integrated-Credit-Program-Fall-Semester-2023-2024
Buy Chris Cutrone's Book: The Death of the MIllennial Left
https://www.sublationmedia.com/books/the-death-of-the-millennial-left
Sublation Media Summer Conference in NYC
https://www.facebook.com/events/3575294676018323/3575849189296205/
Support Sublation on Patreon
https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Benjamin Studebaker's book "The Chronic Crisis of American Democracy: The Way Is Shut" argues that American democracy is in crisis. The economic system is slowly subjecting Americans of nearly all income levels and backgrounds to enormous amounts of stress. The United States lacks the state capacity required to alleviate this stress, and politicians increasingly find that if they promise to solve economic problems, they are likely to disappoint voters. Instead, they encourage voters to blame each other.
The Chronic Crisis of American Democracy by Benjamin Studebaker
https://www.amazon.com/Chronic-Crisis-American-Democracy-Shut/dp/3031282094
Support Sublation Media on Patreon
https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Robert Kurz was a German Marxist philosopher, social critic, journalist and editor of the journal Exit! He was one of Germany's most prominent theorists of value criticism. Nick Gruber joins Douglas Lain to discuss Kurz's legacy.
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Chris Cutrone, author of "The Death of the Millennial Left," former president of the Platypus Affiliated Society, professor of critical theory and art, continues to reign in the CUTRONEZONE. Enjoy!
Buy "The Death of the Millennial Left" by Chris Cutrone
https://www.sublationmedia.com/books/the-death-of-the-millennial-left
Support Sublation on Patreon
https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Doug and Derick discuss Lukacs in the latest episode of Pop the Left. Can we escape reificiation? Will the left recover from the latest attempt at social democracy? Where do we go from here?
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Ashley Frawley and Douglas Lain evaluate the allegation that RFK Jr. is anti-semitic and attempt to determine why even smart people can find racist conspiracy theories to be attractive and compelling.
Join Ashley and Doug for a Second Hour on Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/posts/rfk-jr-and-86585209
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https://patreon.com/dietsoap
CyberDandy is a youtuber and anarchist and in this video he discusses Marcuse's Heideggerian origins, the concept of Repressive Tolerance, and how to create a radical or revolutionary subjectivity.
Link to CyberDandy's Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/@UCO-wcSkNuzJcW_riqERizqQ
Support Sublation on Patreon
https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Ben Burgis discusses his essay for Jacobin "Cornel West Should Challenge Biden in the Democratic Primaries" with Douglas Lain in this episode of Diet Soap.
Radhika Desai is Professor in the Department of Political Studies and Director of the Geopolitical Economy Research Group at the University of Manitoba, Canada, and Convenor of the International Manifesto Group.
Capitalism, Coronavirus and War investigates the decay of neoliberal financialised capitalism as revealed in the crisis the novel coronavirus triggered but did not cause, a crisis that has been deepened by the conflict over Ukraine and its repercussions across the globe.
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James Smith's recent essay in Sublation Magazine "Capitalist Realism All Over Again" was very popular at Sublation Magazine. It begins with these lines:
Such is the whiplash of the left’s fortunes in the almost a decade and a half since Mark Fisher’s Capitalist Realism, that many of us are already onto our second ‘reappraisal’ of the great book.In this special edition of Everyday Analysis Alfie Bown discusses how the concept of Capitalist Realism applies today.
Chris Cutrone in the CutroneZone discusses his 2012 essay "A Century of Marxism" while also covering topics such as the coming constitutional crisis, RFK Jr's jacked bod, and Biden's athleticism.
The Death of the Millennial Left will be available Internationally in July
https://www.sublationmedia.com/product-page/the-death-of-the-millennial-left-interventions-2006-2022
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Djene Rhys Bajalan joins Doug to discuss Djene's recent essay in Compact entitled: "The Poverty of Anti-Imperialism." The discuss who is at fault for the crisis in Ukraine, the domestic consequence of US Imperialism, and the prospects for socialism.
The Poverty of Anti-Imperialism
https://compactmag.com/article/the-poverty-of-anti-imperialism
Support Sublation Media
http://patreon.com/dietsoap
James M Vaughn is a history professor at the University of Chicago, a Marxist, and the author of the essay "The bourgeois revolution(s) and the American Revolution." In this interview Vaughn explains how civil society emerged from feudalism, how socialists originally conceived of the role of the State, and why it is that Marxists should defend the bill of rights.
The bourgeois revolution(s) and the American Revolution
https://platypus1917.org/2013/12/15/1776-in-world-history/
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Chris Cutrone's first book, "The Death of the Millennial Left" is out from Sublation and available now. The pre-orders have shipped. In this episode of the CutroneZone he discusses our contemporary moment from multiple levels. What is happening to anarchists, the Marxists, the social democrats, and the rest of the left in this post-covid, proxy-war, UFO ridden moment?
Buy Chris Cutrone's Book
https://www.sublationmedia.com/books/the-death-of-the-millennial-left
Support Us on Patreon
https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Ashley and Doug discuss David Grusch's recent revelation that the US Government has been hiding downed UFOs for decades, that Apple used alien technology to create the new Vision Pro, and that Posadism is the one true Marxist tendency.
Jacob Siegel is a senior editor at Tablet Magazine and a freelance journalist who has published at Vice, the Daily Beast, and the co-host of the podcast Manifesto! He is the author of A Guide to Understanding the Hoax of the Century, an essay which connects the dots regarding the war on disinformation, Russiagate, and the War on Terror.
A Guide to Understanding the Hoax of the Century by Jacob Siegel
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/guide-understanding-hoax-century-thirteen-ways-looking-disinformation
Manifesto! a Podcast
https://manifesto.fireside.fm/
Support Sublation Media on Patreon
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Ashley Frawley and Douglas Lain discuss how cancel culture has evolved and been taken up by the State. Ashley will explain value conflict theory and how it relates to and explains our current moment.
Listen to the Second Hour on Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/posts/84113176?pr=true
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Freddie deBoer and Douglas Lain discuss Freddie's recent essay "The Left's Vapid Anti-Musk Discourse" in this week's Diet Soap podcast.
In his essay deBoer writes, "The amount of attention Musk has attracted can be chalked up to culture war: Exxon’s CEO, whatever his business practices, isn’t shitposting in a way that annoys progressives. Musk, by contrast, regularly tweets things that provoke liberals."
Paul Cockshott is a Scottish computer scientist, Marxian economist, and a reader at the University of Glasgow. Since 1993 he has authored multiple works in the tradition of scientific socialism, most notably Towards a New Socialism and How the World Works. In this interview Cockshott discusses how he came to be a socialist and his understanding of the Cultural Revolution.
As Ukraine pushes the Russians back and is bombarded by missiles, the situation is seeming murkier and murkier. What are we to make of the war in Ukraine? Our foreign policy analysts attempt to provide an answer.
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Stephen Janicki returns to the podcast to debate socialism. How should we conceive of socialism? What do MAGA republicans really want?
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Urszula and Ron from the Marxist Humanist organization News and Letters discuss dialectical thinking, freedom, and the war in Ukraine. Is there an opportunity for working-class solidarity in Ukraine and Russia?
Doug's CGAS Seminar on Radical Podcasting
https://gcascollege.ie/radical-content-producer
Support Us On Patreon
https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Susanna Kleeman, the author of the novel Twice, announces her upcoming podcast/video series Fatal Dates. Fatal Dates is a show about real connections in unreal times, it's about men and women, it's about love and lovelessness. Picking up on Baudrillard's book Fatal Strategies, Kleeman will attempt to move beyond reason and modernity into the abyss and mystery of the symbolic, and she'll do it one virtual date at a time.
Doug's CGAS Seminar on Radical Podcasting
https://gcascollege.ie/radical-content-producer
Support Us on Patreon
https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Chris Cutrone of the Platypus Affiliated Society returns in order to both defend and transcend what Moishe Postone called "Traditional Marxism." The conversation is, as always, freewheeling and covers a variety of topics. Watch Doug try to keep up as Cutrone gallops ahead.
Conrad Hamilton's recent essay for Sublation Magazine "On Marx's Labor Certificates" is the topic of this week's Diet Soap podcast, although the conversation begins with a discussion of culture...specifically Conrad discusses Doug's discovery of My Chemical Romance's 2006 hit "Teenagers" and his inexplicable obsession with the song.
On Marx's Labor Certificates by Conrad Hamilton
https://www.sublationmag.com/post/on-marx-and-labor-certificates
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Mike Taber has edited and prepared a number of books related to the history of revolutionary and working-class movements—from collections of documents of the Communist International under Lenin to works by James P. Cannon, Leon Trotsky, Malcolm X, Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Maurice Bishop, and Nelson Mandela. His book Under the Socialist Banner is a collection of the resolutions of the Second International from 1889 to 1912.
This video compares the Hegel of Zizek to the Hegel of Adorno, by considering Adorno’s theory of nonidentity to Zizek’s theory of the gap or parallax. And in an effort to make these abstractions from critical theory concrete and fun, in order to make these theories simple enough for idiots like myself to understand, I turn to the absurdist science fiction film “Everything, Everywhere, All At Once” to provide some illustrations.
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Ashley Frawley is hard at work revising her upcoming book "Significant Emotions: Rhetoric and Social Problems in a Vulnerable Age," and therefore this week, rather than interview an author from Sublation Magazine, Doug and Ashley will discuss the death of the subject, mindfulness, and emotions.
Significant Emotions by Ashley Frawley
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Significant-Emotions-Rhetoric-Problems-Vulnerable/dp/1350026794
Deep State Kuba and Stefan Bertram Lee discuss the state of the war in Ukraine and speculate that the Ukrainian counter-offensive may have changed the outcome of the war. Certainly Russia has lost the special military action. What will come next given that Putin has upgraded the conflict to a war officially and is mobilizing more Russian forces?
Conrad Hamilton and Eliot Rosenstock discuss the history and rebirth of the Sublation Socialists Facebook Group. This is an episode where some dirty laundry is aired in public.
Check out Sublation Socialists
https://www.facebook.com/groups/61364...
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Chris Cutrone stops by to discuss his essay for Compact magazine entitled "Bourgeois Heroes." Cutrone approaches the Netflix original series Ozark from the perspective of a paranoid critic, or a critic who, in Adorno's words: "overestimates its object and exaggerates its meaning, using the microcosm of the cultural phenomenon to illuminate the surrounding social world."
Bourgeois Heroes by Chris Cutrone
https://compactmag.com/article/bourgeois-heroes
Support Us on Patreon
https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Anarchist podcaster Cyber Dandy joins Douglas Lain for a special edition of the Diet Soap podcast. They discuss the British Wing of the Situationist International, why it was that situationists were beloved by anarchists in the UK, and how the relationship between Debord's small Marxist sect and the long struggle for socialism.
In this episode of Diet Soap, the author and youtube star Ben Burgis joins Douglas Lain to discuss the impasse that the left faces today. Has the left been absorbed by the democratic party for good? Can the left figure out how to intervene and stop an existential catastrophe in Ukraine? Is there any prospect for an independent and radical socialist movement after COVID?
Jensen Suther is the author of "Spirit Disfigured," and in this episode of Diet Soap Suther explains why Adorno developed "negative dialectics" after the German revolution failed in 1918. Suther also discusses Adorno's understanding of Schoenberg and of Samuel Beckett.
Since 2016 Christopher Lasch's books and reputation have both reemerged as relevant in an era when the left has been subsumed under the banner of the democratic party. Specifically, Lasch has been taken up as a figure who can refute the PMC approach to overcoming racism and woke politics, but he has mostly been taken up by the right or by the "post-left." In this interview, Elijah Emery and Douglas Lain discuss what Lasch has to offer socialists and the struggle for socialism.
Todd McGowan, author of Enjoyment Right & Left and Emancipation After Hegel discusses the difference between Pinkard and Zizek and the question of Hegel's ontological claims in this week's Diet Soap podcast. McGowan also discusses the question of universality and the State in this week's patron's only podcast.
Ben Tarnoff, a tech writer and co-founder of Logic Magazine joins Douglas Lain to discuss Tarnoff's book "Internet for the People."
From the back of the book:
"In Internet for the People, leading tech writer Ben Tarnoff offers an answer. The internet is broken, he argues, because it is owned by private firms and run for profit. Google annihilates your privacy and Facebook amplifies right-wing propaganda because it is profitable to do so. But the internet wasn't always like this—it had to be remade for the purposes of profit maximization, through a years-long process of privatization that turned a small research network into a powerhouse of global capitalism. Tarnoff tells the story of the privatization that made the modern internet, and which set in motion the crises that consume it today."
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Tom Bunyard is a university lecturer at Brighton in the UK. He is the author of the book "Debord, Time and Spectacle," a book from Brill, and he nicely agreed to talk to me about Debord, Time, and chapter four of Society of the Spectacle last week. This conversation came before I finished the script for the Critical Cuts video "Did Marx Ruin Marxism?" It helped to inform the creation of that script.
Debord Time and Spectacle by Tom Bunyard
https://brill.com/view/title/21353
Did Marx Ruin Marxism? (Critical Cuts video)
https://youtu.be/VQZXD4ySy5w
Support Us on Patreon
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Slavoj Zizek and Terry Pinkard join Douglas Lain to discuss Hegel's Spirit or Geist. Is Hegel a philosopher that returns us to metaphysics or did Hegel continue Kant's Copernican turn? Further, must we overcome all metaphysical claims, even negative claims?
Ryan and Lavit discuss San Francisco's new Compassionate Alternative Response Team program and ask whether it's possible that the "unhoused population" in San Francisco will truly benefit from a program that does not spend more to address the material needs of the homeless but instead attempts to change the attitude and social framing around the care that is currently on offer. Can treating homeless people as if they are "worthy of life and dignity" and relying on "trauma-informed, unarmed civilians" to provide help rather than "institutions of control" really improve conditions for the homeless in San Francisco, or is this "new" program just a rebranding effort for a project of neoliberal neglect?
Former president of the Platypus Affiliated Society discusses his recent publications in Compact and Sublation Magazine. On July 1st Compact published "The End of Millennial Marxism" and we at Sublation published "Dogmatization and Thought Taboos on the “Left.” Cutrone attempts to discuss both of these essays while Doug persists in demanding Cutrone explain Marxism in terms of commodity production, exploitation, and value.
The End of Millennial Marxism by Chris Cutrone
https://compactmag.com/article/the-end-of-millennial-marxism
Dogmatization and Thought Taboos on the “Left” by Chris Cutrone
https://www.sublationmag.com/post/dogmatization-and-thought-taboos-on-the-left
Spencer Leonard and Douglas Lain discuss the history of sedition laws and the way the January 6th insurrection may represent a regression away from democracy. Do the people or masses have a right to change their form of government?
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Ryan and Lavit discuss Mark Fisher's 2013 essay "Exiting the Vampire Castle" and Ryan Grimm's Intercept essay "The Elephant in the Zoom." How has it happened that the Vampire Castle Fisher described as a trap for the radical left has come to define the progressive bureaucracy? Why are the institutions ranging from the ACLU to the Audubon Society so woke as to be crippled by internal strife and crisis?
Mark Fisher's Exiting the Vampire Castle Essay
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/exiting-vampire-castle/
Ryan Grim's "Elephant in the Zoom"
https://theintercept.com/2022/06/13/progressive-organizing-infighting-callout-culture/
Support Us on Patreon
https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Doug and Jason discuss the early 70's Blaxploitation era, the conditions that led to its rise and demise, and its mid 80's return. Back on June 8th Jason released his video essay, "Same As it Ever Was: Black Power to Blaxploitation." Despite his jealousy and competitiveness Doug asked him on to discuss the found footage film he created.
Ashley Frawley takes over this week's Diet Soap podcast to discuss Henryk Grossman, crisis theory, and the book "The End of Capitalism" with Ted Reese and the Swoletariat.
For this first episode of Social Justice Incorporated Ryan and Lavit talk to Freddie deBoer about his response to Daniel Bergner's New York Times Magazine article "Doctors Gave Her Antipsychotics. She Decided to Live With Her Voices." Freddie describes his own experiences with mental illness as he rejects Bergner's notion that psychosis is something that can be normalized and accepted rather than treated.
Margaret Kimberley is the author of "Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents," she is a regular contributor to the Black Agenda Report, and a returning guest. In this episode of Diet Soap she discusses the situation in the Ukraine in the context of US Imperialism.
GCAS is our sponsor
https://gcas.ie/
Support Us on Patreon
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Bryan D. Palmer teaches in the Department of History at Queen's University, edits the journal Labour/Le Travail, and is the author of "James P. Cannon and the Emergence of Trotskyism in the United States, 1928-38." In this interview, he traces the history of American and international socialism by telling the story of James P. Cannon.
Terry Pinkard is a professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University. He is the author of Hegel: A Biography, Hegel's Phenomenology: The Sociality of Reason, and Hegel's Dialectic: The Explanation of Possibility. In this episode of Diet Soap Pinkard explains the significance of Hegel and addresses whether Hegel should be conceived of as a "worldly philosopher."
Patrons will get access to Pinkard's explanation of where he disagrees with Zizek and why.
This week's Pop the Left was to be a conversation about Andrew Collier's 1980 essay, "Lacan, psychoanalysis and the left," but quickly devolved into a debate about what counts as the "means of production," the centrality of labor time under capitalism, and the meaning of Hegelianism for the left.
In his essay for News and Letters entitled "Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine puts the future of humanity in doubt" Ron Kelch wrote, "On Feb. 24, in the dark of night, Russian president Vladimir Putin started a totally unprovoked invasion of Ukraine from three sides after a months-long buildup of 190,000 troops." This interview starts by questioning Kelch's assertion that Putin was unprovoked, and continues from there.
Deep State Kuba from This is Revolution and Stefan Bertram-Lee give us an update on the war in Ukraine. What is happening tactically? What explains the conflict and level of Ukrainian resistance? What has NATO's role been and what will it continue to be? Will there be a negotiated resolution in the immediate future?
Support GCAS (the Global Center for Advanced Studies)
https://gcas.ie/
In this episode, Spencer and Doug talk about the neo-social democracy of Jacobin and Compact, the crisis of neoliberalism, and the Left's need for political independence.
Jason Myles from TIR has written an article about the LA Riots of '92 that will appear in Sublation Magazine this week. In this episode we discuss his article, the limits of liberal anti-racism, and the reality of living in poverty.
This week's Pop the Left was set up as a conversation about Guy Debord and the errors of the Situationist Internationale but ended up being a conversation about the sexual revolution, Roe vs. Wade, and the question of the party. As always, Chris Cutrone pushes against the current limits of "left" politics on this week's Pop the Left.
How did Lacan naturalize the failure of Marxism? What is critical about the Frankfurt School? Doug speaks with Andreas and Stefan about the Frankfurt School and about how the Left takes up psychoanalysis in its understanding of freedom and socialism.
GCAS Belfast Seminar “The Lack of Desire and the Desire of Lack: The Body, Conversion, and Art”
https://gcascollege.ie/belfast
Support Us on Patreon
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The launch of Sublation Media's new Online Magazine, Sublation Magazine began with a six-hour stream. Guests included Conrad Hamilton, Katerina Kolozova, Dwayne Munroe, Teo Velissaris, Rebeka Parler, Ben Burgis, James Smith, Chris Cutrone, and others. This is a six and a half hour stream.
https://www.sublationmag.com
Follow us on Twitter @SublationMag
Support US on Patreon https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Matt Huber is a professor of geography at Syracuse University. His new book, Climate Change as Class War: Building Socialism on a Warming Planet, will be out from Verso Books in May, 2022. His book discusses the failures of an environmental movement built dominated by the Professional Managerial Class.
Check out this GCAS Seminar with Chris Hedges and Boris Franklin
https://gcascollege.ie/voice-seminar
Daniel Burnfin is a member of Class Unity and has participated in a few Platypus Affiliated Society panels, most recently at the international convention in Chicago. Douglas Lain first reached out to Burnfin after Burnfin's contribution to the “Class and the Left” panel, but in this video they discuss the panel "What is Leadership for the Left?"
Sublation editor Ashley Frawley discusses a chapter out of her upcoming monograph on how the politics of mental health have subverted the politics of freedom. In this conversation, Doug and Ashley specifically discuss how UK Universities took up a new project. No longer so interested in knowledge and reason, today's universities aim to make their students sane...or do they?
GCAS Seminar with Chris Hedges and Boris Franklin
https://gcascollege.ie/voice-seminar
Zupančič argues that sexuality is at the point of a “short circuit” between ontology and epistemology. Sexuality and knowledge are structured around a fundamental negativity, which unites them at the point of the unconscious. The unconscious (as linked to sexuality) is the concept of an inherent link between being and knowledge in their very negativity.
This conversation with Spencer Leonard on the depoliticization of the left was originally released as a patron-only "parrot room" podcast. I'm releasing it to the public today because I believe the conversation deserves a wider audience, especially in the context of today's Imperialist conflict in Ukraine.
Patrons get content like this every week.
This episode features a conversation with Catherine Liu about the rise of the PMC and the death of traditional liberalism. Is the PMC a class that has overcome capitalist relations in order to shift social outcomes in its favor, or is the Professional Managerial Class merely the servants of capital working to create ideological justifications for continuing under the reign of capitalist relations.
Max Blumenthal is the editor of the Grayzone and a prominent figure on the anti-imperialist left. In this episode of Diet Soap, he discusses why the cold war never ended, the justifications for Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and why the United States is the one true imperialist State on the world stage. This is part one of a four-part series on anti-imperialism and the left.
Here, Freddie and Doug talk about what the Millennials learned from Gen-X, the Left's relation to the Democratic Party, and cancel culture. This video follows up on DeBoer's essay "Gen X Was the Political Generation."
Gen X Was the Political Generation Essay
https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/gen-x-was-the-political-generation
Author and podcaster Ben Burgis recently appeared on the Joe Rogan podcast and on the Wright Show with Bob Wright. In this episode of Diet Soap Doug follows up on both appearances. Is Christopher Hitchens overrated as Bob Wright claims? Is Joe Rogan a fascist as many on the left fear? Find out!
Can the socialist left become political?
Chris Cutrone and Douglas Lain talk pseudo-politics, war as politics by other means, and why the task of socialism remains the same as they discuss his 2015 lecture "How is Platypus a Pre-Political Project?"
Chris's 2015 Lecture
https://youtu.be/iDiv7MioqJ8
Deep State Kuba describes the history of the conflict between Russia and the West, the role of NATO after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the reasons behind the invasion of Ukraine.
Dwayne Roberto Monroe is a cloud architect, strategist and social critic. He describes himself as "fashionably Hegelian" where he is developing a materialist approach to the tech industry and writing about Supercomputers, AIs, the Metaverse, and technoskepticism. In this interview he explains what the cloud is and tells Doug not to believe the hype.
In this special Pop the Left interview, Sublation Media editor and podcaster Ashley Frawley interviews Gord Magill about the Freedom Convoy. Gord has been writing about the movement for Newsweek in essays such as "Elites Are Smearing Truckers Because We're Doing Their Job Representing the People" and "Why Are Canada's Unions Siding With the Government Against Workers?" In this episode of Pop the Left he explains just what is driving the Trucker's Convoy and explains why he thinks this is a working-class action.
Derick Varn responds to our Matt Christman interview. We get into the roots of the Left's present impasse in the post-War consensus, why both the administrative state of monopoly capital and the concept of the PMC miss their mark, bureaucratic drift on the American Left, and why progressives are so unpopular.
Matt Christman of Chapo Trap House comes on to talk about Occupy anarchism, replaying the 1960s, class politics, and what Leftist media can do after Bernie.
Lavit Maas is a social worker in North Hollywood, CA. She works on Skid Row, helping people who are most at risk receive care in the Los Angeles medical system. In this episode she responds to Tucker Carlson's rant against the homeless that aired on January 18th, 2022. In a segment entitled "We’re watching civilization collapse in real time" Tucker claimed that homelessness was intentionally caused by liberal elites who wanted nothing more than to incentivize drug use and laziness. After a severe facepalm, Lavit responds and disagrees.
Eliot Rosenstock is a psychotherapist working for an app from the UK, the author of The Ego and Its Hyperspace, and the author of Zizek in the Clinic. In this interview, he explains how Freud and Stirner might be combined in clinical practice during the first half and discusses how he's been treated by the new publishing managers at Zer0 Books in the second half for patrons only.
Richard Wolff is a prominent Marxist economist and activist and in this conversation with Douglas Lain, he discusses vaccine mandates and the growing opposition to them amongst the working class. Richard Wolff is the author of "Capitalism Hits the Fan" and a board member of Democracy at Work.
Dan Melo is the author of Borderlines and is currently working on a book on violence for Sublation Press. He is also a contrinbutor to Cosmonaut Magazine and the author of a recent essay entitled "Why Bordiga Got Democracy Wrong." In this episode of Diet Soap he discusses just what Bordiga's critique amounted to and describes what it's like to be ratioed by radical twitter.
Todd McGowan teaches theory and film at the University of Vermont. He is the author of Enjoying it Right and Left, which will be the first book from Sublation Press, which is the name of Diet Soap Media's book publishing wing. He is also the author of Emancipation After Hegel, Capitalism and Desire, and Only a Joke Can Save Us. He is also the co-host of the Why Theory Podcast.
In this episode of the Diet Soap Interview series Todd discusses how the Superego functions politically.
This episode of Pop the Left features a debate between Conrad Hamilton and Chris Cutrone as they both attempt to judge the 20th century left and the contemporary left. Has there been any progress for the socialist struggle in the last 100 years? How are we to judge the contradictory "progress" brought on by industrialization and modernity?
Special feature: Doug turns into Stalin as he tries to get a word in edgewise.
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Ron and Urszula are members of News and Letters, a Marxist Humanist organization originally founded by Raya Dunayevskaya after a split with CLR James within The Correspondance Publishing Committee. In this interview Ron and Urszula explain what Marxist Humanism offers to workers in their struggle for socialism.
Chris Cutrone, a founding member of the Platypus Affiliated Society, returns in order to respond to a recent conversation with Conrad Hamilton about post-pandemic politics. Cutrone objects to Conrad's statism and to what he sees as the Millennial left's ultimate slide into a combination of Stalinism and Social Democracy.
C Derick Varn returns/arrives on the Diet Soap Media channel to discuss anti-politics and the current malaise on the left. Formerly a co-host with Doug for Pop the Left when the podcast was on the Zero Books channel, Derick is now running his own show at the VarnVlog:
Conrad Hamilton is a member of Kapital Comrades, an author for Zer0 Books, and a member of the Aelita Collective. He joins Douglas Lain in this episode of the Diet Soap podcast to discuss post-pandemic politics and how the left should handle lockdowns, the State, and in order to collect an apology.
Link to Manifesto
https://tripleampersand.org/state-covid-manifesto-pandemic-politics/
Michael Albert is the author of the book "No Bosses," which is forthcoming from the British imprint Zer0 Books. He is also the former editor of South End Press, the co-founder of Z-Magazine, and a friend of Noam Chomsky. This interview covers some of the ideas in his upcoming book.
Bulent Somay did his doctorate in science fiction at Montreal McGill University in 1982 and 1983, but returned to Istanbul without getting his doctorate. He earned a PhD in Psychosocial Studies from Birkbeck College, University of London, in 2013. In this first interview on the new channel, Somay discusses his skepticism about left-wing populism.
In this conversation with Slavoj Zizek, Douglas Lain discusses how working in the gig economy as a floating freelancer without a contract is symptomatic of overall trends in capitalist culture. While Zizek reflects on his two volumes: Pandemic and Pandemic 2.
Nicholas "Nick" Currie (born 11 February 1960), more popularly known under the artist name Momus (after the Greek god of mockery), is a Scottish songwriter, author, blogger, and former journalist for Wired.
Sean Sayers is an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Kent. He has written extensively on Hegelian and Marxist philosophy from a Hegelian Marxist perspective. In April of 2020, he appeared on the Zero Books channel in order to discuss his criticism of GA Cohen, an analytic philosopher, and Marxist. Since then Steve Paxton, who is the author of Unlearning Marx (a book that came out in January of 2021 from Zero Books), has made it known through Twitter that he believes Sayer’s criticisms of Cohen has some flaws.
Jake Flores from Pod Damn America joins Doug Lain to set him straight after he was ratioed on Twitter. They discuss what up and coming comedians REALLY think about "cancel culture," Dave Chappelle's controversial comedy special "The Closer" and how the Generation X cohort is becoming synonymous with Boomers.
Lavit Maas is a social worker working as a mental health responder on Skid Row in Los Angeles. In this video interview she explains the difficulties she faces as she works to get the most destitute and vulnerable people care and explores how homelessness and servicing homelessness are mutually supporting under capitalism.
Mike Watson joins Douglas Lain to discuss his critique of capitalism, memes, mental illness and the counterculture. He urges the online left to use digital culture to build a real cultural and political movement.
In this episode, Douglas Lain talks to Michael Albert about his book No Bosses. The book advocates for the conception and then organization of a new economy. The vision offered is called participatory economics. It elevates self-management, equity, solidarity, diversity, and sustainability. It eliminates elitist, arrogant, dismissive, authoritarian, exploitation, competition, and homogenization.
Jared Bauer is the director and writer behind the youtube channel Wisecrack. He was known on youtube for producing and hosting Wisecrack's Philosophy videos. Jared is no longer with Wisecrack but has moved to Finland. In this episode he talks to Doug about Hollywood, Youtube, and cancel culture.
If you enjoy this conversation check out Jared's new channel and his new interview about Cancel Culture with Ben Burgis.
Jared Bauer Interviews Ben Burgis
https://youtu.be/lDRDi0mcmno
Jared Bauer's Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/c/JaredBauer
Daniel Bessner is a historian, non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a contributing editor at Jacobin, co-host of the podcast American Prestige, and the author of the upcoming book for Zero Books “Imperial Realism.”
Chris Cutrone of the Platypus Affiliated Society discusses his essay Afghanistan: After 20 and 40 years with Douglas Lain. Put differently, the last Marxist weighs in on the invasion, occupation, and withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Excerpt from essay:
"AFGHANISTAN WAS INTENDED BY THE U.S. in the 1980s to be the Soviet Union’s Vietnam War. But it is the United States today that is experiencing a second Fall of Saigon in Kabul. If the Great Recession was the historic crisis of neoliberalism, then the U.S. loss of Afghanistan to the return of the Taliban marks the definitive crisis and terminus of neoconservatism. John Bolton ran screaming bloody murder when fired by Donald Trump for resisting ending the Afghanistan war, but it is Joe Biden who now rules over the U.S. withdrawal. This is not some end to U.S. global hegemony — no more than Vietnam was."
Link to essay
https://platypus1917.org/2021/09/02/afghanistan-after-20-and-40-years/
Daniel Melo is an attorney and social critic who grew up in diverse cultural and political settings. His new book Borderlines explores how power and profit are perpetuated by the divisions between migrant and citizen and the resulting dehumanization of both.
Noam Chomsky joins Michael Albert to discuss his book No Bosses. Albert advocates for the conception and then organization of a new economy. The vision offered is called participatory economics. It elevates self-management, equity, solidarity, diversity, and sustainability. It eliminates elitist, arrogant, dismissive, authoritarian, exploitation, competition, and homogenization.
Susanna Kleeman is the woman behind the novel Twice which came out from Zero Books in June of 2021. In this video, she discusses how Capitalism is murdering the imagination even as she discusses her novel.
Music
Crippled Inside Cover by Isto
https://youtu.be/8llnf1SVOIA
Relevant Book
Twice by Susanna Kleeman
https://www.susannakleeman.com/twice
In this week's Pop the Left, Kuba Wrzesniewski talks to Varn about the history of Poland and Communism, how the left was liquidated in Poland, and how Poland was pushed into the NATO orbit. We talk about misconceptions about the progress and if the Soviets could have handled things differently.
Ben Burgis stops by to discuss his book "Cancelling Comedians While the World Burns," the Dirtbag Left, and how the radical left should get its mojo back.
Varn and P.H. Higgins discuss the First International and its controversies, particularly focusing on the Italian sections of the international and how Anarchist Internationals became more and more Marxist over time despite themselves.
Todd McGowan is committed to the idea that theoretical exploration of questions about existence, the psyche, and society can contribute to radical politics. He is the author of "Emancipation After Hegel: Achieving a Contradictory Revolution" and a cultural critic. In this podcast, he talks to Douglas Lain about Hegel and claims the old philosopher is perhaps more radical than Karl Marx.
Derick Varn talks to Dr. Djene Balajan about the history of the term of "deep state"--it's emergence from Turkish politics. Its abuse in left- and right-wing circles. WE also discuss how to parse the deep state in terms of left-wing conspiracy thinking and how this may be a problem for leftist analysis.
Adam Proctor is the host of the "Dead Pundits Society" podcast. He took exception to the Critical Cuts video "Supporting Bernie Sanders Was a Mistake" and came on to the Zero Books podcast in order to give voice to his objections.
This video interview explores how it is that the “End of History” is over. The idea that Western liberal democracy was the “final form of human government” has been exposed as bluster: the old order is crumbling before our eyes. Angry anti-politics have arisen to threaten political establishments across the world. Elites have fallen into hysteria, blaming voters, “populism”, Putin, Facebook… anyone but themselves. They are suffering from Neoliberal Order Breakdown Syndrome.
In this episode of Pop the Left Derick Varn and Douglas Lain discuss Paul Matticks critique of James Burnham's "The Machiavellians, Defenders of Freedom." We ask the question, "Why do right-wing theories of social class so frequently infect the left and Marxism?"
Responding to some recent Zero Books podcasts (The Lenin Legend and Did Marx Hate Liberals?) Chris Cutrone returns to discuss an essay he wrote in 2011 entitled "Lenin's Liberalism."
Relevant Essay
Lenin's Liberalism by Chris Cutrone
https://platypus1917.org/2011/06/01/lenins-liberalism/
Christine Louis-Dit-Sully is a freelance writer, and she is currently researching for a second PhD. Her research is focused on the issues of race, identity, social justice, and the demand for ‘safe spaces’ in US and UK universities. Her book from Zero Books is entitled “Transcending Racial Divisions: Will You Stand By Me” and in it, she examines the origins of racial thinking and the relationship between race and culture.
Paul Mattick's essay "The Lenin Legend" was published in 1935. Mattick's essay begins with these lines: "The yellower and more leathery the skin of the mummified Lenin grows, and the higher the statistically determined number of visitors to the Lenin Mausoleum climbs, the less are people concerned about the real Lenin and his historical significance." In this video Djene Rhys Bajalan and Kuba Wrzesniewski join Doug Lain to discuss the essay and whether Mattick's polemic holds up today.
Derick Varn and Douglas Lain return to discuss Paul Mattick Sr.'s 1939 essay "Roosevelt's 'New' New Deal."
Paul Mattick was a council communist and left critic of Bolshevism. Mattick was heavily influenced by the work of Henryk Grossman, but unlike Grossman, he was a critic of Leninism. His essay on the New Deal argued that support for the New Deal was crippling the workers movement.
Since its emergence in the middle of the twentieth century, the American Empire has been fueled by the search for an enemy. This episode of Zero Squared features a conversation with Daniel Bessner features a conversation about Karl Schmidt, the friend/enemy distinction, the cold war, and American Empire's role in the world today.
Derick Varn and Douglas Lain discuss the failings of a sect of Trotskyism known as "Political Marxism" after discussing just what Chris Cutrone might have meant when he asked Doug to join his effort to create a "Dictatorship of the Proletariat." Can Marx's ideas become politically relevant today? What are the impediments to socialism today?
Relevant Essays:
The ‘Dictatorship of the Proletariat’ in Marx and Engels by Hal Draper
https://www.marxists.org/subject/marxmyths/hal-draper/article2.htm
Is There Anything to Defend in Political Marxism by Neil Davidson
https://isreview.org/issue/91/there-anything-defend-political-marxism
Following up on a panel discussion for the Platypus Affiliated Society, Chris Cutrone stops by to ambush Douglas Lain about whether he'd support a "dictatorship of the proletariat." Other topics include whether Christopher Lasch was a conservative or a socialist, the nature of bourgeoise justice, the political character of Donald Trump, and what it means to be an aging Gen Xer today.
Glenn Edward Greenwald is an American journalist, author, and former attorney. He is the author of the book "Securing Democracy: My Fight for Press Freedom and Justice in Bolsonaro’s Brazil," and the King of Twitter. In this conversation he discusses the corruption in Bolsonaro's Brazil and why it is that the American left no longer embraces him.
Dr. Elena Louisa Lange is a Senior Researcher and Lecturer of Japanese Studies at the University of Zurich. Her current research focuses on the reception of Marx's Critique of Political Economy in 20th century Japan, and especially on the critical analysis of its interpretation in the influential economist Uno Kôzô (1897-1977). She views her work roughly situated in the reconstruction movement of the Critique of Political Economy today known as the "Neue Marx-Lektüre" (especially the work of Helmut Brentel) and the legacy of critical Hegelian Marxism. Her teaching broadly covers the intellectual history of modern Japan, with an emphasis on modern philosophy, sociology (critical theory), the history of Marxism, postmodernism, the student and the New Left movement. Joshua Depaolis is an independent researcher on Marxist theory and an editor at an upcoming journal called CounterAttack which was also the name of an anti-communist journal in the 1940s and 50s.
Jesse Singal is a contributing writer at NY Magazine and his work has appeared in The New York Times, Slate, The Boston Globe, The Daily Beast, and other outlets. He is also one of the most hated men on the internet and the target of a perpetual defamation campaign. He is the co-host of the podcast Blocked and Reported, and the author of a new book entitled the Quick Fix.
Has the American left been captured by the Democratic Party? Was Bernie Sanders just a sheep dog after all? Can we build a movement for socialism in the Biden era? Margaret Kimberley is the author of PREJUDENTIAL: a concise, authoritative exploration of America’s relationship with race and black Americans through the lens of the presidents who have been elected to represent all of its people. Relevant Books Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents.
Patrick Higgins is replacing C Derick Varn in this week's Pop the Left. In this episode, we discuss the collection The Science and Passion of Communism. What does Amadeo Bordiga have to offer today's left? What are his limits? Is Central Planning enough?
The coronavirus pandemic, the deepening economic crash, dangerously divisive political responses, and exploding social tensions have thrown an already declining American capitalist system into a tailspin. In this video the economist Richard D. Wolff discusses how capitalism works and doesn't work as he describes his new book from Democracy at Work "The Sickness is the System: When Capitalism Fails to Save Us from Pandemics or Itself" and Douglas Lain tries to set up a conversation on State Capitalism and Workers Co-Ops for the parrot room.
Democracy at Work
https://www.democracyatwork.info/
Relevant Books
The Sickness is the System by Richard Wolff
https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/richard-d-wolff/the-sickness-is-the-system
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Zero Books Manifesto:
The modern world is at an impasse. Disasters scroll across our smartphone screens and we’re invited to like, follow or upvote, but critical thinking is harder and harder to find. Rather than connecting us in common struggle and debate, the internet has sped up and deepened a long-standing process of alienation and atomization.
Zer0 Books wants to work against this trend.
Neal Trotter is a philosophy hobbyist and enthusiast interested in critically thinking with others. He reads philosophy books (primarily classics) and discusses them on Youtube. In this video Neal discusses Kierkegaard, despair, and the power of philosophy.
This conversation with Slavoj Zizek was inspired by a previous interview with Michael Albert. After discussing Albert's ideas about participatory economics, Douglas Lain mentioned that unlike Chomsky and Albert, he believed that critical theory was important to the struggle for socialism and mentioned that Slavoj Zizek's Hegelian leftism was particularly interesting. Albert disagreed. In an effort to clear the air, Lain invited Zizek and Albert to appear on the channel and discuss the matter. Only Zizek agreed to appear.
Are there reactionaries in our midst, people with a right-wing agenda pretending to be leftist? Is "The Bellows," the podcast "What's Left?," Malcolm Kyeyune, part of some secret red/brown alliance? What about Red Scare, Chapo, or even Zero Books? In this Pop the Left conversation Derick Varn and Douglas Lain evaluate two essays from the publication "The Bellows" before discussing just how to handle the possibility of right-wing infiltration of the left.
Derick Varn and Shalon van Tine discuss the writings of Lasch. Derick Varn is the co-host of Pop the Left, a poet, a reader/editor at Zero Books, and an editor at Former People.
Shalon van Tine is the co-author of a forthcoming book on Christopher Lasch with C. Derick Varn. She is currently studying for her Ph.D. in American cultural and intellectual history from Ohio University where she is a research fellow with the Contemporary History Institute. She is an associate media editor at Former People.
The hosts of the This Is Revolution Podcast join Douglas Lain to discuss the socialism of Adolph Reed and Walter Benn Michaels. This is Revolution is a new addition to the Zero Books lineup, coming out on the channel every Wednesday with great conversations about socialism and the left.
Derick Varn and Douglas Lain discuss last week's riot at the Capitol Building and the AOC vs. Jimmy Dore debate. Along the way the topics of standpoint epistemology, class consciousness, and the difference between a coup and a revolution will be explored.
This interview explores how "Marxist" ideas, when disconnected from Marx's own theory especially in Capital, can lead radicals in a multitude of directions, including to the right. The subject of the interview is Mickey Kaus.
Mickey Kaus is a journalist and political blogger who started the website Kausfiles in 1999. He has written for the New Republic, Newsweek, Slate and the Daily Caller and he is the author of the book “The End of Equality.” He the co-founder of bloggingheads.tv along with Robert Wright and he appears weekly with Robert in their parrot room.
Michael Albert is an organizer, publisher, teacher, and author of over twenty books and hundreds of articles. He cofounded South End Press, Z Magazine, the Z Media Institute, ZNet, and various other projects, and works full time for Z Communications. He is the author, with Robin Hahnel, of the economic vision named participatory economics. He helped create the International Organization for a Participatory Society in 2012. He is also the podcaster behind Revolution Z and an instructor at the School for Social and Cultural Change.
Derick Varn and Douglas Lain are the hosts of Pop the Left, a video podcast presented on this channel every other Thursday. This week we say goodbye to 2020 and consider the year of COVID in the context of both capitalist crises and the rise and fall of socialist movements.
The former president of the Platypus Affiliated Society returns to the channel/podcast in order to defend the memory of Theodor Adorno after viewing our video "Class Consciousness vs. the Fiction of 'Class First' Politics."
Douglas Lain and Derick Varn discuss the early days of the Frankfurt School, the relationship between Critical Theory and Marxism, and discuss just how much credit or blame thinkers like Horkheimer and Adorno really deserve.
Steve Paxton both studied with GA Cohen at Oxford before and works blue-collar, white-collar and no-collar jobs. His book, Unlearning Marx considers Marx without Marxism.
The cultural critic Christopher Lasch praised Harold Cruse and his book The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual. Specifically, Lasch looked to Cruse as Lasch explored the need for the development of a working-class culture after WW2. In this video Derick Varn and Douglas Lain explore the limits of Cruse's conception of national identity even as they consider the reasons why Cruse felt compelled to seek out a black national culture in the United States.
Alex Hochuli is a co-host at the Aufhebunga Bunga podcast, a writer for magazines such as Damage and Jacobin, and a co-author of the upcoming Zero Books book "The End of the End of History." From the book jacket: The End of the End of History examines how the political consequences of the 2008 financial crisis have come home to roost. If Trump and Brexit shattered the liberal-democratic consensus in 2016, then the global pandemic of 2020 put a final end to the “End of History”. Politics is back, but it’s stranger than ever.
This Pop the Left podcast features Derick Varn, and Douglas Lain as they continue their conversation about the writings of Christopher Lasch and specifically examine his essay "Is Revolution Obsolete?" from his book A World of Nations. The ideas of Harold Cruse will also be examined as we try to wrangle out just what contemporary socialists can gain from understanding the legacy of Lasch.
Camilo Gómez is the man behind the History and Politics podcast. Living in Peru, he agreed to talk to Douglas Lain in order to give Zero Books readers and listeners information about the recent coup there, and in order to explain the scope and meaning of the mass protests that have swept through the country.
Rick Kuhn is a Marxian economist, political analyst and reader at the Australian National University in Canberra. He is a translator and editor of the works of Henryk Grossman and a radical in his own right. In this Zero Books interview, he discusses the pessimism of David Harvey and the possibilities for revolutionary socialism.
Stephen Janicki is an inventor living in Indiana and a Trump supporter. His most recent invention is called the Driigunproject project. The Facebook page for the Driigunproject describes this invention as a "revolution in art, gaming and education." He holds an Associates's degree in marketing with a minor in philosophy. In this video, Douglas Lain and Stephen Janicki discuss the election results, the possibility of voter fraud, the evidence of corruption around Biden and Trump, and whether we can trust our political institutions to render judgment.
Derick Varn and Douglas Lain preempt the scheduled interview with Rick Kuhn in order to offer choice hot takes on the US Presidential election as the votes are slowly counted. Questions raised will include, why is Trump so successful in the current climate, how are elite media institutions failing, and what will life under Biden be like for the left.
If you enjoy the conversation join us in the Parrot room as we take the gloves off and dish dirt on the contemporary scene. Possible topics for Patrons will include the wit and wisdom of Nathan J. Robinson, why Zero Books can get on Sky News, and the pitfalls of pursuing politics in an apolitical age.
https://patreon.com/zerobooks
Derick Varn and Douglas Lain discuss Christopher Lasch's 1969 book "The Agony of the Left." As we prepare for the possibility that the faux "populism" and attendant resistance that defined the Trump years are both on the verge of being relegated to the dustbin of history, we aim to take a step back and consider the left.
To listen to the Parrot Room conversation join us on Patreon.
https://pateron.com/zerobooks
Nina Power is a cultural critic, social theorist, philosopher and translator. She is the author of One-Dimensional Woman, a book that was published by Zero Books in 2009. Her Twitter bio claims she is uncancellable which is an indication that a few people have made an effort in that direction. In this Livestream for Zero Books, we'll be discussing her philosophical and political observations on the subject of depression, whether paganism can ever be countenanced, and what it means when men are sad.
Nina's appearance in the Parrot Room is available for Patrons.
https://www.patreon.com/zerobooks
October 18th, 2020
In this episode of Pop the Left Derick Varn and Douglas Lain consider whether a new Marxist party would need to include a clear plan for transforming the means of production along with a plan to obtain state power.
Recommended reading on Marx and Utopia:
Marx's Critique of the Utopian Socialists by ROGER PADEN https://www.jstor.org/stable/20718467?seq=1
The Development of Utopian Socialism by Frederick Engels https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1880/soc-utop/ch01.htm
William Briggs, author of "Removing the Stalin Stain" returns to the channel to discuss Marx's vision of socialism, what Trotsky contributed to the socialist struggle, and the condition of socialist movements today.
To get access to the Zero Books Parrot room support us on Patreon:
https://patreon.com/zerobooks
Douglas Lain and Derick Varn discuss the US presidential election, the degraded state of US politics, and what both mean for a left that may be as degraded as the rest of society. In this episode of Pop the Left we'll go beyond the question of whether US socialists should support Biden in this election and try to understand what this moment means and where we're headed.
Ben Burgis and Douglas Lain start out descussing his upcoming book "Cancelling Comedians While the World Burns" but the conversation turns to memories of their respective writing careers, the cancel culture of the science fiction genre world during the zero years, and the question of the overproduction of elites.
If you enjoy this conversation support us on Patreon and get access to the Zero Books "parrot room" wherein Zero Books authors and other regulars debate, discuss and talk shit.
Derick Varn and Douglas Lain continue a discussion on the topic of Marx's feelings about utopianism and blueprints in this episode of Pop the Left. Can we develop a working-class project for socialism without having a good idea of what socialism will work and what will replace capitalist production? Did Marx think we could?
This conversation between Vandana Shiva and Fabian Scheidler is hosted by Nermeen Shaikh a weekly co-host at Democracy Now!
As per Wikipedia, Vandana Shiva is an Indian scholar, environmental activist, food sovereignty advocate, and anti-globalization author.
Fabian Scheidler co-founded the independent newscast Kontext TV and is the author of "The End of the Megamachine" which is coming out in English from Zero Books in September of 2020.
Mike Watson is an art theorist, critic and curator, who holds a PhD in Philosophy from Goldsmiths College. Watson curated at the 55th and 56th Venice Biennale, as well as at Manifesta12 in Palermo. He has written regularly for Art Review, Artforum, Frieze, and Radical Philosophy. In this special edition of the Zero Books podcast he discuss the state left politics with Danny Scott aka Badman Massive.
This week's podcast features an interview with Fabian Scheidler on the ideas in his upcoming book "The End of the Megamachine." The entirety of this interview is available as an audio "Zero Squared" podcast.
The book provides a uniquely comprehensive picture of the roots of the destructive forces that are threatening the future of humankind today. Spanning 5000 years of history, the book shows how the three tyrannies of militarized states, capital accumulation and ideological power have been steering both ecosystems and societies to the brink of collapse. With the growing instability of the Megamachine in the 21st century, new dangers open up as well as new possibilities for systemic change, to which everyone can contribute.
Prof. Klees draws on 45 years of work around the world as an economist and international educator to paint a detailed picture of conservative, liberal, and progressive views on a wide range of current social issues. He takes an in-depth look at his specializations: education, economics, poverty and inequality, international development, and capitalism. He examines major social problems like health care, the climate crisis, and war. Throughout the book, Prof. Klees tries to give a fair and careful depiction of how conservatives and liberals see these issues, whilst focusing on critiques by progressives, and on the alternatives they offer.
Ralph Leonard is a British-Nigerian writer on international politics, religion, culture and humanism. He is a returning guest to the podcast and will be turning in a book for Zero Books in October.
If you enjoy the Zero Books podcasts including Zero Squared and Pop the Left support us on Patreon. Patreon supporters get access to all of our podcasts and livestreams, and this week our patrons will get access to a video version of this podcast. It is our Patreon support that funds our digital content.
Dr. Djene Rhys Bajalan is a historian of the Middle East specializing the rise of nationalism and the evolution of the Kurdish question. He has written for publications such as Turkeyscope, Jacobin, and OpenDemocracy and in this episode of Zero Squared we discuss the Kurdish question and the right to national self determination.
If you enjoy the Zero Books podcasts including Zero Squared and Pop the Left support us on Patreon. Patreon supporters get access to all of our podcasts and livestreams, and this week our patrons will get access to a video version of this podcast. It is our Patreon support that funds our digital content.
Monika Maria Kostera is a Polish economist, professor of management and organization theorist. He book "After the Apocalypse: Finding hope in organizing" is due out from Zero Books in September.
If you enjoy the Zero Books podcasts including Zero Squared and Pop the Left support us on Patreon. Patreon supporters get access to more podcasts and livestreams than are made available on the public feed or on youtube, and it is our Patreon support that funds our digital content.
Chris Cutrone is a college educator, writer, and media artist, committed to critical thinking and artistic practice and the politics of social emancipation. He returns to the Zero Books channel to discuss his 2014 essay "Defending Marxist Hegelianism against a Marxist critique” and to discuss the role that critical theory should play in the struggle for socialism.
Chris McMillan is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Experiential Education at Arcadia University London. Chris moved to London from New Zealand in 2010. He is the author of The London Dream which is out next month from Zero Books.
If you enjoy Zero Squared support us on Patreon. Patrons get access to more podcasts, usually two a week, and help to make sure that we can continue making digital content from a left perspective.
On Monday, July 20th, we lost Michael Brooks. At the age of 36 Michael was struck down by a blood clot in a sudden, unexpected, and premature death. We are still reeling from the loss. Brooks was cheated out of a life that was sure to only get better and we were robbed of his future work.
This episode of Pop the Left was a tribute to Michael Brooks and an examination of the Cosmopolitan Socialism he advocated for in his book Against the Web.
Support the Michael Brooks Foundation
https://www.patreon.com/TMBS/
Our June 20th interview with Cedric Johnson, associate professor of African American studies and political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago and editor of The Neoliberal Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, Late Capitalism and the Remaking of New Orleans (University of Minnesota Press, 2011).
In this podcast we discussed the prospects for an emancipatory politics emerging from the death of George Floyd and how to understand black politics alongside class politics.
In this episode of Pop the Left Douglas Lain and Derick Varn discuss Chris Cutrone's teach-in on Lukacs entitled "CPGB contra Lukacs." Cutrone's lecture was uploaded to the Platypus Affiliated Society's youtube page on Jan 14, 2014 and was a response to Mike McNair's Essay "Lukács: The philosophy trap" which was published in the Weekly Worker in November of 2013.
The Teach-In from 2014
CPGB contra Lukacs teach-in by Chris Cutrone of Platypus
https://youtu.be/FyAx32lzC0U
Why still read Lukács? The place of “philosophical” questions in Marxism
https://platypus1917.org/2014/02/01/why-still-read-lukacs-the-place-of-philosophical-questions-in-marxism
Relevant Essays:
Mike Macnair, "The philosophy trap" 11/21/13
https://weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/987/lukacs-the-philosophy-trap/
Chris Cutrone, "Defending Marxist Hegelianism against a Marxist critique" 8/11/11
https://weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/878/defending-marxist-hegelianism-against-a-marxist-cr/
Georg Lukacs, Original Preface (1922) to History and Class Consciousness (1923)
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lukacs/works/history/preface-1922.htm
In this episode of Zero Squared Ankur Dnyanmote returns to discuss the idea of a paradigm shift to socialism. Along the way (towards the end) there is a clip from the classic film Network. Ankur's twitter bio lists him as a ScientArtist experimenting with #hashtags and other/worldly materials and media. He is also a professional biologist.
If you enjoy Zero Squared support us on Patreon. Patrons get access to more podcasts, usually two a week, and help to make sure that we can continue making digital content from a left perspective.
Ben Burgis is back on the pod to talk about cancellations, radical reforms, and a transitional program. In this episode of the podcast we try to work out how to go from wokeness to a struggle for power. Can we reinvigorate the working class and working class struggles?
The secibd of two new Patreon only podcast series will be released on the Fourth of July. Look forward to "Cinema and Communism" to premiere tomorrow. The first episode will cover the film A Serious Man and the first chapter of Gilles Dauve's "From Crisis to Communization."
Derick Varn and Douglas Lain discuss how the social democrats split off from the socialists and how the SPD became an enemy of the really existing socialism. Of special note is the economist Rudolf Hilferding whose explanation of monopoly capitalism presaged the turn Western Marxists would take after WWII.
From Wikipedia: Rudolf Hilferding was an Austrian-born Marxist economist, leading socialist theorist, politician and chief theoretician for the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) during the Weimar Republic, almost universally recognized as the SPD's foremost theoretician of his century, and a physician
Mike Neary's book "Student as Producer" brings critical theory to life in a contribution to the dynamic, emerging genre of critical higher education studies. It asks whether students and teachers can change the world through critical pedagogy and popular education.
Neary is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Lincoln. He is co-author of The Labour Debate: An Investigation into the Theory and Reality of Capitalist Work (2002) and co-author of The Future of Higher Education: Policy, Pedagogy and the Student Experience (2009). Neary's research centres on the future of universities and the role of higher education in creating a post-capitalist society.
ANNOUNCEMENT: The first of two new Patreon only podcast series will be released on Saturday. Look forward to "Television and Theory" to premiere on the 27th. The first episode will cover episode #1 of Schitt's Creek and the first chapter of Rosa Luxemburg's "Reform or Revolution." The first episode of "Cinema and Communism" will premiere on July 4th and will cover the Cohen Brothers "A Serious Man" and the first chapter of Gilles Dauve's "From Crisis to Communization."
Ralph Leonard is a British-Nigerian who writes on international politics, religion, culture and humanism. He is a freelancer for publications such as Aero magazine and Medium. In this podcast we discussed CLR James and, in particular, his 1948 speech The revolutionary answer to the Negro problem in the United States.
If you enjoy Zero Books support us on Patreon where you’ll get access to every episode of Pop the Left and Zero Squared.
In this episode of Pop the Left Derick Varn and Douglas Lain pluck out four historic events in order to try to understand what riots mean and where they can lead. The examine the riots of 1848, 1968, 1965, and 1992. That is, the Spring of Nations, the strikes of Mai '68, the Watts riots, and the LA Riots. What came of these moments in the past? What can we expect for our future?
The Manifesto Handbook describes the hidden life of an undervalued genre: the conduit for declarations of principle, advertisements for new “isms,” and provocations in pamphlet form. Often physically slight and small in scale, the manifesto is always grand in style and ambition. A bold, charismatic genre, it has founded some of the most important and revolutionary movements in modern history, from the declaration of wars and the birth of nations to the launch of countless social, political and artistic movements worldwide.
Julian Hanna provides a brief genealogy of the genre, analyses its complex speaking position, traces the material process of manifesto making from production to dissemination, unpacks its extremist underbelly, and follows the twenty-first century resurgence of the manifesto as a re-politicised and reinvigorated digital form.
In this episode Derick Varn and Douglas Lain discuss the idea of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat in the works of Marx, Lenin and beyond. Why did Marx call it a dictatorship? Why should the proletariat? Why would this dictatorship "wither away"? How did really existing socialist movements understand the idea of the dictatorship of the proletariat and does the idea have any meaning for the left today?
Ashley Frawley hosts the podcast and discusses Marxism and Fascism with Taimur Rahman.
Taimur Rahman is a Pakistani academic, musician and socialist political activist from Pakistan. He teaches political science at the Lahore University of Management Sciences. He is the band leader and spokesperson for the political music band named Laal. Rahman uses Laal to advance causes which he holds dear, such as socialism, the plight of labour and the suffering Pakistanis/Kashmiris have endured at the hands of religious fundamentalism and authoritarian rule in India.
Since the failure of the Bernie Sanders campaign and the onset of the covid-19 lockdown Matt Christman, of Chapo Traphouse fame, has developed a solo career as an internet live streamer. His daily rants include day drinking, divine logorrhea, and some keen insights as well. In this Zero Books live stream Matt Chapman will be dropping by the channel to discuss what he's learned and is learning.
Derick Varn and Douglas Lain tackle the question of political parties. Just what are political parties, why do they exist and would they exist under socialism? Is there a structural difference between a revolutionary party and bourgeois party? What is a party for and will the party ever stop?
Ankur Dynanmote returns to the podcast to discuss Adam Curtis' "All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace." Ankur Dnyanmote does research in Bioinformatics, Cell Biology and Computational Systems Biology and is a semi-regular interloctur on the Zero Squared podcast.
If you enjoy Zero Squared support us on Patreon. Patrons get access to more podcasts, usually two a week, and help to make sure that we can continue making digital content from a left perspective.
Ankur Dynanmote returns to the podcast to discuss Adam Curtis' "All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace." Ankur Dnyanmote does research in Bioinformatics, Cell Biology and Computational Systems Biology and is a semi-regular interloctur on the Zero Squared podcast.
If you enjoy Zero Squared support us on Patreon. Patrons get access to more podcasts, usually two a week, and help to make sure that we can continue making digital content from a left perspective.
A.M. Gittlitz is a journalist and social critic based in Brooklyn, New York. He has contributed to The New Inquiry, The New York Times, The Outline, Baffler, Real Life, Salon, and Vice. He is also the author of a book on Posadism entitled: "I Want to Believe." Drawing on considerable archival research, and numerous interviews with ex- and current Posadists, I Want to Believe tells the fascinating story of this most unusual socialist movement and considers why it continues to capture the imaginations of leftists today.
Leo Cookman is a writer and musician based in Kent. He is currently a researcher and writer of scripts for the YouTube channel Wisecrack, which boasts over two million subscribers. He has written for the Hong Kong Review of Books, Philosophy Now magazine and has written features on Philosophy and Theory for several other publications. He is also the author of Time's Lie which is out today from Zero Books. Time's Lie helps decode how news and media have changed drastically since 2016 and examines the polarisation of the Left, the Right and the fight to control the Narrative.
C Derick Varn and Douglas Lain continue their exploration of the history of socialism by discussing Karl Kautsky. From the Encyclopedia Britannica:
Marxist theorist and a leader of the German Social Democratic Party. After the death of Friedrich Engels in 1895, Kautsky inherited the role of the intellectual and political conscience of German Marxism.
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