Sublation Magazine editor Wyatt Verlen discusses who Charlie Kirk was and why he is beloved on the right. Wyatt left socialism to join the right a few years ago and is making his way back to the left now as he works for Sublation. Support Sublation Media https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Chris Cutrone discusses how socialists should create a movement and party in the United States that will resemble, and potentially even be, a religious cult as it gets started. Support Sublation Media https://patreon.com/dietsoap
This is the first half of a podcast Doug recorded with Dillon of the Untrodden podcast. It includes comments from Doug along the way. Dillon defines himself as a "liberal," but by the end of the conversation, it is clear that he is a product of our authoritarian times and not self-reflective enough yet at the age of 21 to overcome the ideological machinery he's trapped in, even in terms of his own thought. Support Sublation Media https://patreon.com/dietsoap
In this episode of the CutroneZone, Chris and Doug revisit "The Age of Transition: Trajectories in the World-System" by Immanuel Wallerstein. They walk through Wallerstein’s forecasts for the year 2025 and examine where World Systems Theory succeeded, where it fell short, and what the failures tell us about the Left’s theoretical models. The Age of Transition by Immanuel Wallerstein: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1563245022 Chris Cutrone’s Marxism and Politics: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1789047455 S...
Spencer Leonard responds to a recent episode of Give Them an Argument. Norman Finkelstein, Matt McManus, and Ben Burgis all attempted to defend J.S. Mill from Karl Marx, and in the process demonstrated their failure to understand Marx's criticisms of Mill. Support Sublation Media https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Douglas Lain speaks with writer and artist Arturo Desimone, who recently attended the Emergency Conference of the Hague Group on Palestine, held in Bogotá, Colombia, in July 2025. Billed as a bold step by Global South nations to enforce international law and support Palestinian rights, the summit ended with non-binding measures, including calls for an arms embargo and support for ICC/ICJ rulings. But beyond strong rhetoric and symbolic gestures, little of substance emerged. Support Sublation Med...
Chris Cutrone discusses his recent essay in Sublation Magazine entitled "Socialist unity!" Excerpt: The current framework of politics and law in capitalism is severely limited, and geared to other needs: the needs and “rights” of capital. But the workers depend on capital and capitalism: their contradiction must be brought about; for now there is an apparent identity of interests — which capitalist politics exploits. The workers are bound to support capitalism out of self-interest. Read the call...
Dan Davison discusses his essay for Sublation Magazine entitled "Stuck in a time loop? Mamdani and the Left’s Amnesia" on this episode of Diet Soap. Here's an excerpt: Leftists are brimming with joy that Mamdani’s platform has (apparently) shown the world how to build a winning socialist campaign that brings together and highlights the connections between “material” concerns on the one hand and “identity” concerns on the other. Predictably, much of this has been framed in terms of lessons for th...
Chris Cutrone discusses his recent essay for Compact entitled "What Musk and Trump Still Have in Common." Why did Musk and Trump break up? What can we learn about capitalist politics by asking this question? Is Musk mentally ill? Is Trump sad? Find out. Support Sublation Media on Patreon https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Stanley Sharpey joins Douglas Lain to discuss Francis Fukuyama's 1992 book "The End of History and the Last Man," as well as Fukuyama's attempt to defend and return to this work over the last 33 years. Support Sublation Media on Patreon https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Spencer Leonard discusses Walter Benjamin's "On the Concept of History" with Douglas Lain. He raises the question, "Can a Marxist be an historian?" Support Sublation Media on Patreon https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Benjamin Studebaker and Douglas Lain discuss Elon Musk's new political party, Trump's Big Beautiful Bill, and Walter Benjamin's On the Concept of History. Support Sublation Media: https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Chris Cutrone describes how the left's history of supporting right-wing reaction in the Middle East has led to this moment of conflict, whether Trump was planning the attack on Iran all along, and the reason we should assume good faith on all sides when considering world politics. Support Sublation Media https://patreon.com/dietsoap
What is American conservatism, and how should socialists understand it? In this interview, Wyatt Verlen offers a historical overview of conservatism in the United States, from the Bourbon Democrats and Robert Taft to William F. Buckley and the rise of the New Right. We explore how conservatism evolved in response to the Progressive Era, the New Deal, and the Cold War, and examine the role of political machines, laissez-faire ideology, and anti-communism in shaping the American right. This is a c...
Chris Cutrone explains why the left needs to abandon the liberal conception of "Bonapartism" and take up a Marxist understanding instead. Bonapartism is not Bonaparte at the Platypus Review https://platypus1917.org/2025/06/01/bonapartism-is-not-bonaparte/ Support Sublation Media https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Stanley Sharpey is a writer and a socialist living in London. His essay for Sublation Magazine, "The Discreet Charm of the PMC" explains the history of the term and ends up sympathizing with the Ehrenreichs given the political dilemma they faced in the 1970s. The Discreet Charm of the PMC at Sublation Magazine https://www.sublationmag.com/post/the-discreet-charm-of-the-pmc Support Sublation Media https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Spencer Leonard discusses the meaning of the term "Historical Materialism," and how it emerged through the historical struggle for socialism. Support Sublation Media https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Benjamin Studebaker and Douglas Lain discuss Adorno's essay "Commitment" and the failure of leftist politics over the last decade. What level of regression can we expect? Support Sublation Media https://patreon.com/dietsoap
In this episode of the CutroneZone, we dive deep into Chris Cutrone’s essay "On Philosophy and Marxism: Response to Suther and Velissaris"—a characteristically sharp and mournful defense of the dialectic against the return to philosophy. As always, Cutrone’s critique is uncompromising, clear, provocative, and melancholic. Support Sublation Media on Patreon https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Philip Cunliffe discusses his recent essay at COMPACT entitled "How Trump Won the Canadian Election." He explains what constitutes sovereignty, why sovereignty is necessary for democracy, and why Trump turned Canada away from cosmopolitan internationalism and towards patriotic nationalism. Philip Cunliffe at Compact https://www.compactmag.com/article/how-trump-won-the-canadian-election/ Support Sublation Media https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Fabio Vighi returns to throw cold water on the notion that capitalism can be saved. The crisis is terminal. The financialization will continue. In this era of Emergency Capitalism, the crisis will only deepen in the US, in Europe, and in China. Support Sublaton Media https:/patreon.com/dietsoap
Ashley Frawley is senior editor of Compact. She is the author of two books, Semiotics of Happiness: Rhetorical Beginnings of a Public Problem and Significant Emotions: Rhetoric and Social Problems in a Vulnerable Age. Her writing has appeared in UnHerd, and the New Statesman. She is also the former co-host of Sublation Magazine and in this episode she returns to discuss her latest essay in Compact. How Society Got a Sex Change by Ashley Frawley https://www.compactmag.com/contributor/ashley-frawl...
Benjamin Studebaker and Douglas Lain discuss Benjamin Studebaker's latest essay for Sublation Magazine in this week's Sublation Magazine podcast. Are the Republicans and especially Trump, acting in an anti-democratic manner? What threatens democracy today? Support Sublation Media and Join the Conversation: https://patreon.com/dietsoap
In this episode of the Cutronezone, the Last Marxist discusses his latest essay for Sublation Magazine and speculates on why COMPACT magazine rejected it for publication. How is it that established opinion is incapable of taking up and thinking through the significance of Trump's Tariffs? Read Cutrone's Essay "Fear" in Sublation Magazine: https://www.sublationmag.com/post/fear-itself Support Sublation Media https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Novelist and journalist Walter Kirn discusses his 2006 novel "The Unbinding" and answers questions like: Was Holden Caulfield a revolutionary? What is the role of the outsider? Can we escape the Spectacle? Support Us on Patreon for the Second Half https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Wyatt Verlen's essay in Sublation Magazine instructs the left to quit complaining and start critiquing. History gave Trump a right. As of the moment of writing, this right continues to be denied to him. That right is the right to be critiqued." Read the new Sublation Essay by Wyatt Verlen: https://www.sublationmag.com/post/the-right-to-a-critique Support Sublation Media https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Thomas Peermohamed Lambert discusses his novel, Shibboleth, with Nina Power and Douglas Lain in the Culture Corner. What does it mean to go to Oxford? What is the future of the elites and elite education? Can you find love on campus? Support Sublation Media https://patreon.com/dietsoap
In this week's Spencer Leonard Hour, he discusses the meaning of the Civil War in relation to the struggle for socialism. Support Sublation Media on Patreon https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Chris Cutrone discusses just what the aim of Trump's Tariffs might be. Will there be a new global order with the US still at the center? What does it mean to say that the United States is "FREE"? Is Trump just an idiot? Support Sublation Media https://patreon.com/dietsoap
Benjamin Studebaker and Douglas Lain discuss Trump's Tariffs, the attacks of law firms such as Perkins Coie, and how the deportations of MS-13 gang members undermine Due Process. Support Sublation Media: https://patreon.com/dietsoap
