C. Derick Varn

Varn Vlog

Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here. Varn Vlog is the pod of C. Derick Varn. We combine the conversation on philosophy, political economy, art, history, culture, anthropology, and geopolitics from a left-wing and culturally informed perspective. We approach the world from a historical lens with an eye for hard truths and structural analysis.  

Author

C. Derick Varn

Category

Education

Podcast website

varnvlog.buzzsprout.com

Latest episode

Jul 9, 2026

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Episodes

Greg Belvedere on Worker Autonomy, Co-ops, and More 31.03.2022

Greg Belvedere is a writer and sometimes YouTuber who is very interested in the problems of ecology and net-energy expenditure. We discuss how much more technology, co-ops, and other ways for the working class to express their own power and autonomy. Crew: Host: C. Derick Varn Audio Producer: Paul Channel Strip  ( @aufhebenkultur ) Intro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake. Intro Video Design: Jason My...

Parker McQueeny on Left Unity in the DSA now 28.03.2022

Parker and I will discuss the situation in the DSA after the Bowman affair and the loss of nearly 1/5 of the membership since the DSA convention. We may debate the implications of the second international strategy for the DSA, and why people may or may not want to join in. Note: This is from early February 2022.  We don't discuss recent controversies in the DSA such as the BSD committee scand...

Dwayne Monroe on Materialist Technological Criticism 21.03.2022

Dwayne Monroe is the author of Computational Impacts and a technologist living in Europe.  We talk about the materialist understanding of technology, and its impacts on world affairs. Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here.    Crew: Host: C. Derick Varn Audio Producer: Paul Channel Strip  ( @aufhebenkultur ) Intro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake. Intro Video Design: Jason Myles Links and Social Med...

John Michael Colon and Steve Mann of Strange Matters on Forex and the Limits of MMT 17.03.2022

John Michael Colon and Steve Mann are editors of Strange Matters magazine .  We discuss the limits of the popular versions of Modern Monetary Theory, the deep history of money, and the theories of FOREX, which adds to address some blindspots in contemporary MMT. Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here.    Crew: Host: C. Derick Varn Audio Producer: Paul Channel Strip  ( @aufhebenkultur ) Intro and O...

Daniel of What is Politics on Why Material Conditions Matter, Part 2: Once Upon a Time In the Forest 14.03.2022

Daniel is the host of "What Is Politics"    and we discuss the categorizations of hunter-gathers, conditions of agricultural adjustment,  and the purpose of what we do. This is part 2 of a limited series. Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here.    Crew: Host: C. Derick Varn Audio Producer: Paul Channel Strip  ( @aufhebenkultur ) Intro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake. Intro Video Design: J...

Daniel of "What is Politics" on Why Material Conditions Matter, Part 1: Graber's Mistakes 10.03.2022

Daniel is the host of "What Is Politics"    and we discuss the ideas of David Graeber, David Wrengrow, the Limitations of Occupy Wall-street, and using anthropology, game theory, and other disciplines to build more robust materialism to aid with political action. This is part 1 of a limited series. Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here.    Crew: Host: C. Derick Varn Audio Producer: Paul...

Alex Gendler on the Ukraine Crisis and the Complications of Internationalism 08.03.2022

Alex Gendler is a writer and content producer in NYC.  He is also a leftist man-about-town. He is also a Ukrainian-American from a Russian speaking family who left after the fall of the Soviet Union.  We speak about the complications of internationalism, the complex history Ukraine, and appeals made to overly simple politics. Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here.    Crew: Host: C. Derick Varn Au...

Roxy Hall on The Complications of Gender 07.03.2022

Roxy Hall is a writer and activist living in Australia. We discuss Ten Theses on the Gender Question and the complications of left views of Gender. Crew: Host: C. Derick Varn Audio Producer: Paul Channel Strip  ( @aufhebenkultur ) Intro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake. Intro Video Design: Jason Myles Links and Social Media: twitter: @skepoet Facebook You can find the original stream on Youtube Send...

Kuba Wrzesneiwski on the Ukraine crisis and pressures on the global order 05.03.2022

Dr. Kuba returns to talk about darker things.   While I have avoided talking directly about the conflict as I have personal friends on both sides from when I lived outside of the states, we will be doing a short series of episodes to put the Ukraine crisis in context. Things are happening fast, so know this was recorded on Wednesday, March 2 2022. . You may want to listen to the following episodes...

Dr. Harun Yilmaz on the Spectres of the National Question 03.03.2022

Dr. Harun Yilmaz is Central Asia Research Forum Series academic editor at Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. He is a regional expert on history, national identities, and political propaganda. His academic and popular publications cover Central Asia, Ukraine, and the Caucasus. He received his Master's and Ph. D. from Oxford University. Dr. Yilmaz was a research fellow at Harvard University...

Kuba Wrzesneiwski on the necessity of sound political economy and realist analysis 28.02.2022

The Death Star Middle Manager Returns!  We talk about the necessity of a realist view of states in left geopolitical analysis.  (There was some audio complications with episode) Kuba Wrzesneiwski is an independent foreign policy consultant and regular guest on This is Revolution . We speak on the realities of the US foreign policy elites and their primary concerns. We also talk about leftist misun...

No Royal Road- As Old Worlds End and New Ones Begin: Part 4 (With Chris and Jason of the Regrettable Century) 23.02.2022

While the introduction music is that of Varn Vlog on this podcaster, this series will be simultaneously released on both the Varn Vlog podcast feed and the Regrettable Century podcast feed .   This is a long-running series we are doing on understanding social technologies, relationships of production, and how we get here:  i.e. what is the social and class history of the past.    In this episode,...

1Dime on the interaction of Marxism and Modern Monetary Theory 22.02.2022

1Dime is the host of 1Dime and 1Dime Radio where he discusses and attempts to popularize leftist political and economic theories.   You can support 1Dime's work here .  We discuss the intersection and tensions between MMT, the changes in Canadian politics, and classed theories of the state. Please support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more. Abandon a...

Stephan Hammel on Socialist Aesthetics, Proletkult, and the problems of the Frankfurt School 21.02.2022

Stephan Hammel is a scholar and podcaster, co-host of t he Measures Taken. We discuss Alexander Bogdanov, various incarnations of Proletkult, the political-economic assumptions of the Frankfurt school, the origins of workers' aesthetics,  the cultural turn, and the need for aesthetic theory after the Second international. Please support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, members-o...

Max Seijo on Critical Humanities and Modern Monetary Theory 14.02.2022

Max Seijo is currently working on his doctoral studies at UC Santa Barbara.  He is a co-host of Money on the Left and Superstructure podcast .  While have debated each other in the past and on Twitter, despite the fact I don't "do" debates. Please support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more. Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here. Crew: Host...

R.C. Roberts on the Legacy of Wilfred Bion 10.02.2022

R.C. Roberts is the author of ferocia amini and is a semi-autodidactic scholar of existentialism and psychoanalysis, we spoke about the legacy of Wilfred Bion and the uses of his work for political thinking.  Sartre also comes up. Please support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more. Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here. Crew: Host: C. Derick Varn Audio Pr...

Anton Jäger on the Situation in the EU 07.02.2022

Anton Jäger is a scholar of populism and intellectual history living in Brussels, Belgium. He is also a freelance writer on the left and European politics for outlets like Jacobin.  We discuss the Americanization of European politics, and yet how this made it harder, not easier, for both sides of the Atlantic to understand each other. Please support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, m...

Alex Hochuli On the End of the End of History in South America 03.02.2022

Alex Hochuli is a co-host of Bunga Cast and co-author of the "End of the End of History."   We discuss the left's covid response, the situation of world politics from Sao Paolo, the issues around the Lula election, the effects of Federal Reserve policy on South America, and much more. Please support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more. Aband...

Timothy Schatz on the Heidegger and the Left 31.01.2022

Timothy Schatz, a graduate student at Boston College and former intern at Zero Books, comes on to talk about the complicated legacy of Martin Heidegger and the academic left. Please support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more. Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here. Crew: Host: C. Derick Varn Audio Producer: Paul Channel Strip  ( @aufhebenkultur ) Intro an...

J.G. Michaels of Parallax Views on The Current Confusion 27.01.2022

Friend of the show and prior stream guest, J.G. Michaels, comes on to talk about the current state of politics. J.G. is the host of Parallax Views .  J.G. is a long time collaborator with your host and a student of media in geo-politics.  J.G. comes on to analyze the disconnect of the social media discourse, the press, and the realities of geo-politics. Please support our patreon.   For early and...

Bradley Tuck from Exploding Appendix on ambiguities of Politics and Art 25.01.2022

Bradly Tuck is the editor and founder of Exploding Appendix , we talk about art, culture, politics, and the tensions between the various subjects.  The difficulty of political art and of avant-garde art also is a major subject of discussion. Please support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more. Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here. Crew: Host: C. Derick Va...

Daniel Tutt On Psychoanalysis and the Politics of Liberation 17.01.2022

Daniel Tutt is a philosopher with a focus on Lacanian psychoanalytic theory and Marxist thought. Founder of Study Groups in Psychoanalysis and Politics. He is the author of Psychoanalysis and the Politics of the Family: The Crisis of Initiation with the Palgrave Lacan Series and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at George Washington University, Marymount University, and elsewhere. He is the host of...

No Royal Road- As Old Worlds End and New Ones Begin: Part 3 (With Chris and Jason of the Regrettable Century) 12.01.2022

While the introduction music is that of Varn Vlog on this podcast, this series will be simultaneously released on both the Varn Vlog podcast feed and the Regrettable Century podcast feed .   This is a long-running series we are doing on understanding social technologies, relationships of production, and how we get here:  i.e. what is the social and class history of the past.    In this episode, we...

Djene Bajalan on the Context of the Kurdish Situation 10.01.2022

Dr. Djene Rhys Bajalan is a historian of the Middle East specializing the rise of nationalism and the evolution of the Kurdish question. He completed his undergraduate degree in history and politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies, holds an MSc in Nationalism and Ethnicity from the London School of Economics, an MA in History from Istanbul Bilgi University and a DPhil in Oriental Stu...

Stephan Hammel on the Legacy of First Two Internationals 03.01.2022

Happy New Year.  We are going to start with a long one.   Stephan Hammel is a scholar and podcaster, co-host of t he Measures Taken. We discuss the legacy of the first two internationals and the reason why the 1900s-1930s are possibly more relevant to our situation than the other periods most leftists focus on. We attempt to define Neo-Kautskyism and have a mild disagreement on if conditions are p...

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