E312: We Must Imagine Frankenstein Happy

Jack Z. Bratich chats about the concept of "microfascism," a term coined by Deleuze as part of their project of tracing “the genealogy and the permanence of certain fascist machineries” in order “to refuse to allow any fascist formula to slip by, on whatever scale it may manifest itself, including within the scale of the family or even within our own personal economy." Happy Thanksiving!The concept suggests that fascist impulses don't just come from "above" (authoritarian leaders) but can emerge from "below" in how people treat each other daily. Deleuze and Guattari believed everyone has some "fascist" potential—desires for domination, control, or submission. Bratich's work looks at the idea in the current context of MAGA, stochastic terrorism, and the manosphere.Buy his book On Microfascism: Gender, War, Death and Conspiracy Panics: Political Rationality and Popular Culture from Common Notions.3WF interview: https://threewayfight.org/antifascism-in-2025-shane-burley-interviews-xtn-alexander-and-matthew-n-lyons/Klaus Theweleit's Male Fantasies: https://monoskop.org/images/5/54/Theweleit_Klaus_Male_Fantasies_Vol_1_Women_Floods_Bodies_History.pdfSupport This Wreckage and join our Discord discussion by signing up to Patreon

Sean interviews the ever charming Tony from video essay channel 1Dime and political podcast 1Dime Radio about what it's like to be young and/or Canadian. They discuss politics up north, the vagaries of the so-called left and what a younger cohort might teach us old-timers about the world.This is a preview of the extended version of this episode, to access the whole thing become a patron at www.patreon.com/thiswreckageSong: Blind Lemon Jefferson - One Dime Blues

We talk about Guillermo Del Toro's Frankenstein and decide: Worth it and/or woke?For the full episode subscribe at http://patreon.com/c/thiswreckageDel Toro interview: https://www.npr.org/2025/10/23/nx-s1-5577963/guillermo-del-toro-frankensteinMarx on alienated labor: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/labour.htmSong: Alice Cooper - Teenage Frankenstein

In 1968, Huey P. Newton told an interviewer that whites who wanted to support the Black Panthers should create the White Panther Party. Later that year, a trio of Michigan radical artists (John Sinclair, Leni Sinclair, and Pum Plamondon) did just that. Gaining notoriety from their campaigns to legalize marijuana, support political prisoners, and the popularity of revolutionary rockers the MC5, the White Panthers formed chapters around the country, and continued their activity through the seventies, long after other New Left formations dissolved.Among them was our guest today, Larry Weissman, aka DJ PreSkool. He joined the party in 1971 until he was jailed during a public dispute over gun rights against mayor Dianne Feinstein. We talk about the history of WPP, their political line, their alliances and disagreements with other New Left groups, the importance of weed and rock n' roll to their program, and how he continues that spirit today as house DJ in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.Check out PreSkool's Underground Syllabus Friday at Casette in Ridgewood, Queens: https://dice.fm/event/eoanp6-dj-preskools-underground-syllabus-14th-nov-cassette-new-york-city-ticketsDJ PreSkool's BandcampRead Guitar Army by John SinclairMore on WPP food program: https://www.foundsf.org/Hard-Left_Politics_Enters_the_People%E2%80%99s_Food_SystemMore on WPP wiretaps and entrapment: https://www.necessarystorms.com/home/watergate-wiretaps-and-the-white-panther-partyhttps://fifthestate.anarchistlibraries.net/library/101-march-19-april-1-1970-the-history-of-president-pigCheck out the rest of the Armed Love Series: https://www.patreon.com/collection/87680?view=expandedSong: Henry Rollins & Bad Brains - Kick Out the Jams

We give our first reflections of Zohran's mayoral victory in New York: Sean from his coworkers, Andy from the Commie Corridor.Subscribe at http://patreon.com/c/thiswreckage for the fun half, in which film critic Payton McCarty-Simas pops in to discuss Yorgos Lanthimos' new film Bugonia.Bessner post: https://x.com/dbessner/status/1986204448092528758Song: Earth Wind and Fire - Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

Sean and Varn meditate on a moment full of incoherence that somehow coheres.Song: Nirvana - DiveFor the full episode sign up at http://patreon.com/thiswreckageBecome a patron of Varnvlog at www.patreon.com/varnvlog

Phil Neel guides our Halloween descent into HELLWORLD--his epic new horror-theory analysis of the megastructures of global capitalism, and a search of the revolutionary subjectivity necessary to revolt against our domestication into the planetary factory.Phil Neel's substack: https://philneel.substack.com/ Theory of the Party: https://illwill.com/theory-of-the-partySong: Merle Haggard - Are the Good Times Really Over?

Longtime friend of the show, historian Aaron J. Leonard joins us to talk about his new book Menace of Our Time: The Long War Against American Communism. It's a history of the monitoring, infiltration, and legal suppression of the Communist Party USA that begins with a very familiar-sounding "black scare" against anarchists after a high-profile assassination in 1901. For the full episode, sign up to support the show! And, while supplies last, sign up to the SUPERWRECKERS tier at the discounted, ANNUAL level and we'll send you a free copy of Jarrod Shanahan's new book Every Fire Needs a Little Bit of Help: A Decade of Rebellion, Reaction, and Morbid Symptoms 📙, with an introduction from Andy!+For the Wrecking Krew tier You can receive Every Fire AND a copy of Andy's I Want to Believe: Posadism, UFOs and Apocalypse Communism 📗👽Article on the book: https://truthout.org/articles/how-a-century-of-anti-communism-cleared-the-way-for-trumps-authoritarianism/ Video: Trump says "we took free speech away": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4VqMY8djOM Indypendent article on Antifa: https://indypendent.org/2025/10/what-is-antifa/Song: billy woods - Source Awards

Andy, Varn, and Alex of Antipolitika Journal read and discuss Gianfranco Sanguinetti's 1979 text "On Terrorism and the State."A follow-up on his "Truthful Report on the Last Chances to Save Capitalism in Italy" hoax from a few years earlier, the text accuses the Italian State of arranging the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro, and being behind all acts of terrorism as a short-sighted strategy of defense. The piece also condemns leftwing arm struggle as reproducing the Spectacle, ultimately proposing its own vision of proletarian insurrection.Subscribe for the full episode and Discord discussion: https://www.patreon.com/c/thiswreckageFall promotion! Subscribe annually for free books. More info: https://www.patreon.com/posts/fall-promotion-138957785In the fun half we judge this thesis in the context of the post 9/11 security state, with a final autobiographical note saying farewell to Sanguinetti, who passed away in Prague as we were planning this episode.Some obituaries can be read here: https://www.gianfrancosanguinetti.com/https://x.com/illwilleditions/status/1975228886741868743https://libcom.org/article/farewell-gianfranco-sanguinetti-1948-2025Sanguinetti texts: On Terrorism and the State: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/gianfranco-sanguinetti-on-terrorism-and-the-state?v=1632580307Truthful Report: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/censor-truthful-report-on-the-last-chances-to-save-capitalism-in-italy?v=1632737089The Orgasm of History: https://francosenia.blogspot.com/2017/10/un-orgasmo-della-storia.htmlCorrespondenses with Debord on SI's dissolution: https://libcom.org/article/notes-serve-history-si-1969-1971-debord-sanguinettiSplit in the International: https://libcom.org/article/veritable-split-international-situationist-internationalSong: Nirvana - Dive

NEWS EP! Government Shutdowns past and present, ICE in Chicago, Trump vs. Big Capital, and Sean's essay on the implications of the international spread of the American petit-bourgeois. We discuss the essay in detail in the fun half! read along: https://seankb.substack.com/p/gadsdens-over-rio Subscribe for the full episode and Discord discussion: https://www.patreon.com/c/thiswreckage Fall promotion! Subscribe annually for free books. More info: https://www.patreon.com/posts/fall-promotion-138957785 Song: Digital Octopus - Don't Tread on Me