Why Does Joseph Stalin Matter?
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- čas přidán 15. 05. 2024
- Recorded on January 25, 2018.
“Joseph Stalin, Soviet dictator, creator of great power, and destroyer of tens of millions of lives …” Thus begins this episode of Uncommon Knowledge, which dives into the biography of Joseph Stalin. This episode’s guest, Stephen Kotkin, author of Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929-1941(www.amazon.com/Stalin-Waiting..., examines the political career of Joseph Stalin in the years leading up to World War II, his domination over the Soviet Union, and the terror he inspired by the Great Purge from 1936-38.
“Why does Joseph Stalin matter?” is a key question for Kotkin, as he explains the history of the Soviet Union and Stalin's enduring impact on his country and the world. Kotkin argues that Stalin is the “gold standard for dictatorships” in regard to the amount of power he managed to obtain and wield throughout his lifetime. Stalin stands out because not only was he able to build a massive amount of military power, he managed to stay in power for three decades, much longer than any comparable dictator.
Kotkin and Robinson discuss collectivization and communism and how Stalin’s regime believed it had to eradicate capitalism within the USSR even in regions where capitalism was bringing economic success to the peasants, with the potential of destabilizing the regime. This led to the Great Purge, a campaign of political repression that resulted in the exile and execution of millions of people.
For the full transcript go to
www.hoover.org/research/why-d...
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If I close my eyes , I can imagine that Joe Pesci is an Historical Genius.
This guy would need a 10 hour interview.
www.archive.org/details/stephen-kotkin-waiting-for-hitler-audio
“Political crimes for speaking the truth”.....sounds familiar.
Greetings from Quito, Ecuador. I will never stop being amazed by the supreme interviewing gifts of Peter Robinson. Lean, well informed, and above all, lets us live the wealth of his fantastic guests.
Kotkin's perfect delivery of his responses are disconcerting - not because of the content, but because of his lack of mistakes, ums, ahs, and inconsistent cadence. I think he self-corrected exactly one time. This dude is a machine. He's the academic Terminator. You know he's reading the back side of his retina.
We heard about Hitler all the time, but not so much about Stalin, in school.
His two books on Stalin are the most exhaustive yet engrossing biographies I've ever read, they're truly amazing.
Yes indeed.
Peter must be quite happy at how many young people these days are interested in this kind of content. Great stuff.
Millennial here. I love it
I'm amazed that in this day and age, when long format theatrical documentaries are so popular, that no one has made a multi-part movie explaining what happened in Russia much in the same manner as Band of Brothers and From the Earth to the Moon.
Beautiful talk. I also love the talking pace of the guest.
Joe Pesci is my favorite Stalin scholar.
Rasectos lol now all I hear is Pesci 😂.
Haha I knew he looked like someone I had seen before. Its indeed Pesci!
A Buick never had positraction.
If this guy entered a competition to do Pesci impersonations,he'd win hands down every time.
Yeah - and as George Carlin truly says, it's amazing how much Pesci can take care of with a simple baseball bat!
Very interesting stuff. Do they even teach this in school anymore? I suspect the answer is no.
Yes. Beginning a unit on Stalin tomorrow in my IB History class. High school seniors
@@doctorgman1 Do they let you compare the ideology of these dark times to what some prominent politicians of today say?
Why do I matter? You're going to Siberia
I've always wondered what it would be like to go to the Gulag.
Read Grover Furr
STALIN was a Georgian Ortodox Seminarist he hate OTOMANS and NAZIS were controled from ISTAMBUL...to save GEORGIA and Beria's ARMENIA the Russian must stop Nazis that were in the payroll of Muslims of Jerusalem and Istambul
Papa Stalin LOL
@@garyvonneida4065 There is no truth in the news and no news in the truth!
When Stephen Kotkin speaks, a wise man shuts up
I once asked a man whom I knew was an intelligen fellow and a historian what would he most like in life... "To remember everything I read" he said. Wise man I thought!
this should have 500,000,000 views and every university professor should see this
This is such a great explanation of a type of political thinking that is extremely dangerous and I wish more people knew about this history. It is so fascinating, I don’t know why people don’t study it more
This is amazing. Was he crying at some point? 20:30 Robinson appeared to pick something up. This guy speaks with emotion. I can listen to him for days
This is ABSOLUTELY fascinating. Thank you for uploading.
Should we feel nervous when we hear government officials talk about class warfare, pitting the haves with the have nots and etc.
Masterful - Joe Pesci look alike/sound alike is the bomb!
Wish I could take all of this guy's classes.
Thank you for this great interview.
First time I've seen Kotkin sitting quite still. Used to watching him rove on stage and into the audience. Socialism in the cities and capitalism in the countryside. A little like Americas fly-over country and progressive cities?
"He always brings up Stalin" - Norm Macdonald
When does Norm Macdonald say that? I tried googling it.
@@squamish4244 adam egret always says stalin was the bad guy because he wants hitler to look better
learned more about Russia in this talk than the whole history lessons in high school.
Great Interview. Cannot wait for the next part.
Concise and to the point. Explores the raw notion of power. Accumulation of raw power, independent of anyone else's views. Personal loyalty above all else. Of perennial significance.
total pure capitalism
Excellent as always, glad to have had a chance to attend his lecture in Tbilisi back in 2015
Many, many thanks for this great content!
As always, great interview giving great insights. And you are certainly reaching curious Millennials! Peter Robinson is a formidable interviewer. Going strong since decades!
archive.org/details/stephen-kotkin-paradoxes-of-power-audio
archive.org/details/stephen-kotkin-waiting-for-hitler-audio
Would love another video with Kotkin - he's brilliant
Would really like to hear an episode or series of Hardcore History with Dan Carlin featuring Stephen Kotkin; or perhaps just an Uncommon Knowledge special with a similar setup. A subject like this needs more time to unfold the necessary nuance to properly explain the mechanisms behind the events.
Min 13-16 gave me chills..
History repeating itself.
This is so great, thanks a lot. I only wish it lasted forever. Thanks for letting him explain it properly.
Absolutely fascinating history.
The irony of Stalin's collectivization and industrialization drive is that it was only possible due to the importation of machinery and skills developed by capitalism, particularly in the United States. Stalin purchased huge amounts of physical capital from the USA in the 1930s.
I don't know if the Bolsheviks would have seen it as irony, though...they might have seen it as a way to go directly from a peasant society to a communist one and skip over the capitalist stage entirely in the outline laid down by Marxism.
Millennial here. Avid viewer of Hoover Institutions. Please post more content!
This guy is brilliant.
great interviews!
you folks should put the author's amazon link in your description.
Always great to hear from Stephen Kotkin!
I am aware of the basic history Mr. Kotkin states. First time I have witnessed him. Reverent.
so thankful for this
Excellent documentary, a must read ...thank you!
"...someone who knows more about the life of Joseph Stalin than Joseph Stalin knew about the life of Joseph Stalin."
1) That's a bold claim, given how much truth was buried in the Soviet Union, even in post-Stalin era.
2) Don't ever speak that sentence again... It took me a half hour to uncross my eyes.
True and valid comment compared to other's references to "Hollywood" thus FICTION.
As far as the obsession with Trotsky goes and the coerced confessions, I think it just means Stalin was deeply insecure. He needed affirmation that what he was doing was sound and tortured confessions from people to pad that insecurity.
Wow, what an amazing interview. Thank you Dr. Kotkin for your incredible scholarship!
Brilliant mind, fascinating discussion
AMAZING VIDEO LOVE YOU ❤❤❤
absolutely fascinating interview and yes i am a millenial. thank u!
IllICITGRYNE I’m proud of you!
Maybe read about how this propaganda's been completely debunked over and over again, then, millenial. :)
Everyone knows millennials are the ruin of Western civilization, which is strange considering you haven't been around long enough to actually ruin anything.
@@khrachvikkhrachvik7049 and yet you cannot provide one reference to this plentiful debunking, to help the Millenials education? For shame
I know that after my death a pile of rubbish will be heaped on my grave, but the wind of History will sooner or later sweep it away without mercy. - Joseph Stalin (1943)
Source?
look forward to reading your books.
FASCINATNG interview!! Very revealing.
AMAZING VIDEO BRAVO ❤😍❤
THANKS FOR THE VIDEO ❤❤❤❤
Wonderful interview. Stephen Kotkin speaks with such calm and eloquent authority. Thanks for posting this video.
Stephen Kotkin is the most impressive scholar and speaker I have ever listened to. (And I had Pearce Williams at Cornell and Spence at Yale.). Mastery over a vast catalog of sources, acute judicious use of them, perception into character beyond the page and clear expression of conclusions. I've watched many hours of his talks and am eager to learn from him.
A few great speeches of him online
This guy is such a great story teller, and the interviewer asked all the right question, then let the professor finish his response.
archive.org/details/stephen-kotkin-waiting-for-hitler-audio
Mr Richie Kaye you think this guy is a compelling speaker?
I just discovered him and I hope to find more of his work.
I must buy this book
Hello, is Kotkin's biography of Stalin more reliable than of Robert Service?
This is wonderful
archive.org/details/stephen-kotkin-paradoxes-of-power-audio
archive.org/details/stephen-kotkin-waiting-for-hitler-audio
While I do love the closing music, it seems a bit... too cheery after that closing statement lol.
Great interview, very clear answers.
Millennial crew REPRESENTIN🤘
That was great. Peter is an excellent interviewer
The term useful idiots was coined by Lenin. This is what your leaders think of you.
Can you imagine American teachers teaching this? No way
Excellent interview
Ive read robert service stuff, and stalin by montefiore (amazing!!!), but heck this guy sounds like he may have a book too top them all. Very astute analysis, great interview
clear good speaker
Dr. Kotkin probably does a great Joe Pesci impression
Interesting that Trotsky survived so long. Were all of his supporters Jewish? Did Stalin see Jews as a power block? Did that motivate his actions? Why do Peter and Kotkin not discuss this?
Thank you
Stalin, hero of the left.
Interviewer is heavy handed in his restatements. If it's Stanford students in the audience surely such heavy handed and paternalistic statements undermine the very the very valuable and clear concise presentation by the author.
ive been looking forward to this
archive.org/details/stephen-kotkin-waiting-for-hitler-audio
best interviewer in the fuuuckin game
I am a millennial who used to be a marxist and crypto-stalinist some years ago. Thanks to Hoover Institution for constantly putting out this kind of quality content, it really helps! There is so much neo-marxist propaganda out there that voices of reason are desperately needed.
Allzumenschliches44 this makes me so happy to hear
I'm curious: What do you - did you - consider a crypto-stalinist to be? I've heard several left-wingers call themselves crypto-cum-something but I don't know what that's supposed to mean.
@madamegouze
Oh, a "crypto-x" is just a way of saying that someone is secretly and maliciously something that he isn't admitting to in public. For example I used to be active within a leftist party in my country which officially considers itself to be "democratic socialist" but in reality many of us were hardcore communists, admirers of Stalin and Mao.
That is the way leftists operate. They try to persuade the mainstream society with moderate, nice sounding rhetoric but secretly they are far more radical and their goal is to radically transform society towards their ideals by the means of silent subversion. Conservatives in the US and in all of the west need to be way more alert about this and fight back!
Just because I agree with Kotkin doesnt mean I agree with Shaprio, or watch breitbart news.
Then were a revisionist. I find most people who claim to have been Marxists and converted to Liberalism do not actually understand Marxist theory. If you did understand the complex history of the USSR, and you did understand the theory, you'd know that this video is nothing but slander.
Stephen Kotkin is one of the most interesting persons I've heard. I'm transfixed.
Thank You.
I could listen to this guy all day. Gotta love Bach, too.
archive.org/details/stephen-kotkin-waiting-for-hitler-audio
I recommend watching some of Yuri Maltsev's lectures here on CZcams. Viva Mises.
Refreshing to hear _enormity_ used correctly (notwithstanding its awful significance) and within the proper context.
I love listening to intellectual conversation in my own New Yawk accent!
How degenerated ... brainwash is not "intellectual conversation"
Thank you for this great content. Highly intellectual and stimulating.
I think Stalin's personality disorder issues are seen in his bizarre actions. He sees everyone as either a good friend or a bitter enemy. There's no in between. Like people with personality disorders, he's always afraid of betrayal and abandonment. He can't take criticism of any kind without feeling he's being personally attacked. There's a lack of empathy and a strong sense of objectifying people for his own ends regardless of the consequence to them. Manipulation, superficial charm when it serves his purpose, pathological lying, etc.
Jason West sociopathic, perhaps narcissistic borderline
BEST INTERVIEWER IN THE BUSINESS!!!
Incredible talk. Is anybody else getting a little Joe Pesci vibe from Kotkin?
where's part two
Very informative I learned a lot, Thank you
Well done. The professor makes the key point that ideas matter. If you take Marxism or Adam Smith seriously and put their principles into action you can get very different outcomes.
Fascinating
26:54, Kotkin explains The Great Terror.
That’s a hell of a peer group
Remember the words of Israel’s first prime minister David Ben Gurion, “ I am a Bolshevik . “
What camera do you shoot this show with?
OMG it is a good interview
I love Kotkin so much.
I listened to Stephen Kotkin give a talk in Canada recently about Russia and before the question and answer time, I was up to that point quite impressed and so were others in the audience. Then the questions came and all of a sudden he lost control of himself and became quite aggressive and said when asked about the expansion of NATO that essentially it was none of Russia's business and that they should just live with that reality. But he did not end there, he literally went on a rampage and could hardly breathe by the time he was done. And the rest of the meeting was no doubt a disaster attacking but Russia and its president. I was taken aback as all of a sudden he sounded like an operative than a historian. What is my point? When someone who has a deep-seated bias writes history books, the public is misled and misinformed. But such shenanigans have been going on for a long time in academia. The problem always occurs when history takes a backseat to politics and truth is no longer valued. Much good has come out of the HooverInstitution
but this is not one of them.
You know, it's funny about Russians. Every single one I've met equates criticism of the leader as criticism of Russia as a whole. This goes hand-in-hand with the average Russian's preference towards personal leadership.
@Stephen Day The Soviet Union had a population of 147 million people in 1926 and 171 million in 1939. There was no any 'Ukrainian genocide', there was a famine that hit all the southern parts of the SU, the Volga region, Kazakhstan...
That was happening periodically, approximately every ten years in the Russian Empire and the early SU and that famine was the last one. The Soviet Union put an end to food rationing well before Britain did after the war.
He's Damn Good.
Stalin's Big Idea. Modernise the peasantry by taking them back to serfdom.
more like taking them from illiteracy to outer space
industrial serfdom vv agricultural, or, if really lucky, slavery and death in the gulags.
Luke Bruce
In 1980, my brother was in the Soviet Union. It was a total mess. Driving through Moscow, you had no idea what was a store. The only way you knew was when you saw a lineup. People would get into the lineup without even asking what the lineup was for because they knew it had to be some necessary daily shopping item and whatever it was you always needed it. Simple things, like toilet paper, were always in short supply. The country with the largest forests on the planet, couldn't make enough toilet paper for its own citizens. Incredibly, one of the first things to fall in short supply in Hugo Chavez's socialist state was toilet paper, as well. What a system.
He was in a cab one day and it started to rain. Every vehicle stopped, including his cab. The driver grabbed a set of wind shield wipers, jumped out and snapped them into place on the windshield. Every driver of every stopped vehicle was doing the same thing. When the driver got back in the car, my brother asked what that was all about. The driver said that if you left them in place, people would steal them so you always took them off when you weren't driving. He said you had to because it might take months to replace them because wipers were in such short supply.
That's the price the people paid so the Soviets could brag about their space program. Market needs dictated by the government instead of by the people who needed them. Imagine if Trump decided what groceries you were going to need next week. I'll bet you'd love that.
boring liberal BS.
MrSunshine64
It's Marxist policy. That's what Stalin was essentially supporting, although he did fight hard to maintain his spot as the head of the state. The essential Marxism was still in place all through the Soviet era. That lack of essential goods is a trademark of all communist regimes, no matter the era or the country.
That's a disingenuous statement.
I always wondered how Joe Pesci would sound as an intellectual.
whoever added the noise-gate ruined the flow and sound quality to this video.