Stalin's World: Stephen Kotkin in Conversation with David Remnick (2/10/15)

[@Salenceable]

I'm running out of Stephen Kotkin videos.

[@adamtomczik9328]

Me too! 😢

[@eddieleon9608]

Same

[@jaylinn416]

It takes a street guy like Joe Pesci to really understand Stalin on the gut level.

[@karlkuzmin4921]

Joe pesci indeeed

[@psSubstratum]

What you mean? Is he here to fucking amuse you?

[@thomassaehler9038]

It was away on that bank job in SEAcaucus

[@cookml]

It’s his smart twin as someone said under another video.

[@CarliMichelle]

Perhaps not to understand, but certainly to articulate

[@harryaarrestad583]

Find mr. Kotkin facinating , love his style of delivering his knowledge , and his accent . Dude’s cool 😎

[@cecilefox9136]

I agree!

[@getevennow]

Brilliant with language par excellence .Amazing clarity of mind

[@cecilefox9136]

What a brilliant historian is Mr Kotkin.

[@heynsenene]

Omg. Me too!

[@philipford6183]

What fantastic interview. Kotkin is endlessly entertaining.

[@MrSp0iler]

he prays to stalin so he comes back to earth

[@MykolaLastovetsky]

He is not an expert!!! Check Mark Solonin works or Victor Suvorov books.

[@VectorOfKnowledge]

@@MykolaLastovetsky He's the pre-eminent expert on Stalin.

[@vanderkonig]

Thank you Mr. Kotkin for your amazing body of work. You're an inspiration to us all. Also I just learnt that Kotkin and Remnick are the same age.

[@richardhausig9493]

I'm not huge on Stalin or Russia but I can listen to/Prof Kotkin all day any day. He's makes it so interesting

[@RogerBuffington]

Kotkin is brilliant. What a wonderful talk.

[@pawelsz4825]

Gr8 material . Thnx

[@EjnerH1949]

Kotkin is great but, very absorbed by his topic, by all his topics. David Remnick as an interviewer is excellent, insightful. If you just want to 'watch a lecture' there are lots of good Kotkin one and half hour uninterrupted presentations elsewhere. This is a very good panel discussion where Kotkin is "called out", asked to explain his opinions by a knowledgeable interviewer. Read the first 700 pager, half way through 'Waiting for Hitler', and waiting for third volume.

[@joepisacreta3822]

Absolute legend - thank you Mr. Kotkin!

[@adamcathcart]

Very engaging; great tidbits on Volkogonov, Beria, working in archives, amid a nice rapport with the discussant.

[@jackiwannapaint]

I have read a handful of bios of stalin including the Simon Montefiore book that I hold in some regard but Prof Kotkin adds a new dimension to the subject and I find it--and him--fascinating

[@LDdrums20]

What an excellent conversation!

[@emigrant41]

Kotkin profound and accurate, just great as usual

[@iguana1677]

Great chemistry between these two. It made for special discussion.

[@gaoxiaen1]

Stephen Kotkin is the best!

[@nicholashughes8214]

Truly great lecture thanks

[@skariapothen3066]

When You have a dream and when you have the belief that you can do it then you acquire a self direction and focus so powerful that you get rid of all obstacles in front of you.

[@EurekaRepublic89]

Thank you for this talk, Joe Pesci! I mean Stephen Kotkin!

[@cladglas]

+RedArmyTank me too!

[@echo1174]

LOL? How LOL? How LOL exactly ... LOL Ha! Ha!? does Stalin amuse you? is he some kind of clown LOL?

[@tuirfghfhg1787]

and then Stalin said: "purge that fucking scumbag or I will fucking kill you too son of a bitch, you're fucking dismissed"

[@renejunca2338]

Echo i

[@beatlessteve1010]

I thought the same thing on another interview he did( pertaining to the Joe Pesci similarity, by the way the similarity ends with the common sounding voice and looks), Stephen is immensely knowledgeable and very subjective!! I love his work and the work of Jonathan Brent on anything about Russia's incredibly interesting history.

[@HugoNewman]

The interviewer has an uncanny ability to interrupt and sidetrack Kotkin just as he's approaching the synthesis of a multi-faceted answer. Very frustrating.

[@mrblank-zh1xy]

Didn't get irritated by this until the last half, then it gets super annoying

[@francescorossi3796]

Yes, I was just thinking the same; and I had the impression he would do this whenever the writer was making a point he didn't like.

[@synon9m]

I know. Who is this guy

[@ecpgieicg]

The reason is probably a combination of low sugar + the interviewer already knowing the answers to the questions he asked. This wasn't the first time Kotkin did interviews/reviews of his work. They also know each other. If you don't already know Kotkin's stories, this interview is definitely jarring.

[@gp92510]

Remnick, sticking up for Massen, who Kotkin said was shallow...

[@seanmellows1348]

Excellent discussion

[@thomasjablonka3155]

This editor interviewer moderator guy is a real jerk.

[@fellowtraveler2251]

@@CaliforniaGirl-qk5kq Fuck off, Nazi.

[@baryntn41]

You're absolutely correct. It's annoying.

[@MMARavid]

He really was. I don’t understand why you have a guest if you’re just going to cut him off every-time you ask a question

[@Johnconno]

Don't worry about the interviewer, he's not around anymore...

[@lallen4999]

Thank you Stephen Kotkin.

[@Odderup]

Stephen Kotkin is the most inspiring person since i heard Jeremy Rifkin.

[@nuqwestr]

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has not only read Jeremy Rifkin's book, The Third Industrial Revolution, and taken it to heart. He and his colleagues have also made it the core of the country's thirteenth Five-Year Plan

[@rubenjames7345]

Great presentation. Great presenter plus great moderator.

[@TheDavidlloydjones]

Kotkin is a very bright lad ad I'm looking forward to reading his Stalin. (I have Volume 1 on order.) I think he comes off much better here than he does in his many book promotion speeches which are kinda canned.

[@svendbosanvovski4241]

This is a terrific interview. David is pointing Stephen towards the golden vein of his research. I have been interested in Soviet studies for many years and ceaselessly irritated by the fog of propaganda from the so-called left and right. You feel as you read Stephen - at least I did - his uncompromising honesty in this treatment of the material, as though he wanted to write one of the greatest histories, unvarnished and truthful. So far, so good. His final volume will cover the most interesting period: the Great Patriotic War through to Stalin's demise, and possibly the de-Stalinisation from 1956. It is like waiting for the final season of Game of Thrones.

"from Left and right"? Are you high or an extreme leftist? The big "anti-Soviets" like Robert Conquest and Richard Pipes and Dmitri Volkogonov were proven not only right but utterly conservative in their charges against the Soviets when the USSR collapsed. They came out smelling like roses compared to the "on the one hand" types and are still sitting on top of what could be considered settled science on the history of the Soviets. I see a lot of this from left-wing extremists: they know the period looks so horribly for their ideological friends, but they don't want it to look bad for the Left in general so they engage in a silly pretend objective balancing act to fool people and make them not look so bad. Read "The Harvest of Sorrow": it's not propaganda, it's not a "fog". It's what happened. You extremists are assholes.

[@RobinEvans1234]

The Information Research Department (IRD) tweaked animal farm and promoted it internationally. www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1322943/world-war-3-animal-farm-news-george-orwell-book-cold-war-spt?fbclid=IwAR1vWXB6pKgXZfUVEJUO6EILqECiwUUsWMHjHuxXQrUOU2jbHaNWIZrgT8E Robert Conquest was on the staff of the (IRD), which received Orwell's list and constructed many lists used for blacklisting or persecuting people, with their main targets for propaganda and persecution being in the Third World. The most violent repressions happened after right-wing coups. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Research_Department

[@RobinEvans1234]

@ By "angels", you mean bloody imperialists waging war on all anti-colonial and anti imperialist peoples rising up against their extremely violent oppression.

[@RobinEvans1234]

Imagine being a working class person and still remaining ignorant enough to believe the lies of imperialism though, and not literally being a communist.

[@RobinEvans1234]

14+ capitalist nations sending invading armies during the civil war, Nazi invasion after US appeasement, operation unthinkable, over the top carpet bombing of Dresden and nuclear bombings in Japan (clearly done as a display of power to send a message), acceleration of nuclear arms race by the US, most missiles pointed at the USSR, Red Scare propaganda used to wage war on people's movements anywhere in the world ....

[@excellentcomment2126]

Kotkin is always so personally appealing and intellectually thought-provoking--what a tough combo to achieve! He can satisfy without acquiescing to those who try to press him into a binary position. Wouldn't you love to hear his assessment on the current violence in our streets and cities? But we probably won't. And if you've listened to him carefully, perhaps you can guess. I take as my text his oft-repeated comment: "it is never necessary to kill people in order to improve an economic system." One funny thought he provokes here is he says Russians want to build a strong state and that effort inevitably creates a personal dictatorship. It provokes the thought that we Americans want a constitutionally-limited state, and we end up with a juggernaut that describes itself as, "...like the ancient Romans--we crucify the first 5 guys we see, and then the rest fall into line." Maybe not so funny. Yes, I agree with my fellow Kotkinians--I do wish he would sit and talk with Dave Rubin or Joe Rogan. Kotkin has the mass appeal to make that a million-views video. In one fell swoop, he could give masses of Americans the historical foundation we all need for taking constructive political action.

[@bleacherz7503]

Kotkin is the most interesting biographer that i have come across. Are there others?

[@antitiktokunion3894]

Stephan Kotkin and Ian Kershaw are the best their like the iron man and captain America on biographies. If you didn’t know Ian kershaw weite Hitler a biography.

[@SurrenderPink]

Starts at 2:05.

[@richardcory5024]

Kotkin is extremely informative, very perceptive and entertaining as well, as ever. I would have enjoyed this talk even more if Remnick had butted out a lot more. No doubt this is not a view shared by many but I'm not sure that being editor-in-chief of the New Yorker does not encourage you to exhibit, in miniature, some of the same tendencies Stalin himself suffered from.

[@TheDavidlloydjones]

" He was a gentleman from sole to crown..." Ah, yes, just the qualities a man needs to be able to identify people with, uh, some of the same tendencies Stalin himself suffered from. On Remnick's butting in, I think that his "What do you think of psychobiography? How about Robert C. Tucker...?" at 1:05:30 or so is very charitable: Kotkin was getting high-pitched, loud and repetitive, all while making the simple, mundane, and perhaps in this context obvious point that power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Remnick simply brought the man back to his senses, for which I think the audience there, and the rest of us out here, are grateful.

[@peterivankovich5998]

Stephen Kotkin, I first consciously heard about Stalin in my secondary school during history class at the school Number 31 in Vitebsk, Belarus. I think I was about seventeen back then. Stalin seemed to have been out of favor at that time because nothing much about him had penetrated my teen mind. My history teacher`s words about Stalin that settled down in my memory were :"Although Stalin won WWII and saved our country from enslavement by Germany he had made many mistakes and has given our country a bad name abroad." Is there anything more to add to her explanation?I was born 10 years after Stalin`s death. My parents had not met yet when he died. Then I found myself in the United States after the breakup of the Soviet Union. I have exposed to so much information about Stalin over here that my impression is Stalin has not died in America yet. I have been reprimanded for Stalin`s labor camps (the last labor camp was officially closed several years before I was born), accused of having persecuted the Jews in the Soviet Union and stuff like that. I thought one needs to come over to America in order to find out the truth about oneself. Almost no American asked me about my life. Why? They know everything from American mass media. Only the American wife of an American acquaintance of mine from my work asked me pointblank about my life in the Soviet Union. I`d set out to tell her. She cut me short after several sentences and said: "No, your life wasn`t like that. Listen, I`m going to tell you what your life was like..." And she went on to tell me a Soviet lifestyle of fear and oppression and want and long lines seen in a typical American movie about the life of the Soviet people in the Soviet Union. It was not how I had remembered my life. Maybe because I had lived far from Moscow and out of Russia that I had missed out on the typical stuff of Soviet life as portrayed in the US. When I got over to America, a college dorm roommate of mine had been here for five years already. One of his first pieces of advice to me was: "Don`t waste your breath trying to explaining anything to the Americans. They are not capable of understanding anything that sits outside of the framework of their mindset that gets shaped into them in this country..." I thought this was a crude exaggeration. After many years in the US I have come to the conclusion how right my former roommate was.I like watching your shows. They help me increase my vocabulary about life in Soviet Russia. I think when you talk about famine you`d do well to compare it with big famines in other countries. Like 3 massive famines in India deliberately condoned by Great Britain in the 19th century so that the Indian farmers didn`t get used to government help. I sometimes feel that from the Western point of view Russia is held to be a backward country because it committed the same crimes as western European countries and the US did with a lag of a century or two. It gives the right to western democracies to crow. After some five centuries of robbing the whole world but failing to break up Russia into colonies like the rest of the world. I grew up in a republic that had been devastated and razed to the ground during WWII. Russia had pumped a vast amount of money to rebuild and industrialize this republic (and many others) and cultivate its friendship, all at the cost of its own poverty. When the Soviet Union collapsed, all that industry almost ground to a halt for lack of material resources. I also read a book in the US written by a French reporter who was the first Western reporter to get into he Soviet Union when it had opened up for some time after Khrushchev`s speech denouncing Stalin. The reporter was leaving Tbilisi when an uprising was taking place in the city. I learned about this uprising for the first time in my life. It was mostly by Georgian university students who had been offended by Khrushchev`s speech. The students thought Khrushchev had slung mud at the Greatest Son of the Georgian nation to justify his own coming to power. The uprising was brutally suppressed by troops sent by Khrushchev. I told a Georgian "Russian wife" I know here about this. She was not surprised to hear about that. She said everyone in Georgia knew it. So I have learned in the US so much more about the country of my childhood that when I was growing up there. I bet if you spend some time in Russia, you could find out so much more about your own country. I have met some young Americans who visited Russia and said the Russians are not the kind of people the US media tell us about. Well, as for my country Belarus, I rarely encounter an American who knows what it is. I`d like to hear any of your comments, please.

[@Makrania]

peter ivankovich Здравствуйте. Я живу в Америке и учу русский язык. У меня есть несколько знакомых и собеседников в Белоруси. А когда Вы переехали в Америку?

[@TheDavidlloydjones]

Peter, You need to take that post down and paragraph it. Solid blocks of type like that are very difficult to read -- and you deserve to get f=more readers for your mixed and interesting thoughts.

[@davidcoleman2463]

The only thing I want to know in the secret archives is are UFOs real ? Lol

[@mortalkomment8028]

Compare Kotkin with Getty and Furr. They should fight it out in the octagon!

[@xkozyr]

Imagine interrupting Stephen Kotkin thinking your clever, and then your a fool forever.

[@ezequielstepanenko3229]

Am I the only one that hopes this biography takes him more than three books?

[@SeattlePioneer]

Yes. I've completed volume one and am up to the Munich Pact that gave Hitler Czechoslovakia. Three will be enough for me.

[@lousheehan9825]

None of this slaughter would have occurred absent willing minions: the people who pulled the triggers, who took the cows, etc. We need to better understand these people.

[@zoperxplex]

As an indication of the Russian mentality in this century a recent survey placed Stalin as the third most admired figure in Russian history.

[@lallen4999]

How sad they don't their own hisory. @@zoperxplex

[@CaliforniaGirl-qk5kq]

@@lallen4999 That is not their fault. Russians were brainwashed for dozens of years by communist propaganda.

[@johnsmith1474]

@@zoperxplex - Rightly enough. He makes George Washington look like a minor land thief and slave owner, which he was.

[@sonjak8265]

@Lou Sheehan In fact, the percentage of incarcerated people in the US right now is not lower than such percentage in USSR under Stalin.

[@johnsmith1474]

"Special country with personalistic rule" reiterates and reflects Hitchens' definition of "religious thinking." The construct of religious thinking is: 1. Hero worship + 2. unassailable dogma + 3. criminalization of some thought (the thought crime).

[@johnsmith1474]

@MsYogaGrrrl - My use of Hitchens (I am sure you have read all of his books) is perfectly accurate for what I use it for - an analogy that helps clarify Kotkin's term, "personalistic rule." I don't think you quite grasped the analogy. I see from your library of vids you're a kid, you will learn with more reading. I congratulate you on even being here. Here's a beginning reading list: Kotkin-Stalin: Paradoxes of Power, Simon Sebag Montefiore "Young Stalin," Allan Bullock - Hitler and Stalin, Bloodlands Europe Between Hitler and Stalin, Michael Dobbs - Six Months in 1945 - FDR, Stalin, Churchill, Truman, and the Making of the Modern World, Robert Service - Stalin A Biography, Simon Sebag Montefiore - Stalin The Court of the Red Tsar. Get back to me when you are done with those. ;)

[@jamesmurphy2828]

From Kamenev at 14th Party Congress I began this part of my speech with the words, “We are against the theory of individual preeminence, we are against creating a Chief!” With these same words I end my speech. (Applause by the Leningrad delegation) (Voice from a seat) “And who do you propose?” I am in agreement ! Who would replace Stalin Felix Dzierzynski What's the solution shared decision policy with basically article evaluators

[@jackiwannapaint]

a classic discussion that falls into the "What is Truth?" category

[@dustyfairview9062]

Kotkin dude. Prepare for my bribe of mesquite BBQ and Atlantic seafood for your charming company.

[@rileystewart9165]

40:57 False. The right question is: When do Kevin's parents leave for their next vacation. :P Loving the talk so far. We need to get this guy on Sam Harris Podcast. I emailed him and he said he was inundated with podcast requests. However, the people can speak.

[@AgendaFiles]

archive.org/details/stephen-kotkin-paradoxes-of-power-audio archive.org/details/stephen-kotkin-waiting-for-hitler-audio

[@TM-vq1bf]

I was backing up into a parking spot and Kotkin pulled in head first and stole it from me . He gave me the finger, called me a kulak and told me to get bent .

[@DavidErdody]

Hilarious little exchange: Remnick as Stalin (1:05:29)

[@JohnGeometresMaximos]

Remnick, let the man speak FFS.

[@terencewinters2154]

Great historian. The absence of evidence is sometimes the evidence. Ie the dictation is absent where everywhere else it exists.

[@darrellroberson4401]

PLEASE CONSULT WITH MR. GERALD HOME

[@shok24199]

Anyone interested in this book should watch the Uncommon Knowledge videos where Kotkin is interviewed by Peter Robinson. Both of the two interviews (one for each released book) are far superior to this. Robinson gets right into the meat and potatoes of the books.

[@bleacherz7503]

Robinson is a bit hard to watch

[@ivannio4783]

Why did´nt the other person just keep quiet? He seems totally off track :(

[@tagetallqvist1296]

Intersting!

[@randolphgarcia3494]

BRIEF COMMENT: WHEN WILL HIS THIRD VOLUME BE READY FOR PUBLICATION? THE LAST THING I READ ONLINE WAS HE'S IN THE PROCESS OF WRITING THE BOOK & IT MIGHT BE READY FOR FINAL RELEASE IN THE SUMMER OR EARLY FALL OF 2021. LET'S HOPE SO. HIS RESEARCH IS AMAZING & HIS FIRST TWO VOLUMES HAVE RECEIVED MUCH PRAISE FROM THE LITERARY WORLD. PLEASE HURRY W/THAT FINAL VOLUME MR.KOTKIN.

[@Stephen-wb3wf]

Guy on the right is obviously there to keep his answers to a certain time.

[@imalwaysbluffing]

Who would want to be Stalin? Sounds like a lot of work

[@temax]

Man, the interviewer is so annoying. What an unrespectful guy. He evidently wants Stephen to say what he wants. Thanks God Stephen does not allow him to.

[@alvarogines6788]

I would like to hear him say: I've been trying to reach you ...as joe pesci said

[@toosinbeymen6304]

Stop with the effing jokes already. Come on, get down to it.

[@andrewdeen1]

I think Kotkin's had like 1 drink here.. I wish he had a podcast where he just reviewed soviet and war movies.

[@harryflash5202]

Would have been so much better without the inane interjections

[@kobajughashvili3444]

Stalin was a hero who saved Russia

[@rhapsody5645]

40:54 "It's just a polite way of saying when are you going to be done." "You could be right actually. You're shrewder than I am." SLAP!

[@jcrios1917]

43:46 best part

[@danielpaschjr3547]

Brian Ferry, unfortunately, wasn't sitting with David Remnick when he praised the Nazi aesthetic. What I mean is that Stephen Kotkin praised Stalin's dictatorship and he was gently chided while Ferry was in Britain and was roasted for his comment. Similar situation, different outcome here. Joel

[@StellarFella]

David Remnick is often uncomfortably and embarrassingly naive in this interview process. He's trying to steer things to anticipated insights when he should just let the rich narrative unfold naturally.

[@mercury7192]

21:50 He looked pissed.

[@patriceortovent3337]

Tenure, mention by the interviewer, a solid system according to the joke, well, should ask how solid it is to Norman G Finkelstein, it would be understood differently and not refer to so lightly.

[@Johnconno]

Picasso did not have sexual relations with his Mother, his Father, however, who was an art teacher, threw in the towel when Picasso was 12. ; (

[@TheDavidlloydjones]

At 30:35 Stalin's only legal job. So much for the theory that you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. 🤣🤦‍♂😎🤣 What one may think of as the crux, including Lenin's Testament (spoiler alert: go listen to Kotkin), revs up around 42:00. This is Kotkin the grinder in the archives, not the guy with the nervous bad jokes doing a book tour. I find him credible. Brilliant. And ver-ree important.

[@KIRRAH1]

Well he is right, you have to be a people person to make it happen

[@kevingr7]

Joe Pesci is such an amazing historian and funny too!

[@danielpaschjr3547]

I agree with most of what Dr. Kotkin has written about Stalin, but when he says that his behavior and development into an evil dictator is because of the political situation I can't fully agree. While I believe that the politics of the Bolsheviks were barbaric I think that his actions before the revolution, like sleeping with a 13 year old girl and fathering a child with her at the age of 37 bears out some proof that something is very wrong with him. Also, his "expropriations", like the extremely violent bank robbery in Tbilisi in 1907, where several innocent bystanders were killed or maimed because of the explosives that they used, is further evidence of sociopathy. The fact that he wasn't physically there doesn't matter, because he was the one that set the whole crime up, which further shows evidence of sociopathic tendencies due to his ability to be able to manipulate people into doing bad things. So, in a rare case of disagreement with Dr. Kotkin, I think that he's somewhat wrong here. Joel

[@jamesmurphy2828]

If your reading vol 1 Stalin at Tsaritsyn begins to show his Psychopathic monster character With Tsaritsyn surrounded by White armies he carried show trials and executions

[@rondav41]

James Murphy so was everyone else!

[@patriceortovent3337]

One has to be part of a central committee like the ones with the Trotskyists to understand the dynamic involved in decision making. We are a long way from understanding fully what was involved in a political party as radical as the Bolshevik at the time of the taking over of power which took place in a very specific historical time in Russia. Any attempt to “explain” the time of Stalin cannot be valid unless one takes in account and embrasses the ideal of communism and understand fully the ferocious not to say murderous opposition of capital. The work of Trotsky about Stalin is probably the only one which permits to understand Stalin regime on a political level, not on a question of personality which, it has to be admitted can play a role but never a decisive one. Nothing exists by itself, it is part and parcel of the whole and as such the history of mankind cannot be seen through personality which is what has been understood so far, we see history through glamorous or infamous leaders, it’s like describing a fruit from its outside appearance and ignore the inside. Thinking inside the box doesn’t help to progress unfortunately.

[@CaliforniaGirl-qk5kq]

One thing is clear - it is ethnic Jews who led Bolshevik revolution in Russian. Some were assimilated, most of them were not. Yet nobody gives "credit" to true authors of the 70 years of communism in Russia which destroyed lives of millions of Russian people. The victims of communism were Russians, not Americans.

[@kirbybros589]

@@CaliforniaGirl-qk5kq spoken written and authorized by a fascist sympathizer

[@user-oo8xp2rf1k]

55.00 is interesting. Rikov saying that collectivisation 'now', will be catastrophic, and Stalin's insistence that, 'we think capitalism is wrong ergo we stop it NOW, because that is what we ARE as Marxists'.

[@polenc7167]

What if Chamberlain had waved an ipad in the air instead of a flimsy piece of paper flapping in the wind. And he says: oops my battery died and I lost the signature is lost. SO HE SAYS BUT I have Herr Hitler's word. Hitler's word is good for it anyway. Ooops my pants fell down. Would history have been changed? Aside from the kiddiing, one historian said that the problem was that the negotiation was done leader to leader rather than government to government.

[@neuropsychdoc6341]

I was just wondering. Does David Remnick ever shut up and let the guest speaker finish thoughts? Remnick is not funny. He is a bore.

[@QED_]

+neuropsychdoc: Remnick has his own style and agenda -- no doubt about it. And usually that's annoying. But in this case I think he provides a somewhat useful counterpoint to Kotkin's tendencies. Kotkin is ultimately okay by himself -- he has enough self-restraint. But here Remnick reinforces that self-restraint and I find that a good thing overall . . .

[@davidrapalyea7727]

Clem Cornpone re: "move things along… " He was not good at it. It's ok though because the speaker was not very much distracted.

[@StephenPaulTroup]

Clem Cornpone Yeah, Remnick is trying to make the trains run on time while the audience is desperately trying to learn from the few precious minutes they have with Stephen Kotkin

[@StephenPaulTroup]

David Rapalyea - Still he calls on people in the middle of answering a question.

[@oeiras99]

Agree Kotkin is a lucid speaker and Remnick interrupts the flow. Stopped watching and switched to another occasion.

[@TheVietnameseDevil]

3:2 GANG LET’S GOOOOOOO 🔼🔼

[@garrisonnichols807]

21:57 Damn poor Stalin 🤣

[@jistikoff2361]

And turns out Stalin "the Monster" is nothing compared to the sociopathy of the corporate global oligarchs and their new feudalism. Read the other Kotkin - Joel.

[@petebondurant58]

You're so edgy, Comrade. LOL

[@styx1272]

Poor interviewer , grandstanding himself with irrelevent questions .

[@toosinbeymen6304]

Good god. Do they waste a h of a lot of time before getting to it. Zzzzzzz

[@wdw7374]

Wish the other Guy would stop interrupting.

[@rainblaze.]

that guy is a terrible interviewer

[@drstrangelove4998]

Excellent in every respect. David buts in a little too much.

[@paulclay7996]

37:34

[@nikhtose]

Kotkin assumes no possibility that Lenin's testament was altered or quashed by Stalin subsequent to January 1924. There IS evidence that Lenin was taking his distance from Stalin by late 1923, but his incapacity prevented more aggressive action. It was left to Trotsky to take up the political struggle against Stalin in 1924, but by then Stalin had permeated the party and state apparatus with his allies and dependents, then used them to stifle dissent, opening the door to their expulsion and, eventually, murder.

[@AgendaFiles]

Lenin did not even like Trotsky.

[@seryogazmeisylvestr3585]

Have you ever seen a Great historical leader without blood on his hands? Than more time separate us from that person, than less bloody that leader appear. Let's take in consideration political and sociall situation inside the country. Revolution 1905, WW l Revolution 1917, Civil war 1918 - 1924. Plus international interventions. Nation is divided by political affiliations. Anybody wants to try to be a leader ? And the territory play it's role. If there was Trotsky instead of Stalin, than we would see bloody dictatorship. And Trotsky didn't have plan to get the nation on right track. There was genocide in many countries, with much higher death rate from repressions. In 1931( if I'm not mistaking) , Stalin said " We have about 10 years to turn from agricultural country to modernize industrial one, otherwise we will be whipped out." There was no one who could lead the Nation to Victory over NAZIS.

[@SeattlePioneer]

[@KIRRAH1]

Well being a teacher's pet is not sure whatsoever

[@joycebenton9368]

How many innocent Russia’s citizens were killed by Stalin? America’s greatness of own recognitions of Capitalism systems of freedoms, entrepreneurship spirit and equality of opportunities have been come from own established principles of Foundation and Constitution laws and will be continued always by America’s own recognitions, confidence and recognized principles of Foundation and Constitution laws to avoid Communism ideologies systems forever and for good.

[@MartinRussellSchmidt]

According to I. G. Dyadkin’s demographic analysis, no fewer than 34 million.

[@6663000]

The interviewer is a little too smug... or something.

[@beatlessteve1010]

Stephan Kotkin is a great talker and from what I have read a wonderful writer but I do not agree with his surmises...I look at it a little differently. I believe he created this premise to draw attention to and insinuate a new idea that contradicts most previous writings on the subject of Stalin....to me he was looking for an opening that wasn't the same old stuff (.thus like a business that creates a new product that makes huge profits).in a nut shell he tries to make people believe that Stalin was an ordinary man in which his politics made him a murderer ....a very vague and unprovable premise and a great idea for a book to make a lot of money...very clever..I guess I am playing devil's advocate but to me Kotkin is blurring the line between psycho killer and normal human being in the name of financial profit ...which doesn't really bring forth a positive outcome...having said all that being the wonderfully self sacrificing consumer I can't wait to get his books ..all of them..The true feeling behind my reply is envy...so I am petty and a bit of a "hater" . Kotkin is almost too good to be true.

[@beatlessteve1010]

The reason why there is very little evidence in real time of his sociopathic behavior is because who is going to tell the truth in real time?..it would have been certain death. Only in hindsight after Stalin's death do people then become comfortable with documenting what their feelings actually were...I don't know that just seems to make sense to me.

[@soyusmaximus7176]

11:15

[@brucepeek3923]

Remnick needs to learn not to interrupt! So many print journalists are lost at sea when they try to do talk journalism and Remnick is a particularly good bad example of Idiot print bozos stomping all over their subject.. And that is what makes this a really good example of print stupidity!. best Bruce Peek

[@johnsmith1474]

"The pull of the Harriman family continues to this day ..." followed by giggles from some clueless audience member titillated to be so close to old money.

How many attempts on his life?

[@nataliatarnovsky6997]

stalin tenia mucha personalidad y fue un hombre muy interesante.nadie ha podido superar a este hombre.

[@StellarFella]

Stalin's insatiable appetite for more and more power no matter what, eerily matches the same with Donald Trump. Trump seems to never be satisfied with enough power. This interview/lecture was full of insight from beginning to end. His mind has boundless energy and we must avail ourselves of his comprehensive work.

[@zoranignjatovic9386]

Eating, drinking, fucking, sucking, snoring - then what!...

[@McIntyreBible]

Steven Kotkin is, without a doubt, a learned individual when it comes to the subject of Stalin, Soviet politics, World War I & II; but he is totally misguided in thinking that democracy is the superior form of human government. He is a liberal.

[@mattmarkus4868]

The guy on the right has to be the most unlikable interviewer I've heard. The interruptions, the ill-timed jokes, the injecting of stupid comments, getting off track, the "come on, move on, let's get to this" they should have just let the guy speak, his entire manner is repulsive. I listened to this only because the guy who wrote the book is fascinating but I almost stopped. Don't even ask about when he said milieu.