Socialism is like any other religion. You filter out the nasty parts and stick to the ones that suit you. Hobsbawm´s personal vision of a communist utopia and the official party-line in Moscow were never in accordance. Negating the wisdom of old age to someone like Hobsbawm for his beliefs would be the same as negating the same type of wisdom to a catholic for the crimes of the inquisition.
Well it seems to me, that you are loosing the grip on the argument by hiding behind the billboard "poisonous". Then tell me, what is so "poisonous" about his ideas? What`s wrong with wanting to ".. change the world" ?
If you care to listen to the interview again, you will find the passage where Hobsbawm says, that he can be as good as an historian as possible und that there are still people who reject him and his work because he simply is ".. a disgusting communist". And the more I converse with you the more I get the impression that you fall into that category. I admire Hobsbawm for his brilliant historical works such as " Age of extreme". I recommend it to you! On page 71 you will find a passage where he explains that being a communist outside of the USSR was ideologically something way different from living inside of it.
Ah, and one more about "changing the world". George Walker Bush also wanted to change the world. Was he wrong? Any ideology/ religion, that is convinced of being an unavoidable blessing to the rest of mankind, has the tendency of littering its way through history with countless dead bodies.
His point about American friendships is something I had always thought and felt, but never heard articulated by anyone else. Very interesting, and quite insightful, even if it is not a historical insight as such.
Great men with great minds!They might not all ways agree,but they both where always gentlemen.Civil between two worlds can exist.Only if the participants are willing to.
I discovered Hobsbawn's THE AGE IF REVOLUTION while i was in high school.. I read it once while in high school and once as an undergrad. I was glad I did.
Hitch made a rare error here. He quoted Hegel's "cunning of history" idea, but actually Hegel wrote about the "cunning of Reason," not history. I believe Hitch would've appreciated the slight correction.
The guy is considered one the 21century’s top historian. Christopher hitchens was no fan of calling anyone his hero, and would probably frown upon your fanaticism for him, and your rather lazy intellectualism to speak of Eric Hobsbawm as “ this guy” . A hint for you should’ve been the fact that Hitchens wanted and chose to interview one of the great historians.
About 10 years onwards from the death of both and nothing remains from Hitchens except a few straddler fans online, sometimes it seems that even his brother has eclipsed him, while Hobsbawm remains the pre-eminent 20th century historian.
@@TheSpiritOfTheTimes I respect both immensely, and appreciate all the work they both achieved when alive, but what you just said was preposterous. Eric Hobsbawm, as amazing of a historian as he was, regretted and admitted how wrong he was on his praise of the Soviet Union and the atrocities they were responsible for. Hitchens (along with Dawkins, Russell, Paine etc) will go down as one of the greatest Atheists of all time. His plethora of essays, or books, such as: *"God is Not Great How Religion Poisions Everything"* along with the myriad of debates of him embarrassing theologians on the internet will be around forever. He's inspired generations of people to become liberated from religion. Both are legends in their own way, but you should put some respect on Hitchens name.
Around the 30th min one can hear a well observed truth about east german society (deadly boredom, yet genuine friendships as result of an absolute private life)!
@@Farukino just saw your comment- everybody "thinks', but maybe you had no "thought" about that - and thoughts aren't truth- now, you can think about that
@@amandakelley4439 communism, as he says, needs to be understood as a historical phenomenon, particularly when the other dominant ideology doesn't acknowledge your existence as human being.
Hitch seemed a little upset about Hobsbawm's opinions on democracy, how can you propose to switch to jazz after that answer! Anybody would have go deeper on that subject I think.
Something in the description of this video about the Hitch is totally wrong and misrepresents him. “The September 11, 2001 attacks strengthened his embrace of an interventionist foreign policy”. This is not true at all, he had been for removing Saddam Hussein from power many years before 9/11 and he was in solidarity with the Iraqi opposition, particularly the Kurds. What 9/11 made him realize is that we were in a war with jihadists that most of us didn’t know we were fighting until that horrible day
"I suspect that the next victim isn't going to be Syria.... but Iran" - Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen. Granting the Golon Heights to Israel.The Eurasian axis; 'The Project for a New American Century'
Seems like his reaction to the last question was purely emotional and just a dyed in the wool communist absolutely loathing ideologically that someone tried to use markets in an analogy. I thought the questioner had an interesting point, that bad ideologies tend to infect and ruin good ideologies.
@@hazeshi6779he’s sadly has a few plagiarism scandals. He stole someone else’s prose. THIS IS NOT OK. but also pathetic because he is a good enough writer that doesn’t need to do that.
He literally says Stalinism has no future because it failed. so either you have not read but decided to criticise, or perhaps you suffer from a lack of marbles
@@charliechaplin5240 "Because it failed" isn't a criticism of Stalinism. One could say that about a theatre company - it failed. Hobsbawm is an apologist for communism. He knows a lot but is a poor analyst. Read Tony Judt "Postwar", that is much better analysis, with excellent illustrative examples, and well written. Hobsbawm stinks.
@@vinm300 Firstly, you are an idiot to think something failed is not a criticism of that thing. If I said, your mind is broken, I'm not praising your intellect. Second, he is a brilliant historian and well-respected by Marxists and non-Marxists alike. highlighting the communists fight against fascism when capitalism collapsed is important. I doubt you are aware of his writings on the peasantry as a class and of Latin American history. His writings on nationalism and the 19th century are extremely prescient today and meticulously researched. Third - his name will be remembered fondly long after you have consigned to oblivion.
@@vinm300 Also Tony Judt is tedious and Ian Kershaw is better. Not only is he an expert on Hitler and NAZISM but he has also written a comprehensive history of modern Europe. He likes Hobsbawm too, sorry for you. I think you just dislike his facts. That without the USSR Hitler would have steamrolled Western Europe is undeniable to anyone in possession of the facts. Love or hate the USSR, it did most of the fghting and dying to defeat Germany. Even Andrew Roberts, who hates communism, accepts this. ' 4 out of every 5 German soldiers were killed by the Soviets. We simply killed the last one ' Facts are stubborn things you know. so pardon his refusal to simply look at Soviet socialism as merely a black mark in the annals of history. History and one-sided reductionism becomes mythology.
A true Stalinist. Well read and dull. The spark was never there. Marx noted that "Philosophers and Soothsayers observe humanity. Our task is to change it!" No Revolutionary here! Hitchen's supported the invasion of Iraq! Make a nice couple! A Stalinist and a renegade!
I am quite sure that Hobsbawm denounced Stalin and was critical of the USSR; however the worship of Hitchens has always been a mystery to me. Many people lost their minds after 9/11 and he was one of them.
@@Harry-zc8rg I see your point, I do not have Marxist leanings but listen to the other side to learn. Hitchens is a great orator, that’s why I’m a fan.
@@donovanjones4175 well this is probably the best interview with Hobsbawm because Hitch got it. Every question was not a variation of "how can you be so smart and call yourself a communist?" Gets tiresome.
@Harry-zc8rg Because we aren't monolithic thinkers, we can both admire his criticisms of organized religion, North Korea, Russia, fascism, and disagree with him on his view of the 2nd invasion of Iraq. He is one of the most brilliant writers ever imo.
TheDivine MrM Nah, European in pursuit of a PhD. Try again. I also don't see how being white is in any way a bad thing. And i'm not afraid of communism either, but that doesn't mean that the death of anyone who still adheres to it is a good thing. After all, communism was a miserable failure
Holdin McGroin I don't believe you any more than I do the God-myth. "but that doesn't mean that the death of anyone who still adheres to it is a good thing." So you were being a hypocrite when you slated Mr Hitchens? Unsurprising. "After all, communism was a miserable failure" It still didn't fail as hard as prayer.
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Discovered this today, my day has now been made.
The intellectual hero of my university-days and still a delight to listen to!
If you can look back on your own life with a critical eye, then that is indeed a kind of wisdom.
Socialism is like any other religion. You filter out the nasty parts and stick to the ones that suit you. Hobsbawm´s personal vision of a communist utopia and the official party-line in Moscow were never in accordance.
Negating the wisdom of old age to someone like Hobsbawm for his beliefs would be the same as negating the same type of wisdom to a catholic for the crimes of the inquisition.
Well it seems to me, that you are loosing the grip on the argument by hiding behind the billboard "poisonous". Then tell me, what is so "poisonous" about his ideas?
What`s wrong with wanting to ".. change the world" ?
If you care to listen to the interview again, you will find the passage where Hobsbawm says, that he can be as good as an historian as possible und that there are still people who reject him and his work because he simply is ".. a disgusting communist". And the more I converse with you the more I get the impression that you fall into that category.
I admire Hobsbawm for his brilliant historical works such as " Age of extreme". I recommend it to you! On page 71 you will find a passage where he explains that being a communist outside of the USSR was ideologically something way different from living inside of it.
Ah, and one more about "changing the world". George Walker Bush also wanted to change the world. Was he wrong?
Any ideology/ religion, that is convinced of being an unavoidable blessing to the rest of mankind, has the tendency of littering its way through history with countless dead bodies.
His point about American friendships is something I had always thought and felt, but never heard articulated by anyone else. Very interesting, and quite insightful, even if it is not a historical insight as such.
Discovered this guy yesterday and now I find out he was interviewed by The Hitch. 😃
How much have you read of his so far?
Great men with great minds!They might not all ways agree,but they both where always gentlemen.Civil between two worlds can exist.Only if the participants are willing to.
Thanks for uploading.
.
I discovered Hobsbawn's THE AGE IF REVOLUTION while i was in high school.. I read it once while in high school and once as an undergrad. I was glad I did.
Hitch made a rare error here. He quoted Hegel's "cunning of history" idea, but actually Hegel wrote about the "cunning of Reason," not history. I believe Hitch would've appreciated the slight correction.
He would have appreciated and acknowledged it.
Did anyone say cunning of history or did hitch make that up mistakenly?
Thank you for uploading this gem! ❤
great pleasure for the guy talking with Christopher Hitchens.
The guy is considered one the 21century’s top historian. Christopher hitchens was no fan of calling anyone his hero, and would probably frown upon your fanaticism for him, and your rather lazy intellectualism to speak of Eric Hobsbawm as “ this guy” . A hint for you should’ve been the fact that Hitchens wanted and chose to interview one of the great historians.
About 10 years onwards from the death of both and nothing remains from Hitchens except a few straddler fans online, sometimes it seems that even his brother has eclipsed him, while Hobsbawm remains the pre-eminent 20th century historian.
@@TheSpiritOfTheTimes I respect both immensely, and appreciate all the work they both achieved when alive, but what you just said was preposterous. Eric Hobsbawm, as amazing of a historian as he was, regretted and admitted how wrong he was on his praise of the Soviet Union and the atrocities they were responsible for.
Hitchens (along with Dawkins, Russell, Paine etc) will go down as one of the greatest Atheists of all time. His plethora of essays, or books, such as: *"God is Not Great How Religion Poisions Everything"* along with the myriad of debates of him embarrassing theologians on the internet will be around forever. He's inspired generations of people to become liberated from religion.
Both are legends in their own way, but you should put some respect on Hitchens name.
To think both have passed out not so long ago...Kind of surreal.
Age of Extremes,the best history book ever written
Around the 30th min one can hear a well observed truth about east german society (deadly boredom, yet genuine friendships as result of an absolute private life)!
Dude, this is awesome. Hitchens and Hobsbawm are my two favorite guys.
both are dead fish - and dead fish will only float in their own contaminated water pool
@@Farukino everybody can think- not impressed unless they are speaking Truth, and yes, there is real Truth. The end.
@@Farukino just saw your comment- everybody "thinks', but maybe you had no "thought" about that - and thoughts aren't truth- now, you can think about that
Hitch archives, not all heroes wear capes
oh these have capes- red ones ..and horns. They point the unsuspecting how to take the alleviator down to he__
@@amandakelley4439 communism, as he says, needs to be understood as a historical phenomenon, particularly when the other dominant ideology doesn't acknowledge your existence as human being.
Two legends, this video is gem.
Tyler Murphy I Ihink you meant to say"a,gem". Sorry to be a pedant
Two brilliant intellectuals worth reviving , thanx 👏🏻👏🏻
Hitch seemed a little upset about Hobsbawm's opinions on democracy, how can you propose to switch to jazz after that answer! Anybody would have go deeper on that subject I think.
great!
His answer to the question about whether he would advise his younger self to spy for Stalin was a dodge, and that's a shame.
Filthy Unrepentant Communist Jew!
*SPIT*
When was this interview?
It must have been circa 2002, when Hobsbawm's autobiography was published.
+Duncan Gilchrist Thankyou, you don't get a great historian and a great intellectual together like this all that often
Something in the description of this video about the Hitch is totally wrong and misrepresents him.
“The September 11, 2001 attacks strengthened his embrace of an interventionist foreign policy”.
This is not true at all, he had been for removing Saddam Hussein from power many years before 9/11 and he was in solidarity with the Iraqi opposition, particularly the Kurds.
What 9/11 made him realize is that we were in a war with jihadists that most of us didn’t know we were fighting until that horrible day
I think the interview dates from 2002.
How nice. 2 great men together on youtube. This is a treat. Hobsbawm's 4 books on the age of...are excellent.
Hobsbawn has so much grace. Hitchens is such an oaf by comparison.
The story of the Hitch watching Doctor Zhivago at 39:30 is glorious.
Poor Eric Frogspawn, having his name so systematically mis-spelled all those years!
"I suspect that the next victim isn't going to be Syria.... but Iran" - Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen. Granting the Golon Heights to Israel.The Eurasian axis; 'The Project for a New American Century'
Seems like his reaction to the last question was purely emotional and just a dyed in the wool communist absolutely loathing ideologically that someone tried to use markets in an analogy.
I thought the questioner had an interesting point, that bad ideologies tend to infect and ruin good ideologies.
Did that sound like Johann Hari to anyone else towards the end?
The guy asking a question at 56:15 is Johan Harri. Successful writer these days.
He seems like a fraud
@@hazeshi6779he’s sadly has a few plagiarism scandals. He stole someone else’s prose. THIS IS NOT OK. but also pathetic because he is a good enough writer that doesn’t need to do that.
amazing
Save
The guy's question at 1:03:00 was beautiful. The old comrad's answer was weak.
Did you even listen to his answer? Its a multidimensional response to a one-dimensional question.
Young Cynthia Gonzalez Elizabeth Allen Sandra
A Stalinist to the very end.
Do you know when this was filmed?
Filthy Unrepentant Communist Jew!
*SPIT*
Age of Extremes is a dreadful book.
Hobsbawm is an apologist for Communist crimes.
He could never bring himself to a disinterested perspective.
lol you should read more
He literally says Stalinism has no future because it failed.
so either you have not read but decided to criticise,
or perhaps you suffer from a lack of marbles
@@charliechaplin5240 "Because it failed"
isn't a criticism of Stalinism. One could say that about a theatre company - it failed.
Hobsbawm is an apologist for communism. He knows a lot but is a poor analyst.
Read Tony Judt "Postwar", that is much better analysis, with excellent illustrative examples, and well written.
Hobsbawm stinks.
@@vinm300
Firstly, you are an idiot to think something failed is not a criticism of that thing.
If I said, your mind is broken, I'm not praising your intellect.
Second, he is a brilliant historian and well-respected by Marxists and non-Marxists alike.
highlighting the communists fight against fascism when capitalism collapsed is important.
I doubt you are aware of his writings on the peasantry as a class and of Latin American history.
His writings on nationalism and the 19th century are extremely prescient today and meticulously researched.
Third - his name will be remembered fondly long after you have consigned to oblivion.
@@vinm300
Also Tony Judt is tedious and Ian Kershaw is better.
Not only is he an expert on Hitler and NAZISM but he has also written a comprehensive history of modern Europe.
He likes Hobsbawm too, sorry for you.
I think you just dislike his facts.
That without the USSR Hitler would have steamrolled Western Europe is undeniable to anyone in possession of the facts.
Love or hate the USSR, it did most of the fghting and dying to defeat Germany.
Even Andrew Roberts, who hates communism, accepts this.
' 4 out of every 5 German soldiers were killed by the Soviets. We simply killed the last one '
Facts are stubborn things you know.
so pardon his refusal to simply look at Soviet socialism as merely a black mark in the annals of history.
History and one-sided reductionism becomes mythology.
What is it like of being on the wrong side of the fence? 😲😎🙄⁉️🚀🚀🚀💲💲💲
idk ask the industrial capitalists, corprocrats, and fascists whose policies resulted in the holocene mass extinction.
What?
Filthy Unrepentant Communist Jew!
*SPIT*
A true Stalinist. Well read and dull. The spark was never there. Marx noted that "Philosophers and Soothsayers observe humanity. Our task is to change it!" No Revolutionary here! Hitchen's supported the invasion of Iraq! Make a nice couple! A Stalinist and a renegade!
I am quite sure that Hobsbawm denounced Stalin and was critical of the USSR; however the worship of Hitchens has always been a mystery to me. Many people lost their minds after 9/11 and he was one of them.
@@Harry-zc8rg I see your point, I do not have Marxist leanings but listen to the other side to learn. Hitchens is a great orator, that’s why I’m a fan.
@@donovanjones4175 well this is probably the best interview with Hobsbawm because Hitch got it. Every question was not a variation of "how can you be so smart and call yourself a communist?" Gets tiresome.
@@Harry-zc8rg that’s funny Harry, I’m gonna watch it again with your frame .
@Harry-zc8rg Because we aren't monolithic thinkers, we can both admire his criticisms of organized religion, North Korea, Russia, fascism, and disagree with him on his view of the 2nd invasion of Iraq. He is one of the most brilliant writers ever imo.
They say he still looks the same, two years after his death. That even the maggots and worms find him too disgusting to eat.
+Holdin McGroin Who is "they"? Embittered, delusional Christians?
TheDivine MrM
What makes you think I'm a Christian? All it takes is a brain to hate a commie.
Holdin McGroin Of course you are. White, American, under-educated and still in fear of the imaginary threat of communism. You're every bit Christian.
TheDivine MrM
Nah, European in pursuit of a PhD. Try again. I also don't see how being white is in any way a bad thing.
And i'm not afraid of communism either, but that doesn't mean that the death of anyone who still adheres to it is a good thing. After all, communism was a miserable failure
Holdin McGroin I don't believe you any more than I do the God-myth.
"but that doesn't mean that the death of anyone who still adheres to it is a good thing."
So you were being a hypocrite when you slated Mr Hitchens? Unsurprising.
"After all, communism was a miserable failure"
It still didn't fail as hard as prayer.
When was this interview?
Well back when both of them were still alive, I guess!