Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep444-sa See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. 0:00 - Introduction 3:10 - Marxism 30:55 - Anarchism 45:52 - The Communist Manifesto 54:51 - Communism in the Soviet Union 1:14:45 - Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin 1:24:33 - Stalin 1:31:48 - Holodomor 1:45:38 - The Great Terror 1:58:39 - Totalitarianism 2:09:40 - Response to Darryl Cooper 2:24:49 - Nazis vs Communists in Germany 2:31:11 - Mao 2:36:19 - Great Leap Forward 2:43:20 - China after Mao 2:48:52 - North Korea 2:52:56 - Communism in US 3:00:26 - Russia after Soviet Union 3:11:57 - Advice for Lex 3:19:39 - Book recommendations 3:22:38 - Advice for young people 3:29:29 - Hope *Transcript:* lexfridman.com/vejas-liulevicius-transcript *CONTACT LEX:* *Feedback* - give feedback to Lex: lexfridman.com/survey *AMA* - submit questions, videos or call-in: lexfridman.com/ama *Hiring* - join our team: lexfridman.com/hiring *Other* - other ways to get in touch: lexfridman.com/contact *EPISODE LINKS:* Vejas's Courses: www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/vejas-gabriel-liulevicius Vejas's Books: amzn.to/4e3R1rz Vejas's Audible: adbl.co/4esRrHt *SPONSORS:* To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: *AG1:* All-in-one daily nutrition drinks. Go to lexfridman.com/s/ag1-ep444-sa *BetterHelp:* Online therapy and counseling. Go to lexfridman.com/s/betterhelp-ep444-sa *Notion:* Note-taking and team collaboration. Go to lexfridman.com/s/notion-ep444-sa *LMNT:* Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to lexfridman.com/s/lmnt-ep444-sa *Eight Sleep:* Temp-controlled smart mattress. Go to lexfridman.com/s/eight_sleep-ep444-sa
" I'm living in a silent film Portraying Himmler's sacred realm of dream reality ..." Bowie. Quicksand. Someone read the lyrics, given the whispers concerning his politics. What's all that about ?
I haven't listened to the (evidently marvelous) podcast yet, yet I would view Western Christian liberalism as inherently out of the ordinary in its vehement individualism and anarchism. From that point, both Germany and Russia will seem collectivist, but in a way, all non-liberal ideologies, from Islam to Confucianism, will look likewise. - Adûnâi
30:30 "Marx's chief rival" was not Bakunin, but his fellow Die Freien. Max Stirner. 3/4 of German Ideology is 'reffutation' of Stirner's Der Einzige und sein Eigentum
And of course this has NOTHING to do with Trump recently calling Kamala: a communist, Marxist and a Nazi, right? Lex you are a Trump surrogate. A Trump puppet. What have you become? Shameful....
Vejas is one of my professors. He is incredibly good at asking questions to students that make them think deeply about class readings, and he is genuinely interested in everyone’s input. One of the best history teachers in academia IMO, very happy to see his knowledge getting shared to a wider audience.
@@hyperflysthe capitalist version by China took more humans out of poverty in the 20th/21st century then any mankind system in history. Thanks to Deng Xiaoping. Is there any social society where pure communism exists and its people are prosperous and happy?
Vėjas Liūlevičius is a fabulous teacher, easy to follow on historicly complex and suble issues of communism and the history of rastern Europe. He comes from an erudite Lithuanian family. We in the Lithuanian diaspora are extremely proud of his achievements . Bravo Vèjas. !!!
As a dude of average intelligence, before you, a lot of these guests and topics were not articulated in ways that I always understood. The way you question them, always seems as though you take people like me into your thoughts and makes the guest answer in a way that does articulate itself to me. This opens doors of knowledge to a clear path of understanding that would have previously still had me squinting into a fog of ignorance. Thanks Mate. Your the best in the game 🇬🇧💚🙏
It's all about communication, which Lex is very good at. But also as you say, he re encapsulates what is being said (or forces it to be). I forget the saying but basically it goes like "It's not that your students are stupid, it's that you're not explaining it right/to their level". And btw "intelligence" isn't a good thing by itself. If you're a person who can take decisive action, has ambition for their personal life and strives for personal growth, you'll be more wealthy, understanding and successful in life than any highly "intelligent" person. I don't know about you, but I think a person is smarter who is willing and able to navigate through and achieve in life precisely what they seek :) I wish you well!
Knowledge should always be shared with the motto, KISS; keep it simple stupid (I never liked the stupid part, but I guess the meaning is still the same). Knowledge shared any other way is patronizing or at least it shows the one inhabiting the knowledge lacks the ability to convey a difficult subject in an easy manner, which is also a sign of intelligence.
Since rogan has been really shitting the bed podcasting lex has taken the top spot for me with guests. I mean lex has just been the best podcast since he started podcasting but still bumping rogan off the shelf for me is a feather in the cap
Joes pushed himself into a corner, because now, hes so big he doesnt want to blow anyone up unless they deserve it in his eyes. Agreed whenever he has comedians on i just can't watch it. Probably watch joe once a nonth now. Havent really been into his podcasts.
Agreed. No interested in hearing Rogan talk to comedians and MMA people anymore. Lex gets great interviews, but communism is such toxic bullshit, I have to bail from this one early.
Hard hitting and perfect timing. Even just hearing the man speak in the opening was enough to spark interest and intrigue in what he has to say. Thank you.
Dude this is my new favorite channel.... Very deep conversations on very deep subjects. I thought I knew something about something before. Now I know that I barely know anything.... I want to learn, I want to know. Keep it coming.
He's not commercial free anymore, which really pisses me off, but the collection of conversations on this channel are a true education. I try to steer people here, but it has to be a personal choice, and most people simply don't have the presence of mind to seek knowledge. So it's also nice to have a little sense of community here among Lex's viewers. Welcome.
From the name and surname I guessed that he is lithuanian, and I was right! That's so cool to see lithuanians on your podcast, kinda feels acknowlegeble ;D
Because he wouldn’t want to talk about how much people enjoyed the socialist government in Yugoslavia. This “historian” speaks in bad faith about communism and socialism.
Thank you for validating just about everything I kinda thought I understood. I'm a Cold War kid. Tried so damn hard to lean into communism half my life for obvious reasons. Grateful folks are more connected in 2024 despite all the arguing. Lex is a Legend. Thanks for making me smarter than I was a week ago Peace
Lex is playing to his strengths with this one. He is so good at interviewing domain experts, turning their knowledge into something interesting and relatable. Perfect length too. I was able to paint a whole deck listening to this.
I had Dr. Liulevicius for German history at UTK. Highly recommend seeing him lecture sometime, or taking a course with him. His lectures on Nazi(NSDAP) policies are mind blowing.
An excellent discussion and I'm happy you interviewed Professor Liulevicius! I've been a long-time listener to his lectures with The Great Courses. I highly recommend those lectures.
I'm old, and have just listened to a treasury of history. I could have done with all that knowledge and understanding when I was young, but better late than never. Thanks.
Those last several questions were masterfully crafted. These are the kinds of things we want to know from the experts. Especially after such clear exposition from an excellent guest
Pls invite Alessandro Barbero... amazing historian who speaks at least 4 languages. Impressive person and orator. He gives lectures which have millions of views.
Such a great guest, I could listen to him for hours. I especially enjoy his communication skills, the way he conveys the message with the help of his voice modulation is truly superb. I always find lex’s podcast fascinating, but the ones with historians as guests are immensely entertaining and informative. Cheers
The 70 good 30 percent bad is not the communist claiming precision but from a specific Chinese phrase attributed to Deng, where he said 3 parts errors/misteps and 7 parts accomplishments “三分过，七分功”. He wasn't talking in percentages but roughly speaking. It would be riddiculous in Chinese for that phrase to be spoken in precise percentages. Whatever can be said about the communists, one should not draw inferences from a misunderstanding or translation of the language.
I thought this was a Mao quote, or at least that's the context I came across it in. After Stalin died, Mao used it to defend the Russian leader's legacy.
Agreed that's why there's been great reforms in places like Florida that remove the nonsensical socioeconomic theories of the secular woke cult/religion. With that said it's important to distinguish between religions/cultism and our shared Faith. Our society is solidly built upon the Western Canon and atop that hierarchy of work sets The Word of God/The Bible. This not only makes the Bible true but the foundation of truth itself. The sacredness of God's Word/The Bible marks the beginning of the collection of knowledge that's allowing us to have this conversation on every level.
@@RlsIII-uz1kl Unfortunately the Bible has been written/rewritten/edited/re-edited by men. The truth of a Creator is all around us, in everything and every nation. The road to the Creator is a personal path of understanding Creation, personal responsibility for one's own actions (whether directly or by influence) and respect for fellow humans. The Ego is not consciousness. The Ego is built out of all the bits and pieces of accumulated experience of a lifetime. Consciousness is everlasting.
@Agapanthah God's knew what would happen and has blessed the Church/the called out/the elect with the ability to discern truths from lies and destructive form of indifference cloaked under subversive terms like equity diversity inclusion etc. We've watched the rise of transnationalism socialism/globalists socio-fascism (Third Worldism), and through this agenda, a secular religion/cult emerged. This secular religion/cultism is known as woke cultism/religion in the United States. It has its own version within every allied nation that differs somewhat, but all are built upon Hegelianism.
Read German Ideology by Marx and Engels, and Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy by Engels. Marx and Engels did not believe in the end of history, or some final and ultimate predestination. They were very explicit as to how and why they different from Hegel on this point, from Hegel's conception of the Absolute Idea.
@@RichardEnglander I think he was saying that was how the Communists viewed them at the time, or as he puts it the 'last-gasp' of capitalism before the 'inevitable' transition to full on Communism.
This was a remarkable interview especially that recently your guests were from different league. When you hear Vejas Liulevicius speaking about intertwining between different cultures and ideas and that you hear about one guys that claims to fix world in one day even before he is sworn to the office. Your conversation about book, e-book and story telling was very insightful as well I like to read to my young daughters but also tell them stories as I can see it takes them to different path even thought the story can be similar. Looking at the pictures or imagining is definitely a different experience for a young mind.
Lex, great back to back podcasts. I know you talk to everyone no matter the ideology. I would love to see one with Richard Wolff or Yanis Varoufakis. I would love to see you make that happen.
I forgot the creative people. The true creative types are nonconformists and create ideas and experiences in sound, movement, and visual representation. They too were taken for disposal.
I actually decided to read Marx recently. Not what I was expecting at all. Quickly realised he's been used a lot like atheists and Christians use the bible. Without actually reading it. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by now. Lazy not to of read something and then act like I understood... Experience teaches only the teachable after all.
You should read Rousseau. Gives you a huge understanding of liberalism and he’s the guy Marx plagiarized to create communism. Also, remember ROUSSEAU sold his children because they were inconvenient.
There's no such thing as an atheist they're secular cultists/religious and the overwhelming majority are what's known as secular woke/cultish a form of Hegelianism. It's emerged from the transnationalists socialists/globalists socio-fascists, Third Worldism agenda. They transnationalists socialists/globalists socio-fascists are made up of the permanent political class within every allied nation and unelected globalist oligarchs (not all) who've used neoliberal economic and nonsensical socioeconomic theories after years of methodical acts to remove God from our institutions leaving furtile ground for ideological subversion/indoctrination/grooming a sect of society that thrive off division hate and materialism devoid of morality, objectivism and leading to confusion desperation nihilism and in many cases much, much worse. This is the same group who've used those same neoliberal economic and unconstitutional military acts to financially bend and militarily break those with different cultures and traditions for power wealth and resources in the false name of freedom and democracy.
@@sergiodiaz2725 they have a much better reputation than deserved. Also, few properly understood the person he was, because even fewer talk about this. The point is: can you separate the person of the pilosopher from his pilosophy? Once you understand the dark aspects of Marx, his ideas portray themselves in a much different light.
Regardless, the application of his "philosophy" has been devastating for humanity ever since and it's a tragedy that so many still hang on to it. It's even having a resurgence in the west now when It should be shunned even more than what drove the man with the stubble moustache to do his despicable deeds. The latter regime had some roots in Marxism as well.
Regarding why the communists failed so much on agriculture, and particularly why famine occurred in the 30s (also the 20s with Lenin for the same reason), the point of lack of incentive cannot be stressed enough. Even before the land was snatched, grain quotas were set by both Lenin and Stalin which didn’t establish minimum thresholds of grain, but inversely only allowed so much grain to be kept by the farmer and the rest taken (not sold) by the state. The grain was essentially plundered, and thus the next season successful farmers reduced their intake to basically nothing so as not to have their work taken away from them. These successful farmers had been called kulaks as a derogatory term for wealthy (peasant) farmers. The result of this was famine as one can imagine grain production was destroyed. Lenin’s response was creation of the NEP - New Economic Policy - and allow the peasant farmers to sell on an open market. Stalins response was to accuse the farmers of hiding the grain and get local mobs to kill, ban, and imprison these farmers which, as you can imagine, killed any notion of anybody trying to be more productive than anybody around them. Also it’s important to note the lack of successful farmers left to work the land after they had been dekulakized. This part of history is shamefully unknown in the west, and I myself have only learned it recently. For the sake of respect to the millions upon millions who died for this idea, I implore any reader of this post to find Robert Conquests “Harvest of Sorrow” and read it. The first paragraph of the prelude will justify its importance, over and over and over again.
Robert Conquest was not a serious historian but a cold warrior propagandist he is the author of many of the false factoids how about Soviet history (like the 100 million deaths, a totally invented figure) that unfortunately have become common "knowledge" in the West. In 1972 the guardian disclosed that he had learn the ropes of the trade as part of the Information Research Department (IRD) colloquially known as the "Communist Department" , a informational war and propaganda bureau of the British secret service tasked with the creation of narratives to demonize the red enemy and galvanize support for anti-communism. And this is what he did the rest of his life, the Pinnacle of his work was the fear-mongering "What to do when the Russians invade, a survivalist handbook" published just before the USSR collapsed.
@@martinmeoni8152 I’m not sure Italy’s position on the subject nor am I familiar with their education system, but in the US, we speak about the holocaust regularly and hardly discussed 19th and 20th century world history. It’s possible we only discuss the Holocaust as much because of our involvement in the Second World War. What I can tell you is that I have met only a few people, even highly educated and historically inclined people, who have any knowledge of the subject, and those who have heard something, know only a famine occurred and nothing else. I am also aware the New York Times was involved heavily in suppressing the existence of the famine… and the US didn’t consider it a genocide until 2018.
The talk highlights the importance of reading the primary source material and learning of the history of the time and place where ideology is born. People bat around ideological terminology and use it as labels to discredit each other so no one listens to one another as a tool to discredit with next to no knowledge of what the reality is behind the labels. It’s such a good reminder to actually put in the work, and read just to be on even footing and not be taken advantage of by manipulation.
He said he was born in Chicago, so interesting question is whether he's first generation Lithuanian-American or second. If his father was invited to Vilnius in 70s or 80s this was most likely done by Jonas Kubilius, so it's interesting to me and I'll look into it. Because it's a separate interesting topic how scientists in soviet occupied Lithuania were reaching out to Lithuanians living abroad even when it was really difficult.
@@mariusrutkausThe depth of history is far deeper than most people understand. This interview is a good peek into these depths... Lex is on a roll... follow him closely as this discovery interview brings some good understandings.
@@mariusrutkaushe also stated that his dad is a mathematician and that they visited soviet Lithuania when he was a little boy. So we can maybe reasonably guess from this that his dad immigrated from or escaped from Lithuania during or before WWII. perhaps earlier. or his grandparents immigrated to escape tsarists or WWI
History is not only to study the past, but to explain the present. We must study history to prevent ourselves from repeating mistakes that were already made.
I'm Chinese American, highly recommend NYT Bestseller Jung Chang's biography on Mao, it's so intense & real, he killed so many people... I had to take some short breaks during reading, in order to calm myself down from all the evil he did to the poor Chinese people, it was so overwhelming & insanely cruel. Imagine my grandma got killed in the Culture Revolution & my parents grew up in such an awful period of time in human history, the Chinese people were treated like animals by their own leaders, worse than how Americans treat their dogs... I'm a dog owner, & my dog literally lived better than my parents did growing up in China back in the 60s.
@@redaerf2b414 Nah, I'd say Churchill was British, different race from Bengal, so kinda racism in it... Mao was killing his own people, Chinese killing mass Chinese, like Emperor killing his own subjects at free will, just to secure his own power. Remember, Chinese culture has no caste system, so this type of killing even in Chinese own thousands history was rare, usually the Emperor did this would get assassinated or rebelled, but Mao lived to die naturally at very old age. He was a master of playing this power game, very cruel & smart. So it'd be more like a Bengali Sultan killing hundreds of millions of poor peasant & well literate Bengali people to secure his ruling power, & even killed his own high gov't officials to prevent them from taking him over & his own family members to make them all obedient... It was sick...
Terrible book, roundly criticized by actual historians for poor methodology, incomplete and cherry-picked research, hyperbole, bias, and outright lies. Understandable in a way because she is a writer of fiction, and plies her trade by tugging on heartstrings, but this book is so bad that it has ruined Jung Chang's husband and co-author John Halliday's career as a historian. I'm not at all making the argument that Mao was a good guy, just advising you -if you are truly interested in the subject- to read content that uses good academic practise. A good starting point would be John King Fairbank, especially if you want to aproach it from an American historiographical approach.
He may not be the most articulate of all the Soviet/Russian historians , still a wonderful 3 hour and something lecture that one doesn't often get on the Internet. Well done Lex! We need more of this kind of stuff. Thank you as always.
@@julijal212 very cool, I’ve been learning about the Soviet Union recently and so your country as well as others that were under the Soviet boot have been on my mind.
Well at its deepest root propaganda is just the spread of information If youre shopping for a car and your sister tells you Hyundai offers the better value compared to a Toyota and you go out and buy one as opposed to a Toyota...youve both been subject to propaganda
@@joecool9739 this seems like a bit of a stretch. This is just a statement of opinion. Propaganda seems like a bit of hyperbolic word to use in that instance lol
@@TheSSEssesse Its an extreme example to demonstrate what propaganda actually is Now suppose that instead of the buyer's sister personally telling them to buy a Hyundai they see a commercial on TV instead The Hyundai commercial lays out better options and financing for a Hyundai compared to a Toyota Wouldnt that be propaganda as well? The difference is the outlet and not the message itself
Real question is what system shows the truth most? If propaganda causes you to live a better life like the Toyota purchase, maybe the cultist group knowledge of cars helps people get better things? If I go to church and my life is better because of decisions I make, but instead of I go to college and my life falls apart from all the knowledge, who is more true, collage or the church?
If you think you are less likely to be suffering from propaganda than the guy who had read 100s of books and spent 10,000 + hours of search on this...well id consider you may be the one
Your profile Pic is on point. The secular woke cult/religion emerged from the transnationalists socialists/globalists socio-fascists, Third Worldism agenda. This makes the now tiny dwindling minority of wokesters, fascists by default without the self-awareness or intellect to realize that fact. Fascism is never on the RIGHT side of history. Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords.
Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep444-sa
See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc.
0:00 - Introduction
3:10 - Marxism
30:55 - Anarchism
45:52 - The Communist Manifesto
54:51 - Communism in the Soviet Union
1:14:45 - Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin
1:24:33 - Stalin
1:31:48 - Holodomor
1:45:38 - The Great Terror
1:58:39 - Totalitarianism
2:09:40 - Response to Darryl Cooper
2:24:49 - Nazis vs Communists in Germany
2:31:11 - Mao
2:36:19 - Great Leap Forward
2:43:20 - China after Mao
2:48:52 - North Korea
2:52:56 - Communism in US
3:00:26 - Russia after Soviet Union
3:11:57 - Advice for Lex
3:19:39 - Book recommendations
3:22:38 - Advice for young people
3:29:29 - Hope
*Transcript:*
lexfridman.com/vejas-liulevicius-transcript
*CONTACT LEX:*
*Feedback* - give feedback to Lex: lexfridman.com/survey
*AMA* - submit questions, videos or call-in: lexfridman.com/ama
*Hiring* - join our team: lexfridman.com/hiring
*Other* - other ways to get in touch: lexfridman.com/contact
*EPISODE LINKS:*
Vejas's Courses: www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/vejas-gabriel-liulevicius
Vejas's Books: amzn.to/4e3R1rz
Vejas's Audible: adbl.co/4esRrHt
*SPONSORS:*
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Go to lexfridman.com/s/notion-ep444-sa
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Go to lexfridman.com/s/lmnt-ep444-sa
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Thank you for this podcast!!❤
Tayub hossaln 🤲🤝✊🇧🇩👍
" I'm living in a silent film
Portraying Himmler's sacred realm of dream reality ..."
Bowie. Quicksand.
Someone read the lyrics, given the whispers concerning his politics.
What's all that about ?
I haven't listened to the (evidently marvelous) podcast yet, yet I would view Western Christian liberalism as inherently out of the ordinary in its vehement individualism and anarchism. From that point, both Germany and Russia will seem collectivist, but in a way, all non-liberal ideologies, from Islam to Confucianism, will look likewise.
- Adûnâi
30:30 "Marx's chief rival" was not Bakunin, but his fellow Die Freien. Max Stirner. 3/4 of German Ideology is 'reffutation' of Stirner's Der Einzige und sein Eigentum
Two historians back-to-back? What a treat; thank you Lex!
and both talk about the same things in different times haha
True
Dude had such a dogshit interview with Trump he had to make up for it somehow
More academics! So much more interesting than politicians and entertainers.
@@russ_sibbisonsooo much better!
How privileged are we to get this spectacular lecture for free.
Great attitude and mind set. Will take you far.
Appropriate use of privilege!
@@gingersoulthief8074well said
We're all trapped beneath glass.
And of course this has NOTHING to do with Trump recently calling Kamala: a communist, Marxist and a Nazi, right? Lex you are a Trump surrogate. A Trump puppet. What have you become? Shameful....
Lex at his best is getting historians in one subject to just pick their brains and let them pour out their knowledge
Lex is gay though
Vejas is one of my professors. He is incredibly good at asking questions to students that make them think deeply about class readings, and he is genuinely interested in everyone’s input. One of the best history teachers in academia IMO, very happy to see his knowledge getting shared to a wider audience.
Russia wasn't Communist. Or China. Nazi Germany wasn't socialist. Or Cuba. This guy is ridiculous! He is a capitalist promoter.
@@hyperflysthe capitalist version by China took more humans out of poverty in the 20th/21st century then any mankind system in history. Thanks to Deng Xiaoping.
Is there any social society where pure communism exists and its people are prosperous and happy?
@@hyperflys I found the commie guys
about the name - "Vejas" is not a spanish name as it is pronounced here and ,presumably, how the man goes by in the US.
@@hyperflysyou are a cliche
Historians are my favorite type of guest. They're the most interesting and they bring the best out of Lex
Vėjas Liūlevičius is a fabulous teacher, easy to follow on historicly complex and suble issues of communism and the history of rastern Europe. He comes from an erudite Lithuanian family. We in the Lithuanian diaspora are extremely proud of his achievements . Bravo Vèjas. !!!
As a dude of average intelligence, before you, a lot of these guests and topics were not articulated in ways that I always understood. The way you question them, always seems as though you take people like me into your thoughts and makes the guest answer in a way that does articulate itself to me. This opens doors of knowledge to a clear path of understanding that would have previously still had me squinting into a fog of ignorance. Thanks Mate. Your the best in the game 🇬🇧💚🙏
It's all about communication, which Lex is very good at. But also as you say, he re encapsulates what is being said (or forces it to be). I forget the saying but basically it goes like "It's not that your students are stupid, it's that you're not explaining it right/to their level". And btw "intelligence" isn't a good thing by itself. If you're a person who can take decisive action, has ambition for their personal life and strives for personal growth, you'll be more wealthy, understanding and successful in life than any highly "intelligent" person. I don't know about you, but I think a person is smarter who is willing and able to navigate through and achieve in life precisely what they seek :) I wish you well!
@@phyrr2 excellent points. I think you nailed it. Thank you my friend. I wish you well and genuinely hope life is kind to you. Take care 🙌
Knowledge should always be shared with the motto, KISS; keep it simple stupid (I never liked the stupid part, but I guess the meaning is still the same). Knowledge shared any other way is patronizing or at least it shows the one inhabiting the knowledge lacks the ability to convey a difficult subject in an easy manner, which is also a sign of intelligence.
I think the definition of a great teacher/communicator is someone who makes complex topics understandable. Lex is great!
@charliebear2777
And fair play to you Charliebear. You have articulated my thoughts better than I could, myself.
First amercan Lithuanian on podcast. Vėjas means wind
W Lithuania! Baltic 💪
@@lukajovanovic3656 i think his comment was more interesting than yours.
Winds of Change
So? He’s boring. Blah blah blah hot air.
😅
One of the best lecturers I've ever seen. Great historian and fantastic speaker.
Since rogan has been really shitting the bed podcasting lex has taken the top spot for me with guests. I mean lex has just been the best podcast since he started podcasting but still bumping rogan off the shelf for me is a feather in the cap
Facts.
Agree, seems like rogan wouldn't have a historian on unless they were controversial and a conspiracy nut
Joes pushed himself into a corner, because now, hes so big he doesnt want to blow anyone up unless they deserve it in his eyes.
Agreed whenever he has comedians on i just can't watch it. Probably watch joe once a nonth now. Havent really been into his podcasts.
Agreed. No interested in hearing Rogan talk to comedians and MMA people anymore. Lex gets great interviews, but communism is such toxic bullshit, I have to bail from this one early.
Rogan’s guests are just too fried
Hard hitting and perfect timing. Even just hearing the man speak in the opening was enough to spark interest and intrigue in what he has to say. Thank you.
Talking about timing. rome and totalitarism back-to-back just after Trump interview.
Love love love when you have historians on!!!
One of the most concisely articulate interviewees that I've listened to in a long time. Excellent!
Great to see some Lithuanian wisdom on your podcast, Lex!
And lithuanians listening 🎉
😅😮🎉 55:39 55:39 😅😅
@@agnem.7884😮😮😮😮 55:51 😅 55:52
@@agnem.7884😮😮😂😂🎉😅😮😅😅😢😮😮🎉🎉😂😢😂😮😂😮😮🎉😮🎉😮😮😢 56: 56:11 😂😢 56:13 56:13 56:14 😢 56:14 56:11 😮
🎉😂
Dude this is my new favorite channel.... Very deep conversations on very deep subjects. I thought I knew something about something before. Now I know that I barely know anything.... I want to learn, I want to know. Keep it coming.
Welcome! 🤗
He's not commercial free anymore, which really pisses me off, but the collection of conversations on this channel are a true education. I try to steer people here, but it has to be a personal choice, and most people simply don't have the presence of mind to seek knowledge. So it's also nice to have a little sense of community here among Lex's viewers. Welcome.
Grateful… what a time to be alive
I'm a simple man. I see lithuanians discussing comunism, I click.
Is it time to get Kotkin back on the pod?
This one was amazing btw, loved it.
Awesome guest. I've got my coffee and my blanket. ❤
Would be great to see some eastern historians in the future too.
Best of luck finding a good one.
@@jamesgattuso9778 i think the world is a little bit bigger than you think.
Agree! That would be the dream
woo Lithuanian guest! I'm definitely listening to this one
Highest quality guest. So glad you chose to expose us to this excellent human being.
Tu vėjo paklausk
Tau vėjas atsakys
Tik jis mano, drauge, atsakys. 🤭❤
Nesupratau truputi 😂 Ziuriu lietuviskas vardas ir pavarde 😂 Dabar aiskinuos kas jis cia toks 😂
Fr
В голове у тебя этот ветер все мозги выветрил.
@@ЛапинСтаниславович Go chill in some gulag, brother.
Если нечего хорошего сказать лучше помолчать 😎
From the name and surname I guessed that he is lithuanian, and I was right! That's so cool to see lithuanians on your podcast, kinda feels acknowlegeble ;D
excellent podcast, but as a Serbian I was really bummed when I realized the podcast was ending without any discussion of Yugoslavia
the Serb will rise again!
The Africa of Europe
@@mweb586 that's a very dumb joke
He has no clue. Let him be.@@omsrswt
Because he wouldn’t want to talk about how much people enjoyed the socialist government in Yugoslavia. This “historian” speaks in bad faith about communism and socialism.
Thank you for validating just about everything I kinda thought I understood. I'm a Cold War kid. Tried so damn hard to lean into communism half my life for obvious reasons.
Grateful folks are more connected in 2024 despite all the arguing.
Lex is a Legend.
Thanks for making me smarter than I was a week ago
Peace
Lex is playing to his strengths with this one. He is so good at interviewing domain experts, turning their knowledge into something interesting and relatable. Perfect length too. I was able to paint a whole deck listening to this.
I loved his Great Courses especially the one on Eastern Europe! ❤
Me, too.
Mr. Liulevicius is a professor at UTK in my hometown, good on ya!
I had Dr. Liulevicius for German history at UTK. Highly recommend seeing him lecture sometime, or taking a course with him.
His lectures on Nazi(NSDAP) policies are mind blowing.
An excellent discussion and I'm happy you interviewed Professor Liulevicius! I've been a long-time listener to his lectures with The Great Courses. I highly recommend those lectures.
I'm old, and have just listened to a treasury of history. I could have done with all that knowledge and understanding when I was young, but better late than never. Thanks.
Those last several questions were masterfully crafted. These are the kinds of things we want to know from the experts. Especially after such clear exposition from an excellent guest
Brilliant guest and conversation. I don’t often listen to entire podcasts but this was interesting right to the end.
This was a beautifully profound conversation. Thank you both ❤
Pls invite Alessandro Barbero... amazing historian who speaks at least 4 languages. Impressive person and orator. He gives lectures which have millions of views.
One of the most articulate speakers I have had the honor to listen too. True delight. Great job professor Liulevicius.
Lithuanians know well about communists well done Lex 2 interesting guests in rolle!!!
Can't wait to listen to this interview with Dr. Liulevicius. He is a fascinating speaker who should be interviewed more.
Excellent interview. Thank you so much.
Such a great guest, I could listen to him for hours. I especially enjoy his communication skills, the way he conveys the message with the help of his voice modulation is truly superb. I always find lex’s podcast fascinating, but the ones with historians as guests are immensely entertaining and informative. Cheers
The 70 good 30 percent bad is not the communist claiming precision but from a specific Chinese phrase attributed to Deng, where he said 3 parts errors/misteps and 7 parts accomplishments “三分过，七分功”. He wasn't talking in percentages but roughly speaking. It would be riddiculous in Chinese for that phrase to be spoken in precise percentages. Whatever can be said about the communists, one should not draw inferences from a misunderstanding or translation of the language.
I thought this was a Mao quote, or at least that's the context I came across it in. After Stalin died, Mao used it to defend the Russian leader's legacy.
I don't see any difference.
55:15 - what a beautifully asked question; “let’s step back…….”
Lex is fast becoming the best in this space!
Religion should be a private thing and not put into the hands of any controlling hierarchy.
Agreed that's why there's been great reforms in places like Florida that remove the nonsensical socioeconomic theories of the secular woke cult/religion. With that said it's important to distinguish between religions/cultism and our shared Faith. Our society is solidly built upon the Western Canon and atop that hierarchy of work sets The Word of God/The Bible. This not only makes the Bible true but the foundation of truth itself. The sacredness of God's Word/The Bible marks the beginning of the collection of knowledge that's allowing us to have this conversation on every level.
@@RlsIII-uz1kl Unfortunately the Bible has been written/rewritten/edited/re-edited by men. The truth of a Creator is all around us, in everything and every nation. The road to the Creator is a personal path of understanding Creation, personal responsibility for one's own actions (whether directly or by influence) and respect for fellow humans.
The Ego is not consciousness. The Ego is built out of all the bits and pieces of accumulated experience of a lifetime. Consciousness is everlasting.
@Agapanthah God's knew what would happen and has blessed the Church/the called out/the elect with the ability to discern truths from lies and destructive form of indifference cloaked under subversive terms like equity diversity inclusion etc. We've watched the rise of transnationalism socialism/globalists socio-fascism (Third Worldism), and through this agenda, a secular religion/cult emerged. This secular religion/cultism is known as woke cultism/religion in the United States. It has its own version within every allied nation that differs somewhat, but all are built upon Hegelianism.
Agreed this is why we should not be supporting theocratic ethno states who are founded upon ethnic cleansing
@Agapanthah we've experienced and will continue to watch what the prized author Samuel P Huntington theorized with the rise of the Civilization.
Vejas speaks with such passion. Truly inspiring conversation. Thank you!
Read Mises’ book on socialism. It will change your life. It demonstrates the impossibility of socialism.
Boy, this podcast is solid stuff. These historians are great. In depth. Lex lets them talk. Thank you for this wonderful series.😉
Read German Ideology by Marx and Engels, and Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy by Engels. Marx and Engels did not believe in the end of history, or some final and ultimate predestination. They were very explicit as to how and why they different from Hegel on this point, from Hegel's conception of the Absolute Idea.
What an eloquent speaker! 👏🏻
This is probably your best episode yet, Lex. This man’s knowledge is astounding.
Yes, but he thinks that National Socialism was Hyper-Capitalism, it wasn't.
@@RichardEnglander I think he was saying that was how the Communists viewed them at the time, or as he puts it the 'last-gasp' of capitalism before the 'inevitable' transition to full on Communism.
@@RichardEnglander huh? what'd you listen to?
This was a remarkable interview especially that recently your guests were from different league. When you hear Vejas Liulevicius speaking about intertwining between different cultures and ideas and that you hear about one guys that claims to fix world in one day even before he is sworn to the office. Your conversation about book, e-book and story telling was very insightful as well I like to read to my young daughters but also tell them stories as I can see it takes them to different path even thought the story can be similar. Looking at the pictures or imagining is definitely a different experience for a young mind.
Loving these historical episodes
Love the focus on history on this channel lately❤
Please speak with Thomas Sowell.
👍👍👍
Probably a bit too late.
I love these serious historical discussions!
This talk has so much relevance today
Vejas has such excellent orator skills combined with obvious brilliance.... What a fascinating episode
Yo Lex. It would be superfantastic to have a book recommendation list of you and the folks you interview!
Great guest! Very educated, and a well balanced presentation.
This dude is incredible!
Lex, great back to back podcasts. I know you talk to everyone no matter the ideology. I would love to see one with Richard Wolff or Yanis Varoufakis. I would love to see you make that happen.
I forgot the creative people. The true creative types are nonconformists and create ideas and experiences in sound, movement, and visual representation. They too were taken for disposal.
Really enjoying the historians lately! Terrific!
I want to see zizek here!
We’ve all heard everything that angry midwit has to say.
😂
Who doesn't
Ahh slavoj zizek, everyones favorite heretic. Agree he should be on here.
Zizek is awesome
I love Lex Fridman❤❤❤❤❤❤
A Chinese historian would be killer!
Ho Lee Fook, what an amazing idea
I actually decided to read Marx recently. Not what I was expecting at all.
Quickly realised he's been used a lot like atheists and Christians use the bible.
Without actually reading it.
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by now.
Lazy not to of read something and then act like I understood...
Experience teaches only the teachable after all.
You should read Rousseau. Gives you a huge understanding of liberalism and he’s the guy Marx plagiarized to create communism. Also, remember ROUSSEAU sold his children because they were inconvenient.
There's no such thing as an atheist they're secular cultists/religious and the overwhelming majority are what's known as secular woke/cultish a form of Hegelianism. It's emerged from the transnationalists socialists/globalists socio-fascists, Third Worldism agenda. They transnationalists socialists/globalists socio-fascists are made up of the permanent political class within every allied nation and unelected globalist oligarchs (not all) who've used neoliberal economic and nonsensical socioeconomic theories after years of methodical acts to remove God from our institutions leaving furtile ground for ideological subversion/indoctrination/grooming a sect of society that thrive off division hate and materialism devoid of morality, objectivism and leading to confusion desperation nihilism and in many cases much, much worse. This is the same group who've used those same neoliberal economic and unconstitutional military acts to financially bend and militarily break those with different cultures and traditions for power wealth and resources in the false name of freedom and democracy.
Marx and his text have the reputation they deserve.
@@sergiodiaz2725 they have a much better reputation than deserved. Also, few properly understood the person he was, because even fewer talk about this. The point is: can you separate the person of the pilosopher from his pilosophy? Once you understand the dark aspects of Marx, his ideas portray themselves in a much different light.
Regardless, the application of his "philosophy" has been devastating for humanity ever since and it's a tragedy that so many still hang on to it. It's even having a resurgence in the west now when It should be shunned even more than what drove the man with the stubble moustache to do his despicable deeds. The latter regime had some roots in Marxism as well.
Fantastic interview, what a guest. 3 hours of pure gold
Regarding why the communists failed so much on agriculture, and particularly why famine occurred in the 30s (also the 20s with Lenin for the same reason), the point of lack of incentive cannot be stressed enough. Even before the land was snatched, grain quotas were set by both Lenin and Stalin which didn’t establish minimum thresholds of grain, but inversely only allowed so much grain to be kept by the farmer and the rest taken (not sold) by the state. The grain was essentially plundered, and thus the next season successful farmers reduced their intake to basically nothing so as not to have their work taken away from them. These successful farmers had been called kulaks as a derogatory term for wealthy (peasant) farmers.
The result of this was famine as one can imagine grain production was destroyed. Lenin’s response was creation of the NEP - New Economic Policy - and allow the peasant farmers to sell on an open market. Stalins response was to accuse the farmers of hiding the grain and get local mobs to kill, ban, and imprison these farmers which, as you can imagine, killed any notion of anybody trying to be more productive than anybody around them. Also it’s important to note the lack of successful farmers left to work the land after they had been dekulakized.
This part of history is shamefully unknown in the west, and I myself have only learned it recently. For the sake of respect to the millions upon millions who died for this idea, I implore any reader of this post to find Robert Conquests “Harvest of Sorrow” and read it. The first paragraph of the prelude will justify its importance, over and over and over again.
Amazing how the greatness of communism was only successful when a free market became its foundation.
Robert Conquest was not a serious historian but a cold warrior propagandist he is the author of many of the false factoids how about Soviet history (like the 100 million deaths, a totally invented figure) that unfortunately have become common "knowledge" in the West.
In 1972 the guardian disclosed that he had learn the ropes of the trade as part of the Information Research Department (IRD) colloquially known as the "Communist Department" , a informational war and propaganda bureau of the British secret service tasked with the creation of narratives to demonize the red enemy and galvanize support for anti-communism. And this is what he did the rest of his life, the Pinnacle of his work was the fear-mongering "What to do when the Russians invade, a survivalist handbook" published just before the USSR collapsed.
We learned this in school here in Italy
Unknown nowadays, but well known and taught in the 80s
@@martinmeoni8152 I’m not sure Italy’s position on the subject nor am I familiar with their education system, but in the US, we speak about the holocaust regularly and hardly discussed 19th and 20th century world history. It’s possible we only discuss the Holocaust as much because of our involvement in the Second World War. What I can tell you is that I have met only a few people, even highly educated and historically inclined people, who have any knowledge of the subject, and those who have heard something, know only a famine occurred and nothing else.
I am also aware the New York Times was involved heavily in suppressing the existence of the famine… and the US didn’t consider it a genocide until 2018.
Very interesting and informative conversation on History facts. Thank you very much Lex Friedman and Vejas Liulevicius.
The only way to learn from lex podcast is listening from start to end. Cuz most models can not handle summarization of such long video.
Define communism...
ml models?
@@s.m.tahsinzaman_2720 large language models
If you say so
Why would you want a summary?
I know I'm going to enjoy it tomorrow. Thank you, Санёк! 🙃
More historians please!!
Lex hits it out of the park again with another great guest.
Thats not Trotsky next to Lenin and Stalin. Its Mikhail Kalinin
I always thought that the third person in that famous picture of Lenin and Stalin was Sverdlov.??.... Oh well it certainly wasn't Trotsky.
What a profoundly deep analysis this man has conducted on these subjects. Mind blown.
The talk highlights the importance of reading the primary source material and learning of the history of the time and place where ideology is born. People bat around ideological terminology and use it as labels to discredit each other so no one listens to one another as a tool to discredit with next to no knowledge of what the reality is behind the labels. It’s such a good reminder to actually put in the work, and read just to be on even footing and not be taken advantage of by manipulation.
This is fantastic. My favourite podcast episode of all time. Thank you both!
He seems to be clearly of Lithuanian origin, can anyone find his biography and his relation to Lithuania?
He said he was born in Chicago, so interesting question is whether he's first generation Lithuanian-American or second. If his father was invited to Vilnius in 70s or 80s this was most likely done by Jonas Kubilius, so it's interesting to me and I'll look into it. Because it's a separate interesting topic how scientists in soviet occupied Lithuania were reaching out to Lithuanians living abroad even when it was really difficult.
@@mariusrutkausThe depth of history is far deeper than most people understand. This interview is a good peek into these depths... Lex is on a roll... follow him closely as this discovery interview brings some good understandings.
@@mariusrutkaushe also stated that his dad is a mathematician and that they visited soviet Lithuania when he was a little boy. So we can maybe reasonably guess from this that his dad immigrated from or escaped from Lithuania during or before WWII. perhaps earlier. or his grandparents immigrated to escape tsarists or WWI
Excellent exposition of the history of Communism, Socialism, Facism . . .
I have all his great courses on audible. He’s a great historian
Kindly share Sir.
History is not only to study the past, but to explain the present. We must study history to prevent ourselves from repeating mistakes that were already made.
I'm Chinese American, highly recommend NYT Bestseller Jung Chang's biography on Mao, it's so intense & real, he killed so many people...
I had to take some short breaks during reading, in order to calm myself down from all the evil he did to the poor Chinese people, it was so overwhelming & insanely cruel.
Imagine my grandma got killed in the Culture Revolution & my parents grew up in such an awful period of time in human history, the Chinese people were treated like animals by their own leaders, worse than how Americans treat their dogs...
I'm a dog owner, & my dog literally lived better than my parents did growing up in China back in the 60s.
Its like reading Churchill biography by Bengali people.
@@redaerf2b414 Nah, I'd say Churchill was British, different race from Bengal, so kinda racism in it...
Mao was killing his own people, Chinese killing mass Chinese, like Emperor killing his own subjects at free will, just to secure his own power. Remember, Chinese culture has no caste system, so this type of killing even in Chinese own thousands history was rare, usually the Emperor did this would get assassinated or rebelled, but Mao lived to die naturally at very old age. He was a master of playing this power game, very cruel & smart.
So it'd be more like a Bengali Sultan killing hundreds of millions of poor peasant & well literate Bengali people to secure his ruling power, & even killed his own high gov't officials to prevent them from taking him over & his own family members to make them all obedient...
It was sick...
@@kl12345-u its exactly like that, you think some liberal runaway gonna make any fair research?
美國人民比中國人民過得好?
Terrible book, roundly criticized by actual historians for poor methodology, incomplete and cherry-picked research, hyperbole, bias, and outright lies. Understandable in a way because she is a writer of fiction, and plies her trade by tugging on heartstrings, but this book is so bad that it has ruined Jung Chang's husband and co-author John Halliday's career as a historian. I'm not at all making the argument that Mao was a good guy, just advising you -if you are truly interested in the subject- to read content that uses good academic practise. A good starting point would be John King Fairbank, especially if you want to aproach it from an American historiographical approach.
He may not be the most articulate of all the Soviet/Russian historians , still a wonderful 3 hour and something lecture that one doesn't often get on the Internet. Well done Lex! We need more of this kind of stuff. Thank you as always.
First Rome then Hitler and Stalin? What a treat.
Now trump
Great podcast, great guest! 🎉
Lex you’re a national treasure!
An amazingly fascinating conversation. I would listen to another 3 and a half hours of it if I could
This guy is adorable when he laughs 🥰
A brilliant and very timely conversation, thank you Lex and Vejas.
Shocked to see Lithuanian name here, gotta watch now!
Are you from there?
@@1984isnotamanual Well yes
@@julijal212 very cool, I’ve been learning about the Soviet Union recently and so your country as well as others that were under the Soviet boot have been on my mind.
I need a new button "1000 likes" for talks like this one . Well done, Alex and Vejas.
🇱🇹❤
🇺🇸🤝🇱🇹😊
Excellent content! Thank you for your time.
You are not immune from propaganda
Well at its deepest root propaganda is just the spread of information
If youre shopping for a car and your sister tells you Hyundai offers the better value compared to a Toyota and you go out and buy one as opposed to a Toyota...youve both been subject to propaganda
@@joecool9739 this seems like a bit of a stretch. This is just a statement of opinion. Propaganda seems like a bit of hyperbolic word to use in that instance lol
@@TheSSEssesse
Its an extreme example to demonstrate what propaganda actually is
Now suppose that instead of the buyer's sister personally telling them to buy a Hyundai they see a commercial on TV instead
The Hyundai commercial lays out better options and financing for a Hyundai compared to a Toyota
Wouldnt that be propaganda as well? The difference is the outlet and not the message itself
Real question is what system shows the truth most? If propaganda causes you to live a better life like the Toyota purchase, maybe the cultist group knowledge of cars helps people get better things?
If I go to church and my life is better because of decisions I make, but instead of I go to college and my life falls apart from all the knowledge, who is more true, collage or the church?
If you think you are less likely to be suffering from propaganda than the guy who had read 100s of books and spent 10,000 + hours of search on this...well id consider you may be the one
Can't wait to watch it I love history any period. So cool you decided to do it.
These are a few of my favourite tyranical regimes
as a freedom loving capitalist.....
I still have a fascination with tyrannical regimes lol. Always play as them in historical games ahha.
Your profile Pic is on point. The secular woke cult/religion emerged from the transnationalists socialists/globalists socio-fascists, Third Worldism agenda. This makes the now tiny dwindling minority of wokesters, fascists by default without the self-awareness or intellect to realize that fact. Fascism is never on the RIGHT side of history. Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords.
Sure but the US is worse. The only difference is that they won.
Sic semper tyrannis
@@Livvvidyou are not free under capitalism.
Great Interview. That best about the subject I ever watched. Congrats Lex.
With a name like that, I was expecting a cooler accent.
the best conversation you have aired
More historians!! Ancient Chinese academic!