Vejas Liulevicius: Communism, Marxism, Nazism, Stalin, Mao, and Hitler | Lex Fridman Podcast #444

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

September 20, 2024

Duration

3h 31m

Channel

Lex Fridman Podcast

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Vejas Liulevicius is a historian specializing in Germany and Eastern Europe, who has lectured extensively on Marxism and the rise, the reign, and the fall of Communism. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep444-sb See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. *Transcript:* https://lexfridman.com/vejas-liulevicius-transcript *CONTACT LEX:* *Feedback* - give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey *AMA* - submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama *Hiring* - join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring *Other* - other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact *EPISODE LINKS:* Vejas's Courses: https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/vejas-gabriel-liulevicius Vejas's Books: https://amzn.to/4e3R1rz Vejas's Audible: https://adbl.co/4esRrHt *SPONSORS:* To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: *AG1:* All-in-one daily nutrition drinks. Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/ag1-ep444-sb *BetterHelp:* Online therapy and counseling. Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/betterhelp-ep444-sb *Notion:* Note-taking and team collaboration. Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/notion-ep444-sb *LMNT:* Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/lmnt-ep444-sb *Eight Sleep:* Temp-controlled smart mattress. Go to https://lexfridman.com/s/eight_sleep-ep444-sb *OUTLINE:* 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 *PODCAST LINKS:*

• Podcast Website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast
• Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr
• Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8
• RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/
• Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4
• Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips

*SOCIAL LINKS:*

• X: https://x.com/lexfridman
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/lexfridman
• TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@lexfridman
• LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/lexfridman
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/lexfridman
• Patreon: https://patreon.com/lexfridman
• Telegram: https://t.me/lexfridman
• Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/lexfridman

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Vejas Liulevicius

  guest

• Lex Fridman

  host

• Narrator

  other

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Lex Fridman Podcast, featuring Vejas Liulevicius and Lex Fridman, Vejas Liulevicius: Communism, Marxism, Nazism, Stalin, Mao, and Hitler | Lex Fridman Podcast #444 explores ideologies, Dictators, and Mass Death: Communism and Nazism Unmasked Historian Vejas Liulevicius and Lex Fridman trace the intellectual roots of communism from Marx and Engels through Lenin, Stalin, and Mao, examining how utopian theory collided with human reality. They explore key contradictions inside Marxism—its scientific pretensions, religious overtones, reliance on heroic individuals, and hostility to tradition—and show how these played out in the Soviet Union and China via famine, terror, and systemic lying. In parallel, they analyze Nazism and fascism, emphasizing Nazi racial war aims in Eastern Europe, the Holocaust, and the Nazi–Soviet pact, arguing these regimes represent a new, totalizing kind of dictatorship. The conversation closes by connecting this history to today’s Russia, China, Ukraine war, nuclear risk, and the importance of reading, critical thinking, and intellectual humility in an age of ideology and technology.

🔗 RELATED EPISODES

Keoki Jackson: Lockheed Martin | Lex Fridman Podcast #33

Elon Musk: Neuralink, AI, Autopilot, and the Pale Blue Dot | Lex Fridman Podcast #49

Grant Sanderson: 3Blue1Brown and the Beauty of Mathematics | Lex Fridman Podcast #64

Rohit Prasad: Amazon Alexa and Conversational AI | Lex Fridman Podcast #57

Gary Marcus: Toward a Hybrid of Deep Learning and Symbolic AI | Lex Fridman Podcast #43

Christof Koch: Consciousness | Lex Fridman Podcast #2